ANVESHAN FOUNDATION

IGDTUW

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

AND CRISIS

SUMMER INTERNSHIP

PROJECT REPORT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Anveshan Foundation for their guidance and support,
which helped me to successfully completing this project report on the topic.

‘HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CRISIS’

This internship opportunity I had with Anveshan Foundation was a great chance for learning. I am
grateful for having a chance to interact and learn by professionals who led me through this internship.

I perceive as the opportunity as a big milestone in my career development. I will strive to use gained
skills and knowledge in the best possible way, and I will continue to work on their improvements, in
order to attain desired career objectives. Hope to continue cooperation with all of you in future.

Sincerely,

Priya Gupta

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 CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2. INTRODUCTION
3. OBJECTIVES
4. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
6. DATA COLLECTION
7. ANALYSIS
8. FINDINGS
9. CONCLUSION
10. SUGGESTIONS
11. ANNEXURE
I. ANNEXURE 1
II. ANNEXURE 2
12. REFERENCE
13. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The role of HR in the modern-day corporate world has changed significantly to accommodate various
developments and needs in the workplace. HR involvement in crisis management is one such
development, and this has led to the HR taking an active role in planning and training for crisis
management. Contemporary studies have indicated that organizations that incorporate employee welfare
into the crisis management plan are more likely to be successful compared to those that are only
concerned about protecting systems, processes, infrastructure and public relations as was traditionally
evident. The HR is considered a vital partner in crisis management planning due to their understanding
employee needs and their role in organizational survival. As one of the major roles of HR, training is
considered paramount when it comes to crisis management. The role of HR is to ensure that employees
are well informed about potential crises that may affect the organization and that they are aware of their
role in dealing with the crisis. The HR provides skills and knowledge necessary in ensuring that
employees can contribute to the organization’s sustainability by participating in the crisis management
process. This chapter explores the HR’s role in planning and training for crisis management. Crisis
management is broadly defined as an organization’s pre established activities and guidelines for preparing
and responding to significant catastrophic events or incidents (i.e., fires, earthquakes, severe storms,
workplace violence, kidnappings, bomb threats, acts of terrorism, etc.) in a safe and effective manner. A
successful crisis management plan incorporates organizational programs such as emergency response,
disaster recovery, risk management, communications and business continuity, among others. In addition,
crisis management is about developing an organization’s capability to react flexibly and thus be able to
make the prompt and necessary decisions when a crisis happens. If an organization prepares for the
“worst-case scenario,” then it can handle other situations as well. Teamwork and rehearsal are also critical
success factors. Through crisis management planning, organizations can be better prepared to handle
unforeseen events that may cause serious or irreparable damage. Traditionally, HR has not been funded or
designed to organize or oversee safety and security initiatives. However, regardless of the organization
size, HR leaders today have a strategic role and responsibility to ensure their organizations are aware of
the human side of a crisis and plan ahead to help minimize its effects. To be most effective, HR leaders
work collaboratively with top-down commitment to develop enterprise-wide solutions. As emphasized by
HR management gurus Ulrich and Brock bank, “as change agents, HR strategic partners diagnose
organization problems…help set an agenda for the future and create plans for making things
happen.”Leading the discussion about the future of the organization’s workforce is an obvious way for

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HR to contribute to both crisis management and long-range strategic planning. Scenario planning, for
example, is a strategy that companies are utilizing to help plan for unexpected events. While HR
professionals cannot predict the future, they can help their organizations prepare for it through identifying
the most critical issues that could influence the workforce in the years to come.

Employee safety has become a top priority. According to the SHRM 2005 Job Satisfaction Survey
Report, feeling safe in the work environment is a high contributor to overall job satisfaction. Specifically,
85% of HR professionals and 82% of employees note that feeling safe is either important or very
important. From the employee perspective, 62% of women state that feeling safe is the third most
important job satisfaction factor.38 Further, research indicates that safety executives identify management
visibility and leadership, accountability at all levels of the organization and open sharing of knowledge
and information as the best strategies for developing a truly effective and sustainable safety culture in
their organizations.39 In partnering with security professionals or heading up safety and security, HR
must play a role that will increasingly involve developing, promoting and training for emergencies.
Research shows that some organizations are putting training front and center in case of a crisis. The
SHRM 2005 Disaster Preparedness Survey Report notes that 91% of HR professionals whose companies
offer crisis response training have specifically tasked employees with the role of crisis leadership. The
findings show that 64% of employees in leadership roles have received training in organization-specific
disaster response plans. In addition, HR professionals whose organizations designate employees with
leadership roles indicate that 39% are employees with this role in their job description and 25% are
employees who have volunteered.40 Evacuation plans are also a critical element of a crisis management
plan. Organizations should include all people in that plan, with specific attention paid to employees with
disabilities, as well as visitors, customers, subcontractors and vendors on site. According to the SHRM
2005 Disaster Preparedness Survey Report, 60% of companies have specific guidelines or equipment in
place to assist in the evacuation of people with disabilities in the event of a disaster. In a strategic
partnership role as part of the crisis management team, HR leaders add significant value to the
sustainability of an organization. Whatever the term—crisis management or business continuity—the goal
is the same: to protect human capital, safeguard company stakeholders and ensure critical business
processes in the short and long term.

It is critical that today’s organizations align their human resources to better meet strategic objectives. A
failure to do so results in wasted time, energy, and resources. Organizations are more likely to achieve
this alignment with their corporate objectives when they review their recruitment and selection processes

5
for fit, communicate the mission and vision statements, use joint goal setting, design an appropriate
reward system, empower the workforce, promote and develop from within, and use teams to achieve
synergy. Human Resource Management is the management function that helps the managers to plan,
recruit, select, train, develop, remunerate and maintain members for an organization. HRM has four
objectives of societal, organizational, functional and personal development. An organization must have
set policies; definite procedures and well defined principles relating to its personnel and these contribute
to the effectiveness, continuity and stability of the organization.

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 INTRODUCTION

Modern literature establishes that the traditional human resource (HR) role has evolved significantly to
include other responsibilities based on the changing work environment. This means that HR has moved
beyond the common roles of hiring and firing to more complex roles that directly influence the
performance of the organization. Consequently, the HR role is more demanding and requires extensive
knowledge and skills to ensure that all these organizational needs are met. Crisis management is among
the areas of management in which the HR is expected to participate in, with a view of ensuring that
employees needs, during and after a crisis, are given consideration during the development of crisis
management plans.

The prevalence of crises within organizations has increased significantly in the contemporary times as
different kinds of threats emerge within and outside the working environment. This calls for increased
awareness of such threats and the inclusion of mitigating actions to address crises when they occur.
Accordingly, crisis management can be considered an imperative role of the HR and which should be
given significant priority. Crisis management refers to the process of anticipating, identifying, preventing
and managing potential disasters by putting in place plans to deal with crises when they occur. The HR
has an impacting role in crisis management through planning and training to ensure employees are
capable of navigating through turbulent times. The role of HR in crisis management is to enhance
preparedness among personnel and thus ensure effective disaster planning. Through including the human
side in crisis management, it has been established that organizations are in a better position to deal with
crises when they occur.

This chapter focuses on the HR’s role in planning and training for crisis management. It addresses the HR
function as a crisis management function and strives to establish the role played by HR in ensuring that
the organization is well prepared and that personnel are well trained to deal with crises when they occur.

Human beings are social beings and hardly ever live and work in isolation. We always plan, develop and
manage our relations both consciously and unconsciously. The relations are the outcome of our actions
and depend to a great extent upon our ability to manage our actions. From childhood each and every
individual acquire knowledge and experience on understanding others and how to behave in each and

7
every situations in life. Later we carry forward this learning and understanding in carrying and managing
relations at our workplace. The whole context of Human Resource Management revolves around this core
matter of managing relations at work place. Since mid 1980’s Human Resource Management (HRM) has
gained acceptance in both academic and commercial circle. HRM is a multidisciplinary organizational
function that draws theories and ideas from various fields such as management, psychology, sociology
and economics. There is no best way to manage people and no manager has formulated how people can
be managed effectively, because people are complex beings with complex needs. Effective HRM depends
very much on the causes and conditions that an organizational setting would provide. Any Organization
has three basic components, People, Purpose, and Structure. In 1994, a noted leader in the human
resources (HR) field made the following observation: Yesterday, the company with the access most to the
capital or the latest technology had the best competitive advantage; Today, companies that offer products
with the highest quality are the ones with a leg up on the competition; But the only thing that will uphold
a company’s advantage tomorrow is the caliber of people in the organization. That predicted future is
today’s reality. Most managers in public- and private sector firms of all sizes would agree that people
truly are the organization’s most important asset. Having competent staff on the payroll does not
guarantee that a firm’s human resources will be a source of competitive advantage. However in order to
remain competitive, to grow, and diversify an organization must ensure that its employees are qualified,
placed in appropriate positions, properly trained, managed effectively, and committed to the firm’s
success. The goal of HRM is to maximize employees’ contributions in order to achieve optimal
productivity and effectiveness, while simultaneously attaining individual objectives (such as having a
challenging job and obtaining recognition), and societal objectives (such as legal compliance and
demonstrating social responsibility).

Human Resource Management (HRM) is relatively new approach to managing people in any
organization. People are considered the key resource in this approach. It is concerned with the people
dimension in management of an organization. Since an organization is a body of people, their
acquisition, development of skills, motivation for higher levels of attainments, as a well as ensuring
maintenance of their level of commitment are all significant activities. These activities fall in the domain
of HRM.

Human Resource Management is a process, which consist of four main activities, namely, acquisition,
development, motivation, as well as maintenance of human resources.

Scott, Clothier and Spriegel have defined Human Resource Management as that branch of management
which is responsible on a staff basis for concentrating on those aspects of operations which are primarily

8
concerned with the relationship of management to employees to employees and with the development of
the individual and the group.

Human Resource Management is responsible for maintaining good human relations in the organization. It
is also concerned with development of individuals and achieving integration of goals of the organization
and those of the individuals. North cott considers human resource management as an extension of general
management, that of prompting and stimulating every employee to make his fullest contribution to the
purpose of a business. Human resource management is not something that could be separated from the
basic managerial function. It is a major component of the broader managerial function. French Wendell,
defines ―Human resource management as the recruitment, selection, development, utilization,
compensation and motivation of human resources by the organization. According to Edwin B. Flippo,
―Human resource management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the procurement,
development, resources to the end that individual and societal objectives are accomplished‖. This
definition reveals that human resource (HR) management is that aspect of management, which deals with
the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the personnel functions of the enterprise. The
economic effect of the global pandemic (Covid-19) includes acceleration of the digitalization processes.
Companies now need to immediately use digital platforms to enable access to jobs for their employees.
Human Resource Management has an essential role to play in helping organization to navigate in the
situation of dramatic changes caused by the pandemic lockdown.

The research is induced by the situation in which business process continuity has been affected by the
regulations aiming to prevent the spread of Covid-19, causing dismissals or reduction the staff.

The aim of this research is to estimate the level and magnitude of the challenge companies have been
facing in terms of HRM, and to assume the consequences, what changes are expecting to be initiated.

The primary data for this research was gathered by semi-structured face-to-face video interviews. The
theoretical framework and research questions were used to structure the data collection questions and to
determine the analytical direction of the study.The research results present remarkable insights for HR
managers and organizations. HR managers need to know how to improve the wellbeing of employees
during virtual work in crisis times taking into consideration personal stress. Besides, internal corporate
communication, company brand image should be in compliance with the organization’s approach to the
workforce during turbulent times. Overall, the contribution of the manuscript to scholarship is its
suggestion that main challenges triggered by the pandemic lockdown are the recession when revenues
have been decreased enforcing companies to reduce or dismiss the staff. The research results recommend
HR managers to acknowledge their dominant role in the heart of the changing processes of digitalization

9
towards remote working models, and of developing new HR policies. Resilience, flexibility, and
adaptability are crucial overcoming strategies.

The rest of this paper is organized in the following way. First, a review of the literature on the Covid-19
pandemic crisis is presented. Next, the empirical data collection method as well as analytical framework
is conceptualized. Then, primary research results are discussed followed by conclusions. Finally, future
research topics are considered.

Human beings are social beings and hardly ever live and work in isolation. We always plan, develop and
manage our relations both consciously and unconsciously. The relations are the outcome of our actions
and depend to a great extent upon our ability to manage our actions. From childhood each and every
individual acquire knowledge and experience on understanding others and how to behave in each and
every situations in life. Later we carry forward this learning and understanding in carrying and managing
relations at our workplace. The whole context of Human Resource Management revolves around this core
matter of managing relations at work place. Since mid 1980’s Human Resource Management (HRM) has
gained acceptance in both academic and commercial circle. HRM is a multidisciplinary organizational
function that draws theories and ideas from various fields such as management, psychology, sociology
and economics. There is no best way to manage people and no manager has formulated how people can
be managed effectively, because people are complex beings with complex needs. Effective HRM depends
very much on the causes and conditions that an organizational setting would provide. Any Organization
has three basic components, People, Purpose, and Structure. In 1994, a noted leader in the human
resources (HR) field made the following observation: Yesterday, the company with the access most to the
capital or the latest technology had the best competitive advantages.

Today, companies that offer products with the highest quality are the ones with a leg up on the
competition; But the only thing that will uphold a company’s advantage tomorrow is the caliber of people
in the organization. That predicted future is today’s reality. Most managers in public- and private sector
firms of all sizes would agree that people truly are the organization’s most important asset. Having
competent staff on the payroll does not guarantee that a firm’s human resources will be a source of
competitive advantage. However in order to remain competitive, to grow, and diversify an organization
must ensure that its employees are qualified, placed in appropriate positions, properly trained, managed
effectively, and committed to the firm’s success. The goal of HRM is to maximize employees’
contributions in order to achieve optimal productivity and effectiveness, while simultaneously attaining

10
individual objectives (such as having a challenging job and obtaining recognition), and societal objectives
(such as legal compliance and demonstrating social responsibility).

On October 3, 2003, Anant Dalvi and Akhtar Khan, who worked as contract workers in Tata Electric
Company until they were laid off in 1996, doused themselves with kerosene and set themselves ablaze
even as their co-workers protested before the company’s offices. While Dalvi died on the spot, Khan died
a few days later. The Tata Electric Company said they were no longer on their payroll and were not
permanent workers. Employees union had taken up their case and filled petition in the Labour Court
before their contracts were terminated. The court directed the company not to terminate their services
without following the due process of law. Despite this their services were terminated on June 30, 1996.
The company union promised the workers that they would renegotiate. Yet on the night before they killed
themselves when Khan and Dalvi spoke to the union leader Shinde, they were told that nothing more
could be done for them. It is this that led them to take their lives. Dalvi has been in service as a peon
for17 years and Khan had been employed for 19 years. But their services were not regularized. Such
workers draw salary much less than the permanent employees.

HRM is the study of activities regarding people working in an organization. It is a managerial function
that tries to match an organization’s needs to the skills and abilities of its employees

.Definitions of HRM

Human resources management (HRM) is a management function concerned with hiring, motivating and
maintaining people in an organization. It focuses on people in organizations. Human resource
management is designing management systems to ensure that human talent is used effectively and
efficiently to accomplish organizational goals. HRM is the personnel function which is concerned with
procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of the personnel of an
organization for the purpose of contributing towards the accomplishments of the organization’s
objectives. Therefore, personnel management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of the
performance of those operative functions.

According to the Invancevich and Glueck, “HRM is concerned with the most effective use of people to
achieve organizational and individual goals. It is the way of managing people at work, so that they give
their best to the organization”. According to Dessler (2008) the policies and practices involved in carrying
out the “people” or human resource aspects of a management position, including recruiting, screening,
training, rewarding, and appraising comprises of HRM. Generally HRM refers to the management of
people in organizations. It comprises of the activities, policies, and practices involved in obtaining,

11
developing, utilizing, evaluating, maintaining, and retaining the appropriate number and skill mix of
employees to accomplish the organization’s objectives. The goal of HRM is to maximize employees’
contributions in order to achieve optimal productivity and effectiveness, while simultaneously attaining
individual objectives (such as having a challenging job and obtaining recognition), and societal objectives
(such as legal compliance and demonstrating social responsibility). In short Human Resource
Management (HRM) can be defined as the art of procuring, developing and maintaining competent
workforce to achieve the goals of an organization in an effective and efficient manner.

Nature of HRM

HRM is a management function that helps manager’s to recruit, select, train and develop members for an
organization. HRM is concerned with people’s dimension in organizations. The following constitute the
core of HRM 1. HRM Involves the Application of Management Functions and Principles. The functions
and principles are applied to acquiring, developing, maintaining and providing remuneration to
employees in organization. 2. Decision Relating to Employees must be Integrated. Decisions on different
aspects of employees must be consistent with other human resource (HR) decisions. 3. Decisions Made
Influence the Effectiveness of an Organization. Effectiveness of an organization will result in betterment
of services to customers in the form of high quality products supplied at reasonable costs. 4. HRM
Functions are not Confined to Business Establishments Only but applicable to nonbusiness organizations
such as education, health care, recreation and like. HRM refers to a set of programmes, functions and
activities designed and carried out in order to maximize both employee as well as organizational
effectiveness.

Scope of HRM

The scope of HRM is indeed vast. All major activities in the working life of a worker – from the time of
his or her entry into an organization until he or she leaves the organizations comes under the purview of
HRM. The major HRM activities include HR planning, job analysis, job design, employee hiring,
employee and executive remuneration, employee motivation, employee maintenance, industrial relations
and prospects of HRM. The scope of Human Resources Management extends to: All the decisions,
strategies, factors, principles, operations, practices, functions, activities and methods related to the
management of people as employees in any type of organization. All the dimensions related to people in
their employment relationships, and all the dynamics that flow from it

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Scope of hrm

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The scope of HRM is really vast. All major activities n the working life of a worker – from the time of his
or her entry into an organization until he or she leaves it comes under the purview of HRM. American
Society for Training and Development (ASTD) conducted fairly an exhaustive study in this field and
identified nine broad areas of activities of HRM. These are given below: Human Resource Planning
 Design of the Organization and Job
 Selection and Staffing
 Training and Development
 Organizational Development
 Compensation and Benefits
 Employee Assistance
 Union/Labour Relations
 Personnel Research and Information System
a) Human Resource Planning: The objective of HR Planning is to ensure that the organization has
the right types of persons at the right time at the right place. It prepares human resources inventory
with a view to assess present and future needs, availability and possible shortages in human resource.
Thereupon, HR Planning forecast demand and supplies and identify sources of selection. HR
Planning develops strategies both long-term and short-term, to meet the man-power requirement.

b) Design of Organization and Job: This is the task of laying down organization structure,
authority, relationship and responsibilities. This will also mean definition of work contents for each
position in the organization. This is done by “job description”. Another important step is “Job
specification”. Job specification identifies the attributes of persons who will be most suitable for each
job which is defined by job description…

c) Selection and Staffing: This is the process of recruitment and selection of staff. This involves
matching people and their expectations with which the job specifications and career path available
within the organization.

d) Training and Development: This involves an organized attempt to find out training needs of
the individuals to meet the knowledge and skill which is needed not only to perform current job but
also to fulfil the future needs of the organization.

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e) Organizational Development: This is an important aspect whereby “Synergetic effect” is
generated in an organization i.e. healthy interpersonal and inter-group relationship within the
organization.

(f) Compensation and Benefits: This is the area of wages and salaries administration where
wages and compensations are fixed scientifically to meet fairness and equity criteria. In addition
labour welfare measures are involved which include benefits and services.

g) Employee Assistance: Each employee is unique in character, personality, expectation and

temperament. By and large each one of them faces problems everyday. Some are personal some are
official. In their case he or she remains worried. Such worries must be removed to make him or her
more productive and happy.
h) Union-Labour Relations: Healthy Industrial and Labour relations are very important for enhancing
peace and productivity in an organization. This is one of the areas of HRM.

i) Personnel Research and Information System: Knowledge on behavioral science and

industrial psychology throws better insight into the workers expectations, aspirations and behaviour.
Advancement of technology of product and production methods have created working environment
which are much different from the past. Globalization of economy has increased competition many
fold. Science of ergonomics gives better ideas of doing a work more conveniently by an employee.
Thus, continuous research in HR areas is an unavoidable requirement. It must also take special care
for improving exchange of information through effective communication systems on a continuous
basis especially on moral and motivation. HRM is a broad concept; personnel management (PM) and
Human resource development (HRD) are a part of HRM.

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 Objectives

The primary objective of HRM is to ensure the availability of competent and willing workforce to an
organization. The specific objectives include the following:

1) Human capital : assisting the organization in obtaining the right number and types of employees to
fulfill its strategic and operational goals

2) Developing organizational climate: helping to create a climate in which employees are encouraged to
develop and utilize their skills to the fullest and to employ the skills and abilities of the workforce
efficiently

3) Helping to maintain performance standards and increase productivity through effective job design;
providing adequate orientation, training and development; providing performance-related feedback; and
ensuring effective two-way communication.

4) Helping to establish and maintain a harmonious employer/employee relationship

5) Helping to create and maintain a safe and healthy work environment

6) Developing programs to meet the economic, psychological, and social needs of the employees and
helping the organization to retain the productive employees

7) Ensuring that the organization is in compliance with provincial/territorial and federal laws affecting the
workplace (such as human rights, employment equity, occupational health and safety, employment
standards, and labour relations legislation). To help the organization to reach its goals

8) To provide organization with well-trained and well-motivated employees

9) To increase the employees satisfaction and self-actualization

10) To develop and maintain the quality of work life

11) To communicate HR policies to all employees.

12) To help maintain ethical polices and behavior. The above stated HRM objectives can be summarized
under four specific objectives: societal, organizational, and functional and personnel..

16
Objectives of HRM

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1) Societal Objectives: seek to ensure that the organization becomes socially responsible to the needs and
challenges of the society while minimizing the negative impact of such demands upon the organization.
The failure of the organizations to use their resources for the society’s benefit in ethical ways may lead to
restriction.

2) Organizational Objectives: it recognizes the role of HRM in bringing about organizational

effectiveness. It makes sure that HRM is not a standalone department, but rather a means to assist the
organization with its primary objectives. The HR department exists to serve the rest of the organization.

3) Functional Objectives: is to maintain the department’s contribution at a level appropriate to the

organization’s needs. Human resources are to be adjusted to suit the organization’s demands. The
department’s value should not become too expensive at the cost of the organization it serves

. 4) Personnel Objectives: it is to assist employees in achieving their personal goals, at least as far as these
goals enhance the individual’s contribution to the organization. Personal objectives of employees must be
met if they are to be maintained, retained and motivated. Otherwise employee performance and
satisfaction may decline giving rise to employee turnover.

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HRM Objectives and Functions

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 Functions of HRM

Human Resources management has an important role to play in equipping organizations to meet the
challenges of an expanding and increasingly competitive sector. Increase in staff numbers, contractual
diversification and changes in demographic profile which compel the HR managers to reconfigure the
role and significance of human resources management. The functions are responsive to current staffing
needs, but can be proactive in reshaping organizational objectives. All the functions of HRM are
correlated with the core objectives of HRM (Table 1.1). For example personal objectives is sought to be
realized through functions like remuneration, assessment etc.

HR management can be thought of as seven interlinked functions taking place within organizations, as
depicted in Figure 1.3 Additionally, external forces—legal, economic, technological, global,
environmental, cultural/geographic, political, and social—significantly affect how HR functions are
designed, managed, and changed. The functions can be grouped as follows: Strategic HR Management:
As a part of maintaining organizational competitiveness, strategic

 planning for HR effectiveness can be increased through the use of HR metrics and HR technology.
Human resource planning (HRP) function determine the number and type of employees needed to
accomplish organizational goals. HRP includes creating venture teams with a balanced skill-mix,
recruiting the right people, and voluntary team assignment. This function analyzes and determines
personnel needs in order to create effective innovation teams. The basic HRP strategy is staffing and
employee development. Equal Employment Opportunity: Compliance with equal employment
opportunity (EEO) laws

 and regulations affects all other HR activities. Staffing: The aim of staffing is to provide a sufficient
supply of qualified individuals to fill jobs in an

 organization. Job analysis, recruitment and selection are the main functions under staffing. Workers job
design and job analysis laid the foundation for staffing by identifying what diverse people do in their jobs
and how they are affected by them. Job analysis is the process of describing the nature of a job and
specifying the human requirements such as knowledge, skills, and experience needed to perform the job.
The end result of job analysis is job description. Job description spells out work duties and activities of
employees. Through HR planning, managers anticipate the future supply of and demand for employees

20
and the nature of workforce issues, including the retention of employees. So HRP precedes the actual
selection of people for organization. These factors are used when recruiting applicants for job openings.
The selection process is concerned with choosing qualified individuals to fill those jobs. In the selection
function, the most qualified applicants are selected for hiring from among the applicants based on the
extent to which their abilities and skills are matching with the job. Talent Management and
Development: Beginning with the orientation of new employees,

 talent management and development includes different types of training. Orientation is the first step
towards helping a new employee to adjust himself to the new job and the employer. It is a method to
acquaint new employees with particular aspects of their new job, including pay and benefit programmes,
working hours and company rules and expectations. Training and Development programs provide useful
means of assuring that the employees are capable of performing their jobs at acceptable levels and also
more than that. All the organizations provide training for new and in experienced employee. In addition,
organization often provide both on the job and off the job training programmes for those employees
whose jobs are undergoing change. Likewise, HR development and succession planning of employees
and managers is necessary to prepare for future challenges. Career planning has developed as result of the
desire of many employees to grow in their jobs and to advance in their career. Career planning activities
include assessing an individual employee’s potential for growth and advancement in the organization.
Performance appraisal includes encouraging risk taking, demanding innovation, generating or adopting
new tasks, peer evaluation, frequent evaluations, and auditing innovation processes.

This function monitors employee performance to ensure that it is at acceptable levels. This strategy
appraises individual and team performance so that there is a link between individual innovativeness and
company profitability. Which tasks should be appraised and who should assess employees’ performance
are also taken into account. Total Rewards: Compensation in the form of pay, incentives and benefits are
the rewards given

 to the employees for performing organizational work. Compensation management is the method for
determining how much employees should be paid for performing certain jobs. Compensation affects
staffing in that people are generally attracted to organizations offering a higher level of pay in exchange
for the work performed. To be competitive, employers develop and refine their basic compensation
systems and may use variable pay programs such as incentive rewards, promotion from within the team,
recognition rewards, balancing team and individual rewards etc. This function uses rewards to motivate
personnel to achieve an organization’s goals of productivity, innovation and profitability. Compensation
is also related to employee development in that it provides an important incentive in motivating

21
employees to higher levels of job performance to higher paying jobs in the organization. Benefits are
another form of compensation to employees other than direct pay for the work performed. Benefits
include both legally required items and those offered at employer’s discretion. Benefits are primarily
related to the area of employee maintenance as they provide for many basic employee needs. Risk
Management and Worker Protection: HRM addresses various workplace risks to

 ensure protection of workers by meeting legal requirements and being more responsive to concerns for
workplace health and safety along with disaster and recovery planning. Employee and Labor Relations:
The relationship between managers and their employees

 must be handled legally and effectively. Employer and employee rights must be addressed. It is
important to develop, communicate, and update HR policies and procedures so that managers and
employees alike know what is expected. In some organizations, union/management relations must be
addressed as well. The term labour relation refers to the interaction with employees who are represented
by a trade union. Unions are organization of employees who join together to obtain more voice in
decisions affecting wages, benefits, working conditions and other aspects of employment. With regard to
labour relations the major function of HR personnel includes negotiating with the unions regarding
wages, service conditions and resolving disputes and grievances.

22
 Review of Literature
The Role of HRM in the Adaptation of the Workforce

Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has created demanding conditions for human resource managers. In the
context of dramatic changes around the world due to the pandemic, organizations need to respond and
adapt to the alterations and accordingly manage the workforce. Sheppard argues that companies need to
prepare for further changes and turbulence times. They should adopt technologies that are platform-based
and develop novel business models .HRM has a significant role in helping employees to overcome the
difficulties brought by the unexpected changes in the workplace as well as in the society. Besides, the
digital and collaborative skills of the workforce are required to move to the virtual work .

As remote working from home intensifies, HRM has to cope with the stress of their employees associated
with the removal boundaries between work and family .

Moreover, the increasing unemployment due to the recession imposes more pressure on the people. The
International Labour Organization estimates that 195 million full-time workers will lose their jobs
worldwide this year .Therefore, employees need to learn new skills that increase their employability in the
digital space .In this regard, HR managers should elaborate strategies enabling employees to use
advanced technologies as well as update their digital skills .In addition, lifelong learning and developing
talents is still important, but training sessions take place online . Interestingly, the leaders of the surveyed
Chinese companies did not conserve resources but rather invested intensively to increase their
competitiveness .

Consequently, HR professionals have a facilitating and supporting role in this transformation, but they
also take responsibility to retain the employees by upgrading their skills and abilities.. Not only re skilling
or up skilling of the workforce is essential, but resilience should be equally prioritized within a
company’s strategy . The extensive survey of 869 teams and 11,011 workers in European countries
demonstrates that remote working is not valuable for all employees, and team performance even lowers
when team members work remotely, specifically when they work more than 8 hours per week . Yet
individual performance factors such as work characteristic, satisfaction, and commitment should also be
taken into account when HRM coordinates flexible or hybrid work. Besides, employees’ wellbeing and

23
health have implications on their outcomes. Consequently, work and private life mixture during remote
working from home can be the core challenge HRM is facing . The research conducted at Microsoft
explored that the major difficulties during the pandemic were business continuity, employee wellbeing,
and customer orientation . Managers are striving to reduce possible harmful effects of working from
home help the workers in setting priorities. On the other hand, less socialisation during the pandemic have
implications on the employees’ mental health. Therefore, HR practitioners need to respond also this
challenge by arranging virtual meetings or online relationships to maintain the motivation and
productivity of employees.

Furthermore, remote working makes it difficult to control and monitor employees’ activities. The
potential solution managers have found is using online dashboards, and digital data for assessing
workload and performance .

In order to build a culture of flexibility, an organization should enable creativity and agility without a
formal policy guide, and taking into account the individual needs of each employee .According to
Donovan , flexibility means a happier and productive workforce.

Thus, HRM should take the lead in helping organizations to navigate through uncertainties, taking into
consideration the needs of developing skills and of maintaining mental wellbeing of employees.
Companies planning for the future need to adjust their focus on business continuity as well as supporting
organizational health.

Effects of the Covid-19 Crisis on Georgian Companies

According to the survey of Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the main challenges
companies in Georgia have reported are reduced sales , the exchange rate , and transportation problems .
Decreased demand and disruption in the supply chain among all sectors resulted in decreased revenue;
especially the accommodation and food service companies are negatively affected . 63% of surveyed
companies stated that their revenues dropped by more than 50% in comparison with the last year . As a
result, more than 50% of companies in Georgia have reduced staff, and 40% of companies in the tourism
sector dismissed all their employees.

24
It should be noted that the agriculture sector appears to be less vulnerable also in Georgia . However,
many companies in other sectors suspended business operations or even shut down production due to the
pandemic, but the most medium and large companies switched to teleworking .

According to the survey of the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 66% of Georgian
companies suffered financial loss, and business turnover in 76% of companies for the last six months
decreased (GCCI, 2020). However, 53% of the surveyed companies intend to maintain their employees
for the next six months, but 43% of the employers have reduced the salaries (GCCI, 2020).

Businesses see the solution in financial aid and long-term/ soft loan, as well as in reduction or temporary
cancellation of taxes; only 3% of them stated that they do not need any assistance (GCCI, 2020).

In this light, how does HRM in Georgia affected by the crisis situation, and how HR managers should
overcome the challenges they are facing under the circumstances of uncertainty. In this vein, the present
research includes the recommendations for companies coping the pandemic crisis from the viewpoint of
the HR experts .It is crucial for organizations today to have an emergency preparedness including
developing crisis or disaster plans and training employee. Regardless of the type of crisis where its big
or small or natural disaster such as flooding, or a man- made disaster such as fire, emergencies cannot be
peredetiermined (Alexander, 2015).Crisis preparedness is a state of corporate readiness to foresee and
effectively address internal or exogenous adversary circumstances with the potential to inflict a
multidimensional crisis, by consciously recognizing and proactively preparing for its inevitable
occurrence. Previous scholars posits that a business sector which is the economic drivers of communities
become easy to hit by emergency situations through provision of goods and services which require need
in crisis response and preparedness .The ability of organization to gaining stability is through crisis
planning which is ultimately the key to successful workplace emergency response. Nevertheless, it is
important for every organization in this modern time regardless of the company size, the human resource
have a strategic part to ensure their companies are aware of crisis and provide a plan for future to help
reduce its impacts. In a way for a company to become most efficient and success, the human resource
may perform their task to create business focused solutions .Thus, in the context of CM, previous studies

25
have supported the argument that HRD activities do have a strong linkage in their abilities to enhance the
organization human capital and contribute to explicit business strategies.

.A. HRD’s Strategic role in CM

HRD was gradually redefined in the term of Strategic Human Resource Development (SHRD)in the early
1991s by Garavan (2007). The emergence of this SHRD is to enhance the organization effectiveness and
also to ensure that there is full utilization of the knowledge and skills in each individual employee of the
organization (Tseng and Mclean, 2008).From this line of inquiry, HRD may serve as a central player in
helping organizations develop the intellectual and social capital needed to effectively manage potential or
actual crisis events (Wang et al., 2009).Earliest scholars stated that firm should protect their core
competencies through investment in training and development, this argument imply that value of
employees to the firm is related to their uniqueness and value of their capabilities and skills. Competitive
advantage can be gained when organization has the skills that are unique difficult to imitate, by
competitors. Several studies have recognized the importance of HRD in firms. These studies have
highlighted the dependency of firms either big or small on the importance of skills and capabilities of
workforce to gain success and growth. illustrates the relationship between HRD roles in supporting CM
efforts. below posits the importance and contribution of HRD initiatives in enhance awareness and
competencies CM. In order for such transformations in crisis needs and demands to occur, a strategic
approach of HRD vital .Previous scholars and researcher have strongly argued the linkage between HRD
in facilitating the CM. above shows that by integrating HRD activities in CM, it leads to develop
organizational goals and values and capabilities that may enhance competitive advantage. Specifically,
there are two contributions that SHRD may make to CM which includes provides organization with
operational capabilities to manage crisis and enable organization to understand basis objective of crisis
that is by learning from crisis to prevent, improve responses to future crisis.

B. Leadership And Training, Organizational Structure And Culture, Learning And Crisis
Communication

According to Sommeretal, the willingness and efforts from the internal stakeholders to learn from the
crisis is crucial for strengthening the organization and leaders play a key role in this process as they focus
attention on the repair and transformation of the organization. Leadership is one of the most critical
aspects in CM, however the research on leadership, involvement as one of the keys in CM is left
unattended (Schoenberg, 2005). Most of the past studies on CM have explains how crisis influence all the
phases in the CM steps, however there is limited research that identifies the knowledge skills or abilities
of leaders and employee in leading the organization through all this phases Wooten and James

26
(2008).Moreover, it is important in developing a systematic strategy in CM require the involvement of the
top manager to convince others in the organization to cooperate .Although many organizations realizes
the consequences and the negative impact associated with crisis, yet there formal training and on the job
related activities do not prepare them for CM. In this modern business environment, managing the most
important pressure such as communication and public relation should be considered first instead of
behavior such as sense making, taking risk, managing the crisis and others .Therefore, it is crucial for
organization does require leaders to adopt a complex set of competencies which included but not limited
to communicating effectively to lead organization through success recovery in every phases of the crisis
phases .The other area that is also one of the fundamental roles of HRD is to develop human resources
through training and development activities. Training refers to the abilities of organization to provide
employee with the learning relating to their work related competencies. However, it is crucial for the
employee to possess these competencies such as their abilities, knowledge and skills that potentially
create successful in performance .In this regard, by giving training it may enable the employee to create
working condition that encourages continuous learning is through the high leverage training practices.
This continuous learning seeks employees to understand their entire work systems which associate with
the connection surrounded by their jobs, their work units and the company. According to Fung et al., one
of the factors that attribute to the occurrence of crisis is human error. Within a crisis environment, it is
paramount for every organization to build a knowledge base of crisis and capability of coping with it. As
Wang et al noted, this may be done through training because it is an effective tool in eliminate, reduce the
impact of crisis such as technology and human errors. Empirical studies have confirmed that training and
development does have a significant positive influence in enhancing crisis events. For instance, in Weller
et al., 2003 studies have investigated the long term effects of a simulation based training in anesthesia CM
where this study has distributed a questionnaire to all the anesthetist and the result shows shat 69% of the
respondents perceive there is a change in practice and improvement in interaction between team members
and also enhance in problem solving in preventing and managing crisis. On that account, it is the HRD
professionals crucial role in educating the leaders and members on the change management process and
seeking the appropriate development interventions to cope with the crisis. Other area that is certainly
important and HRD can make a big impact is on fostering crisis prepared organizational culture. Earliest
researcher’s defined organizational culture as a mechanism through which effort is integrated through the
coordination of activities and also describes as a mechanism that direct behavior towards achieves shared
values, goals and norms (O'Neill et al., 2016).Organizational culture believes to be one of the major
predictor of crisis events because it represent shared beliefs on issues such as risk and organizations
vulnerability to crisis situations (Bowers et al., 2017).However, how to create an organizational
environment with crisis prepared mentality situations is a major task for the HRD professionals. Such

27
culture can be created through training interventions and through teaching the leaders and members to
constantly assessing organizations practices and look for sign. For instance, one study done by Bower et
al., proposes that by combining the element of organizational culture with individual leadership style it
may allow organization to match a given crisis with the best possible crisis response leader .This
successful implementation approach was present in a real-world case study of the U.S Airforce Taiwan-
4 crisis. Base on the crisis case study, the result shows that culture plays an important role in the
development and managing crisis and the crucial role of leaders in CM does matters. It is important for
organization to consistently prepare for crisis response by knowing the organizations culture and leaders
and monitoring the CM based on crisis environment, organizational culture and leadership style to select
the right leader for the crisis .Furthermore, another area that HRD professional can facilitate change and
enhance crisis prepare organizational culture is through promoting organizational learning (OL).

C. Organizational CM

With the complexity of organizational crisis and increase in frequency the need for crisis planning to
mitigate crisis event become a serious event for organizations .The earliest definition of crisis is defined
by Milburn et crisis is defined as a low probability, high impact situation that is unfamiliar, unexpected
and precipitated by people, organizational structure, economics, technology or natural disasters .However
CM refers to a systematic process in averting or managing crisis to sustain or maintain business operation
to normalcy and minimize losses, .Previous scholars have identified three elements of crisis which
includes threats to goals, reduced the ability to the environment and reduce time pressure .Timothy
Coombs and Holladay defines crisis as an unpredictable, major threat that can negatively affect the
organization, industry and stakeholders if it is not handled properly. While Sapriel defined crisis as an
unexpected, specific and non-routine event that leads to high level of uncertainty and may threaten the
organizations goals. Crisis management consists of a set of factors that is used to combat crisis to reduce
the actual damage of crisis and it is referred as a change process plan by organization to reduce negative
effects to the organization and other relevant stakeholders. Further, in the organization change process,
crisis management believed to be the first step in creating the sense need for change .Crisis management
is about being prepared to handle adversity, minimizing the impact of the crisis effectively and facilitating
the management process within the environment of chaos. According to Reddy et al (2009), in order
manage the crisis effectively, firstly organizations must be aware of all the phases and steps involved in
the overall process for crisis management. Crisis management encompasses all aspect of business
includes operation, marketing, media relations, distribution and legal matters. This includes planning,

28
organizing, leading and controlling assets before and after the crisis. Most researchers and scholars
discussing crisis management includes topics such as type of crisis, process of crisis management and
their and leadership role in handling crisis management.

29
 Research Methodology

The primary approach for this study is to capture the richness the individual experiences with the crisis
events and how they deal and manage the crisis. The proposed research methodology is qualitative. The
core method utilized to generate data to answer the above research aims will be interview. According to
Bogdan and Biklen , interview is the most appropriate in accessing the personal experience of workers
and hence and the focus will be on reporting individual perspectives and feelings. This method are useful
when how and why questions are being posed. The advantages of using qualitative as approach for this
study is it offer a means to understanding and describing the social situations and the one we will use are
group or personal interviews, observations and document analysis. These techniques may capture the full
richness and complexity of the real world and will allow me to have a deeper understanding of the social
situation and describing the behavior in their daily interactions.

30
 DATA COLLECTION

Data Collection Instrument

Based on interview guideline, the primary data were collected through Expert interviews conducted in
April and May 2020. The experts were selected on the ground of purposive sampling approach. The
characteristics of respondents were the main factors to choose participants.

According to Corbin and Strauss (2008), the methodology of the research is determined by the research
questions, and qualitative research approach help researchers to discover instead of testing variables
(Corbin & Strauss, 2008).

Expert Interview

31
The Expert Interview Method was applied to collect data for this study. The expert interview as an
exploratory tool is considered as a widely used in empirical studies for the data gathering (Bogner, Littig,
and Menz, Interviewing Experts, 2009).

An expert possesses technical, interpretative, process knowledge in a specific competences field (Bogner,
Littig, & Menz, Introduction: Expert interviews – An introduction to a new methodological debate, 2009),
and has experience (Mergel, Edelmann, and Haug, 2019). An expert has access to information and can
solve problems in their field of expertise (Meuser and Nagel, 2002). Competent experts have relevant
education and skills, position, work experience in the area of the research topic, as well as they can be
publicly recognised (Libakova and Sertakova, 2015).

Based on the abovementioned research regarding expert definition, the following criteria were developed
to invite experts for the interview (Figure 2): (1) having theoretical knowledge as well as expertise gained
in praxis in the area of human resource management, (2) having experience in working with organisations
regarding human resource management issues, (3) be involved in research at the university level, or in
consulting, and training activities and hence, have direct connections with HR managers in Georgian
companies.

Thus, the experts invited to participate in this research are close to the various organisations in Georgia
because of their work, and have frequent and immediate relations with HR managers in the course of their
day-to-day activities. Consequently, they regard the present situation and effects of the pandemic.

32
Data collection from an expert interview involves the video recording, transcript in Georgian and
translation into English. The face-to-face expert interviews were conducted in April and May this year
through online video platform Zoom. Every interview was prescheduled, carried out in the Georgian
language, and transcripts were later translated into English. The depth interview with an individual expert
took between 23 and 46 minutes. The experts were asked to allow video-recording in Zoom in order to
transcript it later. They were ensured that their personal data will be protected.

The semi-structured interview followed similar guideline that enabled to compare data, and to keep the
interview within the topic boundaries. At the end of the interview, the last question was about their
additional comments or viewpoints they thought it could be important to this study.

The questions were based on the current literature, and relied on the expert answers to pose additional
questions. The questions were open-ended and comprehensive answers were expected. Overall, the
interview outline consisted of 9 questions covering the 6 main themes (Table 1).

33
Table 1: Main Interview Themes

Part Theme

I General question about the expert experience and precise field of expertise

II Questions about Covid-19 effect on organisations and challenges HRM have been facing

III Questions about changes caused by the crisis (e.g. Work-life balance, Digital transformation)

IV Questions about the company response to the pandemic crisis from HRM perspective

V Expert opinions regarding the future of HRM, and their recommendations to HR managers

VI Additional thoughts/ views if applicable

In the framework of this paper, questions in part 2 and 5 are analysed. The experts were asked what they
consider as the most challenging for Georgian companies during the pandemic, how they are affected,
how HRM will be changed in the post-pandemic period, and if any opportunities regarding digitalisation
and employee wellbeing have been revealed.

Sampling

The number of potential interviewees is determined by the research question, as well as by accessibility to
and availability of experts (Baker and Edwards, 2012). It should be noted, that the number of experts may
be limited in the particular area, and hence maximum ten interviews should be conducted (Baker and
Edwards, 2012). Ten interviews with experts is considered to be sufficient to analyse appropriately
(Glaser and Strauss, 1967). However, data collection should stop when saturation is reached (Glaser and
Strauss, 1967). Purposive sampling is a broadly used method in nonprobability sampling the size of which
depends on the idea of saturation meaning that “no new information or themes are observed in the data”

34
(Guest, Bunce, and Johnson, 2006). Based on the results of their research, saturation takes place within
the first twelve interviews, however fundamental themes occur within the first six interviews (Guest,
Bunce, and Johnson, 2006). Cooper and Schindler (2014) confirmed that sampling in expert interviews
should be kept as long as it brings new insight, and terminate when there is no new knowledge obtained
(Cooper and Schindler, 2014).

Totally, 33 experts were invited to the face-to-face video interview, from which 10 were actually
interviewed. Experts were recruited through the professional contacts of the researcher. Initially, we
contacted them via Email explaining the purpose of the research and sending them preliminary interview
questions.

The respondents are experts of the domain of human resource management, and the data they provided is
true reflection of current state in this area. Their experience and insight allow gathering primary data from
various background and experience in order to study the impact of the crisis.

The experts stem from various organisations ranging from consulting companies to training centres to
universities. Namely, Training and Consulting: n=6, University: n=3, only Consulting: n=1. Seven of the
interviewees were female, and three – male. Their working experience in HRM consulting, training, and
research field ranges between 9 and 25 years.

35
 ANALYSIS
At the stage of the analysis, the collected data through the expert interview were interpreted and analysed
with the approach of qualitative content analysis.

The systematic analysis includes concepts, themes, and categories derived from the data, which are
discussed (Silverman, 2000). The thematic parts and passages with similar elements have been noticed
(Bogner, Litting & Menz, 2009). Additionally, the data were grouped and labelled by category; relevant
themes to the research questions were determined to make connections (Flick, 2014).

Thus, themes, issues, categories were identified, patterns were discovered in the content, and were
labelled appropriately. Then, data were sorted according to similar themes and subthemes as well as
conflicting points of view. Thematically similar passages from different expert interviews were put
together as described by Bogner, Litting and Menz (2009) to further conceptualize and reveal the
commonly shared expert opinions

36
 Findings

Crisis management

A crisis is defined as any partial or total disruption of a business’ key operations as a result of damage of
property or equipment, harm to people, destroyed relationships, environmental destruction or stakeholder
negative perception and influence among other factors . The Human Resource Management Association
defines it as “a low probability, high-impact occurrence that is often unexpected and unfamiliar,
occasioned by organizational structures, people, technology, economics, natural disasters among others.”
Consequently, this may affect the business’s performance, reputation, and employee productivity
resulting in disastrous impact on the business. Given that crises can occur at any time, crisis management
which involves the identification, prevention, and management of potential crises has increasingly gained
importance in the managerial spheres . The goal is to ensure that in the event of a crisis, the minimum
damage is incurred and that the organization can return to its original position as fast as possible. Crisis
management refers to a series of processes through which the organization ensures that the business
operations can be sustained or resumed with the minimum impact on the stakeholders and where lessons
learnt can be used to improve current practices . Crisis management is thus considered a critical process
in enhancing business sustainability.

Crisis management process

Various explanations have been put forth in a bid to explain the processes involved in crisis management
within organizations.

According to Andrianopoulos , crisis management may be subdivided into three major steps namely: pre-
crisis, crisis, and post-crisis. Pre-crisis refers to the period before the crisis, where the organization
undertakes activities aimed at identifying potential crises and developing plans on how they can be
addressed. The crisis stage refers to the period during which the crisis occurs. This stage presents an
opportunity for the organization to implement the crisis management plan developed in the pre-crisis
stage in order to reduce or eliminate negative impact on the crisis. The post-crisis stage is the period
following a crisis and includes recovery actions to get the organization back to its original state. Each of
these stages is considered significantly important because they all determine how effectively an
organization can deal with a crisis when it occurs.

Christina explains the major steps involved in crisis management, noting that each step influences the
company’s ability to recover when faced by a crisis. The first step toward effective crisis management is
the identification of potential crises facing the organization. This involves scanning the business’ internal
and external environment to establish the kind of threats that a company faces in the course of its

37
operations . Crises may range from failed organizational processes to bad publicity in the internal
environment, and natural disasters and man-made disasters in the external environment. The second step
involves the identification of the impact that crises may have on the organization. This involves the
impact of the crisis on processes, operations, organization’s assets, public image, and employee
performance. Once this has been achieved, the next step is to identify the best approaches toward
resolving the crisis when they occur. This involves the development of a crisis management plan, which
consists of the procedures to be followed in the event of a crisis.

Mitroff provides a framework that effectively explains what consists of crisis management in
organizations.

HR’s role in crisis management

38
Crisis management in organizations is often manifested in the focus on operations, system reinforcement,
infrastructure development, and public relations . All these activities are aimed at building the
organization’s resilience and hence promote sustainability. However, there is a notable tendency of
concentrating on these aspects of crisis management, such that the human resource aspect is sidelined .
Employees who are likely to be hurt, both physically and emotionally are often neglected during the crisis
management efforts, such that crisis management plans rarely provide adequate measures for the
protection of employees . Furthermore, employees are the main contributors in the recovery process and
their welfare is critical in ensuring effective recovery. In the contemporary times, however, it has become
critical for organizations to place priority on the protection of their human resources, hence the increased
focus on employee preparedness when it comes to crises . This is because in a world where the
information and knowledge is increasingly thriving, organizations have become increasingly reliant on
human capital in promoting competitive advantage as opposed to equipment, systems, and technology.
Employees are currently considered the most important assets within the organization, and hence there is
a need for them to safeguard the safety of their employees. Organizations are required to pay greater
attention to the impact of crises on employees, relatives and the community in general in order to
successfully achieve effective crisis management. It is for this reason that the HR has been vested the role
of crisis management within the organization to ensure that employees are well prepared and that they can
survive and recover following unfortunate events. The HR has a duty to ensure that staff are included in
all business continuity and crisis management plans.

As the custodian of staff welfare, the HR has an important role to play in ensuring that human capital
within the organization is protected and that employees can continue to provide value for the organization
beyond the crisis . The HR is best positioned to offer disaster preparedness and crisis management
training to employees to ensure that they are in a position to handle crises when they occur. Accordingly,
the role of HR in managing crisis becomes extremely important for any organization that seeks to
maintain brand reputation and stakeholder trust and loyalty.

The HR undertakes key roles in crisis management from the pre-crisis to the post-crisis stages. The HR’s
role is to protect the welfare of employees while at the same time ensuring that they contribute to the
organization’s sustainability, through doing their part in times of disaster. The role of the HR is to ensure
that staff are adequately prepared for crises through training, effective leadership and empowerment,
ensuring that security and safety initiatives are taken to protect employees in the event of a crisis and
developing communication plans necessary in promoting crisis management . The roles of HR in crisis
management are varied and can be classified into different themes as follows.

Crisis management planning

This is the process through which an organization makes plans on how to deal with crises, including crisis
prevention, impact reduction, and crisis recovery . Crisis management planning enhances the company’s
ability to deal with crises and ensures faster recovery when an organization is faced by a crisis. Crisis

39
management planning is an imperative process in crisis management because it provides guidelines on
preventing or averting crises, dealing with crises and the recovery process.

Training and talent development

An imperative role of HR in crisis management, training ensures that employees can effectively
implement the crisis management plan. Training and talent development provide employees with
knowledge and skills necessary to enhance the recovery process. The HR is expected to lead or participate
in training aimed at mentally preparing employees for possible crisis events . This involves the
development of a training plan in which employees are provided with knowledge and skills on how to
deal with crises. The training should also involve simulation exercises to provide a practical feel about
how to deal with real crises. This is discussed in more detail under the topic “Training for crisis
management.”

Vulnerabilities and threats communication

The HR has a key responsibility to ensure that employees are aware of vulnerabilities and potential
threats. This involves identifying and communicating all possible threats within and outside the
organization to the employees. Effective communication ensures that employees are physically,
emotionally, and intellectually prepared, such that it becomes easier to handle the crisis . Besides
providing such information, the HR is expected to develop a crisis communication plan that should be
shared among employees to help them in identifying channels of communication in the face of a crisis.
Ronez noted that the HR is a strategic partner when it comes to human resource management and should
therefore understand the crisis management language, enough to lead preparedness and recovery.

Promoting employee involvement

The HR has a key role to play in crisis management and consequently promoting sustainability
preparedness in an organization. Notably, disasters both within and outside the working environment are
likely to impact the organization and its employees is a significant manner, such that there is a need to
design preparedness measures to promote sustainability. The role of the HR is based on the premise that
when employees are affected by a crisis, the organization becomes vulnerable. Second, people within the
organization are considered the solution to the challenges faced by the organization in the face of a crisis,
such that preparing them for disaster is considered an imperative aspect of business management.

Employee motivation

40
The HR is responsible for providing necessary manpower within the organization and also ensuring that
employees use their skills to contribute to organizational development. This means that HR can contribute
to crisis management through motivating employees to contribute to the crisis management plan
execution. It is notable that staff are of great significance, both before and after the crisis, and the HR
professionals are best placed at facilitating their participation in crisis management. Through training and
motivation, an organization can ensure that its crisis management efforts are fruitful by actively engaging
employees in the process.

Influencing organizational culture

The other way in which the HR influences crisis management is through influencing the organizational
culture. Lockwood defines organizational culture as the shared behaviors within an organization and
which determine how members of the organization interact and execute their duties as influenced by
organizational values and norms. This insinuates that the manner in which employees within an
organization respond to crises is highly dependent on the organizational culture. The HR can influence
culture within the organization, with aspects such as leadership capabilities and resilience being
emphasized as a means to enhancing crisis management . When skills such as problem solving are
ingrained in an organization’s culture, it is possible that staff will be better positioned to survive the crisis.

Small-scale crisis plan

Besides the organizational crisis plan, a small-scale crisis plan that addresses the human aspect of crisis
should be developed by the HR. This involves identifying vulnerability to HR functions and processes
and developing mitigation plans [5]. Examples may include protecting HR records such as backing up
data and having a plan regarding work continuity in the event of loss of staff. This mini plan should also
include publicizing crisis management efforts with employees and management in order to encourage
better crisis management. The goal is for the HR to proactively identify ways of solving problems within
the HR department and hence promote competency. This also ensures that the HR department is
recognized for its role in crisis management, hence promoting more inclusion in strategic management.

41
 Conclusion

For this research, qualitative expert interview was used as a first orientation to better structure the
problem resulting from the current crisis. The experts’ opinions were based on their knowledge and
personal experience. Data was interpreted, and comparisons were made to find main themes, similarities,
and differences in the expert answers.

The research aimed to explore how Covid-19 pandemic affected activities of HR managers, and how
organizations responded to the crisis from the viewpoint of HRM.

There are almost the same tendencies observed by the interviewed experts in Georgia as they are around
the globe in this pandemic crisis according to the literature review. The researchers have theorized the
similar trends experienced during the crisis situation regarding human resource management and impact
on employee .

42
 SUGGESTIONS

 The HR managers must be familiar with the new trends and techniques so as to do their job in a
better way.
 In case the company or the HR manager recruits people on the basis of caste or any religion then
this policy must be abolished. Steps must hence be taken for abolishing them.
 The HR manager must have a better understanding in the sense that the workers must feel free to
tell or ask him in case of any problem.
 Attrition is the gradual reduction in workforce by employees and not being replaced. This
challenge may be reduced by giving proper training to the workers.
 Increased workload is a great challenge and it must be reduced to a great extent. Hence work
pressure must be minimized.
 Increased work load has lead to recruitment of new employees. Hence recruitment costs must be
minimized. To avoid recruitment of new people proper motivation and training must be provided
so as to increase productivity.
 The HR manger must take steps so as to avoid employees leaving their jobs. Job satisfaction
plays an important role here.
 The HR manager must avoid or reduce using business jargons with workers.
Eg. Excel Nirma workers

 Sabotage is the threat against damages. It can be reduced by taking an insurance policy. Insurance
policy helps to compensate the losses or otherwise minimize them.
 New technologies are coming into effect day by day. Hence they must be adopted as and when
required.
 Microsoft windows, computers to laptops.
 Cds to pen drives.

43
Annexure

44
45
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Bibliography
48
BOOK

The following list is not intended to be inclusive; rather, it represents a sampling of books on various
aspects of human resources management.

Arthur, Diane. Recruiting, Interviewing, Selecting & Orienting New Employees. (5th Ed.) New York:
AMACOM, (2012).
Biech, Elaine (Editor). ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training & Development. (2nd Ed.)
Virginia: ASTD Press, (2014).
Branham, Leigh. The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act
Before It’s Too Late. New York: AMACOM, (2012).
Bromley, Kaya. The Employer’s Guide to ObamaCare: What Profitable Business Owners Know About
the Affordable Care Act. Nevada: Your Obamacare Advisors, (2014).
Falcone, Paul and Winston Tan. The Performance ...

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