Module 1

Introduction

Human resource is the most important asset of any organisation.HR are the building blocks
and are required skills to make an organization to achieve the set goal & targets. HRM is all
about how to induce people to make an organization by getting the people who can make an
organization, enabling those people to acquire required capabilities to make a successful
organization and motivating them to contribute their resources continuously for running the
organisation successfully. An organisation may be a manufacturing firm, a business concern,
an insurance company a government agency a social organisation, hospital, and university, a
school or a religious trust, cause oriented groups. It may be small or large, simple or complex.
An organisation is a human grouping in which work is done for the accomplishment of some
specific goals or mission. HRM is a broad sense may be defined as management function that
Helps, Manages, Recruit and Select, Train and Develop Members/Employees for an
organisation. It is obviously concerned with the people’s dimensions in organisation.

Meaning of HRM
It is this human resources which is of paramount importance in the success of any
organisation because most of the problems in organizational settings are human and social
rather than physical, technical or economic failure to reorganize this fast cause immense loss
to the nation, enterprise and individual. HRM is a broad sense may be defined as
management function that helps, manages, recruit, select, Train and develop members for an
organisation. It is obviously concerned with the people’s dimensions in organisation. The
principal component of an organisation is its human resource or people at work. Human
resources may be defined as the resource with the knowledge skills, creative ability, talents
and aptitudes.

Nature of HRM
The Nature of HRM depends on the Role performed. Earlier, it was Line Managers who
performed HR Roles. But, now HR Professionals perform the roles of HRM. The scope of
HRM is vast. All major activities in the working life of an employee from Recruitment till
retirement comes under the perview of HRM.it consist of the following areas:
Employee hiring
Employee and executive remuneration
Employee motivation
Employee Appraisal
Training and development
Employee maintenance
Industrial relations
Human Resource Management and Personnel Management

In an organization, a group of people (employers and employees) work together with a

common motive i.e. to achieve their organizational goal, which is only possible when efforts
of all the people in the organization are efficiently managed. There are two basic approaches
that employers adopt to manage people or employee in their company. They are

1) Personnel Management
Personnel are those who are employed in the workplace. Personnel management is an
administrative function which exists in an organization to ensure right personnel at right
organizational activity. It is a traditional approach of managing employees which focuses on
adherence to policies and rules of organization. Personnel management is concerned with
planning, job analysis, recruitment and performance appraisal along with training and
compensation management. Personnel management also focuses on managing labor
relationship by handling employee grievances.

2) Human Resource Management

Human resource management is a modern approach of managing people at workplace which
focuses on acquisition, development, utilization and maintenance of human resource. It
combines physical energies and their strengths with human competencies. In simple words,
human resource management can be referred as the policy which ensures right quality and
quantity of human resource in the organization. Like personnel management, human resource
management is also concerned with planning, job analysis, recruitment and selection, hiring
and socialization, training, performance appraisal, rewarding, and compensation
management.

Difference Between Personnel Management and Human Resource Management

Basis of Difference Personnel Management Human Resource

Management

Meaning It is traditional approach of It is modern approach of

managing people at workplace and
is concern of personnel department.
Nature It is a routine function.
Focus Efficient management is given
priority.
Function Personnel administration, labor
relation and employee welfare are
major functions of personnel
management.
Objective It manages people in accordance
with organization’s goal.
Perspective It regards people as basic input to
managing people at workplace
and is concern of managers of
all level (from top to bottom).
It is a strategic function.
Human values and individual
needs are given priority.
Acquisition, development,
utilization and maintenance of
human resource are major
functions of human resource
management.
It determines human resource
needs and formulate policies by
matching individual’s needs
with organization’s needs.
It regards people as strategic
 make desired output. and valuable resource to make
desired output.
Job design Jobs are designed on the basis of Jobs are designed on the basis
division of labor. of teamwork.
Interest Organization’s interest is valued the Interest of organization and
most. interest of employee is
harmonized.
Orientation It is discipline, direction and It is development oriented. It
control oriented. provides space for employee
involvement, performance and
growth.
Communication Communication is limited, or even Communication is open.
restricted.
Emphasis It emphasizes on adherence of rules It emphasizes on combination
and regulations and their of human energies and
implementation. competencies.
Benefits  Disciplined employees  Committed human
 Increased production resource
 Readiness to change
 Increased production
 Increased profit
 Quality of worklife
Result Organizational goal is achieved and Organizational goal is achieved
employers are satisfied. and both employers and
employees are satisfied.

The Importance of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management (HRM) is a modern approach of maintaining people at
workplace which focuses on acquisition, development, utilization and maintenance of human
resource.

HRM is development oriented. It is concern of managers of all level and provides space for
employee involvement, performance and growth. Several companies nowadays prefer HRM
to personnel management because HRM plays vital role in maintaining quality team of
working experts. Besides, it has several importance which are discussed below.
To maintain quality of work life

Quality of work life is the perception of employees regarding the relationship between
working condition with management. Simply, it is the relationship between employees and
total work environment.
Quality of work life is concerned with the employee’s perception of physical as well as
psychological wellbeing at workplace and it can be obtained by maintaining work autonomy,
work freedom, job recognition, belongingness, rewards, etc.
To increase productivity and profit

Human resource management ensures right quality and quantity of personnel in workplace,
apart from which, it creates opportunities to facilitate and motivate individual and group of
employees to grow and advance their career. Motivated employees work hard to meet their
personal career goal which directly influences productivity of organization. Minimizing cost
and maximizing profit is the essence of productivity.

To produce employees who are easily adaptable to change

Human resource management performs various functions, among which training and
development of employees is one of the vital ones. Training and development programs keep
employees updated with skills necessary to adjust with alteration of organization’s
environment, structure and technology.

To match demand and supply of human resource

Human resource management probes existing human resource in certain interval of time to
identify if the company has adequate number of workers or not. In case when company has
inadequate human resource, human resource management performs activities like recruitment
and selection to balance the need. In the same way, it lay-off inefficient employee in case
when the company has excessive employees
.
To retain employees and motivate them to accomplish company’s goal

Utilizing human resource to their fullest and maintaining them in the company for a long
term is a major function of human resource management. Under this function, HRM performs
tasks like providing fringe benefits, compensation and rewards to the deserving employees.
These activities do not only help in retaining employees in the company but also in achieving
organization’s goal effectively.

To recognize merit and contribution of employee

Human resource management performs timely appraisal of employee’s performance in order

to recognize excellent and poor workers. The excellent workers are then rewarded as a return
for their contribution.

To create a feeling of belongingness and team spirit in the employee

Human resource management designs job on the basis of teamwork. As teamwork demands
contribution from every team member, HRM focuses on making each and every employee
feel valued so that employee contributes best from their side.

To sustain business in the market

Human resource management makes sure that the company has the best employee because
promising employees are capable of taking their company ahead in the race by delivering
excellent results. This guarantees organization’s success and stability in future.
To resolve conflicts

In any company, either big or small, conflicts may arise between any parties/group. Conflicts
are inevitable and they should not be ignored. Human resource management acts as a
consultant to sort out such conflicts timely and conduct other organizational activities
smoothly.

To develop corporate image

Every company should maintain good public image in order to sustain in the market. Any
individual would like to work for companies which are known for moral and social behavior.
On the other hand, companies that do not treat their employees in a good manner can run
through employee deficiency and even collapse.

Models of Human Resource Management

Four major models have been identified for human resource management and all these serve
many purposes.

1. They provide an analytical framework for studying Human resource management (for
example, situational factors, stakeholders, strategic choice levels, competence)

2. They legitimize certain HRM practices; a key issue here is the distinctiveness of HRM
practices: “It is not the presence of selection or training but a distinctive approach to selection
or training that matters”.

3. They provide a characterization of human resource management that establishes variables

and relationships to be researched.

4. They serve as a heuristic device-something to help us discover and understand the world
for explaining the nature and significance of key HR practices.

The four HRM models are:

(i) The Fombrun,
(ii) The Harvard,
(iii) The Guest, and
(iv) The Warwick.

The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna Model

Being the first model (dates back to 1984), this emphasizes just four functions and their
interrelatedness. The four functions are selection, appraisal, development, and rewards. These
four constituent components of human resource management and are expected to contribute
to organizational effectiveness.
The Fombrun model is incomplete as it focuses on only four functions of HRM and ignores
all environmental and contingency factors that impact HR functions.
The Harvard Model

The Harvard model claims to be comprehensive in as much as it seeks to comprise six critical
components of HRM. The dimensions included in the model are stakeholders, interests,
situational factors, HRM policy choices, HR outcomes, long-term consequences, and a
feedback loop through. The outputs flow directly into the organization and the stakeholders.

The Guest Model

Yet another human resource management model was developed by David Guest in 1997 and
claims to be much superior to other models. The details will justify the claim. This model
claims that the HR manager has specific strategies to begin with, which demand certain
practices and when executed, will result in outcomes. These outcomes include behavioral,
performance-related, and financial rewards.

The model emphasizes the logical sequence of six components: HR strategy, HR practices,
HR outcomes, behavioral outcomes, performance results, and financial consequences.
Looking inversely, financial results depend on employee performance, which in turn is the
result of action-oriented employee behaviors. Behavioral outcomes are the result of employee
commitment, quality, and flexibility, which, in turn, are impacted by HR practices. HR
practices need to be in tune with HR strategies which are invariably aligned with
organizational strategies.

The claim of the Guest model that it is superior to others is partly justified in the sense that it
clearly maps out the field of HRM and delineates the inputs and outcomes. But the dynamics
of people management are so complex that no model (including the Guest model) can capture
them comprehensively.
The Warwick Model

This model was developed by two researchers, Hendry and Pettigrew of the University of
Warwick (hence the name Warwick model). Like other human resource management models,
the Warwick proposition centres around five elements

 Outer context (macro-environmental forces)

 Inner context (firm-specific or micro environmental forces)
 Business strategy content
 HRM context
 HRM content
The Warwick model takes cognizance of business strategy and HR practices (as in the Guest
model), the external and internal context (unlike the Guest model) in which these activities
take place, and the process by which such changes take place, including interactions between
changes in both context and content.

The strength of the model is that it identifies and classifies important environmental influ-
ences on HRM. It maps the connection between the external and environmental factors and
explores how human resource management adapts to changes in the context. Obviously, those
organizations achieving an alignment between the external and internal contexts will achieve
performance and growth.
Evolution of Human Resource Management, HRM in India
Human Resource are the most important asset of any organization. HRM is an important
strategic tool for an organization. It helps to establish on organization’s sustainable
competitive advantage.
Frederick Taylor develops his ideas on scientific management. Taylor advocates scientific
selection of workers based on qualifications and also argues for incentive-based
compensation systems to motivate employees. The interpretation of the Hawthorne Studies'
begins to have an impact on management thought and practice. Greater emphasis is placed on
the social and informal aspects of the workplace affecting worker productivity. Increasing the
job satisfaction of workers is cited as a means to increase their productivity. Many companies
establish departments devoted to maintaining the welfare of workers. The discipline of
industrial psychology begins to develop. Industrial psychology, along with the advent of
World War I, leads to advancements in employment testing and selection.

The interpretation of the Hawthorne Studies' begins to have an impact on management

thought and practice. Greater emphasis is placed on the social and informal aspects of the
workplace affecting worker productivity. Increasing the job satisfaction of workers is cited as
a means to increase their productivity. In the U.S., a tremendous surge in union membership
between 1935 and 1950 leads to a greater emphasis on collective bargaining and labor
relations within personnel management. Compensation and benefits administration also
increase in importance as unions negotiate paid vacations, paid holidays, and insurance
coverage.

Three trends dramatically impact HRM. The first is the increasing diversity of the labor force, in
terms of age, gender, race, and ethnicity. HRM concerns evolve from EEO (Equal Employment
Opportunity) and affirmative action to "managing diversity." A second trend is the globalization of
business and the accompanying technological revolution. These factors have led to dramatic changes
in transportation, communication, and labor markets. The third trend, which is related to the first two,
is the focus on HRM as a "strategic" function. HRM concerns and concepts must be integrated into
the overall strategic planning of the firm in order to cope with rapid change, intense competition, and
pressure for increased efficiency.

HRM’s evolving role in the 21st century

HR as a strategic partner:
Executives with people management skills would be able to steal the show, since they help
integrate corporate goals with employee expectations in a successful way.HR executives
would be able to smoothly move into top management positions, using their soft skills to
good advantage.
2. Talent Hunting, developing, retaining star employees: The 21 st century Corporation
would be looking for people with cross functional expertise with strong academic background
and team management skills. Corporates pay attention to talent acquisition, development and
retention through novel developmental efforts, compensation packages and incentives apart
from flexible work schedules.
3. Lean and Mean Organisations
Organisations will be forced to eliminate low-end jobs, say goodbye to older employees with
limited skill sets, outsource work to specialized institutions in an attempt to save costs and
remain highly competitive. As a result obtaining employee loyalty and commitment would be
quite challenging in such a scenario.
4. Labour relations
LPG Reforms means the end of the road for trade unions. They will lose their count slowly
but steadily. Governmental influence in labour- management relations would have only
historical significance as employment-related issues begin to be dictated by market forces.
5. Health care benefits
To attract talented workforce healthier work environments would be an absolute necessity.
Employers would be obliged to give their employees safe, healthy and secure work
environments. Wellness programs to solve potential health problems, Office décor, and
furniture design and space utilization with a view to improve the comfort levels of employees
are the top priorities of HR in the current scenario.

To drive organizational success, HR professionals must understand the implications of these

trends not only for HR, but also for their organization as a whole. HR leaders will a find
opportunities in these developments and must put programs and practices in place today to
meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Institutions of repute which impart HRM education in India
1. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM A)
2. Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM C)
3. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM B
4. Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM L)
5. XLRI - Xavier Labour Research Institute, Jamshedpur
6. ISB - Indian School of Business, Hyderabad
7. FMS - Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi
8. Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM I)
9. Indian Institute of Management, Calicut (IIM K - Kozhikode)
10. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai (JBIMS)
11. S. P. Jain Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai (SPJIMR)
12. Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Mumbai (Bombay)
13. Management Development Institute, Gurgaon (MDI)
14. Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai (NMIMS)
15. Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIM B)
Factors Influencing Human Resource Management

Socio-Psychological
Socio-psychological factors greatly influence people’s thoughts, feelings, perceptions,
attitudes and behaviour. Customs, traditions,regilious practices,faith, cultural norms and
value-systems to which a society is wedded are some of the decisive factors in people’s
attitude towards life and work.
Socio-psychology helps in understanding how and why individuals behave, think and feel as
they do in a given situation. Social cognition, perceptions, attitudes, stereotyping, prejudices,
group norms and influences all affect people’s interactions in society and at work. Cognitive
framework may be acquired through past experiences. People with different cultural,
religious and family backgrounds may have different approaches which help them to organise
and process information which can have self- confirming effects and cause behaviour
consistent to it.
As against automatic processing of information, there may be controlled processing where
information from different sources is collected, verified and used for decision-making. It may
be influenced by positive or negative biases, sometimes causing errors. Perceptions help in
identifying the causes of others behaviour. Body language, gestures, postures and movements
of people in different cultures and societies account for differing perceptions. The way in
which people meet and greet each other, keep distance, address and get feedback, show group
feelings and self-presentation are not the same everywhere.
Attitude reflects people’s evaluation of social world and may colour their experience and
opinion. When attitudes are strong, behaviour is strongly affected. Attitudes are formed
through learning which may be the result of conditioned or unconditioned stimulus. A
favourable attitude among workmen, for instance, may be created by employee benefit
programmes and participative approach to management.
There are prejudices and stereotypes in all societies influencing people’s behaviour in many
ways. Age, marital status, occupation, gender, language, religion, caste and community, etc.
may form the basis of prejudices. Behaviour based on prejudices is perceived as legitimate by
the perpetrators. Women, for instance, are considered weak and emotional in many societies
and discriminated against men. Even today, there are only a few women in large business
houses who are able to make it to the top.
Family ties and relationships exert great influence on social and work life. In India, for
instance, joint-family system has been popular since ages providing social security to old and
weak, promoting brotherly feelings and joy of living together with parents, brothers, sisters
and close relations. Members of the family do not feel the kind of loneliness as is widespread
in the West.
Social groups influence people through norms to guide behaviour in certain situations which
makes it easy to predict the behaviour of members. Behaviour of men and women, parents
and children, husband and wife, managers and workers, all may be examined in this light.
Organisations world over consist of both types with differing emphasis in different cultures.
Japanese management style gives premium to group performance while American system
promotes competitive behaviour based on individual capability and self-esteem. Indian
management style is influenced by joint- family system and old ethos as given in the Rigveda

Cultural Factor
Culture is the learnt behaviour transmitted by one member of the society to another. Not all
people in society have similar orientations, but a broad categorisation on this basis is possible
and helpful in understanding major orientations of a given society.
Organisations develop their own culture which is reflected in promoters’ vision, values and
beliefs, management philosophy, organisation design and hierarchical structure, leadership
style, communication process, work environment and HR systems, and policies with regard
to recruitment, promotion, compensation, training and employee empowerment, etc.
Some organisations have open culture emphasising informal relations, cordial work
environment, decentralised decision-making, opportunities for personal growth within
organisation, while some are more bureaucratic with formal relations, rules, regulations,
procedures, centralised decision-making and few opportunities for the personal growth of
employees. Organisational culture in Western countries is different in some respects
compared to countries in the East such as Japan, India, China and others.

Demographic Factors:
India’s population is labelled by some as the ‘demographic dividend’ as half of its population
is below 25 years of age. The country faces an immense task of feeding, educating, housing,
and employing its youthful population. To avoid a ‘demographic liability’, India must grow
in double digits per year to provide jobs for the expanding working population. Almost 70%
of Indians live in rural areas, although in recent decades migration to larger cities has led to a
dramatic increase in the country’s urban population which has led to mega slums and
challenges to quality of life, social harmony and environmental impacts.
Despite its youthful population, India’s size has made it home to the second largest number of
older people in the world in absolute terms (after China). With around 18% of world
population, India has only 2.4% of world land area. Population control measures have been
largely unsuccessful due to political and social reasons. The country thus faces a great
challenge on the demographic front.
The literacy rate has risen in India in the last decade from 64% to 74% with a notable surge in
female literacy for the first time in the post-independence era. But the male-female divide in
education is still there. While male literacy is around 82%, female literacy is at 65%. Higher
education in India is growing.
The country has third largest education system in the world after the US and China. IIMs,
UTs and some other universities in India are centres of world-class learning, education and
research. But the number and size of educational institutions and facilities are grossly
inadequate for a rising population. There is mismatch between demand and supply.
Economic Factors:
Globalisation has created opportunities for global movement of talents despite immigration
restriction and controls. It is no surprise that one third of Silicon Valley’s software experts
come from India and other countries in Asia which also provide call centre facilities and
promote BPOs. MNCs today are not only employing local labour from host countries but also
technical and managerial personnel.
The movement of talent is no longer restricted from developed to underdeveloped countries.
Universities and centres of higher education in the West have a large number of qualified
faculty in different disciplines who have been trained in India, China and some other
countries. Most universities in the US, UK, Australia and other developed countries are
opening their doors for students from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Liberalisation of economies since early 1990s have enabled MNCs to expand their
manufacturing and trading operations at a large-scale in the less developed world. Flow of
capital and transfer of technology have substantially increased resulting into the high growth
rate of the GDP of many developing countries. China, India, Russia and Brazil are among the
fastest growing economies in the world.
While China has enjoyed double digit growth rate in the recent years, India had it between
7% to 9%. Business operations of Indian companies had impressive growth. In 2011, Forbes
listed 57 Indian companies amongst the 2000 most powerful companies of the world.
The rate of growth has been impressive in developing countries as a consequence of
economic liberalisation but the benefits have not percolated to a large section of people who
are poor. Income inequality has grown dramatically as reported by ILO in recent studies.
Share of wages in national income has declined in majority of these countries. The largest
decline in the share of wages in GDP took place in Latin America and the Caribbean
followed by Asia.
The cost of financial indiscipline and over-consumption by people in the West is in effect
transferred to the developing East through market economy mechanism. The cost of primary
products and labour has been deliberately controlled to be low and manufactured value added
products much higher, resulting into economic exploitation and perpetuation of imperialism.
Technological Factors:
Since Industrial Revolution in the early 20th century, machines have been replacing man with
increased automation at work. Last few decades have witnessed computers as a powerful tool
in the hands of managers. E-HR, as Ulrich puts it, is “a matrix with two columns-
transactions – doing administrative things faster and better, enabling employees to be self-
sufficient and self-reliant, building employee portals, etc., and transformation – becoming
more strategic and building sustainable competitive advantage.”
Payroll system was the first to be computerised followed by employee recruitment, training,
performance evaluation, promotions, incentives and rewards, and feedback systems. Job
portals, online screening, testing, interviewing, skill matching on computers have not only
facilitated transactions, but reduced cost and time.
E-HR is most helpful in manpower planning, storing and disseminating information, sharing
knowledge, empowering people and formulating future strategies. It has resulted in
improving performance and employee morale. Higher-level management in most companies
have fully integrated organisation-wide network of HR-related data and information services
available at any time, enabling timely and effective decision-making.
Technological changes have further changed the skill requirements. The demand for
knowledge and skill-intensive occupations has increased. There is a marked reduction in
conventional office jobs and increase in services like BPO, call centres, security, catering,
etc.
E-HR is interactive in nature enabling instant feedback, helping decision-making in ever-
changing environment with vast amount of data and information available, communicating
quickly, expanding geographical and time horizons.
IT-HRD companies have emerged as a big support to business operations all over the world.
Indian IT companies have made their mark in providing financial and other services by their
innovative skills in developing softwares. They are in the forefront of exporting software
products and skills both. Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, etc. are among the world-class IT
service providers to most of MNCs and TNCs.
IT education in India has developed with the joint efforts of private sector corporations and
the government. Most companies have their own training institutes with highly qualified
expert staff. Government on its part has allowed banks and financial institutions in public
sector to float special bonds to raise capital for IT education for providing loan to IT-HRD
companies and institutions at a low-rate of interest. Entrepreneurs, including NRIs, are
offered special financial packages including venture capital to set up IT education. IT
companies are encouraged to set aside a certain percentage of value-added revenue to support
IT-HRD sector.
Professionally qualified women in IT are provided telecommunicating facilities to operate
from home when they are not in a position to attend to the job in office on a regular basis due
to family constraints. They are also offered special loan/ financial grants to set-up
infrastructure at home to be able to telecommunicate. Job prospects for women have
increased with the growth of IT sector.
Population and Workforce:
Population and workforce influence human resource management because these form the
basis for an organizations’ external supply of human resources. While considering population
and workforce as a means for supply of external human resources, organizations should
differentiate between workforce and population because only a part of the population is
eligible to work.
Further, eligible workforce can be divided into two groups- the workforce reserve (those not
working for economic gain, for example, homemakers, students, etc., and those who
constitute workforce. Out of this workforce, organizations can choose their employees.
Workforce Market Condition:

Workforce market condition shows demand and supply of workforce. It influences human
resource management practices relating to recruitment and selection. Exchanges between
employers and potential employees occur in the workforce market. Since workforce market
includes all types of workforce, only relevant workforce market is taken into account for
searching potential employees.
Three factors usually define the relevant workforce market- (a) occupation — qualifications
and skills required, (b) geography — potential employees are willing to relocate or commute,
and (c) other employers that compete with similar products and services.
These three factors define the part of the workforce that is of interest to a particular employer.
In fact, human resource professionals consider workforce market in terms of all three factors.
iii. National Income:
National income, particularly measured in terms of per capita income, affects wage/salary
structure at the macro level. Each employer has to align wage/salary structure with that
operating at the macro level. This is the reason for difference between wage/salary structure
of economically advanced countries and developing countries.
iv. Inflationary Pressures:
Besides the national income, inflationary pressures in a country also affect the payment to be
made to employees. In most of the countries, payment to employees is linked to cost of living
either directly or indirectly. As a result, when a country faces inflationary pressures, its cost
of living index goes up forcing employers to pay more to employees.
For example, in India, dearness allowance, a part of the payment made to employees, is
linked with cost of living index. When this index goes up, there is proportionate increase in
the amount of dearness allowance.

Human resource management and line managers

A line manager is responsible for managing employees and resources to achieve
specific functional or organizational goals. Some of these include: Recruiting
 and hiring talent to fill team positions. Providing training and support to new
hires.

The primary reason human resources and line managers should work together
is because both parties have a vested interest in ensuring the company achieves
success. Through working together, line management becomes more proficient
in tactical human resources functions. This frees up time for human resources
professionals to devote more time to strategic HR management.

A line manager is an employee who directly manages other employees and

processes while accountable to a senior manager. Related job titles normally
used are supervisor, section leader, and team leader. They are assigned with
meeting business goals in a specific functional area or line of business. The line
manager is responsible for managing employees to ensure successful execution
of organizational goals and strategies.
A line manager is responsible for overseeing and managing employees to fulfill
business goals. They are the main point of contact between the management and
the staff. They also provide guidance, instruction, motivation and feedback to
the employees on a day-to-day basis. The responsibility of implementing
strategy rests with the line managers who ensure that strategies designed by
senior leadership and the management are implemented in a satisfactory
manner. They’re are also in the best place to identify bottlenecks and carry out
course correction in the event of deviation. Line managers need to possess
leadership qualities including effective communication of tasks, listening
strategy, grievances handling, and delegation.

Responsibilities

Line managers are responsible for implementing and designing, through their
resources, an organization’s policies pertaining to employees and practices in
alignment with business objectives and core values. Their main functions with
regard to employees include:

 Recruitment and selection

 Onboarding, training, mentoring, coaching, and employee development
 Performance management and appraisal
 Motivation
 Health and Well-being
 Team bonding
 Line managers’ activities typically include:

 Recruiting the right talent for the job

 Training, coaching and mentoring new employees to get them up to speed at
work
 Planning the goals, objectives and tasks of their department and
communicating this to employees as needed
 Effectively communication organizational goals set by the management to the
employees
 Managing the resources within their control (e.g., staff time; finance) to fulfill
the objectives set
 Ensuring compliance with organizational policy and legislation
 Providing blueprint, guidance and plan to their teams
 Scheduling regular meetings with staff members to discuss progress and any
bottlenecks
 Measuring performance metrics against set expectations and taking corrective
actions where necessary
 Ensuring quality standards are maintained at expected levels
 Evaluating employee performance and providing performance appraisals
 Motivating and engaging the employees in a timely manner so as to ensure
productivity
 Providing reports on performance and goals to higher authorities

An efficient line manager is hands on with their team on a daily basis with the
implementation of organizational strategy, giving guidance, resolving
bottlenecks, providing motivation, measuring performance, analyzing reports
and taking corrective action in the event of deviation. Line managers directly
influence employee satisfaction and engagement and, as a result, organizational
productivity.

While top level management is responsible for formulating organizational

strategies, the task of implementing the strategy happens at the grass root levels
of an organization. Line managers assigned with making sure that strategies are
implemented at lower levels are in the best place to measure performance,
identify bottlenecks with the strategy execution programs and resolve issues to
meet goals in a timely manner.
 Competencies for Successful HR Business Leaders

Leadership and Navigation

Effective leaders are associated with numerous positive outcomes for example,
positive employee work attitudes such as job satisfaction and organizational
commitment, decreased turnover, and increased employee job performance.
Leadership and Navigation recognizes this important role for HR professionals
by describing the attributes needed by HR professionals to lead organizational
initiatives and obtain buy-in from stakeholders.

Ethical Practice

HR professionals are often tasked with creating ethical HR systems or

reinforcing an organization's ethical climate. These efforts serve several
purposes, but most notably implementing a strong ethical climate can help
protect an organization from adverse employee behavior. And implementing
ethical systems is essential to organizations because ethical HR systems are
associated with higher levels of organizational performance.5 Ethical Practice is
and will continue to be a critical competency domain for the HR profession.

Business Acumen

HR business leaders need to be well developed in terms of their Business

Acumen. This includes understanding business operations and functions,
understanding how human resource management (HRM) practices contribute to
core business functions, and understanding the organization's external
environment. They should also recognize how internal and external factors (for
example, the external competitive environment and internal personnel
resources) interact to influence organizational performance. Effective HR
business leaders need to be able to make the case for HRM to other business
professionals—this includes marketing HR within the organization and showing
how HR can have a direct impact on firm performance.

Relationship Management
HR professionals regularly interact with clients and stakeholders; therefore, job
success for an HR business leader is largely a function of his or her ability to
maintain productive interpersonal relationships and help others do the same, or
to display competence in Relationship Management. Research has documented
positive outcomes associated with productive and healthy interpersonal
relationships in the work environment.

Positive formal relationships (e.g., an employee's relationship with his or her

supervisor) are associated with beneficial outcomes for employees, such as
improved feelings of belonging and inclusion in the workplace, increased
salary, increased promotions, greater career mobility and other rewards. Positive
informal relationships at work are associated with greater job satisfaction,
involvement, performance, team cohesion, organizational commitment, positive
work atmosphere and lessened intentions to leave.

Employees who have better interpersonal relationships with their co-workers

and supervisors may perceive the organization as more supportive; they may
also be more committed to their organization and may experience increased
perceptions of fit with their organization.

Consultation

Within their own organization, HR professionals often take on the role of an

internal consultant or expert on human capital issues. In this role, within the
Consultation competency, HR professionals can help business units address
challenges related to human capital, such as staffing needs, training and
development needs, employee performance issues, and employee relations
issues. To be a successful human capital expert, HR professionals must not only
possess requisite knowledge about HRM practices but must also be able to
provide guidance to internal stakeholders.

The most effective HR professionals possess a unique set of attributes that

enable them to translate complicated information about HRM practices (i.e., HR
Expertise) into actionable recommendations for end users (e.g., hiring
managers). HR professionals must be able to analyze business challenges,
generate creative solutions and provide accurate and timely guidance to internal
stakeholders based on best practice and research that accounts for the unique
internal and external environment of the organization.

Critical Evaluation

HR can enhance the effectiveness and usefulness of human capital programs by

informing their development and monitoring their success with appropriate data
through Critical Evaluation. One such source of data is human capital metrics.
Not only do human capital metrics add value to the role of HR in organizations,
but HR functions that collect and properly use HR metrics to inform HR activity
are seen as more reliable strategic partners. The rise of data-based HRM
practices is clearly evident—one such example of this trend is "big data" and its
increasingly frequent use by HR departments. HR professional are currently
being asked to inform their decisions with data, and this trend is likely to
continue and increase in the coming years.

Global and Cultural Effectiveness

Because many organizations are proactively attempting to increase the diversity

of their workforce, and because the workforce of today is increasingly global,
successful HR leaders must be able to effectively and respectfully interact with
colleagues, customers and clients of varying backgrounds and cultures. HR
professionals are often tasked with developing, delivering and evaluating these
diversity-related initiatives.

Additionally, various laws and regulations require organizations to use inclusive

hiring practices. Again, HR professionals are often primarily responsible for
complying with these laws and regulations because of their pivotal role in
employee hiring. Given the role of HR professionals in promoting and
maintaining a diverse workforce, it is easy to see the need for and importance of
the Global and Cultural Effectiveness competency.

Communication
When HR information is communicated well, employees better understand the
purpose and value of policies and practices. When managers effectively
communicate HR practices and policies to their employees, employees perceive
the organization's HRM to be more effective, and, in turn, employee satisfaction
and business unit performance are positively affected. To effectively fulfill
duties at each career level, HR professionals must ensure that the messages they
distribute are clear, concise and readily understood through their expertise in
Communication.

HR Expertise

HR professionals directly affect organizational success by developing,

maintaining and executing sound HRM policies, practices and procedures that
support organizational mission and goals. Effective HRM practices can have
numerous benefits for organizations, such as reduced turnover, increased
productivity and financial performance, and sustained competitive advantage.
To implement successful initiatives, HR professionals must have a well-
developed knowledge base. This knowledge is reflected in the HR Expertise
competency.