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The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Future of Human Resource Management

Received: 26 May 2021     Accepted: 4 June 2021     Published: 13 July 2021
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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic presented huge challenges to all aspects of life including social, economic, public health, governmental and business activities. Following a year of mandatory closures and quarantine, there is new hope in the fight against the virus as vaccines and new safety precautions have been implemented globally, but the crisis is not over. Many lessons are still being learned about the crisis which points to a need for human resource managers to revisit lessons learned from past emergencies and disasters in addition to organizational responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, existing human resource management plans and policies, occupational safety and health procedures; and continuity plans will need to be revisited to ensure continuity from of operations in future emergency events. This article discusses the business impacts of COVID-19 from a practitioner point of view. The author examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on organizations from a multidisciplinary approach that considers the physical workplace, telecommuting and hybrid business options. This article opens with a discussion on the history of Human Resource Management and continues with a discussion on how enabling technologies, continuity programs and employee health/safety and wellness have shaped human resource management practices. The article concludes with practitioner recommendations for minimizing disruption to the organization’s essential functions by unlinking the organization’s dependence on physical structures, as appropriate. The author challenges human resource managers to challenge current assumptions on how work is to be performed and move toward a model of great flexibility in where and how work should be performed.

Published in Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 9, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.jhrm.20210903.11
Page(s) 58-63
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

COVID-19 Pandemic, Human Resource Management, Emergency Management, Telecommuting

References
[1] Taylor, F. W. (1911). The principles of scientific management. New York: Harper & Row. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://maine.gov/dhhs/btc/articles/taylor-principles-scientificmanagement.pdf.
[2] Chyung, S. Y. (2005). Human performance technology: From Taylor’s scientific management to Gilbert’s behavior engineering model. Performance Improvement, 44 (1), 23–28. DOI: 10.1002/pfi.4140440109.
[3] Blake, A. M &Moseley, J. L. (2010, April). One Hundred Years After The Principles of Scientific Management: Frederick Taylor’s Life and Impact on the Field of Human Performance Technology. Performance Improvements: 49 (5): 27-34.
[4] Jung, C. & Lee, S. (2015, July) The Hawthorne Studies Revisited: Evidence From The US Federal Workforce. Administration and Society; 47 (5): 507-531.
[5] Kennedy, C. (1998). Great minds think alike. Director, 51 (10), 52.
[6] Zaleznik, A. (1984). The Hawthorne Effect: What Mayo Urged In Broad Outline Has Become Part of the Orthodoxy of Modern Management. Retrieved from https://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/hawthorne/09.html
[7] Drucker, P. F. (1954). The Practice of Management. New York: Harper & Row. Print.
[8] Safety and Health Personnel. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US). (2000). Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225533/
[9] OSHA (2021). General Facts. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/jobsafetyandhealth-factsheet.html#:~:text=The%20OSH%20Act%20covers%20all,their%20state's%20OSHA%2Dapproved%20plan
[10] SHRM (2020). Society for Human Resource Management Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/pages/default.aspx
[11] Wineclaw, R, A. (2020) Telecommuting. Research Staters: Sociology. Retrieved from search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=ers&AN=89185784&site=eds-live&scope=site
[12] Ranf D., Mănescu G., & Badea D. (2021). Specific Business Continuity Management Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis. Revista Academiei Forţelor Terestre, 26 (1), 62–68. https://doi.org/10.2478/raft-2021-0010
[13] Saravanan, K. P., Silambarasan, P., Manivannan, A., Sasikala, V. and Sivakumar, T. (2021). Constraints and Management Practices of Dairy Farming during COVID-19 Pandemic Situation. Asian Journal of Dairy and Food Research. 40 (1): 20-24. DOI: 10.18805/ajdfr.DR-1620.
[14] FEMA (2021). “Preparedness Research. Retrieved from https://www.ready.gov/preparedness-research
[15] Asfahani, A. (2021) The impact of COVID-19 on the decision making for the customer relation management in the middle east. Journal of Management and Information Decision Sciences. 24 (3) 1-11.
[16] Anker, T. B. (2021). At the boundary: Post COVID business and management research in Europe and beyond. European Management Journal 39 (2) 171-178.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Anthony Michael Bennett. (2021). The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Future of Human Resource Management. Journal of Human Resource Management, 9(3), 58-63. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20210903.11

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    ACS Style

    Anthony Michael Bennett. The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Future of Human Resource Management. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2021, 9(3), 58-63. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20210903.11

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    AMA Style

    Anthony Michael Bennett. The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Future of Human Resource Management. J Hum Resour Manag. 2021;9(3):58-63. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20210903.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jhrm.20210903.11,
      author = {Anthony Michael Bennett},
      title = {The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Future of Human Resource Management},
      journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
      volume = {9},
      number = {3},
      pages = {58-63},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.20210903.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20210903.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.20210903.11},
      abstract = {The COVID-19 pandemic presented huge challenges to all aspects of life including social, economic, public health, governmental and business activities. Following a year of mandatory closures and quarantine, there is new hope in the fight against the virus as vaccines and new safety precautions have been implemented globally, but the crisis is not over. Many lessons are still being learned about the crisis which points to a need for human resource managers to revisit lessons learned from past emergencies and disasters in addition to organizational responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, existing human resource management plans and policies, occupational safety and health procedures; and continuity plans will need to be revisited to ensure continuity from of operations in future emergency events. This article discusses the business impacts of COVID-19 from a practitioner point of view. The author examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on organizations from a multidisciplinary approach that considers the physical workplace, telecommuting and hybrid business options. This article opens with a discussion on the history of Human Resource Management and continues with a discussion on how enabling technologies, continuity programs and employee health/safety and wellness have shaped human resource management practices. The article concludes with practitioner recommendations for minimizing disruption to the organization’s essential functions by unlinking the organization’s dependence on physical structures, as appropriate. The author challenges human resource managers to challenge current assumptions on how work is to be performed and move toward a model of great flexibility in where and how work should be performed.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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Author Information
  • Associate Faculty, University of Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona, Unites States

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