Hrm Introduction

HRM: INTRODUCTION Human resource management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising, compensating employees and attending to their labour relations, healthy, safety and fairness concerns (Dessler, 2005:4). Rao (2004:3) further postulates that Human resource management is a process of bringing people and organisations together so that the goals of each are met. It is that part of the management process which is concerned with the management of the human resources in an organisation. It tries to secure the best from people by winning their wholehearted cooperation. HRM may be simply defined as the process of procuring, developing and maintaining competent workforce to achieve the goals of an organisation. DeCenzo and Robins (2003:3) aver that HRM is concerned with the people dimension in management. In further elaboration of the concept, Armstrong (2003:3)avers that human resource

Features of HRM:  

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From the foregoing, a number of aspects about HRM emerge: HRM seeks to attract, retain, develop, reward and motivate employees for achievement of the organisation’s strategic objectives; Both the employer and the employees are in a symbiotic relationship and employees are not considered as a liability.

Features of HRM:

The main features of HRM are: It is a pervasive force: present in all organisations and at all levels; Action oriented: focus on action rather than record keeping, written procedures or rules; People oriented: whether as individuals or as groups; Development oriented: seeks to develop people to their full potential;

Features of HRM:-Contd   

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Interdisciplinary function Continuous and interdisciplinary function An emphasis of the strategic management of people (the human capital of the organisation) which achieves a fit or integration between the business and the HR strategy; A comprehensive and coherent approach to the provision of mutually supporting employment policies and practices, i.e. the development of integrated HR policies and practices (configuration or bundling); The importance placed on gaining commitment to the organisation’s mission and values-it is commitment oriented; The treatment of people as assets rather than costs-they are regarded as source of competitive advantage and as human capital to be invested in through the provision of learning and development opportunities; An approach to employee relations that is unitary rather than pluralist-it is believed that employees

Evolution of Human Resource Management 

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Pattanayak (2003:3) cites the founder of Sony Corporation Akio Morita who postulates that “there is no magic in the success of Japanese companies in general and Sony in particular. The secret of their success is simply the way they treat their employees”. Under Morita, the whole process of recruitment, selection, training and development, performance appraisal and rewards was built on the premise that employees were the most valuable part of the company. Such employees served the organisation through their talent, creativity and drive. It is people who can add value to an organisation in a manner that no other resource can. The idea of staff welfare can be traced to the First World War when a number of welfare officers

Table 1: Phases of Personnel Management and attendant Functions Phase

Period

Functions performed

Pre-phase one

Between 1st & WWII

1

1950s

2

1960s-1970s

3

1980s

Recruitment, staff training, record keeping and staff welfare Salary administration and industrial relations Strategic manpower planning, Performance appraisal, Job design, motivation, and other comprehensive personnel activities in the personnel function Organisational strategic management team- shift from Personnel Management to HRM (expanded mandate)

4

1990s

Emphasis on teamwork strategic approach to HRM for organisational success through goaldirected leadership

Definitions of Personnel Management 

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Personnel management can be defined as the process of attracting, retaining and developing personnel necessary for an organisation to meet its goals (Okumbe, 2001). According to Flippo (1984), the personnel function is concerned with procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of an organisation for the purpose of contributing towards accomplishment of that organisation’s goals or objectives. The foregoing definition highlights personnel management as the process of planning, organising, directing and controlling of the performance of those operative functions. Personnel management is not an exclusive province of the personnel managers but a function of the managerial personnel with assistance of others to realise the objectives of the organisation. Personnel managers are first and foremost managers and therefore they need to understand management theory and practice. Main objectives of Personnel Management The main objectives of personnel management are: Attracting the kinds of human resources required by an organisation; Developing the human resources; Motivating the human resources; Retaining the human resources;

Table 2: A Distinction between HRM and Personnel Management Dimension Orientation Strategy Focus Structure Conflict Pay

Personnel Function Maintenance oriented

Human Resource

Emphasis on implementation of procedures Focus on employees’ needs in their own right An independent function with independent subfunctions Presumption of unionmanagement conflicts, reach temporary Emphasis ontruce settling pay

Emphasis on strategy

more in terms of the organisation’s internal market

Development oriented

Focus on employee requirements in light of business needs Consists of interdependent parts Conflict dealt with by team leaders, manage climate and culture

A Distinction between HRM and Personnel Management-Contd

Employee perception

Employees seen as a cost to be maintained

Philosophy

Reactive, servicing function

Scope

Serving other departments/units

Employees seen as an investment to be nurtured as well as cost to be controlled Proactive and innovative function (trying to anticipate and getting ready with appropriate responses) Contributing “added value” to business

Change

Supporting change

Stimulating change

Goals

Challenging business goals in light of effects on employees

Total commitment to business goals

Staff deployments

Less flexible approach to staff deployments

Completely flexible approach to staff deployments

Responsibility Exclusive responsibility of personnel department

Responsibility of all managers in the organisation

A Distinction between HRM and Personnel Management-Contd

Dimensio n Motivator s

Personnel function Emphasis is put on monetary terms

Human resource function Emphasis is on higher order needs such as how to design a jobs that stretch employees, improving creativity and problem solving skills, how to use empower people in Outcomes Improved Better of human respects performance is all resources leads to the result of improved satisfaction and improved morale satisfaction and morale of Focus on the outlook, Rules Importance devising clear impatience with rules Guide to rules Procedures Business need managem ent action Behaviour Norms, Values, mission reference customs and practices

A Distinction between HRM and Personnel ManagementContd

Dimension Management task vis-à-vis labour Key relations

Personnel Monitoring

HR Nurturing Customer

Initiatives

Labourmanagement Piecemeal

Speed of decision Management role

Slow Transactional

Fast Transformative

Communication

Indirect

Direct

Prized Negotiation management skills

Integrated

Facilitation

A Distinction between HRM and Personnel ManagementContd Dimension

Personnel

HR

Selection

Separate, marginal task

Integrated key task

Conditions

Separately negotiated

Harmonisation

Labour management

Collective-bargaining contracts

Individual contracts

Employment conditions

Preference for collective bargaining of pay conditions Job evaluation (fixed grades)

Management-led planning of people resources and employment conditions Performance related

Job categories and grades

Many

Few

Job design

Division of labour

Teamwork

Training and development

Controlled access to courses

Learning organisations

Focus of attention for intervention

Personal procedures

Wide-ranging cultural, structural and personal strategies

Shared interests

Interests of the organisation are

Mutuality of interests

Pay

Principles of Human Resource Management 

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If a policy is to guide managerial decisions and actions, it must be established by research and analysis. The observation is that many personnel management principles have been established through practice, experience and observation. Armstrong (1994) postulates that there are four principles of HRM. These are: In any organisation, human resources are the most important resource it has and, therefore the success of any organisation depends entirely on how its workers are managed The success of any organisation is more easily achieved if the HR policies and procedures are closely linked with, and make a major contribution to, the achievement of its corporate objectives and specific plans The corporate culture and the values, organisational climate and managerial behaviour that emanates from the culture will exert a major influence on achievement of excellence. Therefore, efforts must be made to manage culture in such a way as to enable workers to accept and adopt the values. Continuous effort is required to achieve integration whereby all members of the organisation are involved and work together with a sense of common purpose. Aswathappa (2005) adds the following principles: Principle of individual development: to offer full and equal opportunities to every employee to realise his/her full potential Principle of scientific selection: selection of the right person for the right job Principle of free flow of communication-encourage all channels of communication, formal, informal, upward, downward, horizontal etc Principle of participation-involve employees or their representatives at every level of decision making Principle of fair remuneration-pay fair and equitable wages and salaries commensurate with the job Principle of incentives to recognise and reward good performance Principle of dignity of labour-treat every employee with respect and

The Michigan School Human Resource Model 

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Pattanayak (2003:4) cites Fomburn, Tichy and Devanna (1984) who explained the human resource cycle that consists of the four processes or functions: Selection-matching available human resources to jobs Appraisal-performance management Rewards-rewarding short-term and long term achievements Development -developing high quality employees Fomburn, et al (1984) note that the Human Resource function should be linked to the line organisation by providing the business with good databases, by ensuring that senior managers give HR issues as much importance

The Harvard Framework 

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The Harvard Framework of HRM was developed by Beer (1984) and it is based on the belief that problems of historical personnel management can only be solved when general managers develop a view point of how they wish to see employees involved and developed by the enterprise and the HRM policies and practices that they may achieve by those goals. Without central philosophy or a strategic vision, HRM is likely to remain a set of independent activities each guided by its own set of practices and traditions. According to Harvard School, HRM has two characteristic features: Line managers accept more responsibility for ensuring the alignment of competitive strategy and HR policies; and The HR function has the mission of setting policies that govern how personnel activities are developed and implemented in ways to make them more mutually re-enforcing The Harvard model has integrated the history and practice of HRM, emphasizing the fact that HRM is a management function rather than personnel function only. The model below explains that HRM should evolve take due consideration of stakeholder interests, situational factors, whose outcome is commitment, congruence and cost-effectiveness. The long term effects will include individual well being, organisational effectiveness, and societal well being which can in turn impact the stakeholder interest, situational factors and HRM policy choices.

HR Managers Scope of Work                  

Any manager must have some authority or right to do things in one’s position. A human resource manager has authority over the following: Procurement-recruitment, selection, orientation and placement. These include: Recruitment programmes Rejecting job applicants Establishing and determining entry points in wages and salaries and pay grades Employment of individuals recommended by other departmental managers Orientation programmes Employee training and development. This involves: Determining training needs Designing training programmes determining number of trainees in a particular programme Determining the who will attend what training programme and when Evaluating training programmes Performance Review: Establishing and administering performance standards Determining and establishing merit ratings Establishing remedial measures The manager can also change recommendations about specific individuals Salary and wage administration