Challenges In Human Resources Management
One of the persistent problems faced by any business entity is in the realm of human resources as to how to improve business management effectiveness through proper utilisation of human resources. One of the major hurdles is the alienation of the employees.
Employee Alienation
Employee alienation is one of the most important aspects that affects productivity and interpersonal relationship. It creates mental and psychological disorders in human beings. The impact of these disorders could be disastrous affecting their personal life, professional life and social life and also the performance of the organisation.
An effective leadership will ensure prevention of work alienation of employees and inspiring them to achieve the envisaged vision through a well-defined mission and creating more leaders than followers by developing their skills and empowering them.
The Primary Reasons For Employee Alienation
The major dimensions of work alienation are:
- Lack of personal control over work process or powerlessness
- A sense of social isolation / estrangement / loneliness
- Lack of work significance / disconnect
- Lack of self-expression / dysfunction
When the organisation does not provide the employees any opportunity for developing a sense of belonging towards the business entity as well as the social system and to fulfil their individual and collective aspirations of their personal, professional and social lives, the employees are bound to isolate them from the system and its goals.
The employees may be physically present at the workplace but mentally not participating in the work.
Prevention Of Employee Alienation
The crux of the programme of action is building, maximizing, developing, allocating and properly deploying the scarcest and most productive resource effectively – high caliber people.
Introduction of technology will bring only the marvels of latest technology. It cannot produce economic results. Results are produced by the people behind the machines—the highly skilled knowledge employees.
Special attention needs to be paid to planning knowledge work, which demands sharply focused plan of action. The greatest drawback of the business management is that they tend to diffuse first-rate resources rather than concentrate them.
Any major opportunity is a challenge demanding undivided attention and dedication. The pattern of staffing decisions and personal policies decide whether the organisation has a programme for effectiveness and performance.
Facilitating Employee Involvement in Business
The business entity today needs an effective management to turn its planning and programs into performance. For this, the business entity’s programs must be integrated in the practices of business and the employees should be made to understand the importance of economic performance and how it is linked to the spirit and objectives of the entity. Moreover, a united plan should be involved for the entire business.
The work plan should be based on decisions on idea of business and its objectives, on the areas of excellence, on priorities, and on strategies. Goals and targets can be fixed thereafter. This then leads to an assessment of the efforts and to the selection of the resources to be committed. Subsequently, assignments are given to committed knowledge worker.
Role of the Knowledge Worker
Today, the knowledge worker should be allowed to be a participant in the process of taking decisions, for which he should know what sort of performance and result the business is looking for. In turn, the knowledge employee must be “excited” to produce the results. He need not be supervised.
He must be inspired to direct, manage, and motivate himself to fulfill the organisational objectives and business results and personal aspirations also. That can be made possible only when he realizes how his knowledge and work contribute to achieve targeted business results.
Leadership and Human Resources
But above all, the most important aspect of leadership quality is their ability to build and lead an effective and cohesive knowledgeable human resources team. The pre-requisites to realise the objectives and goals of the organisation and also the individual aspirations of the human resources depend on how the human resources are made to understand, without any ambiguity, the demands of economic performance.
In short, the fulfilment of the vision and mission of any organisation can be achieved only through an empowered and inspired work force to produce the desired results.
Employee Empowerment
In the ultimate analysis, what is needed is to understand the business objectives in its entirety for the present and future.
Peter Drucker said, “Understanding is needed as much for the immediate task of effectiveness today as it is for work on the future many years hence. It is a necessary tool for any executive who takes seriously his entrepreneurial responsibility and it is a tool which neither be fashioned for him nor wielded for him. He must take part in making it and using it. The ability to design and develop this tool and the competence to use it should be standard equipment for the business executive.”
To be more than a figure head for the talents given in his keeping, the chief executive of the business organisation should accept his responsibility for making the future happen. It is the willingness to tackle purposefully this task of making the future happen that becomes the most important task of any business organisation. This willingness distinguishes the great organisation from a merely competent one, and the great conglomerate builder from the executive-suite custodian.
People as the Foundation of Success
Success of any business in today’s competitive and fast changing business environment is not based on strategy, technology, or capital but on its people. An inspiring employee is not merely having a leadership trait but an imperative necessity also to be the leader.
When employees feel inspired, they become more engaged, innovative, and committed to achieving the organization’s goals.
In this connection I quote Stephen Covey, American educator, author, and executive coach, “A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.”
Inspiring the Work Force
“True inspiration overrides all fears. When you are inspired, you enter a trance state and can accomplish things that you may never have felt capable of doing.”
Inspiration goes beyond motivation. While motivation often involves external rewards or pressure, inspiration creates a stimulus to internal drive and purpose of the inspired employees who do not just work for a monthly remuneration and an incentive, but instead work for a mission.
- They find meaning in their roles.
- They are more likely to go the extra mile.
- They become more engaged, innovative, and committed.
Organizations that invest in inspiring their workforce are more likely to sustain long-term uninterrupted growth. They attract top talent, build strong teams, and develop leaders from within. Ultimately, when employees are inspired, they do not just follow—they lead.
Inspiration as a Continuous Journey
In the final analysis, inspiration is not a one-time event but a continuous journey. It requires compassion, empathy, vision, mission, concentration, and commitment.
As businesses strive to adapt, absorb, assimilate, and innovate, those who focus on inspiring their people will rise above challenges and ensure to thrive, bringing tomorrow to day through their creative visualization.
Empower your employees, and they will empower your organization. Realisation of the envisaged vision through the planned mission will take its own time, for which the enlightened management should cultivate the art of patience and perseverance.
Written By: T. R. Radhakrishnan
