Forces Affecting Human Resource Development

HRD is a tough gamble. There are just about as many ways to handle HRD as there are people in New York City. An article by Udaya Mohan Devadas titled Human Resource Development and the Contemporary Challenges of the World talks about many of these forces and challenges affect HRD today. Devadas poses four main forces that affect human resource development. Those forces are (1) flexibility of the program, (2) the globalization need for HRD, (3) the modern changing workforce, and (4) the use and implementation of technology. These forces are very important to creating and implementing a functional HRD program and demand focus.
The author also poses a few challenges that are presented in today's workplace. Creating social justice, paying attention to women's workplace experiences, advocating change and addressing undiscussables are very important fields that need improvement. Undiscussables include sexism, racism, patriarchy, and violence. So there are a few ways to help these programs within a company and here they are. Conducting more research in proper HRD techniques can never hurt. Many programs are just poorly established. New approaches to discussing the undiscussables is a must. It is time to break the taboo. Focusing on problems that hinder development is crucial as well as developing innovative theoretical processes to change the field completely. The main point of this article seems to be that there needs to be emerging research in the field to help the new needs of human resource development. Research with modern outlooks and traditional based knowledge blended together. The article can be found at this LINK.

Motivating Your Sales Team Isn't Just $$$

Not all salespeople are driven by cash incentives. It is important to have a reward or incentive program for your salespeople, but just flashing a dollar bill in someones face doesn't always work. In many situations, it can even be harmful. When the only reward in monetary, your sales team may only look for the easy way to reach the goal, which may not be synonymous with your brand or goals as a company. An article I read discusses a few different ways to motivate your sales team and do it in a way that benefits your brand, goals, and pockets. This article discusses the main types of motivation that the individuals on your team may hold most important. The first is money. Some times good old fashion cash works, but make sure it isn't the only incentive. The mission and brand identification are also important. You need your team to be on board with what they are selling to generate appropriate results. You want your team to be self-motivated by providing reasonable targets. Some times a challenge is what salespeople seek, especially if there is a reward at the end of the tunnel.

All in all the idea is to better understand what drives your personnel in order to put the right incentive in place for them to not only reach their personal goals, but that of the company as well. The article I read has much more great information in it. If you want to check it out, go HERE

Modern Problems within HR Recruitment

A common problem for Human Resource Managment has always been recruitment. It is very challanging to define exactly what you are looking for in a candidate and choose the one right for the job. Often you need a position filled and are in a bind to fill it on short notice. This tends to cause unsatisfactory employees holding positions they are unqualitied for. This is an age old story, but what about more recent problems for HR. One recent problem is globalization. Due to the ever changing global world it is very hard for HR departments to keep up with the changing policies and motions of the HR world.

Another problem is many HR members have a lack of motivation. Recruiting is usually a thankless job. HR managers are working very hard to fill priority jobs quickly with the opproriate personnel, and once they succeed, no one shows gratitude. This practice is very detrimental to the productivitiy of future operations for the HR department. Another problem I would like to bring up is poaching. The modern business world has become a cut-throat place to operate. Often great talent is stolen away by competitors. It is becoming increasingly more challenging to hold on to shining stars when the competition is neck and neck. The best way to hold on to great personnel is to treat them right. Show them a great sense of loyalty and reward them so when the competition comes knocking on the door, there is no question who will maintain their employees. Some more in depth descriptions of these problems and other like them can be found HERE.

How Technology Affects HRM

As an external factor for human resource management, technology plays a massive role in how we manage people. I read an article written by Michelle V. Rafter for Workforce about SAP, one of the biggest suppliers of HR software, and its buyout of competitor SuccessFactors. Both of these companies create software to help manage your workforce in an ever changing and global business model. What makes this factor so important for human resource management is SAP is now able to combine its edge with that of SuccessFactors using the idea of "the cloud".

The cloud is the idea that instead of having hard wired storage and paperwork for all tangible information, it can be shared organization-wide of a web-based server much like a wiki, or more like a wiki on steroids. This advancement adds in not only the idea of new software but the further advances in other technology like handheld devices, i.e. the iPad. With more and more companies becoming linked into the cloud and more employees carrying advances devices like iPad, human resource management is much easier to facilitate due to the growing number of active participants on a much more frequent basis. Employees are more capable of taking the job home and checking in with the ipad to stay on top of assignments, or me able to be reached at critical moments within the life cycle of a project.

I foresee technology becoming even more important to human resource management in the future due to the ongoing reliance modern companies have on web-based systems and devices. It can be a good thing, but too much dependency on one things can always be dangerous.

 If you are interested in a more in depth look at the article you can find the link HERE