Human Resources

Lecture 1
Human resources management: nature, role and scope.
History and development of human resources management.
Competencies, professionalism and ethics.
 Human resources management:
nature, role and scope.

What is HR?

All concepts, strategies, policies and practices

which organisations use to manage and develop
the people who work for them.

What in your opinion the roles and responsibilities

for managing and developing the organisation’s
human resources are?
 Roles and Responsibilities
 The organisation sets the philosophical and policy
context.
Effective HR management needs a context or
framework, and this is usually determined by the
organisation’s top executives. That philosophical and
policy framework will be influenced by many factors
in the organisation’s internal and external
environments. The top-level management provides
the outline of the organisation’s strategic
development and strategic human resources
management gets based on it.
 Every manager is responsible for managing
people.
Every manager in the organisation must take
responsibility – and be held accountable – for
managing and developing all the people in the
work group or groups which that manager
heads.
 HR specialists provide expert advice and
assistance.
When the organisation grows it creates HR
departments and hire HR specialists.
 Personnel management →HR management

Personnel management covers recruiting, selecting,

training, paying and managing people.

HR management refers to the philosophy, policies,

procedures, and practices related to the management
of people within an organisaion.

In HR management it is specifically emphasised that

people are key resource, the management of which is
the direct concern of top management as part of the
strategic planning process of the enterprise.
According to David Guest (1977) ,
HRM has four goals:
1. Integration. An organisation can successfully implement
its strategic plans when:
- Plans take HR issues into account;
- There are coherent and consistent policies for dealing with HR
issues;
- Line managers understand the importance of human resources
and this is reflected in their behaviour;
- Employees identify with the organisation.
2. Employee commitment.

3. Flexibility and adaptively (HRM contributes to

the development of organisational structures
which are organic rather than mechanistic and
helps the organisation to enjoy functional and
role flexibility.

4. Quality. Quality of staff, performance,

standards and public image are important
objectives for the organisation and its managers.
HMR vs Personnel management

1. Proactive Reactive
2. People
Social capital capable of development people are
variable costs
3. Interest between stakeholders self-interest
dominates,
is developed conflict between
stakeholders
4. Seeks power equalisation for trust seeks power
advantages for
and collaboration bargaining and
confrontation
5. Opens channels of communication to Control of
information flow to
build trust and commitment enhance efficiency
and power
HRM might be seen as concerned mainly with
integration and the aim is to ensure that HR is fully
integrated into strategic planning; that human
resources management policies cohere both across
policy areas and across hierarchies, and that human
resources management practices are accepted and
used by line managers as part of their everyday work.

Human resources strategies exist to ensure that the

culture, values and structure of the organisation and
the quality, motivation and commitment of its
members contribute fully to the achievement of its
objectives.
Previously HR management was based on monetary
rewarding, later on it was proposed that people are
not only motivated by money and new types of
motivation were introduced, such as, moral, health
and educational influences became very important
too.
These days, HRM model is composed of policies that
promote mutuality – mutual goals, mutual influence,
mutual respect, mutual rewards, mutual
responsibility. The theory is that policies of mutuality
will increase commitment which in turn will yield
both better economic performance and greater human
development.
 BUT there is a question:

Is it really possible to claim full mutuality

when at the end of the day the employer can
decide unilaterally to close the company or sell
it to someone else?
 Greater responsibility for line managers

The HRM approach – together with an increase in the

devolution* of authority to managers – puts the onus
on them to do what they consider appropriate within
the organisation’s culture and its strategy and policy
guidelines.

*Devolution – delegation of decision-making powers

and responsibility from corporate centre to line or
operating manager.
 Strategic human resources management

Strategic human resource management

encompasses those decisions and actions
which concern the management of employees
at all levels in the business and which are
directed towards creating and sustaining
competitive advantages.
 POLITICAL
FORCES
CULTURAL
FORCES

MISSION HUMAN
AND RESOURCES
ECONOMIC STRATEGY MANAGEMENT
ORGANISATION
FORCES

ORGANISATION
CULTURE
 Difficulties of HRM

1. Lack of standard practices

“HR management is ultimately about making choices
which balance the needs and interests of the organisation
and the people it employs”.
2. Roles not clearly defined
3. Divided loyalties ( sometimes HR people end
up being trusted by no one)
 It has become popular to see HR specialists as
business partners rather than functional
experts. HR management would be:
responsive to a highly competitive market place
and global structures
closely linked to business strategic plans
jointly conceived and implemented by line and
HR managers
focused on quality, customer service,
productivity, employee involvement,
teamwork, and workforce flexibility.
Multiple roles for HR champions

Future strategic focus

Role Role
STRATEGIC PARTNER CHANGE AGENT
Deliverable Deliverable
EXECUTING STRATEGY CREATING A RENEWED ORGANISATION
Activity Activity
ALIGNING HR AND BUSINESS STRATEGY MANAGING TRANSFORMATION

Processes People
Role Role
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERT EMPLOYEE CHAMPION
Deliverable Deliverable
BUILDING AN EFFICIENT INFRASTRUCTURE INCREASING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT AND
CAPABILITY
Activity
Activity
RE-ENGINEERING ORGANISATION PROCESSES
LISTENING AND RESPONDING TO
EMPLOYEES
Day-to-Day operational focus
The roles undertaken by HR professionals are,
in reality, multiple, not single.
HR professionals must fulfill both operational
and strategic roles; they must be both police
and partners; and they must take responsibility
for both qualitative and quantitative goals
over the short and long term.
 History and development of human
resources management
‘People have been making personnel decisions since the
earliest times’.
The HRM has been scientifically researched from 1950-es.
But even from early ages there were concerns with workers’
health.
While people have been managed as long as they have worked
for others, the origins of modern personnel management lie
mainly in the Industrial Revolution. Two main themes began
to emerge in those early days:
- Concern for the welfare of workers
- The employer’s need to guide and control workers and their
efforts.
 Industrial revolution - mid 18th century
 1833, Britain adopted its first effective
factories legislation, which restricted the hours
that children could work in factories.
 1891 the Truck Act; employers in Britain and
the U.S.A. were required to pay wages in cash
 1840 in New Zealand an 8 hour day has
become a key event in New Zealand’s
industrial history
 Scientific Management
The Industrial Revolution introduced division of labour and due
to concentration of employment in factories the scientific
management movement came at the end of 19th century.
Frederick Taylor (1911) laid an early foundation for personnel
management:
First, Develop a science for each element of a man’s work.
Second, scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop
the workman whereas in the past he chose his own work and
trained himself as best he could.
Third. Heartily co-operate with the men so to ensure all of the
work being done in accordance with principles which have been
developed.
Fourth. There us an almost equal division of the work and the
responsibility between the management and the workmen. The
management take over all work for which they are better fitted
than workmen, while in the past all of the work and the greater
part of the responsibility was thrown upon the men.
Robert Owen introduced shorter working hours, meals for
employees, and staff purchasing privileges to his textile
mills in Scotland. Others production families provided their
employees with unemployment benefits, sick pay and
employee housing schemes for their workers.

Starting from 1924 there were several test done in regards

with the employees productivity. The results showed that in
some cases the productivity was better not because of better
payment, but because of the interpersonal relationships at
work. Workers wanted to be seen both as individuals and as
members of groups which have norms and values which
influence the behaviour of their individual members
Trade Union Act 1871 (Great Britain)
The wave of socialism ran through whole
Europe followed by formation of the Labour
Party in Britain, Social Russian revolution n
1917 and election of the British Labour Party
in 1924. Revolution, socialism, war and
government served to persuade organised
labour that is should have both political and
industrial agendas.
 Towards Human Resources Management
Peter Drucker (1955) advocated visionary goal-directed
leadership as the best management approach for modern
organisations, and
Douglas McGregor (1960) stressed the importance of
management by integration as the strategy for managing
people across an entire organisation.

ORIGINS OF HRM
- System theory
- Behavioural sciences
- Organisation Development
- ‘New’ Management
- Competitive advantage
- Strategic management
SYSTEMS THEORY. Examines organisations as total systems,
focusing on their interactions with external environments, as
well as the interactions of their internal sub-systems.

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES can help managers to improve

their understanding of individual motivation, group behaviour,
leadership and communication; take more systematic and
better informed approaches to job designing, recruitments and
selection, training and development, employee appraisal and
counselling, and remuneration planning and management.

ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT. Planned change based on

the paradigm of action research. The development of teams
and the management of change were central aspects of the OD
approach which featured process consulting techniques as a
means for people to analyse their own situations and problems
and generate solutions.
‘NEW” MANAGEMENT. Corporate values, culture and mission
were among the key focal points of ‘new’ management. The
‘excellent’ characteristics of successful organisation as a
triangle of virtues: care for customers, innovation, and people.
Leadership was at the centre of the triangle. Decentralisation
was introduced in organisation which reduced the number of
management layers and brought decision making nearer to
both customers and employees. Total Quality Management
(TQM) and continuous improvement Kaizen were introduced.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Factors which allow an

organisation to differentiate its products or services from those
of competitors with the aim of increasing market share.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT. Managing all aspects of the

organisation in accordance with a predetermined set of goals
and strategies.
 High commitment and high performance HR policies
and practices are not necessarily the latest HR
techniques. Mostly they seem to involve the careful
and systematic application of tried and true
techniques in a planned and integrated framework.
Organisations should gain most from putting their
efforts into:
- Careful work and job design;
- Focused recruitment and selection;
- Induction and socialisation processes;
- Performance management;
- Involvement and communication strategies;
- Better targeted rewards and remuneration.
 Competencies, professionalism and ethics
 It is now generally recognised that HR
management is a specific and specialised
aspect of management with its own areas of
skills and knowledge;
 As pressure mounts for HR specialists to
become better oriented to the organisation’s
business needs, they must improve their
general management knowledge and abilities.
 Difficulties
 Terminology (e.g. competencies, competences,
capabilities, knowledge, skills, abilities.
 Contextual factors:
 External environment;
 Organisational context;
 Time context.
 Role and level of HR managers (level – administrator,
functional specialist, team leader, department
manager, executive), role (specialist, generalist,
strategist).
 There are 24 unit standards registered in the human
resource management domain BUT most people agree
that effective HR manager requires more than the
simple application of functional and technical
knowledge and skills.

What some companies see their HR managers should be?

- Guardians of principles and policies;

- Internal consultants to management;

- Sponsors of innovative practices;

- Catalysts and facilitators of change;

- The conscience of management;

- Deliverers of excellent HR services to other managers

and employees.
 HR standards:
- Organisation and management;
- Resourcing;
- Performance management and development;
- Rewards;
- Recognition and remuneration;
- Employee relations.
“The ability to apply skills and knowledge on
the job is an essential part of demonstrating
competence”.
The primary responsibility of HR practitioners is to
their employers, or clients, although they have
obligations also to employees to ensure that the
conditions of their employment are in accordance
with law and that they are treated fairly, reasonably
and equitably in their employment.

HR practitioners will act at all times in accordance

with the code of ethics and the duties they owe their
employers, employees and clients. If there is a
conflict between those obligations, the practitioner
will make a personal decision after consideration of
the available options, of which resignation may be
one.
 Human Resources Institute
An organisation which seeks to encourage the professional
behaviour and development of its members and their organisations.
The objectives of HRI are:
- To encourage and support the development of professional
knowledge and competence and high standards of performance
among its members;
- To promote understanding of all aspects of human resources
management and development ad its contribution to the performance
of individuals and organisations;
- To provide an authoritative and influential viewpoint on all matters
affecting its members and the management and development of
people at work.
 Code of Professional Behaviour
 Confidentiality;
 Equal opportunities;
 Equity and fairness;
 Self-development;
 Development of others;
 Advice and information;
 Councelling;
 Integrity;
 Consultants;
 Legality;
 Professional behaviour.
8 roles that HR specialists play in situations
where ethical questions arise:
 Monitor actions and behaviour to ensure there is compliance with
laws and policies;
 Investigate situations and complaints;
 Defend the organisation’s actions when questioned by external
agencies;
 Advocate on behalf of employees and protect them from
management reprisals;
 Advise members of the organisation on ethical policies and
standards;
 Educate members of the organisation on ethical policies and
standards though training and distributing information;
 Question the ethical dimensions of decisions made by the
organisation or managers;
 Model appropriate behaviour as a way of encouraging ethical
behaviour by others.