Technological progress is reformulating the content and tasks of most occupations, and human resources constitute the strategic asset of every organization . The increasingly rapid development of technologies linked to the advent of the digital age has brought about profound changes not only in daily lifestyles but also in work organization and management models. Digitalization requires new skills and knowledge, creating a surplus of physical capabilities while simultaneously producing increased demands on non-routine cognitive abilities such as deductive reasoning, the fluency of ideas, the organization of information, and the understanding of communicative contexts.

Index

Human resources: evolution and importance

Human Resource Management (HRM) can be defined today as a strategic area of ​​management that concerns the policies, practices, and administrative structures that develop and leverage an organization's most valuable resources . Compared to the past, in an increasingly dynamic, globalized, and competitive world, the sustainable development of an organization, whether private or public, increasingly depends on the role played by its people (Cocozza 2012).

The problem of managing and organizing the workforce arose with the large-scale capitalist enterprise that emerged with the Industrial Revolution starting in the late eighteenth century. Among the pioneers of this period, who began to address how to best manage the workforce and especially its productivity in relation to the environment and working conditions, it is important to mention Robert Owen (1771–1858), who proposed a legislative reform to limit the number of working hours and the use of child labor , followed by a form of "silent monitoring" to evaluate the work of a human resource on a daily basis, thus seeking to improve the living conditions of the workers in his factory. Owen's idea was based on the consideration of the best investment by a manager in his workers, seeking to improve their conditions, thus also ensuring an increase in productivity.

Training: new methods

‹Training aims to develop the knowledge, skills, and information possessed by personnel› (Costa, 1997, p. 263), but also to disseminate behavioral models. Forecasting for the future focuses on the temporal variable and on what is defined as the “ learning experience ,” which must, on the one hand, enhance experiences, and on the other, generate elements of creativity and become a source of inspiration for dealing with new challenges. Needs analysis and planning are the areas considered central to the need for a substantive improvement process . Motivation draws its etymology from the concept of movement toward action and represents a fundamental building block for the construction of theories of managerial action. It has been placed at the center of attention since the studies of Hawthorne (Roethlisberger, Dickson, 1939), who highlighted the complexity of the mechanisms underlying individual performance.

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More recently, Locke and Latham, while not providing an explicit definition, have emphasized how motivation refers to internal factors that trigger action and external factors that can act as stimuli for action. Motivation can influence three aspects of action : direction (choice), intensity (effort), and duration (persistence), influencing not only people's acquisition of skills and abilities but also how and to what extent they use them.

Method and empowerment

Method, but not only, can be the fundamental ingredient of training that empowers people , mobilizing energy and creating the conditions for cultivating their agency within individuals, generating development opportunities for the entire organization. Training speaks the alphabets of self-world interaction. The learning-growth experience must be seen not only as a mental learning dimension but also as an experiential practice and identity-building for every human resource.

The empowerment of people , thanks to the development of educational capital, can be the first step in a process that leads them towards the gain of "substantial freedoms", or – as Amartya Sen repeats –

“A freedom that implies the ability to transform available goods and resources into the freedom to pursue one's own goals, to promote one's own purposes, to implement alternative lifestyles, to plan one's life according to what is valuable to oneself.”

The importance of organizational well-being

The last decade has been, and continues to increasingly be, characterized by a true revolution linked to the intensive use of information technology in every area of ​​working and social life. There is no type of job or role that has not had to deal with the presence of increasingly complex technologies, from archiving to communication, from planning to evaluation, technologies in the digital age represent an irreplaceable tool within organizations . In recent years, organizational well-being has become a much broader concept than simple accident prevention; as Robertson and Cooper (2011) observe, it is possible to identify organizational well-being as the composition of three levels of well-being: psychological, physical, and social.

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Terborg (1986) already distinguished, in less recent years, between health protection , that is, the protection of people from threats to their health, and health promotion , which consists in inducing people to make reasoned choices that improve their physical and mental health.

The principles of a successful organizational program

The integration between health protection and health promotion are not only the requirements that determine the effectiveness of organizational well-being, but Shain and Kramer (2004) summarize five principles that must never be missing in a successful organizational program that involves every human resource:

  1. The principle of personal control: paying attention to individual needs when setting goals and defining a gradual approach to achieving them.
  2. Social Support Principle: Attention to the variable needs that arise from an individual's social networks.
  3. The principle of interactivity: taking into account behaviors that can exert a negative influence.
  4. Appeal Principle: Wellness programs must be able to meet a wide variety of participants, taking into account their aptitudes and cultural differences.
  5. Convenience Principle: Wellness programs must be easily accessible to workers, taking into account working hours and limited time availability.

The success of a good program depends not only on good planning, but also strongly requires active worker participation and management support, which primarily needs to involve the entire organization. In recent years, issues of work, organization, and employee well-being have also had to contend with the effects of the digital revolution, with ICT increasingly becoming an irreplaceable work tool.

Martina Giampà

References

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