Human resources (HR) is a very important asset for organizations and companies. In line with the important role of human resources in an organization, human resource management (HRM) is a branch of knowledge that will keep developing along with the development of relationship dynamics in organizations and businesses.

The Bachelor in Management Study Program, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, held a Guest Lecture on Human Resource Management II, with the topic Current Issues and Theoretical Development in HRM, on May 18, 2024. In this activity, the study program presented guest lecturers from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zuraina Dato’ Mansor.

Dr. Zuraina states that discussions related to the development of HR management are important to allow organizations and companies to understand the demands of the current generation.

“It is very important for companies and organizations to be able to manage their employees. Today’s topic is very important to discuss because requests or demands from employees can change along the generation, so companies or employers need to predict these changes,” she explained.

In addition to discussing developments in the topic of HR management, Dr. Zuraina also explained the difference between traditional and contemporary HR management theories. According to her, both approaches are still relevant and important, because sometimes to deal with certain cases the company finds that the traditional approach is more suitable.

Regarding the development of AI (Artificial Intelligence), Dr. Zuraina argues that AI should be a tool for employees, not the other way around. In this case, HR management will continue to develop and get updated according to the transformation happening. In Asia, for example, there are several topics that currently are often discussed in research such as employee commitment and leadership.

“Then how to choose HR theory to do research? Students can choose a theory based on the goals to be achieved from the research. For example, if students research the topic of how to increase employee commitment, then they can use organizational theory or individual theory. Keep in mind that a theory may not be able to answer all the research objectives proposed by the researcher,” explained Dr. Zuraina related to HR theory.

In front of more than 100 undergraduate students in attendance, Dr. Zuraina also answered various questions submitted directly or through the text messaging feature.