Industry 4.0, how does it challenge and support HRM.

Industry 4.0 become a general trend in corporate world, more and more companies start to adapt smart factories and office environment than ever. Introduction of new technology such as IOT, AI, Enterprise resource planning, machine learning, etc. these innovations helps corporates not only to automate operational activities but also to make machine learn decisions (Maja, 2018). Industry 4.0 is refers to a new phase in the industrial revolution that focuses heavily on interconnectivity, automation and smart digital technology to change the way business operates and grows through improving manufacturing efficiency and faster decision making (Hecklau et al., 2016).

There are plenty of advantages on industry 4.0 in the prospect of Human resource management (HRM), interconnected systems and big date management systems help business to adapt decentralize decision-making. Where decentralized decision enable business to make quick and accurate decisions. (Maja, 2018).  Introduction of social media such as Linkedin revolutionized how companies attract and recruit employees. The communication with other employees is done via special social media which are not only productive. Also help employees to build better social connection, which can has positive effect on intrinsic motivation of the workers (Bodella and Antonio, 2016). Traditional personal management consist of administration works to maintain accurate employee data. Industry 4.0 and it technologies help companies to outsource or automate these administrative function of HRM which helps organizations to concentrate on its core competencies also lead to major financial savings.

Absolutely, industry 4.0 creates many new opportunities for companies, but at the same time several challengers arising for the business from the Human Resource Management (HRM) perspective. HR managers will face difficulty on creating an open to change culture in the organization since employees tend to believe that automation of work might result in losing job, but the reality is complete opposite. Jobs will not be lost but they might go through certain transformations. The next challenge for managers is to train and develop employees to adapt and make use of newly implemented technology (Pentek, Harmann and Otto, 2016; Bonekamp, 2015). Employees will need completely different competency such as entrepreneurial thinking, creativity, technology skills, leadership skills etc. different jobs need different requirements, the identified competencies are becoming progressively important and this need to be addressed by HR departments (Peter and Happlemann, 2015).
            Companies would require an effective Human resource management strategy to cope up with the challengers of Industry 4.0.  This would allow HR department to play a major strategic role in the organization growth.


Reference

Hecklau, F. Galeitzke, M. Flachs, S. Kohl, H. (2016) Holistic approach for human resource management in industry 4.0: CIRP Conference on Learning Factories. Pp, 1-9.


Brijesh, S. Rajasshrie, P. (2018) Smart HR 4.0 – how industry 4.0 is disrupting HR: Human Resource Management International Digest. 26(4), pp.7-11,
Available from:
https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-04-2018-0059 [accessed 2nd of March 2019].

 Hermann, M. Pentek, T. Otto, B. (2016) Design Principles for Industrie 4.0 Scenarios, International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Koloa, USA.

Bonekamp, L. Sure, M. (2015) Consequences of Industry 4.0 on Human Labour and Work Organisation, Journal of Business and Media Psychology.
Porter ME, Heppelmann JE. (2015) How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Companies. Harvard Business Review, pp.96–114.
Bedolla, J.S. Antonio, G. Chiabert, P. (2017) A novel approach for teaching IT tools within Learning Factories, Procedia Manufacturing 2(9), pp. 175-181.


Comments

  1. Naz Journals 3 April 2019 at 10:38

    Well written article, the using technology in all the fields is a well known factor in the contemporary scenario. Where most organizations using artificial intelligence in decision making process.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shardha_LondonMet_MBA3 April 2019 at 19:10

    Good one, this article briefs what are the major challenges that the current HRM is facing with Industry, 4.0.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Apsara Wickramarathne3 April 2019 at 19:29

    Very good article explains well both pros and cons of Industry 4.0.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Madhawa Ratnayake4 April 2019 at 09:51

    A very nice article about how industry 4.0 helps to improve HRM process. As you mentioned it is a challenge to bring employees under the scope of industry 4.0. HRM has to focus on developing the talent required and train the current employees through training programs. as well as re-designing the work environment to minimize the skill mismatch between jobs and employees. The main challenge will be to the HRM, how to do that without any disturbance to the work floor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rashid5 April 2019 at 03:50

      Well said brother . That what this article means .

      Delete
  5. Razi Jalaldeen4 April 2019 at 18:38

    Thank you very much for opening a discussion on current topic, industry 4.0, and relating it with HRM. There are many good points for us. However, I can not totally agree with automation and outsourcing of HR functions as strategic HRM suggest that HRM should get a strategic importance in an organisation. I would like to know your views on this matter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rashid5 April 2019 at 03:58

      Yes Mr.razi. your right. HRM should be more strategic to face the industry 4.0. According research papers i went through, only strategy development and decision making remain in house with top management and other administrative works in HRM will be automated or outsourced. Motivation and grievance handling which need human touch will be pass to all HR and Non HR managers in organisations including bottem line managers.

      Delete
  6. Unknown6 April 2019 at 19:14

    Good points and nice to read.

    ReplyDelete
  7. kanchana dissanayaka7 April 2019 at 19:36

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sanjeewani Adikari16 April 2019 at 11:18

    Everything has pros and cons, so does Industry 4.0. In this fast moving world Industry 4.0 can be the next step for organizations to run their operations smoothly and efficiently. However as being discussed there definitely can be challenges in starting up. Specially since most of the employees are not open to change. Hence prior guidance and change management mechanisms could be given to the employees to effectively face change and retain in the company.

    ReplyDelete

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