MGMT 2718 Human Resource Management Notes
Introduction
People are our most valued resource
‘New’ emphasis on achieving organisational success through management of people
HRM as the ‘organisation’s conscience’ – where workers can expect to be treated with fairness
HR ‘Process’ – recruitment, selection, training and development, performance management, reward and motivation, redundancy
‘Hard’ – ‘military’ model – management as commander – dictates strategy, then HRM follows – quantitative emphasis on the numbers
‘Soft’ – HR managers may have influence on strategy
Conscience of the firm or a strategic partner
Issues of HRM
Often the benefits of HRM oversold
Employers may not be able to deliver on the promise of
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Yet it improves the image of the HR department and sees HR less involved in administrative work and more involved in strategic activities.
Two extreme theoretical approaches to HRM are instrumental (hard) and humanistic (soft). Instrumental HRM stresses the rational, quantitative and strategic aspects of managing human resources. Performance improvement and improved competitive advantage are highlighted. Humanistic HRM recognises the need for the integration of HR policies and practices with the organisation’s strategic objectives, but places emphasis on employee development, collaboration, participation, trust and informed choice.
Roles of a HR manager:
The HR manager is expected to understand the business as well as any line manager, and to be their equal in contributing to the organisation’s competitive success. They must develop and implement HR strategies that support the organisation’s business objectives, improve productivity, and enhance employee wellbeing. It is criticised for marginalizing employee-focused HRM responsibilities and downgrading ethical considerations. Also, it is too management focused, it creates role conflict, damaged HR credibility and challenged HR’s role as an employee advocate. HRM has become more business oriented and strategically focused.
Change and cultural transformation catalyst – initiate and monitor change and cultural info, promote and audit employee
HR management is also known as “ A strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasis that leveraging people’s capabilities is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, this being achieved through a distinctive set of integrated employment policies programmes and practises.”
Human Resource Management (HRM) are activities managers perform to plan for attracting, develop, and retain a productive workforce (Kinicki & Williams, 2016). The role of human resource management is to prepare, develop, and administer policies and program designed to make expeditious use of an organization human resources. Part of control which is concerned with the people at work and with their relationship within an enterprise. HRM have their hands full; they have to face employees daily with a complaint, write-ups and sadly terminating of the worker. All areas of HRM such as, staffing, orientation, training, development, pay wages benefits are all significant parts that are dealt with daily. Human resource management presents itself as
Wright and McMahan (1994) define strategic HRM as “the pattern of planned Human Resource deployments and activities intended to enable the organisation to achieve its goals.” A HR function should impact the success of an organisation; a policy must remain current and suitable to both the internal and external environment. Ulrich and Lake (1990) affirm, ‘HRM systems can be the source of organisational capabilities that allow organisations to learn and capitalise on new opportunities.’
The relationship between an organisation’s strategic management and the management of its human resources is concerned with SHRM (Boxall, 1996). In SHRM, the HR department is more involving in acquiring and creating human capital resource which can ultimately realize the organization strategic goals. HR leaders are required to ensure that its procedures and plans align with the corporate business strategy as a whole. HR leaders should be able to visualize the complete system of HR activities from beginning to end to deliver the expected commercial results. External environments such as government policies, demographic, and labour market influence on the design of SHRM
‘strategic’ role for the HR function and, second, how can it be applied in a public
Human Resource Management (HRM) is now a term which is now widely used, yet loosely defined (Guest, 1987). So, what is HRM? What does it mean and what is its focus? “The focus on HRM is on managing people within the employer – employee relationship. Specifically it involves the productive use of people in achieving the organisation’s strategic business objectives and the satisfaction of individual employees needs.” (Stone, 1998) Derived from this and certain theories addressed later in this research, HRM in the field of organisational behaviour engages a set of policies designed to maximise organisational integration, employee commitment, flexibility and quality of work. With this perspective, and rapidly changing trends, it is no
There is still a great debate between academics as to whether HRM is a whole new concept or just a repackaging of PM. Some experts, for example Legge 1995 and Storey 1989; 1995 suggest that the message itself is not the
Human Resources Manager (HRM) has a role in which they “efficiently achieve the objectives of the organization with and through the people. To achieve its objective, management typically requires the coordination of several vital components, called functions” (DeCenzo, Robbins, & Verhulst, 2013). These functions are what were discussed last week, with the four identified as planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The reason HRM is vital is to ensure the success of the business is partly because of employee satisfaction, motivated productivity and proper feedback is given both ways between managers and employees. This is where you come in to ensure employers are conducting business is a safe and ethical manner as well as ensuring employees are following proper procedures in the workforce. The role of an HRM to the workforce, one will come across situations where the need to know how to react, both legally and ethically. With all of this said, the overall goal of the HRM is to attract, train and keep good employees; keeping turnover rate low and subject matter experts employed.
Human Resource Management (HR) acts to serve a function which is aimed at maximizing the overall performance of a business and its employees in relation to the employer 's set standards and strategic objectives. The primary focus of HR is concentrated upon the management of employees, and on the policies and systems within and outside the organisation. (Boxall & Purcell, 2011). “Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) aims to align the functions and processes of HR with the strategic aims and objectives and competitive advantage of an organisation.” (Hartel, Fujimoto, Strybosch & Fitzpatrick, 2006). After all, the key characteristic of HR is ‘integration.’ The role of HR and HR Professionals can be linked to four main SHRM theories which will be discussed below:
Guest (1987) and Storey (1992) in their definitions of soft and hard models of HRM view the key distinction as being whether the emphasis is placed on the human or the resource. Soft HRM is associated with the human relations movement, the utilization of individual talents, and McGregor's (1960) Theory Y perspective on individuals (developmental humanism). This has been equated with the concept of a 'high commitment work system' (Walton 1985b), 'which is aimed at eliciting a commitment so that behaviour is primarily self-regulated rather than controlled by sanctions and pressures external to the individual and relations within the organization are based on high levels of trust' (Wood 1996: 41). Soft HRM is also associated with the goals of flexibility and adaptability (which themselves are problematic concepts, as we shall see in more detail later), and implies that communication plays a central role in management (Storey and Sisson 1993).
As businesses evolve and grow so do the purpose and role of an HR department. Once traditionally thought of only as an administrative department, HR has grown to become a vital part in any strategic organization. The traditional role for HR professionals focuses on recruitment, selection, salary, benefits, training, evaluation, rewards, and discipline. In many organizations, executives feel that their managers can do the work eliminating the need for HR. Human resources can be applied to any activity within the organization (Nica, 2013). HR professionals focus on finding the appropriate balance of workforce supply and how efficient and productive the workforce is. Employees are now being recognized as a vital asset to an organization 's success and have extended the strategic role of a HR department (Anca & Ramona, 2013).
Human resource management in the past was said to be about systematic and bureaucratic control, “however, today it is more and more becoming an integral part of the strategic response to change and a very important facet of attempts by management to carve out competitive advantage” (Macklin & Jenkins, 2007:1).
Although Human Resource Management did begin as a administrative job, advancements in technology has increased a business’s resources to the point of needing this department to take on a more strategic role. The HR Department is or all intend and purposes the center point for the employees needs ranging from - payroll, benefits, vacation, as well as staying up to date with the legal matters. The roles the HR department have always been aimed at meeting the needs of the employee, with a strategic approach, the HR department will be continue to be aimed at meeting the needs of employees, as well ensuring the employees can meet the needs of the company as well.
Those days, HRM was considered as administration and nothing much. It centered around routine tasks such as record keeping and maintenance. And it was also known as personal administration (Managerial auditing journal, 2003) and the HR those days did not interfere in the strategic plans of the organization. Higher level managers considered HRM as something which was not necessary for the organization because it did not contribute to productivity and the profit levels of the organization. But today HRM has gained more importance in most organization. Most executives viewed human capital as a cost needing to be controlled or minimized. Now, they realize that employees contribute significantly to the financial performance of the organization. This fresh perspective on the value
In the face of increasing competitive environment organisation needs to focus on the value of investing human resources as a major competitive advantage. It is important to set a HRM to meet those advantages to meet company’s objectives with the flexible environment. Schuler (1992) defines strategic human resource management as “the integration and adaption to ensure (1) human resource management is fully with the strategy and the strategic needs of the firm (2) HR polices cohere both across policy areas and across hierarchies; and (3) HR practices are adjusted, accepted and used by the line managers and employees as part of their every day work”