A2 People Human Resource Management

HRM Vs Personnel Management Human Resource Management - the management of people at work in order to assist the organisation to achieve its strategic objectives HRM is an all embracing integrated approach aiming to make the most effective use of staff Personnel management considers the elements of managing people as separate Since 1980s HRM has tended to replace personnel management in describing the function that deals with: Recruitment and selection Appraisal Training and development Reward of people

Hard HRM HRM that takes the view employees are essential for a business to function but need to be controlled. Employees treated as just another resource to get the best from, monitor and controlling costs Centralised decision-making Autocratic/authoritarian leadership

Soft HRM HRM that views employees as valuable assets to be developed, skills and expertise of employees can be a major competitive advantage for achieving strategic objectives Developing motivation and culture important Democratic leadership Delegation Decentralisation High levels of employee participation

Which approach? Depends on: History of firm Culture Leadership style Relationship with unions Skills and attitudes of staff Level of employee participation Today, employees are likely to respond best to soft HRM Effective HRM is vital for communication, motivation, commitment, higher productivity, lower absenteeism and labour turnover

Workforce planning (or human resource planning) The method by which a business forecasts how many and what type of employees it needs now and in the future, and matches the right type of employee to the needs of the business. One of the central activities of HRM

Workforce planning cycle task Put the following stages in order to complete the workforce cycle: è Develop strategies to fill gaps or reduce oversupply of labour è Right people, right place, right time è Identify the gaps or areas of over supply of labour è Assess the current workforce è Assess the workforce needed in the future

Workforce planning Stages Convert corporate objectives of the firm into HRM requirements Consider short, medium and long term Estimate future demand of staff and skills required Look at current and future state of labour market Develop an appropriate workforce plan for short, medium and long term

Workforce Plan Construction - Factors that influence the number and type of staff required include: Corporate plan, marketing and production plan, financial position of business, external factors such as state of the market and economy Review - a workforce plan may be inaccurate because of: Changing corporate objectives - crisis, ownership change Changing market conditions - demand changes Changing labour market - required skills and worker may not be readily available Workforce planning therefore needs constant review and updating

Benefits of workforce planning task Produce a spider diagram listing as many benefits as you can of a firm using workforce planning

Benefits of workforce planning Ensures the right number of staff and skills are present at all times in the organisation Account for future trends and ensure adequately staffed Avoid morale and motivation problems from being understaffed therefore limiting labour turnover and absenteeism Makes the firm proactive rather than reactive to events meaning quality decisions are made when it comes to staffing Ensures continuous production and high quality products produced

Student Activity Complete Alliance direct case study

Student activity Read the case and answer the question Pg. 146 Surridge and Gillespie