Lesson 1 Shortened
Lesson 1 Shortened
TOPICS
1. Perspectives and evolution in Human Resource Management, and
Importance/Significance of Human Factor
2. Challenges In HRM, inclusive Growth and Affirmative Action of HR in an Organization, and
role of Human Resource Manager
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. discuss the perspective, evolution, and importance of Human Resource Management;
2. identify the challenges, inclusive growth and role of HR in organization; and
Definitions of HRM
Human resources management (HRM) is a management function concerned with
hiring, motivating and maintaining people in an organization. It focuses on people in
organizations. Human resource management is designing management systems to
ensure that human talent is used effectively and efficiently to accomplish organizational
goals.
HRM is the personnel function which is concerned with procurement,
development, compensation, integration and maintenance of the personnel of an
organization for the purpose of contributing towards the accomplishments of the
organization‘s objectives. Therefore, personnel management is the planning, organizing,
directing, and controlling of the performance of those operative functions (Edward B.
Philippo).
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Scope of HRM
The major HRM activities include HR
planning, job analysis, job design, employee hiring, employee and executive
remuneration, employee motivation, employee maintenance, industrial relations and
prospects of HRM.
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and equity criteria. In addition labour welfare measures are involved which include
benefits and services.
Employee Assistance: Each employee is unique in character, personality,
expectation and temperament. By and large each one of them faces problems every
day. Some are personal some are official. In their case he or she remains worried. Such
worries must be removed to make him or her more productive and happy.
Union-Labour Relations: Healthy Industrial and Labour relations are very
important for enhancing peace and productivity in an organization. This is one of the
areas of HRM.
Personnel Research and Information System: Knowledge on behavioural science
and industrial psychology throws better insight into the workers expectations,
aspirations and behaviour. Advancement of technology of product and production
methods have created working environment which are much different from the past.
Globalization of economy has increased competition many fold. Science of ergonomics
gives better ideas of doing a work more conveniently by an employee. Thus, continuous
research in HR areas is an unavoidable requirement. It must also take special care for
improving exchange of information through effective communication systems on a
continuous basis especially on moral and motivation.
Functions of HRM
Human Resources management has an important role to play in
equipping organizations to meet the challenges of an expanding and increasingly
competitive sector. Increase in staff numbers, contractual diversification and changes in
demographic profile which compel the HR managers to reconfigure the role and
significance of human resources management. The functions are responsive to current
staffing needs, but can be proactive in reshaping organizational objectives. All the
functions of HRM are correlated with the core objectives of HRM. For example personal
objectives is sought to be realized through functions like remuneration, assessment etc
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Figure 1: HR Functions
Functions of HRM
Strategic HR Management: As a part of maintaining organizational competitiveness,
strategic planning for HR effectiveness can be increased through the use of HR metrics
and HR technology. Human resource planning (HRP) function determine the number
and type of employees needed to accomplish organizational goals. HRP includes
creating venture teams wit h a balanced skill-mix, recruiting the right people, and
voluntary team assignment. This function analyses and determines personnel needs in
order to create effective innovation teams. The basic HRP strategy is staffing and
employee development.
Equal Employment Opportunity: Compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO)
laws and regulations affects all other HR activities.
Staffing: The aim of staffing is to provide a sufficient supply of qualified individuals to fill
jobs in an organization. Job analysis, recruitment and selection are the main functions
under staffing. Workers job design and job analysis laid the foundation for staffing by
identifying what diverse people do in their jobs and how they are affected by them.
Job analysis is the process of describing the nature of a job and specifying the
human requirements such as knowledge, skills, and experience needed to perform the
job. The end result of job analysis is job description. Job description spells out work
duties and activities of employees. Through HR planning, managers anticipate the
future supply of and demand for employees and the nature of workforce issues,
including the retention of employees. So HRP precedes the actual selection of people for
organization.
These factors are used when recruiting applicants for job openings. The selection
process is concerned with choosing qualified individuals to fill those jobs. In the
selection function, the most qualified applicants are selected for hiring from among the
applicants based on the extent to which their abilities and skills are matching with the
job.
Talent Management and Development: Beginning with the orientation of new
employees, talent management and development includes different types of training.
Orientation is the first step towards helping a new employee to 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 programmes, working hours and
company rules and expectations. Training and Development programs provide useful
means of assuring that the employees are capable of performing their jobs at
acceptable levels and also more th an that. All the organizations provide training for
new and in experienced employee. In addition, organization often provide both on the
job and off the job training programmes for those employees whose jobs are
undergoing change.
Likewise, HR development and succession planning of employees and managers
is necessary to prepare for future challenges. Career planning has developed as 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. Performance appraisal includes
encouraging risk taking, demanding innovation, generating or adopting new tasks, peer
evaluation, frequent evaluations, and auditing innovation processes.
Total Rewards: Compensation in the form of pay, incentives and benefits are the
rewards given to the employees for performing organizational work. Compensation
management is the method for determining how much employees should be paid for
performing certain jobs.
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Compensation affects staffing in that people are generally attracted to
organizations offering a higher level of pay in exchange for the work performed. To be
competitive, employers develop and refine their basic compensation systems and may
use variable pay programs such as incentive rewards, promotion from within the team,
recognition rewards, balancing team and individual rewards etc.
This function uses rewards to motivate personnel to achieve an organization‘s
goals of productivity, innovation and profitability. Compensation is also related to
employee development in that it provides an important incentive in motivating
employees to higher levels of job performance to higher paying jobs in the organization.
Benefits are another form of compensation to employees other than direct pay
for the work performed. Benefits include both legally required items and those offered
at employer‘s discretion. Benefits are primarily related to the area of employee
maintenance as they provide for many basic employee needs.
Risk Management and Worker Protection: HRM addresses various workplace risks to
ensure protection of workers by meeting legal requirements and being more responsive
to concerns for workplace health and safety along with disaster and recovery planning.
Employee and Labor Relations: The relationship between managers and their
employees must be handled legally and effectively. Employer and employee rights must
be addressed. It is important to develop, communicate, and update HR policies and
procedures so that managers and employees alike know what is expected. In some
organizations, union/management relations must be addressed as well.
The term LABOUR RELATION refers to the 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. With regard to labour relations the major function of HR
personnel includes negotiating with the unions regarding wages, service conditions and
resolving disputes and grievances.
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TOPIC 2: CHALLENGES IN HRM, INCLUSIVE GROWTH AND
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION OF HR IN ORGANIZATION, AND ROLE OF HR
MANAGER
CHALLENGES IN HRM
The HR Managers of today may find it difficult because of the rapidly changing business
environment and therefore they should update their knowledge and skills by looking at
the organization ‘s need and objectives.
Managing the Vision: Vision of the organization provides the direction to business
strategy and helps managers to evaluate management practices and make decisions. So
vision management becomes the integral part of the process of Man management in
times to come.
Changing Industrial Relations: Both the workers and managers have to be managed by
the same HRM Philosophy and this is going to be a difficult task for the managers of
tomorrow.
Managing the Large Work Force: Management of large workforce poses the biggest
problem as the workers are conscious of their rights.
Modern Technology: There will be unemployment due to modern technology and this
could be corrected by assessing manpower needs and finding alternate employment.
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INCLUSIVE GROWTH AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION OF HR IN AN ORGANIZATION
Purpose:
Examples:
More Productive jobs will be created
Economic opportunity expanded for all
o Direct income redistribution
o Increasing incomes for excluded groups
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o New approaches to compensation and rewards
o Career Planning
o Performance Appraisal
o Decentralisation
o Breaking down the hierarchical structure
o Facilitating Empowerment
o Initiating and facilitating process of change
o Enlarging the knowledge base
Developing team spirit
Facilitating the employees desires of self-actualisation.
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To evaluate the impact of an HRD intervention or to conduct research so as
to identify, develop or test how HRD in general has improved individual and
organizational performance.
According to Dave Ulrich HR play ‘s four key roles.
Strategic Partner Role turning strategy into results by building organizations that
create value;
Change Agent Role making change happen, and in particular, help it happen
fast
Employees Champion Role managing the talent or the intellectual capital within a firm
ADMINISTRATIVE STRATEGIC HR
OPERATIONAL ACTIONS
* Personnel *Organizational/busienss
*Managing employee
practices * Legal *Strategies
*Relationship issues
compliance forms and *HR strategic or
*Employee advocate
paper works planning evaluation
1. Administrative Role of HR
The administrative role of HR management has been heavily oriented to
administration and recordkeeping including essential legal paperwork and policy
implementation. Major changes have happened in the administrative role of HR during
the recent years. Two major shifts driving the transformation of the administrative role
are: Greater use of technology and Outsourcing.
Technology has been widely used to improve the administrative efficiency of HR
and the responsiveness of HR to employees and managers, more HR functions are
becoming available electronically or are being done on the Internet using Web-based
technology. Technology is being used in most HR activities, from employment
applications and employee benefits enrollments to e-learning using Internet-based
resources.
Increasingly, many HR administrative functions are being outsourced to vendors.
This outsourcing of HR administrative activities has grown dramatically in HR areas such
as employee assistance (counseling), retirement planning, benefits administration,
payroll services, and outplacement services.
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2. Operational and Employee Advocate Role for HR
HR managers manage most HR activities in line with the strategies and
operations that have been identified by management and serves as employee
―champion‖ for employee issues and concerns.
HR often has been viewed as the ―employee advocate‖ in organizations. They
act as the voice for employee concerns, and spend considerable time on HR ―crisis
management, ‖ dealing with employee problems that are both work-related and not
work-related. Employee advocacy helps to ensure fair and equitable treatment for
employees regardless of personal background or circumstances.
Sometimes the HR‘s advocate role may create conflict with operating managers.
However, without the HR advocate role, employers could face even more lawsuits and
regulatory complaints than they do now.
The operational role requires HR professionals to cooperate with various
departmental and operating managers and supervisors in order to identify and
implement needed programs and policies in the organization. Operational activities are
tactical in nature. Compliance with equal employment opportunity and other laws is
ensured, employment applications are processed, current openings are filled through
interviews, supervisors are trained, safety problems are resolved, and wage and benefit
questions are answered. For carrying out these activities HR manager matches HR
activities with the strategies of the organization.
It is the era when for the competitive triumph of the organization there is a need
to involve HRM significantly in an integrated manner, which demands such capabilities
from the HR specialists.
The role of HR shifted from a facilitator to a functional peer with competencies in
other functions, and is acknowledged as an equal partner by others. The HR is motivated
to contribute to organizational objectives of profitability and customer satisfaction, and
is seen as a vehicle for realization of quality development. The department has a
responsibility for monitoring employee satisfaction, since it is seen as substitute to
customer satisfaction.
According to McKinsey ‘s 7-S framework model HR plays the role of a catalyst for
the organization. According to this framework, effective organizational change is a
complex relationship between seven S‘s. HRM is a total matching process between the
three Hard S‘s (Strategy, Structure and Systems) and the four Soft S‘s (Style, Staff, Skills
and Super-ordinate Goals). Clearly, all the S‘s have to complement each other and have
to be aligned towards a single corporate vision for the organization to be effective. It has
to be realized that most of the S‘s are determined directly or indirectly by the way
Human Resources are managed, and therefore, HRM must be a part of the total
business strategy.
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TOPIC 3: HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES, COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
IN HRM AND HUMAN RESOURCE ACCOUNTING AND AUDIT
HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES
Personnel Polices refer to principles and rules to conduct which “Formulate, redefine,
break into details and decide a number of actions” that govern the relationship with
employees in the attainment of organizational objectives.
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Supplementary to all other policies of the organization and the public policy
Recognition and individual relationship between the management and the
employees
Based on the facts
Provide two-way communication
Supported by the management, employees and the union
Progressive
Measurable
Uniform for the entire organization
Practically applicable
Principles of HR policy
Right man in the right place
Train everyone for the job to be done
Make the organization a coordinated team
SS the right tools and right conditions of work
Give security with opportunity, incentive, recognition
Look ahead, plan head for more and better things.
Types of HR Policies
Functional vs centralized policy
o Functional – Different categories of personnel
o Centralized – Common throughout the organization
Minor vs Major
o Minor – Relationship in a segment of an organization, with considerable
emphasis on details and procedures.
o Major – Overall objectives, procedures and control which affect an
organization as whole.
Specific Policies
Hiring – factors like reservation, marital status,
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Terms and conditions – compensation policy, hours of work, overtime,
promotion, transfer, etc.
Medical assistance - sickness benefits
Housing, transport, and other allowances.
Training and development
Industrial relations
Coverage of HR Policies
Travel Pay Pay Advances
Work Records Sick Leave
Temporary & Casual Voting
Appointments Worker's Compensation
Workweek & Pay Labor Relations
Periods Probation
Compensation Grievance Procedure
Employee Discipline Ethical Conduct
Pay bands Sick
Formulating Policies
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Five principle sources for determining the content and meaning of policies
Past practice
Prevailing practice in the rival companies
Attitudes and philosophies of the founders (Top level Management
Attitudes and philosophies of middle level management
Knowledge and experience from handling personnel problems
Elements of HR Policy
History of Company’s Growth
Employment practice and condition of employment
Grievance of redressal procedure
Safety rules and regulation
Mutuality of interest and need for co operation
Employee financial aids
Educational Opportunities
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Employees news sheet and house journal
Company policy
Collective bargaining
Procedures of disseminating information on company policies
Maintenance of discipline & Public Relations
Employees news sheet and house journal
Basic Information of HR
Number of Employees
Categories
Grades
Total Value of human resources
Value per employee
HR Acquisition
Number of employees acquired during the year
Cost of Acquisition
Levels for which they were acquired
HR Development
All information pertaining to HRD activities of the organization
HR maintenance
Cost related to HR maintenance.
HR Separation
Cost related to HR Separation, attribution rate.
Details of benefits provided to the employees
Various Methods:
Non- Monetary Measurement
Monetary Measurement
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