Dr.

Farooq-e-Azam Cheema
MSc in HRM & D, University of Manchester, UK. PhD in Public Administration, University of Karachi. Associate Professor SZABIST, Karachi Chief Consultant, Strategic HR Promotion, Karachi dr.cheema@shrpromotion.com

A workshop on

Human Resource Management

Difference between HRM & General Management

Organizational Activities

Basic Activities
Manufacturing/Services

Common Activities P O S D
Planning

Engineering
Finance Marketing Sales Quality Control HRM

Organising
Staffing Directing Coordinating Reporting Budgeting

Co
R B
POLC

HRM Roadmap
Employee Orientation
Maintenance of employees personal files leave record, promotions, transfers, disciplining etc.

Salary & Benefits Admn

Reward Admn

Demand for the workforce/ HR planning

Job Analysis
Job Descriptions & Person Specifications

Recruitment & Selection

Performanc e Appraisal

Career Manageme nt

Employee Separation

Employee Developme nt

Industrial Relations

Evolution of HRM
Clerk of the works Approach Personnel Mgt Approach HRM Approach

Maintenance of employee record 1. Maintenance of employee record 2. Maintenance of Industrial Relations 1. Maintenance of employee record 2. Maintenance of Industrial Relations 3. Maintenance of Human Resource Policy and Procedure Manual

Clerk of the Works Approach

It is a routine personal file keeping approach, one that consists mainly of ensuring maintenance of data of terms and conditions of employees employment and their personal details, record of their annual confidential reports, record of their attendance, training, leave availed, and disciplining records, and so on.

Personnel Management Approach

This approach concentrates on:

negotiation between the employer and trade unions. meeting legal demands the business organization is required to comply with like; deduction of taxation, dealing with the insurance companies and other institutions like Ministry of Labour, EOBI and Social Security Institution, and so on. grappling with the employee litigation and other proceedings before the courts of law.

HRM Approach
Strategic Human Resource management is defined as linking the HRM with the strategic goals and objectives of the organization with the aim to generate strategic capability in the areas of human resources needed to achieve the sustained competitive advantage.

To exercise HRM, the HR managers should:

1.

Have specific knowledge of the organizations strategic goals Know what types of employee skills, behaviours, and attitudes are needed to support the strategic plan Develop programs to ensure that employees have those skills, behaviours, and attitudes

2.

3.

Informal vs. formal HR practices

So the issue may not be that what HR practices are adopted by the organizations, rather how they are adopted. One important dimension in how HR practices are adopted is the level of formality in HR management.

HR formality is defined as the extent to which HR practices are documented, systemized, and institutionalized in the form of formal, identifiable policies, rules and regulations that define and oversee the employment relationship.

Indicators of a formal system include the presence of HR specialists and HR Policy & Procedure Manuals.

An informal mechanism exists when no such system is in place and decisions are made on a personal, case-by-case basis mostly by the owners/line managers.

Informal-formal HR practices continuum

Formal and informal HR mechanisms are not two discrete choices; rather they form two ends of a continuum from informal to formal.
Informal HRM applications practices Formal HRM

Advantages and disadvantages of the informal HR practices

Informality can create a strong sense of teamwork and strong social relations and increase employees motivation.

Employees also feel they benefit from the informality of the workplace because they can negotiate work responsibilities, hours, etc. as well as secure personal loans and other forms of aid.

However, employees belief in consistency and fairness is central to gaining their commitment to the firms. What the owners believe to be flexibility may mean arbitrary treatment to an employee.

Barriers to formal HR practices

1.

Lack of commitment to HRM among senior management First of all they do not believe that HRM system is really required for the purposes that it claims to achieve. As a consequence, they are still sceptical of the value of major HRM initiatives.

Second, almost all of the HR functions wield a lot of power within them. Formalising the functions and that too in the forming of binding policies means ceding the vital powers that is not acceptable to the top management especially the owner-managers.

The employer wants to deal with the people on one-by-one basis (particularism) rather than to follow the uniform policies (universalism) enshrined in the HR policy and procedure manuals. In the short-run HRM practices incur cost without any tangible monitory return that may not be acceptable to the employers seeking quick returns on investment.

2.

Lack of expertise/proven knowledge on part of the HRM practitioners

HRM practitioners are unable to convince the employer/top management regarding long-term benefits of the formal HR practices for the business. They are unable to prepare and implement a credible HRM system within their organisation. In the result, the HRM functions go to the

3.

Non-abidance of the labour laws. HRM is a staff function that inherits inferior place in the organization.

4.

Discussion Questions
Categorize the sets of real-life world HRM functions/practices into different categories elaborating their characteristics. 2. Moving from informal to formal HR practices contributes to higher performance and productivity in the organizations. Discuss. 3. What are the possible barriers in the way of HRM initiatives in the real-life world organizations in Pakistan?
1.

Evaluation Breakup

Hourly

30 (n-1)

Class Assignments/Mini presentations/homework 7.5 Class participation & behaviour 7.5

Term Project
Final Examination 35

20