+44-7897-074717Mini Review - Journal of Research in International Business and Management ( 2023) Volume 10, Issue 4
Received: 23-May-2023, Manuscript No. JRIBM-23-99692; Editor assigned: 25-May-2023, Pre QC No. JRIBM-23-99692 (PQ); Reviewed: 08-Jun-2023, QC No. JRIBM-23-99692; Revised: 25-Sep-2023, Manuscript No. JRIBM-23-99692 (R); Published: 04-Oct-2023, DOI: 10.14303//jribm.2023.046
In today's around the world, including India, education is considered as a business, and the competition is rising. In this cutthroat environment, managing human resources in universities is equally as difficult as it is in any other sector of business. They are unable to properly manage their own human resources even though practically all universities and related institutes offer courses in human resource management and prepare their students to manage huge enterprises. This is particularly true in India, where the state sector continues to be in charge of higher education. The majority of institutions lack a specialised department that handles HR-related tasks. This essay explores how HRM transitioned from an operational to a strategic role and the vital function that it must play.
Competitive edge, Human resource management, Higher education, Strategic role, Environment
Globalization has profoundly changed employment all around the world. Telecommunications and information technology as well as labour force diversity are two new forces that have transformed how we work and how workplaces are governed and run. In a sense, educational institutions are service providers, but they are also places of employment for their staff. Education institutions need to adjust to the global changes that are occurring. In today's globe, including India, education is recognised as a business, and the competition is growing. In this cutthroat environment, managing human resources in universities is equally as difficult as it is in any other type of business. An organization's practises regarding human resource management have an impact on how both its personnel and the organisation as a whole operate. Effective human resource management may support fundamental goals like quality, profitability, and customer happiness and give the company a sustained competitive edge (Noe et al., 2004). However, despite the fact that almost all universities and affiliated institutions offer human resource management courses and prepare their students to manage large corporations, they are unable to effectively manage their own human resources. This is particularly true in India, where the state sector continues to be in charge of higher education. The majority of institutions lack a specialised department that handles HR related tasks.
Evolution of human resource management
The discipline of human resource management has evolved tremendously since its early days. Around 1900, when industries started to employ people to manage employee welfare, the HR function had its humble beginnings as personnel departments. (Dulebohn et al., 1995) In 1920, the first human resources office was created (Jamrog et al., 2004). Till the middle of the 1990’s, professionals and academics did not discuss strategic issues in HR. 2001's Patrick and Hartmann Employee relations departments are regarded as strategic partners in expanding the company (Patrick et al., 2001). Yeung and Brockbank claim that this transformation was brought about by increased competition, which put pressure on businesses to cut costs and satisfy the constantly rising demands of their customers, as well as the development of information technology and globalization (Yeung et al., 1994). Being aware that an organization's effectiveness largely depended on how well its personnel were treated was another factor in this shift (Ehrlich, 1997) Organizations nowadays have come to realize that HRM ensures the effective and efficient use of human talent toward accomplishing corporate goals.
The function of human resource management in higher education
However, the majority of educational institutions in India, especially those that are part of the public sector and offer higher education, have always been in a safe environment. Despite being aware that privatization has begun, these institutions continue to exist in isolation for a variety of reasons. In the first place, private higher education is prohibitively expensive given the low purchasing power of the general public. Additionally, a number of private colleges and institutions have not been around long enough to establish themselves. In stark contrast to our well established, publicly financed universities and even some of the over a hundred year old affiliated institutions. These reputable institutions are recognized organizations with robust alumni. Additionally, governmental regulatory agencies and their regulations frequently impede the expansion of private players in the higher education sector. These circumstances are only temporary, though. Reduced government funding is already putting pressure on state funded universities. Other changes in the future will pose an even greater threat to them. The middle class' purchasing power will rise; already, the liberal study loans provided to students for higher education have reduced the cost of education. Private universities will also have existed long enough to build a reputation and a brand for themselves. The issue is whether government funded institutions can prosper in the face of competition from private institutions if their human resources are not managed adequately. The answer is simply no. Human resources are also known as intellectual capital in the context of higher education institutions like universities, therefore it stands to reason that their efficient administration is essential to the institution's competitive advantage as well as the advancement of the country.
The fundamental objective of human resources management is to reduce financial risk while enhancing the amount of return on investment from the organization's human capital. By fostering an atmosphere that promotes employee development and satisfaction, HRM also tries to bring out the best in people. A requirement for enhancing employee commitment, which in turn supports institutional growth, is human resources management. According to empirical research, organizational factors like leaders dedication to the implementation process, the use of outside consultants, institutional reputation, and political and bureaucratic decision making procedures all have a significant impact on how well quality management is implemented in educational institutions. According to Csizmadia, Enders, and Westerheijden. A study conducted by Shahzad, Bashir, and Ramay on the effect of human resources management practices on the perceived.
performance of university teachers in Pakistan found a positive correlation between employee compensation and promotion practices and perceived performance, but not a statistically significant connection between performance evaluation practices and perceived employee performance (Csizmadia et al., 2008; Shahzad et al., 2008). The findings of the Green et al., study revealed that Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) has a positive and significant direct impact on organizational performance (Green et al., 2006). In addition, it emerged that SHRM has a tangible, beneficial effect on employee satisfaction, organizational commitment, and individual performance.
However, when applied to the education sector, particularly universities and affiliated colleges, these functions will be modified to suit the demands of this particular industry. Human resource management involves an extensive variety of functions in the corporate world. The following part goes into further information about some of the fundamental tasks that must be important.
Employment and recruitment
In order to ensure that the company has an appropriate supply of human resources at all levels and in all jobs at the right time and in the right place, recruitment and placement are two crucial human resource functions. However, personnel forecasting must be used as the foundation for all hiring and placement decisions. Keeping in mind the current requirements as well as any potential expansion plans, strategies must be developed for hiring a good and sufficient number of teaching and non-teaching employees. The number of students enrolled in all available courses must be taken into account when predicting the internal demand for instruction. It is important to set recruitment deadlines. It is important to set recruitment deadlines. At the moment, we can discover no evidence of this occurring. Particularly in extremely bureaucratic state funded universities, positions may go unfilled for months at a time or are replaced on an as needed basis from year to year. This occurs because the hiring procedure is cumbersome and inflexible, requiring numerous clearances from different government agencies. Reduce the bureaucracy of the selection process, according to Lee, in order to acquire a competitive edge in the teacher recruitment process (Lee, 2005). This strategy needs to evolve in a rapidly evolving environment, or else we risk the finest personnel being quickly absorbed by the commercial players while the state funded institutions are left with the rejects, which would substantially degrade quality.
Training and developing
These HR operations are important because once employed and placed, employees contemplate how they might advance on the job as well as within the company. This is advantageous to businesses since, when fully developed and operating at their highest capacity, employees can be the most valuable assets in any business. Additionally, it equips them to take on more duties in their present and future positions. The need for this function is much greater for educational institutions because training teachers will have a double edged effect on the quality of instruction they can provide, benefiting both students and themselves. Currently, the staff's required completion of induction and refresher courses represents the only training that occurs after employment as teaching faculty. These must be modernized and made more useful and pertinent so that faculty can benefit from such programs. Because educational establishments are so cial settings and in a competitive environment, interpersonal training is essential.
Performance evaluation
Employee work performance levels are evaluated as part of the performance appraisal function (Kleiman, 2000). Employee behaviour can be directed toward the organization's goals with the aid of a good and effective performance appraisal, and it can also be used to track how well those goals are being met. Education institutions must develop their own methods that enable them to identify top performers in addition to the statutory evaluation processes mandated by regulatory agencies. This is essential since the goals of every institution and the students they serve differ, and the standardized criteria established by regulatory agencies frequently fail to produce the desired outcomes.
Compensation and benefits
Choosing the compensation strategies a vital human resource job is to keep in mind the management's remuneration philosophy. Regarding the compensation package, two elements must be taken into account: The management philosophy that underpins the package and the market conditions. Any compensation plan needs to periodically be reviewed, especially in the current dynamic environment, to ensure internal equity and market competitiveness. One area where the system responds slowly and is more reactive than proactive is this one. It has become harder for institutions to sustain themselves due to decreased governmental financing and rising costs. Additionally, when an institution receives funding from both the government and the private sector, the disparities in compensation packages increase internal inequity, which is bad for organizational health. The time has come for institutions to develop their own creative incentive programs to encourage staff members to give their all so that they can build and maintain a competitive advantage (Mahapatro, 2022).
Workplace relations
In any organization, this is what the human resources department does at its heart. To enhance the relationship between employees and management, employee voice mechanisms must be supported. This is especially crucial when dealing with the intelligent labour force that we find at educational institutions. Today, there is a void in this field, which is unfortunate. Massive institutional growth and high levels of centralization, which result in a sense of alienation, are two factors that have contributed to this gap. Large university staff members today don't always have a strong connection to their workplaces. For the purpose of fostering competitive advantage, efforts must be made to alter this and enhance employee relations.
Administrators and academics cannot perform the aforementioned duties. This calls for particular knowledge and proficiency. Human resource management must be given the respect it deserves given how crucial it is to educational institutions performance. There isn't a special department at Indian state funded universities and affiliated schools, nevertheless, that does this task. This didn't matter because all institutions had the same policies prior to the onset of privatization. This homogeneity has been altered by privatization, and there are now significant differences in policies and how they are carried out. The majority of private universities have recognized the value of human resource management and have departments specifically tasked with carrying out this task rather than leaving this crucial role in the hands of academics and administrators who might not be properly trained and equipped to carry it out. State funded institutions must reorganize themselves to establish this department in order to hire specialist individuals full time to carry out essential Human Resource tasks. Such a division that is solely responsible for managing human resources can become strategically important to a school and a source of competitive advantage. Instead of jumping from department to department, employees should be able to contact and deal with one department for all matters relating to hiring, training, promotions, pay, etc. The faculty is currently at the mercy of administrative personnel working in various departments who only follow bureaucratic procedures in order to receive their rightful compensation. This is disheartening since, despite the good compensation packages that are on paper promised, they are really implemented slowly and are open to many interpretations. It's time for human resources to transition from an administrative to a strategic role so that academic institutions may continue to draw in top talent and achieve a competitive edge.