1. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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2. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DEFINED
Human resource management (HRM) is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets – the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.
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3. FEATURES OF HRM Strategic: Coherent: Commitment:
Integrate business and HR strategy
Coherent:
Integrated and mutually supporting HR policies and practices
Commitment:
Emphasis on gaining commitment to the organization’s mission and values
People treated as assets:
Focus on developing human capital
Unitarist approach:
Management and employees share the same interests
Line managers deliver HRM:
Belief that HRM is essentially the responsibility of line managers
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4. GOALS OF HRM Achieve high performance through people Enhance
motivation,
commitment
and job
engagement
Achieve
human capital
advantage
Improve
knowledge
sharing
Attract and
retain the
skilled,
committed and
motivated people
required
Value
people
according
to their
contribution
Increase
capabilities
and potential
Develop a
co-operative and
productive
employee
relations
climate
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5. VERSIONS OF HRM Soft Hard Hard/soft
Emphasis on the need to develop a high-commitment, high-trust organization – focus on ‘mutuality’, communication and involvement
Hard
Treating employees
‘rationally’
as as a key resource
from which competitive
advantage can be
obtained
Hard/soft
Using a mix of hard and soft
approaches
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6. Human resource management: philosophy, strategy, policies, processes
THE HRM SYSTEM
Human resource management:
philosophy, strategy, policies, processes
and practices
Corporate
social
responsibility
Human
capital
management
Organization
People
resourcing
Learning and
development
Reward
management
Employee
relations
Design
Human resource
planning
Organizational
learning
Job evaluation
and market surveys
Industrial
relations
Development
Recruitment &
selection
Individual
learning
Grade and pay
structures
Employee
voice
Job design
Talent
management
Management
Development
Contingent
pay
Communications
Employee
benefits
Knowledge
management
Health and safety
and welfare
HR services
Performance
management

7. THE MATCHING MODEL OF HRM
The matching model of HRM as developed by Fombrun, Titchy, and Devanna (1984) is illustrated below.
Rewards
Selection
Performance
management
Performance
Development
Adapted from Fombrun et al, Strategic Human Resource Management, Wiley, 1984
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8. THE HARVARD FRAMEWORK
The main contention of the Harvard School of Michael Beer and his colleagues was that: ‘Today, many pressures are demanding a broader, more comprehensive and more strategic perspective with regard to the organization’s human resources… [This involves] the consideration of people as potential assets rather than variable costs’.Their framework is modelled below.
Stakeholder
interests:
shareholders
management
employees
government
unions
HRM policy
choices:
employee influence
human resource
flow
reward systems
work systems
Long-term
consequences:
 individual well-
being
Organizational
effectiveness
societal well-
HR outcomes:
commitment
congruence
cost-effectiveness
Situational factors:
workforce
characteristics
business
strategy and
conditions
management
philosophy
labour market
unions
task technology
laws and social
values
Source: M Beer et al, Managing Human Assets, The Free Press, 1984
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9. THE DAVID GUEST MODEL OF THE LINK BETWEEN HRM AND PERFORMANCE
effectiveness
Business strategy
HR outcomes:
employee
competence,
commitment
and flexibility
Quality of
goods and
services
HR practices
Financial
performance
Productivity
HR strategy
Source: Guest et al, Effective People Management, CIPD, 2000
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10. THE BATH PEOPLE AND PEFORMANCE MODEL
Training and
development
Performance
management
Career
opportunity
Job security
Recruitment and
selection
Ability and skill
Motivation and
incentive
Opportunity to
participate
Pay
satisfaction
Front-line
management:
Implementing
enacting
leading
controlling
Organizational
commitment
Motivation
Job satisfaction
Discretionary
behaviour
Work–life
balance
Performance
outcomes
Job challenge/
autonomy
Teamworking
Involvement
Source: J Purcell et al, Understanding the People
and Performance Link, CIPD, 2003
Communications
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11. HOW HR CAN MAKE AN IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE
Develop and successfully implement high-performance work practices, particularly those concerned with job and work design, flexible working, resourcing, employee development, reward and giving employees a voice.
Formulate a clear vision and set of values (the ‘big idea’) and ensure that it is embedded, enduring, collective, measured and managed.
Develop a positive psychological contract and means of increasing the motivation and commitment of employees.
Formulate and implement policies that meet the needs of individuals and ‘create a great place to work’.
Provide support and advice to line managers on their role in implementing HR policies.
Manage change effectively.
Source: J Purcell et al, Inside the Box: How people management impacts on organizational performance, CIPD, 2003
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12. ROLE OF THE HR FUNCTION
The role of the HR function is to enable the organization to achieve its objectives by taking initiatives and providing guidance and support on all matters relating to its employees. The basic aim is to ensure that management deals effectively with everything concerning the employment and development of people and the relationships that exist between management and the workforce. A further key role for the HR function is to play a major part in the creation of an environment that enables people to make the best use of their capacities and to realize their potential to the benefit of both the organization and themselves.
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13. A NEW MANDATE FOR HUMAN RESOURCES
1. HR should become a partner with senior and line managers in strategy execution.
2. HR should become an expert in the way work is organized and executed.
3. HR should become a champion for employees.
4. HR should become an agent for continuous transformation.
Source: D Ulrich, A new mandate for human resources, Harvard Business Review, Jan–Feb 1998
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14. ROLES OF HR PROFESSIONALS
Business partner: sharing responsibility with their line
management colleagues for the success of the enterprise.
Strategist: addressing major long-term issues affecting the
management and development of people and the employment
relationship.
Interventionist/innovator: developing new approaches to people
management.
Internal consultant: analysing and diagnosing problems and
proposing solutions.
Monitor: ensuring that the organization’s HR policies are
implemented properly and consistently.
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15. ORGANIZATION OF THE HR FUNCTION – ULRICH
THE THREE LEGGED STOOL
centre of expertise
shared service centre
strategic business partner
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16. VIEWS ON THE STRATEGIC BUSINESS PARTNER CONCEPT
My credibility depends on running an extremely efficient and cost-effective administrative machine… If I don’t get that right, and consistently, then you can forget about any big ideas.
HR Director
The CIPD thinks that we will all be strategic business partners, and we’re not you know. We have to deal with day-to-day HR issues that arise in the business.
Student practitioner
Give me a break!, it’s so demeaning. How many people in marketing or finance have to say they are a partner in the business? Why do we have to think that we’re not an intimate part of the business, just like sales, manufacturing and engineering? I detest and loathe the term and I won’t use it.
Tim Miller, Standard Chartered Bank
The term worries me to death. HR has to be an integral and fundamental part of developing the strategy of the business. I don’t even like the term ‘close to the business’ because, like business partner, it implies we are working alongside our line management colleagues but on a separate track, rather than people management being an integral part of the business.
Alex Wilson, BT
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17. HR’S STRATEGIC ROLES Formulate integrated HR strategies managers to
Contribute to the
development of
business strategies
Work with line
managers to
support the
achievement of
their business
goals
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18. HRM MODELS: TYSON AND FELL
Clerk of works
HR activities are largely routine – employment and day-to-day administration. Policies are short-term and ad hoc.
Contracts manager
The HR department will use fairly sophisticated systems. The HR manager is likely to be a 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.
Architect
HR policies exist as part of the corporate strategy. Human resource planning and 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: S Tyson and A Fell, Evaluating the Personnel Function, Hutchinson, 1986
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19. HRM MODELS: STOREY Strategic CHANGE MAKERS ADVISERS Interventionary
Non-interventionary
REGULATORS
HANDMAIDENS
Tactical
Change makers (interventionary/strategic) which is 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: J Storey, New Developments in the Management of Human Resources, Blackwell, 1992
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20. The changing role of the HR practitioner
HRM MODELS: REILLY
Strategic
STRATEGIST/INNOVATOR
CONTRIBUTION
ADVISER/CONSULTANT
ADMINISTRATOR/CONTROLLER
Tactical
Short
Long
TIME ORIENTATION
The changing role of the HR practitioner
Source: P Reilly, HR Services and the Re-alignment of HRM, Institute for Employment Studies, 2000
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21. 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: R Caldwell, Champions, adapters, consultants and synergists: the new change agents in HRM, Human Resource Management Journal, 11 (3), 2002
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22. COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK FOR HR SPECIALISTS
Business and cultural awareness
Understands: (1) the business’ environment, the competitive pressures it faces and its critical success factors, (2) the business’ key activities and processes and how these affect business strategies, (3) the culture (core values and norms) of the business, (4) how HR policies and practices can impact on business performance – puts this understanding to good use.
Strategic capability
(1) Seeks involvement in business strategy formulation and contributes to the development of the strategy, (2) understands how HR can support the achievement of the business strategy, (3) contributes to the development for the business of a clear vision and set of integrated values, (4) develops and implements coherent HR strategies that are integrated with the business strategy and one another.
Organizational effectiveness
(1) Contributes to the planning and implementation of cultural change and organizational development programmes, (2) helps to develop resource capability by ensuring that the business has the skilled, committed and well-motivated workforce it needs, (3) helps to develop process capability by influencing the design of work systems to make the best use of people, (4) contributes to the development of knowledge management processes.
Internal consultancy
(1) Carries out the analysis and diagnosis of people issues and proposes practical solutions, (2) adopts interventionist style to meet client needs; acts as catalyst, facilitator and expert as required, (3) uses process consultancy approaches to resolve people problems, (4) coaches clients to deal with own problems; transfers skills.
Service delivery
(1) Anticipates requirements and sets up appropriate services to meet them, (2) provides efficient and cost-effective services in each HR area, (3) responds promptly and efficiently to requests for HR services, help and advice, (4) promotes the empowerment of line managers to make HR decisions but provides guidance as required.
Continuous professional development
(1) Continually develops professional knowledge and skills, (2) benchmarks good HR practice, (3) keeps in touch with new HR concepts, practices and techniques, (4) demonstrates understanding of relevant HR practices.
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23. EVALUATING THE HR FUNCTION
General criteria
contribution to organizational effectiveness
achievement of specified goals
specified quantified measures
stakeholder perspective (management, line managers and employees)
Organizational quantified criteria
added value per employee
added value per £ of employment costs
sales value per employee
costs per employee
Employee behaviour criteria
retention and turnover rates
absenteeism
frequency/severity rates of accidents
ratio of grievances to number of employees
time lost through disputes
number of references to employment tribunals
HR function service-level criteria
average time to fill vacancies
time to respond to applicants
cost of advertisements per reply/engagement
training hours/days per employee
time to respond to and settle grievances
cost of induction training per employee
cost of benefits per employee
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24. TEN WAYS OF ENSURING THAT HR INNOVATES EFFECTIVELY
1. Be clear on what has to be achieved and why.
2. Ensure that what you do fits the strategy, culture and circumstances of the organization.
3. Don’t follow fashion – do your own thing.
4. Keep it simple – over-complexity is a common reason for failure.
5. Don’t rush – it will take longer than you think.
6. Don’t try to do too much at once – an incremental approach is generally best.
7. Assess resource requirements and costs.
8. Pay close attention to project planning and management.
9. Remember that the success of the innovation rests as much on the effectiveness of the process of implementation (line manager buy-in and skills are crucial) as it does on the quality of the concept, if not more so.
10. Pay close attention to change management – communicate, involve and train.
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