Managing Human Resources

1. Managing Human Resources HRM - past, present and future

2. Developments in HRM • Session Objectives • To identify previous learning • To consider the nature of HRM • To trace the historical origins of HRM • To review current issues in HRM • To consider the future of HRM

3. The HRM debate HRM was and remains controversial. Many issues in the field are hotly contested.

4. What is HRM? “…HRM, the management of work and people towards desired ends, is a fundamental activity in any organisation in which human beings are employed” • It happens in some form or another in all organisations • It is legitimate to question its relative value compared to other organisational investments (e.g. marketing or product development), but no organisation could survive without the reasonably effective organisation of work and management of people. Boxall et al 2007

5. What is HRM? Four objectives form the foundation of all HRM activity (Torrington et al 2011): • Staffing objectives • Designing organisation structures • Designing jobs • Deciding on contracts • Recruiting, selecting and developing the people required to fill the roles • Retaining the best, affordable workforce • Releasing people who no longer have a role to play

6. What is HRM? • Performance objectives • Ensure employees are well motivated • Ensure employees are committed so as to maximise their performance • Develop employees to maximise their potential • Design reward packages which maximise effort and focus attention on performance targets • Discipline employees effectively and fairly where their individual conduct/performance standards are unsatisfactory • Promote employee involvement initiatives to raise levels of engagement

7. What is HRM? • Change management objectives • Recruitment of people with the necessary leadership skills to drive the change process • The employment of change agents to encourage the acceptance of change • The development of reward systems which underpin the change process • Administration objectives • Maintain accurate and comprehensive data on individual employees • Ensure legal compliance with regard to pay, the monitoring of health and safety systems, the issuing of contracts and legal obligations relating to the National Minimum Wage, Working Time Regulations, etc.

8. What is HRM? • HRM as a distinctive approach to the management of people, to be contrasted with personnel management. • Identified with management (as opposed to employee) interests • People management and development aligned with organisational strategy • HR interventions aligned and mutually reinforcing • Line management involvement in HRM See Storey (1992) - 27 points of difference between HRM and personnel management

9. What is HRM? • HRM as a ‘particular model of employee relations that revolves around the management of people, following a particular ideological position; the central principle takes a particular stance on how to get the most out of workers whilst fostering an employment experience that is positive for employees’ • HRM in underpinned by the assumption that ‘it is possible to sustain an organisation in which all stakeholders share the same interests and goals’, i.e. a unitarist perspective. Bach & Edwards 2013

10. Hard ‘Resource’ Rational Business strategy and HR strategy aligned Little attention to employee ‘needs’ Emphasis on quantitative Theory X motivational assumptions Soft ‘Human’ Workplace learning High commitment Enlightened leadership Emphasis on qualitative Theory Y motivational assumptions ‘Hard’ vs ‘Soft’ approaches to HRMStorey (1989) N.B. Is this distinction too simplistic?

11. The development of HRM Late 19th and early 20th centuries • Paternalistic employers appoint welfare officers. Scientific management dominates. 1920s to 1940s • Personnel managers gain responsibilities in the areas of staffing and training. Personnel thinking influenced by the Human Relations School. 1950s to 1970s • Focus on Industrial relations – personnel managers acquire expertise in negotiation. Emphasis on manpower (human resource) planning.

12. The development of HRM 1980s • HRM as a new philosophy for managing and developing people with a focus on high commitment - HRM as ‘an industrial version of Thatcherism’ (Strauss 2001) - Influence of Japanese working practices (Kaizen, Total Quality Management, quality circles, etc.) and ‘excellence’ literature (e,g. Peters & Waterman)

13. The Harvard Model (‘Map’ of HRM) 13

14. The Matching Model (Fombrun et al ) 14

15. The Matching Model (Fombrun et al ) 15

16. The Matching Model (Fombrun et al ) Based on two forms of fit: External fit (‘vertical integration’) – that HR strategy should fit with (support) business strategy Internal fit (‘horizontal integration’) – that all HR interventions should be aligned and mutually reinforcing 16

17. The development of HRM 1990s • HRM emerges as a term to describe all aspects of personnel practice • Debate characterised by uncertainty about the HR contribution • Focus on the HR-performance link • Emphasis on strategic HRM

18. The development of HRM 2000s - key issues • The role of the HR function in adding value • How to achieve HR transformation • HRM as the responsibility of all managers • Segmentation and differentiated HR practices (e.g. talent management) • Where do the boundaries of HR lie? Increasing involvement in marketing activities for example (e.g. employer and employee branding) • Employee engagement rather than commitment • The impact of the Global Financial Crisis • HR analytics

19. The emergence of ‘the New HR’ (Adapted from Bach 2005)

20. The emergence of ‘the New HR’ • “...the starting point is (not a set of managerially defined values but) a bottom-up focus on the personality of individuals at selection stage, which is then reinforced to ensure that the organisation understands its employees and what shapes their engagement with the organisation and how these personal values can be harnessed for organisational success” (Bach 2005, p.135)

21. References • Bach, S. and Edwards, M. (ed.) (2013) 'Managing Human Resources: Human Resource Management in Transition' Wiley Publishing • Boxall, P., Purcell, J. and Wright, P. (2007) ‘The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management’ OUP • Fajana, Sola (2002). Human Resource Management: An Introduction, Labaofin, Lagos • Marchington, M. and Wilkinson, A. (2005), ‘People Management and Development’. CIPD. • Storey, J. (1992) ‘ Developments in the Management of Human Resources: an Analytical Review’ London:Blackwell • Strauss, G. 2001 ‘HRM in the USA: Correcting some British Impressions’ Journal of HRM 12 (6) 873-97, cited in Bach (2005) • Torrington, D., Taylor, S., Hall, L. and Atkinson, C. (2011) ‘Human Resource Management’, London, Prentice Hall.