The case study is based on observation through strategic visioning and consulting for Women for Women International. Last year the Board of Directors for WfWI ousted their founding CEO and Leader Zainab Salbi. The ripple effect of this decision lead to many people quitting and the subsequent replacement of their entire Global Leadership Team. Issues that arose were: Lack of Strategic Direction, Lack of Visionary Leadership, and Lack of Trust throughout the organization vertically and horizontally.
Introduction
Women International at present is facing one of the biggest challenge of managing human capital. It has to make sure that they manage their employees in a manner where they can ensure maximum productivity and can also get the work completed on time along with provide them supportive leadership. It is important for the management to understand that not all human beings are the same and all of them should be dealt with in a different manner. In addition to this, there are a number of issues arise because of employee mismanagement. Some of them vary from one department to the other while the rest of them are common global and are experienced by every company; therefore, it is essential that proper steps are taken to address these issues and a solution for the future is provided.
Discussion
Although there are a number of issues related to the Women International one of the most critical issue is to manage and/or cope with change. Ninety percent of the employees in any company face difficulty in any change that is brought and implemented in the company.
The Issue
This issue has been ongoing in the business world since long. It is human nature that change is not accepted by them in the first instance. All of them take time to accept and at first they resist the change that is being brought and implemented; however, it is the responsibility of the Women International to make sure that the change that is being implemented is accepted by the employee in the most effective manner (Beaman, 2002). This will assist them in working in a positive manner and will also assure that the business activities are not adversely impacted by the implementation of change in the company.
Management of change can be difficult when the employees are not ready to accept the new policies and also when most of the employees are elderly and old. It is the characteristic of old employees that they do not welcome change and do not like companies who bring in change quite frequently in the working process. This is because the level of acceptance and adjustment in the older people is less as compared to the young individuals. This is where companies need to work and make sure that the change is not resisted by any of the employee of the company. If it is resisted and not accepted, then it is the company that will be at a loss.
Furthermore, when the change is accepted by the employees, the management should ensure that employees are able to cope with the change that is being implemented. This will help the employees in knowing that the company is working for them and is helping them to work with the new and the changed procedures in the company (www.gtlaw.com). Their way of coping will help the employees in working towards the betterment of the company and also make sure that the appropriate way of working is adopted. In this manner, the management of the company will assist the employees in working keeping in mind the change that has been implemented. This issue exists in the corporate world due to the fact that the management of certain companies do not work with the employees after the change has been implemented.
Reason of the Issue
The main reason of not being able to manage and cope with the change is the inability of the companies to work with the employees and to make them accept the change. The management of the companies is unable to make the employees understand as to why the change has been implemented and actually what the factors that drove change in the organization were. It is due to lack of strategic direction, lack of visionary leadership, and lack of trust throughout the organization vertically and horizontally. Employees feel unimportant and think that they are not being valued in the company when all of a sudden change is implemented in the company and the working process is changed (Veder, 2009). This reason should be worked upon and the management of the companies should be able to work with the employees and communicate them the reason of the change that has been implemented.
Not communicating the reason of change by leaders is another reason why this issue occurs and takes place. It is in the interest of the company, as well as, the employees that the reason is being communicated because once the employees know as to why the change had been implemented, they will make sure that they work according to the new requirements of the company. Women International should overcome its weakness of being unable to help the employees to work according to the proposed changes.
Two main factors; lack of communication and the inability of the management to work and assist the employees are the reasons as to why the issue of coping with change exists in different organizations (Lytras, 2009). Once the companies work towards these two reasons, they will witness a drastic drop in the percentage of coping with organizational changes among the employees.
Human Capital Management Strategy
There are a number of human capital management strategies that help in resolving the issues related to global human capital. It is important and essential that the strategy that has been formulated is done in a manner in which the issue that is occurring in the organization is resolved and that the employees are able to perform their work in a manner in which they can help the company to grow and succeed in the industry it is operating in.
For resolving the issue of coping with change among the employees, the management will have to formulate a strategy wherein the line of communication and authority are clear so that the employees are well aware of the changes that are being brought and that are being implemented in the company (Rao, 2007). This will help them in working towards the common goal that the company has set and that they are comfortable with the changes that are being implemented. When communicating, the management should not only put its point across, instead it should make sure that the complaints of employees and problems are also heard. This will help the employees in getting rid of their frustration and will allow them to work peacefully.
In addition to this, another strategy that can be formulated is the one that includes the management to work with the employees. This will help the employees in learning as to how they should work now and will also get to know as to what the company expects from them after the change has been implemented (Beaman, 2002). Out of the many reasons of implementing change, one important and common reason is the changing trends of doing business and the changing ways in which business is being held.
Other common strategies include investing in training programs that are conducted at workplaces and talent management strategies. It is seen that when change is implemented, many employees tend to leave the company because they are not being taught to cope with change and even their talent is not managed in an appropriate manner. The most effective strategy till date is investment in training programs and other workshops that help the employees to manage change and to ensure that they are able to cope with it after it has been implemented in the company (Aamondt, 2012).
Another important factor that might give rise to the human capital issue is the improper or doing no workforce planning at all. Most of the successful organizations give priority to the operational workforce planning such as tracking of headcounts etc. This function is considered to be the most indefinable one but is also considered to be the most effective one on the market performance. The reason for this is because it purely focuses on what elements are required in order to make the business successful and also to make sure that the organization is well prepared predict and to adapt necessary changes if required. Therefore it is essential for lower performing organizations to devise their workforce planning in order to get desirable outcomes.
Workforce analytics
Even most of the Human Resource organizations are working immensely great but still many of them lack the ability to analyze, measure and draw meaningful insights from their data related to workforce and measuring the Return On Investment (ROI) of their human capital (Bontis & Fitz-Enz, 2002). Approximately about more than 50% of the groups which are engaged in HR voted in the favor of workforce analytics as an integral part of the organization but in actual, only 14% among those HR groups showed that they were effectively utilizing this method. The reason for this is measuring only HR activities that involves time to fill, turnover rate and headcount instead of focusing on the effectiveness such as quality of attrition and movement would not give your desired result for which having good grip on the workforce analytics is very important (Aamondt, 2012).
Managing Organizational Change
Organizations that are following the reactive strategy are also considered to have human capital issues as well. CEO of the Women International would like its employees to go for a proactive approach and should also have the capability of anticipating any change and adapt to necessary strategies according to that. But this is not the case in many organizations and the reason behind this is lack of managing organizational change.
Future Human Capital Management Trends
Human capital management trends have almost been similar over the years. The way people are managed is the same; however, today there is a huge difference in the way of working and the way business is done. This is the aspect that has created a difference in the human capital management trends. It is important for the people to identify the factors and elements that have changed the environment and that has caused people to manage their workforce in a different manner (Thomas, 2008). The concept and trend of management has been the same; however, it is a bit modified due to the changing world and new business.
Furthermore, in the future, the human capital trends have helped the companies to ensure that their employees are being treated in the right manner and that they are not facing any problem while working the company (Thomas, 2008). Although there are employees who are not happy, and are looking to the leave their current organization, these strategies help the companies to retain their valuable employees. This is where such strategies come into play. They ensure that the company does not lode any talented employee, thus ensure talent management at the company.
The future of capital management strategies has a lot in store for the employees and the companies. These strategies will make sure that the companies are able to manage their employees in a much more effective manner that will help the company in becoming the leader in the industry.
Conclusion
The above discussion points out several important factors and aspects that are essential for Women International when they are implementing change. Human capital management is an element that is vital for the companies and they should make sure that they are managed in the right manner. This will help them in knowing more as to how employees should be managed and how they should be motivated to work despite of the hard situations. The human capital issues should be addressed with the right strategy that will impact the working of the individuals in the company. In short it can be said that proper strategies and planning will help in reducing the human capital problems at a global level and that the companies should be able to forecast the trends so that a proper action can be taken accordingly.
References
Aamondt, M. (2012). Industrial/organizational psychology: An applied approach (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ISBN-13: 9781111839970
Beaman, K. (2002), “Boundaryless HR: Human Capital Management in the Global Economy,” Rector Duncan & Associates, Inc.
Data retrieved from: http://www.gtlaw.com/Experience/Practices/Global-Human-Capital-Solutions, on 28th July, 2013
Lytras, M. (2009), “Knowledge Ecology in Global Business: Managing Intellectual Capital,” Gale Group
Rao, P. (2007), “Enriching Human Capital Through Training and Development,” Excel Books
Thomas, D. (2008), “Managing Human Capital: Global Trends and Challenges,” Harvard Business School
Veder, J. (2009), “Reducing Human Capital Risk in a global war for talent: How recruitment agencies could help in recruiting and retaining talent,” Diplomica Verlag
