Chapter 2

TRENDS IN HRM

Contents
1.

Describe trends in the labour force composition

and how they affect HRM.

2.

Discuss how strategic issues are affecting HRM.

3.

Discuss how technological development

affected HRM

4.

Changes in the Labor

Force Composition

Labor market vs labor force vs workforce

Labor Market (External)
Individuals who are actively seeking employment.
People available for work.

Labourforce/Workforce (Internal)
Employees of a specific company or industry.

The internal labor force are drawn from the external labor market.
The number and skills of individuals in the external labor market will
determine/ influence the qualities of HRs available to an organization.

Changes in the Labor Force

Diverse Workforce

Ageing Workforce
Generation differences
Dual Career Families
Women in labor force

AGING (ageing) WORKFORCE

Age Distribution of U.S Labor Force,

2008 and 2018

Aging Workforce: Implications on HRM

HR professionals will spend much of their time on concerns related
to retirement planning, retraining older workers, and
motivating workers whose careers have reached a plateau.
Organizations will struggle with ways to control the rising costs of
health care and other benefits.
As more of the workforce reaches retirement age, some
companies have set up mentoring programs between older and
younger workers so that knowledge is not lost but passed on.
Many of managers will supervise employees much older than
themselves.

HR managers need to be concerned

about changes in the makeup and
expectations of their employees.

What Does the Workforce Look Like Today?

Veteran: Those born before 1946

Above 68 yrs
Baby boomers: between 1946 and 1964
50 68 yrs
Generation X: born 1965 to 1977
37 49 yrs
Gen Y: born 1978 to 1994
20 36 yrs

IMPLICATIONS ON HRM?
WHAT NEED TO BE DONE?

Dual Career Couple/Family

Both husband and wife have jobs and family responsibilities.
Created a unique set of challenges:
Socialization
Role expectations
Work-family conflicts
Implications to individuals:
Work-life balance issue
Career development/advancement
Need Creative Employee Benefits
Want more workplace flexibility
Implications for HRM/Organisations
Offer creative employee benefits
Offer flexible work schedules
Offer assistance

Women in Labour Force

% of women in labor force is growing

Hold management, technical, professional, and related occupations

IMPLICATIONS TO HRM/ORGANISATION:
Organizations must assist to address work/family issues
Need child-care arrangements
Flexible working hours

Strategic Business Issues Affecting HRM

Mergers and Acquisitions

HRM should have a significant role in carrying out a merger* or
acquisition**.
Differences between the businesses involved in the deal make
conflict inevitable.
Need to sort out differences in the two companies practices
with regard to compensation, performance appraisal, and other
HR systems.

* Merger: Two companies become one.

** Acquisitions: One company buying another.

Downsizing
Downsizing:
Reducing number of employees.
Present a number of challenges to HR.

Outsourcing
Outsourcing
The practice of having another company (a vendor,
third-party provider, or consultant) provide services.
Outsourcing gives the company access to in-depth
expertise and is often more economical as well.
Many HR functions are being outsourced

Expanding into Global Markets

Offshoring
Moving operations from the country where a
company is headquartered to a country where pay
rates are lower but the necessary skills are available.

Technological change
in HRM

Influence of Technology in HRM

The introduction of advanced technology has changed the
way in which workers are managed.
Technology has altered the methods of collecting employment
information, speeding up the processing of data, and
improving the process of internal and
external communication.
Created new roles for HR professionals
Pressures to keep abreast of technology

Human Resource Information System

(HRIS)
A computer system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze,
retrieve, and distribute information related to an organizations
human resources.
An HRIS can:
support strategic decision making
provide data for evaluating programs or policies
support day-to-day HR decisions
Store and retrieve of large quantities of data.
Combine and reconfigure data to create new information.
Lower administrative costs, increased productivity and response
times.

Electronic HRM (e-HRM)

e-HRM: the processing and transmission of digitized HR information
especially using computer networking and the Internet.

e-HRM has the potential to change all traditional HRM functions.

Thats all