A system  consists of two or more parts (or sub systems) that work together as an organized whole with  identifiable  boundaries.e.g.  human body is a system consists of sub systems  , car both have  identifiable  boundaries include HR department in diagram each HR activity  relates directly to every other activity . e.g.   The challenges faced by  the HR department   affects the selection of employees the selection  sub system influences  the department’s development and evaluation of employees/

in addition each sub system  is affected by department’s  objectives and policies and by the external environment  in which HR management  takes place.

The purpose of HRM  is to improve the productive contribution  of people to the organization  in way that are strategically , ethically and socially responsible.As a result of these activities  many job openings can be  filled from within  rather than from  outside firms. The results should lead to  more  effective work force.To evaluate  employee performance  appraisal  are conducted periodically.They get feedback  and spot weaknesses . HR sub systems  affects  each other and specialist must   be aware of this inter depending. Perhaps the most effective way  to recognize possible  complications is through  system thinking.

An applied system view in HR activities is as taking  inputs and  transforming them into outputs.

Then the manager/HR specialist  check the results to see if  they are correct.  This checking  process procedures  feedback which  is information  that helps to  evaluate  success  or failures. In practice  system thinking helps  to identify  key variables. After viewing   new information as a input  managers /HR specialist   decide  what the desired  output is.Once inputs and outputs are known, decision makers draw  on their  knowledge of  HR activities  to transform the input  unto.  Output  in the most effective way.To verify  their success,  they acquire  a feedback  about the problem.

It enables one to  recognize inter relationships  among parts.The relationships among HR activities are less likely to be over looked. System thinking also requires recognition of system boundaries which marks the beginning of its  external  environment . the environment is an important consideration because  most system are open system.  Open system is one that is affected  by environment. HR management  is an open system i.e.  affected by external environment e.g.  the rate of major  human resource  subsystem. In figure:

A solid information   base lies at the center  of  effective HR management. Without  accurate and timely information  managers and HR specialists   are seriously  limited in their ability to meet challenges To build  HRIs  data  gathered about each job  and about organization’s future  HR needs Using this information  specialist can advise managers about the  design of jobs they  supervise  and find  the ways to make  these

Maintaining  an effective  workforce  requires more than just pay, benefits and safe working  conditions.Employees  need to be motivated   and  satisfied   with their  jobs.Personal and  job related  problem may lead to the need for counseling. HR specialist  can provide  effective  program or specific advice  to operating managers. To increase  employee satisfaction  and organization productivity, communications are used  to keep people informed.When employee’s  relations  are ineffective  the employees may join together  to form self  help  groups called unions.As with ongoing system HR department  need to uncover their  success and failures.  Through self evaluation. Full service  departments regularly conduct audits   of their  performance  and do research  to uncover more  effective  way to  serve the organization.

As discussed earlier organization  and then HR departments are open system  and are  affected by environment in which  they operate.For managers and Hr department to respond  proactively   they must have an awareness of  external organizational  environment  in which they operate.

Modern  organization exists in turbulent environment  filled with challenges over which organization  and its HR department have   little influence  . these challenges shape  the way the organization   operates and   thus affect  HR policies   and practices. e.g.  changes in the external environment  such as new technologies  affects  type of workers their educational preparation and their performance . it also affects corporate strategy and planning managers and HR departments then respond  to these changes and heap the organization  meet its objectives.

The major  changes  are registered when mix of personnel enters the workforce. Their wider diversity of cultures,  religions , languages and  dialectic , educational , attainment , skills , values , races , gender,  knowledge of these variations challenges  manages and HR professional to develop proactive  policies and practices.

Diversity in the workforce,  is also influence by cultural values  and societal norms. Changing  value  and laws  have contributed  to greater  participation  rate by  women in the employment  market  creating  a variety of implication for HR departments. E.g parental leave and child care facilities provided by employers are becoming more common demands , leading some  employers to create  work and family program.

Also significance  to the manager is that an increasing proportion of female, employees  have children under  the age of six years.  This make difficult for them to  become regular  members of organization and HR manager should seriously consider such  practices .

As flex hours  of working  , sharing of one job by two or more workers and  preventing child care during working hours.  Another changes in skill mix  is that has occurred in USA society is that   white collar job holders outnumbered  blue collar workers. These employees  are typically less inclined to   join labor unions, but on the other hand  have greater expectation in terms  of more individual treatment by managers. Performance  on these types of jobs tends to be more  difficult  to objectively evaluate, thereby leading  managerial towards more participative  appraisal system  such as management by objective .

All advanced economies faced some diversity  within the workforce.  This diversity  may come from immigration across   national borders or from  migration within  the country. Countries  like Germany  and Saudi Arabia have   large number of guest workers – foreigners who  are granted  work visas  but not citizenship.

New values are introduced to organization through entry of divergent workforce .In U.S.A. certain set of values  go with work  which has rendered its spiritual meaning  buttressed  by such  behavioral  nouns such as honesty, punctuality, diligence. American organization  made full use of these values   for enhancing   their  productivity, efficiency  and effectiveness.

 Today people   witnessed decline in the concept of work ethic in face of existential view of  life.

According  to this concept  organization has  no responsibility  to guide us,  instead we  ourselves   are responsible for determining  what we  want for us. Work is longer remain a factor   through which you develop  yourself as a  whole person.  Family activities , leisure,  avocation , assignment in schools , churches are viable means  through which a person can find meaning   and become  self actualized. Climbing  the organization  ladder of success   for its  accompanying  materialistic symbols  became less important than self  expression through  creativity. 

Emphasis  upon individual  as compared with organization  ; a number of changes  in personnel program have been tried . attempts have been made to redesign  jobs.

Jobs and job skills are changes by technology. Perhaps the greatest potential impact s on jobs  since the industrial  revolution is artificial  intelligence  . the  industrial  revolution  allowed people to   make greater use of  mechanical power  from water wheels and steam engines to  nuclear power – to amplify human productivity

Artificial intelligence  will give a  growing  number to workers  access to expert system – computerized  program to capture  the knowledge  and decision making  approaches of experts.  Automation  is another way  in which technology  affects the field of HR management  . one specific form  of automation that is likely  to have a significant  impact on organization is robotics.  A robot become  more common and sophisticated, they will affect organization  productivity  and quality of work . life for employee  . their increased  use seems certain. Since then cost  relative  to labor costs are declining .

The good news is that the hazardous and  boring  jobs will be taken over by robots. These changing technologies also will shape  the educational preparation of future  workers.  And thus their productivity  . for example the use of computerization spread  to companies that are increasingly  relying on HRIs, knowledge  of computer technologies  will grow  increasingly crucial to HR departments.

The bad news is that HR professional may have to contend with increased worker alienation  . since job opportunities may shrink along with  opportunities  for socialization on the job. High paying factory for the unskilled and semi skilled employee may become   scarce, leading  factory workers to  accept lower paid unskilled jobs  in the service sector.

Global competition puts pressure  on all the firms  in an industry to be more productive  . robots  and other technological advance boosts productivity, but robots  are installed programmed and  maintained by people.

As economic challenges become more intense because of robots, artificial intelligence or foreign competition HR professionals  will need  to find more innovative  ways to help line managers increased productivity  through people.Over course  of business  cycle, managers and HR departments must adjust to changes in their organization’s   business plans.When the economy expands, new employees  and training  programmes are needed pressure for higher  wages, better benefits,  and improved working conditions also  grow . managers  and HR department must act cautiously.

Overstated  , bloated  benefits  programmes  and higher wages become  serious burden when  the business  cycle turns downwards .a recession  creates  a need to maintain  a content workforce and reduce labor   costs. Decisions to reduce hours, lay off workers, or accept lower profit managers involve the  advice   of HR experts.

Through  the enforcement  of laws, government  has a direct and immediate impact  on managers and HR function s. federal laws   regulating  the employee  . Employer relations challenge the method HR department use. Some laws  like health act, and the civil rights, make major demands on HRM. Government  involvement  in the  employment   relationships is meant to achieve  societal objective, usually the  elimination  of practices   that are considered contrary  to public policy.

In the HR  environment , union represent an actual challenge to unionized companies   and potential challenge to companies that are not unionized. In companies with union, the employer and  union sign a labor   agreement that specifies compensation (wages and benefits)  hours and weekly  conditions. This agreement limits the  HR  activities  of super visors  and HR departments . for  both the challenge is  to achieve company objectives without violating the agreements.

Every employer is unique , similarities between organization’s can be  found among their parts, but each organization  as a whole has a unique culture. Organizational culture is the   product of all organizational features.  Its people, its success and its failure.The challenge for managers and HR specialist is to  adjust  proactively  to the culture of organization .

HR managers requires a lot of detailed information to reach to a  quality  decision.  Many HR activities  and much  effort by  HR professional are devoted  to and refining  the department’s  information  base.  The information requirements  of a full service  department are only  hinted at by question  such as

The acquisition , storage and retrieval  of information  present a significant challenge . a key part of   challenge  is gaining  information  from other in the organization who  provide  the department with much of its information.

To share and retrieve  information , HR departments increasingly rely on computer  based information  system that store  detail information  about employees ,   jobs, laws,  unions, economic , trends  and other internal and  external factors.

But massive information  system challenge the department’s ability to safeguard the privacy of employee’s records.