HUMAN RESOURCES AND CHANGE

Nokia is a mobile phone producing company. The first mobile phone from the company was released to the public in 1970s. At that time the company was ahead in the market considering the fact that prior to their first mobile phone, the only portable form of communication was the radio phones used by law enforcers. The company was a pioneer in an industry that is presently flooded by other market players alongside Nokia as well. The company has a production team, the human resources team and the management ream as well. The stakeholders in this company include the owners of the company, the employees and the clients of the company’s products. Nokia is a good case study organization because the information on it is easily accessible. The formation of the company is also fairly simple and easy to work with. It is has had its successes and failures making it a good company to study and analyze. Nokia is an organization with global influence and hence the importance of studying how its human resource management is handled in comparison to other global organizations.

Organizational subsystems are groups of staff within an organization working together as part of the greater company’s staff (Kokemuller, n.d.). The production subsystem needs to be changed especially the one dealing with technology and research. Nokia should be a global force in the smartphone business given its initial position in the mobile phone business. Considering the level that Apple, which got into the business much later, is at right now, Nokia has fallen behind in many areas (Dhoot, 2017). The platform on which Apple runs is much more sophisticated compared to that of Nokia. In handling their human resource affairs, the Apple team is more hands on with development of technology. It is also more aggressive and in touch with their market while on the other hand, Nokia took the market’s needs for granted and developed slower than they should have. This can be attributed to the different operation styles of the human resources teams for both organizations. Apple took their market and developed a method that ensures they keep giving their markets the best possible products in the smartphone technology (admin, 2013). Nokia certainly has to change their technical subsystems of the human resources team in order to keep up with the demands of their market.

The technical subsection of all technology based companies is always the most crucial part of the company. Once the technical personnel is altered, the human resource systems will have optimum operation ground. The people working for the company will be motivated by the success of their work. They will have a drive to push the envelope in terms of technology and eventually the management team will be working with motivated staff. 

Within the organization, the first step to changing the way the technical affairs of the organization are handled, it is important to change the procedures of innovation and development. The technical management will be required to be more open and encouraging to the subordinate staff. These individuals will be encouraged to discover and create ground breaking technology just like Apple does (admin, 2013). The development of contemporary software will raise the stakes of the company. The research team will have to be integrated into the operations of the technical development team in order to keep them in touch with the market demands.

The whole system in the company will be realigned because with better products in the market, the company will be busier bettering their products in order to keep up with the competition. The system will shift from being centered on production of strong gadgets but also factor in the needs of the customers like the market leader that Apple i (admin, 2013)s. The organization of the Nokia Company would require that people within the company have open communication lines. This will ensure that ideas are shared freely and progress is attributed to team work rather than individuals.

A company often has several stakeholders once it opens its doors to the public. The Company owners being key stakeholders will enjoy better market reviews, profits and broader market. They will be in a position to expand their business ventures beyond borders in terms of production and this will help them cross into the territory of multinational business corporation (Mayhew, 2017). Being a multinational corporation is more profits to the company and better access to the markets as well as reduced production costs in the long run. The streamlining of the human resource subsystem of the company will take the company to greater heights.

The employees are important stakeholders to the company. They keep the organization running. The innovation and the actual implementation of the work is according to the employees. The success of the brand depends on the effort put together for course. The human resource takes care of the employees by hiring, training and managing the performance of the employees. The success of the company is the responsibility of the human resource subsystem of the company. Once they hire qualified personnel and facilitate their training efficiently, they have the best chance at success and being in fair competition with other brands.

The clients are the most important stakeholders in the success of the company. When the needs of the clients are well catered for, there are better chances of success. The human resource subsystems is supposed to ensure that the clients are the bosses of the market. They dictate what the company provides. They encourage the employees to be more innovative. An excellent human resource system will be quick to collect feedback from their clients, conduct market research and discover the latest mobile phone technologies. These reforms will make sure that the client guides the company’s future projects. (Lewis, n.d.)

The first step in effecting this change for starters is to hire an external management company. This will be effective in the sense that the people who will be involved in restructuring the company will not have a basis for bias. The purpose of the external company is neutrality. The first subsection to be altered will be the management. The individuals will have to be re-evaluated and retrained in order to fit in to the new system. The second section will definitely be the human resource subsection. This will ensure that the management and the human resource system will work together seamlessly. The final team to restructure will be the technical team. This needs all the hands the company can afford because technology is the basis of the company’s existence. 

After the restructuring, the employment conditions will be reviewed to ensure that people are happy to work for the company. They should have more people yearning to work for the company. It is important for the company to be attractive on all fronts, for the clients, for the employees and possibly even investors in the long run. The first years will be capital intensive but with the right approach the company will eventually be at par with their competitors. The company has to be well managed in order to avoid being dragged back into the loss trajectory.

Selection of the workforce is cannot be over-emphasized. The staff in the company have to be in control of the operations. They need to be innovators and in touch with the market. It is not easy to compete in a free market without going the extra mile to find out whether they are producing quality products. The selection of the employees also determines the way the company is steered. Nokia needs to select their employees better in order to catch up with Apple which is a much younger company in the market. Changing an already established and failed system of a company is a tough call. Many companies normally would sell of their properties and quit the market. Nokia on the other hand could bounce back into the market and compete with other tech giants and maybe one day in the near future we can have a Nokia PC on the market.

Employee orientation is difficult to teach employees. People with genuine dedication like the technology developers at Apple are likely to propel Nokia to greater heights. They have the advantage of having survived in the market even at the bottom of the table.  The orientation of the employees may have brought the company down in the first place. It is for this reason that it is important for the employees selection to be done better. This can be mirrored by the success that Apple has been able to achieve since their entry into the market. Employee orientation should be picked up when they are beginning the recruiting process. Change will be good for the revamping of the Nokia brand. The selection will support the change effectively and efficiently.

Career development is important in maintaining a quality work force. When everybody within the company is being assisted to make their careers better, they make the company more efficient. The more employees are given an opportunity to grow their careers, eventually the company benefits. The change in management and operations is inevitable at this point for Nokia. They are trying to reinvent their original phones which is a good point to start from. The stakeholders are entitled to answers in form of the company’s output. The selection and orientation of the employees is an equally important factor to the improvement of the brand that is Nokia. Finally, the company needs to work extra hard if they have to fit into the current market situation. It is important for the company to have all its sectors covered to propel it in the direction of success. The management of a company is supposed to be oriented towards the needs of the market and as they change, the management is supposed to be in tow. Apple has done it and it is a textbook story of success that Nokia can pick up and go all the way to the top.

References

admin. (2013, December 14). HR Strategy at Apple Make Their Employees Creative and Innovative. Retrieved from HR STRATEGY TOOLS: management-training-gurur.com/2013/12/hr-strategy-at-apple-make-their-employees-creative-and-innovative/

Dhoot, N. (2017). HR Practices at Nokia. Retrieved from Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/doc/52925941/HR-Practices-at-NOKIA

Kokemuller, N. (n.d.). What are Organizational Subsystems? Retrieved from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/organizational-subsystems-41735.html

Lewis, J. (n.d.). How Does Technology Impact HR Practices? Retrieved from Chron: smallbusiness.chron.com/technology-impact–hr-practices-37912.html

Mayhew, R. (2017, January 30). Chron. Retrieved from Who are the Typical Stakeholders in HR Projects?: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/typical-stakeholders-hr-projects-60739.html