Dear AIB Colleagues-
The book series “Palgrave Studies in Global Human Capital Management” has successfully released three editions (2015, 2017 & 2020) and is planning on releasing its 4th edition by Mar / May, 2024 and is titled “Managing Human Capital during the Covid-19 Pandemic - A Global Perspective”. This book series examines the intersection of globalization, technology, innovation, HRM practices and work organization. With an emphasis on human capital management in international business, the series stresses the importance of culture and contextually-situated knowledge in a dynamic work environment, especially in the context of big emerging markets to enhance productivity and competitiveness with a skilled workforce. Please see below an overview of the upcoming book.
Rationale for the 4th edition:
At
the beginning when Covid-19 broke out, detection of cases in some
countries and regions did not lead to anticipating the extent of
disruption at such
a scale globally. Initially, nobody expected it to develop into a fully
blown global pandemic, something not experienced or witnessed since the
Spanish Flu of the early 1900’s. All governments and global health
authorities were positive of curbing the spread.
It was only when cases increased exponentially and worldwide cases were
detected, world leaders started to act swiftly. Implementation of
lockdowns became a global phenomenon, work from home became the ‘norm’
i.e. ‘new normal’ and education moved very quickly
to the online platforms. Startups, businesses, household incomes,
education, travel etc., meanwhile suffered immensely. The Governments
had to release funds for ensuring health security and food aid,
migration of labor back to hometown, subsidies to unemployed
workforce and much more. However, the efficiency and capability of
managing human capital during the Covid-19 times became paramount. All
countries acted upon saving lives and protecting the future of its
people. That said, how well were these remedies rolled
out? Were the leaders themselves trained to manage crises? We have had
health crises in the past, i.e. Ebola/SARS/MERS virus’s breakout a few
years ago, but how much did it affect employees and citizens? In
addition, how well did these previous outbreaks teach
people across the world? Did these experiences lead to training in
terms of future handling when it came to such situations? Did the
governments take interest in skill training? Digital revolution was
very much in existence, but how prepared was the working
world across the world? These form important questions that need
answering.
Though most countries managed it effectively, one common realization that came across was that organizations globally must train their employees on online tools and invest in employee’s health and skill set because firms that have human capital frameworks have better long-term value (Walsh & Resch, 2020). Moreover, the key steps to help mitigate negative impacts of a crisis are by taking care of employee well-being, pay equity and fairness, inclusion and diversity, reskilling, promoting leadership and culture to be proactive etc., (Walsh & Resch, 2020). In addition, the national health policies need to be independent of one’s profession and employment status so that the unemployed do not feel the burden of access to social help. In other words, the health insurance must not be varying based on part time or full-time work employment (Sönmez et al., 2020). Work from home became the norm for most employees, across all sectors, but the availability of resources for the employee was a challenge. For example, internet access in rural areas became a huge challenge. Training on use of tools also came out as the responsibility of the firm and organizations, who must strengthen their talent base and improve the team’s efficiency, which could be very helpful during a crisis (Azizi et al., 2021). Further, we also find that remote working is possible only with firms that deal with software programming or support services. In contrast, manufacturing units, frontline services will need people to report to work physically. They are at utmost risk in case of a pandemic. Additionally, they work in shifts and layoffs could increase work pressure on this workforce as we witnessed globally. Leaders in an organization will need to make decisions that on one hand should be empathetic when it comes to their employees, and on the other hand, should not let the organization go through financial risk and hence should tackle issues based on priority. A Deloitte report by Vandaele & Verbruggen (2020) discovered three stages in effective management of human capital in organizations through a crisis phase i.e., respond, recover and thrive. One can argue that these stages are applicable across any industry and businesses that need to reframe their business models considering the present global pandemic situation.
Based on the above rationale, we are inviting top human capital scholars from across the world to contribute to chapters on the role of Human Capital during Covid-19 pandemic in North America, South America, Africa, Australasia, Europe & Asia. We hereby invite you to contribute towards a specific geographical location based on your experience and expertise. We will share the structure and format of the chapters with you shortly.
We seek to have all FULL draft chapters by the end of Jan- 2024. Do let us know in case of any clarifications or further information.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Editors
Distinguished Professor Vijay Pereira
Professor Benjamin Laker
Mrs Daicy Vaz
References:
Azizi, M. R., Atlasi, R., Ziapour, A., Abbas, J., & Naemi, R. (2021). Innovative human resource management strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic narrative review approach. Heliyon, e07233.
Sönmez, S., Apostolopoulos, Y., Lemke, M. K., & Hsieh, Y. C. J. (2020). Understanding the effects of COVID-19 on the health and safety of immigrant hospitality workers in the United States. Tourism management perspectives, 35, 100717.
Vandaele, N., & Verbruggen, A. (2020). Managing your Human Capital through COVID-19. Deloitte.https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/be/Documents/Managing%20your%20Human%20Capital%20through%20COVID-19.pdf
Walsh, A., & Resch, R. (2020, Aug 6). 6 ways the COVID-19 pandemic could change our approach to human capital. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/08/6-ways-covid-19-will-advance-human-capital-strategies-and-governance/