Human Resource Management

(Garry Dessler)

CHAPTER NO 1:
INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
BY

MUHAMMAD SALMAN ARSHAD

Lecturer Business Studies-UCP, Faisalabad.

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 After studying this chapter,
you should be able to:

1. Explain what HRM is and how it relates to

the management process.
2. Discuss how managers can use HR
concepts.
3. Compare the HR responsibilities of line and
staff managers.
4. Explain the changing role of HR managers.

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 After studying this chapter,
you should be able to:

5. Discuss the changing environment of HRM.

6. Discuss HRM as a profession.
7. Explain how HR practices are influenced by
cultural and religious values.
8. Know the plan of this book.

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 The Manager’s Human Resource
Management Jobs

 Management process
– The five basic functions of planning,
organizing, staffing, leading, and
controlling.

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 The Manager’s Human Resource
Management Jobs

 Human resource management (HRM)

– The policies and practices involved in
carrying out the “people” or human resource
aspects of a management position, including
recruiting, training, appraising and
rewarding.

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 HR Aspects Of A Manager’s Job

 Conducting job analyses (determining the

nature of each employee’s job)
 Planning manpower needs and recruiting job
candidates
 Selecting job candidates
 Orienting and training new employees

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 HR Aspects Of A Manager’s Job

 Managing wages and salaries (compensating

employees)
 Providing incentives and benefits
 Appraising performance
 Communicating (interviewing, counseling,
disciplining)
 Building employee commitment

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 HR Aspects Of A Manager’s Job

 Understanding employment laws

 Knowing employee health and safety issues
 Handle grievances and employment relations

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 Personnel Mistakes

 Hire the wrong person for the job

 Experience high turnover
 Your people not doing their best
 Waste time with useless interviews
 Have your company sued for discriminatory
actions

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 Personnel Mistakes

 Have your company fined for unsafe

practices
 Some employees think their salaries are
unfair and inequitable relative to others in the
organization
 Allow a lack of training to undermine your
department’s effectiveness
 Commit any unfair employment practices

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 Basic HR Concepts

 Getting results
– The bottom line of managing

 HR creates value by engaging in

activities that produce the employee
behaviors the company needs to
achieve its strategic goals.

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 Line and Staff Aspects of HRM

 Authority
– The right to make decisions, direct others’
work, and give orders.
 Staff authority (Advisory)
– The authority gives right to the HR manager
to advise other managers or employees.
 Line authority (Superior-Subordinate)
– The authority of managers to direct people in
his or her own department.

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 Line and Staff Aspects of HRM

 Line manager (Line Authority)

– A manager who is authorized to direct the
work of subordinates and is responsible for
accomplishing the organization’s tasks.
 Staff manager (Staff Authority)
– A manager who assists and advises line
managers.

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 Line Managers’ HRM
Responsibilities
1. Place the right person on the right job
2. Orientate new employees
3. Train employees for jobs new to them
4. Improve the job performance of each person
5. Gain creative cooperation and developing
smooth working relationships

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 Line Managers’ HRM
Responsibilities
6. Interpret the company’s policies and
procedures
7. Control costs
8. Develop the abilities of each person
9. Maintain morale
10. Protect employees’ health and physical
condition

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 Functions of the HR Manager

 Carries out 3 distinct functions:-

1. Line function
2. Coordination function
3. Staff function

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 Functions of the HR Manager

 A line function
– The HR manager directs the activities of the
people in his or her own department and in
related service areas (like the plant cafeteria).

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 Functions of the HR Manager

 A coordinative function
– HR managers also coordinate personnel
activities, a duty often referred to as
functional control.

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 Functions of the HR Manager

 Staff (assist and advise) functions

– Assisting and advising line managers is the
heart of the HR manager’s job.

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 Size of HR Department

 Depends on company size

– Small Company:
 Only a few personnel
– Large Company:
 Full range of HR specialist for each different
function

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 Size of HR Department

 Example of HR department in a small company:

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 Size of HR Department

 Example of HR department in a large company:

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 Duties of HR Specialists

 Training Specialist
– Plan, organize and direct training
– Advise managers on training
 Job Analyst
– Collect information about jobs
– Prepare job description

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 Duties of HR Specialists

 Recruiter
– Collect information about jobs
– Interview and recommend suitable
candidates
 EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity)
Coordinator
– Investigate EEO grievances
– Examine HR practices for potential violations

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 Duties of HR Specialists

 Compensation Manager
– Develop compensation plans
– Handle employee benefits program
 Employment relations specialist
– Advise managers on ER issues
– Negotiate with unions

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 Cooperative Line and Staff HR
Management
 Differentiating HR duties to be carried out
by line managers and HR managers:
– No standard rule for all organizations

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 Cooperative Line and Staff HR
Management
 Some common practices:

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 The Changing Environment Of
HR Management
 HR managers must be able to respond to
changes that are happening every day
 Major changes or trends as follows:
– Globalization
– Technological advances
– Changes in nature of work
– Changes in workforce demographics

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 The Changing Environment Of
HR Management
 Globalization
– Tendency of companies to extend sales,
ownership, or production to other
countries
– More competition  more pressure to be
“world class”  Lower costs and to
increase productivity of employees
– E.g. Toyota produces cars in China,
Thailand and many other countries.

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 The Changing Environment Of
HR Management
 Technological Advances
– Use of internet and information
communication technology (ICT) to
increase competitiveness in business
– Enabled businesses to outsource their
non-core activities to other countries
where costs are lower
– Causes changes in nature of work

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 The Changing Environment Of
HR Management
 Changes in nature of work
– Caused by technological advances as well
– From manufacturing jobs to service jobs
– Usage of “non-traditional” workers 
staff holding multiple jobs, or part-time
staff

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 The Changing Environment Of
HR Management
 Changes in workforce demographics
– Diversified workforce  staff employed
are of different race, religion, nationality,
gender, age and culture
– Challenge for HR managers
– E.g. Workers from Bangladesh, China,
India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand in
Singapore’s construction sector

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Changes in environment  HR managers to
take on new responsibilities
 HR functions more strategic

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Strategic Planning
– The company’s long-term plan for how it
will balance its internal strengths and
weaknesses with its external opportunities
and threats to maintain a competitive
advantage.
– 3 questions in strategic planning
• Current business position
• Future business position expected to be
• How to get to expected future business
position

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Strategic HRM
– Formulating HR policies and introducing
practices that produce staff competencies
and behaviors that the company needs to
achieve its strategic goals.

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Strategic HRM
– HR managers today are more involved in
partnering with their top managers in
both designing and implementing their
companies’ strategies
– Top management wants to see, precisely,
how the HR manager’s plans will make
the company more valuable.

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Outsourcing HR Activities
– Computer-based systems easy to
outsource HR activities by providing
access to service providers to the
company’s HR information database
– E.g. Payroll, Benefits, Wellness Programs
and Employee Training

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 High Performance Work Systems (HPWS)
– Integrated set of HRM policies and
practices that together produce superior
staff performance
– Need to focus on performance
– No fixed rule of items that comprises
HPWS but should include:
• Employment security

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 High Performance Work Systems (HPWS)
– No fixed rule of items that comprises
HPWS but should include (cont):
• Selective hiring
• Extensive training
• Self managed teams and decentralized decision
making

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 High Performance Work Systems (HPWS)
– No fixed rule of items that comprises
HPWS but should include (cont):
• Reduced status distinctions among managers
and workers
• Information sharing among managers
• Pay-for-performance rewards
• Emphasis on high quality work

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 High Performance Work Systems (HPWS)
– Benefits of HPWS
• Generate more job applicants
• Screen candidates more effectively
• Provide more and better training
• Link pay more explicitly to performance
• Provide a safer work environment

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 High Performance Work Systems (HPWS)
– Benefits of HPWS (cont)
• Produce more qualified applicants per position
• More employees are hired based on validated
selection tests
• Provide more hours of training for new employees
• Higher percentages of employees receiving regular
performance appraisals.

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Measuring HRM Team’s Performance
– Employees expect HR teams to provide
measurable proof of the effectiveness of
their programs
– Require quantitative measures
– Metrics and HR Scorecard are used

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Measuring HRM Team’s Performance
– Metrics
• A set of quantitative performance measures that
HR managers use to assess their operations
• E.g. of HR Metrics
– Absence Rate
[(Number of days absent in month) ÷ (Average
number of employees during mo.) × (number of
workdays)] × 100

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Measuring HRM Team’s Performance
– Metrics
• E.g. of HR Metrics (cont)
– Cost per Hire
(Advertising + Agency Fees + Employee Referrals
+ Travel cost of applicants and staff + Relocation
costs + Recruiter pay and benefits) ÷ Number of
Hires

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Measuring HRM Team’s Performance
– Metrics
• E.g. of HR Metrics (cont)
– Health Care Costs per Employee
Total cost of health care ÷ Total Employees

– HR Expense Factor
HR expense ÷ Total operating expense

Sources: Robert Grossman, “Measuring Up,” HR Magazine, January 2000, pp. 29–35; Peter V. Le Blanc, Paul Mulvey, and Jude T.
Rich, “Improving the Return on Human Capital: New Metrics,” Compensation and Benefits Review, January/February 2000, pp. 13–
20;Thomas E. Murphy and Sourushe Zandvakili, “Data and Metrics-Driven Approach to Human Resource Practices: Using
Customers, Employees, and Financial Metrics,” Human Resource Management 39, no. 1 (Spring 2000), pp. 93–105; [HR Planning,
Commerce Clearing House Incorporated, July 17, 1996;] SHRM/EMA 2000 Cost Per Hire and Staffing Metrics Survey; www.shrm.org.

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Measuring HRM Team’s Performance
– HR Scorecard
• Measures the HR function’s effectiveness and
efficiency in producing employee behaviors
needed to achieve the company’s strategic goals
• Concise and simple measurement system

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 The Changing Role Of
HR Management
 Measuring HRM Team’s Performance
– HR Scorecard
• Use to measure:
– HR activities (testing, training, compensation
and safety)
– Employee behaviors resulting from such
activities
– Organizational outcomes of those employee
behaviors (higher performance, and company
profit)

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 The New HR Manager

 New Proficiencies
– HR proficiency
– Business proficiency
– Leadership proficiency
– Learning proficiency

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The New HR Manager

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 HRM and Professionalism

 HR Certification
– HR is becoming more professionalized.
– Professional institutes
- Certification
- Upgrading skills and expertise
- Exchange views
- Contribute to community

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 HRM and Professionalism

 Is HR a profession?
– To look at criteria for a Profession

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 HRM and Professionalism

 Professional Institutes
– Training and education
– Up-to-date knowledge and information
– Maintain links with similar organizations
in other countries
– Active in regional associations
– International conferences
– Authority to specify qualification of
members

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Strategy and the Basic HR
Process

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