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Introduction to HRM

Dr. Noel Harvey


GMIT
Personnel Management

PM Is Concerned With The Manpower Element Of
The Management Process: Such As Recruitment,
Training, Promotion, Motivation, Leading,
Compensation, Etc. This Includes Both The Specialist
Functions (I.E. Personnel Dept) And An Individual
Function. Line Mgt. Has A Particular Responsibility
For PM. The Personnel Dept Provides Expert Advice
And Support For Other Managers.
It Is Based On The Idea That Sound Personnel
Policies Lead To Better Organisational Effectiveness.

The Development Of PM Can Be Traced
To:
Industrial Revolution
Taylorism
Welfarism
Behavioural School
Growth Of IR And Unions
Wage Bargaining; Wage Rounds And NWA
Shop Steward Movement And The Influence Of Unions
Employment Legislation
Influence Of MNC And Personnel Management Education

Welfare Tradition
Developed in a few large companies in Britain in the
late 19
th
century
Refers to a series of voluntary initiatives undertaken
to improve the conditions of factory workers,
particularly in relation to pay, working hours and
health & safety
Used welfare officers which were the forerunner to
HR practitioners
Welfare officers were appointed in Irish companies,
such as Jacobs & Maguire & Paterson in the early
1900s.
Welfare Tradition (contd)
Its significance oscillated due to WWI & economic
conditions but its influence on HR endured
It is linked with the caring approach to employees
e.g. employee assistance programmes, counselling,
occupational health & safety provision
The position of the welfare officer has changed;
originally seen as representative of workers
interests, modern HR practitioners represent
employers interests as part of a management team
Taylorism
Developed due to improvements in technology,
increases in company size & workforce complexity
Taylorist principles came about as a result of
research at the Bethlehem Steel Company (1900-11),
emphasising:
Efficiency & profitability
Job Design
Employment and payment systems
Selection and training of employees

Behavioural School
Mostly associated with the work of Elton
Mayo, Roethlisberger and Dickson
Important for HRM in two regards:
Established a body of knowledge to underpin
many aspects of HR work such as selection,
training, motivation, IR and payment systems
Focused attention on some of the problems in the
large factories such as monotony and low morale

Industrial Relations
Growth of an IR emphasis in HR work was
directly related to the increasing significance
of TUs
1913 Dublin Lockout and new unionism
Accelerated the development of TUs and
Employer Associations, thus making IR part of
workforce management
1920s TU membership fell
IR (contd)
1930s growth in industrial employment TU membership
increased & CB became more widespread
establishment of personnel function, with emphasis on IR instead of
welfare
1946 Establishment of Labour Court
Post WWII development of specialised personnel
departments, whose key activity was IR
1960s emergence of shop stewards important players in
workplace level IR
Also significant increase in levels of industrial conflict
IR (contd)
1970s onset of national wage agreement era
This development was initially seen as moving
major pay bargaining issues away from enterprise,
thus giving management more certainty in
corporate planning
The reality was different: instead of eliminating
local bargaining, national agreements merely
changed their focus to issues such as employment
conditions, pay anomalies and productivity deals
Thus HR practitioners remained heavily involved in
workplace bargaining with TUs. HR departments
whose major responsibility was IR became
established in most medium & larger
organisations
Industrial Relations (3)
Since the 1970s, government intervention has
had a significant influence on the HR function,
primarily in the following areas:
Centralised pay bargaining
Employment Legislation
Attraction of FDI by MNCs
The MNC Influence
Over 1000 foreign MNCs operating in Ireland
employing almost 130,000 people
Factors that explain prevalence of inward FDI
include:
Low corporate tax regime
Labour supply and quality
High levels of labour flexibility
Comparatively less regulated IR and HR environment
Use of English as a first language
Membership of the EU

The MNC Influence (contd)
MNCs in Ireland have made a significant contribution
to HRM in a number of ways:
Development of comprehensive policies and
procedures across various aspects of HRM
Diffusion of new HR techniques in areas such as
selection testing, training methods, reward
systems & communications
Associated with developments in HPWS, PRP &
enhancing the role of the specialist HR function
(HR department)
Established HRM as a more central component of
management process
Avoiding TU recognition
The Functions Of Personnel Management
Employment of People
Resource Planning
T&D (Training and Development)
IR (Industrial Relations)
Health & Safety
Remuneration
Employee Services
Performance Appraisal
External Relations
Job Design
Communication And Employee Participation
Personnel Administration
The Specialist Personnel Management
Function
Personnel Management May Be The
Responsibility Of Either The PM Or
Line Managers. In Reality It Is A
Combination Of Both. With HRM
Now It Is Argued That The Line
Managers Should Be More
Accountable For Personnel Policy.
Two Elements to Personnel Management

Establishing Corporate Policies For Personnel
Putting Policy Into Practice (Strategies):

Line and Staff Management
Line manager
A manager who is authorized to direct the work of
subordinates and is responsible for accomplishing the
organizations tasks.
Line managers are now performing some duties typically
done by HR
Staff manager
A manager who assists and advises line managers.

HR managers are staff managers and they may be
generalists or specialists.
Role Models Of The Specialist Personnel
Function
Administrative Role/Support Role
Systems/Reactive Role
Business Manager Role


Research Indicates That PM Can Vary Among
These Roles.
Classification Of The Role Of Personnel
Management

Interventionary Or Non-Inventionary
Tactical Or Strategic
Personnel Managers May Be:
Advisers
Handmaidens
Regulators
Change-Makers
The Changing Role of Personnel
Historically, the personnel management was
responsible for personnel functions
Acts in advisory or staff capacity
Works with other managers to help them deal
with human resource matters
Today personnel departments continue to get
smaller because others are accomplishing
certain functions
The Impact Of Organisation Size

Size Is A Major Influence In That Small Firms
Generally Do Not Have A Specialist
Department. However Since Pay Is A Critical
Cost In Small Firms, Good Personnel Policies
Are Extremely Important. However Personnel
Administration Is Usually Seen As Less Of A
Problem In Small Firms: In Large Firms It Is
More Complex. The Larger The Firm The More
Likely It Is To Have A Specialist PM Department
If Not Also An IR Department.
New Developments In Personnel
Management

PM In Ireland Has Traditionally Being Associated
With Collectivist, IR Emphasis
There Has Been An Emphasis In Recent Years On
Direct Communication With Workers, Augmenting
Rather Than Replacing Collective Dealings
There Is An Emphasis Now On Individualising The
Contract Which Is Replacing The Old Pluralist
Approach
Personnel Management Under Threat
Now From HRM

Need To Develop Competitive Advantage
Through People.
It Is A Mistake To See PM As A Specialist
Function: Rather It Is The Job Of All Managers
And An Important Aspect Of The Management
Process.
In Recent Years The Big Debate Has Been To
Re-Align Personnel Policies And Strategies
With Overall Business Strategy.
Human Resource Management (HRM)

Personnel Management Has Been Overshadowed In
Recent Years By Human Resource Management.
This Came About Due To The Call For Personnel
Policy To Be Re-Aligned With Overall Corporate
Policy.
It Is Believed That The Human Dimension Has Been
Absent In The Discussion About Business Strategy.

HRM Defined
The policies and practices involved in carrying out
the people or human resource aspects of a
management position, including recruiting,
screening, training, rewarding, and appraising.
refers to the practices and policies you need to
carry out the personnel aspects of your
management job
From Dessler
Gunnigles Definition
HRM is an aspect of organisational
management concerned with the
management of an organisations workforce.
It is one of the most difficult aspects of
organisational management as it means dealing
with people who differ physically and
psychologically
Origins of HRM
HRM originally described a distinctive and novel
approach to workforce management
Developed from a growing interest in aligning
business strategy and HRM
Emerged from a re-appraisal of personnel
management & reactive IR
Role for HRM stems from two sources of literature
Literature based on the human capital
approach of Harvard Business School Model
basis for soft approach to HRM
Literature based on broader business strategy
literature grounded on contingency principles
but has become associated with the concept of
hard HRM

Difference with HRM
HRM was seen as a new and more coherent
approach due to:
Adopting a managerialist rather than a pluralist stance
New flexibility arrangements
New working practices
Reorganisations
De-layering activities
Flatter Organisation
Direct communications with the workforce
Stronger corporate cultures

US 1980s Influence
The Harvard Business School (HBS) model is
an open systems perspective
It comprises of 4 key components:
Stakeholder interests
HRM policy choice
HRM outcomes
Long-term consequences
US 1980s Influence (contd)
The central contention is that HR outcomes
are affected by policy choices made in 4 key
areas:
Reward systems
Human Resource flows
Work systems
Employee Influence

The Functions Of HRM

Strategy And Organisation: Contributing To Overall Strategy,
Values, Etc.
Employee Resourcing: Planning, Recruitment, Selection Etc.
Employee Development: T&D, Performance Management,
Etc.
Reward Management: payment, compensation
Employee qnd Industrial Relations
Employment And Personnel Administration: Employee
Records, Etc.

Why HRM
Personnel Management Seen As Too
Reactive.
Decline In Trade Union Power
Decentralised Organisational Models
(Focused Plant)
Shifting Employment Patterns
Competitive Advantage
Non-Union MNC Have The Following
Practices:

Lifelong Employment
Single Status
Merit Pay
Regular Communications
Gainsharing
Internal Promotion
Continuous Development
Regular and Individual Communications.

Hard/Soft And Tight/Loose HRM

Soft HRM Is A Resources Based Approach With
Favourable Employee Focus
Hard HRM Is Calculating Approach To Managing
Employees.
Loose Is A Re-Titling Of The Personnel Department
And Tight Is A Theory Of HRM.
Guests Framework
Hard HRM Policy choice is driven by the need to
complement business strategy & meet
financial criteria
Soft HRM Characterised by benign pro-employee
policies
Tight HRM HRM becomes a clearly defined &
articulated approach to workforce
management with an explicit & strong
theoretical underpinning
Loose HRM Simply renaming of traditional PM with no
real change in HR practice
Variation in Ireland with HRM
It Is Argued That There Is Considerable
Variety In Irish Firms, Along The Following
Lines:
Traditional IR
Soft HRM
Neo Pluralism
Hard HRM

Guest Argues That Companies Will Be
More Successful If They Pursue Four Key
HRM Goals:

Strategic Integration
Employee Commitment
Flexibility
Quality

These Need Coherent HRM Policies.

Guest Also Identifies Five Necessary
Conditions For The Effective Operation Of
HRM:
Corporate Leadership
Strategic Vision
Technological/Production Feasibility (Need
Workteams And Broad Jobs).
Employee Relations Feasibility (Need
Consensus Type IR)
Management Capacity To Implement
Appropriate Policies.
Contradictions Within HRM
(Karen Legge)
HRM Is Seen As Unitarist And Takes No Account Of
The Traditional Division Between Labour And Capital.
Also It Promotes Individualism And Teamwork.
It Aims To Produce High Commitment But At The
Same Time Require That People Take Job Cuts, Etc.
HRM Argues That Companies Need Flexibility But Yet
Does Not Offer Security To Workers.
HRM Is Problematic In Dealing With Unions: It
Rejects The Pluralist And Collectivist Models.
HRM In Practice

There Is Some Evidence From the UK To Suggest That
Successful Companies Have Achieved Effective HRM
Policies And Integrated Them With Overall Strategy.
Personnel Management In Ireland Is Still Very
Reactive And In The Collectivist, Pluralist Mode. It
Deals With Primarily IR And Is Not Well Integrated.
However The Trends In The Marketplace,
Competition, Reduced Power Of Trade Unions And
The Availability Of HRM, Has Encouraged Many Irish
Firms To Shed The Traditional Personnel Role.

New Developments
Government fiscal policies & other favourable
developments led to Irelands economic
development in the mid-late 1990s
IR played a key role in this change National Wage
Agreements
Celtic Tiger brought different challenges from a HRM
perspective
Attraction & retention of workers
HRD & reward strategies
New Developments (contd)
9/11 & dot.com downturn led to job losses in Ireland
which further impacted HRM policies

Growth in services sector led to:
Diversity in employment
Increased levels of female participation in the labour force
Growth in atypical or non-standard employment forms
Changing migration patterns
Training & Developments
Employee Relations implications

Post Celtic Tiger Difficulties
Rising Unemployment opens up labour market
Growth and stagnation in migration
Focus on Competitive advantage
Making do with less
Downward pressure on wages

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