Preparing Employees For The Future Of Work: Challenges And Strategies

Student is required to do extensive reading on Human Capital areas, which is focusing on “preparing people for the future of work”.

Develop a report to your CEO related to preparing employees for the future organization and explain the challenges and issue pertaining on human capital.

Future of work

As opined by Hollenbeck and Jamieson (2015), the recent technological developments and their impact on the contemporary business world had changed the business models and processes used by them in a substantial manner. Starr, Ganco and Campbell (2018) are of the viewpoint that the impact of these technologies is not only evident on the business models as well as processes used by the organizations but at the same time the nature of services that they offer to the customers. In this regard, it needs to be said that the contemporary business enterprises are offering the kind of products or services which were even unthinkable in the past ages (Crocker & Moliterno, 2016). More importantly, the use of these innovative technologies have not only helped these organizations to gain competitive advantage but at the same time helped them to earn a higher amount of revenue as well (Delery & Roumpi, 2017). However, at the same time it needs to be said that the kind of work that the employees related to these organizations is drastically different from the ones that the employees needed to perform in the earlier times. As stated by Jacobson and Sowa (2015), the net result of this is the fact that the modern organizations not only need to offer adequate training to these employees so that they are being able to handle their work in an effective manner but also to formulate effective human capital management policies to fulfill their basic needs. This report will focus on the manner in which the modern organizations need to prepare people for the future of work.

Mallon, Klinger and Lanivich (2015) are of the opinion that the work human beings would be required to perform is likely to depend heavily on the different emerging technologies of the present times. For example, it is expected that the different organizations of the future times would be dependent on the disruptive technologies like 3D printing, 5D printing, internet of things and others (Burkemper, 2017). More importantly, these diverse technologies are likely to drastically change the kind of work that the human beings would be required to perform. In this regards, I believe that in the future most of the physical labor would be performed by the robots and other kinds of machines and the major job role of the human beings would be to supervise the work of these machines. The effects of these technologies are likely have more pronounced effective on the IT, manufacturing and other kinds of organizations which are more dependent of recent or modern technologies. Thus, the HRM teams of different organizations would have to drastically change the policies as well as strategies that they are currently using for the effective management of the human capital of the organizations. In addition to this, the organizations would at the same time have to change the strategies that they are currently along with the nature of training that is being offered to the employees so that they can perform their job roles in a much effective manner.    

Human Capital

As argued by Delery and Roumpi (2017), employees are the backbone of the modern business enterprises and it is them that the business prospects of an enterprise depend to a great extent. For example, it is seen that the employees are imbued with the responsibility of performing the major job roles within the framework of an organization on which the profitability as well as the performance of an organization depends (Sundaramurthy, Kor & Pukthuanthong, 2015). I personally agree with this viewpoint because of the fact that if the employees do not perform the job or tasks which have been delegated to them then the work of an organization can get affected in an adverse manner. The net result of this is the fact that the organizations take the help of different kinds of strategies like total quality management, effective training programs and others for the maximization of the performance of the employees (Allen, Lee & Reiche, 2015). However, within the cannon of the contemporary business world it is seen that the organizations are relying heavily on the modern technologies like robotics, internet of things, cloud computing and others for the completion of the work that they normally perform (Mallon, Klinger & Lanivich, 2015). This has changed the job roles of the employees in a substantial manner and it is seen than rather than doing all the hard labor like in the earlier times the employees are required to take the help of these innovations to complete the jobs or tasks that has been allocated to them. I personally believe that the use of these innovations have much simplified the job roles of the employees however at the same time they need to have the required kind of skills sets so as to use these innovations in an effective manner. It is precisely here that the notion of human capital management gains prominence within the spectrum of the contemporary business world.   

I am of the viewpoint that there are various issues or challenges that the organizations are likely to face while preparing people for the kind of work that they are likely to work in future. As opined by Jacobson, Sowa and Lambright (2014), the present insistence of the organizations to use the different innovative technologies within the framework of their organizations is an indicative of the fact that the kind of work that the individuals would do in future would be heavily dependent of these innovative technologies. However, even in the 21st century it is seen that there are various individuals who still like to take the help of the old manual style of working and do not like to take the help of innovations for the work that they are required to perform (Hassan, 2016). This can not only be ascribed to the routine habit that they have developed but also to lack of technological expertise. Thus, in order to prepare these people effectively for the future kind of kind the organizations and the HCM would have to not only overcome this resistance from the employees but also offer them adequate amount of training so that they are being able to use these innovative technologies and work accordingly.

Challenges and issue pertaining to human capital in future organizations

I personally believe that another major challenge that the organizations are likely to face would be related to the issues or the problems that the employees are likely to have in future. For example, currently it is seen that the individuals can approach the HCM or the HRM team of the organization that they are working for and resolve the issues that they have. However, in future it is likely that the major organizations would be using employee portals wherein they would have to write the complaints or grievances that they have and it is likely that in the absence of human interaction the employees are likely to face problems (Cherkesova et al., 2016). In addition to this, the HCM and the organizations are also likely to face problems related to effective management and also the development of human capital in future because of over-dependence on technologies. For example, the over-dependence on technologies is likely to make the work of the human beings replaceable and thus the focus of the organizations is likely to shift from the human capital to the technological resources (Burkemper, 2017). These in short are the major challenges or issues that the organizations and HCM is likely to face in future.

Riley, Michael and Mahoney (2017) are of the viewpoint that the Human Capital Management (HCM) can be seen as a comprehensive set of policies or practices which are concerned with the recruitment, management, development and optimization of the human capital related to an organization. In this regard, it can be said that the notion of HCM is almost coterminous with the notion of Human Resource Management (HRM). However, Hobdari, Sun and Goodstein (2016), argue that the major functions of the HCM within the framework of an organization can be segregated into three sections, namely, core administrative support, strategic HCM support and other HCM related functions. Furthermore, these roles of the HCM become especially important within the cannon of the modern organizations which are heavily dependent on different technologies because of the complexity of the work that the employees need to perform (Sadiq, 2017).    

Vomberg, Homburg and Bornemann (2015) have stated that the HCM needs to perform a plethora of administrative support functions within the framework of an organization like personnel administration, benefits administration, payroll, service center, portal/employee self-service and others. For example, it is seen that the HCM in future would have to understand the problems faced by the employees as well as come up with possible solutions for the mitigation of these problems (Burkemper, 2017). I am also of the viewpoint that the HCM needs to effectively manage the benefits or compensations that the organization has promised to offer to the employees. In this regard, the individuals related to the HCM needs to review as well as analyze the performance of the employees on a regular basis and then calculate whether they are entitled to the benefits that had been promised to them by the future organization (Hassan, 2016). The same can be said regarding their job role to administer the payroll or the salaries of the employees. In addition to this, they also need to take the help of recent technologies for the creation of employee portal wherein the employees can not only review their performance, the benefits or the compensations that they are entitled to, post their comments regarding the organization or any grievances and other (Gambardella, Panico & Valentini, 2015).

Human Capital Management in the context of the future of work

As opined by Cherkesova et al. (2016), the major job roles that the HCM needs to perform as part of their strategic support that they offer to the organizations are workforce planning, competency management, time and expense management, compensation planning, recruitment, training and others. I am of the viewpoint that one of the major job roles of the HCM within the framework of the future organizations would be to recruit new employees so as to manage the work of the concerned organizations in an effective manner. In addition to this, they are also required to offer the right kind of training services to the employees so that they can perform as per the expectation of the organization. Jacobson, Sowa and Lambright (2014) have stated that the HCM would also need to contribute in a substantial manner towards the time as well as expense management of the organizations regarding the various projects or the jobs that the future organizations would undertake. More importantly, I am also of the opinion that the HCM needs to effective devise the compensation packages that would be provided to the employees of the organization. In addition to these, the HCM also plays a substantial role in the job designing as well as planning and are also required to develop the talent pool of the organization as well.

I am of the viewpoint that these three the major job roles of the HCM within the spectrum of the functions that they render to the modern organizations. For example, they are required to create regular report in which they need to discuss the problems that the employees are facing, polices that need to be used for their resolution, the manner in which the talent pool of the organization can be enhanced and other aspects (Starr, Ganco & Campbell, 2018). More importantly, they are required to take the help of the method of analytics to interpret the data that they collected related to the employees and also the organization to decide the future course of HCM policies (Hollenbeck & Jamieson, 2015). Furthermore, they are also imbued with the responsibility of ensuring the fact that the workflow of the organization is being managed in an effective manner through the use of various policies as well as strategies like motivation, training and others.

As opined by Jacobson and Sowa (2015), an organization needs to ensure the fact that the HCM or HRM strategies which are being followed by it are in synchronicity with the organizational or business strategies followed by it. I personally believe that this is important not only from the perspective of the organizations but at the same time from the perspective of the employees since if there is a mismatch between the two then this can cause problems not only for the employees but also for the organization as well. For example, if an organization is trying to increase the range of services offered by it to the customer or is following an aggressive growth strategy then the HCM of the organization needs to ensure the fact that it is offering adequate amount of training to the employees (Crocker & Moliterno, 2016). In addition to this, the use of the policy of total quality management would also be helpful in this regard.

Mallon, Klinger and Lanivich (2015) are of the viewpoint that one of the major job roles of the HCM within the framework of an organization is to effectively develop the human capital or the talent pool of the concerned organization. Furthermore, I believe that for the effective development of the human capital the HCM needs to not only offer adequate training to the employees but also take into effective consideration the problems that the employees are facing and try to resolve them in the most effective manner. In addition to this, the HCM also needs to develop an effective organizational culture wherein the employees would be able to use the technological resources of the organization in an effective manner and also develop skill sets so as perform as per the expectation of the organization (Delery & Roumpi, 2017). As opined by Riley, Michael and Mahoney (2017), the HCM also needs to ensure the fact that the goals or the objectives of the individual employees of an organization are in alignment with the overall strategic goals or objectives of the organization. Thus, it can be said that the effectiveness as well as business prospects of an organization depends to a great extent on the fact whether the HCM strategies followed by the organization for the development of human capital are in alignment with the overall organizational strategies followed by the organization or not.

Conclusion 

To conclude, the notion of HCM is likely to undergo a significant amount of change in the future because of the nature of work that the individuals are likely to perform. The future work that the organizations would perform is going to be heavily dependent on the various innovative technologies and thus it becomes all the more important for the HCM to not effectively train the employees but at the same time design their job roles in a manner that would help them to perform in the best possible manner. However, at the same time, not only the employees, organizations but also the HCM are likely to face various kinds of issues or challenges related to the development of human capital and also their management. Thus, it can be said that the business prospects of the future organizations is likely to depend greatly on the effectiveness with which they are being able to develop as well as manage the human capital which are a part of their organization.

References 

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Burkemper, A. C. (2017). The Influence of Director Human and Social Capital and Firms' EO on Corporate Entrepreneurship. In Academy of Management Proceedings(Vol. 2017, No. 1, p. 15868). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

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