People and Organisation Management - Essay Example

People and Organisation Management Evaluation of the HR function and interaction with line managers Evaluation of the HR function and interaction with line managers Introduction Gone are the days when organizations used to invest on capital and technology only. Organizations have now realized that human resource is not only the greatest asset but also plays a vital role in success of an organization – For example, Siemens AG corporate slogan is: “We are nothing without great people”. The core of any management is to effectively manage the resourceful humans in order to achieve optimum production. HRM can be considered as the base of all management activities but it certainly is not the base for all business activities. The anorexic nature of businesses have made HRM too vital to be restricted to recruitment and people management rather it now demands a balance between achieving business objectives of financial and strategic requirements and meeting the human ambitions. Purcell and Hutchinson (2007) specify that by incorporating the responsibilities of HRM with line managers has shown constructive results considering performance appraisal, team briefing, discipline (*Code of Conduct), recruitment, dismissal, staffing, quality circles and employee empowerment. *Code of Conduct refers to a set of guidelines issued to employees by an organization to ensure that every employee abides by the primary values and ethical standards set out by an organization. Hall and Torrington (2005) determine that the main reason for voluntary resignation in many organisations is the inequity by the supervisors leading to disappointment amongst the employees. HRM should integrate in line with line managers in order to reduce staff turnover. They further state that high employees’ turnover and poor performance is directly related to low motivation – i.e. employees are not satisfied due to many reasons, e.g. unfair HR policies or favouritism/discrimination/biasness during performance appraisal, etc. etc. Katzenbach and Santamaria (1999) point out that keeping front line employees motivated is a crucial aspect for any organization in terms of the long term success. Line Managers have direct relationship with employees and customers, and play a key role in the HR aspect of general management work by making certain that absence procedures work and a reduced level of absentee is achieved. HR and Line managers’ interaction The essay basically investigates as a making reference to theoretical aspects whilst focusing on some organisations. It will shed light onto the front line environment of organisations in relation to the interaction between HR and Line manager and evaluate issues associated to the integration of line managers into HRM for the improved performance of the staff and organisations. When investigating from the perspectives of line managers and HR, it is important to discuss how HR involves the functions of Human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD). Line managers embrace HRD activities. Gibb (2003) indicates that the relationships connecting line managers to HRM and HRD are questionably changing – i.e. the inclusion of line managers’ has become mandatory in designing and implementing HRD and has now become more crucial than every before. He further claims that the increased involvement of line manager in HRD shall certainly demonstrate a more transparent use of HR resources. HRM in practice recruits people and manages employment relationships by involving planning, acquisition, development and utilisation of manpower (Storey, 2007). HRM gives great importance to good people management and according to many like a set of specific developed and customized HR practices quantifiably upgrade the level of performance (Arthur, 1994; McDuffie, 1995; Huselid, 1995). However, Becker & Gerhart (1996), argue that there still exists some uncertainty among HR practitioners in deciding the best practices that compel organizational performance. Cunningham and Hyman (1997) underline the role of line managers in endorsing the integrative culture of employee management through line management, whereas Thornhill and Saunders (1998) point out that line manager secure employee commitment to quality, despite the fact IRS Employment Review (1995), decentralization of HRM has also increased productivity. CIPD (2001) report signifies the involvement of line managers in training the front line employee, coaching and guidance, direct communication with employee and customers constructively manipulates the overall organizational performance (Hutchinson and Purcell, 2003). However, sometimes empowerment concept in an organisation does not yield the desired outcome and rather results in big losses. Empowerment of employees is basically aimed to make employees feel that they have the requisite power to take decisions in the interest of the Company and its businesses. However, For example, if an HR manager has an authority to hire & fire and he/she misuses the authority, it would inflict a heavy loss to an organization. According to the National NHS staff survey (2008) many cases come upfront complaining being bullied by both their line managers and other colleagues. The interaction between HR and line managers show the mass problem lies with line management. Line managers are not aware of the approach in dealing with the complex situations and instead of finding the root causes of the line managers decide to use bullying and belittling tactics. Considering the case of Beadles Group Ltd. 2003, the Trainee Sales Executive, Ms Angelica Graham, was compensated £178,000 as her line manager, car salesman Ralph Marriott was misbehaving and attempted sexual harassment. The employer had no written policy on sex discrimination, harassment or equal opportunities. The employees were not provided any training, guidance or advice to employees on the seriousness of bullying and harassment. The employer was therefore completely liable to pay her as he did not take appropriate actions in protecting the employees. Sandy Lim and Lilia M. Cortina (2005) conclude that the present findings suggest that such conventional approaches to intervention are likely to be limited, as interpersonal mistreatment comes in general, gendered, and sexualized varieties that are highly interrelated. These behaviors combine in employees’ experiences to have a considerable negative impact on well-being. Thus, sexual harassment interventions might do well to dovetail with those addressing incivility (Cortina et al., 2002). Instead of taking a dual path in combating either sexualized or generalized mistreatment, a concerted effort aimed at eliminating all elements of a hostile work environment might be more effective and efficient. In the case above, the fault clearly lies at the HR end. Reason being, first of all HR recruited the wrong person like Ralph Marriott who was perhaps least bothered about the job ethics at workplace. Secondly, HR failed to spell-out re: the stern disciplinary action against those found guilty in such cases. This fairly shows communications gap between HR and line managers. The process of selecting and recruiting human resources is the initial interaction of the any organisation with its prospective employees. According to CIPD (2007) report, 84% of the companies find the recruitment process as a difficult job. In many organisations, line managers are responsible for recruiting front line employees but the lack of training of standard HR practices they lose potential candidates (Torrington et al 2005). Price (2004), believe that dealing with training and support for line managers enable them to choose right candidates by analysing their core psychological skills and motivation aspirations. Megginson et al cited in Walton (1999), suggests the need to create a reflecting organisational policy framework that will equip line managers with active subordinate learning, its application and utilisation. Conclusion A developed communicative HR and line partnership would help out in illustrating and differentiate not only respective responsibilities but it will facilitate more sustainable system to be followed. Further, it may entail HR professionals to guide and provide training. If line managers will go through intense training on HR it would boost their capability. For line managers to assume more HR responsibility, it may be necessary to review their overall workloads. References Arthur, J.B. 1994, ‘Effects of Human Resource Systems on manufacturing performance and turnover’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 37, no. 3. pp. 670-687 [Online] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/256705 Accessed [12/03/2011]. Becker, B.E. and Gerhart, B. 1996, ‘The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organisational Performance: Progress and prospects’, Academy of Management Journal, vol 39, pp. 779–801 [Online] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/256712 Accessed [12/03/2011]. 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