Abstract
Background. The crisis caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak in 2019 has caused challenges and problems for most organizations, as well as difficulties for employees, the most valuable organizational resource. Based on previous researches in this field, this study aimed to identify the components of Human Resources (HR) during the new coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
Methods. The present meta-synthesis study used four keywords of Human Resources (HR), Human Resource Management (HRM), coronavirus, and COVID-19, to explore the literature databases of Proquest, The Scientific Information Database (SID), Web of Science, Emerald journals and the specialized search engine, Google Scholar, in 2019-2021. The number of sources initially found was 1,029, of which 921 articles were rejected because of their titles. After screening 108 abstracts, we reduced the list to 65 articles for review by rejecting 16 abstracts based on quality and 27 abstracts based on content. Also, three universal themes, three constructive themes, and 11 basic themes and 117 codes were extracted.
Results. Based on the findings of this study, social opportunities and threats are the most significant challenges for HR. The HR unit should also focus on issues such as virtualization of work and work environment, extending the degree of external environment support for the employees, restructuring jobs, dealing with health, psychological, economic, and internal challenges.
Conclusion. In dealing with the coronavirus, HR managers should pay special attention to components such as virtualization of work and work environment, support of the external environment for employees, restructuring of jobs, meeting health and psychological requirements and dealing with social, economic, or intra-organizational challenges.
Extended Abstract
Background
The new coronavirus (COVID-19) is one of the challenges that the field of management is currently facing, and if ignored, can cause a crisis in the field of Human Resource (HR) management. The observations of researchers and HR managers indicate that since the announcement of the virus worldwide, the overall structure of the project has undergone major changes and, consequently, the lifestyle of humans has been affected. The crisis caused by the new coronavirus outbreak has caused challenges and problems for most organizations and their employees, the most important assets and resources of most organizations. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to identify the components of HR during the new coronavirus crisis (COVID-19), based on previous research in this field, and to extract the relevant components. These components can help managers, especially HR managers in achieving their goals.
Methods
Human Resource Management (HRM) concepts have recently entered the literature of management and leadership, but the field still lacks comprehensive models and theories. Accordingly, this paper employed the meta-synthesis method to conduct a qualitative study of previous literature on HR management in the new COVID-19 crisis. The goal is to create a new, integrated interpretation of the findings. This method clarifies the concepts, patterns, and results to refine the existing states of knowledge and contributes to the emergence of operational models and established theories. Using the meta-synthesis method to identify key factors related to HRM in the new COVID-19 crisis integrates several studies to create comprehensive and interpretive findings. According to previous research, does the main research question emphsize the dimensions and components of HRM in the new COVID-19 crisis? To set the research question, four main parameters have been used, namely: Using the four keywords of human resources, human resource management, coronavirus, COVID-19, the researchers explored literature databases of Proquest, The Scientific Information Database (SID), Web of Science, Emerald journals as well as Google Scholar, the specialized search engine, in 2019-2021. A total of 1,029 sources were found, of which 921 articles were rejected because of the title. Also, of the 108 screened abstracts found, 16 were rejected based on the abstracts and 27 were rejected based on content, leaving us with 65 final articles to be reviewed. Also, three universal themes, three constructive themes, 11 basic themes and 117 codes were extracted.
Results
The COVID-19 pandemic is destroying the global economy, but it presents different opportunities for organizations. HR managers should start planning how to take advantage of this opportunity. Since employee participation has a significant and positive effect on organizational performance, it is essential for managers to maintain open and honest communication with employees during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic in order to inspire productivity. In addition, knowledge sharing in this situation is more important than ever and has a significant and positive effect on the organization’s performance. Therefore, to maintain the organization’s high performance at the times of crisis, employee participation and knowledge sharing can be the most effective ways to meet the current HR challenges. During the COVID-19 outbreak, employee participation is a key element of employee and organizational success. Employee satisfaction leads to better performance, increased creativity, and organizational commitment, which is becoming increasingly important in hospitals and health care organizations. The results of this study indicate that opportunities and social threats are the most significant challenges facing HR. The HR unit should also focus on issues such as virtualization of work and work environment, extending the degree of external environment support for the employees, restructuring of jobs, dealing with health and psychological, economic and internal challenges. HR managers can monitor the characteristics, requirements, and challenges caused by the disease on a component-by-component basis. For example, hospital managers may consider issues such as the prevalence of mental disorders such as depression, insomnia and generalized anxiety, fear of not knowing, health crisis, the stress in the medical system, negative impact on the physical and mental health of employees, and risk of isolation or loneliness in work environments. Traveling a long distance to work, coping with mental health conditions, and living alone or without family are the main challenges faced by the health system employees. Identifying these challenges can help resolve many current problems. Social norms, on the other hand, can play a vital role. Such norms may include the implementation of policies such as social distancing and closure of gathering and interaction centers, combating the phenomenon of social stigma, informing the pulic of disease transmission, providing care and prevention of pollution through national and social media, and highlighting the importance of social responsibility. Among other important norms identified in this study are healthcare; public governance; educational, employment, and socio-economic factors; supporting managers to promote a life-work balance among employees; granting employees meal periods and allocating time for them to play with their children and do housework; staff participation and knowledge sharing; providing a clean and safe work environment; providing personal protective equipment and financial assistance for employees and their family; encouraging the employees' adaptation to the remote work environment; separation of work and private life.
Conclusion
Finally, this study provides a new perspective through wich managers and researchers in this and similar fields can examine HR issues. In dealing with the COVID-19, HR managers should pay special attention to components such as virtualization of work and work environment; providing external environment support for employees; restructuring jobs; health and psychological requirements and challenges; social, economic, and intra-organizational factors. One of the limitations of this research is the novelty of the subject and the lack of previous similar studies, especially in Iran. Also, quantitative research addresses aspects that may not be possible to monitor in qualitative research. It is therefore recommended that future research focus on quantitative-qualitative hybrid methods. It is also suggested that future research investigate the impact of HR processes during COVID-19 outbreaks.
Practical Implications of Research
It is best for HR managers to review the structure and processes of HR and organizational resources and to coordinate the organization to adapt to the changes resulting from COVID-19.
Ethical Considerations
The researchers have adhered to all ethical principles in the use, presentation, and publication of scientific materials and all the rights of researchers have been observed.
Conflict of Interest
The authors of this article hereby declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgment
Not applicable.