The Difference between Personnel and Human Resource Management - Assignment Example

?Task a. Explain the difference between personnel and human resource management and discuss the HRM function in terms of its contribution to organisational purpose. Armstrong (2008, p. 98) argues that both the personnel management and human resource management departments are very critical for any organizations as far as delivery of services is concerned. One of the major functions of human resource management is to ensure that all decisions and activities that affect the human resources are effectively managed. This includes, recruitment of staff, ensuring that staff is highly motivated through better remuneration, provision of benefits and training among others. Personnel management, on the other hand, is mainly concerned with the management of the workforce instead of resources, according to Armstrong (2008, p. 98). Personnel managers, unlike human resource managers mainly handle administrative duties such as ensuring that the immediate needs of employees in an organisation are met so as to ensure effective working environment. Koster and Koster (2007, p.6) also note that the two management functions also differ in terms of the nature of relations. In this regard, whereas HRM focuses more on group interest by ensures that the needs of all the employees in an organization are met, personnel management, on the other hand, focuses more on the interest of an individual employee instead of the group as is the case with HRM. In this regard, the management and employees exhibit a contractual relationship where one recruits and others perform according to Koster and Koster (2007, p.6). Koster and Koster (2007, p.7) allude that the duo also differ in terms of management and power relations. In this regard, whereas power in HRM is highly decentralized and is shared between lower and middle level management groups. Power in personnel management is highly centralized. As a result, in personnel management, all the decision affecting an organization is made by top management and communicated vertically to subordinates and employees. Here, even the personnel managers are excluded from taking part in decision making regarding the welfare of employees according to Koster and Koster (2007, p.8). B. Assess the role and responsibilities of a line manager in your chosen organization. Armstrong (2012, p.44) argue that line managers plays crucial roles in the organisation by helping in ensuring that the human resource functions are discharged accordingly. The important roles of a line manager have particularly been seen in NHS that has a line manager working alongside the HR manager. Some of the principal duties performed by line managers at NHS include supervision, staffing, and ensuring that employees work in a safe and healthy environment. Regarding supervisory functions, line managers at NHS keeps maintain direct contact with all employees at the hospital through engagement. This gives them the opportunity to monitor the quality of work performed by employees in the course of their duties. At the same time, line managers ensures that every employee report to their duty station in time to ensure effective and timely delivery of services to patients at NHS hospital. Supervisory duties of line managers is very crucial because it also ensures that any vacancy that may arise due to absenteeism or unknown reason is filled to ensure timely discharge of duties according to Armstrong (2012, p.45). Armstrong (2012, p.45) also reveals that line managers can sometimes take up the position left vacant while awaiting the arrival of an employee so as to ensure that no work is left unattended. In addition, line managers ensure that all personnel are present to ensure that no department is left unmanned. Armstrong (2007, p.512) also notes that the line manager at NHS in collaboration with HRM ensures that the hospital has enough staff. In this regard, in case of a shortfall, the line manager is expected to report the matter to the HRM to enable the organisation to hire someone to fill the vacancy. In addition, a line manager as apparent at NHS is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that new employees are adequately trained so as to ensure quality service delivery to patients and other stakeholders. Additionally, a line manager at NHS is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that t employees are adequately trained so as to keep up with the changes taking place in their line of the profession and duties. As earlier stated, safety is very important in any given organization. As such, a line manager at NHS ensures that the working environment in the hospital is safe and healthy for workers so as to avoid injuries and spread of diseases within the hospital. As a result, line managers are expected to ensure that employees understand the safety rule and regulation so as to avoid physical injuries that may result in the course of their duties according to Armstrong (2008, p. 94). Other important duties played by line managers at NHS hospital include appraisal of employee performance to ensure that they discharge their duties as required. In this regard, those found to perform below par are provided with the necessary training. In addition, line mangers at NHS ensure that employees maintain a high standard of discipline by sett setting expectations for his team. In fact, this role has ensured that employees at NHS maintain high standards of discipline within the organization. C. Examine the organisational environment that impacts HRM function in your organisation, outlining the impacts of legal and regulatory framework of the country. The HR function at NHS is influenced by several organizational environmental factors such as policies adopted by the organization, which the organization is required to follow regardless of other issues. The HR function is also influenced by the labor unions, which dictates terms or employment in the organization. Others include the financial status of the organization, which may limit staffing needs of the organization. In addition to these environmental factors, the NHS's HR does not work in a vacuum; instead, it is regulated by certain laws that determine its scope. In this regard, the human resource function of NHS hospital must comply with all the legal principles and guidelines in executing their mandates. One such a regulatory framework pertains to employee benefits in which the law has established minimum salary that the HR at NHS must not offer a salary below this minimum threshold set by labor laws regardless of the economy or financial status of the hospital (Jackson, Schuler, and Werner 2011, p.60). Therefore, a breach of this law has the effect of putting the hospital at danger of being sued by the employee whose rights has being infringed. The labour union in the U.K. also influenced significantly the operation of HR functions at NHS. The labour unions in the K.U. are non-governmental organizations formed to protect the rights of employees in the country (Jackson, Schuler, and Werner 2011, p.60). Therefore, the unions ensure that all organizations such as the NHS comply with all the labour laws in the country. They also ensure that employees are fairly regulated by their employers, as well as ensuring that the employees working conditions are favorable and safe. The affirmative action has also impacted hugely on the HRM of NHS hospital. The affirmative action requires that employers should recruit its workers without any form of discrimination based on religion, race, color, nationality, ethnicity, gender or language Jackson, Schuler, and Werner (2011, p.61). What is evident is that the affirmative action has ensured that the HRM has diverse expertise drawn from different parts of the world. This is because affirmative action has compelled the HR to recruit its employees based on merit without any form of discrimination. This explains why NHS is credited for quality health service delivery in the entire U.K. Task 2: a. Discus how important is the role of human recourse planning in your organisation and outline the stages of the planning process. Kleynhans et al. (2009, p.14) argue that HR planning is very important in any organization as it performs many tasks such as recruitment, career development, training and determining the benefits and compensation packages for employees. All these functions require proper planning for effective execution. Human resource planning is important for the following reasons: Human resource planning is actually one of the most important roles of an HR manager in an organization. HR planning is very important for a number of reasons. Firstly, human resource planning ensures that an organization is adequately staffed all the time. With proper HR planning, an organization cannot witness any shortage in the workforce because it ensures that any vacancy that arises in an organization is filled as first as possible according to Mathis and Jackson (2011, p.61). In this regard, HR planning helps an organization recognize in advance, how long it is likely to take to hire a new employee to fill any vacancy in the organization, and what needs to be done to speed up the hiring process. Other pivotal roles of HR planning in an organization include ensuring that workers are adequately trained for development purposes Jackson, Schuler, and Werner 2011, p.51) It also ensures that an organization such as the NHS to plan for their physical facilities, employee working conditions and fringe benefits. In addition, HR planning ensures that an organization understands and meet the needs of its staff such as promotions, transfers and salary increments just to name but a few. Proper HR planning also contributes to increased productivity in an organization. Stages involved in HR planning HR planning at NHS hospital usually follows four major steps: The first stage usually pertains to the evaluation of hospital’s long and short-term goals, which anomaly pertains to ensuring that the staff at the hospital is highly satisfied. In addition, it aims at ensuring quality service delivery to patients in the hospital. After the goals have been determined, the second stage involves the evaluation of the needs of human resource that may be vital for effective accomplishment of the organizational goals. Some of the issues assessed at this stage include the physical facilities, staffing needs, as well as the organizational financial needs to get the resources in place. Other things evaluate here includes the skills required of an employee to be able to do a certain job according to Mathis and Jackson (2011, p.61). Thirdly, the human resource planning at NHS pertains to listing of available human resources. At this stage, an assessment is done to ascertain the number of employees likely to retire in the near future, and a plan for their replacement is drawn (Kleynhans et al. (2009, p.15). Finally, the HR planning involves predicting what the organization may need in so as to achieve its mission. This stage involves among other things hiring new workers to fill vacant positions, appraisal of employees, as well as providing training needs to employee (Kleynhans et al. (2009, p.15). The HR then considers how the planned changes can be implemented and integrated with the HRM system already in use. b. Analyse the recruitment and selection process in your organisation comparatively with another organisation and evaluate their effectiveness. Jackson, Schuler, and Werner (2011, p.65) argue that recruitment and selection process are very crucial for any organization regardless of their size. This is because it ensures that an organization has enough staff to cope up with the duties in an organization. It also ensures that an organization has highly qualified staff for quality service delivery. NHS hospital is one among many organizations in the U.K. that hires new staff occasionally to meet its staffing needs. Bellow is the recruitment and selection process adopted by the HRM at NHS hospital. Firstly, when a vacancy arises in the hospital, HR department usually begins its recruitment process by sourcing for potential candidates to fill the position. The candidates are usually sourced by placing an advert on the hospital’s official website and other careers websites. In addition, the vacancy ad is placed on NHS Clearing House, or on the NHS intranet in case of internal ads according to NHS (2008, p.7). Secondly, the hospital’s HR then receives applications, which are then evaluated to determine those who have met the qualifications, and skills are expressed in the advert. Candidates that meet the requirement are then shortlisted within the first 3-4 days after the closing date for submission of applications. According to the NHS rules, shortlisting must be done in the presence of all intended interviewees to ensure compliance with the criterion set for the interview (NHS 2008, p.12). This is then followed by interview of the all the shortlisted candidates. The interview in most cases is done on a face-to-face with the candidates in the hospital’s boardroom to test the candidate’s qualification as indicated in the curriculum vitae. As this is done, every panelist indicates his or her score for each candidate, from which a candidate with the highest score from the interview is picked for the position (NHS 2008, p.7). Once the decision has been made, the right candidate is then called to report at the designated station to begin working. It is here that the candidate is informed of all terms and conditions of the job drug test done, background inquiry made and the employee shown his or her responsibilities for the job according to NHS (2008, p.12). The analysis of the procedure followed at NHS showed many similarities with that followed by the HR of British American Tobacco (BAT). This is based on the fact that BAT like NHS begins its recruitment process by sourcing for potential candidates through adverts, which is placed on their official website, and other career sites (Jackson, Schuler, and Werner 2011, p.62). However, unlike at NHS where ads are not placed on print media, BAT does so by placing the ad on print media, as well. A one on one interview then follows from which the best candidate is picked for the position. However, unlike at NHS where no candidate is required to produce a referee, it became apparent that this is a mandatory requirement to ensure that the company understands its employee’s background very well. Task 3: a. Using examples assess the link between motivational theory and reward. Motivation is key to employee performance, which also determines the success of an organization (Graham and Weiner 2010, p.74). This is because research has shown that a motivated worker tend to be more productive than an employee who is demoralized. Several theories have been put forward in an attempt to explain how people are motivated. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is one such theory that has attempted to explain how people are motivated. According to Maslow, people are motivated by several needs existing hierarchically (Graham and Weiner 2010, p.74). In this regard, he concluded that only the unsatisfied needs could influence an individual’s behavior. In his observation, he also noted that needs already met has no motivational effects on people. Other theories that have supported that of Maslow include Herzberg's two-factor theory, Alderfer's ERG theory, and McClelland’s needs theory (Graham and Weiner 2010, p.74). The common denominator for all these theories is that people are motivated to work hard once their needs have been satisfied. Reward is one of the principal motivating factors according to this theory. This implies that reward and motivation are a direct relationship (Saiyadain 2009, p.101). This is because giving reward has huge motivating effect on employees. For instance, NHS usually motivates its staff by giving out a number of rewards among them being promotion, leadership position, salary increments, and scholarships among others (NHS 2008, p.13). In fact, the hospital has noted that most employees whom it has rewarded have been very productive in their line of duties because of motivation. B. Evaluate and discus how your organisation determines pay using the process of the job evaluation and assess the effectiveness of the reward system in the chosen organisation. NHS usually carries out periodic job evaluation to determine how well employees perform their duties. The job evaluation I also conducted to determine the relative worth of the job to assist in determining the salary of every worker in the organization. Report from the hospital indicates that once the HR has determined the relative worth of every job in the organization, it is then that a pay grade that matches the job responsibilities and skills are allocated. What is evident is that jobs that demand much expertise are awarded higher pay package than those that are relatively simpler (NHS 2008, p.13). In addition, job evaluation is normally conducted at NHS to determine the skills and experience that each job require. As a result, the hospital usually award high pay rates to jobs that require technical skills to do than those that can be done without necessarily having to poses unique skills. For instance, based on the hospital’s job evaluation, doctors are paid high salaries compared to matrons and cleaners because of the skills and experience that their jobs demand (NHS 2008, p.14). c. Discus how employee performance is measured and examine the methods used to monitor performance in the chosen organisation There are a number of methods used to measure the performance of an employee. Firstly, an employee performance can be measured in terms of the quality of the word delivered. In this regard, an employee whose work satisfy quality requirement is rated higher than an employee whose works has low quality. Secondly, the performance can be measures by evaluating how timely an employee delivers and finishes his or her work. In this regard, employees who finish their work in a timely manner would be rated highly than those who take too long to finish their assigned duties. Other measures of performance include how creative an employee is, cost-effectiveness, adherence to policy, output achieved, and absenteeism among others (Mathis and Jackson 2011, p.42). Monitoring the performance of staff is very essential because it forms the basis on which employee performance is evaluated. NHS monitors the performance of its employees by carrying out yearly performance reviews to ascertain whether its staff is doing their jobs as outlined in their job descriptions. In addition, performance review is conducted to determine how satisfied employees are in the job, as well as what needs to be done to improve the quality of service delivery to patients in the hospital. The appraisal is normally done by an employee’s immediate managers who understands them best (NHS 2008, p.15). The performance of employees at NHS is also monitored through feedbacks from the institutions clients such as patients, and relatives of the patients who are called upon to express their view as regard the services they receive from the hospital’s staff. Monitoring helps the hospital’s HR in understanding where to make adjustments such as knowing employees who require additional training to cope up with their assignments (NHS 2008, p.15). Task 4: a. Examine the causes of termination of employment with an organization There are several reasons that may lead to cessation of an employee’s services at NHS. Firstly, an employee’s services can be terminated through voluntary resignation. This normally takes place when an employee writes a formal resignation letter requesting to be relieved off his or her duties. Secondly, an employee’s services at the hospital can be terminated when an employee infringes the rule and regulations set out by the hospital such as breaking the ethical principles established by the hospital. Thirdly, an employee can be relieved off his or her duties if the hospital finds the quality of work to be below standard (Hephaestus Books 2011, p.35). In some cases, an employee’s services can be terminated if he or she is incapacitated due to sickness, insanity, or death. Finally, the services of an employee at NHS can be terminated through downsizing as a cost-cutting strategy during hard economic times. b. The exit procedures used by two organisations (your chosen and another) Usually, when an employee’s services are terminated, for example, through voluntary resignation, the employee will be required by the management of the hospital to notify the management of his or her intention to resign. Once the employee has tendered his or her resignation to the HR, the HR then evaluates the motives behind the resignation and assessing the records of the employee before he or she can be allowed to leave. Now, the employee is requested to surrender all the hospitals facilities and records to the manager in charge. The benefits of the employee are then calculated and paid to the employee after before being set free to leave. It is worth noting that this exit procedure is the same in all other employment sensations (NHS 2008, p.12). British American Tobacco (BAT) also adopts a similar procedure because it came out that when an employee feels like resigning from the organization, he or she is required to let known his or her intention in time (Mathis and Jackson 2010, p.16). Like NHS, the employee's record is then assessed to determine the reasons for resignation. However, in case the termination is due to other reasons other than resignation, the HR is required to assess the record of the employee to ascertain if the employee had been warned before. It is then that the employee is requested to hand over all the resources of the company at his or her disposal. The benefits are then calculated and handed to the employee after which he or she is allowed to live. c. Assess the impact of legal and regulatory framework when arranging employment cessation termination. Cassation of employee’s services must be done strictly in accordance with the law. In this regard, before an organization can terminate the services of an employee, the HR must ensure that a proper procedure is followed since any contravention of the law may lead to litigation in which the aggrieved party may sue the organization for breach of contract. Such litigation may prove costly for an organization because it may be directed to pay damages to the plaintiff, which is the employee whose services are terminated prematurely according to Jackson, Schuler, and Werner (2011, p.66). References Armstrong, M. (2008), Strategic human resource management: a guide to action. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Armstrong, M. (2007), A handbook of employee reward management and practice. Oxford: Kogan Page Publishers. Armstrong, M. (2012), Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Oxford: Kogan Page Publishers. Graham, S., & Weiner, B. (2010), Theories and principles of motivation. University of California, Los Angele. Pp. 63-83. Hephaestus Books (2011), Articles on grounds for termination of employment, includingwhistleblower, sexual harassment, absenteeism, no call, no show, job fraud, sleeping while on duty, Alvarado V. Gorton and the Union Pacific Railroad Co. London: Hephaestus Books. Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S., & Werner, S. (2011), Managing human resources. Cambridge: Cengage Learning. Kleynhans, R., Markham, L., Meyer, W., O'Neill, C., Schlecter, A., van Aswegen, S., Botha, S., & Lotz, O. (2009), Fresh perspectives: human resource management: uj custom publication. Johannesburg: Pearson South Africa. Koster, M., & Koster, M (2007), Human resource management versus personnel management. London: GRIN Verlag. Mathis, R.L., Jackson, J.S. (2010), Human resource management. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Mathis, R.L., & Jackson, J.H. (2011), Human resource management: essential Perspectives. London: Cengage Learning. NHS (2008), Human resources policy no. HR10. Employee Appraisal/Development Review. Pp. 3-15). Saiyadain (2009), Human resources management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Read More