HRIR 201: Managing Human Resources & Industrial Relations

Week 10: Tuesday 22 May 2012

The business of HRM & IR Course lecturer: Jane Bryson

Recap
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. HRM, IR and the workplace Studying and thinking critically The NZ workplace context High performance workplace systems Skills in the workplace Employee engagement & voice at work Good work and good workplaces Diversity at work Green workplaces

This week
The business of HRM & IR
How do HRM & IR influence both informally and formally? Informal influence: What is credibility? How do you develop it? Formal influence: What is an HR strategy? What makes a good business case for an HRM initiative?

Ref: Cooper, Chapter 10 in Bryson & Ryan (2012)

The mechanisms making up the HR sphere of influence

The Context of Workplace Influence

Formal Influence

Informal Influence

HR Strategy Business Cases HR Measures & Metrics

Trust, persuasion, and the importance of credibility Position power & legitimate power

Key Concepts & Definitions

Accountability A promise to deliver and follow-up to ensure it happens; is a credibility requirement
Relationships Critically important. Both employment relationships and interpersonal relationships at work add or detract from workplace productivity and business profitability Responsibility - The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something

HR practitioner descriptions of credibility, trust, persuasion, influence, and how to achieve them in HRM

Slides

HR practitioner descriptions of credibility, trust, persuasion, influence, and how to achieve them in HRM contd

HR practitioner descriptions of credibility, trust, persuasion, influence, and how to achieve them in HRM contd

Slides created by Bryson and Ryan

HR practitioner descriptions of credibility, trust, persuasion, influence, and how to achieve them in HRM contd

Credibility Trust Persuasion Influence Model

Line Manager credibility HR Professional credibility

Trust

preparedness to be persuaded

propensity to be influenced

understanding of responsibility of influence

ability to persuade
Kristen J Cooper, 2005

Components of HRM credibility

Delivering results with integrity Sharing information Building relationships of trust Performing HR with attitude

Practitioner stories what would you do?

HR manager story: A particular frustration for one HR manager is working with a line manager whose partner is an HR professional. On his HR issues, he talks to his partner before he talks to the HR manager, and then seemingly delights in letting the HR manager know when her advice is different from that he has been provided by his partner. Line manager story: A great frustration for one line manager is having an HR manager who doesnt know her business and doesnt seem in the least bit interested in finding out about it. The line manager has an HR degree himself and the HR manager doesnt. He tries not to seek her advice; he says, I just dont need it. Ref: Cooper (2012) in Bryson & Ryan (p.269)

HRIR 201: Managing Human Resources & Industrial Relations

Week 10: Thursday 24 May 2012
The business of HRM & IR continued Course lecturer: Jane Bryson

This week
The business of HRM & IR
How do HRM & IR influence both informally and formally? Informal influence: What is credibility? How do you develop it? Formal influence: What is an HR strategy? What makes a good business case for an HRM initiative?

Ref: Cooper, Chapter 10 in Bryson & Ryan (2012)

Key concepts and definitions

HRM strategy - is about people management throughout the business and the systems and processes for managing peoples contributions to achieving organisational objectives and business strategy Business case a compelling reason or set of reasons to take a particular action Measurement ways of assessing the impact of HRM activities. Measures, or HR metrics, can be formative (i.e., measure progress) or summative (measure results).

Strategic HRM and HRM strategy

(ref: Heery, E. & Noon, M. (2008). A Dictionary of Human Resource Management. Oxford University Press.)

SHRM
Integrating the use of human resources with the wider business strategy of the organisation

HRM strategy
The set of objectives guiding human resource policies within an organisation

Format of an HRM strategy

Introduction business goals HRM strategy Description Rationale Deliverables Milestones Measurement

Examples of HRM strategies that make a difference

Integrating management action through metrics, measures and targets (Sullivan, 2004) Linking work practices to models of employment (Boxall and Purcell, 2003) Introducing customer service measurement, coupled with service and sales learning opportunities that support development of both staff and managers Employee retention programmes (Sullivan, 2004) Leadership development (Sullivan, 2004) Workforce planning (Sullivan, 2004) Performance management (Sullivan, 2004)

Components of business cases

Executive summary Introduction Background Considerations Options The preferred option Recommendations

Good business cases.

Answer the business and HRM questions raised Define how organisational value is accrued Give a compelling reason to act Give answers that make sense (may be a creative or a safe solution) Are succinct, well constructed, well written

Typical HRM measures

Formative progress against goals Summative definitive view of results

Recruitment and Selection; i.e., Selection ratio, time from resignation to vacancy advertisement Learning and Development; i.e., Number of people trained to industry standard, cost of training Employment Relationships; i.e., Numbers of employment agreements offered/accepted, time to negotiate collective employment agreements (CEAs), numbers of personal grievances

Advice for designing HRM measures and metrics

Think like a stakeholder
Keep it simple

Ensure relevance
Ensure collectability

Quality is more important than quantity

 You want to introduce a major change in the way performance is managed in the workplace. This will require the organisation to pay for a new performance management system, and its implementation. As the HR Manager what would you do?

Summary: How do HRM & IR influence, both informally &

formally?

HRM
Informally through establishing credibility and trust (expert and legitimate power) Formally through well designed HR strategy, good business cases, and the support of effective HR measures

IR
Informally through establishing credibility and trust (between trade union organisers or delegates and the management/employer, and the worker union members) Formally through well designed union campaigns, good collective bargaining proposals and negotiations