Human Resource Management: Introduction To HRM

Human Resource
Management
Introduction to HRM
Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 1

Professor, Business Administration Discipline,
Khulna University
Human Resource Management has
provided the focus for a wide ranging
debate concerning
the nature of the contemporary

employment relationship.

Khulna University
This debate is the recognition that
the nature of the employment relationship has
experienced a series of important changes
and adaptations over the past decade
which both significant in themselves and look

likely to provide the basis for further
development in the medium term.

Khulna University
Substantial contemporary changes are follows:
(it is by no means conclusive)
 A decline in the proportion of employees in trade unions;
 A decline in the proportion of employees whose pay in set by unionized

collective bargaining;
 A reduction in the range of employment issues that are handled collectively;

coupled with
 A rise in the range of employment issues that are derived from a managerial
agenda;
 A considerable volume of restructuring of organisations and employment

away from many tiers of hierarchy and stable occupational structures;
coupled with
 A corresponding rise in short-term, part-time, contracted out or franchised

employment

Khulna University
Emergence of HRM has to take account of
 This changing context of employment and provide some

explanations as to the relationships that exist between
the contribution HRM has made to some of these
changes on the one hand, and
 On the other hand, the impact that such changes have

had on the theory and practice of HRM itself.

Khulna University
More prominent aspect of HRM are that
it is derived from a more focused managerial

perspective which is often strategically driven,
and that it represents a more unified and
holistic approach
than the ‘technical-piecemeal’ approach of
Personnel Management.

Khulna University
Nuance between HRM and PM
 HRM is depicted as having an agenda which
addresses ‘business-related’ issues, and
thereby contributes to the overall success of the
organization in a proactive manner, while
 Personnel Management is depicted as having

an agenda set for it by the more ordinary
requirements of the day in a more reactive
manner.
(Neither of these types cast approaches are wholly correct, of course, but they
do indicate the arena within which debate has occurred.)

Khulna University
Managing human resources is one of the key elements in
the coordination and management of work organisations.
 The role of individuals and groups as employees

and the ability of management to effectively deploy
such a resource is vital to the interests of both
employee and organisation alike.
 To a large context , this fundamental issue has been

at the hart of a great deal of the analysis of how
organiasations are run (how to manage) and it is as
important an issue facing organisations as those of
markets, finance and strategy.
Khulna University
Answer of ‘how to manage?’ has
been remaining unanswered
since industrial revolution.

Khulna University
The term HRM has come to be used with increasing regularity as
a description of the management of employees.
Four broad perspectives of HRM are as follows:
 HRM is no more than a renaming of basic personnel functions which

does little that is different from the traditional practice of Personnel
Management;
 HRM represents a fusion of Personnel Management and Industrial

Relations which is managerially focused and derives from a
managerial agenda;
 HRM represents a wider conception of the employment relationship,

to incorporate an enabling and developmental role for the individual
employee;
 HRM can be viewed as part of the strategic managerial function in

the development of business policy in which it plays both a
determining and contributory role.

Khulna University
Perspective-1
HRM as a restatement of existing Personnel Practice
Personnel Management is 'on the ground'- and the rather more

theoretical.
HRM surrounds great deal with 'strategic' nature. For many
practitioners the notion that their roles and functions can be seen
in anything other than a highly pragmatic light is no more than
wishful thinking: there is an important, if straightforward, task of
recruiting, selecting, rewarding, managing and developing
employees that must be carried out as 'efficiently' as possible.
In this sense, HRM might be viewed as no more than another trend

in the long line of management prescriptions that have each
enjoyed a vogue and then lost favour, while the pragmatic nature
of established Personnel Management has ensured that the
operational tasks have been accomplished.
Khulna University
Perspective-2
HRM as a new managerial discipline
 HRM is more diverse and complex in nature than that of (Personal

Management )PM and (Industrial Relation)IR.
 The professional desire is to present the management of employees as a

holistic discipline (akin to the inclusive approaches of Accounting and
Marketing, for example), and the belief that an integrated management
approach can be provided by HRM. This would not only unite the
differing perspectives of PM and IR but create a new and broader
discipline as a result of the fusion of these traditional elements.
 An important outcome of this approach is to view some of these

traditional components as now irrelevant or outdated and as dealing
with problems which typify past, as opposed to current, practice: this is,
perhaps, most noticeable in the renaming of functional activities so that
Industrial Relations becomes 'Employee Relations' and Training
becomes 'Employee Development'.
This re-titling is not solely designed to update an image, although that is
important in itself, but is more specifically aimed at expressing the nature
of the employment relationship in what are seen as changed
circumstances.
Khulna University
Perspective-2
HRM as a new managerial discipline
 Thus Industrial Relation is seen as expressing a relationship
based upon a manual, manufacturing (and, often by implication,
male) unionized workforce –
rather than the allegedly wider
concept of 'Employee Relations' which involves a total workforce
which includes white-collar and technical staff of whom many will
be female and some or all non-union.
 A further significant shift in thinking connected with this second

approach is that of the desire by management to extend control
over aspects of the collective relationship that were once
customarily regarded as jointly agreed between employees
(usually via their unions) and management. Treating employees as
a primary responsibility of management as opposed to the jointly
negotiated responsibility of both Unions and Management.

Khulna University
Perspective-3
HRM as an Individually Focused Developmental
Model
Perspective is to stress the

role of the individual in organisations,
rather than the collective employment models

outlined so far.

Khulna University
Perspective-3
HRM as an Individually Focused Developmental Model
 Personnel management, to a large degree at least, has always
been concerned with the interface between the organisation and
the individual and the necessity of achieving a trade-off between
the requirements of the organisation and the
needs of individual employees.
Piecemeal approach and stressed the 'welfare' role that could be
afforded employees so that basic working conditions (both
physically and contractually) could be established.
 Personnel management sought to introduce, administer or rectify

particular aspects of jobs and roles that individuals carried out.
This tradition fostered a belief in equitable selection and reward
systems, efficient procedures for discipline, dismissal and
redundancy, and clear and operable rules for administering large
numbers of employees to avoid arbitrary judgments over
individual cases.
Khulna University
Perspective-3
This emphasis has fostered a culture within Personnel

Management which is characterised as 'cost
minimisation', with the individual as the cost which
has to be controlled and contained.
In these circumstances employees become one of
the aggregate commodities within the
organisation that have to be managed within the
organisation's resources in the same way that, for
example, the finance available to the organisation
has to be managed within a framework and
according to accounting conventions.
Khulna University
Perspective-3
The logical extent of HRM model is reached in

Manpower Planning with precise numerical
assessments of internal and external demand
for and supply of labour.

Khulna University
Perspective-3
 HRM considers, any alternative to this formalised

approach which treats the individual as a
resource rather than an expense and views
expenditure on training as an investment rather
than a cost--- poses a profound threat to the
conventional wisdom of Personnel Management.
 HRM is concerning the role of supervisors, work

groups and work organisation rather enabling
capacity for employees supported by personnel
management.
Khulna University
Perspective-3
“The advent of Japanese management systems has, however,

highlighted the impact of this approach on the employment
relationship. Whether sustainable or not in the West,
the Japanese large-firm emphasis on developing individual
employees along particular job paths while undertaking to
provide continuous employment throughout the normal
working life of the individual has at least provided a model in
which the employer seeks to maximise employment
opportunities. This approach goes further, however: it regards
all employees as potentially able to benefit from further training
and development, from which the organisation itself then
benefits.”

Khulna University
Perspective-3
The responsibility of the employer for

investment and employment has, at least
in the post-war period to date, encouraged
large corporate Japanese employers to
develop products and markets which have
used the invested skills of their
workforces.

Khulna University
Perspective-3
In the United States there has been a resurgence of

interest in the 'invested employee'
which has come to be expressed in the terminology
of 'Human Resource Development'.
If
the Japanese commitment to 'lifetime employment'
is more difficult to achieve in the
West, there is now, nevertheless, a greater
awareness of the investment potential in training
and development.

Khulna University
Perspective-3
In the UK this has been expressed in terms of our

relatively poor record in industrial and occupational
training as a function of investment. Thus Human
Resource Management has brought to the fore a
concern for maximising the potential of employees
which traditional Personnel Management has either
not treated or can only cope with in terms of its
customary technical/rational response for
overcoming pressing operational problems.

Khulna University
Perspective-3
To this extent, HRD and HRM have opened a

new chapter in the debate about training
and investing in employees which could be
seen as genuinely raising issues on behalf of
the employee connected with the nature and
obligations affecting such organisational and
personal development.

Khulna University
Perspective-4
HRM as a strategic and international function
 The advent of Human Resource Management has also brought
forward the issue of the linkages between the employment
relationship and wider organisational strategies and corporate
policies.
Historically, the management of Industrial Relations and personnel

has been concerned to cope with either the 'downstream'
consequences of earlier strategic decisions or to 'firefight' short-term
problems which threaten the long-run success of a particular strategy.
In these instances the role has been at best reactive and supportive
to other managerial functions, at worst a hindrance until particular
operational problems were overcome.

Khulna University
Perspective-4
 Human Resource Management lays claim to a fundamentally
different relationship between the organizations employment
function and its strategic role. The assumption lying behind HRM is
that it is essentially a strategically driven activity which is not only a
major contributor to that process but is a determining part of it.
 HRM is about shaping and delivering corporate strategies with

commitment and results like Finance and Marketing.
 A further element in this construction of HRM points to its

international potentialities. The employment relationship is materially
affected - perhaps even defined – by the national and cultural
contexts in which it operates.

Khulna University
Perspective-4
 Thus, variations in national labour markets have given rise to a wide
range of employment structures, policies and relationships within the
broad definition of market economies. To the extent that employers
operate within national labour markets, these characteristics do not
impinge on neighboring nationalities; but to the extent that employers
operate across national boundaries, these different characteristics may
become factors that an employer would wish to change or override.
 Thus international companies which seek to deploy homogeneous

employment policies, regardless of national labour markets, have often
been cited as seeking and developing broadly-based personnel systems
which neutralize national differences and which stress, by contrast,
organisational cultures that are drawn from the strategic goals of the firm.
 HRM can be so simply defined in terms of individual firms’ assumptions

and values about employment relationship.

Khulna University
Characteristics of HRM
Characterizing HRM is complicated and unresolved in which important

debate vividly exists when we considers a series of critical questions
about HRM.
• Is HRM a practitioner-dm en process which has attracted a wider audience

and prompted subsequent analytical attention?
• Is HRM an academically-derived description of the employment relationship,

to which practitioners have subsequently become drawn?
• Is HRM essentially a prescriptive model of how such a relationship 'ought' to

be?
• Is it a 'leading edge' approach as to ho\v such a relationship actually 'is'

within certain types of organisations?
Each of these questions leads the search for the innate qualities of HRM
along different routes and towards different conclusions.
Khulna University
 If the first approach is adopted, then evidence is required which would
identify the location, incidence and adoption of defined HRM practices and
suggest factors that caused organisations to develop those approaches.
 The second approach would have to locate the HRM debate in the
academic discussion of the employment relationship and demonstrate why
this particular variant of analysis emerged.
 The third approach would have to explain why, among so many other
prescriptions concerning management, the HRM prescription emerged and
quite what the distinctive elements were that permitted its prescriptive
influence to gain acceptance.
 The final approach would have to provide satisfactory evidence that,

where HRM had developed within certain organisational contexts, the
evidence of the particular setting could be applied to the generality of the
employment relationship.

Khulna University
Walton (1985), in attempting definitions of HRM, stresses mutuality

between employers and employees:
Mutual goals, mutual influence, mutual respect,

mutual rewards, mutual responsibility. The
theory is ' that policies of mutuality will elicit
commitment which in turn will yield both better
economic performance and greater human
development

Khulna University
Beer and Spector (1985) emphasized a new set of
assumptions in shaping their meaning of HRM:
• Proactive system wide interventions, with emphasis

on ‘fit’ , linking HRM with strategic planning and
cultural change,
• People are social capital capable of development
• Coincidence of interest between stake holders can
be developed
• Seeks power equalization for trust and collaboration.
• Open channels of communication to build trust and
commitment
• Goal orientation.
• Participation and informed choice.
Khulna University
Conversely, some writers, most notably
Legge (1989) and Fowler (1987), have
commented that
Personnel Management was beginning to

emerge as a more strategic function in the
late 1970s and early 1980s before the
concept was subsumed under the title of
HRM and in this sense there is little new in
HRM practice.

Khulna University
The Origins of Human Resource
Management
The nature of HRM has involved important

elements of Strategic Management and
Business Policy, coupled with Operations
Management too, which make a simple
'family tree' explanation of HRM's derivation
highly improbable.

Khulna University
The Origins of Human Resource
Management
What can be said is that HRM appears to have its origins in the United
States in the 1950s although it did not gain wide recognition until the
beginning of the 1980s, and in the UK until the mid to late 1980s.
There are a number of reasons for its emergence over the last
decade, among the most important of which are the major pressures
experienced in product markets during the recession of 1980-82,
combined with a growing recognition in the US that trade union
influence in collective employment was reaching fewer employees.
By the 1980s the US economy was being challenged by overseas
competitors, most particularly Japan. Discussion tended to focus on
two issues: 'the productivity of the American worker', particularly
compared to the Japanese worker, 'and the declining rate of
innovation in American industries'. From this sprang a desire to
create a work situation free from conflict in which both employers
and employees worked in unity towards the same goal - the success
of the organisation.
Khulna University
An early model of HRM, developed by Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna
(1984), introduced the concept of strategic human resource
management by which HRM policies are inextricably linked to the
'formulation and implementation of strategic corporate and/or
business objectives' (Devanna et al., 1984: 34). The model is
illustrated in Figure 1.
 Fig 1 The matching model of HRM
 Source: Devanna et al. 11984) Reproduced with
permission of John Wiley & Sons. Inc.
The matching model emphasises the necessity of 'tight

fit' between HR strategy and business strategy.
Khulna University
Khulna University
Synergies between
Human Resource Planning (Manpower
Planning) and
business strategies,
with the driving force rooted in the 'product
market logic'
(Evans and Lorange, 1989).

Khulna University
Whatever the process the result is very much an
emphasis on the 'unitarist' view of HRM:
'unitarism' assumes that conflict or at least differing

views cannot exist within the organisation because
the actors - management and employees - are
working to the same goal of the organisation's
success. What makes the model particularly attractive
for many personnel practitioners is that HRM
assumes a more important position in the formulation
of organisational policies.

Khulna University
Khulna University
A more flexible model, illustrated in Figure 2, was developed
by Beer and his associates (1984) at Harvard University.
The Map of HRM Territory', as the authors titled their

model, recognised that
there were a variety of 'stakeholders' in the corporation,

which included shareholders, various groups of
employees, the government and the community.
At once the model recognises the legitimate interests of

various groups and that the creation of HRM strategies
would have to recognise these interests and fuse them
as much as possible into the human resource strategy
and ultimately the Business strategy.
Khulna University
This recognition of stakeholders' interests raises a
number of important questions for policy-makers in the
organisation.
• “How much responsibility, authority and power should the
organization voluntarily delegate and to whom?
• If required by government legislation to bargain with the unions or

consult with workers’ councils, how should management enter into
these institutional arrangements?
• Will they seek to minimize the power and influence of these

legislated mechanisms Or
• Will they share influence and work to create greater congruence of

interests between management and the employee groups
represented through these
mechanisms?”
(Beer et al., 1984: 8)

Khulna University
Khulna University
Guest is conscious that if a model is to be useful to
researchers it must be useful 'in the field' of research
and this means that elements of HRM have to be
pinned down for comparative measurement.
He has therefore developed a set of propositions which

he believes are amenable to testing.
He also asserts that the combination of these

propositions which include
'strategic integration', high commitment', 'high
quality' and 'flexibility'
creates more effective organisations (Guest, 1987).
Khulna University
 • Strategic integration is defined as 'the ability of
organisations to integrate HRM issues into their strategic plans,
to ensure that the various aspects of HRM cohere and for line
managers to incorporate an HRM perspective into their decision
making.'
 • High commitment is defined as being 'concerned with both
behavioral commitment to pursue agreed goals and attitudinal
commitment reflected in a strong identification with the
enterprise.'
 • High quality ‘refers to all aspects of managerial behavior,
including management of employees and investment in high-
quality employees, which in turn will bear directly on the quality
of the goods and services provided.'
 • Finally flexibility is seen as being 'primarily concerned with
what is sometimes called functional flexibility but also with an
adaptable organisational structure with the capacity to manage
innovation'
 (Guest, 1989b: 42).

Khulna University
The combination of these propositions leads to a linkage
between HRM aims, policies
and outcomes as shown in Table 1.
HRM aims HRM policies HRM outcomes
For example: For example: For example:

• high • selection based • low labour
commitment on specific turnover
• quality criteria using • allegiance to
sophisticated company
• flexible working
tests

Khulna University
Storey has recently undertaken a study of a number of UK
organisations in a series of case studies, and as a result modified
still further the approaches of previous writers on
HRM (Storey, 1992).
Storey had previously identified two types of
HRM - 'hard' and 'soft' (Storey, 1989)
- the one rooted in the Manpower Planning
approach and
- the other in the Human Relations school.

Khulna University
Storey begins his approach by defining four elements
which distinguish HRM:
 Firstly, that 'it is human capability and commitment which, in the

final analysis, distinguishes successful organisations from the rest'.
 Secondly, because HRM is of strategic importance, it needs to be

considered by top management in the formulation of the corporate
plan.
 Thirdly, 'HRM is, therefore, seen to have long-term implications

and to be integral to the core performance of the business or public
sector organisation. In other words it must be the intimate concern
of line managers'.
 Fourthly, the key levers (the deployment of human resources,

evaluation of performance and the rewarding of it, etc.) 'are to be
used to seek not merely compliance but commitment'.
Khulna University
Storey approaches an analysis of HRM by creating an
'ideal type' the purpose of which 'is to simplify by
highlight the essential features in an exaggerated
way' (1992: 34).
This he does by making a classificatory matrix of 27
points of difference between Personnel and IR
practices and HRM practices (see Table 2). The
elements are categorised in a four-part basic outline:
 beliefs and assumptions
 strategic concepts
 line management
 key levers

Khulna University
Khulna University
Dimension Personnel and IR HRM
Beliefs and assumptions

1 Contract Careful delineation of Aim to go 'beyond contract
written contracts
''Can-do' outlook;
2 Rules Importance of devising
impatience with 'rule'
clear rules/mutuality
3 Guide to
Procedures •Business-need'

Khulna University
management action
4 Behaviour referent Norms/custom and Values/mission
5 Managerial task practice Nurturing

vis-a-vis labour
6 Nature of relations Monitoring Unitarist
7 Conflict Pluralist De-emphasised

Institutionalised

Khulna University
Strategic aspects
8 Key relations Labour management Customer
9 Initiatives Piecemeal Integrated
10 Corporate plan Marginal to Central to
11 Speed of decision Slow Fast

Khulna University
Line management
12 Management role Transactional Transformational
leadership
13 Key managers Personnel/IR specialists General/business/line
managers
14 Communication Indirect Direct
15 Standardisation High (e.g. 'parity' an Low (e.g. 'parity' not seen

issue) as relevant)
16 Prized management
skills Negotiation Facilitation

Khulna University
Key levers
17 Selection Separate, marginal task Integrated, key task
18 Pay Job evaluation (fixed grades)

Performance-related
19 Conditions Separately negotiated Harmonisation
20 Labour management Collective bargaining contracts Towards individual contracts
21 Thrust of relations with stewards Regularized through facilities and Marginalised (with exception
training of some bargaining for change
models)
22 Job categories and grades Many Few
23 Communication Increased flow

Restricted flow
24 Job design Teamwork

Division of labour
25 Conflict handling Reach temporary truces Manage climate and culture
26 Training and development Controlled access to courses Learning companies
27 Foci of attention for Personnel procedures Wide ranging cultural,

interventions Professor, Business Administration Discipline, structural and personnel
Khulna University Strategies

Human Resource Management: Introduction To HRM

Uploaded by

Copyright:

You might also like

Human Resource Management: Introduction To HRM

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Human Resource Management: Introduction To HRM

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Human Resource

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 1

the nature of the contemporary

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 2

which both significant in themselves and look

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 3

 A decline in the proportion of employees in trade unions;

 A decline in the proportion of employees whose pay in set by unionized

 A reduction in the range of employment issues that are handled collectively;

 A considerable volume of restructuring of organisations and employment

 A corresponding rise in short-term, part-time, contracted out or franchised

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 4

 This changing context of employment and provide some

 On the other hand, the impact that such changes have

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 5

it is derived from a more focused managerial

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 6

 Personnel Management is depicted as having

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 7

 The role of individuals and groups as employees

 To a large context , this fundamental issue has been

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 9

Four broad perspectives of HRM are as follows:

 HRM is no more than a renaming of basic personnel functions which

 HRM represents a fusion of Personnel Management and Industrial

 HRM represents a wider conception of the employment relationship,

 HRM can be viewed as part of the strategic managerial function in

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 10

Personnel Management is 'on the ground'- and the rather more

In this sense, HRM might be viewed as no more than another trend

 HRM is more diverse and complex in nature than that of (Personal

 The professional desire is to present the management of employees as a

 An important outcome of this approach is to view some of these

 A further significant shift in thinking connected with this second

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 13

Perspective is to stress the

rather than the collective employment models

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 14

 Personnel management sought to introduce, administer or rectify

This emphasis has fostered a culture within Personnel

The logical extent of HRM model is reached in

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 17

 HRM considers, any alternative to this formalised

 HRM is concerning the role of supervisors, work

“The advent of Japanese management systems has, however,

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 19

The responsibility of the employer for

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 20

In the United States there has been a resurgence of

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 21

In the UK this has been expressed in terms of our

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 22

To this extent, HRD and HRM have opened a

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 23

Historically, the management of Industrial Relations and personnel

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 24

 HRM is about shaping and delivering corporate strategies with

 A further element in this construction of HRM points to its

Compiled by Mehedi Rahman, Associate 25

 Thus international companies which seek to deploy homogeneous

 HRM can be so simply defined in terms of individual firms’ assumptions