Chapter 1

Introduction to
Human Resource
Management

1–1
1–2
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain what human resource management is and
how it relates to the management process.

2. Briefly discuss and illustrate the important trends

influencing human resource management.

3. Briefly describe six important components or pillars of

human resource management today.

4. List at least four important human resource manager

competencies.

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Human Resource Management at Work
• What Is Human Resource Management (HRM)?
➢ The process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating
employees, and of attending to their labor relations, health and
safety, and fairness concerns.
• Organization
➢ People with formally assigned roles who work together to
achieve the organization’s goals.
• Manager
➢ The person responsible for accomplishing the organization’s
goals, and who does so by managing the efforts of the
organization’s people.
 The Management Process

Planning

Controlling Organizing

Leading Staffing

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 The Management Process
●●Planning: Establishing goals and standards; developing rules and procedures;
developing plans and forecasts.

●●Organizing: Giving each subordinate a specific task; establishing departments;

delegating authority to subordinates; establishing channels of authority and
communication; coordinating the work of subordinates

●●Staffing: Determining what type of people should be hired; recruiting prospective

employees; selecting employees; setting performance standards; compensating
employees; evaluating performance; counseling employees; training and developing
employees

●●Leading: Getting others to get the job done; maintaining morale; motivating
subordinates

●●Controlling: Setting standards such as sales quotas, quality standards, or production

levels; checking to see how actual performance compares with these standards; taking
corrective action as needed.

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 Concepts and techniques every manager
needs to perform
• Conducting job analyses (determining the nature of each
employee’s job).
• Planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates.
• Selecting job candidates.
• Orienting and training new employees.
• Managing wages and salaries (compensating employees).
• Providing incentives and benefits.
• Appraising performance.
• Communicating (interviewing, counseling, disciplining)
• Training employees and developing managers.
• Building employee relations and engagement.
And what every manager should know about:
• Equal opportunity and affirmative action.
• Employee health and safety.
• Handling grievances and labor relations.
Why Is Human Resource Management
Important to All Managers?

• AVOID PERSONNEL MISTAKES

• IMPROVING PROFITS AND PERFORMANCE
• YOU MAY SPEND SOME TIME AS AN HR
MANAGER
PERSONNEL MISTAKES
• To have your employees not doing their best.
• To hire the wrong person for the job.
• To experience high turnover.
• To have your company in court due to your discriminatory actions.
• To have an employee hurt due to unsafe practices.
• To let a lack of training undermine your department’s effectiveness.
• To commit any unfair labor practices.
Line and Staff Aspects of HRM
• Line Manager
➢ A manager who is authorized to direct the work of
subordinates and is responsible for accomplishing the
organization’s tasks.
• Staff Manager
➢ A manager who assists and advises line managers.
➢ A manager who has functional authority to coordinate
personnel activities and enforce organization policies.
Line Managers’ HRM Responsibilities
1. Placing the right person on the right job
2. Starting new employees in the organization (orientation)
3. Training employees for jobs that are new to them
4. Improving the job performance of each person
5. Gaining creative cooperation and developing smooth
working relationships
6. Interpreting the firm’s policies and procedures
7. Controlling labor costs
8. Developing the abilities of each person
9. Creating and maintaining department morale
10. Protecting employees’ health and physical condition
 Human Resource Specialties

Recruiter

Labor relations
specialist EEO coordinator
Human
Resource
Specialties
Training specialist Job analyst

Compensation
manager

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 The Human Resource Department
• Recruiters: Use various methods including contacts within the
community and print and online media to search for qualified job
applicants.
• Equal employment opportunity (EEO) representatives or
affirmative action coordinators: Investigate and resolve EEO
grievances, examine organizational practices for potential
violations, and compile and submit EEO reports.
• Job analysts: Collect and examine detailed information about job
duties to prepare job descriptions.
• Compensation managers: Develop compensation plans and
handle the employee benefits program.
• Training specialists: Plan, organize, and direct training activities.
• Labor relations specialists: Advise management on all aspects
of union–management relations.

Prepared by 1–
New Approaches to Organizing HR

New HR Services Groups

Shared
Corporate Embedded Centers of
Services/Transa
HR group HR unit Expertise
ctional HR group
 Trends Shaping Human Resource
Management

Globalization
Trends

Technology Trends
Trends in jobs
people do Trends in HR
Management

Workforce
Demographic and
diversity Trends
Economic Trends
 six important
components or pillars of human
resource management today

Distributed HR and the New

Human Resource
Management

Strategic
HRM Performance HRM
Human
Resource
Management
Employee Trends
Engagement and Ethics and HRM
Human Resource
Management
Sustainability and
Human Resource
Management
 Some Technological Applications to Support HR

Technology How Used by HR

Application service providers ASPs provide software application, for instance, for processing
(ASPs) and technology employment applications. The ASPs host and manage the services
outsourcing for the employer from their own remote computers

Web portals Employers use these, for instance, to enable employees to sign up
for and manage their own benefits packages and to update their
personal information

Streaming desktop video Used, for instance, to facilitate distance learning and training or to
provide corporate information to employees quickly and
inexpensively

Internet- and network- Used to track employees’ Internet and e-mail activities or to monitor
monitoring software their performance

Electronic signatures Legally valid e-signatures that employers use to more expeditiously
obtain signatures for applications and record keeping

Electronic bill presentment Used, for instance, to eliminate paper checks and to facilitate
and payment payments to employees and suppliers

Data warehouses and Help HR managers monitor their HR systems. For example, they
computerized analytical make it easier to assess things like cost per hire, and to compare
programs current employees’ skills with the firm’s projected strategic needs
Performance HRM
• Increase productivity and performance by:
➢ Recruiting, screening and hiring more effectively
➢ Providing more and better training
➢ Paying higher wages
➢ Providing a safer work environment
➢ Linking pay to performance
Managing Ethics
• Ethics
➢ Standards that someone uses to decide
what his or her conduct should be.
• HRM-related Ethical Issues
➢ Workplace safety
➢ Security of employee records
➢ Employee eligible age
➢ Employee privacy rights
The New Human Resource Manager
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
introduced a “competency model” (called the SHRM Body of
Competency and Knowledge ); it itemizes the competencies,
skills, and knowledge and expertise human resource managers
need.
 Competencies, skills, and knowledge
and expertise human resource managers
need.
• Leadership and Navigation: The ability to direct and contribute to
initiatives and processes within the organization.

• Ethical Practice The ability to integrate core values, integrity, and

accountability throughout all organizational and business practices
• Business Acumen The ability to understand and apply information
with which to contribute to the organization’s strategic plan

• Relationship Management The ability to manage interactions to

provide service and to support the organization
 Competencies, skills, and knowledge
and expertise human resource managers
need
• Consultation The ability to provide guidance to organizational
stakeholders
• Critical Evaluation The ability to interpret information with which to
make business decisions and recommendations

• Global and Cultural Effectiveness The ability to value and consider

the perspectives and backgrounds of all parties

• Communication The ability to effectively exchange information with

stakeholders
HR Manager Certification
 HR and the Manager’s Human Resource
Philosophy
• Technical expertise is important, but at the end of the day, people’s
actions are always based in part on the basic assumptions they
make, and this is especially true in regard to human resource
management. The basic assumptions you make about people—Can
they be trusted? Do they dislike work? Why do they act as they do?

• How should they be treated?—together comprise your philosophy of

human resource management. And every personnel decision you
make—the people you hire, the training you provide, your leadership
style, and the like—reflects (for better or worse) this basic philosophy.