Workforce Flexibility
Topic: Flexibility within the workforce is essential to maintain a competitive advantage. Discuss this statement with reference to an organization of your choice 1. Introduction:
Human resource is one of the most important factors that decides the survival and success of a company. Like every department in a company, Human resource management needs to modify frequently during time to adapt to the continuous changes in external environment. The external changes are as Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (2011) stated:
Population aging, a strong economy, and historically low unemployment pose new challenges in terms of skill and labor shortages, productivity, and worker retention. Furthermore, high female labor force participation rates, the predominance of the dual-earner family, and emerging trends such as elder care make work–family balance a major personal challenge for many workers.
This leads to the change in Human Resource management which is about workforce flexibility. There is an idea claiming that flexibility within workforce is essential to maintain competitive advantages of company. In my opinion, it is proper. Though flexibility has its own downsides, in general, flexibility always prove the irreplaceable role in keeping the company survive in changing environments and does help maintain company’s competitive advantages. The following argumentative essay is to support the idea above. 2. Definition workforce flexibility:
Before knowing the power of workforce flexibility, it is necessary to have an idea of it. According to John D. Keiser and Gerald R. Ferris (n.d), workforce flexibility refers to an organization 's ability to adapt its human resources in a manner appropriate to increasingly changing environmental conditions (Blackwell reference online, n.d). It can be understood that in a continuously and increasingly changing environment, companies and organizations have to be flexible in many aspects including labor force to
Human resource is one of the most important factors that decides the survival and success of a company. Like every department in a company, Human resource management needs to modify frequently during time to adapt to the continuous changes in external environment. The external changes are as Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (2011) stated:
Population aging, a strong economy, and historically low unemployment pose new challenges in terms of skill and labor shortages, productivity, and worker retention. Furthermore, high female labor force participation rates, the predominance of the dual-earner family, and emerging trends such as elder care make work–family balance a major personal challenge for many workers.
This leads to the change in Human Resource management which is about workforce flexibility. There is an idea claiming that flexibility within workforce is essential to maintain competitive advantages of company. In my opinion, it is proper. Though flexibility has its own downsides, in general, flexibility always prove the irreplaceable role in keeping the company survive in changing environments and does help maintain company’s competitive advantages. The following argumentative essay is to support the idea above. 2. Definition workforce flexibility:
Before knowing the power of workforce flexibility, it is necessary to have an idea of it. According to John D. Keiser and Gerald R. Ferris (n.d), workforce flexibility refers to an organization 's ability to adapt its human resources in a manner appropriate to increasingly changing environmental conditions (Blackwell reference online, n.d). It can be understood that in a continuously and increasingly changing environment, companies and organizations have to be flexible in many aspects including labor force to