The Global Business Environment and Strategic Human Resource Planning

Paper Summary:

This paper critically evaluates the effects of technology and strategic human resource planning on the development of business enterprise in the turbulent global environment. It examines the effects of changes in human resource planning on the business environment and compares experiences within the United States and developing countries.

From the Paper:

"Today more than ever, organizations must capitalize on a changing business environment, improve profitability and overall productivity, formulate and implement a planning process and make better strategic decisions. Perhaps the most striking change in Human Resource Management today is its increased involvement in human resource planning, while developing and implementing the company's strategy (the company's long-term plan for how it will balance its internal strengths and weaknesses with its external opportunities and threats to maintain a competitive advantage ). The concept of human resource planning takes an added significance, therefore, in firms that build their competitive advantage around their people. However, there are several basic trends, which pose a threat to the accuracy and validity of human resource planning predictions, and which prove to be important factors in determining the strategic direction of most firms today. The most obvious of these trends is the globalization of markets. Firms in days gone by, that competed only with local firms, now face competition from foreign firms. As one expert puts it, "The bottom line is that the growing integration of the world economy into a single, huge market place is increasing the intensity of competition in a wide range of manufacturing and service industries." Deregulation has reinforced this trend, as nations eliminate the legal barriers that protected industries from unbridled competition. More globalization means more competition and more competition means more pressures to improve the quality of the business sector that is; lowering costs to make employers more productive, and to find new ways of achieving cost-effectiveness while creating an avenue for doing things in better and more dynamic ways. Similarly, the Internet and Information Technology have been forcing and enabling firms to become more competitive. Technology is doing more than merely reducing costs and opening up new ways to compete; it also changes the nature of work and creates brand new kinds of jobs. Technology, however, is not the only trend driving the changes in the business environment, as workforce demographics are also changing. Of note, the workforce is becoming more diverse, as women, minority group members and older workers enter the workforce. Today, it is the firm"s workforce that is, its knowledge, commitment, skills and training, that provides the competitive advantage, for World Class Companies, like Microsoft, Sony, AOL, and General Electrics (GE). For this purpose, increased attention has been given to the Human Resource Planning process: from the input stage, through analysis, forecasting, and implementation to evaluation and redesign of the Human Resource Plan."

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