HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

HRM: HISTORY• In the late 19th Century Personnel administration as a department came into picture, the department was responsible for welfare of employees as well as organizations• Post world war 2 globalization started picking up pace and as a result the competition in different markets intensified• In order to become successful and sustain and survive effectively organizations understood the need to manage human resources in the more efficiently than before• HRM replaced the personnel department in the 1970’s as a comprehensive model allowing organizations to manage employees much better than ever before• HRM is a vast field which not only encompasses Personnel & Admin responsibilities, but also activities which start right from recruitments to T&D, Appraisals, Grievance handling and more recently others like organizational development & People management• HR department is at the heart of any organization as it maintains a right balance between organizations and their most important assets “Employees)

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: INTRODUCTION

• Human resource management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising and compensating employees and of attending to their labor relations, health & safety and fairness concerns• In a way HRM involves conducting job analysis, planning labor needs, orienting and training new employees, managing wages, providing incentives, appraising performance and so on, the department is responsible for maintaining cordial and healthy relationship between organizations and employees• HRM and its effectiveness is most critical for the success of organizations, this is because humans are the most important assets which an organization possesses and their effective management will lead to high levels of productivity and profits• “You might have lots of capital, you might have the best infrastructure, you might have the best machinery and so on, however nothing is worth till the time you have good employees” (Thomas J Watson Jnr.)

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: INTRODUCTION

• Human Resource Management ("HRM") is a way of management that links people-related activities to the strategy of a business or organization. HRM is often referred to as "strategic HRM". It has several goals:•- To meet the needs of the business and management (rather than just serve the interests of employees);•- To link human resource strategies / policies to the business goals and objectives;•- To find ways for human resources to "add value" to a business;•- To help a business gain the commitment of employees to its values, goals and objectives

Human resource management: introduction

Examples of Key Strategy Issues Possible Human Resource Implication

• What markets should the business What expertise is required in these markets?Compete in do existing managers and employees have the right skills & experience

• Where should the business be located Where do we need our people and how many do weTo compete optimally? Need?

• How can we achieve improvements in How productive is the workforce currently? howOur production costs to remain competitive does this compare with competitors? What investment in the workforce (training, recruitment) and their equipment is required to achieve the desired improvement in productivity• •How can the business effect cultural change What are the current values of the workforce? how can the current culture be influenced/ changed to help implement a change program

•How can the business respond to rapid What technological skills does the business currently Technological change in the market? Possess. What additional skills are needed to respond to technological change? Can these skills be acquired through training or is there need for new recruits?

Human resource management: role, responsibilities, duties

• HR Managers duties involve placing right person on the right job, orientation programs, training and development, controlling labor costs, retention, performance appraisals and so on• Line function involves exerting line authority within the HR department, coordinative function involves being right arm of top executive to ensure HR managers are implementing HR policies and procedures, staff functions involve innovators role, advising top managers on HR policies and procedures, employee advocacy role and handling all HR activities• Another important role of the HR manager is that he/she acts as a bridge between people and organizations whereby they are responsible for maintaining cordial relationships between the two entities

Human resource management: roles, responsibilities and duties

• Human resource managers have strategic and functional responsibilities for all of the HR disciplines. A human resource manager has the expertise of an HR generalist combined with general business and management skills.• Although the employee relations specialist is responsible for investigating and resolving workplace issues, the human resource manager has ultimate responsibility for preserving the employer-employee relationship through designing an effective employee relations strategy• Human resource managers develop strategic solutions to meet workforce demands and labor force trends. An employment manager actually oversees the recruitment and selection processes; however, an HR manager is primarily responsible for decisions related to corporate branding as it relates to recruiting and retaining talented employees.

Human resource management: roles responsibilities and duties

• Frame a clear and easily implementable HR Policies•Nurture and develop a motivated HR Team to meet business requirement•Develop the collective knowledge of the HR team to handle complex and crisis situation arising due to dynamic and changing business environment• Create a complementing skills based team such that various HR aspects can be addressed and there are varied competencies and skills the team has to be handle the entire gamut of HR responsibilities ranging from HR design t0o HR delivery. E,g. recruitment specialist, L&D experts, Business HR •Plan and implement an effective HR Plan that is aligned to Business Plan and overall organization people agenda

Human resource management: roles, responsibilities and duties

• Execute manpower planning and budgeting to have a road-map for recruitment assignments•Manpower hiring as per the recruitment plan agreed along with the Business heads/department heads•Keep ears to the ground and reach out to all employees through communication with employees at regular intervals to gather insights @ workplace and feed them back appropriately to the leadership team of the organization•Plan and execute suitable interventions to keep the employees motivated•Act as a business partner and provide dashboards/analytics to business heads/department heads to help them have a pulse of their team•Provide employee development and counseling assistance to employees /team members to enhance employee performance and productivity•Take adequate measures to retain good employees, ring fence high potential employees

Human resource management: roles, responsibilities, duties

•Ensure Statutory Compliant status at all times•In case of a widespread organization, HR visit calendar to all locations is made and followed•Executing “Employee Engagement” initiatives to keep people together and make the workplace exciting, rewarding and engaging•Drive an effective Learning and development agenda that impacts the employees and the businesses•Evaluate and Improvise the current HR Practices to keep with time and external benchmarks•Update HR policies in line with the business and organization requirement•Keeping and updated Employee Handbook with all relevant details and information•Design, update and share SOPs of all HR processes

Human resource management: roles responsibilities, duties

• Conduct periodical employee surveys to collate insights @ workplace and in turn design employee interventions accordingly to address concern areas•Support and counsel business managers to effectively manage teams to ensure higher employee productivity•Have an updated repository of Job descriptions for all roles in the organization along with measurable performance indicators for each role •Maintain employee records and files i order for ease of reference (both On-line and physical copies of the records)•Communicate with employees and business heads for better alignment •Be astute to handle dynamics at the workplace and help employees to overcome crisis situation

Human resource management: functions

• Human Resource Planning: Research is an important part of this function because planning requires the collection and analysis of information in order to forecast human resources supplies and to predict future human resources needs. The basic human resource planning strategy is staffing and employee development. • Job Analysis: Job analysis is the process of describing the nature of a job and specifying the human requirements, such as skills, and experience needed to perform it. The end product of the job analysis process is the job description. • Staffing: Staffing emphasizes the recruitment and selection of the human resources for an organization. Human resources planning and recruiting precede the actual selection of people for positions in an organization. • Orientation: Orientation is the first step toward helping a new employee adjust himself to the new job and the employer. It is a method to acquaint new employees with particular aspects of their new job, including pay and benefit programs, working hours, and company rules and expectations.

Human resource management: functions

• Training and Development: The training and development function gives employees the skills and knowledge to perform their jobs effectively. In addition to providing training for new or inexperienced employees, organizations often provide training programs for experienced employees whose jobs are undergoing change.• Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal function monitors employee performance to ensure that it is at acceptable levels. Human resource professionals are usually responsible for developing and administering performance appraisal systems, although the actual appraisal of employee performance is the responsibility of supervisors and managers.• Career Planning: Career planning has developed partly as a result of the desire of many employees to grow in their jobs and to advance in their career. Career planning activities include assessing an individual employee’s potential for growth and advancement in the organization. • Compensation: Human resource personnel provide a rational method for determining how much employees should be paid for performing certain jobs. Pay is obviously related to the maintenance of human resources.

Human resource management: functions

• Benefits: Benefits are another form of compensation to employees other than direct pay for work performed. As such, the human resource function of administering employee benefits shares many characteristics of the compensation function. Benefits include both the legally required items and those offered at employer’s discretion.• Labor Relations: The term “labor relations” refers to interaction with employees who are represented by a trade union. Unions are organization of employees who join together to obtain more voice in decisions affecting wages, benefits, working conditions, and other aspects of employment.• Record-keeping: The oldest and most basic personnel function is employee record-keeping. This function involves recording, maintaining, and retrieving employee related information for a variety of purposes. Records which must be maintained include application forms, health and medical records, employment history (jobs held, promotions, transfers, lay-offs), seniority lists, earnings and hours of work, absences, turnover, tardiness, and other employee data.• Personnel Research: All personnel people engage in some form of research activities. In a good research approach, the object is to get facts and information about personnel specifics in order to develop and maintain a program that works. It is impossible to run a personnel program without some pre-planning and post-reviewing.

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Human resource management: scope

• Human resources planning :- Human resource planning or Human Resource Planning refers to a process by which the company to identify the number of jobs vacant, whether the company has excess staff or shortage of staff and to deal with this excess or shortage.• Job analysis design :- Another important area of Human Resource Management is job analysis. Job analysis gives a detailed explanation about each and every job in the company.• Recruitment and selection :-Based on information collected from job analysis the company prepares advertisements and publishes them in the newspapers. This is recruitment.• Orientation and induction :- Once the employees have been selected an induction or orientation program is conducted.

Human resource management: scope

• Training and development :- Every employee goes under training program which helps him to put up a better performance on the job. Training program is also conducted for existing staff that have a lot of experience. This is called refresher training. Training and development is one area where the company spends a huge amount.• Performance appraisal :- Once the employee has put in around 1 year of service, performance appraisal is conducted that is the Human Resource department checks the performance of the employee.• Compensation planning and remuneration :- There are various rules regarding compensation and other benefits. It is the job of the Human Resource department to look into remuneration and compensation planning.• Motivation, welfare, health and safety :- Motivation becomes important to sustain the number of employees in the company. It is the job of the Human Resource department to look into the different methods of motivation.• Industrial relations :- Another important area of Human Resource Management is maintaining co-ordinal relations with the union members. This will help the organization to prevent strikes lockouts and ensure smooth working in the company.

Human resource management: significance

• Objective :- Human Resource Management helps a company to achieve its objective from time to time by creating a positive attitude among workers. Reducing wastage and making maximum use of resources etc.• Facilitates professional growth :- Due to proper Human Resource policies employees are trained well and this makes them ready for future promotions.• Better relations between union and management :- Healthy Human Resource Management practices can help the organization to maintain co-ordinal relationship with the unions.• Helps an individual to work in a team/group :- Effective Human Resource practices teach individuals team work and adjustment. The individuals are now very comfortable while working in team thus team work improves.

Human resource management: significance

• Identifies person for the future :- Since employees are constantly trained, they are ready to meet the job requirements. The company is also able to identify potential employees who can be promoted in the future for the top level jobs.• Allocating the jobs to the right person :- If proper recruitment and selection methods are followed, the company will be able to select the right people for the right job.• Improves the economy :- Effective Human Resource practices lead to higher profits and better performance by companies due to this the company achieves a chance to enter into new business and start new ventured thus industrial development increases and the economy improves.• Gives competitive edge:- Strong HR policies help in providing organizations with a competitive edge via the means of having highly motivated, skilled and trained workforce• Significance at social level:- HRM plays important role in the society, it helps labor to live with pride and dignity by providing employment which in turn gives them social and psychological satisfaction.

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HR MODELS: HARVARD MODEL

• The Harvard model acknowledges the existence of multiple stakeholders within the organization.

•These multiple stakeholders include shareholders various groups of employees, government and the community at large.

•The recognition of the legitimacy of these multiple stakeholders renders this model a neo - pluralist model.

•This model emphasizes more on the human/soft side of HRM.

•Basically this is because this model emphasizes more on the fact that employees like any other shareholder are equally important in influencing organizational outcomes.

•In fact the interest of the various groups must be fused and factored in the creation of HRM strategies and ultimately the creation of business strategies.

HR MODELS: HARVARD MODEL• A critical analysis of the model shows that it is deeply rooted in the human relations tradition.• •Employee influence is recogniZed through people motivation and the development of an organization culture based on mutual trust and team work.• •The factors above must be factored into the HR strategy which is premised on employee influences, HR flows, reward system etc.• •The outcomes from such a set up are soft in nature as they include high congruence, commitment, competencies etc.• •The achievement of the crucial HR outcomes has got an impact on long term consequences, increased productivity, organizational effectiveness which will in turn influence shareholder interests and situational factors hence making it a cycle.• •It is thus important to note that the Harvard model is premised on the belief that it is the organization’s human resources that give competitive advantage through treating them as assets and not costs.

HR MODELS: MICHIGAN/ MATCHING MODEL

• Precisely, the matching aspect of this model demonstrates that the model is inclined towards the harder side of HRM.

•This is because the matching model emphasizes more on “tight fit” between the HR strategy and the business strategy.

•NB It demands that available human resources must be matched with jobs in the organization.

•The HR strategy must be highly calculative in terms of the quantity of the human resources required to achieve the objectives enshrined in the business strategy.

•Business strategy takes the central stage in this model hence human resources are taken like any other resource which must be fully utilized together with the other resources to achieve organizational objectives.

Hr models: other alternatives

• The normative perspective of human resource management bases itself on the concepts of “hard HRM” and “soft HRM,” on which the foundations of human resource management rest• Hard HRM stresses the linkage of functional areas such as manpower planning, job analysis, recruitment, compensation and benefits, performance evaluations, contract negotiations, and labor legislations to corporate strategy.• Soft HRM model considers human capital as “assets” rather than “resources” and lays stress on organizational development, conflict management, leadership development, organizational culture, and relationship building as a means of increasing trust and ensuring performance through collaboration.

Hr models: other alternatives

• The critical perspective of human resource management is a reaction against the normative perception. This highlights some inherent contradictions within the normative perspective. • While most organizations claim employees to be their most important assets and make many commitments for their welfare and development, in reality employers enforce a hard HRM-based strategic control, and the interests of the organization always take priority over the individual employee.• The behavioral perspective of human resource management has its roots in the contingency theory that considers employee behavior as the mediator between strategy and organizational performance. This theory holds that the purpose of human resource intervention is to control employee attitudes and behaviors to suit the various strategies adopted to attain the desired performance.

Hr models: other alternatives

• The systems perspective describes an organization in terms of input, throughput, and output, with all these systems involved in transactions with a surrounding environment. The organized activities of employees constitute the input, the transformation of energies within the system at throughput, and the resulting product or service the output. A negative feedback loop provides communications on discrepancies.The role of human resource management in the systems perspective is•Competence management to ensure that the workforce has the required competencies such as skills and ability to provide the input needed by the organization.•Behavior management through performance evaluation, pay systems, and other methods to ensure job satisfaction, so that employees work according to the organizational strategy, ultimately boosting productivity.•Setting up mechanisms to buffer the technological core from the environment in closed systems.•Facilitating interactions with the environment in open systems.

Hr models: other alternatives

• Among the different perspectives of human resource management is the agency or transaction cost perspective, which holds the view that the strong natural inclination of people working in groups is to reduce their performance and rely on the efforts of others in the group. When one person delegates responsibility to another person, conflicts of interests invariably arise.•The major role of human resource management in such a context is to promote alternative ways of controlling behavior to reduce the effects of such conflicts and minimize the cost to the organization. The two major approaches include•Monitoring employee behavior and preventing shrink of work by establishing effective control systems and improving productivity. •Providing employees with incentives such as rewards, motivation, and job satisfaction to increase their individual performance.

SOUND HR POLICIES: KEY ESSENTIALS

• The HR policy should present the principle that will guide the organization’s actions and reflect a faith in the ethical values of employees. As Peter Drucker has observed, “The policies of an enterprise have to be balanced with the kind of reputation an enterprise wants to build up with special reference to the social and human needs, objectives and values”.• The policy should be definite, positive, clear and easily understood by everyone in the organization so that what it proposes to achieve in the long term is evident. Only a clear policy statement can serve as a guide to thinking and decision-making.• The HR policy must be reasonably stable but not rigid. It should be flexible to cover a normal range of activities. Change in a policy should be made only when it is essential and at fairly long intervals.• The HR policy should be formulated with due regard for the interests of all the concerned parties – the employers, the employees and the public community. It should be stated in the broadest possible terms so as to serve as a guide in practice now and in the future.

Sound hr policies: key essentials

• The HR policy must be developed with the active participation and support of the management and the co-operation of employees at the shop floor level and in the office. It should be formulated with active participation of the trade unions as well.•The HR policy should be definite so that it is easy to understand. It should be stated in clear, definite and easily understood terms so that what it proposes to achieve is evident.•The HR policy must provide a two-way communication system between the man agement and the employees. It should be communicated in writing so as to re move any confusion. This is necessary to prevent misunderstanding and to en sure uniformity of application.•The HR policy should be consistent with public policy. A good HR policy should recognize individual differences and respect human dignity. It should be based on consistency in treatment to all employees without any favoritism or discrimination.