Human Resource Management Overview

Human Resource Management

• Critical for any business, especially tertiary and quaternary sectors
• Involves managing personnel to ensure objectives are met
• Includes terms and conditions of employment, recruitment, training, motivation, wage bargaining, pensions, and manpower planning

Factors Influencing HR Planning - External

• Immigration
• Technological change
• Government regulations/laws
• Demographic change
• Social trends
• State of the economy
• Changes to education
• Labor mobility
• Flexi-time, remote working, etc.
• Pool of labor available for work

Factors Influencing HR Planning - Internal

• Changes in business organization
• Changes in business finance
• Changes in labor reactions
• Changes in business strategy

Human Resource Planning

• The people are the heart of a company (the workforce produces goods and services)
• The number of employees and their skill levels change with demand
• Firms create plans for future workforce requirements

Key Terms

• Demographic changes - shifts in factors like birth/death rates, ethnicities, religion, and education levels
• Labor mobility - workers' ability to move occupationally or geographically
• Immigration - movement across countries for a permanent residency
• Privatization - shift away from public to private sector
• Increased employee migration across borders
• Increased female workforce participation
• Educational opportunities

Changes in Work Practices - Decline

• Traditional work routines are under pressure from employees needing flexibility
• Full-time work (35-40 hours/week in EU, 50-60 hours/week in the US)
• Permanent contracts

Changes in Work Practices - Increase

• Part-time work (less than full-time hours)
• Temporary work (fixed-term contracts)
• Freelancing (self-employed/multiple employers)

Teleworking, Homeworking, Flexi-time

• Work from home/telecom center with required office hours
• Flexible work schedules allowing employees to adjust start/finish times
• Set hours, but flexibility in time of work

Casual Fridays, Weekend Adjustment

• Casual Friday attire
• 10-hour days squeezing 40-hour work week into 4 days
• Additional shift for workers working in short-term commitments

Hustle Culture

• Work dominates personal time leading to lack of self-care
• Career prioritization impacts other aspects like family and self-care

Impacts of Innovation on HR Processes

• To be innovative, businesses need to prioritize people
• Talent acquisition and retention through supportive environments
• Employee treatment is integral to success
• Employees are a company's greatest asset

Cultural Differences

• Power distance index (PDI) - degree of accepted inequality; high score indicates tolerance for unequal distribution of power, low score desires equalizing power
• Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV) - preference for loosely-knit or tightly-knit social frameworks
• Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS) - preference in society for achievement or cooperation for quality of life
• Uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) - society's tolerance for unconventional behaviors and ideas; high score = rigidity and intolerance; low score = relaxed attitudes

Reasons for Resistance to Change

• Discomfort, fear of the unknown
• Insufficient rewards
• Skills gap
• Lack of control
• Mistrust, poor communication
• Poor timing
• Prior negative experiences
• Social support

HR Strategies

• Create a vision, realign if needed
• Allocate resources
• Involve employees
• Communicate regularly
• Train employees appropriately
• Be aware of potential stress

Organizational Charts

• Formal representation of roles and responsibilities, reporting lines
• Common way to present organizational structure
• Depicts relationships of who reports to whom across levels

Hierarchy

• Number of responsibility levels within a business
• Each level signifies seniority

Line Manager/Staff Manager

• Line manager - Decision-making authority and bears responsibility for outcomes
• Staff manager - Communicates decisions but not responsible for outcomes. Administrative and secretarial staff

Chain of Command

• Decisions from top to bottom
• Helps organize workflow to ensure that higher-ups are heard and understood

Span of Control

• Number of subordinates directly under a manager's responsibility

Delegation

• Manager gives authority, not responsibility, for decision outcomes to a subordinate

Decentralization

• High degree of decision-making concentrated in a small group

Bureaucracy

• Emphasis on rules & procedures, administrative system

De-Layering

• Reducing hierarchy levels by removing management layers
• Increase decision-making ability of managers

Tall/vertical, Flat/horizontal Organizational Structures

• Tall vertical - Traditional, many levels, narrow spans of control, centralized decision-making, limited delegation.
• Flat horizontal - Reinvention, few levels, wider spans of control, decentralized decision-making, greater delegation

Project-Based Organization

• Emphasizes projects, teams, and task-based work

Shamrock Organization

• Uses a three-part structure (core, flexible workforce, and outsourced workers)

Appropriateness of Organizational Structures

• No single "correct" structure is one-size fits all, depends on the business itself.

Management is Made Up of People

• Managers organize and direct, not do the actual work
• They have specific responsibilities to ensure work is completed efficiently

Key Function of Management

• Universal functions: planning, organizing, commanding/directing, coordinating, controlling

Planning

• Defining objectives and best action plans

Organizing

• Assigning responsibilities to staff

Commanding/Directing

• Hiring the right people and directing them adequately

Coordinating

• Ensuring consistency and coordination between organizational parts

Controlling

• Setting targets and taking corrective actions, appraisal of performance.

Management vs Leadership

• Managers focus on tasks
• Leaders influence people through vision
• Styles: autocratic, paternalistic, democratic, laissez-faire, situational

Situational Leadership

• Adapts style to fit the situation: employees' experience, task importance, leader's experience

Cultural Differences

• Varying cultural perspectives: (power distance, individualism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, indulgence)

Motivation Theories

• Motivation crucial for productivity and creativity
• Factors like personal goals, skills, and reward influence performance.

Poor Staff Motivation

• Indicators of poor motivation like absenteeism, lateness, low performance.
• Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation

Motivation Theories

• Taylor's scientific management: improving efficiency through task standardization
• Herzberg's two-factor theory: hygiene needs (dissatisfaction) vs. motivators (job satisfaction)
• McClelland's acquired needs theory: achievement, affiliation, power
• Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory: autonomy, competence, relatedness

Adams' Equity Theory

• Input-output balance for motivation
• perceived fairness
• Perceived fairness impacts employee performance positively

Vroom's Expectancy Theory

• Expectancy (effort leads to performance), instrumentality (performance leads to reward), and valence (attractiveness of reward) influence motivation

Labor Turnover

• Rate of employee movement into and out of a business
• Measurement of retention and business steadiness
• Reasons for leaving a job

Recruitment

• Identification of needs
• Application process
• Selection process - steps and best practices

Employee Relations

• Formal/informal relationships between employers and employees
• Trade union/employer negotiations

Employer/Employee Objectives

• Employee objectives - wages, conditions etc.
• Employer objectives - profit, retention etc

Negotiations

• Bargaining between parties to resolve conflicts

Sources of Conflict

• Differences in goals, values, resources or changes to the environment

Change

• Driven by internal/external reasons
• Includes introducing new technologies, changes in work habits

Poor Communication

• Lack of communication impacting working relationships
• Misunderstanding or conflict as potential outcomes

Poor Performance

• Inadequate skills, or lack of commitment that impact worker performance
• Poor performance is a potential source of conflict

Conflicts Occurring in the Workplace

• Internal/external conflict; stemming from misalignment in values/needs

Ethics Matter

• Crucial component impacting management styles and leadership
• Managers/leaders must adhere to ethical conduct.

Communication

• Communication channels (formal/informal, visual/written) and barriers (different communication styles, conflict, cultural differences, poor performance) to communication