The present proposal examines whether or not HR managers influence the workplace positively. The workplace environment is an important determinant of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of any firm as it mainly includes management and workers. Workers are always the core of every firm’s focus because, without the right employees and the right techniques and tools to motivate them, organizations will find it challenging to conduct their operations. Thus, HR managers contribute significantly to transforming and shaping the workplace environment because they are responsible for enrolling, training, employing and dismissing workers. Their decisions can influence the workplace environment either negatively or positively.
Background
Organizations today consider employees to be their greatest strength since the lack of a motivated and dedicated workforce hinders the achievement of organizational objectives. Previously, firms did not understand the correlation between an effective workforce and organizational performance, which led to employee mistreatment (Dhanpat et al., 2020). The importance of employees became apparent after firms recorded decreased productivity and reduced employee motivation, which led to the formation of unions (Dhanpat et al., 2020). Originally, before the position of an HR manager was formed or the Human resource field was developed, organizations disregarded fair conduct in the workplace.
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Before the 1960s, the HRM field was considered a personnel function with a focus on roles such as timesheets or payroll, which evolved later to include processes such as training and hiring (Dhanpat et al., 2020). Research shows that technological, economic, social, and political factors influenced the shift towards the current HRM field (Stone & Deadrick, 2015). For instance, the 18th-century industrial revolution initiated the unions that advocated for improved management of workers following the introduction of machines that threatened employees (Shlihter, 2020). Organizations started understanding the threat that poor working conditions, conflicts, and poor communications with their employees posed to their businesses. The formation of unions influenced organizations to improve conditions at the workplace, which led to the development of communication tools and the formation of the HRM field. The entry of electricity marked the second industrial revolution that led to the era of mass production.
Electricity also resulted in increased innovation due to the power it offered, which then led to the third industrial revolution encompassing Information Technology and electronics during the late 1960s. The third industrial revolution evolved into the digital revolution after the 1980s that later influenced the emergence of the fourth digital revolution through innovations such as the Internet of Things, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence (Dhanpat et al., 2020). The entry of the union movements prioritized the needs of workers, which affected organizational policies and led to the creation of the HR manager position. Initially, HR managers focused more on the organization than on the workplace or workers (Stone & Deadrick, 2015). Nevertheless, the recent changes in market systems due to technology and the increasing importance of the knowledge economy have made the work of HR managers more important in helping companies gain competitive advantages.
Studies show that modern organizations become competitive and achieve their objectives successfully when their human resource practices are aligned in the right way to adapt to the evolving business environment (Dhanpat et al., 2020). The need to enhance human resource practices is due to the correlation between workplace performance and the practices of HR managers. HR managers focus on managing employees to ensure that their performance helps the organization achieve its goals (Dhanpat et al., 2020). Managers fulfil their roles through implementing strategies, programs, and plans to recruit, motivate, train, reward, and retain talented workers to enhance organizational performance.
Technology also influenced organizations through increasing competitiveness among firms and transforming the way HR managers recruit, manage talent, take care of the needs of workers, and choose and organize employee benefits and develop opportunities for workers. Chadwick and Li (2018) demonstrate that starting from the 1990s, information technology allowed HR managers to conduct their operations electronically besides leading to the development of HR information systems to allow HR personnel to collect, store, interpret, and manipulate data related to HR services. AlKerdawy (2016) adds that the era of electronic HR enables workers to manage their personal data through reaching decisions and updating records and managers to access data, perform analyses, communicate with other stakeholders and reach decisions without consultations with the Human resource department. Virtual employees are now part of workforces and they are normally located in different parts of the world. Managing virtual workers pose challenges such as the necessity for managers to develop multicultural skills and facilitate diversity in the workplace.
Working with people from different corners of the world requires HR managers who are culturally sensitive to ensure effective communication and increased productivity. According to Kaur Dhanpat et al. (2020), the growth of technology transformed the role of HR managers by placing them at the center of personnel development and talent management to attain the objectives of the organization instead of focusing on data collection and employee recruitment. Thus, technology has shifted the focus of HR managers to talent management and professional development of workers besides roles such as recruitment and hiring. Managers must ensure that they engage in business-driven practices with a focus on the different workplace systems, as this would allow them to consider all synergies among their practices within the company (Stone & Deadrick, 2015). Ensuring good talent management practices requires managers to engage in well-structured functions such as professional development, the participation of workers in decision making, compensating workers based on their performance, appraising employee performance, and ensuring employment security (Shlihter, 2020). Managers who apply these practices properly promote increased workplace performance.
Research justifies the influence of HR manager practices on employee performance by emphasizing that the kind of the adopted practices conveys the message that the manager value workers as the most strategic assets (AlKerdawy, 2016). These positive assessments reinforce the judgment of workers regarding the level of managerial support and the readiness of the organization to improve employee welfare. Every organization relies on employees for effective operations and organizations desiring to transform their way of doing things must first change the way they manage their workers. HR managers must encourage workers to participate in decision making to increase the competitiveness and effectiveness of the workplace (Stone & Deadrick, 2015). Shlihter (2020) states that HR managers can engage in practices such as identifying the needs of workers, satisfying the basic needs of workers, and providing workers with an enabling environment to allow them to use their abilities. The provision of these facilities leads to the creation of opportunities for enhancing the commitment of workers towards the goals of the organization.
Managers who do not offer their workers meaningful and challenging roles result in reduced levels of commitment, which in turn lead to a negative work environment and poor performance among workers. Workers are more committed in the workplace when managers implement ways of helping workers to engage in professional development. Research demonstrates that the behaviors, performance and attitudes of workers reflect their expectations and perceptions reciprocating the treatment they get from HR managers.
Richman (2015) also emphasize the role of increased globalization aided by the digital revolution in influencing the role of HR managers as it has compelled the managers to start focusing on international recruitment, talent management, diversity, and inclusion. Increased diversity and multi-culturalism at the workplaces due to globalization resulted in the development of a new organizational model during the late 1990s (Richman, 2015). The shift is now affecting modern organizations by leading to social, geographic, and demographic changes. For instance, companies today must deal with the issue of inclusion in the workplace by employing people from different genders or races. Additionally, firms are increasingly focusing on diversity rather than equality to maximize the importance of the differences between people instead of assuming that all people are the same (Reiche, 2017). Firms value diversity today because of its association with performance.
Creativity and innovation in addition to problem-solving increase when workers are heterogeneous (Stone & Deadrick, 2015). Given the benefits of diversity, HR managers need to invest in appropriate techniques that help them manage a diverse workforce to facilitate motivation. Research shows that HR managers can lead to positive or negative outcomes concerning diversity based on the practices they formulate and integrate into the organization (Reiche, 2017). They must focus on ensuring that inclusion and diversity becomes a strategic priority in the organization because the topic of diversity is related to other roles of the HR manager such as recruitment and professional development. For instance, HR managers desiring to increase diversity must recruit employees from a diverse pool of potential candidates and support professional development programs for their workers. The emphasis here is that HR managers must now integrate diversity management into talent management to enhance inclusion.
In modern organizations where technology and knowledge are vital, successful organizations rely on human capital. HR managers have an important role to play in implementing practices that can influence workers either positively or negatively. The scope of modern HR managers is beyond the accumulation of skills among workers because managers today must focus on enhancing the capability of their workforce to facilitate an efficient and effective workforce (Stone & Deadrick, 2015). They can achieve these objectives by engaging in talent management with an emphasis on increasing employee satisfaction.
Audience
The research will mainly target HR departments within organizations with a specific focus on managers both in the private and public sectors. The researcher also considers aspiring HR managers or those intending to work in the HR department. The target group have to understand current changes affecting their field, the involved challenges and issues, and the skills they need to be well prepared to fulfil their roles effectively. The research will allow the audience to examine how the HR field progressed throughout the years, how it transformed into the current domain, and the way these changes affected the way HR managers influence the workplace. The knowledge they will gain from reading this research will enable them to identify areas of improvement, factors that affect the workplace, and the best way to perform their roles effectively to enhance organizational performance.
Topics
The study will explore the emerging topics in the HR field about diversity including gender or race issues in the workplace or communication with people from different cultures, and employee performance. These topics are important because of the increasing effect of globalization across the world and the need to promote and ensure fair representation across sectors. Most organizations today intend to attain better outcomes, which can only be achieved through improved employee performance. HR managers influence outcomes in these topics as they are the ones that recruit, train, and implement strategies to ensure high performing workplace. The research will deal with diversity issues and the role of managers in addition to ways managers can enhance or hinder employee performance.
The study will answer the following questions:
1. How do HR managers promote or hinder diversity in the workplace?
2. What strategies do managers implement to enhance employee performance?
3. How do the roles of managers concerning diversity and employee performance affect the workplace?
Methods
The study will be based on secondary research by searching for relevant peer-reviewed articles and other reliable sources online. The researcher will mainly use the UHV database for sources in addition to other scholarly databases.
Qualifications
I am a student at UHV majoring in bachelor of business administration with a focus on human resources. I consider it important to understand the role of HR managers and the way their work influence the workplace. HR managers are important in organizations because of their knowledge in the management of human capital and their ability to either improve or enhance workplace performance through their actions. All organizations today rely on their human capital because employees possess the required talents and knowledge to achieve the objectives of the organization. Managing workers well leads to higher performance while poor management of workers can result in poor performance, which may further result in losses. The roles of HR managers today focus more on managing talent to ensure that organizations have the right people.
Request for Approval
I am grateful for this opportunity to research whether HR managers have a positive impact on the workplace. I am hoping to receive any feedback that will help me improve the proposed topic and strengthen my research.
References
AlKerdawy, M. M. A. (2016). The Relationship between Human Resource Management Ambidexterity and Talent Management: The Moderating Role of Electronic Human Resource Management. International Business Research , 9 (6), 80. https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v9n6p80
Chadwick, C., & Li, P. (2018). HR systems, HR departments, and perceived establishment labor productivity. Human Resource Management , 57 (6), 1415–1428. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21914
Dhanpat, N., Buthelezi, Z. P., Joe, M. R., Maphela, T. V., & Shongwe, N. (2020). Industry 4.0: The role of human resource professionals. SA Journal of Human Resource Management , 18 . https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v18i0.1302
Reiche, S. (2017). Tips for Nurturing Global Leadership Talent: Diversity Management. IESE Insight , 35 , 31–38. https://doi.org/10.15581/002.art-3096
Richman, N. (2015). Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development: Evolution and Contributions. Creighton Journal of Interdisciplinary Leadership , 1 (2), 120. https://doi.org/10.17062/cjil.v1i2.19
Shlihter, A. (2020). The impact of the fourth industrial revolution on the formation of human capital and the evolution of the global labor market. Obshchestvo I Ekonomika , 4 , 56. https://doi.org/10.31857/s086904990009179-8
Stone, D. L., & Deadrick, D. L. (2015). Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management. Human Resource Management Review , 25 (2), 139–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2015.01.003
