HR Roles And Responsibilities

Human resource management (HRM) is defined as the policies, practices, and systems that influence employees' behavior, attitudes, and performance (Noe-Hollenbeck,-Gerhert-Wright, 2003, p. 1). HRM has changed earlier attitudes and assumptions of personnel management about managing people in several significantly impacting ways and the new model of HRM includes many essentials vital to the basic management goal of accomplishing and maintaining competitiveness. In this paper, the author will describe the changing role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in response to trends in globalization, technology, diversity,

e-business, and ethics.

Globalization

The first impact on the changing role of HRM is globalization. Companies are finding that to survive they must compete in international markets as well as fend off foreign competitors' attempts to gain ground in the United States (de Silva, S., 1997). To meet these challenges, U.S. businesses must develop global markets, keep up with competition from overseas, hire from an international labor pool, and prepare employees for global assignments (Noe-Hollenbeck,-Gerhert-Wright, 2003, p. 46). Employee skills have become important determinants not only of flexibility, efficiency and excellence, but also of employability, investment and the ability to adapt quickly to market changes.

For today and tomorrow's employers, talent comes from a global workforce. Organizations with international operations hire at least some of their employees in the foreign countries where they operate. Even small businesses that stick close to home often find that qualified candidates include some immigrants to the United States. Changes in the contemporary global economy highlight many of the emerging challenges facing human resource management (HRM). Many societal changes increasingly bind countries into co-dependent nations in which goods, capital, and people move freely. Between these communities, however, there remains a mixture of cultural barriers. To remain successful in this new global age, agencies must commit themselves to expanding their business. They must also create internal plans that are likely to succeed in global competition. Applying successful global strategies requires careful attention to the inconsistencies created in the management of human resources and the maintenance of complex organizational cultures.

Technology

A second development, which has shifted attention to workplace relations, is technology. Human resource management is playing an important role in helping organizations gain and keep a lead over competitors by becoming high-performance work systems. These are organizations that have the best possible fit between their social system (people and how they interact) and technical system (equipment and processes) (Noe-Hollenbeck,-Gerhert-Wright, 2003, p. 36).

As the workforce environment has changed, so has the necessities for creating a high-performance work system.