Introduction to Human Resource
References • Torrington, Hall and Taylor (2008), Human resource Management, 7th edition, Pearson Education
Nature of Human Resource Management (HRM) • Basis for all management activity (not all business activity) • Getting people to make things happen in a productive way
HRM for 21st Century • Businesses are diverse but all need to manage their human resources • Must meet people’s aspirations and the strategic/financial needs of the business • Focus on aspirations can lead to hierarchical bureaucracies • Focus on business can lead to downsizing, delayering and outsourcing • Rationalisation can lead to reduced business performance
What are HR People Concerned With? • Has led to a focus on human capital • Management of humans employed both within the organisation and outside the organisation
What do HR People Administer? • The contract of employment • The psychological contract for performance • Performance may come both from employees and non-employees • Meets the need of employee and organisation
Defining HRM HRM is commonly used in two ways. • Generic approach: describes a body of management activities; may be seen as a new term for ‘personnel management’ • Distinctive approach to the management of people: distinct from personnel management – a distinct philosophy
HRM – a generic approach Four key objectives: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Staffing objectives Performance objectives Change management objectives Administration objectives
HRM – Staffing Objectives • Ensuring that the business is appropriately staffed and able to draw on human resources it needs • Designing organisational structures • Recruiting, selecting and developing people with the right skills to provide the services needed • Developing employment packages that are sufficiently attractive to attract and retain staff
HRM – Performance Objectives • Ensure motivation and commitment of staff • Training and development key role • Reward systems and performance targets • Disciplinary systems • Welfare functions • Employee involvement initiatives
HRM – Change Management Objectives • Effectively managing change • Structural: re-organisation of activities or introduction of new people to roles • Cultural: alter attitudes or norms • Recruitment and/or development of those with required leadership skills to drive change process
HRM – Administration Objectives • Facilitate smooth running of the organisation • Maintain accurate and comprehensive data on individuals • Comply with legal requirements • Administer pay, sickness, taxation, leave etc.
HRM Roles and Objectives
Figure 1.1
HRM roles and objectives
HRM– a distinctive approach • Something that is qualitatively different from personnel management approach • Disagreement about how fundamental a shift is • Personnel management is workforce centred whereas HRM is resource centred • Greater emphasis on planning, monitoring and control • HRM is totally identified with management interests
Characteristics of Personnel Management
Figure 1.2
Personnel versus HRM
Characteristics of HRM
Figure 1.2
Personnel versus HRM (Continued)
Evolution of Personnel and HRM •
Social justice
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Humane bureaucracy
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Negotiated consent
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Organisation
•
HRM
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A ‘new HR’?
Social Justice • Origins of personnel management, derived from the work of social reformers • Aimed to improve the lot of workers • Paternalistic approach which led to a focus on welfare • Schemes such as unemployment benefit, sick pay and subsidised housing • Supported by a business and ethical case
Humane Bureaucracy • Increased focus on other organisational objectives • Responsibilities included staffing, training and organisation design • Influenced by both scientific management and human relations schools of thought • Led to focus on social relationships in the workplace and employee morale
Negotiated Consent • Growth in trade unions post Second World War • Personnel managers managed the new collective institutions • Many negotiated with trade unions • First specialist personnel courses designed • Establishment of ACAS
Organisation • Personnel specialists begin to deal with management and be integrated into management activity • Development of career paths • Development of techniques of workforce planning
A ‘new HR’? • May now be a sixth stage in evolution of HR – but debated • Themes – Global perspective – Concern with legal compliance – Multi-employer networks
• ‘Different trajectory’: viewing employees as individuals and seeking to engage them emotionally • Focus on employer branding and employer proposition
HRM and Organisational Effectiveness • Study of links between HR practices and organisational effectiveness dominates HR research agenda • Organisations seek to gain competitive advantage • HR function contributes to this via attracting and developing human capital • HR also contributes to organisational reputation: as being stable and ethical
HRM Debates • Debates concern response to major trends that are evolving in the business environment • Conceptualising nature of current responses • What HR managers should be doing • Longer-term future developments
Key Environmental Developments (1 of 2) • Globalisation • Technology • E-business • Volatility • Improvement in quality
Key Environmental Developments (2 of 2) • Labour market and social trends – numbers of people and skills available – individualistic attitude
• Evolution of employment legislation – statutory regulation – contract of employment
Psychological Contract • Expectations employees have about the role they play and what employer provides in return • Switch from old to new approach – involves less job security and requires less loyalty • Debate about the extent to which change has taken place
HR Strategy: Best Practice • Certain HR practices that will help organisations achieve competitive advantage • Clear link between HR activity and business performance • Best practice bundle – advanced selection methods, commitment to employee involvement, investment in T and D, individualised reward systems, etc.
HR Strategy: Best Fit • Identifies link between HRM practice and achievement of competitive advantage • All is contingent on particular circumstances • HR policies are required that fit and are appropriate to situations • Key variables include – size, dominant product market, etc.
Future of Work – One Perspective • Speculative and impossible to prove • A world of work different in many respects than is currently experienced • Shift towards knowledge work • ‘Job’ as we know it will become rarer • Long-term work guarantees a thing of the past
Future of Work – A Different Perspective • Continuation of established approaches • Some reversal of trends that developed in 1980s and 1990s • Continuation of traditional approaches towards employment
Philosophy of HRM • ‘HRM is a series of activities which: first enables working people and the organisation which uses their skills to agree about the objectives and nature of their working relationship and, secondly, ensures that the agreement is fulfilled.’ (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2005, p.14)
Summary (1 of 2) • HRM is fundamental to all management activity • Generic HRM describes a body of management activities • Specific approach to HRM signifies a particular approach to carrying out these activities • HRM managers are concerned with meeting 4 distinct sets of organisational objectives
Summary (2 of 2) • HRM activities are carried out in various ways through the organisational structure • Current debates over HRM generally focus on the extent and nature of responses needed to face changes in the business environment • There are three main current HRM debates: psychological contract; best practice versus best fit and the future of work