Reference no: EM132152908

Introduction

According to the story of creation, just like Van Duzer states in his allusion of the Bible to business activities on earth, God gave human beings the authority to use the world as a source of resources to improve their lives. With this also came the responsibility for protecting and conserving the environment.

In the fallen state of humanity, the world is not perfect and so is the business environment. Not everything people see on earth today is good including businesses and their practices.

Every person, businessman, and consumer must be wary of their environment lest they stumble upon destruction. However, on the shoulders of every person lies the responsibility to improve and empower each other. That includes Van Duzer's emphasis on managers giving employees equal chances to use their God-given abilities (Van Duzer, 2010).

The Fallen World and Business Environment

In this fallen state of humanity, and the world, the success of a business relies on strategic planning which is done through human resource development (HRD). That explains why the industrial landscape in the world today calls for a Resource-Based View strategy of planning for business success. When human beings came to the world, they came with succinct instructions from God to utilize the resources on earth in order to make a living.

In other words, the person who utilizes the resources optimally, or has control over a certain resource, wins in every way in the quest to improve their life (Mello, 2015). The consequence of that has since been fierce competition between companies, businesses, and employees-- who seek to impress the HR manager for salary increment and promotion.

Therefore, the competitive advantage of any given organization in this fallen state of affairs depends on the resource-based competitive advantage that the organization has (Schular & MacMillan, 1984). That is, an organization will surpass its competitors in the industry because it has absolute control over a specific, core resource. Additionally, because of the imperfection of the world, resources are not freely mobile to organizations.

As part of planning and human resource development, organizations must, therefore, search for resources carefully, selecting the most effective and competitive. After redemption that is in the consummation period the business environment will be perfect. It will be a balanced state of affairs where businesses will have equal access to all resources. That implies that there will be no competitive advantage as God shall make human and other resources efficient--or perfect so to speak.

The New Business Environment during the Consummation

It is important for managers to plan for transitioning into that kind of environment. Therefore, they must understand that their strategy-making will be based on the industrial organization model. That is, the success of business organizations will no longer rely on internal factors. On the contrary, it will depend on the external environment.

The forces of nature will be the determinants of business success or failure, resources will be mobile across all organizations in any given industry. Threats and opportunities will emerge not because of certain business practices, but from the external environment that is free from human manipulation.

The consummation period resembles the New Public Management (NPM) era that saw many changes across different HR departments all over the world. Like the NPM, consummation will present a public system where organizations are subject to public oversight, except not among few countries but universally.

When HRD becomes a public matter, as the consummation theory affirms, there will be a greater demand for accountability from HR departments in every organization (Nafukho et al., 2004). This implies fair remuneration and favorable working environment for all employees. In other words, with the coming of consummation era, there will be no private firms.

Conclusion

However, even with the immense evidence of the coming redemption, there is a problem with the way Van Duzer's makes these theological predictions about the future of business operations. His approach is too thin and, he does not present many tangible arguments to validate his approach to the business environment in the consummation.

The point here is not to oppose the belief, but rather to question the depth of knowledge about the possible state of affairs in the imminent era of consummation. The theory is true but its presentation, by Van Duzer, is not so profound that it would guarantee comprehension of its implications.

However, one thing remains clear: the consummation will change the way businesses operate and human resources developments strategies. Specifically, businesses will be influenced more by the external forces-- which will be working constantly to maintain factors at optimal levels-- than the internal factors of organizations.

References

Mello, J. A. (2015). Strategic human resource management (4th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western. ISBN: 9781285426792.

Nafukho, F. M., Hairston, N., & Brooks, K. (2004). Human capital theory: Implications for human resource development. Human Resource Development International, 7(4), 545-551.

Schuler, R. S., & MacMillan, I. C. (1984). Gaining competitive advantage through human resource management practices. Human Resource Management, 23(3), 241-255.

Van Duzer, J. (2010). Why business matters to God: (And what still needs to be fixed). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. ISBN: 9780830838882.