Everything you need to know about the role of human resource management. HRM means managing men or people. It is people, if not properly managed become problem.
HRM involves all managerial decisions, policies and practices that influence human resources directly.
According to Davi A Decenzo and Stephen P. Robbins, “HRM is a process consisting of the acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of human resource.”
HRM is concerned with the people dimension in management. Since every organization is made up of people, acquiring their services, developing their skills, motivating them to high levels of performance and ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization are essential for achieving organizational objectives. This is true regardless of the type of organization, government, business, education, health, recreation or social action.
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The role of human resource management can be categorised into the following heads:
A. Developmental Role of Human Resource Management
B. Changing Role of Human Resource Management
C. Functional Role of Human Resource Management in Areas Like:- 1. Marketing 2. Finance 3. Production & Operation and 4. Information Technology
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D. Role of Human Resource Management in Strategic Management:- 1. Providing Purposeful Direction 2. Focus on Core Competency 3. Facilitation of Change 4. Creating Competitive Advantage 5. Management of Workplace (Workforce) Diversity 6. Managing Executive Information Systems (EIS) 7. Motivational Approaches 8. Empowerment of Human Resources 9. Total Quality Management (TQM) 10. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and 11. Quality Circles.
E. Role of Human Resource Management in Strategic Management Process:- 1. At Strategy Formulation Level 2. At Strategy Implementation Level and 3. At Strategic Control Level.
F. Welfare Role of Human Resource Management
G. Role of Human Resource Management in Total Quality Management (TQM)
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H. Future Role of Human Resource Management in India:- 1. Change in the Nature of Work 2. Widening Scope of HR Activities 3. Greater Emphasis on HRIS 4. Change in Labour-Market Conditions 5. Increasing Importance of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) and 6. Growing Need for Measurement Tools to Evaluate HR Programmes.
Additionally, learn about the meaning, definition and concept of human resource management.
Role of Human Resource Management – Developmental Role, Changing Role, Functional Role, Welfare Role & Future Role
Role of Human Resource Management – Developmental Role of Human Resource Management
In the fast-changing, challenging and competitive environment today, there are great many challenges to HRM for the growth, development, expansion and progress of organizations in the world of work. Among the areas of human resource management, the area of employee development is bound to assume great significance. There is strong belief that only when human resources are properly developed, HRM will improve in practice, visibility as well as status.
In order to appreciate the developmental role of human resource management, it is useful to understand T. V. Rao’s concept of HRD- ” In the organizational context, HRD is a process by which the employees of an organization are helped, in a continuous planned way to-
i. Acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with their present or expected future roles;
ii. Develop their general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit their inner potentials for their own and/or organizational development purposes;
iii. Develop an organizational culture in which supervisor-subordinate relationships, team-work, and collaboration among subunits are strong and contribute to professional well-being, motivation and pride of employees. ”
The developmental role of human resource management thus could be considered as an attempt to develop the capabilities of an employee as an individual and in his present and future role in harmony with organizational needs and expectations.
Accordingly, developmental role of human resource managers necessitates them to undertake employee relations activities aimed at enhancement of human dignity and growth. They are required to emphasize reciprocity and mutuality in relations. Human Resource managers will be required to treat employees, in letter and spirit, as valued resources to be enhanced and developed fully.
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They will be required to demonstrate special ability to enhance the quality of relationships in the organizational context. They will also have to develop ability to attract and retain in the relational network people with relevant skills, information, knowledge, attitudes, insight, foresight and wisdom required for organizational growth, development, expansion and progress in the world of work.
Developmental role of HRM calls for pro-active human resource policies. Such policies should be based on trust, openness, equity, consent and consensus so as to achieve relational harmony rather than policies based on hierarchical control and direction so as to achieve relational hierarchy. Instead of strict adherence to rules, such policies aim at developing a dialogue for coordinating the diverse activities and efforts of workforce.
Pro-active human resource policies also aim at restructuring reward systems to sustain motivation. They aim at integrating interests and needs of employees with the objectives of the organization and to develop a workforce that has both the “will to do” and the “skill to do” good work and superior performance. In order to create such able and willing workforce, human resource managers will have to think of innovative and creative policies and programmes.
The basic focus of all attempts will be to bring about change in the mind-sets of employees towards constructive, positive approach in their interactions and communications. Behavioural Science suggests that a positive focus creates greater sense of well-being and greater opportunities for social good than a negative focus. The transactional analysis modal essentially advocates “I’m OK-you’re OK” life position which leads to appreciative orientation in dealing with people.
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The developmental role of HRM essentially calls for creating such positive and appreciative orientation towards living and working. Its role is highly significant in improving work culture and productivity as well as QWL. Positive work climate is conducive to healthy organizational dynamics and healthy development of human resources. In such work environment employees would be continuously learning, growing and contributing to organisational success and endurance.
The developmental role of HRM, in short, focuses on healthy development of human resources and enhancement of human dignity and growth. This essentially means creating employee satisfaction and developing their intelligence and competence.
In order to reconcile the individual, organizational and societal interests, it is essential for HR managers in this role to deal with the feelings and attitudes of employees in conjunction with the principles and policies of organization. Thus, this role essentially calls for integrating people into work situation in the HRD way.
Although the goals of HRD are not very different from many espoused goals of personnel management in the past, an HRD approach to those goals is based on new knowledge and techniques. Human Resource Managers will have to equip themselves with these rather than falling into the trap of treating it as “old wine in new bottles.”
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Human Resource Managers of tomorrow have a challenging and rewarding task ahead to ensure the development of human beings in the fullest sense of the term in all aspects.
Role of Human Resource Management – Changing Role of HRM
Fast-changing retail trends are heavily influencing the HR strategies in retail, which started off as operational function and soon became a strategic partner in the business. HR departments very initially were called as payroll departments. Then renamed as staff management, followed by another metamorphosis to personnel and then to HRM, which have been in the frontier of change management in retailing.
From a retail organization’s point of view, if we go into the flashback mode and rewind the memories to few years back, we think about the words such as “employee retention,” “talent matrix,” “succession planning and manpower budgeting,” “resource optimization,” and so on. These are the notions that were good to hear in the annual meetings or during HR planning meetings in many companies. However, with changing times, now the retail industry itself has changed so drastically within these few years that managing the “people factor” requires a lot of attention from every department.
HR’s key performance indicators were designed purely on hiring, payroll/staff administration, and so on and so forth, but now, with the changing business environment and more exposure to HR functions via education, the role has emerged to be a business partner. HR leaders’ influence is becoming increasingly strategic, and the top priorities in retail sector are talent acquisition/recruitment, talent management, employee retention, and performance management and employee engagement.
The growing needs of retail industry can only be matched up with the innovative and creative HR practices. Though retail calls for having the right product at the right time and in the right place, still it is highly dependent on the right people at various levels. Proper planning, organizing, and strategizing along with perfect execution are vital to the success for any retailer.
Here the execution is purely dependent on the teams and their capabilities, and many retail organizations have recognized that HRM is a vital component in achieving the long-term success. Areas such as the recruitment process, selection, induction, retention, performance monitoring and evaluations, staff training, development and motivation, decision-making, and resourcing for expansion are the fundamental functions of the HRM.
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People in different kinds of businesses have to adapt and change in response to emerging trends. Here training plays a crucial role. Employees (the people component) should be courteous, knowledgeable, helpful and passionate for serving customers, tech savvy, and presentable. For instance, the staff of any fashion retailer should be dressed in such a way that it should reflect the fashion level of the merchandise for sale in the store.
Even the most sophisticated training program will not guarantee the best customer service. People are the key. They make exceptional service possible. Training is merely a skeleton of a customer service program. It is the people who deliver that give it tangible form and intangible meaning.
The success of any player in this sector depends not only on understanding target market and implementing marketing mix strategies but also on how effectively a retailer develops systems of high-performance work practices, including comprehensive recruitment and selection procedures, reward policies and performance management systems (PMS), and extensive employee involvement and training.
HR people are the backbone of any company, and the success of retail business depends a lot upon the kind of HR strategies it is following and how people are managed. Because of the increasing competition among organized retailers, the retail industry is facing challenges and hurdles from different areas.
Growing Significance of Corporate Culture:
Research shows that today, consumers are concerned about the culture that drives a company, and company’s business ethics and practices also play a key role while deciding what brands they would buy or which retail stores they would patronize. A thriving corporate (workplace) culture enables the organizations to maintain appropriate business practices, enhance employee engagement, offer great customer service, and improve financial performance.
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This is because a great corporate culture seamlessly integrates goals of organization with that of individuals. In the process of achieving goals, the company should make sure that high performance should lead to employee engagement not to employee burnout.
It is also observed that many shoppers had stopped supporting a retail company/brand because of something that should not happen (in the case of) to its corporate practices or ethics. For instance, among some instances of this type were with Amazon, Wal-Mart, Reebok, McDonald’s, Gap, and so on. The corporate culture and business ethics of a company—or even the public representation of it—is as important as branding or advertising efforts of that company.
Additionally, the purveyors of corporate culture are its people. So it is essential to hire right people for building a great corporate culture, and vice a versa is also true. Because many times, the corporate culture plays the most important role in attracting the right talent because people often prefer good corporate culture and business practices over the remuneration package or growth prospects.
Hence, talent retention, employee well-being, and high performance coexist in organizations with good corporate culture. This necessitates the organization to put right people at right place, and it all begins with its hiring process. Hence for building a great corporate culture, it requires for an organization to take an integrated and consistent approach toward hiring right talent, continuous learning, collaboration, innovation, and retention of right talent.
Role of Human Resource Management – 4 Functional Roles in Areas Like: Marketing, Finance, Production & Operation and IT
Human resource management’s interaction with various functional areas can be discussed as under:
Role # 1. Marketing and Human Resource Management:
Human Resource Management (HRM) is an integrative general management comprises the act of identifying the organisation’s demand for human resources with particular skills and abilities. As regards the introduction of the new products or services, HRM department is expected to know about it.
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Once the new products or services are introduced, marketing has the responsibility to inform the HRM department regularly and sufficiently. The information for HRM department should be concerned with the new skills and experience needed for the new workers at present. Therefore, HRM department should make a well strategic plan in training, recruitment and selection of new staff.
Role # 2. Finance and Human Resource Management:
The personnel department of a firm bears the responsibility of recruitment, training and placement of the staff. As well as critically analyse and suggest means to reduce if any, the manpower requirements for various departments of the firm. This department is also concerned with the welfare of the employees and their families.
Keeping this purpose in view, different decisions are to be taken from time to time. Such decisions are of two types. Some decisions may be compulsive under the legislative provisions likewise some other may be discretionary.
All organisations required to accurately plan, monitor and control their finances if they want to achieve success as well as maintaining it progressively. To do this properly, they need employees who have a clear knowledge and understanding of accounting and finance, along with a good general business background.
The personnel department has to work with the finance manager while performing the following functions evaluating different schemes of training programmes, employee’s welfare, economy in manpower, computerisation, incentive’s schemes, revision of pay scales, etc.
The department should identify the best possible option, keeping in view both the employee’s welfare and the interest of the firm. Considering the financial implications of all these decisions is an important dimension.
Role # 3. Production and Operations and Human Resource Management:
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Production and operations management is related to the functions like scoping, planning, direction and control of facilities, processes and people required to transform resources into products and services.
The principles of production and operations management are used in every industry and every environment. All organisations carry out the functions of planning, scheduling, equipment operation, quality control and human resource management.
The Human Resources has to assure that people within the firm possess not only have the needed skills but also the essential attitudes. The production function has to interact with the HR function on this count. Each function requires to be at tuned to other function within the firm. The modern business world has necessitated a high level of integration within organisations.
Human Resources and often Quality Management are separated to retain auditing functions. They deal directly with the people and product issues that are at times seems at odds with the purpose of operations.
Role # 4. IT and Human Resource Management:
HR department got to deal with the following:
(i) Information Management Practices:
It shows the organisational capabilities to manage the entire information lifecycle, i.e., sensing, collecting, organising, processing and maintaining information.
(ii) Information Behaviours/Values (IBV):
IBV demonstrates the organisational capabilities to promote behaviours and values that facilitate the effective use of information. HR managers have to work in close coordination with the IT head for creating awareness about the Information Management Practices.
The main challenge is to define and communicate the Information Behaviours/Values expected from the employees. Moreover, HR managers have to initiate an organisational culture building exercise for internalisation and adoption of the desired values.
Role of Human Resource Management – In Strategic Management: Providing Purposeful Direction, Focus on Core Competency and a Few Other Roles
HRM is in a unique position to provide competitive intelligence that can be useful in strategic planning process. An excellent strategy will fail to achieve business goals in the absence of competent and motivated workforce.
The prominent areas where the human resources management play strategic role are discussed below:
Role # 1. Providing Purposeful Direction:
The human resource manager must be able to lead people and the organisation towards the desired direction involving people right from the beginning. They will have to ensure that the mission of an organisation becomes the mission of each person working in the organisation and the objectives are set to fulfil the same. Objectives are specific aims which must be in line with the mission of the organisation and all the actions of each person must be consistent with the objectives defined.
Role # 2. Focus on Core Competency:
A core competence is a unique strength of an organisation which may not be shared by others. This may be in the form of human resources marketing capability or technological capability. Organisation of business around core competence implies leveraging the limited resources of a firm. It needs creative, courageous and dynamic leadership having faith in the organisation’s human resources like Gujarat Ambuja acquiring cement companies and Reliance Industries acquiring yarn companies.
Role # 3. Facilitation of Change:
Human resource professionals will have to play an active role as change agents as any program of organisational change and development involves human resource issues. They have to persuade, mobiles and negotiate people for change. For this purpose human resource professionals require diagnostic and behavioural skills. HR mangers will have to devote more time to promote changes than to maintain the status quo.
Role # 4. Creating Competitive Advantage:
In today’s globalised market place, maintaining a competitive advantage is the foremost goal of any business organisation. There are two important ways a business can achieve a competitive advantage the first is cost leadership which means the firm aims to become the low cost leader in the industry. The second competitive strategy is differentiation under which the firm seeks to be unique in the industry in terms of dimensions that are widely valued by the customers.
Putting these strategies into effect carries a heavy premium on having committed and competent workforce. Such a workforce would enable the organisation to compete on the basis of market responsiveness, product and service quality, differentiated products and technological innovation.
Role # 5. The Management of Workplace (Workforce) Diversity:
In order to effectively manage workplace diversity, an HR manager needs to change his perspective from an ethnocentric view (“our way is the best way”) to a culturally relative perspective (“Let’s take the best of a variety of ways”). This shift in philosophy has to be ingrained in the managerial framework of the HR Manger in his/her planning, organising, leading and controlling of organisational resources.
There are several best practices that a HR manager can adopt in ensuring effective management of workplace diversity in order to attain organisational goals.
They are:
(i) Planning a Mentoring Program:
The purpose of a Diversity Mentoring program seeks to encourage members to move beyond their own cultural frame of reference to recognise and take full advantage of the productivity potential inherent in a diverse population.
(ii) Organising Talents Strategically:
As more & more companies are going global in their market expansions either physically or virtually (for example, E-commerce related companies), There is a necessity to employ diverse talents to understand the various niches of the market.
With this trend in place, an HR manager must be able to organise the pool of diverse talents strategically for the organisation. He/she must consider how a diverse workforce can enable the company to attain new market and other organisational goals in order harness the full potential of workplace diversity.
(iii) Leading the Talk:
An HR manager needs to advocate a diverse workforce by making diversity evident at all organisational levels. He/She must also show a high level of commitment and be able to resolve issues of workplace diversity in an ethical and responsible manner.
(iv) Control and Measure Results:
An HR Manager must develop appropriate measuring tools to measure the impact of diversity initiatives at the organisation through organisation, wide feedback surveys and other methods. Without proper control and evaluation some of these diversity initiatives may just fizzle out.
Role # 6. Managing Executive Information Systems (ElS):
Executive Information system (EIS) is the most common term used for the unified collection of computer hardware and software that track the essential data of a business’ daily performance and present it to the managers as an aid to their planning & decision-making.
When managing an Executive Information system, a HR manager must first find out exactly what information decision-makers would like to have available in the field of human Resources Management, and then to include it in the EIS. This is because having people simply use an EIS that lacks critical information is of no value addition to the organisation. In addition the manager must ensure that the use of information technology has to be brought into alignment with strategic business goals.
Role # 7. Motivational Approaches:
Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival. In our changing workplace and competitive market environments, motivated employees and their contributions are the necessary currency for an organisation’s survival and success. Motivational factors in an organizational context include working environment, job characteristics, and appropriate organisational reward system and so on.
The reward system influences motivation primarily through the perceived value of the rewards and their contingency on performance. To be effective an organisational reward system should be based on sound understanding of the motivation of people at work.
Role # 8. Empowerment of Human Resources:
The process of empowering involves giving more power to those who, at present have little control over what they do and little ability to influence the decisions being made around them.
The basic goals of empowerment are that all people should:
(i) Understand and feel good about themselves,
(ii) Relate to each other with empathy and respect,
(iii) Give voluntary agreement to the rules and structures that govern their lives, and
(iv) Have sufficient resources (of knowledge, training, authority, time, tools, support, money etc.,) to be able to contribute all the value they can to their chosen roles.
Role # 9. Total Quality Management (TQM):
TQM is a dynamic process involving all levels in an organisation to promote never ending improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of all elements of a business.
The goal of TQM is to mobilise the entire workforce in pursuits of specific company goals with the primary aim of achieving customer satisfaction with regard to quality, price, and delivery and after sale service.
TQM is a philosophy of the entire organisation. It embodies development of a companywide culture for quality. TQM is nothing but an understanding and performance of role by each & every individual in the pursuit of quality improvement. A positive attitude towards customer and constant enhancement of quality must be ingrained in the minds of employees.
Role # 10. Business Process Reengineering (BPR):
Reengineering denotes the radical redesign of organisational processes to achieve major improvements in terms of cost, time and provision of services. It is also known as Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Reengineering implies that the management should start from scratch to redesign in the organisation around its most important processes rather than beginning with its current design and making incremental changes. It assumes that if a company had no existing structure, departments, jobs, rules or established ways of doing things, re-engineering would design the organisation as it should be for future success.
The process starts with determining what the customers actually want from the organisation and then developing a strategy to provide it once the strategy is in place, strong leadership from top management can create a core team of people to design an organisational system to achieve the strategy.
Role # 11. Quality Circles:
A quality circle is a small group of employees from the same work area which meets regularly to identify analyses and solve quality and other work related problems.
The basic objectives of quality circles are as under:
(i) To contribute to the improvement and development of the organisation,
(ii) To develop respect for human relations and induce job satisfaction,
(iii) To deploy human capabilities to the fullest extent and draw out their infinite potential.
Role of Human Resource Management – With Meaning, Definition and Concept
HRM means managing men or people. It is people, if not properly managed become problem. HRM involves all managerial decisions, policies and practices that influence human resources directly.
According to Davi A Decenzo and Stephen P. Robbins, “HRM is a process consisting of the acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of human resource.” Wendell L French defines “HRM refer to the philosophy, policies, procedures and practices related to the management of people within an organization.”
The concept of human resource management is a philosophy in nature. It aims at enhancing the aggregate gains arising out of the enhanced capabilities, competence, skills and experience of the organizational workforce. All the efforts directed towards the systematic development of human resource. It has gained a major significance in the modern business environments, it is also called as “Human Engineering”
In the global world, human resource management plays an important role. Among all the resources human resource is the most important resource. HRM is a management function that assists managers to recruit, select, train and develop personnel in the organization. According to Leon C Megginson “the term human resources can be thought of as,” the total knowledge, skill, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes of an organization workforce as well as the value, attitudes and beliefs of the individuals involved.”
HRM is concerned with the people dimension in management. Since every organization is made up of people, acquiring their services, developing their skills, motivating them to high levels of performance and ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization are essential for achieving organizational objectives. This is true regardless of the type of organization, government, business, education, health, recreation or social action.
According to Edwin B Flippo – “Management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and social objectives are accomplished.”
Human resources are also regarded as human factor, human asset, human capital and the like.
Thus the term “human resources” is much broader compared to the term “personnel.” In simple words HRM means employing people, developing their resources, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirements.
The purpose of human resource management in an organisation is to achieve maximum individual development, conducive working atmosphere and conducive relationship between employers and employees; in other words, effective utilisation of human resources.
HRM department is responsible for taking initiative on those aspects of activities, which are primarily concerned with favourable relationship between management and employees. It is also responsible to develop the formal and informal group relations in the enterprise. The human resource management has a vital interest in any activity that concerns human relations in contrast with material consideration of any activity.
Added to the above, HRM has to identify qualified workers in sufficient numbers and employ them in different activities. This will keep the employees satisfied and inspire them to put in cooperative and productive efforts. Such workers are an asset to any organisation.
Apart from the normal role of HRM, it has a major role of building organisational excellence. In that the factors like procurement and selection of personnel, continuous training programmes, recognition of talented employees, career planning, etc., are included.
The following points will help in understanding various roles of HRM in an enterprise:
1. Maintaining optimum level of manpower.
2. Promotion, transfer, discharge, demotion and separation of personnel.
3. Proper job analysis and job evaluation programmes.
4. Remuneration and incentives.
5. Employees’ health
6. Personnel and industrial safely arrangements.
7. Employees’ welfare
8. Employees service activities
9. Research and Development
10. Proper appraisal of the employees.
11. An overview of all contingency strategies of the enterprise.
Role of Human Resource Management – In Strategic Management Process
Human resource management plays significant role at all steps of strategic management process- strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategic control.
Role # 1. At Strategy Formulation Level:
At strategy formulation level, human resource management may play role in two forms. First, head of HR department may act as a functional director representing HR function at the level of Board of Directors or top management committee. In this way, HR head may directly participate in decision making at the highest level of the organization where strategic decisions are made.
This type of arrangement is very common in organizations belonging to information technology (IT) sector where knowledge workers are employed and they are the major source of developing competitive advantage. Besides IT sector, there are many forward-looking organizations which follow this pattern, for example, Hindustan Unilever and some public sector companies.
Second, in organizations where such an arrangement does not exist (majority of the organizations fall in this category), generally, arrangement is made to take the view of HR head about the likely impact of a new strategic move on human resources.
This view is used as one of the inputs in strategic decision making. For example, in most of the large organizations, HR department provides inputs about employee-related issues which are used in objective setting. Thus, organizational objectives may be reshaped to reflect employee-related issues.
Role # 2. At Strategy Implementation Level:
Role of human resource management is quite critical at strategy implementation level as it is the only agency which aims at providing right people at right time throughout the organization. Role of HR professionals in strategy implementation is relevant at two levels- behavioural implementation and functional implementation.
At behavioural implementation level, they can play lead role in different aspects of behavioural implementation by undertaking suitable organization development programmes that aim at bringing suitable changes in leadership styles, development of high- performing organizational culture, and overcoming the dysfunctional aspect of organizational politics.
In fact, HR professionals have done these in many organizations effectively. At functional implementation level, HR professionals may formulate coherent HR strategies and policies. Implementation of these strategies and policies effectively contributes positively to strategy implementation.
Thus, HR professionals may enhance organizational capability to implement strategy by undertaking all human resource actions as per requirements of the strategy.
Role # 3. At Strategic Control Level:
At strategic control level, the issues relevant to HRM are as follows:
i. Is HR system adequate in the light of requirements of corporate or business strategy?
ii. Will it work effectively even if there is any discrete change in corporate or business strategy?
iii. Does HR system contribute to the organization in terms of return on investment?
Thus, suitable corrective measures may be taken to ensure that HRM plays its right role in corporate strategic management.
Role of Human Resource Management – Welfare Role of HRM
HRM had some of its roots in the welfare movements of the nineteenth century. The intervening may have given the picture that HRM is now a mere management tool for controlling and manipulating workers. In fact, HRM has never totally lost its welfare role. In most organisations the Human Resource Function has a genuine concern in improving the lives of its employees.
The welfare actions an HRM function might take are:
i. Helping employees solve personal problems- Employees encountering problems often go to the HR department for help. At its simplest this help might consist of a sympathetic ear plus some common sense advice. In other situations it might take the form of a transfer, a change in working hours or a modification of the job. At its most sophisticated level the help might take the form of an employee assistance programme (EAP).
In an employee assistance programme the workers are given the telephone number or other contact details of a counselling service they can consult if they have personal problems. While the company will pay for the service, the counselling will totally independent and conducted on a confidential basis. It is argued that the independent nature of an EAP will encourage people to seek help at an early stage before a problem becomes difficult to solve. An EAP is usually able to help employees who have problems involving debt, marital and family relationships, a poor work-life balance and drugs.
ii. Help employees’ careers – Many HR functions try to structure jobs in their organisation into patterns that provide careers for their employees. They may also offer training that has no direct or immediate relevance to an employee’s current job but which will enhance his or her employability. In many cases an HR function will liaise with schools to provide work experience for scholars. Sometimes, the HR function will create temporary posts in order to help unemployed people make the transition into work.
iii. When an employee encounters a serious and acute crisis such as illness or bereavement, it is usually the HR function that instigates and co-ordinates the organisation’s compassionate response such as arranging extra leave or sending condolences. In some countries where there is inadequate healthcare the HR function may take the lead in raising money to pay for treatment.
iv. The HR function usually makes an above average contribution to the social life of an organisation. It often manages an organisation’s sports and social clubs. Generally, it also organises social events, parties and celebrations. Furthermore the HR function will usually have responsibility for the organisation’s catering services.
All of these contributions are usually considered peripheral activities but their sum total improves the quality of people’s working lives.
A final aspect of the HR function – its advocacy on behalf of employees – is often overlooked. In a majority of organisations HR personnel act as a buffer between the demands of other functions and employees. For example, a production manager may, perhaps to further his or her personal career, wish to instigate a very demanding schedule that involves high targets and a great deal of overtime.
The marketing and financial functions may lend their support to the changes. It is likely to be someone in the HR function who draws attention to the impact these changes will have on employees. Similarly, the HR director will be present at board meetings where an organisation’s strategy and tactics are first discussed. He or she is almost certain to make a significant contribution to ensure that the strategy and tactics are as “employee friendly” as possible.
Role of Human Resource Management – Role of HRM in TQM
TQM is a process for successful empowerment and autonomy to employees. It is an organization driver process through people, involving changes in people’s attitudes, processes and products, and continuously looking for new ways to adapt to the changing environment. It is a continuous improvement plan with an effort to bring out the best in people.
It is an organization wide continuous quality improvement activities encompassing all spheres of organization operations including after sales service. It should not be viewed as a destination but it must be treated as a Continuous Journey in pursuit of excellence in every sphere of organization operations.
The industry is passing through a very critical phase because of changes in the social, economical and political environment due to globalization and liberalization. It is moving from a controlled economy to the global market driven economy. In current business scenario, survival depends on overall performance through product quality, people quality, process quality, and technology development and employee participation.
TQM through people would certainly attain corporate excellence because behind success or failure in the development of any organization and also in bringing global change it is human being whose role over and above machines, materials, methods and others would stand supreme. It is and would always remain so because human being alone has capacity of harnessing the other resources efficiently and effectively. There-fore, the management of human resources is directly related to development of organization.
Due to the global integration of the economy, the major challenge before an organization is to compete in the world market with respect to quality, cost, time, and innovations in services and products. The above conditions are no more the responsibility of only one or any department singly. It is in all departments and whole organization in synergy has to become responsible to the emerging conditions and therefore, entire organization has to adopt itself accordingly.
Today the performance of an organization is be-coming more dependent in the knowledge base of employees because the distribution of technology or system has been taking place in a way there by most of the organization have acquired almost identical degree of technological levels. Therefore, the technology as such is not going to decide the comparability of organization. It is most essential for all employees to have a great depth of knowledge base in managing their functional areas.
HR professionals are fighting hard to keep pace with changing times a new world order is emerging transcending all political and economic barriers which demand new organizational responses. Philip Crosby believes that “HR should be the architect of corporate culture.” It is the function of HR department to build values and practices supporting continuous, incremental improvement in quality throughout the organization.
The HRM efforts for TQM have to specifically, address to training of personnel in becoming more Data minded than opinion minded. Every organization needs to have well trained and experienced employees to perform the activities of the organization to achieve its set goal. But if the potential job occupant is unable to perform in the required manner, it is necessary to raise the skill levels and increase the versatility and adaptability of employees. Inadequate job performance or a decline in productivity resulting on account of job redesigning or a technological breakthrough require some type of training and development efforts.
As the job becomes more complex, the importance of employee development also increases. In a fast changing environment, employee training and development are not only activity that is desirable but also an activity that an organization must commit resources to it if it is to maintain viable and knowledgeable work force.
Role of Human Resource Management – Future Role of HRM in India
Role # 1. Change in the Nature of Work:
Technological developments are changing the very nature of work. Due to technological advancements, even traditional jobs have become technologically challenging. These changes require the employment of more educated and more skilled workers in these jobs. Further, the service sector, which is fast emerging as the major provider of employment in our country, requires the use of knowledge workers.
These new better – informed employees will expect unconventional and world- class HR practices and systems. HR managers should be prepared to handle the emerging work culture, which keeps employees more focused on their career prospects.
Similarly, due to rapid social transformation, an enhanced access to education and increased labour mobility, the workforce profile of the country has changed dramatically and organizations now represent several heterogeneous groups. This is a direct challenge for the HR managers as they now have to deal with culturally and racially diverse work groups.
Many firms are now compelled to initiate new gender – specific and target – based HR policies to serve the interests of different sections of the employees. The success of IBM’s HR policies meant for women and the differently abled is worth mentioning. IBM recognised the variety in its work force and made a commitment to provide an equal work place to individuals who are differently abled and need special care.
IBM organises several celebrations such as – the International Women’s Day, Take our kids to Work Day, the Women Leadership Conference and the World Disability Day. In addition, it has launched two new child-care centres, a home-care project and Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering (EXITE) camps for middle-school girls to make a difference in the world through mathematics, science and technology.
Role # 2. Widening Scope of HR Activities:
Globalisation and deregulations have deeply affected the functioning of traditional HRM. Organizations, in their pursuit of new markets and grater cost- effectiveness, extend their sales, production facilities, and supporting services to new destinations in several countries around the world.
HR managers must have adequate dynamism and action plans to help these organizations successfully integrate their global HR operations. They must also ensure effective coordination amongst and control over the labour forces working in different countries.
Role # 3. Greater Emphasis on HRIS:
The organizations of the future will be large due to world – wide mergers and acquisitions. The sheer size of an organization may compel the HR department to computerise its HR operations like recruitment, training, appraising and pay-roll preparations. Thus, large companies may require an integrated Human Resource Information System (HRIS) for effectively coordinating their different HR operations.
HRIS actually means, “interrelated components working together to collects, process, store and disseminate information to support decision-making, coordination, control, analysis and visualisation of an organization’s HRM activities”.
Role # 4. Change in Labour-Market Conditions:
Uneven economic development has resulted in the large scale unemployment of unskilled and under-skilled persons on one side and a severe shortage of competent people on the other.
This dichotomy may compel HR managers to reduce their focus on the short-tern needs of the organization and to concentrate more on fulfilling the long-term capability requirements such as – skill development and knowledge formation amongst its existing workforce.
For example, the skill development efforts at Infosys. As part of its HR strategy, Infosys organises the “Campus Connect” programme to improve the industry-readiness of students while they pursue a regular education. It has partnered with 250 colleges in India and four universities in China, and helped 188 faculty members with specialised courses.
Further, to ensure availability of skills in line with their needs, it makes sure that the new employees undergo training for about 15 weeks before being deployed on engagements. To upgrade the skills of its staff across the board, it offers ‘competency certification programme’, which is aimed at certifying its employees in various industry domains, technologies, and project management processes. The certifications are mandatory for the future growth of employees.
Role # 5. Increasing Importance of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS):
Globalisation is bringing about a tremendous change in the size, structure, composition, and style of functioning of organizations so as to meet an intensified global competition. This in turn puts increased pressure on an organization to improve its employees’ productivity. Thus, HR managers, with the help of dynamic HR policies, should develop HPWS that maximises the competencies, commitment and abilities of the firm’s employees.
Tata Business Support Service’s is one of the best examples of developing and maintaining a successful HPWS.
The elements included in the Tata Business Support Services HPWS are multiple recruitment methods to source best talents at all levels, high performance orientation and performance linked rewards, continuous learning and development opportunities for employees, continuous employee engagement initiatives, attention on retention and not on attrition, and, lastly, ensuring employees’ strict adherence to the Tata code of conduct.
Role # 6. Growing Need for Measurement Tools to Evaluate HR Programmes:
The inherent weakness of HRM is the absence of reliable and effective yardsticks for measuring the performance of HR programmes. The top management expects HR managers to express their plans and performance in quantifiable terms.
Thus, there is an urgent need for HR managers to provide concrete evidence that their department is contributing in a significant and constructive way in the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives. HR managers’ focus in the future will be on the development, and introduction of reliable and accurate HR tools to measure the efficiency of HR functions.