Hr Roles and Responsibilities Paper

HR Roles and Responsibilities Paper

This paper will describe the changing role of Human Resource (HR) management in response to trends in globalization, technology, diversity, e-business, and ethics.

Globalization and Human Resource management, according to an article written by Susan Singh "The current challenge to human resource practitioners can be summed up as: adopt an entrepreneurial outlook and connect program to business outcomes, or lose out to the competitors in Asia and Latin America" (Singh, 2005). The article discussed a global study that was conducted on 320 organizations. The study pointed out that here was a clear association between increased businesses profitably and the use of performance measures, management development and workforce planning (Singh, 2005). In other words, HR should be more flexible when dealing with employees.

Technology and Human Resource management managers and economists traditionally have seen human resource management as a necessary expense, rather than as a source of value to their organizations. However, research has demonstrated that HRM practices can be valuable. Decisions such as whom to hire, what to pay, what training to offer, and how to evaluate employee performance directly affect employees' motivation and ability to provide goods and services that customers value (Noe, 2003). Companies that attempt to increase their competitiveness by investing in new technology and promoting quality throughout the organization also invest in state-of-the-art staffing, training, and compensation practices. Effective management of human resources can form the foundation of a high-performance work system--an organization in which technology, organizational structure, people, and processes all work together to give an organization an advantage in the competitive environment. As technology changes the ways organizations manufacture, transport, communicate, and keep track of information, human resource management must ensure that the organization has the right kinds of people to meet the new challenges. Maintaining a high-performance work system may include development of training programs, recruitment of people with new skill sets, and establishment of rewards for such behaviors as teamwork, flexibility, and learning (Noe, 2003). Based on that information, I believe that human research managers in today's job market are not just there to solve problems with bad employees but are now the dynamic force behind helping to make the company successful.

Diversity and Human Resource management, diversity in some companies can often be a difficult challenge. According to the article entitled "Where and How to Revisit Diversity Issues in Your Firm", human resource manages should be more proactive about diversity. The article suggests HR managements conduct focus groups with minority employees to learn what keeps them, what would make them more committed to staying, and what would lure them away (Anonymous, 2005).

Ethics and Human Resource Management; whenever people's actions affect one another, ethical issues arise, and business decisions are no exception. Ethics refers to the fundamental principles of right and wrong; ethical behavior is behavior that is consistent with those principles. Business decisions, including HRM decisions, should be ethical, but the evidence suggests that is not always what happens (Noe, 2003).

In the context of ethical human resource management, HR managers must view employees as having basic rights. Such a view reflects ethical principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. A widely adopted understanding of human rights, based on the work of the philosopher Immanuel Kant, as well as the tradition of the Enlightenment, assumes