BUSS5308 Australian Industrial Relations For Practitioners Performance

Answers:

Introduction

Human resource is the integral part of the organisation that structures the organisational functionalities for accomplishing the determined objectives. According to Shields et al. (2015), the effective human resource management is designed to maximize the performance of the employees in order to meet the employers’ goals. The major concern of the HR department is to manage people in the organisation by focusing on the associated policies and systems. The study will discuss the advancements of the human resources, which are considered as the key factor for the performance of the organisation. The influences of the human resource management on the workforce will be discussed in this study.

Advancements of the Human Resources as the key role of the practitioners’ performance

The advancements in this business market is introducing the innovative techniques for the human resource management to lead the organisations in the proper way. It is to be indicated that the human resource management is the key source of achieving competitive advantage that provides the working professional elevate the organisational performance. The changes in the roles in human resource management may signify some of the potential challenges. The changes in the legislation of the industrial relations in Australia have brought changes in the HR roles.  The human resource management therefore needs to maintain the most essential responsibility in organizing the companies’ strategic management (Boxall, 2014). These advancements in the policies have involved the all level of management with higher loyalty and commitments. Hence, the human resource practitioners have started receiving the opportunities to be under the proper guidance of the skilled management. It brings efficiency in the entire organisational performance that lead towards sustaining the competitive position. One prominent change is noticed in the HR role is that the organisational functions are now depending on the senior decision-making process and taking the proactive participation in developing the workforce (Scheehan, Holland, De Cieri, 2006). The human resource practitioners can avail the opportunities to develop their professional and personal skills by receiving supports direct from the higher management team. The HRM becomes the ‘strategic partner’ as per the modified legislations of industrial relation. It has been also specified that the human resource practitioners would be much qualified to take the proactive participation n the strategic decision making process. It would be effective enough in developing their mindsets and professional capabilities to perform more efficiently in a complex business scenario.  

Influences created on the relationships between employers and employees

The changes in the IR legislations have created significant impact on the human resource practices and on the associated employees. Accordingly, the changes in the relationships between employers and employees are also visible. It can be stated that these changes in role have created the recognizable tension in the organisational functionalities. The advancements in the human resource management role seek more innovativeness and adequate terms and conditions for the employment purposes. Therefore, the employees or the people in the society need to survive all such terms and conditions by utilizing proper negotiation process. On the other side, Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley (2016) pointed out that when the employers start avoiding the disputes, it becomes the bigger issues for the employees to cope with the scenario in majority of the cases. Due to such advancements and changes in roles, the employees often feel insecure. They have the fear of losing job if they fail to prove their innovativeness. On the other hand, the employee turnover becomes much visible since people seek for the better opportunities and learning atmosphere (Wilkinson, Townsend and Burgess 2013). Hence, the changes in the regulations have created the significant tensions between the employers and employees.

‘Black Box’ influencing the employee perceptions and attitudes

Boxall, in his description, has used the context of ‘Black Box’ as the significant metaphor. It suggests the changing scenario in the HR system works that creates the link between the HR goals and outcomes of the performance. The metaphor has been used for evaluating the HR practices that have undergone the drastic changes after the changes in the IR legislations were made (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014). This metaphor helps in understanding the attitude and perception of the employees since it highlights the performance outcomes. For example, when the human resource management is taking the participation on the ‘strategic decision-making process’, it is essential to pay attention towards the employees’ welfare (Sheehan 2014). The mutuality between the employers and employees maintain the sustainability of the firm that will reflect on the performance outcome.

The ‘black box’ concept is much discussed in the HRM practices. The action of the employees would reflected in the performance outcomes. If the positive performance outcome were reflected, it would benefit the organisation in developing the economic values. The attitude and the perspectives of the employees completely depend on the work functionalities set by the human resource department (Visser 2015). The employee involvement is thus essential for maintaining the sustainability of the organisation in this competitive scenario. The employees can also receive the opportunities to prove their professional skills when the organisation can recognize their contribution towards achieving successful positioning.

Employment Relationship evolving in the future

In discussing the future consequences, it can be predicted that the frequent changes in the human resource practices may create challenges for the employees. The research on the current practices of HR management signifies that the educational and career choices are the major priorities of the employees in the initial stage. HR professionals are taking the opportunities for improving their educational qualifications (Banks and Kepes 2015). Therefore, in future, there is the possibility of emerging collective arguments from the employees. The expectations of the employees will also be changing in keeping pace with the advanced ideas and transformations. Hence, it can be predicted that potential conflicts may emerge when the HR professionals would require advocating more responsibilities. The decline of the centralized bargaining and emergence of the marginalization of the union may affect the relationships between the employers and the employees much significantly.

Implications of the issues by the general management

In considering the implication of the emerging issues, the study of Boxall reflects that the employer needs to renew the human resource management practices in keeping pace with the changing environment of the competitive scenario. This initiative will serve as the societal welfare process that will help in sustaining the competitive position in current time. Information derived from the sources suggests that the HRM initiatives are needed to be connected with the recognizable conflicts with the job designs and functionalities (Boxall 2013). In such cases, the proper training and development process would be helpful enough in managing the workforce and bringing the effective performance outcomes. It is also described that the focus on the employees’ expertise and capabilities is necessary during the allocations of the organisational activities. The focus on the societal benefits would secure the competitive position in a significant way.

Conclusion

The changes in the roles in human resource management may signify some of the potential challenges. The changes in the legislation of the industrial relations in Australia have brought changes in the HR roles.  The attitude and the perspectives of the employees completely depend on the work functionalities set by the human resource department. The employee involvement is thus essential for maintaining the sustainability of the organisation in this competitive scenario. The advancements in the human resource management role seek more innovativeness and adequate terms and conditions for the employment purposes.

References

Banks, G.C. and Kepes, S., 2015. The influence of internal HRM activity fit on the dynamics within the “black box”. Human Resource Management Review, 25(4), pp.352-367.

Boxall, P. (2014), The future of employment relations from the perspective of human resource management, The Future of Employment Relations vol. 56(4), pp-578-593

Boxall, P., 2013. Mutuality in the management of human resources: assessing the quality of alignment in employment relationships. Human Resource Management Journal, 23(1), pp.3-17.

Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Morley, M. eds., 2016. New Challenges for European Resource Management. Springer.

Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.

Scheehan, C. Holland, P. De Cieri, H. (2006) Current developments in HRM in Australian organisations.  Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources.  Vol . 44(2)

Sheehan, M., 2014. Human resource management and performance: Evidence from small and medium-sized firms. International Small Business Journal, 32(5), pp.545-570.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R., Robinson, J., O'Leary, P. and Plimmer, G., 2015. Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press.

Visser, M.M., 2015. Unlocking the “black box” between employee perceptions of HRM and service quality for customers: Comparing engagement theory, social exchange theory, and climate theory to predict service quality for front-line employees at an HR SSC (Master's thesis, University of Twente).

Wilkinson, A., Townsend, K. and Burgess, J., 2013. Reassessing employee involvement and participation: Atrophy, reinvigoration and patchwork in Australian workplaces. Journal of Industrial Relations, 55(4), pp.583-600.