Human Resource

Management
1

ELEVENTH EDITION

GARY DESSLER

Part 1 | Introduction

Chapter 1

Introduction to Human Resource Management

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Human Resource Management at Work

What Is Human Resource Management (HRM)?
The policies and practices involved in carrying out the people or human
resource aspects of a management position, including recruiting, training,
appraising, and compensating employees, and of attending to their labor
relations, health & safety, and fairness concern.

One aspect of the Management Process (planning, Organizing,

Staffing, Leading, & Controlling)

Basic HR Concepts
HR creates value by engaging in activities that produce the
employee behaviors that the company needs to achieve
its strategic goals.
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Personnel Aspects of a Managers Job

Conducting job analyses (determining the nature of each employees 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 and developing managers

Building employee commitment

And a Manager should know about:

Equal

opportunity & affirmative action

Employee
Handling

health & safety

grievances and labor relations

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What Motivates Employees?

Feeling in on things
Good wages

Good working conditions

Job security

Full appreciation of work that is done

Tactful disciplining

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5
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Employer loyalty to employees

Interesting work

Promotion and growth in the organization

Karl and Sutton, 1996

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Why HRM Important to all Managers

Hire the wrong person for the job
Experience high turnover
Have your people not doing their best
Waste time with useless interviews
Have your company in court because of discriminatory actions
Have your company cited by labor court for unsafe practices
Have some employees think their salaries are unfair and
inequitable relative to others in the organization
Allow a lack of training to undermine your departments
effectiveness
Commit any unfair labor practices
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Why We Care About HRM?

Impact on you as employees
Impact on you as managers
Potential future roles as HR professionals
Impact of HRM on organizations

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Principles of HRM
1.

Strategic Integration An attempt to treat all labour

management processes from recruitment and training to
remuneration and retrenchment in a strategic fashion by
integrating them with the broader business concerns of the
enterprise.

2.

Organisational flexibility

3.

Commitment, from control to commitment through

changing the organisations culture. Mission statement should
state these core values. Also only recruiting those prepared to
subscribe to these core values.
Quality ensuring culture of quality: Quality work, quality
workers, quality products and services; Total Quality
Management, Quality assurance and zero defects, Internal
customers, Empowering workers via team working.
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4.

Line and Staff Aspects of HRM

Authority & Responsibility
The right to make decisions, direct others work, and give orders; with

responsible actions utilizing such authorities in maximum resulting in

benefits for all the parties involved.

Line Authority; the Line manager

Line authority gives the managers the right to issue orders to other

managers or employees.
It creates a superior-subordinate relationship.
Thus the line manager is a manager who is authorized to direct the work
of subordinates and is responsible for accomplishing the organizations
tasks.

Staff Authority; the Staff manager

Staff authority gives the managers the right to advise other managers or

employees.
It creates an advisory relationship.
Thus the staff manager is a manager who assists and advises line
managers.

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Functions of the HR Manager

A Line Function
The HR manager directs the activities of the people in his or her own

department and in related service areas. While they generally can not
wield line authority outside, they hold Implied authority (the authority
exerted by an HR manager by virtue of others knowledge that he or she
has access to top management).

A Coordinative Function
HR managers also coordinate personnel activities, a duty often referred to

as functional control.

Staff (assist and advise) Functions

Assisting and advising line managers is the heart of the HR managers

job. It plays an employee advocacy role by:

Clearly defining how management should be treating employees.

Making sure employees have the mechanisms required to contest unfair

practices.

Represent the interests of employees within the framework of its primary

obligation to senior management.

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Line Managers HRM Responsibilities

Though HR managers assist & advise line managers in areas like recruiting,
hiring, & compensation, the line managers still have their HR duties:
Placing the right person on the right job
Starting new employees in the organization (orientation)
Training employees for jobs that are new to them
Improving the job performance of each person
Gaining creative cooperation and developing smooth working relationships
Interpreting the firms policies and procedures
Controlling labor costs
Developing the abilities of each person
Creating and maintaining department morale
Protecting employees health and physical condition

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Examples of HR Job Duties

Recruiters
Search for qualified job applicants.

Equal employment opportunity (EEO) coordinators

Investigate and resolve EEO grievances, examine organizational

practices for potential violations, and compile and submit EEO reports.

Job analysts
Collect and examine information about jobs 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 unionmanagement relations.

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Cooperative Line & Staff HR Management

HRM is part of every managers job. Thus generally its a
cooperative relationship between the line & staff managers:
1. The line managers responsibility is to specify the

qualifications employees need to fill specific positions.

2. HR staff then develops sources of qualified applicants

and conduct initial screening interviews

3. HR administers the appropriate tests and refers the

best applicants to the supervisor (line manager), who

interviews and selects the ones he or she wants.

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HR Organizational Chart (Small Company)

Size of the HR department reflects the size of the company, there is
generally about one HR employee per 100 company employees.

Figure 12

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HR Department Organizational Chart (Large Company)

Source: Adapted from BNA Bulletin to Management, June 29, 2000.

Figure 11

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Employment and RecruitingWho Handles It?

(percentage of all employers)

Note: length of bars represents prevalence of activity among all surveyed employers.
Source: HR Department Benchmarks and Analysis, BNA/Society for Human Resource Management, 2002.

Figure 13

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A Changing HR Environment
Globalization
The tendency of firms to extend their sales, ownership, and/or

manufacturing to new markets abroad

Both workers and companies have to work harder and smarter than

they did before globalization

Government regulation
Stronger knowledge/research base
Changing role for labor unions
Challenge of matching worker expectations with competitive
demands
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A Changing HR Environment (contd.)

Technological Advances
Companies use virtual online communities to improve

efficiency
Creating high-tech jobs, service jobs, knowledge work

(human capital)

Implications for HR
The key to effectively utilizing all that new technology is

usually not the technology, but the people.

Todays employers need more sophisticated HRM

selection, training, pay, and employee fairness practices

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Changing Role of HRM

Strategy
The companys long-term plan for how it will balance its

internal strengths and weaknesses with its external

opportunities and threats to maintain a competitive
advantage.
HR

managers today are more involved in partnering with their top

managers in both designing and implementing their companies
strategies.

Strategic HRM
Formulating and executing HR policies and practices that

produce the employee competencies and behaviors the

company needs to achieve its strategic aims.
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Creating High-Performance Work System Practices

Employment security

Selective hiring

Benefits of a HPWS

Extensive training

Self-managed teams/decentralized

decision making

Reduced status distinctions

Information sharing

Contingent (pay-for-performance)
rewards

Transformational leadership

Measurement of management
practices

Emphasis on high-quality work

Generate more job applicants

Screen candidates more effectively
Provide more and better training
Link pay more explicitly to
performance
Provide a safer work environment
Produce more qualified applicants
per position
More employees are hired based on
validated selection tests
Provide more hours of training for
new employees
Higher percentages of employees
receiving regular performance
appraisals.

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Measuring HRs Contribution: The HR Scorecard

HR Scorecard measures the HR functions effectiveness &
efficiency in producing employee behaviors needed to achieve
the companies strategic goals.
It shows the measurable, cause-and-effect links between three
things:
1. HR activities, such as improving the firms incentive plan,
2. Intermediate employee results, such as improved morale,
3. End-result company metrics, such as improved customer

service and higher profits.

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HR Managers Proficiencies
Being a HR manager today is challenging and requires several proficiencies:

HR proficiencies
Represent traditional knowledge & skills in areas like employee

selection, training, and compensation.

Business proficiencies
Reflect HR managers new strategic role, like assisting top management

in formulating strategies.

Leadership proficiencies
They need the ability to work with and lead management groups, and to

drive the changes required.

Learning proficiencies
The ability to stay side-by-side of and apply all the new technologies

and practices affecting the profession

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A New Model of HRM is Needed

More strategic (not strictly focused on dayto-day operational needs)
More proactive (less reactive)
More of a consultant to line management
(less of a bureaucratic specialist)
More of an employee champion (less of
an organizational cop)
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