HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
BMG775J1A Week One Personnel and Human Resource
Management Norma Heaton Tel [phone]
Room1D14 Email
ne.heaton_at_ulster.ac.uk
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OBJECTIVES

• To understand the relevance of historical
  developments in personnel management
• To understand the policy goals of HRM
• To examine the theory and practice of HRM

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Evolution of personnel management

• Welfare 1915-1920s
• Provision of facilities eg canteens
• Administration 1930s
• Personnel support to management
• 3. Developing phase 1940s-50s
• range of services provided eg negotiating with
  trade unions
• 4. Mature phase 1960s-70s
• sophistication of techniques
• increasing importance of legislation

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Evolution ctd

• 5. Human resource management phase one
• emerged from American writing
• focus on value for money and reduced role
  for trade unions
• 6. Human resource management phase two
• teamwork, development

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DEFINING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• a strategic and coherent approach to the
  management of an organisations most valued
  assets - the people working there who
  individually and collectively contribute to the
  achievement of its objectives
  (Armstrong, 20063)
• Torrington, Hall Taylor (2005) argue that HRM
  is difficult to define, since it is used in two
  ways
• to describe the generic activities of managing
  people (HRM mark 1)
• to denote a particular approach to managing
  people which is clearly distinct from personnel
  management (HRM mark 2)

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HRM mark 1 the generic term

• This refers to the key objectives to be achieved
• Staffing objectives planning, recruiting,
  selecting
• Performance objectives training, developing,
  rewarding
• Change-management objectives
• Administration objectives compliance with
  legislation, arrangements for pay etc

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Defining HRM via Roles and Objectives
Performance Objectives
Change-management Objectives
Staffing Objectives
Administrative Objectives
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Line Managers
Human Resource Generalists
Human Resource Specialists
Consultants and Advisers
Subcontractors
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Why the interest in HRM mark 2?

• The 1980s business climate
• Increased product market competition
• Recession
• New technology
• Government desire to reform industrial relations
• Firms encouraged to introduce new practices
• Restructuring of the economy
• Decline of old industries, rise in service
  sector
• Recognition of the need to improve British
  management
• Influence of the excellence literature

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The Harvard Framework of HRM (US)
Stakeholders Interests Shareholders Management Em
ployee Government Community Unions
Long-term consequences Individual
well-being Organisational effectiveness Societal
well-being
HRM policy choices Employee influence HR
flow Reward systems Work systems
HR outcomes Commitment Competence Congruence Cost
effectiveness
Situational Factors Workforce Business
conditions Management philosophy Labour
market Unions Laws and values
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Theoretical perspectives of Strategic Human
Resource Management

• Is there one best way to carry out HR activities?
  UNIVERSALIST APPROACH/BEST PRACTICE
• Should HR policies and activities fit
  particular circumstances? BEST FIT
• Should the focus be on long-tem sustainability?
  RESOURCE BASED VIEW

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UNIVERSALIST APPROACH Guests four policy goals
for HRM

• Strategic integration
• Ensuring HRM is integrated into strategic
  planning
• Commitment
• Ensuring that employees feel bound to the
  organisation
• Flexibility
• Ensuring an adaptable structure
• Quality
• Ensuring high quality goods and services
  through high quality, flexible employees

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The Universalist Approach (UK) - Guest (1989)
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Components of best practice HRM (adapted from
Marchington and Wilkinson,2005)

• Employment security and internal labour markets
• Selective hiring and sophisticated selection
• Extensive training, learning and development
• Employee involvement, information sharing and
  worker voice
• Self-managed teams / teamworking
• High compensation contingent on performance
• Reduction of status differentials

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HRM and performance the USA studies

• Huselid (1995) survey of 1,000 organisations
  concluded that the magnitude of the return for
  investments in high performance work practices is
  high
• Pfeffer (1998) argues that best practice HRM has
  the potential to have a positive impact
  irrespective of size, sector or country

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HRM and performance studies in the UK

• Wests (2002) research in the NHS shows three
  practices have a strong impact on performance
  training, teamwork and appraisal
• Guest (2003) looked at the extent of adoption of
  best practice HR and its effectiveness and
  concluded that research methods used impact on
  results
• Subjective measures lead to a positive message
• Objective measures lead to a less consistent
  message

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Critique of best practice in Beardwell, Holden
and Claydon (2004)

• The validity of the research methods?
• Problems associated with inconsistencies in the
  models
• Direction of causality
• Applicability to organisations in highly
  competitive markets
• Underlying theme of unitarism

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Best-fit HRM

• Assesses the extent to which there is vertical
  integration between an organisations business
  strategy and its HRM policies and practices
• Demonstrate vertical integration through
• Linking business goals to individual objectives
• Measurement and rewarding of business goals

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Limitations of best-fit models (Beardwell, Holden
and Claydon)

• Reliance on rational planning approach
• Lack of sophistication in description of generic
  strategies
• Employee interests ignored
• Lack of internal context

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Resource based view of the firm

• RBV analyses strategy from inside out
• Focuses on internal resources and the unique
  factors which enable organisations to remain
  viable
• Competitive advantage requires four attributes
• Value the resource makes a difference
• Rarity there is a shortage of these resources
• Imperfect imitability difficult for other
  employers to copy these resources
• Non-substitutable resources cannot be rendered
  obsolete or unnecessary

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Problems with the resource-based view
(Torrington, Hall and Taylor)

• Focus on firms and competitive advantage make
  this less relevant for the public sector
• Too much time may be spent on measuring and not
  everything that is measured is of critical value

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Environmental developments and HRM

• Globalisation of economic activity
• Markets for goods and services are international
• Technology
• Use new technology to maintain market position
• Impact on HRM?
• Continual development of practice
• Expect change and flexibility
• Manage an international workforce
• Comply with complex employment legislation

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References

• Armstrong,M. (2006) A Handbook of Human Resource
  Management. London Kogan Page
• Beardwell,I., Holden,L. and Claydon,T. (2004)
  Human Resource Management a contemporary
  approach. London FT/Prentice Hall
• Guest,D. (1989) Personnel and HRM can you tell
  the difference? Personnel Management, Jan 1989
• Guest,D., Michie,J., Conway,N. and Shehan,M.
  (2003) Human Resource Management and performance,
  British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol 41,
  N0 2, pp291-314

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References ctd

• Huselid,M. (1995) The impact of human resource
  practices on turnover, productivity and corporate
  financial performance, Academy of Management
  Journal, Vol 38, No 3, pp635-672
• Marchington,M. and Wilkinson,A. (2005) Human
  Resource Management. Lodon CIPD
• Pfeffer,J. (1998) The human equation building
  profits by putting people first, Boston Harvard
  Business School Press
• Storey,J. (2001) HRM a critical text. London
  Thomson Learning

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References ctd

• Torrington, D., Hall,L. and Taylor,S.(2005) Human
  Resource Management. London FT/Prentice Hall
• West,M. (et al) (2002) The link between the
  management of employees and patient mortality in
  acute hospitals, International Journal of Human
  Resource Management, Vol 13, No 8, pp1299-1310