HRM as an Agent for Management - Example

TITLE: HRM AS AN AGENT FOR MANAGEMENT (NAME) (COURSE TITLE) (INSTITUTION NAME) 29TH APRIL, 2009 Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and sound approach to the administration of the workers in an organization who individually and collectively help in the attainment of the goals of the company (Hailey, et al 2005). HRM means recruiting people, utilizing, sustaining and paying for their services in line with the occupation and organizational requirement. Workers provide skills, experience and knowledge which have economic value to a firm. The employees are therefore involved in the day to day operations of the business thus achieving the missions of a firm. It is argued that for a company to perform well, then the employees must be conversant with the objectives of the firm. It is also apparent that for employees to work well, they must be motivated and feel that they own the goals of the firm. The management has various roles and functions which may make it to overlook certain issues of employees in the absence of a well established HRM department. The HRM therefore comes in handy to play the role of being an agent; carrying out the activities that deal with workers of the firm on behalf of the top management. HRM can either devote itself to the workers by being a champion for their needs or it can involve itself as an agent of management by only assuming the supervisory role and not minding about the needs and attitudes of the employees. HRM can in some few instances assume both roles of being an agent of management as well as an advocate of workers (Greenwood, 2002).This paper is aimed at arguing out that Human Resources (HR) department’s is an agent for management. The HRM department is established within an organization so as to contribute to the overall aims of the firm. It therefore does not exist in solitude but rather it is part and parcel of the management process. The HR department exists so as to define the goals of a firm to the workers at their entry point to the organization and make them clear to the new employees. Established organizations have a human resources department which serves as the entry point as well as the exit point of personnel in the firm. The HRM is a very sensitive department or arm of management and as it deals with the people involved in the operationalization of the company’s objectives. It is the department that should be well equipped with the knowledge about the firm’s operations so that it can orient well the employees as they join the entire workforce within the organization. HRM activities have effects on worker behavior and hence influence bottom-line firm performance (Paauwe, 2004). If HRM practices are to have an impact on organizational performance, then employee attitudes have to be positively changed. It is therefore necessary to investigate not only what activities are being carried out, but also how they are passed and how they are received by workers (Truss, et.al., 2001).The first perceived part of the company’s HR division function is the administrative role, which is involved in the day to day running of the business and it centers on the management of the company infrastructure. The second function is strategic partner that is based on the strategic managing of people and bring into line HRM policy with company policy. This role is seen as ‘employee champion’ function in which HR is in charge of listening and responding to employees. Ulrich’s (1997) theory suggests that both roles should be performed concurrently to improve firm performance. The HR department is seen to have a critical role to play in motivating suitable employee behavior on behalf of the company. In viewing the company from a resource-based perspective, high performance of the company is crucial in attaining continued competitive benefit through internal resources. This can only be realized when the firm’s human resources available are valuable, rare and without substitutes (Paauwe, 2004). The HRM that is an agent of management might lay emphasis on performance strategically, but the human aspect of employees is neglected and therefore their work experience may deteriorate. Some firm’s strategies, such as cost cutting measures, may overlook the people orientated HRM roles of employee champion. This is by implementing certain policies like retrenchment or by reducing remuneration as a way of decreasing the cost of production. A company may decide to invest in the staffing or improvement of employees so as to realize the most wanted level of skillfulness and knowledge. These qualities are essential for employee attitude to be aligned with the company’s objectives, hence increasing on productivity. The HR department should go further than developing efficient HRM strategies and activities to ensure that they are executed suitably and are received by workers so as to attain the anticipated outcomes. Ulrich (1997) argues that the major role of HRM is that of being a change agent. This makes HRM an agency where the overall management of an institution is able to transform its practices for the better achievement of its goals. The Change Agent makes the HRM responsible for the smooth transition of staff during great changes in the company. The Change Agent is not restricted to ensuring smooth transitions whenever there is change but goes beyond and also suggests changes to the overall management basing on best practices occurring in the market. HRM has to utilize the skills of the workers and basic change management techniques to reduce the expenses of the transition. The HRM role has to establish the possible risky groups of workers and the efforts to make them more satisfied and secure during the transition. The overall management requests the HRM department to help in initiating the transformation within an institution. HRM is better placed to provide great knowledge of the workers and their interests. Therefore, those involved in the transformation processes can borrow the information about the interests of the workers from HRM and adjust their objectives to ensure that workers feel more contented with the changes to occur after the transformation. As a change agent of management, HRM also monitors the health of the firm and give the management possible ways of improving the general health of the institution. Conventionally, the role of the Human Resource Management in many companies has always been to serve as the organizing, regulating arm of top management. The role of the HR manager should be aligned with the needs of his or her changing institution. Thriving firms are seen to be more adaptive, flexible, and customer-centered. Therefore, within this context, the HR manager, who is considered efficient by the top management, is a strategic professional and/or advocate and a change mentor. In the today’s firms, for the HRM to ensure their competence and skill to be agents for management performance, then they must view themselves as strategic partners. As strategic partners the human resource professional contributes to the attainment of the organizational goals and objectives. It is worth noting that the HRM objectives are therefore formulated to support the achievement of the general and strategic aims and goals of management. The strategic HR professional is widely knowledgeable of the blueprint of organizational systems in which employees thrive. The strategic partnership affects HR practices such as the planning of job positions; recruiting, compensating and recognition. The HRM as a strategic partner also impacts performance, evaluation systems; occupation and succession designs as well as the overall employee development. As an agent of management, the HRM may also champion to some extent for the needs of employees. This role comes as a result of the wide knowledge of the workers by the HRM. In its role as the agent of management as well as the agent for change, HRM may propose initiatives that go along way in improving the working environment in which employees carry out their activities. This makes the employees motivated and work to contribute to the positive performance of the firm. This integral role of HRM makes it to bridge the gap between employees and their employers. HRM nurtures efficient techniques of establishing the objectives of the organization, improves communication in a firm and makes the employees to own the company. The HRM assists in creating the company’s culture and climate in which employees have the efficiency and dedication to attend to customers. The HR professional creates worker development chances, worker aid programs, and profit-sharing strategies. The HR proposes firm’s development interventions and effective approaches to problem solving. The HRM as an agent of management has the function of linking workers to the top management. It offers advice to top management on issues to do with employee development not necessarily to champion for their needs but to ensure that they contribute positively to the goals of the firm. In this context, the issue of HRM’s role can be viewed from an ethical perspective (Lowry, 2006). Ethical concerns are used as a foundation of coming up with specific standards against which HRM department may be evaluated. HRM performance should be evaluated on the basis of whether its role has assisted in making the workers perform and increase out put or not. Human resource management in principle is concerned with the management of people to attain institutional goals. HRM is normally viewed as the fruitful use of individuals in attaining the firm’s business goals and the fulfillment of individual worker needs. However, HRM has not lived to its role of fulfilling the employee needs as it is not their advocate but rather the link between them and the management. The second ethical issue is that HRM as an advocate of employees should endear to provide a platform for workers to fully develop and contribute to the success of the business. HRM practices should not be seen as to interfere with employees’ life so as to compel them to dedicate more to the goals of the firm (Keenoy, 1990). HRM’s role must therefore change from the traditional unbearable actions of authoritarian way of administration to allowing staff to make own choices guided by ethics. HRM has a responsibility to the society and it can live up to this role by ethically being concerned with the employees. This arises from its expected social responsibility that improves its image and not that it is advocating for the workers’ needs. The HRM as a link between employees and management therefore has to uphold the basic human rights of its workers and also be fair and just when dealing with civil and employment rights of the workers. The HR department will endeavor to ensure job security for the workers. The security of employees to stay on job regardless of the prevailing conditions is crucial to the employee hope and motivation at the work place. Motivation of workers is much needed to ensure that the company increases on output. Some private enterprises lack a framework that can enable conflict resolution within the organization that brings about biases. For instance, the management has used worker job dismissal as a way of settling differences at workplace. It is therefore important that the management puts in place measures that will hinder misuse of administrative or managerial powers by trampling on the rights of the subordinate or bringing about unjust judgment when dealing with employee discipline cases. The HRM comes in handy as it will involve itself in formulating regulations and procedures that deal with disciplining and dismissing an employee. The HRM needs to be approachable as a workers’ body. The department is supposed to desist from any form of high handedness. The department needs to welcome openness and consultation on matters that affect the employees. The department has to welcome feedback on how the workers view and find the services offered by the organization to the workers (Keenoy, 1990). HRM as a champion of employees need to ensure social and institutional justice. The department should advocate for equal opportunities for all workers. Every employee should have equal opportunity to be promoted based on their performance and that the process of staff promotion should be devoid of any form of biases. The department should ensure that all workers are free from any form of discrimination at the work place. There should be measures and rules that prevent any mistreatment of workers by their fellow workers or by their seniors within the same organization. The HRM should also cushion the employees against external forces. The department should always defend the employee incase of conflict that arises between the firm’s worker and outside parties and more so when the employee was acting in line of their duty. By so doing the HRM is carrying out its mandate of safeguarding the employees who are valued resources of the firm. The HRM should ensure that the employees receive a fair pay based on the tenets of equity and distributive fairness. This will encourage them to perform with dedication. It is the responsibility of the HRM to ensure the safety of employees at the workplace as dictated by the tenets of avoiding injury and exposure to dangerous conditions at the workplace. The employees require privacy as stipulated by the tenets of liberty and independence. For instance when the management decides to increase the working hours for employees, necessary consultations that involve the workers through the HRM department should be adhered to. Another way in which HRM needs to observe ethics as it acts as an agent for management is through social justice as seen through social contracts (Lowry, 2006). The HRM needs to ensure the existence of institutions that make sure that the overall management of the firm respects the social contracts with its employees. The infringement of the ethical rights of employees, who have entered such contracts, should be followed by a procedure of independent arbitration and enforcement of rights. This is the moral argument that has been used to justify "soft" HRM as a best management practice of the firm. For instance, when the market mechanism has been unsuccessful in protecting the rights of workers, then companies may move in to safeguard these rights. As an agent of management, HRM endeavored to ensure that work was done and that there was performance regardless of the needs and attitudes of the workers. It is apparent that the department of Human Resources Management should move beyond the recruitment of workers and firm performance role to that of developing workers. The HRM can achieve this by ensuring that there are both institutional and legal frameworks that ensure that employees of the firm are cushioned against frustration at the work place and that their basic human rights are respected. By improving the welfare of workers, the HRM wins over the employee loyalty and commitment which is translated into high performance in the long run. The HRM as a department is interactive with the employees of the firm. It serves as their entry and exit points and hence the HR manager is better suited to understand the needs and attitudes of the workers and how to manage them in the best positive way to achieve positive results within the company. It is apparent that HRM is a creation of management and exists to ensure efficiency in management. The HRM can not take on the role of an advocate for employees as this is the role of trade unions and employee associations. The HRM exists to ensure that there is clear communication of objectives of the firm between the employer and employee so that the two parties work in harmony concentrating their efforts towards the achievement of organizational goals. Wherever the HRM department lacks in an organization, there is always miscommunication and mistrust between the management and the work force (Storey, 1995). This is because of suspicion that always crop up in any people organization. The HRM comes in to receive the concerns and feedback from workers, forward them to the management and communicate back the policies and objectives of the firm as stipulated in the company’s policy framework developed by the management. The human resources manager sits on the company’s managerial board or committee solely to bridge the gap between employees and management. In their role as the agent of management and linking the employees to the management, the workers’ interests and needs are addressed. For instance, the HRM can suggest a pay rise for workers who work on overtime in order to ensure effectiveness and efficiency, hence benefiting the workers. However the intention of the proposal was not to champion for their needs per se but was to improve performance and increase output through extra hours spend on the job. The employees benefit from this arrangement but the firm benefits even the more in the long run. 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