Human Resource Management and Professionalism

Question: Discuss about the Human Resource Management and Professionalism. Answer: Introduction: The purpose of the essay is to analyse the role of strategic human resource management in managing the work force in organisational context. Justitia is an Australian law firm which uses the flexible system of work life balance. The firm allocates its human resources according to the convenience of the employees. This allows the legal professionals working in the firm to enjoy a balance between their personal lives and the legal profession. This approach appears to be having lack of professionalism and create problem for the clients. The reality is just the opposite of the traditional paradigm. The flexible system allows the lawyers to time their jobs which allow them to spend time with their families. This creates motivation and job satisfaction which encourages them to serve their clients better. Today, like Justitia many companies are breaking out of the fixed hour paradigm and embracing the work life balance system. The objective of the essay is to analyse the significance of work life balance in the present day work places. The theories of human resource management have come a long way to attain the importance they have gained today. The term was coined by Peter Drucker who contributed largely to the development of human resource theory and is often addressed as the father of modern management. He also worked on related theory like organisational behaviour, innovation and entrepreneurship (Drucker, 2014). The companies prior to the advent of modern technology and empowerment of human resources viewed them as mere production centres. Technology, on the other hand, has empowered the human resources to participate in the strategic decision making process. Today companies view look upon their employees as the reason behind the core strengths. Henry Fayol (2016) in his theory described the performances of employees as a reflection of the management. This empowerment of employees allowed them to establish a balance between their professionals and their personal commitments. Work Life Balance or WLB is one of the least researched and studied concepts even today. The legal firm of Justitia is adept at dealing with private and public cases. Their flexible working pattern helps them to minimise role conflict among their employees and maximise their job satisfaction (Haar et al., 2014). This vast expanse of their job and the pressure associated with the legal career necessitated Justitia to follow a flexible timing schedule. Professionals are expected to serve clients to the highest standard of in order meet deadlines unfailingly. This puts a lot of physical stress on them. Researches show that such extreme pressure creates depression and suicidal tendencies even among the richest lawyers and doctors (Rogers, Creed Searle, 2014). Thus, work life balance method of Justicia helps professionals like them to carry on their professions efficiently. The official website of the Australian law firm reveals the flexible and collaborative mode of operations of the firm (justitia.com.au, 2017). The legal firm clearly boasts of its flexible and innovative modus operandi but this method has certain disadvantages too. This disadvantage can be countered by the fact that profession of law requires the legal professionals and their clients to meet several times to discuss cases. Flexible timing will allow people to choose their work schedule which may not be aligned to the requirements of the clients. The clients may view this as a lack of sincerity compared to conventional time based legal services. Several lawyers meet the clients simultaneously and discuss the cases. Thus, the lawyers present have complete knowledge about cases and can serve the clients in absence of one another. Justitia charges its clients between $195 and $500 an hour and has preferential pricing for its loyal clients. Thus, considering its pricing strategy it can be inferred that the firm has a strong clientele which favours its flexible working schedules. The disadvantage of flexible work schedules here is a small firm cannot afford to employ so many employees like Justitia. Again, in support of its working methods it can be argued that law is a demanding profession. Professionals should have flexible working schedules which will them to enjoy personal lives and enhance job satisfaction. This would motivate them and help them to serve their high profile clients better. The work life balance and voluntary working patterns of employees create a problem because the timely attendance is considered as a criteria of judging them. However, the managers should train themselves to be flexible with their employees and give their performances more importance over their attendance (Albdour Altarawneh, 2014). Employees may use this system to escape their responsibilities and miss deadlines. However, firm today use technological means to monitor their employees and their performances. This allows the employers control insincere employees while they can give more privileges to the sincere employees (Viktoria Kenning, 2014). Chen and Karahanna (2014) in their work pointed out that technology have made it possible to professionals to carry their documents virtually everywhere blurring the line between home and office. It can be pointed that the technical expertise of the firm has helped it to opt for flexible timing. This mode of operation is also viable in other industries from different sectors. This flexible working pattern can be applied in the client based service industry. This mode of working is extremely viable and is in operation in the other service industries. Vodafone, the British communication giant allows its employees to work in a flexible manner which increases their motivation and job satisfaction. The practice has also enhanced the employee productivity in the company (vodafone.co.uk, 2017). Beck (2014) in his work titled The Brave New World of Work opines that today flexible work is not looked upon as leisure but as a political right to work. Justitias flexible working method is preferred by the modern competitive service industry against the traditional time bound paradigm. Compared to the past years more professional are working on full time basis in various organisations. Doctors work in hospitals; lawyers (as in the example) work in legal firms, armed professionals in armies and so on. The very nature of these professions demands more attention towards requirements of the clients compared to stringent time frames. Thus, this flexible timing finds use in several other big and smalls firms like hospitals, nursing homes, security agencies, pharmaceutical companies and so on. The flexible work life balance environment is prevalent to a great extent in the banking and retail chain industries. Banks and retail chains often allow their employees to work according to their convenience and have a suitable work life balance. One such bank to encourage flexible working pattern to its employees is the HSBC Bank which is based in London and a retail chain is Marks and Spencer (careers.marksandspencer.com, 2017). The flexible working pattern and WLB are integral parts of the remuneration policies of these global organisations. The employees can work as per their discretion like working from home or as per their choice. They are technologically very strong which allows them to create virtual platforms where employees can work together blurring physical distances (hsbc.com plc, 2017). Although this pattern is acceptable in the big MNCs, the SMEs have failed to implement it due to various reasons (couriermail.com.au, 2017). The system of work life balance is becoming common in many other sectors like the insurance sectors in Australia. Vero Insurance is a domestic insurance company in Australia whose operations are restricted within the country. The insurance company is offering flexible working options to its employees so that they are able to satisfy both professional and personal requirements. An article says that this working style will allow even small domestic insurance companies like Vero to attract talents like the multinational insurance companies. The article says this system is very crucial because it will help the companies to replenish their aging work forces with new young vibrant and dynamic young staffs (vero.com.au, 2017). The first recommendation to these companies is that they should apply flexible working hours as a part of their employee policies (Kotey Kotey, 2017). The managers secondly, should be able to trust their subordinates who in turn should be committed to their service quality and productivity goals (Featherstone, 2017). The third recommendation that can be made is that the companies should change their outlook towards judging employee performances. Even today firms consider attendance a performance parameter and managers are accustomed to that practice. The management should encourage employee empowerment and involve them in making strategic policies (Renwick, Redman Maguire, 2013). This will make the employees feel more responsible towards their commitments and will be more productive. The managements should accordingly judge their employees on the ground of their productivity and commitments and not on the attendance based system. The fourth recommendation is that the companies should upgrade their official communication systems which will allow conferencing and work sharing on real time basis (Pfaff et al. 2015). The fifth recommendation is that the managers should set deadlines after consulting the employees but supervise them strictly (Hope Fraser, 2013). The last recommendation is that the employees should be sincere and target focussed. The positions of the employees in organisation have evolved from mere factors of production to the crux of strategic planning. Several industries today encourage flexible working hours and WLB concentrating more on employee productivity and professionalism. However, there are still many companies, especially the small ones who do not allow flexible working hours. It can be opined and summed up that the management and the employees should work together in these fields to create a work culture based on flexibility and professionalism. References: Albdour, A.A. 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