How HR enables an organization to adapt in an era of disruption

Introduction

“Disruption” is a commonly heard buzzword in today’s business world, which was initially introduced about 20 years ago by Harvard Business School professor, Clayton Christensen, where he alluded to the way emerging technology could redefine the way we do business. “Disruption” means that companies who manufacture successful but expensive products prefer to disrupt themselves to avoid being overtaken by newer companies who produce cheaper and simpler alternatives to the marketplace. In case they are not disrupting ourselves, they will be disrupted as soon as possible.

Talerngsri (2017) points out that changing before we need to is a more effective way than changing because we have to, although it is difficult to perceive how the technique consumerization with practical innovation when others completely getting a handle on the concept. Some of the factors such as the rise of contingent labor, the multi-generational workforce, the boom in consumerization, the upsurge of entrepreneurs and startups, as well as the development of the C generation and especially the digital disruption, are causing disruption in the organization (Talerngsri, 2017). As Ronnie (2018) metiones, some specialists state that in more than one-third of occupations in South Africa are at high risk of being lost since human labor will be replaced by digitization and computer innovation. It potentially leads to around 5. 7 million employees lose their jobs. A World Economic Forum report also predicts that about one-third of current abilities and skills human owns will be weak even disappear gradually. This causes a critical influence on Human Resource (HR) department. How would they manage workforce that is possibly obsolete every two years?

Disrupting HR in Digitzal Era

Creating a flexible working environment Facing waves of change transform global business, HR needs to embrace disruption and truly understand that create a flexible workplace is an essential path to be disrupted in the digital era. Talerngsri (2017) assumed that it is a trend that future-employees are no longer bound to stay in the office, sit in a cubicle and work from 9 to 5,instead, they will become location-independent and be able to work when and where they want as they can get access to WiFi and relative ecosystem to get the jobs done. This is because internet and mobile devices have transformed the way people work, interact and collaborate. Mura (2018) indicates that offices have changed and employees often work remotely. This allows companies to eliminate the geographical barriers that once limited the available talent pool. Employees enjoy working from home as well, while many people now travel a lot on their job since a direct contact with prospects and clients is becoming always more important in order to create authentic relationships. However, mobility is also a challenge because employees need to be able to access resources from pretty much anywhere at any time without limitations but also without creating security issues for the firm (Mura, 2018).

Centralizing and communicating data Consistency all through each HR process is fundamental (Mura, 2018). Rather than making separate procedures and frameworks for onboarding, learning and development, performance administration, and all other aspects of employee experience, companies are required to manage all aspects applying a centralized system and particular applications that enable employees to move consistently from one stage to another. Moreover, documentation, contracts, onboarding documents, company data, and knowledge management is required to be centralized, well-organized, and readily accessible from anywhere. HR should make organizations effectively move all functions to digital applications so that draw in and retain digital talents. In this new workplace, sharing is a power and an attitude that will turn out to be significantly more common than the old practice with regard to storing data so that nobody else can take credit for thoughts. This is because that the smartest person nowadays with a great amount of information and knowledge just needs a mobile phone and the Internet. Talerngsri (2017) thinks that the ability to learn new things and apply the acquired skills into practice is much more valuable and crucial than knowledge.

Evaluating and Rewarding Employee Digitally

Using new technological approaches to reward and incentive are attractive for employees especially to Millennials and the Generation Zs who are tech-savvy and used to interacting on social media. Research shows that millennials are more eager to on experiential opportunities than traditional benefits or financial motivations. This implies they may put a high premium on things such as travel allowance, free tickets and vouchers to sports or music activities. In addition, it is more prevalent for millennials to leave their jobs than previous generations, where they are not satisfied and expect higher standard affirmation within the working environment. HR department should establish an automated feedback mechanism to provide continuous assessment instead of a lumbering annual performance appraisal.

Ronnie (2018) lists some start-ups like Lattice, TinyPulse, and Sugata have applied this concept into their HR management system and taken it to the extreme with short weekly reviews that are attractive for employees to complete. Other organizations also have launched collaborative initiatives that help to motivate and engage their employees. Take Accenture Digital as an example, offers junior staff can gain secondments and opportunities to work on virtual extramural projects in a virtual space. Utilizing new technologies to evaluate employees in real time can be easier to see what employees deserve increased pay or a bonus while understanding why others may not be.

Playing a predictive role

The ability to predict future trends will be a critical component of HR when it comes to effectively adapting to different procedures that are currently disrupting the ecosystem. A prescient part would help HR evaluate potential pitfalls and design programs to resist sudden market changes. HR ought to ensure that the company remains relevant to the talent pool in the coming few years. This requires forecast on the part of HR departments to construct their understanding of expectations and desires of their future workers. All this would advance bubble down to mapping out how the business environment would change. Since there is a shift in shopper demography, HR offices would have to equal consideration to customer inclinations as they do to changing ability desires. It is the part of HR to bring future thought into their decision-making system and evaluate whether their strategies are future ready. However, this change in perspective might be difficult to make since the loop of conducting repetitive worthless tasks becomes a major impediment when HR operations today prefer to address transactional work rather than focus on transformational activities.

The most important for HR professionals is to head towards the automation of transactional processes so that it has the bandwidth to bring change-building transformational measures. This automation would give HR the space to embrace newer technologies to stay ahead of the curve. This would ensure that the various verticals within the gambit of HR, from compensation and benefits to talent acquisition, are future-proofed. This would also help HR professionals to understand the environment better and use this information to plug in new tool and techniques wherever they see fit.

Conclusion

Disruption stems from challenging the status quo and the established norms. This would be a situation that is eventually faced by all HR departments. Disruptions are not a choice and the HR function itself might go extinct if HR verticals are unable to disrupt and adapt. Far from being a threat, the future is bright and filled with opportunity for those HR professionals who are able to shift gears quickly and think afresh about how they add value. HR has to innovate and move beyond its traditional role and redefine the rules of the game to be able to stay ahead of the curve and use the various upcoming disruptions to its advantage.