The future context of work in the business environment in South Africa: Some empirical evidence

Ps Nel,Aj Du Plessis,Ae Marx

doi:10.4102/sajems.v8i2.1227

Abstract

The future is uncertain, but management needs to determine and also be informed about possible change trends. This research, however, reports on empirical results of the views of South African HRM practitioners to identify and prioritise business change trends for 2002 and 2010 in terms of the “hard” or “soft” HRM debate in the literature. All organisations employing HRM practitioners were include and a total of 1640 questionnaires were distributed resulting in 207 useable responses. The results highlight trends such as increased international competition, globalisation and inadequate skills in different rankings for 2002 and 2010. It is concluded that HRM practitioners, are influenced by the “hard” or “soft” approach, when they participate in a strategic management context in organisations.

Highlights

Business executives across the globe know that the rate of change and the accompanying necessity to be abreast of changing business conditions is critical for organisations to compete and prosper
The aforementioned are, factors which operate on different continuums in organisations, but are not mutually exclusive should the role of human resources management (HRM) practitioners/ managers be factored into the equation to identify future trends
Over the decades managers have been beset with a variety of trends, including total quality management (TQM), business process reengineering, downsizing, benchmarking, best practice, diversity management, family friendly organisations, outsourcing, environmental sustainability, strategic alliances, learning organisations, knowledge management, ebusiness and the virtual organisation according to Kane (2001)

Summary

Introduction

Business executives across the globe know that the rate of change and the accompanying necessity to be abreast of changing business conditions is critical for organisations to compete and prosper. HRM and management should cooperate closely to utilise their expertise through mutual support to remain highly competitive in the business world of today and tomorrow to avoid the risk of failure These particular functions can not be viewed or managed in a silo context without possible serious negative consequences for an organisation either. The interdependency of HR managers and management is not as common as might be generally thought, but is often fraught with conflict It is the focus of a continuous debate, which revolves around the strategic business direction of an organisation regarding the hard vs soft approach to human resources management in terms of its management philosophy. The identification of whether a particular HRM leaning is either towards the hard or soft approach constitutes the focus of this article in terms of empirical research, executed in South Africa. The article is concluded with some observations and conclusions as to the role of HRM practitioners in change trend identification and the leaning or lack thereof to a particular model in a strategic management context

Trend identification in the business environment

HR profession compentencies for the future

Questionnaire useage and data collection

Demographic responses and results

Findings

Discussion and conclusions