Managing people Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Managing people - Essay Example In the current business environment, organizations encounter stiffer competition from rivals. This is because of globalization and free markets. To counter competition, firms have enacted various strategies. Efficient utilization of employees denotes one of the numerous strategies that firms apply in countering rivals. The human resource is the most imperative resource that an entity has at its disposal. Therefore, increasing efficiency in its utilization will enable an entity improve its competitive advantage and realize its targets. Managing of the workforce is a tough challenge to human resource (HR) managers. Managers encounter various constrains owing to the firm or the environment. The internal constrains would entail reducing overheads associated with the workforce. It is vital that any profit-motivated business maintains its profitability. Irrespective of an entity’s motivation, one of the key managerial obligations entails ensuring that remuneration expenses do not sp iral out of control. The organization and the HR department encounter various challenges from the external environment in managing this vital resource. The challenges relate to recruitment, remuneration, and maintaining employees. Companies invest heavily in the employees through training and refresher courses to improve their productivity. Subsequently, an entity that invests heavily on its employees will seek to ensure that it retains such employees. However, this may be challenging owing to the presence of organizations that offer better terms. The above situation denotes one among the countless external challenges that organization encounter in management of personnel. (Deckop & Deckop 2006, p. 78). The challenges that the HR departments encounter fall into various distinct categories. These categories include political, economic, technological, and legal. These denote broad categories, which contain various distinct challenges. The political category contains various factors, s uch as the government policy on workers and industrial actions. Entities are always aspiring to increase their profitability. Thus, they adopt employment terms that will reduce the costs. As such, most entities prefer to employ on casual or contract bases. This has been a factor, which has triggered legal battle between companies, governments, and labour unions. Hiring employees on a permanent basis will results in higher costs since the company will have to pay numerous costs. These costs include health care contributions and union charges. Consequently, most corporations will opt to employ on contract basis or casual terms. The government’s directives, which lean towards permanent terms for employees, affect HR departments significantly. The HR departments have to enact such governmental directives. This may require the company to adjust various departments to accommodate changes. This may culminate in reduction of employees. As such, companies may opt to realign department based on the work force constrains. Employment conditions are key external factors, which affect entities in a massive way since some entities will opt to mechanize. This would require massive initial capital outlay. Nonetheless, the entities will reduce their overheads on the long run. Mechanization also results in criticism since it shows that entities are unwilling to hire human labour owing to their profitability ambitions. However, the company can address these costs in various ways (Werner, Schuler & Jackson 2012, p.90). In the tasks that require high human labour, the entities can outsource. This would ensure that specialist who will deal effectively with human labour intensive activities undertake tasks. Outsourcing would ensure increased efficiency in the entity since it would reduce employees in the entity. Additionally, outsourcing may increase the quality of work. Companies can adopt organizational structure which will reduce the volume of employees required. Under the political categ