Discuss the changing role of HRM. Explain the challenges associated with HRM effective policies and practices in the context of present business scenario citing examples from your organization or any other organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.
CHANGING ROLE OF HRM
In an organization, there are tall people, short people, fat people, thin people, black people, white people, elderly people, young people and so on. Even within each category there are enormous individual differences. Some will be intelligent, others not so intelligent, some are committed to jobs, others are not, some will be outgoing, others reserved and so on. “The point is that these differences demand attention so that each person can maximize his or her potential, so that organizations can maximize their effectiveness and so that the society as a whole can make the wisest use of its human resources” (Cascio). The challenge of HR managers today is to recognize talent and nurture the same carefully and achieve significant productivity gains over a period of time. The enterprise is nothing but people. Technological advances, globalize competition, demographic changes, the information revolution and trends toward a service society have changed the rules of the game significantly. In such a scenario, organizations with similar set of resources gain competitive advantage only through effective and efficient management of human resources (Dessler).
The role of a HR manager is shifting from a protector and screener to the planner and change agent. In present day competitive world, highly trained and committed employees are often a firm’s best bet. HR professionals play a key role in planning and implementing downsizing, restructuring and other cost-cutting activities. They enable a firm to be more responsive to product innovations and technological changes. For example, team based work assignments and productivity linked rewards could replace manufacturing systems. In service enterprises like anking, hotels, insurance firms, etc., discourteous employee responses may ruin the relationships with customers.
Employees who lack the temperament, maturity, social skills and tolerance for frequent contact should not be selected at all for service-oriented activities. HR professionals can help an organization select and train employees for such emerging roles. Employees are the primary pillars of corporate success. Machines neither have new ideas nor they can solve problems or grasp opportunities. Only people who are involved and thinking can make a difference. Through open communications, proper feedback and fair treatment of all employees’ grievances and discipline matters, HR professionals promote employee commitment at various levels. In such a case employees perform the assigned tasks willingly and enthusiastically and thus offer a competitive advantage to the organization. As rightly pointed out by Charles Creer, (Strategy and Human Resources, 1995), “in a growing number of organizations human resources are now viewed as a source of competitive advantage. Increasingly it is being recognized that competitive advantage can be obtained with a high quality workforce that enables organizations to compete on the lines of market responsiveness, product and service quality, differentiated products and technological innovation”.
In the new economy, winning will spring form organizational capabilities such as speed, responsiveness, agility, learning capacity and employee competence. Successful organizations will be those that are able to quickly turn strategy into action; to manage processes intelligently and efficiently; to maximize employee contribution and commitment; and to create the conditions of seamless change. The need to develop those capabilities brings us back to the mandate for HR set forth at the beginning of this article. Let’s take a closer look at each HR imperative in turn, becoming a Partner in Strategy Execution. Strategy is the responsibility of the company’s executive team – of which HR is a member. To be full-fledged strategic partners with senior management, however, HR executives should impel and guide serious discussion of how the company should be organized to carry out its strategy. Creating the conditions for this discussion involves four steps. First, HR should be held responsible for defining an organizational architecture. In other words, it should identify the underlying model of the company’s way of doing business. Several well-established frameworks can be used in this process. Jay Galbraith’s star model, for example, identifies five essential organizational component: strategy, structure, rewards, processes and people.
The well-known 7-S framework created by McKinsey & Company distinguishes seven components in a company’s architecture: strategy, structure, systems, staff, style, skills and shared values. It’s relatively unimportant which framework the HR staff uses to define the company’s architecture, as along as it’s robust. What matters more is that an architecture be articulated explicitly. Without such clarity managers can become myopic about how the company runs – and thus about what drives strategy implementation and what stands in its way. They might think only of structure as the driving force behind actions and decisions, and neglect systems or skills. Or they might understand the company primarily in terms of its values and pay inadequate attention to the influence of systems on how work – that is, strategy execution – actually gets accomplished. In India, the borderless world is shaking the roots of business. While some companies are feeling the excitement and facing up to the challenges, the demand for a tilted playing field6 indicates the anxiety among many Indian business leaders about competition. Increasingly, the mantra of the global economy is performance and competition.
Showing posts with label HRM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HRM. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Explain the changing role of HRM.
Explain the changing role of HRM. Discuss the challenges associated in the HRM in present business scenario citing examples from the organizations you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.
The Foremost and prime HR function in any organization is recruiting the right person and then getting requisite quality and quantity of work (Read productivity) for a reasonable period of tenure, in line with organizational goals (Do most of organizations and the top HR Bosses themselves know about it?). One can call it Strategic Human Resource Management, which uses various tools and techniques for motivation, appraisal, training, cross cultural management, emerging issues in personnel laws like, sexual harassment and competence mapping, etc. In fact HR function is main responsibility of a supervisor and not of a HR Department, and higher goes the role and scope of responsibilities, higher the supervisor in Organization Hierarchy. In many organizations, for instance, IT industry, one has very loose or flattish hierarchy due to knowledge workers outfit. Over the decades HRM became a separated out function graduating from a simple Time Office function to a high profile Division in organizations until recently when most of HRM functions have been leased out (Outsourced) and what is left with HR departments is Planning and Strategy. But unfortunately the supervisors have abandoned their prime responsibility to manage men and think that this better be taken care of by HR Specialists. This is simply a myth. Increasing globalization and migration of labor in both directions like the financial capital, the challenges of staffing, retention and motivation of highly skilled workers from wider canvass and background and even education background, is really serious issue that better be not ignored by Businesses. My experience in corporate sector in India in various types of organizations ranging from Steels to Textiles, Chemicals and Services sector has been quite amusing and educative as far as the way HR has been handled by various types of entrepreneurs in India right from SBEs to the so called large corporate units. Majority of Indian businesses still treat employees as commodities and expect them to come trained and skilled in specific areas they are hired for (Even in US it is not feasible despite Industry Institutes interface). Hire and fire has been very popular policy in India and suppressing welfare laws regarding labor has been a favorable pass time, and matter of satisfaction & pride for Indian Businessmen. It was often observed by me that rapid expansion of businesses were scarcely accompanied by timely organizational structuring, expansion, training and growth in pace with such expansions and thus most of such expansions fell flat, even destroying their existing business lines and profitability.
The problem with HRM is that one cannot use clear cut formula that can be applied in particular situations due to highly subjective, emotional and cultural deviation amongst the employees. Secondly skilled and committed workers will become more and more scarce commodity due to rapid global expansion of business, high aspiration levels, fast growth mentality of youth including job-hopping, mobility of labor across borders and rapidly changing technologies. This is just too much to handle for traditional HR experts and involvement of Top line functional supervisors is essential for strategic growth of organizations. Indian businesses have a soft belly there due to still continuing contemptuous and casual attitude towards employees. As we move from Time Office to Personnel Management and on to HR Management to Human Asset management to Intellectual Capital paradigms, drastic changes in HR practices and HR organizations in Businesses is inevitable. Another thing to understand is that there is not very strong correlation between wages & incentives and motivation level of employees as is generally thought. Motivation and stability of employees is rather complicated task determined by several volatile factors, for instance, cultural background, family unit, education level and type, age, job satisfaction and so many others still not fully understood. It is another myth of HRM that giving doses of some foreign trip and 50 or 100 hrs of boring and stereotyped training sessions (requirement of TQM, ISO 9000 also) will raise motivation, skills and work style standards of employee. Most important change required is commitment, interest and achievement motivation within framework of organizational goals. One thing is very clear from above discussions that Quality and stability of Employees in organizations is going to be key differentiator and even main foundation for survival of a business in coming times and that too in highly nebulous environment of labor markets.
The third Myth worth mentioning is that employees always work better by giving better facilities, rewards and training sessions. I have found it to be doubtful in most situations. In fact the best way to train and induce employee to work and achieve higher is to create slight stress in work environment and little bit of job in security. As they say, throw the child in waters and it will pick swimming faster- very well applies to all human activities. There is no substitute for experience gained repeatedly by varied situations of decision-making and it is really confounding as to why inexperienced graduates from B-schools colleges are paid unreasonably high wages. Some one may like to deeply probe the issue whether such high remunerations are really effective in extraordinary achievements of organizations? One of the main reason for rise in corruption and materialistic pursuit by public sector employees is envy towards unusually high wage rates in so called hi-fi and MNC organizations around the globe, particularly in countries like India that are having poor quality of Public Administration, public awareness and legal systems. We can see that there is acute crisis facing the HR Managers who are yet to get their own roles re-defined and who have to find or create leaders in multi cultural setting in a highly competitive business environment and tight job market, with very high attrition rates in some sectors, like in Call Centers and software industries, and developing requisite inner motivation levels and soft skills that are often neglected in promotions and wage fixations (Here 'wage' is being used as a generic term for all kinds of compensation structures at all levels). While loyalty can be developed and maintained in employees, I would like to explode fourth Myth in HRM by revealing the fact that loyalty also has frequently roots in ethical, community and genetic background (We may call these attitudes, or inherent attitudes or life positions taken by an employee during initial grooming in young age). There is need to develop yet more effective psychometric tests or procedures to sift the candidates for right combination of IQ, EQ and loyalty index (I would like to find a formula for this term). One big damage globalization has done is to popularize the western materialistic high-growth rate focused employee culture prevalent in US where employees have little emotional concern with organizations they work (Even Japan is fast becoming victim to this epidemic!). Another challenge facing Organizations is to handle legal pressures relating to employee related laws of newer types like gender bias, racial or caste bias in employment, sexual harassment (At least two very senior officials of Indian Organizations have already been charges or accused of this in USA), ethical issues in handling organization information and challenges of multi-ethnic or multi-cultural staffed work places. Work place diversity is a good major of challenge in Organizations. This will grow in near future. According to Thomas (1992), dimensions of workplace diversity include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience. The future success of any organizations relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the mixture of talents of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can respond to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively, especially in the global arena (Cox, 1993), which must be one of the important organizational goals to be attained. A key issue that influences success in international arena is the awareness of cultural differences and thus development of both a business strategy and corresponding HR strategy that is consistent with the culture of host country. The interface between culture of the organization and culture of host country become important. Instead of leaving these issues to be tackled by HR personnel, the senior executives in international business arena have to take the HR strategies and solutions in their own hands. More and more Informational technology is being used in organizations to deliver HR services (Example HRSC of IBM) and a good part of these are being outsourced. This is natural outcome in changing business environment and brings in both advantages of expertise and economics. Large organizations otherwise also cannot cope with information exchange requirements in huge staffed organization in traditional manner unless they follow IBM like I nitiatives. The example of IBM HRSC is an attempt to combine people, technology and customer service, much as it does with its external customers. The center service about 20 business units in areas including benefits, retirement planning, compensation, employee suggestions, staffing, job posting, orientation, performance management, EEO compliance, employee separations, leave of absence, and skill development through 80 customer service representatives. This will be more or less true for all leading organizations in services sector in particular in near future. IBM too had repositioned itself as service driven organization.
Impact of technology can be viewed as challenges in:
- Necessary expansion/contraction of work force.
- Training needed to utilize new technology (A major reason of failures in Indian Small & mid size organizations from 80s to end of 90s)
- Effective change Management
- Impact on work group dynamics and concept of human face
- Costs for hiring, severance, training.
- Unwillingness of entrepreneurs to understand, recognize and adopt technology that can drive productivity, quality, customer satisfaction and new market opportunities.
- Sliming down of organizations particularly at lower levels and reduced hierarchy.
Another Myth of US based HR Practices is non-relevance of old employees or problem of graying workforce. The reason could be higher health care costs and perception of lower productivity. This may be true, but not in all circumstances. The element of loyalty may weigh favorably in favor of older employees as also their vast experience particularly useful in handling crises and negotiations, grievance handling within and outside organizations and networking advantage. I strongly decry the US corporate culture largely derived from social attitudes towards old in devaluing them .One serious disadvantage of old employees is their resistance to change in practices and call of business environment changes. As supply of baby boomers exceeds the demand, HR challenge is to handle this tricky issue including retirement and retraining or rehabilitation plan. INDIA culture simply does not suit Indian culture and ethos and we should not blindly go for INDIA system. HRM will not have to deal only with cultural diversity of employees and organization but also issues of minorities, backward classes and racial preferences in employment. Neither many-grounded theories are available in HR, nor the traditional HR practices will apply to most of organizational settings in coming times.
Traditional HR Versus Strategic HR
Indicator Traditional HR Strategic HR
Responsibility for HR
Focus
Role of HR
Initiatives
Time Horizon
Control
Job design
Key investments
Accountability Staff Specialists
Employee Relations
Transactional, Change follower and respondent
Slow, reactive and fragmented
Short-term
Bureaucratic-roles, policies, procedures
Tight division of labor, independence, specialization
Capital, Products
Cost center Line Managers
Partnership with internal and external customers
Transformational, change leader and initiator
Fast, proactive and integrated
Short, medium, Long (as necessary)
Organic-Flexible, whatever is necessary to succeed
Broad, flexible, cross training, teams
People, knowledge
Investment center
The traditional HR assumes a role of handling transaction as they arise. In India in most of organizations that are still bossed by 60+ adults from orthodox family business background (Babu ji culture), the role of HR personnel is not understood by them and they mostly serve as front for the CEO's decisions ranging from hiring, firing, wages, promotions and all kinds of manipulations. The traditional HR itself branched out as scientific division of labor relieving line managers from highly subjective, time consuming and inconvenient activities related to employee and which were not considered crucial to profit making and growth of organization. Strategic HR plays role of transformational change agent with focus on and in line with long term or strategic goals of organization. To become strategic the HR managers will have to be drawn from general Management rather than specialist training background, have to adopt long term and strategic focus and persuade management to look beyond current performance. Further, most of senior executives including entrepreneurs themselves hardly appreciative benefits and possibility of HRM as strategic partner. In fact most managers view HR with dislike being rule machines that hinder flexibility and carrying out of jobs. It is surprising but true that most senior executives in India as well as owners view human assets as liability and not owned by them and therefore a high-risk investment. HR activities in organizations are mostly taken up to do face lifting and present modernized face of organization because the direct benefits of HR are difficult to see and quantify. The HR and training budgets get axe first when need arises to do so.
The Foremost and prime HR function in any organization is recruiting the right person and then getting requisite quality and quantity of work (Read productivity) for a reasonable period of tenure, in line with organizational goals (Do most of organizations and the top HR Bosses themselves know about it?). One can call it Strategic Human Resource Management, which uses various tools and techniques for motivation, appraisal, training, cross cultural management, emerging issues in personnel laws like, sexual harassment and competence mapping, etc. In fact HR function is main responsibility of a supervisor and not of a HR Department, and higher goes the role and scope of responsibilities, higher the supervisor in Organization Hierarchy. In many organizations, for instance, IT industry, one has very loose or flattish hierarchy due to knowledge workers outfit. Over the decades HRM became a separated out function graduating from a simple Time Office function to a high profile Division in organizations until recently when most of HRM functions have been leased out (Outsourced) and what is left with HR departments is Planning and Strategy. But unfortunately the supervisors have abandoned their prime responsibility to manage men and think that this better be taken care of by HR Specialists. This is simply a myth. Increasing globalization and migration of labor in both directions like the financial capital, the challenges of staffing, retention and motivation of highly skilled workers from wider canvass and background and even education background, is really serious issue that better be not ignored by Businesses. My experience in corporate sector in India in various types of organizations ranging from Steels to Textiles, Chemicals and Services sector has been quite amusing and educative as far as the way HR has been handled by various types of entrepreneurs in India right from SBEs to the so called large corporate units. Majority of Indian businesses still treat employees as commodities and expect them to come trained and skilled in specific areas they are hired for (Even in US it is not feasible despite Industry Institutes interface). Hire and fire has been very popular policy in India and suppressing welfare laws regarding labor has been a favorable pass time, and matter of satisfaction & pride for Indian Businessmen. It was often observed by me that rapid expansion of businesses were scarcely accompanied by timely organizational structuring, expansion, training and growth in pace with such expansions and thus most of such expansions fell flat, even destroying their existing business lines and profitability.
The problem with HRM is that one cannot use clear cut formula that can be applied in particular situations due to highly subjective, emotional and cultural deviation amongst the employees. Secondly skilled and committed workers will become more and more scarce commodity due to rapid global expansion of business, high aspiration levels, fast growth mentality of youth including job-hopping, mobility of labor across borders and rapidly changing technologies. This is just too much to handle for traditional HR experts and involvement of Top line functional supervisors is essential for strategic growth of organizations. Indian businesses have a soft belly there due to still continuing contemptuous and casual attitude towards employees. As we move from Time Office to Personnel Management and on to HR Management to Human Asset management to Intellectual Capital paradigms, drastic changes in HR practices and HR organizations in Businesses is inevitable. Another thing to understand is that there is not very strong correlation between wages & incentives and motivation level of employees as is generally thought. Motivation and stability of employees is rather complicated task determined by several volatile factors, for instance, cultural background, family unit, education level and type, age, job satisfaction and so many others still not fully understood. It is another myth of HRM that giving doses of some foreign trip and 50 or 100 hrs of boring and stereotyped training sessions (requirement of TQM, ISO 9000 also) will raise motivation, skills and work style standards of employee. Most important change required is commitment, interest and achievement motivation within framework of organizational goals. One thing is very clear from above discussions that Quality and stability of Employees in organizations is going to be key differentiator and even main foundation for survival of a business in coming times and that too in highly nebulous environment of labor markets.
The third Myth worth mentioning is that employees always work better by giving better facilities, rewards and training sessions. I have found it to be doubtful in most situations. In fact the best way to train and induce employee to work and achieve higher is to create slight stress in work environment and little bit of job in security. As they say, throw the child in waters and it will pick swimming faster- very well applies to all human activities. There is no substitute for experience gained repeatedly by varied situations of decision-making and it is really confounding as to why inexperienced graduates from B-schools colleges are paid unreasonably high wages. Some one may like to deeply probe the issue whether such high remunerations are really effective in extraordinary achievements of organizations? One of the main reason for rise in corruption and materialistic pursuit by public sector employees is envy towards unusually high wage rates in so called hi-fi and MNC organizations around the globe, particularly in countries like India that are having poor quality of Public Administration, public awareness and legal systems. We can see that there is acute crisis facing the HR Managers who are yet to get their own roles re-defined and who have to find or create leaders in multi cultural setting in a highly competitive business environment and tight job market, with very high attrition rates in some sectors, like in Call Centers and software industries, and developing requisite inner motivation levels and soft skills that are often neglected in promotions and wage fixations (Here 'wage' is being used as a generic term for all kinds of compensation structures at all levels). While loyalty can be developed and maintained in employees, I would like to explode fourth Myth in HRM by revealing the fact that loyalty also has frequently roots in ethical, community and genetic background (We may call these attitudes, or inherent attitudes or life positions taken by an employee during initial grooming in young age). There is need to develop yet more effective psychometric tests or procedures to sift the candidates for right combination of IQ, EQ and loyalty index (I would like to find a formula for this term). One big damage globalization has done is to popularize the western materialistic high-growth rate focused employee culture prevalent in US where employees have little emotional concern with organizations they work (Even Japan is fast becoming victim to this epidemic!). Another challenge facing Organizations is to handle legal pressures relating to employee related laws of newer types like gender bias, racial or caste bias in employment, sexual harassment (At least two very senior officials of Indian Organizations have already been charges or accused of this in USA), ethical issues in handling organization information and challenges of multi-ethnic or multi-cultural staffed work places. Work place diversity is a good major of challenge in Organizations. This will grow in near future. According to Thomas (1992), dimensions of workplace diversity include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience. The future success of any organizations relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the mixture of talents of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can respond to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively, especially in the global arena (Cox, 1993), which must be one of the important organizational goals to be attained. A key issue that influences success in international arena is the awareness of cultural differences and thus development of both a business strategy and corresponding HR strategy that is consistent with the culture of host country. The interface between culture of the organization and culture of host country become important. Instead of leaving these issues to be tackled by HR personnel, the senior executives in international business arena have to take the HR strategies and solutions in their own hands. More and more Informational technology is being used in organizations to deliver HR services (Example HRSC of IBM) and a good part of these are being outsourced. This is natural outcome in changing business environment and brings in both advantages of expertise and economics. Large organizations otherwise also cannot cope with information exchange requirements in huge staffed organization in traditional manner unless they follow IBM like I nitiatives. The example of IBM HRSC is an attempt to combine people, technology and customer service, much as it does with its external customers. The center service about 20 business units in areas including benefits, retirement planning, compensation, employee suggestions, staffing, job posting, orientation, performance management, EEO compliance, employee separations, leave of absence, and skill development through 80 customer service representatives. This will be more or less true for all leading organizations in services sector in particular in near future. IBM too had repositioned itself as service driven organization.
Impact of technology can be viewed as challenges in:
- Necessary expansion/contraction of work force.
- Training needed to utilize new technology (A major reason of failures in Indian Small & mid size organizations from 80s to end of 90s)
- Effective change Management
- Impact on work group dynamics and concept of human face
- Costs for hiring, severance, training.
- Unwillingness of entrepreneurs to understand, recognize and adopt technology that can drive productivity, quality, customer satisfaction and new market opportunities.
- Sliming down of organizations particularly at lower levels and reduced hierarchy.
Another Myth of US based HR Practices is non-relevance of old employees or problem of graying workforce. The reason could be higher health care costs and perception of lower productivity. This may be true, but not in all circumstances. The element of loyalty may weigh favorably in favor of older employees as also their vast experience particularly useful in handling crises and negotiations, grievance handling within and outside organizations and networking advantage. I strongly decry the US corporate culture largely derived from social attitudes towards old in devaluing them .One serious disadvantage of old employees is their resistance to change in practices and call of business environment changes. As supply of baby boomers exceeds the demand, HR challenge is to handle this tricky issue including retirement and retraining or rehabilitation plan. INDIA culture simply does not suit Indian culture and ethos and we should not blindly go for INDIA system. HRM will not have to deal only with cultural diversity of employees and organization but also issues of minorities, backward classes and racial preferences in employment. Neither many-grounded theories are available in HR, nor the traditional HR practices will apply to most of organizational settings in coming times.
Traditional HR Versus Strategic HR
Indicator Traditional HR Strategic HR
Responsibility for HR
Focus
Role of HR
Initiatives
Time Horizon
Control
Job design
Key investments
Accountability Staff Specialists
Employee Relations
Transactional, Change follower and respondent
Slow, reactive and fragmented
Short-term
Bureaucratic-roles, policies, procedures
Tight division of labor, independence, specialization
Capital, Products
Cost center Line Managers
Partnership with internal and external customers
Transformational, change leader and initiator
Fast, proactive and integrated
Short, medium, Long (as necessary)
Organic-Flexible, whatever is necessary to succeed
Broad, flexible, cross training, teams
People, knowledge
Investment center
The traditional HR assumes a role of handling transaction as they arise. In India in most of organizations that are still bossed by 60+ adults from orthodox family business background (Babu ji culture), the role of HR personnel is not understood by them and they mostly serve as front for the CEO's decisions ranging from hiring, firing, wages, promotions and all kinds of manipulations. The traditional HR itself branched out as scientific division of labor relieving line managers from highly subjective, time consuming and inconvenient activities related to employee and which were not considered crucial to profit making and growth of organization. Strategic HR plays role of transformational change agent with focus on and in line with long term or strategic goals of organization. To become strategic the HR managers will have to be drawn from general Management rather than specialist training background, have to adopt long term and strategic focus and persuade management to look beyond current performance. Further, most of senior executives including entrepreneurs themselves hardly appreciative benefits and possibility of HRM as strategic partner. In fact most managers view HR with dislike being rule machines that hinder flexibility and carrying out of jobs. It is surprising but true that most senior executives in India as well as owners view human assets as liability and not owned by them and therefore a high-risk investment. HR activities in organizations are mostly taken up to do face lifting and present modernized face of organization because the direct benefits of HR are difficult to see and quantify. The HR and training budgets get axe first when need arises to do so.
Define HRM and differentiate it from traditional personnel management.
Define HRM and differentiate it from traditional personnel management. Write an overview on the HRM functions of your organization or an organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.
Some experts assert that there is no difference between human resources and personnel management. They state that the two terms can be used interchangeably, with no difference in meaning. In fact, the terms are often used interchangeably in help-wanted ads and job descriptions.
For those who recognize a difference between personnel management and human resources, the difference can be described as philosophical. Personnel management is more administrative in nature, dealing with payroll, complying with employment law, and handling related tasks. Human resources, on the other hand, is responsible for managing a workforce as one of the primary resources that contributes to the success of an organization.
When a difference between personnel management and human resources is recognized, human resources is described as much broader in scope than personnel management. Human resources is said to incorporate and develop personnel management tasks, while seeking to create and develop teams of workers for the benefit of the organization. A primary goal of human resources is to enable employees to work to a maximum level of efficiency.
Personnel management can include administrative tasks that are both traditional and routine. It can be described as reactive, providing a response to demands and concerns as they are presented. By contrast, human resources involves ongoing strategies to manage and develop an organization's workforce. It is proactive, as it involves the continuous development of functions and policies for the purposes of improving a company’s workforce.
Personnel management is often considered an independent function of an organization. Human resource management, on the other hand, tends to be an integral part of overall company function. Personnel management is typically the sole responsibility of an organization’s personnel department. With human resources, all of an organization’s managers are often involved in some manner, and a chief goal may be to have managers of various departments develop the skills necessary to handle personnel-related tasks.
With human resources, work groups, effective strategies for meeting challenges, and job creativity are seen as the primary motivators.
When looking for a job in personnel management or human resources, it is important to realize that many companies use the terms interchangeably. If you are offered a job as a personnel manager, you may be required to perform the same duties as a human resource manager, and vice versa. In some companies, a distinction is made, but the difference is very subtle.
Human resource (or personnel) management, in the sense of getting things done through people. It's an essential part of every manager's responsibilities, but many organizations find it advantageous to establish a specialist division to provide an expert service dedicated to ensuring that the human resource function is performed efficiently.
Answer. HRM is the study of activates regarding people working in an organization. It is a managerial function that tries to match an organization’s needs to the skills and abilities of its employees.
Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.
The concept of HRM
Many people find HRM to be a vague and elusive concept - not least because it seems to have a variety of meanings.
HRM is a strategic approach to the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the organization’s human resources. It is a specialized field that attempts to develop an appropriate corporate culture, and introducing programmes which reflect and support the core values of the enterprise and ensure its success.
HRM is proactive rather than reactive, i.e., always looking forward to what needs to be done and then doing it, rather than waiting to be told what to do about recruiting, paying or training people, or dealing with employee relations problems as they arise.
Broadly, there are three meanings attached to the concept of HRM. In the first place, persons working in an organization are regarded as a valuable source, implying that there is a need to invest time and effort in their development. Secondly, they are human resources which means that they have their own special characteristics and, therefore, cannot be treated like material resources. The approach focuses on the need to humanize organizational life and introduce human values in the organization. And thirdly, human resources do not merely focus on employees as individuals, but also on other social realities, units and processes in the organization.
Some functions that come under the purview of HRM are:
i) Human Resource Planning: It is a process for determination and assuring that the organization will have an adequate number of qualified persons, available at proper times, performing jobs which would meet the needs of the organization and which would provide satisfaction for the individuals involved.
ii) Recruitment and Selection: Recruitment is concerned with developing a pool of candidates in line with the human resources plan.
Selection is the process of matching people and their career needs and capabilities with the jobs and career paths. It ends with the ultimate hiring of a candidate.
iii) Training and Development: This involves identification of individual potentialities and helping in the development of key competencies through planned learning process. The competencies are to be developed to enable individuals to perform current as well as future jobs.
iv) Employee motivation: To retain good staff and to encourage them to give of their best while at work requires attention to the financial and psychological and even physiological rewards offered by the organization as a continuous exercise.
Basic financial rewards and conditions of service (e.g. working hours per week) are determined externally (by national bargaining or government minimum wage legislation) in many occupations but as much as 50 per cent of the gross pay of manual workers is often the result of local negotiations and details (e.g. which particular hours shall be worked) of conditions of service are often more important than the basics. Hence there is scope for financial and other motivations to be used at local levels.
v) Organizational Development: This element assures healthy inter and intra-unit relationships. It helps work groups in initiating and managing change.
vi) Career Development: It is assuring an alignment of the management. It is a process of achieving an optional match of individual and organizational needs.
vii) HR Research and Information Systems and Audit: This element ensures a reliable and proof HR information base. It is not only evaluates personnel policies and programmes but also highlights the need and areas of change.
viii) Provision of employee services: Attention to the mental and physical well-being of employees is normal in many organizations as a means of keeping good staff and attracting others. The forms this welfare can take are many and varied, from loans to the needy to counseling in respect of personal problems.
EXAMPLE - HR FUNCTIONS AT CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS
Introduction
The Center for Astrophysics combines the resources and research facilities of the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a single director to pursue studies of those basic physical processes that determine the nature and evolution of the universe. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1890. The Harvard College Observatory (HCO), founded in 1839, is a research institution of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, and provides facilities and substantial other support for teaching activities of the Department of Astronomy. The long relationship between the two organizations, which began when the SAO moved its headquarters to Cambridge in 1955, was formalized by the establishment of a joint center in 1973.
Today, some 300 Smithsonian and Harvard scientists cooperate in broad programs of astrophysical research supported by Federal appropriations and University funds as well as contracts and grants from government agencies. These scientific investigations, touching on almost all major topics in astronomy, are organized into six divisions.
HR: Functions
• Hiring
• Promotions
• Reassignments
• Position classification and grading
• Salary determination
• Performance appraisal review and processing
• Awards review and processing
• Personnel data entry and records maintenance
• Consultation and advisory services to management and employees
• Conduct problems
• Performance problems
• Policy development
• Technical policy interpretation
• Work Permitting Immigration Visa Program
• Benefits
• Health care insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Retirement
• Voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• Leave Transfer Program
• Tuition Assistance Plan
• Training opportunities
• Combined Federal Campaign
• Employee assistance referral
• Workers' compensation
New Roles of the Human Resources Manager
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-centered. 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, gainsharing 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.
Some experts assert that there is no difference between human resources and personnel management. They state that the two terms can be used interchangeably, with no difference in meaning. In fact, the terms are often used interchangeably in help-wanted ads and job descriptions.
For those who recognize a difference between personnel management and human resources, the difference can be described as philosophical. Personnel management is more administrative in nature, dealing with payroll, complying with employment law, and handling related tasks. Human resources, on the other hand, is responsible for managing a workforce as one of the primary resources that contributes to the success of an organization.
When a difference between personnel management and human resources is recognized, human resources is described as much broader in scope than personnel management. Human resources is said to incorporate and develop personnel management tasks, while seeking to create and develop teams of workers for the benefit of the organization. A primary goal of human resources is to enable employees to work to a maximum level of efficiency.
Personnel management can include administrative tasks that are both traditional and routine. It can be described as reactive, providing a response to demands and concerns as they are presented. By contrast, human resources involves ongoing strategies to manage and develop an organization's workforce. It is proactive, as it involves the continuous development of functions and policies for the purposes of improving a company’s workforce.
Personnel management is often considered an independent function of an organization. Human resource management, on the other hand, tends to be an integral part of overall company function. Personnel management is typically the sole responsibility of an organization’s personnel department. With human resources, all of an organization’s managers are often involved in some manner, and a chief goal may be to have managers of various departments develop the skills necessary to handle personnel-related tasks.
With human resources, work groups, effective strategies for meeting challenges, and job creativity are seen as the primary motivators.
When looking for a job in personnel management or human resources, it is important to realize that many companies use the terms interchangeably. If you are offered a job as a personnel manager, you may be required to perform the same duties as a human resource manager, and vice versa. In some companies, a distinction is made, but the difference is very subtle.
Human resource (or personnel) management, in the sense of getting things done through people. It's an essential part of every manager's responsibilities, but many organizations find it advantageous to establish a specialist division to provide an expert service dedicated to ensuring that the human resource function is performed efficiently.
Answer. HRM is the study of activates regarding people working in an organization. It is a managerial function that tries to match an organization’s needs to the skills and abilities of its employees.
Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.
The concept of HRM
Many people find HRM to be a vague and elusive concept - not least because it seems to have a variety of meanings.
HRM is a strategic approach to the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the organization’s human resources. It is a specialized field that attempts to develop an appropriate corporate culture, and introducing programmes which reflect and support the core values of the enterprise and ensure its success.
HRM is proactive rather than reactive, i.e., always looking forward to what needs to be done and then doing it, rather than waiting to be told what to do about recruiting, paying or training people, or dealing with employee relations problems as they arise.
Broadly, there are three meanings attached to the concept of HRM. In the first place, persons working in an organization are regarded as a valuable source, implying that there is a need to invest time and effort in their development. Secondly, they are human resources which means that they have their own special characteristics and, therefore, cannot be treated like material resources. The approach focuses on the need to humanize organizational life and introduce human values in the organization. And thirdly, human resources do not merely focus on employees as individuals, but also on other social realities, units and processes in the organization.
Some functions that come under the purview of HRM are:
i) Human Resource Planning: It is a process for determination and assuring that the organization will have an adequate number of qualified persons, available at proper times, performing jobs which would meet the needs of the organization and which would provide satisfaction for the individuals involved.
ii) Recruitment and Selection: Recruitment is concerned with developing a pool of candidates in line with the human resources plan.
Selection is the process of matching people and their career needs and capabilities with the jobs and career paths. It ends with the ultimate hiring of a candidate.
iii) Training and Development: This involves identification of individual potentialities and helping in the development of key competencies through planned learning process. The competencies are to be developed to enable individuals to perform current as well as future jobs.
iv) Employee motivation: To retain good staff and to encourage them to give of their best while at work requires attention to the financial and psychological and even physiological rewards offered by the organization as a continuous exercise.
Basic financial rewards and conditions of service (e.g. working hours per week) are determined externally (by national bargaining or government minimum wage legislation) in many occupations but as much as 50 per cent of the gross pay of manual workers is often the result of local negotiations and details (e.g. which particular hours shall be worked) of conditions of service are often more important than the basics. Hence there is scope for financial and other motivations to be used at local levels.
v) Organizational Development: This element assures healthy inter and intra-unit relationships. It helps work groups in initiating and managing change.
vi) Career Development: It is assuring an alignment of the management. It is a process of achieving an optional match of individual and organizational needs.
vii) HR Research and Information Systems and Audit: This element ensures a reliable and proof HR information base. It is not only evaluates personnel policies and programmes but also highlights the need and areas of change.
viii) Provision of employee services: Attention to the mental and physical well-being of employees is normal in many organizations as a means of keeping good staff and attracting others. The forms this welfare can take are many and varied, from loans to the needy to counseling in respect of personal problems.
EXAMPLE - HR FUNCTIONS AT CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS
Introduction
The Center for Astrophysics combines the resources and research facilities of the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a single director to pursue studies of those basic physical processes that determine the nature and evolution of the universe. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1890. The Harvard College Observatory (HCO), founded in 1839, is a research institution of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, and provides facilities and substantial other support for teaching activities of the Department of Astronomy. The long relationship between the two organizations, which began when the SAO moved its headquarters to Cambridge in 1955, was formalized by the establishment of a joint center in 1973.
Today, some 300 Smithsonian and Harvard scientists cooperate in broad programs of astrophysical research supported by Federal appropriations and University funds as well as contracts and grants from government agencies. These scientific investigations, touching on almost all major topics in astronomy, are organized into six divisions.
HR: Functions
• Hiring
• Promotions
• Reassignments
• Position classification and grading
• Salary determination
• Performance appraisal review and processing
• Awards review and processing
• Personnel data entry and records maintenance
• Consultation and advisory services to management and employees
• Conduct problems
• Performance problems
• Policy development
• Technical policy interpretation
• Work Permitting Immigration Visa Program
• Benefits
• Health care insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Retirement
• Voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• Leave Transfer Program
• Tuition Assistance Plan
• Training opportunities
• Combined Federal Campaign
• Employee assistance referral
• Workers' compensation
New Roles of the Human Resources Manager
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-centered. 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, gainsharing 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.
Monday, May 16, 2011
HRM has traveled a long way from its conventional role as a support function to being a strategic business partner in the present tech leveraged era.
"With business going global and competition becoming intense today HRM has traveled a long way from its conventional role as a support function to being a strategic business partner in the present technology leveraged era". Discuss this statement with the help of suitable examples.
Ans
Human resource management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation and maintenance of human resource of an organizations goals or objectives. It is responsible fro getting the best people, training them and providing mechanism to ensure that these employees maintain their productivity affiliations with the organizations. There are many emerging issues, which are divided into two:
a) Organisational problems:
The top management often presumes that sending the managers for the HRD programmes will automatically improve their performance. This is not the fact.
b) The line managers do not show interest in developing the human resources. They argue that developing the human resources is the duty of the HRD department. This feeling is a hurdle in the process of HRD.
c) HRD receives only-lip service because of the heavy expenditure involved in the development process. Lack of genuine support makes . the HRD programme futile.
d) Organizations transfer administrative and industrial relations managers/ staff to HRD department without adequate training. This adversely affects the HRD programmes because the badly needed ' human touch' is missing.
GENERAL PROBLEMS :
A) The HRD programmes fail due to poverty, social injustice, low quality education and illiteracy.
B) The development of HR in India is also made difficult by the high fertility rate, poor health conditions, sexual discrimination and inter group intolerance.
C) The high population growth adversely affects the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of HRD programmes. Added to this are issues like high dependent population and unemployment.
D) The unscrupulous attitude of our politicians also impairs the moral fear, and behavior of HR India.
E) The differences in trie religious faiths, among the people is another hurdle in the HRD. Religious conflicts hinder the development of HR in India.
F)The widening gap between have and have not is also a hurdle in HRD.
G) Indians have a strong faith in the traditional methods which are linked . with their religious philosophies. This generates a strong resistance to change and impairs the HRD process.
The Organisation We are referring to is saffron MNC organisation which function like this:-
HRD approach will assist in evolving policies which will be useful in
generating job satisfaction, career development opportunities and in
alleviating the sense of frustrations among the human beings. Many
organisations in India have started implementing the HRD
programmes. The objectives HRD cannot be achieved without an effective HRJVI system. Every HRD system developed by an organisation should be based on the following elements of HRM
a).It evolves a system of Human Resources Planning them.
b) Selection of the right people for the right job at right time.
c) Imparting proper, training based on the principle of learning, teaching basic work skills, motion study and training to foremen.
d) Evolving suitable compensation plan
e) Evolving a good performance'appraisal system.
Ans
Human resource management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation and maintenance of human resource of an organizations goals or objectives. It is responsible fro getting the best people, training them and providing mechanism to ensure that these employees maintain their productivity affiliations with the organizations. There are many emerging issues, which are divided into two:
a) Organisational problems:
The top management often presumes that sending the managers for the HRD programmes will automatically improve their performance. This is not the fact.
b) The line managers do not show interest in developing the human resources. They argue that developing the human resources is the duty of the HRD department. This feeling is a hurdle in the process of HRD.
c) HRD receives only-lip service because of the heavy expenditure involved in the development process. Lack of genuine support makes . the HRD programme futile.
d) Organizations transfer administrative and industrial relations managers/ staff to HRD department without adequate training. This adversely affects the HRD programmes because the badly needed ' human touch' is missing.
GENERAL PROBLEMS :
A) The HRD programmes fail due to poverty, social injustice, low quality education and illiteracy.
B) The development of HR in India is also made difficult by the high fertility rate, poor health conditions, sexual discrimination and inter group intolerance.
C) The high population growth adversely affects the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of HRD programmes. Added to this are issues like high dependent population and unemployment.
D) The unscrupulous attitude of our politicians also impairs the moral fear, and behavior of HR India.
E) The differences in trie religious faiths, among the people is another hurdle in the HRD. Religious conflicts hinder the development of HR in India.
F)The widening gap between have and have not is also a hurdle in HRD.
G) Indians have a strong faith in the traditional methods which are linked . with their religious philosophies. This generates a strong resistance to change and impairs the HRD process.
The Organisation We are referring to is saffron MNC organisation which function like this:-
HRD approach will assist in evolving policies which will be useful in
generating job satisfaction, career development opportunities and in
alleviating the sense of frustrations among the human beings. Many
organisations in India have started implementing the HRD
programmes. The objectives HRD cannot be achieved without an effective HRJVI system. Every HRD system developed by an organisation should be based on the following elements of HRM
a).It evolves a system of Human Resources Planning them.
b) Selection of the right people for the right job at right time.
c) Imparting proper, training based on the principle of learning, teaching basic work skills, motion study and training to foremen.
d) Evolving suitable compensation plan
e) Evolving a good performance'appraisal system.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Define HRM. Discuss the importance and scope of HRM citing suitable examples.
Define HRM. Discuss the importance and scope of HRM citing suitable examples. List the functions of HRM in your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organisation you are referring to.
Answer. Human Resource Management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation and maintenance of human resource of an organization’s goals or objectives.
It is responsible for getting the best people, training them and providing mechanism to ensure that these employees maintain their productive affiliations with the organizations.
Scope/Areas of HRM/Goals of HRM:
HRM is concerned with the ‘people’ dimensions of the organizations. The organizational objectives can be best attained by acquiring human resource, develop their skills, motivate them for high performance and ensure that they continue to maintain their commitment and loyalty towards the organization. The following figure shows the scope of HRM.
The activities that come under the purview of HRM are:
(i) Human Resource Planning: This element involves determining the organizations human resource needs, strategies and philosophies; It involves analysis of the internal and external factors like skills needed, number of vacancies, trends in the labour market etc.
(ii) Recruitment and Selection: Recruitment is concerned with developing a pool of candidates in line with the human resources plan. Selection is the process of matching people and their career needs and capabilities with the jobs and career paths. It ends with the ultimate hiring of a candidate.
(iii) Training and Development: This involves identification of individual potentialities and helping in the development of key competencies through planned learning process. The competencies are to be developed to enable individuals to perform current as well as future jobs.
(iv) Organizational Development: This element assures healthy inter and intra-unit relationships. It helps work groups in initiating and managing change.
(v) Career Development: It is assuring an alignment of the management. It is a process of achieving an optional match of individual and organizational needs.
(vi) Job design: This element defines the tasks, authority and systems of a job. It also ensures integration of individual jobs across the unit.
(vii) Performance Management Systems: The performance management systems ensure linkages between individual and organizational goals. It aims at ensuring that every individual’s efforts and actions support the goals of the organization.
(viii) Compensation and Benefits: This element focuses on a fair, consistent and equitable compensation and benefits to the work force.
(ix) Employee Assistance: The focus of this element is to provide problem solving/ counseling to individual employees. The purpose is to help employees in overcoming personal and job-related problems.
(x) Labour Relations: This variable assures healthy union-organization relationship: It aims at creating am environment of industrial peace and harmony.
(xi) HR Research and Information Systems and Audit: This element ensures a reliable and proof HR information base. It is not only evaluates personnel policies and programmes but also highlights the need and areas of change.
Role/ Functions of HRM: HRM aims at bringing together expertise and skills in a scientific way. It helps in creating attitudes that motivate a group to achieve the organizational goals effectively and economically.
• The Inception Functions: This function deals with recruitment and selection of human resource. It involves identification of skills, knowledge and abilities in an applicant. It facilitates fixation of performance standards, pay rates and invoking fair disciplinary action, if any. The focus is on facilitating adjustment to the work environment, attainment of organizational goals and adherence to the rules and regulations of the department in which the candidate has to work.
• Development Function: This function involves reformulating new employees to make them fully productive. It covers employee training, employee development, organization development and career development. The focus is on assisting employees to acquire better and improved skills for handling current jobs, enriching employees with more productive values, making the organization more adaptive to external influences and designing programmes to assist employees in advancing in their work lives.
• Motivation Function: This function aims at improving performance. This needs proper job designing, adoption of an effective performance appraisal machinery and introduction of a fair and just system of incentives and compensation.
• Maintenance Function: The maintenance function deals with putting in place activities that will help retain productive employees. It involves providing safe working environment, caring for the well-being of the employees and organizing communication programmes. The motive behind organizing communication programmes is to provide information to the employees to vent their frustrations.
• Employment Functions: The main trust of this function is to promote the activities related to the inception function by advertising the job effectively. It is important to note that the function does not deal with hiring decisions. It just co-ordinates the efforts with line management by handling the routine paper work associated with recruitment and selection.
• Training and Development Function: This function is the organization’s ‘internal change agent’. The focus of this function is to enhance the personal qualities of the employees to improve organizational productivity. This function also counsels the employees and helps them in making a better career choice and in finding ways to achieve the desired goals.
• Compensation and Benefits Function: This is the most difficult function for it deals with the most objective areas of a subjective field. It is concerned with paying the employees and in administering their benefits package. The pay is based on consideration like skills, job responsibility, efforts and accountability. While deciding the benefits package, stress is laid on employee needs and expectations and the burden these package create on the financial resources. These considerations often result in a conflict.
• Employee Relations Functions: The task before the human resource manager is to solve employee grievances in a non-unionized setting. The function involves enforcement of policies and procedures and permitting a ‘wronged employee’ a forum to obtain relief. The organization should ensure appropriate disciplinary sanctions.
HRM at McDonalds
I am familiar with McDonald. McDonald's is the largest food service Company in the world. The company has roughly 10,000 locations, which include the standard sit-in restaurants, drive through windows, and satellite sites. McDonald's dominance in the fast-food industry is not likely to disappear anytime soon. McDonald's and its franchises operated over 28,700 restaurants worldwide in 120 countries and territories, serving food and drab to over 45 million people daily. Only fifteen to twenty per cent of the restaurants are actually company-owned. The rest are franchises, run by 2,659 independent owners who pay a fee of between $400,000 and $700,000 for a franchise. McDonald's licensing department handles the fee structure on a case by case basis, and there are a wide variety of license fees determined by property and equipment costs. A skilled franchisee can earn a sex-figure income from a single restaurant; most own 2 or more restaurants.
The Job structure
All employees of McDonald's fall into three groups restaurant workers, corporate staff, and franchise owners. McDonald's restaurant usually employs between 50 and 65 people. Company staff members work either at the corporate headquarters or at one of 40 regional offices. In the restaurants crew members constitute the entry-level position and are by far the most numerous. A large majority are part-time workers, roughly three-quarters. Their wages are low. Swing Managers constitute the first true managerial position in the hierarchy, although their hourly wages are only slightly higher than crew member wages. Assistant Managers and higher are salaried. There is one Restaurant Manager per McDonald's restaurant.
Now we just focus on the ways of management at McDonald's, such as training, education and benefit.
Training
Employee training at McDonald's is highly structured. End-level workers are first taken through the basic Crew Training System. The program consists of on-the job- training and is largely vocational. Each stage of advancement beyond the crew level then entails a new training program, with the skills becoming more complex and generalized.
Training begins immediately with a one-hour orientation on the company. Each restaurant has its own video player and training room. Step--by --step manuals and video tapes cover every detail of the operation, everything from how to make a Big Mao to a shake. Each restaurant has 25 stations from the grill area to the front counter. Trainers use a series of checklists as new crew members move through the restaurant. A level of competency is demonstrated and the activity is checked off on the SOC--Station Observation Checklist. There is a follow-up SOC to get certified on the station.
Once a crew trainers has been promoted to swing manager and performed successfully, he or she is eligible for the Management Development Program. It provides technical and functional management skills for employees at the swing manager level and above. The first step is the Basic Operations Course, which takes several months to complete. It is a course, which covers fundamental restaurant opinions. The nab in the sequence is the Basic Management Course, which teaches leaderships, time planning, and crew recognition. In the intermediate operations course, students are trained on crew recruitment and retention, store leadership and decision-making. The final course in this sequence is the Regional Equipment Course.
Once a front-line crew member has progressed to the position of assistant managed, he or she is eligible to attend Hamburger University, the Company's world wide training center for management personnel. Approximately 2,500 managers and potential franchisees take part in the Advanced Operations Course, or AOC. All managers are required to receive training from hamburger University at least once every 5 years. New emphases include goal setting, diversity management, team building, and employee development.
The company has plans for a certification program, which will govern how employees progress from the crew to the level of restaurant managers. Plans are also in place for a Workplace Skills Certificate. It would be given to crew members who have mastered a set of essential workplace skills, and thus provide a "walkable credential" to enable them to move onto another position within the consumer service industry.
Education
McDonald's is committed to the education of our youth. We all take this leadership role very seriously and work in partnership with parents and educators to ensure that our school-age employees see education and schoolwork as their top priorities. McDonald's Corporation and McDonald's Owner/Operators are similarly committed to ensuring that the McDonald's job experience complements and supports employees' educational goals. Their efforts are defined by the following principles: education always comes first, employment supports education, schoolwork balance and opportunity/careers at McDonald's.
Benefits
• Competitive Wages
• MAC Card
• Haircut Discounts
• Wages increases
• McDonald's Training Programs
• Life insurance
• Education Support
• McDiect Shares
• Uniforms
• Flexible Hours
• Paid Vacation
• Bonus Scheme
• Stock Purchase Plan
Answer. Human Resource Management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation and maintenance of human resource of an organization’s goals or objectives.
It is responsible for getting the best people, training them and providing mechanism to ensure that these employees maintain their productive affiliations with the organizations.
Scope/Areas of HRM/Goals of HRM:
HRM is concerned with the ‘people’ dimensions of the organizations. The organizational objectives can be best attained by acquiring human resource, develop their skills, motivate them for high performance and ensure that they continue to maintain their commitment and loyalty towards the organization. The following figure shows the scope of HRM.
The activities that come under the purview of HRM are:
(i) Human Resource Planning: This element involves determining the organizations human resource needs, strategies and philosophies; It involves analysis of the internal and external factors like skills needed, number of vacancies, trends in the labour market etc.
(ii) Recruitment and Selection: Recruitment is concerned with developing a pool of candidates in line with the human resources plan. Selection is the process of matching people and their career needs and capabilities with the jobs and career paths. It ends with the ultimate hiring of a candidate.
(iii) Training and Development: This involves identification of individual potentialities and helping in the development of key competencies through planned learning process. The competencies are to be developed to enable individuals to perform current as well as future jobs.
(iv) Organizational Development: This element assures healthy inter and intra-unit relationships. It helps work groups in initiating and managing change.
(v) Career Development: It is assuring an alignment of the management. It is a process of achieving an optional match of individual and organizational needs.
(vi) Job design: This element defines the tasks, authority and systems of a job. It also ensures integration of individual jobs across the unit.
(vii) Performance Management Systems: The performance management systems ensure linkages between individual and organizational goals. It aims at ensuring that every individual’s efforts and actions support the goals of the organization.
(viii) Compensation and Benefits: This element focuses on a fair, consistent and equitable compensation and benefits to the work force.
(ix) Employee Assistance: The focus of this element is to provide problem solving/ counseling to individual employees. The purpose is to help employees in overcoming personal and job-related problems.
(x) Labour Relations: This variable assures healthy union-organization relationship: It aims at creating am environment of industrial peace and harmony.
(xi) HR Research and Information Systems and Audit: This element ensures a reliable and proof HR information base. It is not only evaluates personnel policies and programmes but also highlights the need and areas of change.
Role/ Functions of HRM: HRM aims at bringing together expertise and skills in a scientific way. It helps in creating attitudes that motivate a group to achieve the organizational goals effectively and economically.
• The Inception Functions: This function deals with recruitment and selection of human resource. It involves identification of skills, knowledge and abilities in an applicant. It facilitates fixation of performance standards, pay rates and invoking fair disciplinary action, if any. The focus is on facilitating adjustment to the work environment, attainment of organizational goals and adherence to the rules and regulations of the department in which the candidate has to work.
• Development Function: This function involves reformulating new employees to make them fully productive. It covers employee training, employee development, organization development and career development. The focus is on assisting employees to acquire better and improved skills for handling current jobs, enriching employees with more productive values, making the organization more adaptive to external influences and designing programmes to assist employees in advancing in their work lives.
• Motivation Function: This function aims at improving performance. This needs proper job designing, adoption of an effective performance appraisal machinery and introduction of a fair and just system of incentives and compensation.
• Maintenance Function: The maintenance function deals with putting in place activities that will help retain productive employees. It involves providing safe working environment, caring for the well-being of the employees and organizing communication programmes. The motive behind organizing communication programmes is to provide information to the employees to vent their frustrations.
• Employment Functions: The main trust of this function is to promote the activities related to the inception function by advertising the job effectively. It is important to note that the function does not deal with hiring decisions. It just co-ordinates the efforts with line management by handling the routine paper work associated with recruitment and selection.
• Training and Development Function: This function is the organization’s ‘internal change agent’. The focus of this function is to enhance the personal qualities of the employees to improve organizational productivity. This function also counsels the employees and helps them in making a better career choice and in finding ways to achieve the desired goals.
• Compensation and Benefits Function: This is the most difficult function for it deals with the most objective areas of a subjective field. It is concerned with paying the employees and in administering their benefits package. The pay is based on consideration like skills, job responsibility, efforts and accountability. While deciding the benefits package, stress is laid on employee needs and expectations and the burden these package create on the financial resources. These considerations often result in a conflict.
• Employee Relations Functions: The task before the human resource manager is to solve employee grievances in a non-unionized setting. The function involves enforcement of policies and procedures and permitting a ‘wronged employee’ a forum to obtain relief. The organization should ensure appropriate disciplinary sanctions.
HRM at McDonalds
I am familiar with McDonald. McDonald's is the largest food service Company in the world. The company has roughly 10,000 locations, which include the standard sit-in restaurants, drive through windows, and satellite sites. McDonald's dominance in the fast-food industry is not likely to disappear anytime soon. McDonald's and its franchises operated over 28,700 restaurants worldwide in 120 countries and territories, serving food and drab to over 45 million people daily. Only fifteen to twenty per cent of the restaurants are actually company-owned. The rest are franchises, run by 2,659 independent owners who pay a fee of between $400,000 and $700,000 for a franchise. McDonald's licensing department handles the fee structure on a case by case basis, and there are a wide variety of license fees determined by property and equipment costs. A skilled franchisee can earn a sex-figure income from a single restaurant; most own 2 or more restaurants.
The Job structure
All employees of McDonald's fall into three groups restaurant workers, corporate staff, and franchise owners. McDonald's restaurant usually employs between 50 and 65 people. Company staff members work either at the corporate headquarters or at one of 40 regional offices. In the restaurants crew members constitute the entry-level position and are by far the most numerous. A large majority are part-time workers, roughly three-quarters. Their wages are low. Swing Managers constitute the first true managerial position in the hierarchy, although their hourly wages are only slightly higher than crew member wages. Assistant Managers and higher are salaried. There is one Restaurant Manager per McDonald's restaurant.
Now we just focus on the ways of management at McDonald's, such as training, education and benefit.
Training
Employee training at McDonald's is highly structured. End-level workers are first taken through the basic Crew Training System. The program consists of on-the job- training and is largely vocational. Each stage of advancement beyond the crew level then entails a new training program, with the skills becoming more complex and generalized.
Training begins immediately with a one-hour orientation on the company. Each restaurant has its own video player and training room. Step--by --step manuals and video tapes cover every detail of the operation, everything from how to make a Big Mao to a shake. Each restaurant has 25 stations from the grill area to the front counter. Trainers use a series of checklists as new crew members move through the restaurant. A level of competency is demonstrated and the activity is checked off on the SOC--Station Observation Checklist. There is a follow-up SOC to get certified on the station.
Once a crew trainers has been promoted to swing manager and performed successfully, he or she is eligible for the Management Development Program. It provides technical and functional management skills for employees at the swing manager level and above. The first step is the Basic Operations Course, which takes several months to complete. It is a course, which covers fundamental restaurant opinions. The nab in the sequence is the Basic Management Course, which teaches leaderships, time planning, and crew recognition. In the intermediate operations course, students are trained on crew recruitment and retention, store leadership and decision-making. The final course in this sequence is the Regional Equipment Course.
Once a front-line crew member has progressed to the position of assistant managed, he or she is eligible to attend Hamburger University, the Company's world wide training center for management personnel. Approximately 2,500 managers and potential franchisees take part in the Advanced Operations Course, or AOC. All managers are required to receive training from hamburger University at least once every 5 years. New emphases include goal setting, diversity management, team building, and employee development.
The company has plans for a certification program, which will govern how employees progress from the crew to the level of restaurant managers. Plans are also in place for a Workplace Skills Certificate. It would be given to crew members who have mastered a set of essential workplace skills, and thus provide a "walkable credential" to enable them to move onto another position within the consumer service industry.
Education
McDonald's is committed to the education of our youth. We all take this leadership role very seriously and work in partnership with parents and educators to ensure that our school-age employees see education and schoolwork as their top priorities. McDonald's Corporation and McDonald's Owner/Operators are similarly committed to ensuring that the McDonald's job experience complements and supports employees' educational goals. Their efforts are defined by the following principles: education always comes first, employment supports education, schoolwork balance and opportunity/careers at McDonald's.
Benefits
• Competitive Wages
• MAC Card
• Haircut Discounts
• Wages increases
• McDonald's Training Programs
• Life insurance
• Education Support
• McDiect Shares
• Uniforms
• Flexible Hours
• Paid Vacation
• Bonus Scheme
• Stock Purchase Plan
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