Role of Front Line Managers in the Success of HR Policies - Essay Example

Managing people Introduction Role of front line managers in success of HR policies and practices has been emphasized throughout the leadership and HRM literature. In this regard, Armstrong states, ‘“Front-line managers are crucial to the success of HR policies and practices” (2006: 93). However, research indicates otherwise. Researches and practical evidences have surfaced many issues and concerns related to front line managers’ involvement in human resource development through HR policies and procedures. This discussion critically evaluates the role of front line managers on successful execution of HR policies and practices based on various research findings and literature review. Various issues with respect to strategy, skills, competencies, people, work and leadership have been explored, which will not only highlight different issues but also give a sense of the magnitude of issues related to front line manager’s involvement in human resource development. Further, a conclusion has been drawn by summarizing the various issues/concerns and recommendations for HR department and leadership team have been proposed in order to make use of the actual potential hidden in this critical mass of leadership. Roles and functions of front line managers include ensuring the teams are achieving the required performance levels; coaching and development team members to achieve their targets; reviewing performance and provide feedback; conducting performance appraisals; and other management functions such as planning, organizing, and allocating work to front line staff on a periodic basis. In short, line managers manage most of the activities related to human resources. It is because of this reason, many HRD researchers propose that front line managers can be of great help in making HR policies and practices a success. However, this view has been criticized by many for various different reasons. Considering that front line managers work more closely with the front line staff than any other leadership team, this team should be able to influence the critical population of the organization to the maximum extent. With this notion, human re sources department levies high dependency on the front line leadership to successfully execute the HR policies and practices. The front line managers form the critical mass of leadership of an organisation because they are the direct face of organization for the employees in the front line which constitutes more than 75% of population in any organization. However, research indicates that many line managers are failing to motivate their staff and improve their performance (Armstrong, 2006). From Legge’s (1995) perspective, on a broader level integration of human resource policies with strategic business planning can help in bringing about appropriate organizational change (Armstrong & Baron, 2002: 12). However, Legge (2005: 124) later argued stating, ‘evidence shows that the integration of strategy and HRM is at best a lengthy, complex and iterative process and, at worst, that there is little evidence to suggest that widespread integration is achieved.’ The HR department formulates policies and practices in the best interest of the employees, but it fails to consider various factors affecting these situations like environmental trends, market behaviour, employee expectations etc. Moreover, involvement of HR personnel in strategic operational decisions is minimal and vice versa (Brewster & Larsen, 2000). Therefore, strategic integration of decisions from HR and operations perspective may not be effective; in other words, operations may not be able to fully embrace the HR policies and HR department may not be able to do complete justice to their personnel by framing policies and practices that are only partially beneficial and/or applicable. This limitation is usually faced by front line managers (FLM) in recruitment activity, which is usually carried out by the HR executives with minimal involvement of FLMs, as a result of which alignment of the new employees to business requirements may be affected. A classic example of this issue is in leave management. Employees are educated about leave policy and number of leaves one can earn, but they are not educated that the business requirements will have a significant impact on possibilities of availing their earned leaves. This causes significant conflict between the FLMs and their staff members very often (Armstrong, 2006). Another issue faced by front line managers in implementing the HR policies is the extent of empowerment given to them. Not all companies give such rights to the front line managers, who may be team leaders or assistant managers. Now that complete strategic integration of HR policies with business requirements is not possible, HR policies may be required to be tweaked as per the situation; however, front line managers do not possess such leeway in exercising their discretion (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005). In certain situations, FLMs find it very difficult to abide by the HR policies; and non adherence to the policies could lead to even worse situations. For example, a team leader may not be willing to apply HR policy related tardiness of employees to certain genuine situations; but, this may trigger conflicts or raise issues within the team. Work pressure limits FLM involvement in HR-related developmental activities. Operational targets and performance objectives engulf line managers’ time and efforts leaving little scope for taking up activities related to long-term development of their personnel. Moreover, performance criteria are aligned to business objectives rather than developmental activities. This makes line managers focus only on achievement of business objectives (Prucell et al, 2008; Siugzdiniene, 2008). Personnel development concerns may crop up during promotion cycles, internal job postings, performance appraisal sessions and/or when employees decide to leave the organisation. Form HR policies and practices perspective, front line managers’ involvement in deciding remuneration and pay hike is almost absent. Again, strategic integration of HR strategies and business requirements becomes the bone of contention. In appropriate remuneration and pay hikes in comparison with the market scales lead to great dissatisfaction among employees; in such cases, line managers can only counsel the employees to continue to perform which will have a very short-term effect. In such situations, no amount of HR initiatives can convince the staff members. It would not be possible to divulge all HRD functions to the line managers. Handling critical situations related to stress, work pressure, grievance and conflict should be retained with the HR specialists; however, in most cases, employees look up to their immediate managers for such issues unless the latter is involved in the issue. Although front line managers are expected to address such issues, lack of experience makes them incompetent in such situations. HR specialists can play a key role in handling such situations; but lack of close-knit partnership between HR team and operational team becomes the issue in such situations. Moreover, devolution of HR practices and policies to line managers leads to differential application of these policies by different line managers. This will further reduce the degree of integration between HR strategy and business goals between different departments (Wilton, 2010). Although much emphasis is laid on front line managers’ impact on execution HR related developmental activities, CIPD researches (2006) have pointed to the lack of line managers’ skills and competencies required for successful execution of the HR programmes (Prucell et al, 2008; p.72). If line managers have to take up the role of coaching, they should be equipped with effective coaching and training skills; likewise, if line managers are expected to manage performance, they need to be first trained on effective performance management aspects. Most importantly, if HR department expects to communicate and convey HR policies and practices to the larger population of the organisation through front line managers, then they should ensure these managers possess effective communication skills. Conclusions and recommendations In conclusion, the assertion that front line managers can influence the implementation of HR policies and practices stands strong from a theoretical and contextual perspective; however, its truth in practical situations is far from the proposal. Factors that have significant impact on diluting front line managers’ involvement in human resources development, derived from few studies and researches, include incongruent Strategic integration; work overload and stress related to business targets; limitations on empowerment and exercise of discretion; no involvement in strategic decisions related to remuneration and pay hike; and lack of skills and competencies. Keeping in mind the potential of front line managers’ in human resource development and in lieu of these impeding factors, human resources policies and practices should be made more conducive so that line managers can provide their valuable contribution effectively. This could begin with involvement of front line managers along with HR executives in recruitment process of front line executives. By participating in new employee induction and orientation activities, line managers can not only educate the employees of HR activities but also set clear expectations in line with business strategies. Further, it would be a good practice to train all front line managers, new and promoted, on all essential soft skills such as training and coaching skills, communication skills, time management skills etc. Senior leadership has a significant role in providing these opportunities to the front line managers by proper planning and organizing so that the line managers have time and opportunity to participate in training, induction, recruitment and other activities related to human resource development. References Armstrong, M. 2006. A handbook of human resource management practice. 10th Ed. London: Kogan Page Publishers. (Ch.5, pp: 93-98). Armstrong, M and Baron, A. 2002. Strategic HRM: the key to improved business performance. London: CIPD Publishing. Brewster, C, Larsen, H.H and Mayrhofer, W. 2000. Human Resources Management: A strategic approach? In Brewster, C and Larsen, H.H’s (Eds.) Human resource management in Northern Europe: trends, dilemmas, and strategy. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. (Ch.3, pp: 39-65) Legge, K. (2005). Human Resource Management: Rhetorics and Realities. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Marchington, M and Wilkinson, A. 2005. Human resource management at work: people management and development. 3rd ed. London: CIPD Publishing. (Ch.5, pp: 126-154). Prucell et al, J. 2008. People Management and Performance. Oxon: Taylor & Francis. (Ch.4, pp:59-75). Siugzdiniene, J. 2008. Line Manager Involvement in Human Resource Development. Viesoji Politika Ir Administravimas. ISSN: 1648-2603. No. 25, pp: 32-37. Wilton, N. 2010. An Introduction to Human Resource Management. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. (Ch.1, pp: 3-27). Read More