Managing Human Resources in Organisation

Introduction to module
Scope and nature of HRM/HRD
 Module Aim
• Study the context of Personal Management
• Recognize the complexity of PM in different
modern organisational and social contexts
• Understand contemporary views on leadership,
management and Human Management.
• Examine the role of HRM in change
management context
 Study Material
• Textbooks
• Journal Articles
• On-line Resources
 Texts
There is a range of available texts on PM & D.
• Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2017) Human Resource
Management: Theory and Practice. London. Palgrave.

• Mullins, L. J and Christy, G. (2016). Management and

Organisational Behaviour. Harlow: Pearson Education
Limited

• Rees, G. & French, R. [2016] Leading, Managing and

Developing People. London: Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development.
 Evolution
• PM – Establishing, maintaining and
developing systems which provide
framework for employment.
• Welfare Personnel – 1900
• Personnel Administration -1930
• Personnel Management 1940- 50s
• Personnel Management- IR-1960- 70s
• Entrepreneurial phase 1980s
• Rise of HRM – 1980s
 Rise of HRM
• Shift in personnel function in its emphasis
(Hunt 1984)
– From adversarial IR of the 70s - to achieving
excellence through committed workforce
– In Search of Excellence (Tom Peter,
Waterman)
– Performance management
– Enterprise culture, market economy
Peters and Waterman -1982
Eight characteristics
• Bias for action
• Close to customer
• Autonomy and entrepreneurship
• Productivity through people
• Hands on value driven
• Stick to knitting
• Simple form, lean staff
• Simultaneous loose tight properties.
 HRM
• Believes
– It is important to communicate with the
employees
– To involve them in what is going on
– To foster commitment and identification with
organisation
– A strategic and identification with the
organisation
– A strategic approach to acquisition,
management and motivation of people.
 HRM – later phase
• Team work
• Empowerment
• Continuous Development
• Competence
• Redundancy/ downsizing
• Culture management, performance - PRP
 Traditional view of PM
• Management policies for employment
relationship and maintaining suitable
organisation
– Collective bargaining
– Staffing and organisation
– Development and training
– Incentive schemes
– Reviewing and auditing manpower
– IR research
 Personnel management
• PM was often a a matter of ‘collecting
together such odd jobs from management
as they are prepare to give up’
» Crichton(1968, PM in Context)

• Reactive rather than proactive

• Personnel policy and practice divorced
from the strategy of the business
 Personnel Management
• PM is ‘a collection of incidental techniques
without much internal cohesion’
– Partly as file office clerk
– Partly a housekeeping job
– Partly a social worker’s job
– Partly ‘fire fighting’
» Drucker (1955, The Practice of management)
 HRM

• A method of maximising economic return from

labour resource by integrating HRM in Business
Strategy
» Kennoy, 1990
• A strategic , coherent and comprehensive
approach to the M&D of the organisation’s HRs
in which every aspect of that process is wholly
integrated within the overall management of the
organisation. HRM is essentially an ideology.
» Armstrong , 1992
 HRM
• A diverse body of thought and practice, loosely
unified by the concern to integrate the
management of the personnel more closely with
the core management activity of organisation
» Gross, 1994

• HRM is a distinctive approach to employment

management which seeks to achieve CA through
the strategic development of a highly committed
and capable workforce, using an integrated array
of cultural, structural and personnel techniques.
» Storey, 1995
The execution of strategy lies in the hands
of individuals and therefore no matter how
good the strategy is, if it fails to take
account of the people element it is doomed
to failure at worst or to partial success at
best.
(Gunnigle et al 1997)
Difference between PM and HRM
Storey’s model of HRM
• Pluralist – Unitarist
• Norms and customs- values & mission
• Written contract – beyond contract
• Labour management- customer
• Piecemeal , adhoc – integrated
• Marginal to corporate plan – central
• Managers- leaders
• Indirect – direct communication
• Negotiation skills – facilitation skills
• Collective – individual contract
• Division of labour – teamwork
• Rules and regulation - culture
 Perceptions of HRM
• People management
• Commitment, Performance, Leadership,
Teambuilding
• Personnel Management
• Appraisal, Recruitment, Selection methods,
Development
• Strategic Management
• Strategic Planning, Performance Management,
Development, managing change
 HRM Functions
What do HRM professionals do?
Planning
Staffing
Evaluating
Developing
Motivating
Managing relationships
Managing change
 Michigan Model of HRM
Strategic management and environmental pressures

Political
Fombrun, Tichy & Devanna
forces

Cultural
Economic Mission and forces
forces Strategy

Human
Organisation
resource
structure
management
 Michigan Model of HRM
The human resource cycle

Rewards

Selection Performance Appraisal

Development
 Harvard Model of HRM
Human Resource System
Work system

Employee
influence

Human resource flow Rewards

 Harvard Model of HRM
A map of the HRM territory
Stakeholder
Interest Beer et al
Stakeholders
Management
Employee groups
Government
Community
Unions Long-term
HRM Policy Consequences
HR Outcomes
Choices Individual
Commitment
Situational Employee Influence well-being
Competence
Factors Human resource flow Organisational
Congruence
Work force Reward systems effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness
characteristics Work systems Societal
Business strategy well-being
and conditions
Management
philosophy
Labour market
Unions
Task technology
Laws and
societal values
‘Human’ implies it has something to do with people; ‘management’ places
it in the domain of business and organisation; but ‘resource’ is a highly
ambiguous concept which many people find difficult to relate to. Take the
following letter to The Scotsman newspaper:

Sir,
While visiting a patient in Edinburgh’s Western General hospital, I was
shocked to see a six-foot long board with large letters proclaiming:
HUMAN RESOURCES. This distinguishes people who work in the
hospital - doctors, nurses, porters, office workers, painters, managers
- from other resources such as computers, laser beams, toilet rolls,
refuse bins, beds etc
If these human resources are ill, are they labelled ‘out of order’ or
‘broken down’ and when being treated, are they being repaired? Are
babies listed as ‘in process of being manufactured’ with an expected
date when they will be operational? Are old and dead people ‘non-
usable human resources’ or can they be listed as ‘replacement parts’?
When we define humans as resources, we are in danger of
forgetting that we are dealing with people!’
(quoted in Bennis 1990)
 HRM -hard or soft?
Hard: Human RESOURCE Management
• aligning business and HR strategies
• economic factor (cost) to be controlled
Soft: HUMAN Resource Management
• training and development
• commitment strategies
Ulrich’s Role Model.1997
HRM MODELS: TYSON AND FELL

HR activities are largely routine: employment

and day-to-day administration. Policies are
Clerk of works
short term and ad hoc.
The HR department will use fairly sophisticated
systems. The HR manager is likely to be a
Contracts manager professional or very experienced in industrial
relations but will not be on the board and will act
mainly in an interpretative, not a creative or
innovative, role.
HR policies exist as part of the corporate
strategy. Human resource planning and
Architect
development are important concepts and a long
term view is taken. The head of HR is probably
on the board with power derived from
professionalism and contribution to the
business.

Source: Tyson S and Fell A (1996) Evaluating the Personnel Function, Hutchinson
 HRM MODELS: STOREY

Strategic

Change makers Advisers

Interventionary Non-interventionary

Regulators Handmaidens

Tactical

• Change makers (interventionary/strategic) that are close to the HRM model.

• Advisers (non-interventionary/strategic) who act as internal consultants, leaving much of HR practice to
line managers.
• Regulators (interventionary/tactical) who are ‘managers of discontent’ concerned with formulating and
monitoring employment rules.
• Handmaidens (non-interventionary/tactical) who merely provide a service to meet the needs of line managers.

Source: Storey J (1992) New Developments in the Management of Human Resources, Blackwell
 HRM MODELS: CALDWELL

Caldwell concentrates on the role of HR managers as change agents and has

identified four types:

1. Change champions who envision, lead or implement strategic change.

2. Change adapters who act as ‘reactive pragmatists’ who adapt the vision to
the realities of the organization and view organizational change as a slow
iterative process.
3. Change consultants who implement a discrete change project or the key
stages of an HR change initiative.
4. Change synergists who strategically coordinate, integrate and deliver large
scale and multiple change projects across the whole organization.

Source: Caldwell R (2002) Champions, adapters, consultants and synergists: the new change agents in HRM,
Human Resource Management Journal, 11 (3)
 Is there one best way of
managing people?
Universal approach, e.g. Pfeffer (1998)
His HR strategy has 7 elements:
– Employment security
– Careful hiring – right people
– Extensive use of self managed teams; Decentralisation
– High pay contingent on org. performance
– Extensive training
– Low status distinctions
– Extensive sharing of information
 Universal v/s contingent
• Ichniowski (1999)
• HPWS include a focus on skill formation, work
structuring, performance management, pay
satisfaction job flexibility and minimal status
differential
• Such studies show a positive association between firm
performance and the adoption of HPWS
• Contingent approach
– Can you apply the same methods with, say, the civil
service as you would with, say, McDonalds?
 Universal v/s contingent
• HRM is contingent on the companies special
situation (strategy, life cycle, products etc.) –
Wright & Snell, 1998
• But: All companies can benefit from
– Employee motivation and commitment
– Results oriented appraisals and compensation
– Well trained staff
– Foster good relationships and communication
– Professional global executives
• Sectoral differences – Guest (2001) – HPWP effective in
Manufacturing rather than in services.
 Contingent upon what?
Product market strategy
• E.g. Porter (1980) – cost leadership,
differentiation and focus
• Miles & Snow (1984) – defender, prospector and
analyser
• Schuler and Jackson (1987) – cost reduction,
quality enhancement, innovation
The Guest model of HRM
 PEST Analysis
• Aids the decision making process
• Can tell the business if they need to change
what they are doing
• Can help businesses see the opportunities
• Good analysis of the businesses competitors
• Helps businesses understand emerging trends
and opportunities
• It may lead organisations to reconsider their
resources
 SWOT Analysis

Strength Weakness

Opportunities

Threats
 HRM Activities

• Strategy Formulation
• Human Resource Planning
• Recruitment & Selection
• Appraisal & Performance Mgt.
• Reward Management
• Training & Development
• Employee Relations
• Administration
 Perceptions of HRM
• People management
• Commitment, Performance, Leadership,
Teambuilding
• Personnel Management
• Appraisal, Recruitment, Selection methods,
Development
• Strategic Management
• Strategic Planning, Performance Management,
Development, managing change
 Recommended Reading
• Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2017) Human Resource Management:
Theory and Practice. London. Palgrave. Chapters 1 – 3
• Beardwell, J. and Thompson, A. (2017) Human resource
management: a contemporary approach. 8th edition. Harlow:
Pearson Education Ltd. Chapters 1- 3
• Rees, G. & French, R. [2016] Leading, Managing and Developing
People. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Chapters 1- 3
• Torrington, D., Hall, L., Taylor, S. and Atkinson, C. (2014) Human
Resource Management. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Chapters 1 & 2
• Rigg, C., Stewart, J., Trehan, K. [2007] Critical Human Resource
Development. Pearson Education Ltd. Chapters 7, 8