Managers Role in Human Resource Development - Essay Example

Manager’s role in Human resource development Management plays a crucial role in the development of human resource development. The manager’s role in the progress of the Human Resource department as well as the whole organization is quite significant as a manager bears the responsibility of making his workers work towards the set goals of the organization. A manager has to perform many duties in order to keep the lower staff into his control. One should attain various management skills such as one should be fair, successful, decisive, and enthusiastic, should have integrity, and should be supportive and truthful to become a good manager (Woods and Thomas, 1994). The manager has to prove himself as a powerful leader not by means of his autocracy but by building trust in his employees. Rothwell and Kazanas (2003) inform that the managers of HR department have to take the responsibility of establishing goals for the department and its purposes. Manager is also responsible for structuring the department according to its needs. Staffing, issuance of orders, deciding on differences, inter-departmental and outside the department communication, planning for department budgets and politics, all can be regarded as the roles of the manager of HR department and design a path towards development of the department (Rothwell and Kazanas, 2003). The advantages that can be found because of manager’s performance at HR department are many in number. Manager is responsible for communication within the department and outside the department; it means that the information from inside and outside should be gathered in order to take the right decisions. This factor is wholly advantageous as the employees are allowed to communicate with the manager and deliver their thoughts regarding a decision. The final decision stays with the manager; it means that the manager can collect information from various sources but should be decisive in order to come to a conclusion regarding a problem (Woods and Thomas, 1994). A manager has many responsibilities to bear and the tasks should be divided among his employees but leadership should be with him so that the performed tasks of the employees can be evaluated. As a manager is required to do lengthy and painstaking tasks, therefore, there should be consciousness behind any taken decisions and the manager should decide according to the needs of a situation. Sometimes, it is disadvantageous to give so many responsibilities to a manager as all the tasks cannot be justified fully because of over burdening of the manager. There should be a team of co-workers that should assist the manager in his tasks performance. If the manager lacks the ability to perform certain tasks, the HR department’s development can be impacted in a negative direction. The decisions taken by an HR manager cannot be always right. Many successful managers get a substantial proportion of their decisions wrong (Woods and Thomas, 1994). They may correct the decisions so that potential disaster does not occur. However, the managers should be considered trustworthy in order to make employees trust in them. The managers’ role in the HR development cannot be negated as it is the managers who have to decide for what should be implemented, who should be hired and how much to spend. The managers can take wrong decisions but they should be able to amend their wrongly taken decisions in order to safeguard the employees and department from any risky situation. Manager’s role in managing and rewarding performance Manager is required to manage the performance of his employees and has also to encourage them for their performance. The manager’s role in terms of management and rewarding for the performed work is quite clear. A manager is required to prove himself an efficient leader by selecting the right candidate for the task performance and motivating him in the right direction. The manager should give proper consideration to the kind of reward that is suitable for a performed task. Manager usually evaluates the job done by his employees by means of its successful output and when there is assurance that the job has been done successfully, the workers are appreciated by taking appropriate appreciative measures such as bonus, appreciation letters, increase in salary, promotion and so on (Woods and Thomas, 1994). Manager is the chief person in the evaluation of a job performed by an employee. The first and foremost job is the selection of right candidate for a task performance (Woods and Thomas, 1994). The job should be allocated by analyzing the skills of the employees in terms of their previously done jobs. In addition, the potential candidates are interviewed by the manager in order to ensure that they are ready to perform a certain task as without employee’s will, the job will be done adversely. Sometimes, the managers are unable to opt for the right candidate due to which, the end results are deteriorating. For rewarding performance, the managers conduct appraisals for evaluating the employees’ performance at various tasks. Through appraisal, the manager is provided with an opportunity to discuss performance of employees over the last year together with the plans and prospects for the coming year. The rewards that are given to the employees for their good performance and penalties and punishments that are given to the employees for their bad work motivate the employees to do better in future. Encouragement is very essential for the workers to make them perform better. The manager facilitates the employees with different kinds of rewards such as bonus payments, promotions and verbal and written appreciation (Woods and Thomas, 1994). All these steps taken by the manager are advantageous as employees are boosted to work in a better manner. The disadvantages of management and rewards assigned by the manager can be the rewards and motivation that are based on favouritism. This kind of rewards and bonuses that are given to employees result in unequal and biased work environment due to which, the other employees working in an organization are discouraged. The manager should take the right decisions while facilitating employees with any kinds of rewards for their performance (Mondy and Premeaux, 1992). The decisions should be based on right judgements so that the employees can be made to work better. With performance evaluation, the manager comes to know about the training or skills required by the employees according to which, his workers can be enabled to grow better according to their required skills and training. Manager should be highly responsible in managing his employees and in rewarding them according to their performed jobs. Any wrong reward or bonus can be a reason for stopping the employees to work in an excelling manner. The manager should take righteous and justified decisions and continuous appraisals should be there in order to facilitate the employee with encouragement and their due rights to excel in their field. Manager’s role in managing the employment relationship The manager of a department has to understand the weaknesses and strengths of his employees in order to assign them the tasks for which, they are the best. The manager can also plan for the development of employees by assessing their weaknesses and strengths; what training and skills the employees require can be known in addition to their own. Not knowing about them is often an advantage, as it avoids the preconceptions a manager may have about his current staff (Mondy and Premeaux, 1992). The managers should spend time and effort in developing the skills of their staff with their active cooperation. The manager should take care of not only his own development but his staff’s development and there should be a relationship development between the managers and the employees. It is important for the manager to discover the skills and talents of his staff. The manager should undertake a needs analysis. The employees should be assessed in terms of their needs so that proper training and management can be planned for them and their future development. The development of staff should be planned by the manager (Juneja, 2009). Appraisal is done in order to plan for the development of employees. Career planning is also there in order to motivate the staff to grow in future. In building relationships with the employees, the manager is required to communicate with the employees in order to know their problems (Mondy and Premeaux, 1992). In communication, listening to the employees is very crucial as the manager is able to decide according to his gained knowledge and information. Good relations are also created between manager and employees when the manager is people oriented and thinks about the betterment of employees such as plans for their development, involves them in decision making processes, negotiates with them on any transformation or change and encourages them according to their performed jobs and their efforts towards betterment of the organization. A skilled manager is one who involves his employees in his decision making process and problem solving (Juneja, 2009). In a people oriented management, the manager is able to interact with his employees and a common trust is developed between the manager and employees. A manager is able to be trustworthy in his employees’ eyes by becoming a role model for them. The manager should not only listen to his employees but also understand their problems by negotiating with them on various issues in order to come to a conclusion regarding their problems (Mondy and Premeaux, 1992). The employees should be motivated for better performance and should be rewarded for their successful jobs. In this manner, the employees are able to consider them related to the organization. They are able to see the benefits of the organization as their own benefits. The manager should also work for the conflict resolution between employees in order to create a disciplined workplace. It is quite evident that manager has a significant role in maintaining good relations between the employees and management. The manager has to understand the problems of the employees in order to find solutions for them. Proper planning should be there in order to work for the staff development and training. The staff is able to form a relationship with the manager if the manager encourages them for their good work, motivates them to perform better and involves them in the decision making process. References Armstrong, Michael (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 10th ed. London: Kogan Page. Juneja, Himanshu. (2009). Role of a Manager. Accessed on 31st October 2009 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Role-of-a-Manager&id=2068431 Mondy, R. Wayne and Premeaux, Shane R. (1992). Management Concepts, Practices and Skills. 7th Ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Rothwell, William J. and Kazanas, H. C. (2003). Planning and Managing Human Resources: Strategic Planning for Human Resources Management. 2nd Ed. Massachusetts: Human Resource Development Press. Also available on http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=50qBiCdl8SEC&dq=Manager's+role+and+HR+department&source=gbs_navlinks_s Woods, Mike and Thomas, Elwyn. (1994). The Manager’s Casebook. New York: Penguin Business. Read More