Human Resource Management: Development, Activities, Planning and Recruitment

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BTEC- HNC in BUSINESS

Unit 21: Human Resource Management

Assignment 1

Development, Activities, Planning and Recruitment

Name- Karan Aggarwal

Tutor- Marion Fieldstead

 Date-   w/c

Contents:                                                                             Page:

  1. Introduction…………………………………………….03

SECTION 1

  1. Distinguishing between ‘personnel management’ and ‘human resource management’ and discussing the historical development and changing context in which they operate........................................................…….....04

  1.  Assessing the role, tasks and activities of the HR practitioner.........................…………….................……07

  1. Evaluating the role and responsibilities of line managers in HR practices.................................…………………...11

  1. Analysing the need for human resource planning........15

          SECTION 2 A

  1. Documentation for structured recruitment process for TWO organisations; Comparing the recruitment and selection procedure for the TWO organisations; Comparing the recruitment and selection procedure for the TWO organisations to the good and bad practices;The methods and media that can be used......24

SECTION 2 B

  1. Evaluating the interview as a selection technique and discussing a range of alternative selection methods available...........................................................................54

  1. Bibliography/References……………………………….57

  1. Self Reflection/Evaluation & Timetable.........................................................................59

INTRODUCTION

“Management guru Tom Peters once joked that if you want to insult a Human Resources director ask him if HR stands for 'Human Remains.' The fact is HR is a universally misunderstood discipline whether you are a large or small company. But bringing in an HR presence into your growing business could be one of the most sensible decisions you ever make.”

Source: (http://www.mybusiness.co.uk/Yc0-nCFoc2BfBw.html)

This report has been designed to investigate the traditional view of personnel management and the new approach of human resource management; as well as to evaluate the procedures and practices used for recruiting and selecting suitable employees.

SECTION 1

Distinguishing between ‘personnel management’ and ‘human resource management’ and discussing the historical development and changing context in which they operate

Introduction

‘When the flexible concept of HRM emerged in the 1980s, in the times of

Thatcherism and Reaganomics, it “could not help but look more desirable than personnel management” (Hope-Hailey et al 1997: 5). The attractiveness of the theory of managing personnel led to a proliferation of HRM language. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen if there is more to HRM than only a new and shining rhetoric.

A number of authors stress the difficulties of identifying clear differences between personnel management and HRM, and maintain that the most obvious change is a “re-labelling process” (Legge 1989: 20). Torrington (1989: 64) agrees that “a change of label” is obvious, though one cannot be sure that the content of differentiates to any extent. However, the new terminology may at least rid personnel management from its unfavourable welfare image and other “negative connotations” (Sisson 1990: 1) and thus, save the ailing function of managing personnel from marginalisation. Keenoy (1990: 8) stresses another aspect: he sees personnel management caught in ambiguity as it is torn by managing the tension between organisational demands and needs of employees. The clear strategic orientation of HRM provides an “escape route from ambiguity”, because it has “sharply refocused the attention on the organisational loyalties of the personnel function.” Thus, its full organisational legitimacy may be regained.

Accordingly, some HR academics maintain that new labels on old bottles may have their uses, even if it is only for marketing purposes (Armstrong 1987: 35; Guest 1989: 48). Furthermore, a valuable contribution of HRM is to direct the attention to regarding people as the key resource of organisations and lending the management of personnel increased importance (Armstrong 1987: 31).

Differences

The outstanding strategic character of HRM is claimed to be one of the differences in emphasis between personnel and HR management. While conventional personnel management is criticised for its only loose link with business objectives, the formulation of HRM policies should explicitly take place at a strategic level within the organisation (Storey 1989: 6). This implies that the integration of HRM strategy with business strategy is not a pure specialist task within the HR department, but should be driven by senior management – in the best case at board level. Similarly, there is more emphasis in HRM approaches on the importance of line managers. HRM models clearly highlight the line management’s responsibility for the management and development of the human resources, especially with regard to their contribution to bottom line results (Legge 1989: 27; Keenoy 1990: 8). This goes together with the generally more strategic and “demand -driven” (Torrington 1989: 61) approach of (‘hard’) HRM, which focuses on organisational needs and, finally, profit at the bottom line.

A major element of (‘soft’) HRM approaches is the involvement of senior managers in the creation of organisational culture and values. The culture should be designed for gaining the employees’ commitment. Commitment is an eminent goal of HRM, as it is seen as a crucial precondition for high performance (Guest 1989: 49). Besides high trust and commitment, another part of organisational culture as promoted by HRM is a more direct form of communication. HRM advocates a turn from collectivism to individualism (Sisson 1990: 5). It neglects collective bargaining and unions, and promotes individual relations with direct forms of communication between management and employees (Storey 1989: 2;

Keenoy 1990: 3). Storey and Sisson speak of an ongoing replacement of “industrial relations” by “employee relations.” (1989: 170)

While personnel management often finds itself in an intermediate position between organisational demands and individual needs, (‘soft’) HRM models maintain a coinciding relationship of organisational and individual interests. HRM policies and practices that are desirable for the employee are also beneficial to the achievement of organisational goals. Moreover, individuals can only contribute to organisational success effectively when their personal needs are met on the job. Therefore, individual development - including the development of managerial staff (Legge 1989: 27) – and satisfaction are emphasised in HRM. Consequently, training and other means of development gain more importance and managerial attention than in personnel management (Torrington 1989: 66). At the same time, (‘soft’) HRM models grant more autonomy and self-responsibility to individuals (Torrington 1989: 56), because a higher degree of autonomy is regarded as prerequisite for the organisation’s adaptability to change, i.e., the organisation's flexibility (Guest 1989: 49).’[1]

The historical development and changing context in which they operate

‘The evolution of Personnel Management has occurred in an unplanned, uneven and random way. It was mostly forced by environmental changes in society, businesses, industry rather than a rational, incremental process.(Hendry 1991). Starting from the point of the mature phase of Personnel Management in the 1960s and 1970s where we have the introduction of various services into organizations and management development, training and manpower planning. We observe the existence of selection, training, salary administration and appraisal (MBO). Then in the 1980s the concept of HRM emerged from US, and personnel was seen more like business oriented. With the declining of trade unions also Industrial relations became less significant and HRM starts to be considered as a more specialized tool for the needs of an organization and its employees. Finally in the 1990s as the interest is more onto team working, empowerment, quality, development, flexibility, efficiency and effectiveness, the role of HRM became more important. Now terms as culture management, performance and reward systems or management development have been given great importance along with the notion of being strategic in all aspects.

The major sources of changes are the Environmental firstly, taking the shape of economic and political change where we had the rise of enterprise economy and market led economies. Moreover, concern for environment and society widely has appeared. Then, the social trend towards individualism substituting collectivism and the arising customer expectations so as to the requirements being higher than ever before. The recession of the 1990s have made investment and expansion much more difficult and risky than before in the business environment, and changing demographics since the 80s impacted as problems into the offer of various skilled employees. New work patterns have emerged where more pat-time workers and permanent employees are used nowadays, and with the rise of competition from Europe, Japan or multinational corporations has made it difficult to cope correctly with employees. Finally we must note the various and fast technological advancements which take place and the shortening of product life cycles that lead to short range strategies and increased flexibility.

The impact of all those factors was and still is great onto people, the manpower employed by a firm, which have to learn to cope with change as it takes the form of role ambiguity and role conflict and leads to stress. (Peters 1988). Managers have now to learn to reshape their exercising of power in every form so as to co-operate with and assist their colleagues to better themselves and act properly for the good of the enterprise.

That was the time where HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT was needed to take place as a more specialized function in the organization to handle employee matters and generally manpower planning. The purpose of each job and role had to be specified narrowly and accurately. Performance and results are clearly identified with employee actions and extend to motivation and rewards. Inner-Qualities from managers are needed such as a leader, an analyst, a motivator; a colleague, a planner, and a reinforcer; so as to cope cross-departmentally with every employee, and weaken in turn ambiguity and confusion. Straight forward lines of action are needed from the start of a business and HRM is the answer to all of these issues.’ [2]

Conclusion

“A debate about the differences, if any, between HRM and personnel management went on for some time. It has died down recently, especially as the terms HRM and HR are now in general use both in their own right and as synonyms for personnel management. But understanding of the concept of HRM is enhanced by analysing what the differences are and how traditional approaches to personnel management have evolved to become the present day practices of HRM.” (M Armstrong 2006).

Assessing the role, tasks and activities of the HR practitioner

The role of the HR practitioner [3]

‘In 1997 Dave Ulrich produced his model in which he suggested that as champions of the competitiveness in creating and delivering value, HR professionals carry out the role of strategic partners, administrative experts, employee champions and change agents. The response to this formulation concentrated on the business partner role. Ulrich, in conjunction with Brockbank, reformulated the 1997 model in 2005, listing the following roles:

  • Employee advocate- focuses on the needs of today’s employees through listening understanding and empathising.
  • Human capital developer- in the role of managing and developing human capital (individual and teams), focuses on preparing employees in the future.
  • Functional expert- concerned with hr practices that are central to the HR value, acting with insight on the basis of the body of knowledge they possess. Some are delivered through administrative efficiency (such as technology or process design), and others through policies, menus and interventions. Necessary to distinguish between the foundation HR practices – recruitment, learning and development, rewards, etc. – and the emerging HR practices such as communications, work process and organisation design, and executive leadership development.
  • Strategic partner- consists of multiple dimensions: business expert, change agent, strategic HR planner, knowledge manager and consultant, combining them to align HR systems to help accomplish the organisation’s vision and mission, helping managers to get things done, and disseminating learning across the organisation.
  • Leader- leading the HR function, collaborating with other functions and providing leadership to them, setting and enhancing the standards for strategic thinking and ensuring corporate governance.’

The changing roles of the human resource practitioner/professional: [4]

‘Some industry commentators call the Human Resources function the last bastion of bureaucracy. Traditionally, the role of the Human Resource professional in many organizations has been to serve as the systematizing, policing arm of executive management.

In this role, the HR professional served executive agendas well, but was frequently viewed as a road block by much of the rest of the organization. While some need for this role occasionally remains — you wouldn’t want every manager putting his own spin on a sexual harassment policy, as an example — much of the HR role is transforming itself.

The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of his changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change direction and customer-centred.

Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered necessary by line managers, is a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate and a change mentor.

Strategic Partner

In today’s organizations, to guarantee their viability and ability to contribute, HR managers need to think of themselves as strategic partners. In this role, the HR person contributes to the development of and the accomplishment of the organization-wide business plan and objectives.

The HR business objectives are established to support the attainment of the overall strategic business plan and objectives. The tactical HR representative is deeply knowledgeable about the design of work systems in which people succeed and contribute. This strategic partnership impacts HR services such as the design of work positions; hiring; reward, recognition and strategic pay; performance development and appraisal systems; career and succession planning; and employee development.

Employee Advocate

As an employee sponsor or advocate, the HR manager plays an integral role in organizational success via his knowledge about and advocacy of people. This advocacy includes expertise in how to create a work environment in which people will choose to be motivated, contributing, and happy.

Fostering effective methods of goal setting, communication and empowerment through responsibility, builds employee ownership of the organization. The HR professional helps establish the organizational culture and climate in which people have the competency, concern and commitment to serve customers well.

In this role, the HR manager provides employee development opportunities, employee assistance programs, gain-sharing and profit-sharing strategies, organization development interventions, due process approaches to problem solving and regularly scheduled communication opportunities.

Change Champion

The constant evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization results in the need for the HR professional to frequently champion change. Both knowledge about and the ability to execute successful change strategies make the HR professional exceptionally valued. Knowing how to link change to the strategic needs of the organization will minimize employee dissatisfaction and resistance to change.

The HR professional contributes to the organization by constantly assessing the effectiveness of the HR function. He also sponsors change in other departments and in work practices. To promote the overall success of his organization, he champions the identification of the organizational mission, vision, values, goals and action plans. Finally, he helps determine the measures that will tell his organization how well it is succeeding in all of this.’

Tasks and Activities of a HR practitioner

Recruitment and selection- Design of policies and procedures of fair recruitment and selection in order to contribute to the fulfilment of the organisations’ corporate strategy. Carry out interviews or monitor and give advice on interview technique or on terms and conditions of employment.

Training and Development- Involved in planning training and development opportunities for the whole organisation, to meet the needs of the organisation as expressed in its strategic plan and to meet the needs of individuals. May design and organise training courses for groups and sometime run them. May keep training records centrally and request information from line managers as part of planning exercise or to monitor success of training and development.

Human Resource Planning- Depending on the level of appointment is likely to be involved to various degrees in contributing to the strategic plan. Collection and analysis of data; monitoring targets for the whole organisation. Providing information to managers.  Conducting exit interviews and analysing reasons for leaving.

Provision of contracts- Provide written statement of particulars for new employees and issue them to these employees, having checked that the detail is correct. Keep all copies of all documentation relating to the employee and advice on any alterations to the contract.

Provision of fair treatment- Involvement in design of policies and procedures of the whole organisation to encourage fair treatment at work. Inform and train people in these policies and procedures. Monitor the success of these policies.

Equal Opportunities- Involvement in the design of policies to encourage equal opportunities. Train and inform managers and all employees throughout the organisation in these polices. Monitor the effectiveness of equal opportunities policies by collecting and analysing information.

Assessing performance of employees- Involvement in design and implementation of techniques to assess performance of employees effectively in a way that links clearly with the organisation’s strategic plan. Train, inform and involve people in performance management techniques. Monitor the effectiveness of the procedures. Many maintain central records about performance of individual employees.

Employee Counselling- Establish appropriate system, either in-house or by external consultants, for employee counselling. May be involved in counselling employees with problems or may have to refer them to specialised counselling.

 Employee Welfare- Establish appropriate systems for employee welfare in accordance with the objectives of organisation. Monitor the cost and effectiveness of this provision.

Payment and reward of employees- Establish appropriate payment and reward systems for all employees in order to contribute to the organisation’s strategic plan. Monitor the success of these. Collect comparative data for other organisations in area or nationally. Deal with individual problems about pay. May be involved in negotiation about payment or reward systems. Tell individuals of their pay when the join the organisation or change jobs.

Health and Safety- Involvement in design and implementation of the organisation’s health and safety policy in order to contribute to the organisation’s strategic plan. Monitor the effectiveness of this. May sit on safety committee or may have line management responsibilities for safety officer or organisation’s nurse. Involvement in promotion of health and safety and encouraging the involvement of others throughout the organisation.

Disciplining individuals- Design of disciplinary procedure. Monitor the effectiveness of the procedure. Give advice to line managers on disciplinary problems. Organise training for line managers and employees about disciplinary issues. Issue warnings in later stages of disciplinary procedure. Maintain central records of disciplinary action taken.

Dealing with grievances- Participate in the design of grievance procedure and encourage the involvement of others in this. Inform and train people in grievance handling. Monitor the effectiveness of the grievance procedure. May deal with some stages in the in the grievance procedure or appeals.

Dismissal- Review procedures for dismissal to ensure that they comply with legislation. Provide advice and guidance on fair dismissals procedure. Provide training for all who may be involved in the dismissal process. May dismiss employee.

Redundancy- Is likely to be involved in consultation with regard to redundancy. Is likely to be involved in selection of those to be made redundant. May inform employee of redundancy and amount of pay and rights. May organise provision of more generous redundancy payment if this is in line with organisation policy. May organise provision of outplacement facilities either in-house or by consultations.

Negotiation- Is likely to be involved in negotiation on a wide range of organisation-wide issues.

Encouraging involvement- Will have an extremely important role in creating a culture within the organisation in which employees are encouraged to be involved indecision-making. Will be involved in designing policy and procedures to encourage employee involvement in line with strategic plan. Will also provide training to encourage employee involvement.

Evaluating the role and responsibilities of line managers in HR practices

The basic role of front line managers [5]

‘Front –line managers as defined by Hutchinson and Purcell (2003) are managers who are responsible for a work group to a higher level of management hierarchy, and are placed in the lower layers of the management hierarchy, normally at the first level. They tend to have employees reporting to them who themselves do not have any management or supervisory responsibility and are responsible for the day-to-day running of their work rather than strategic matters. The roles of such managers typically include a combination of the following activities:

  • people management;
  • managing operational costs;
  • Providing technical expertise;
  • organizing, such as planning work allocations and rotas;
  • monitoring work processes;
  • checking quality;
  • dealing with customers/clients;
  • measuring operational performance.’

‘In many organisations front line managers now carry out activities which were traditionally within the remit of HR such as providing coaching and guidance, undertaking performance appraisals and dealing with discipline and grievances. In many cases they also carry out recruitment and selection in conjunction with HR.’ [6] 

The role of front line managers

‘The people and performance research carried out for the CIPD by a team at Bath University1 found that front line managers played a pivotal role in terms of implementing and enacting HR policies and practices. They found that where employees feels positive about their relationship with their front line managers they are more likely to have higher levels of job satisfaction, commitment and loyalty which are associated with higher levels of performance or discretionary behaviour. Discretionary behaviour is defined as that which goes beyond the requirements of the job to give that extra performance which can boost the bottom line. Line managers also play the strongest part in structuring people’s actual experience of doing a job.

Subsequent work by CIPD and Bath University explores in detail the role that line managers play in reward2 and learning and development3.

The areas where front line managers make a significant difference to people management practices include:

  • performance appraisal
  • training, coaching and guidance
  • employee engagement (involvement and communication)
  • openness – how easy is it for employees to discuss matters with their front line manager
  • work-life balance
  • recognition – the extent to which employees feel their contribution is recognized.

These are all areas where, although the process may be designed by HR, it cannot be delivered by HR. The front line manager role is crucial in a number of respects:

  • in enabling the HR policies and practices, or bringing them to life
  • in acting upon advice or guidance from HR
  • in controlling the work flow by directing and guiding the work of others.

However, line managers often have conflicting priorities and role overload. All managers need time to carry out their people management activities.’ [7] 

‘Some of the main core points which line managers should adopt while operating with employee are listed below:

Celebrate individuality- Since each employee operates through a unique filter, find out what it is. Ask employees what motivate them, what their goals are, how they like to be managed.

Set outcomes not instructions- Give clear objectives and steer employees towards achieving them rather than issuing detailed directives.

Celebrate diversity- Accept that one-size-fits-all management never works. Align the unique talents of your employees to organisational objectives then step back and allow those talents to flourish.

Know what makes talent tick- Talented employees thrive on personal growth, challenge, stimulation, variety, meaning, purpose, respect, responsibility, autonomy and choice. Find out which drivers matter most to which employees. Ensure their work satisfies their personal career drivers.

Focus on your high performers- High performers deliver the most value for the organisation so encourage them to aim higher. Investigate the factors that differentiate them from lower performers and build a star map for their role. Use this star map as a benchmark for recruiting new and developing existing talent.

Be a casting director- Develop close relationships with your people so you know which roles will play to their strengths and which will strangle them.

Be a coach, not a manager- Coaching bridges the gap between organisational goals espoused by leaders and the individual career aspirations of your employees by aligning the two. A coaching manager sees their role as building rapport, trust and common purpose. A coaching manager delegates and stretches, giving employees challenging assignments to build their skills.’ [8]

The responsibilities of line managers in HR

Recruitment and selection- Carry out interviews.

Training and Development- May be involved in planning and provision of training and development opportunities to meet needs of individuals and the needs of the organisation as expressed in its strategic plan, primarily for employees in his or her own department. May provide training and may also keep records of training and provide information to central personnel/ HRM department.

Human Resource Planning- Collect information on leavers and provide information on anticipated requirements for manpower for his or her own department.

Provision of contracts- Possibly issue documents and get signature of new employees.

Provision of fair Treatment- Responsible for fair treatment of people in his or her own department to ensure all treat others in a fair way. Listen and respond to grievances as an initial stage in the grievance procedure or informally before someone gets into the grievance procedure. May contribute suggestions about design of policies.

Equal Opportunities- May also be involved in and contribute to the design of policies. Will be responsible for ensuring that all employees for whom he or she is responsible do not suffer from any form of unfair discrimination while at work.

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Assessing performance of employees- Contribute to discussion of performance management techniques. Assess performance of those in own department. Involve teams and individuals in setting and agreeing targets and monitoring performance. Monitor their success and give feedback.

Employee Counselling- May be involved in initial counselling of employees in his or her own section, or may need to suggest alternative sources of counselling if he or she does not feel qualified to deal with the situation.

Employee welfare- Ensure the well-being of employees in his or her own department and draw their attention to and encourage use of, any provisions designed ...

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