HRM Assignment: Article Review On Human Resource Management Concerns

Question

Task: Select the two (2) articles related to human resource management and prepare the HRM assignment answering the following seven (7) questions for each article. Do not exceed 1500 words in total (for both articles), or 750 words each article.

Step 1: Bibliographic Details
Q1 How do you cite this article according to RMIT Harvard Business Referencing style?
Step 2: Brief Overview/Description
Q2 Indicate the aim of the study
Q3 Outline the main argument/s and key theory/ies
Step 3: Critical Analysis
Q4 What is the main contribution of the manuscript to both the literature and practitioners?
Q5 What is the main limitation of the study?

Step 4: Statement of Relevance
Q6 In what way does the article relate to the concepts outlined in the course?
Q7 What is your opinion regarding the argument/s expressed by the authors?

Answer

Article 1
Step 1: Bibliographic Details
Q1 How do you cite this article in this HRM assignment according to RMIT Harvard Business Referencing style? Marchington, M 2015, ‘Human resource management (HRM): Too busy looking up to see where it is going longer term?’, Human Resource Management Review, vol. 25(2), pp.176-187.

Step 2: Brief Overview/Description
Q2 Indicate the aim of the study
This study aims to determine the benefits which HRM provides to an organisation and the direction it is gradually moving towards. The HR treats the employees more like resources, and due to that do not initiate forming a relationship with them. In the short term, it might provide benefits to the organisation. However, in the long term, the employees have to face the brunt, as they do not get the respect or value of their serving the company and have to stay satisfied with low salary jobs. Moreover, whether or not the HRM of a company focuses more on the goals of the organisation while ignoring the concerns of the stakeholders, including the employees, customers as well as shareholders.

Q3 Outline the main argument/s and key theory/ies
The theories taken into consideration for this research include the Trait-based theories so that the HRM managers stop focusing on controlling the employees and restricting their tasks. They need to ignore the personal trait view of leadership that gives more importance to the quality of individuals, such as their charisma and personality. Instead, the companies need to encourage their HRM managers that the workplace should be made inclusive, selecting leadership that is more inclusive and also reciprocal in nature. It would then facilitate and empower the employees by voicing their opinion and views while also reinforcing the value of the organisation.

Step 3: Critical Analysis
Q4 What is the main contribution of the manuscript to both the literature and practitioners?
This article has contributed to the literature related to Human Resource Management so that it can better perform in the changing economic market. At present, the HRM and its functions are more focused on satisfying the elite, which includes the shareholders and senior executives only, for satisfying short-term goals. For the improvement in the functions of the HRM of the organisations, more emphasis needs to be given to the talents at every level for long term goal achievement and future sustainability. The neglect which other stakeholders had to face was detrimental in the long term performance, and due to that, more companies in the developed as well as developing countries are emphasising inclusivity. Fairness, promotions and trust-building among the employees through open information sharing can bring a balance in the HRM practices. The changes brought in the HRM policies would contribute to the employees’ productivity improvement by gaining new trust in the management, which can eventually bring down the quit rate and sick leave rate.

Q5 What is the main limitation of the study?
The primary limitation of the study is that it has not focused on any particular country and any of its sectors. Moreover, neither a group of developing or developed countries were chosen. However, the country of the UK has been mentioned as an example only. The researcher had selected the English literature sources only for collecting data. Moreover, this study had only focused on the HRM department of organisations around the world. The impact that other departments have on the performance of the HR department of the companies across the countries is not taken into consideration, which is considered another limitation of the research.

Step 4: Statement of Relevance
Q6 In what way does the article relate to the concepts outlined in the course?
The article “Human Resource Management (HRM): Too busy looking up to see where it is going longer term?” have contributed to this business management course of human resource management. It has provided the readers with an understanding of the current situation of HRM practices across the world, including the developed and developing countries. The readers would get to understand that in the present, the HR managers are more focused on the satisfaction of the shareholders and elite employees who works in the front line. It is beneficial to fulfil the short term goals successfully but creates problems in the fulfilment of the long term goals as the other stakeholders are overlooked. Therefore, it is recommended in the article that the HR managers should now try to bring balance in their focus so that the employees at any level can get equal opportunity to perform and contribute to the fulfilment of the long term goals that include employee satisfaction.

Q7 What is your opinion regarding the argument/s expressed by the authors?
From the argument presented by the authors of the article, I can understand that HRM is changing all over the world, where the HRM department is focusing more on balancing the importance they need to give to employees and stakeholders at every level. This change is gradually being brought by the companies in both developing and developed countries, which is increasing the opportunity of the people associated with the company. It is my opinion that such changes were much needed, and they can bring positive changes in the HRM departments of the companies and contribute to the growth of the companies.

Part B - Article 2
Step 1: Bibliographic Details
Q1 How do you cite this article according to RMIT Harvard Business Referencing style?
Podgorodnichenko, N, Edgar, F & McAndrew, I 2020,‘The role of HRM in developing sustainable organisations: Contemporary challenges and contradictions’, Human Resource Management Review, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 3-6.

Step 2: Brief Overview/Description
Q2 Indicate the aim of the study
The aim of the study is to analyse the roles that HRM in a company can play in the growth of a sustainable and respectable organisation. The impact of HRM on the sustainability of the company can be gauged from this research. The various challenges faced by various personnel of the HRM in the sustainable development of the company shall be measured in this research. This has been done by gauging their challenges regarding engagement with the CSR of the organisation. Furthermore, this research has aimed to uncover the effective contemporary practices in the HRM which promote sustainability in an organisation in a systematic manner.

Q3 Outline the main argument/s and key theory/ies
The main argument which has been stated in this study is that the HRM needs to adopt certain approaches to attain a position to develop a sustainable organisation. This article describes that developing a culture of leadership within the HRM can help in the long-term in building an organisation that is deemed sustainable. Developing employees is one of the key findings of this research as it stresses the placement of various policies and practices to boost the skill levels of the employees. Moreover, the development of organisational structures and organising the hierarchy can help in maintaining and developing sustainability in the company. The authors of this article further argue that motivating employees is another step towards the sustainable development of the organisation. The theories which have been considered in this research are Stakeholder Theory, the ‘ability, management and opportunities’ (PMO) theory, resource-based view (RBV) theory, social identification theory, among many more.

Step 3: Critical Analysis
Q4 What is the main contribution of the manuscript to both the literature and practitioners?
Through this research, the literature can be benefited from the extensive findings of this study. It has been found that the practices in an organisation such as ethics training, sustainability training and leadership development programs can result in an improvement of CSR awareness among the HRM. The “ethical decision-making” can also improve among the HRM, as found from this study. It has also been learnt that employing employees who has similar values to that of the existing employees can promote the recognition of CSR goals in an organisation. The development of resilience among the HRM can improve decision-making with regard to the CSR goals, and a beneficial alignment can form within the organisation between HRM and CSR. Developing competitive skills among the employees is another method through which the HRM can produce a sustainable competitive company in the industry. The management of talent inside the company can also contribute to the development of sustainability. The recruitment of talent can benefit a company in a plethora of ways, and this has been encapsulated in this article.

Q5 What is the main limitation of the study?
There are multiple limitations to the study. Firstly, this research has considered the literature from management but has not shed light on other disciplines such as organisational behaviour and industrial psychology. The literature of these disciplines can provide valuable info on the connection between HRM and CSR in an organisation. Another limitation of this study is that it deals with the topic through a qualitative approach in the form of systematic literature review (SLR) and has not considered a quantitative data pool for realising the aims. This topic can highly benefit from research through a quantitative collection and analysis of data. Thirdly, the literature written in the English language was only explored in this research.

Step 4: Statement of Relevance
Q6 In what way does the article relate to the concepts outlined in the course?
This course of human resource management emphasises numerous crucial aspects of human resourcesand its operations. This article titled “The role of HRM in developing sustainable organisations: Contemporary challenges and contradictions” sheds light on the development of sustainable organisations by HRM. The HRM has certain responsibilities regarding CSR activities in the organisation. Various challenges may appear during the management of CSR in the workplace, and these need to be identified. This article determines the challenges and analyses them through the means of a systematic literature review (SLR). Furthermore, this article has shown that certain policies and practices among the HRM can improve the awareness of the HRM staff in the organisation.

Q7 What is your opinion regarding the argument/s expressed by the authors?
The authors in the study considered herein HRM assignment have determined the key roles of HRM in developing a sustainable organisation. In my opinion, their arguments reflect the true nature of the responsibility of the HRM in terms of developing proper CSR activities in the organisation. In order to cope with the “paradoxical tensions” inside the workplace of an organisation, the HRM needs to assess the situations and make decisive ethical decisions in order to maintain the development of a sustainable workplace. In my opinion, the authors explain the “divergent roles” which are to be followed by the HRM of an organisation.