Answers for Human Resources management
How does HRM enable organisations to adapt to the dynamic changes in the environment? Illustrate with examples.
Nowadays most organizations operate in a dynamic environment. A dynamic environment, with frequent unpredictable events which have an impact on the organization, implies that management needs to align the organization with this ever changing context. Organizations struggle when the rate of change in their environment outpaces their organizational capacity to keep up (Foster & Kaplan, 2001). It is no longer possible for organization to get better: they need to get different (Hamel, 2000). We pose that organizations need to get different in the way they cope with dynamics. One way of doing this is by no longer managing uncertainty but by embracing it. This is what truly agile organizations do.
Environmental dynamism has lead to a focus on organizational capabilities as the principle source of competitive advantage in such an environment (Grant, 1996). These organizational capabilities are referred to as dynamic capabilities (Teece e.a., 1997). Dyer and Shafer discuss a „growing interest in an entirely new organizational paradigm – one that views organizational adaption not as a one-time or even periodic event, but as a continuous process. That paradigm is Organizational Agility‟ (1998: 6). Organizational Agility is considered a necessary dynamic capability for organizations operating in a dynamic environment. Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) expand the concept of dynamic capabilities by stating that the effective patterns of dynamic capabilities varies with market dynamism. This means that organizational agility is not an on/off-switch. Organizations can have a certain level of organizational agility. In this paper we first discuss the organizational practices organizations apply to cope with a dynamic environment, thereby enhancing their level of organizational agility. The organizational practices focused on three agility-competencies will be
Nowadays most organizations operate in a dynamic environment. A dynamic environment, with frequent unpredictable events which have an impact on the organization, implies that management needs to align the organization with this ever changing context. Organizations struggle when the rate of change in their environment outpaces their organizational capacity to keep up (Foster & Kaplan, 2001). It is no longer possible for organization to get better: they need to get different (Hamel, 2000). We pose that organizations need to get different in the way they cope with dynamics. One way of doing this is by no longer managing uncertainty but by embracing it. This is what truly agile organizations do.
Environmental dynamism has lead to a focus on organizational capabilities as the principle source of competitive advantage in such an environment (Grant, 1996). These organizational capabilities are referred to as dynamic capabilities (Teece e.a., 1997). Dyer and Shafer discuss a „growing interest in an entirely new organizational paradigm – one that views organizational adaption not as a one-time or even periodic event, but as a continuous process. That paradigm is Organizational Agility‟ (1998: 6). Organizational Agility is considered a necessary dynamic capability for organizations operating in a dynamic environment. Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) expand the concept of dynamic capabilities by stating that the effective patterns of dynamic capabilities varies with market dynamism. This means that organizational agility is not an on/off-switch. Organizations can have a certain level of organizational agility. In this paper we first discuss the organizational practices organizations apply to cope with a dynamic environment, thereby enhancing their level of organizational agility. The organizational practices focused on three agility-competencies will be