HRM Business Organisations Workforce

Question: Discuss about the HRM for Business Organisations Workforce. Answer: Introduction Human resource management is a concept that allows business organisations in managing their workforce in the best possible way by analysing and improving the work conditions. The human resource management approach uses a number of concepts, such as performance management, compensation and benefits, training and development, etc. to improve the work conditions and optimise the performances of the employees (Torrington, Hall and Torrington, 1998). Change management is also an important concept in business organisations where the management tries to implement workplace changes in order to remain competitive and achieve an increase in the overall performance and productivity. Introduction of Changes Top Trucking Company was earlier owned by owners who did not want to invest in the company much. The entire fleet of vehicles had become older than they should have been. The earlier management wasnt even able to manage the workforce properly and was a complete autocrat. He liked to demonstrate the authority that he had in the organisation and used to shout on the employees when he was having a bad day. Further, the incapability of the owners and the manager to properly manage the workforce resulted in an increase in the number of conflicts, stoppages and decrease in performance levels. Almost three years ago, the company was bought by a new owner and the scenario started to change thereafter. Three years back, when the company was bought by its new owners, the scenario of the company changed altogether. The entire fleet of vehicles was rejuvenated as the new owners decided to invest in the purpose of improving the vehicles. The old manager of the yard was removed and a new manager was appointed to take over the control of the operations and the management. The new manager of the yard was very effective in managing the workforce. He introduced a number of changes, such as introduction of a new computer system in the organisation and new uniforms for the employees. The manager also started new training and development programs that were aimed at improving the technical skills of the employees and to improve their occupational health and safety. The manager knew how to handle conflicts at workplace and never shouted at anybody or took hasty decisions whenever there was an issue in the workplace. He tried to study the issue thoroughly and then took appropriate decision. Georg e a union delegate who found it difficult to adjust with the new manager in the beginning, also became comfortable with his style of work and felt that he could work comfortably with the new manager. George also realized that the new manager always made sense in negotiations even if the union had unethical or illogical demands. Thus, the changes introduced by the new manager and the owners paved the way for the yard to reach to its success point, where it is standing today. The only reason behind the success of the change implementation was that all the changes were in perfect harmony with each other. The changes acted as complementary to each other and it also became easier for the management to implement and sustain them for a longer period of time. If we study the literature related to the subject, we will find that experts like John Kotter and Kurt Lewin have suggested that for a change to be successful, it is important that the change is planned by keeping the entire system in the mind. If a change is directed towards only a single sub part of the system then the change management program will fail due to collateral impacts on other parts. In the case of Top Trucking Company, the changes were introduced by keeping in mind all the parts of the system i.e. the employees, the infrastructure and the machinery. For the employees, the management introduced new uniforms, training and development programs and also tried to improve the labour relations. For the infrastructure, the management introduced a new computer system and for the machinery, the management rejuvenated the entire fleet of vehicles. As all the changes helped in improving the conditions of all the parts of the system, they acted as complementary to each other and it became easier for the management to implement them in the organisation. Sustaining the Changes Change management is one of the most important and the toughest strategies that the organisations of the present day have to implement in order to survive in the market. The business environment has become so complex that organisations are facing changes in their internal and external environment on a daily basis. The changes in legal systems, social classes, technology and economies are so great and fast that companies have to make changes in their operations and working in almost a real time. If the companies are unable to introduce changes in their operations, they are lost in the competition and the competitors take over their entire market share . As a result, change management is crucial and at the same time is very difficult. Change programs are often offered a lot of resistance by the stakeholder, which increases the difficulty for the management in implementing the changes. A lot of studies have been done in this subject and a number of factors have been identified that can increase the chances of success or failure of the change program. Top Trucking Company too introduced a great number of changes that helped the yard in becoming successful. Let us now talk about the changes introduced by Top Trucking Company and discuss the factors that made the change program successful (Greener and Hughes, 2006). From the case study, it is evident that the changes introduced in the organisation were one of the main antecedents that helped in achieving the success that the yard has achieved today. Therefore, it is important that these changes are sustained by hook or by crook so that the organisation can continue to grow and capture the market. The major risk to sustain the change is the bond between the new manager and the union leader. The union leader and the new manager have become very comfortable working with each other over the period of time. Initially, the manager and the union delegate had problems in working with each other but the behaviour and efficiency of the manager in managing the workforce won Georges vote too. Soon, George started feeling that he could work easily with the new manager as he was sensible and always made sense during negotiations even if the labour had unethical or illogical demands. Further, even the new manager was happy working with the union delegate (Albo and Kelly, 1991). The new manager would never hesitate in approaching George and consulting important things with him. The new manager also loved to share the success of the company or the performance feedback with the entire workforce and never tried to hide anything. The new manager was able to build a relation of trust and respect between the labour union and the management, which was now acting as reinforcement to the changes that had been successfully implemented in the organisation. Even the employees started to respect the new manager as they felt that he was trying his best to improve the situation of the yard and of the workforce too (Gallup, 2016). In such a scenario, if either of the two is asked to leave or is transferred to some other yard, it would become impossible for the management to sustain the changes. If a new manager join the yard, it might not be easy for the labour union to respect and obey him as he would have his own style of handling the operations and the human resources. On the other hand, if the union delegate is replaced, it would become very difficult for the labour to follow a new leader all of a sudden. It would also become difficult for the new manager to connect with the new union delegate in a short span of time, which also might have an effect on the relation between the man ager and the labour. Thus, the greatest risk in sustaining the changes that the company has been able to implement so far is the bond and cooperation that exists between the new manager and the union delegate (Mindtools.com, 2016). If we study the literature related to change management and human resource management, we will find that it is very important to reinforce the changes that are once successfully implemented in the organisation (Go2hr.ca, 2016). In the case of Top Trucking Company, the reinforcement to the change is being provided by the cooperation and trust that exists between the new manager, the union delegate and the employees. If this cooperation suffers a setback, it would become very difficult for the management to sustain the changes. Blue-Collar Labour Unions In any business industry or organisation, the most important stakeholders are the employees. Whenever there is a change that is implemented in the organisation, the first and the people who are affected the most by the change are the employees. Therefore, no matter how hard the employees try to not to be a part of the change, they end up being a part of it. Blue collar unions are those workers who perform manual labour in business organisations. Blue collar unions are more likely to engage in workplace changes than public or service sector unions because the workplace changes can have serious impacts on their personal as well as work lives (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2016). For blue collar labour unions, workplace changes can have an impact on their wages, salaries, compensations, benefits, incentives, recreational activities, work hours, work shifts, etc. whereas workplace changes for service sector unions or public sector unions are generally related to changes in timings, infrastructure, technology, etc., which do not have such a major impact on their work conditions. Thus, blue collar unions are always more likely to indulge in workplace changes that public sector or service sector unions as they have greater things at stake, which is also one of the main reasons for greater number of blue collar union conflicts in the past (Parietti, 2015). To gain a deeper insight in to the topic, we can analyse the literature available to us from the past. We will realize that the conflicts related to blue collar unions have always been more than the conflicts related to service or public sector unions. One example which demonstrates that extent to which blue collar unions can be involved in change management programs is the incident that took place at Maruti Indias Manesar Plant (Standard, 2016). Maruti Indias Manesar plant experienced a great outrage (Narayanamurthy et al., 2015) where a blue collar union burned there general manager alive and injured many other employees (Livemint.com, 2016). The incident clearly shows the extent to which blue collar unions can indulge in workplace changes (Standard, 2016). Conclusion Top Trucking Company has come far away from the situation where there were regular conflicts and too many stoppages at the workplace. After the change of the owners and the removal of the previous manager, the yard has been performing better day by day. The workplace changes introduced by the new manager and the new owner have shaped the way for the success of the yard. The cooperation built between the management and the labour union is one of its kinds as it is very difficult to establish such an effective understanding between the two parties in the real world. Thus, the management of the yard should continue to support the manager and should try their best to sustain the changes that have helped the yard in achieving such a huge success in the entire region. References Albo, G. and Kelly, J. (1991). Trade Unions and Socialist Politics. 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