Human Resource Management

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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, 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 health & safety Handling 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 Employer loyalty to employees Interesting work Promotion and growth in the organization
8 1 4 2 5 9 7 3 6
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Karl and Sutton, 1996

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. Organisational flexibility Commitment, 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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2. 3.

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. superior-subordinate  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. advisory  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 control. 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. union
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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.

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HR Department Organizational Chart (Large Company)

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

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Employment and RecruitingWho Handles It? Recruiting (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 high-

(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 longinternal 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 High Employment security Selective hiring Extensive training Self-managed teams/decentralized Self decision making Reduced status distinctions Information sharing Contingent (pay-for-performance) (pay-forrewards Transformational leadership Measurement of management practices Emphasis on high-quality work high

Benefits of a HPWS
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 cause-andthings:
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 End-

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 side-by-

and practices affecting the profession

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