Lecture 1 (July 1, 2004):

1. PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT?

NEEDING PEOPLE
OR

HUMAN

RESOURCE

The personnel function

Organizations are made of people and there is a need for management of people
as a resource - the most valuable resource presently.
It could be done on specialist basis and some smaller organization this function
will be taken over by admin or even accounts manager.
But the current practice or at least the idea toyed around is that personnel
management should be taken care by all line managers basically this applies to
operational level management leaving HRM at strategic level.
Personnel management: the odd job view
The traditional view of personnel manager are as:
a. collectors of odd jobs prepared to be given up (Crichton);
b. partly filing clerk job; partly housekeeping; social worker; fire fighting
(Peter Drucker)
c. the administrative maiden; the policeman; the toilet fusher; the sanitary
engineer (Nick Georgiades)
This situation is known as reactive and individualistic
New perspective in early 80s with the concept of HRM which is strategic in
nature, proactive and pluralistic.
Human Resource Management (HRM)
HRM term used widely but regarded as emperors new cloth as many
organization has not changed its personnel function to HRM though it changed
its name.
Interpretation of HRM from the following notion:
a. Personnel function concerned with issues of broader relevance to the
business and its objectives change management, intro to technology and
others
b. Strategic planning of the business at the broadest and highest level.
c. PM should be businessmen or women.

Micheal Armstrong identifies key issues of HRM with

implication for the personnel function of the future:
a.
PM in the past considered not fit for with business strategies but
now it makes the bottom-line difference with human as scare resource
which makes the competitive edge difference
b.
With shifting of economies into higher area of productivity HRM
embodies the task of finding, obtaining and developing the human
resource of business.
c.
Long term strategies should appreciate HR implication with human
as the most valuable resource of all.
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d.

Integration of personnel and corporate objectives by creating

framework and culture for effective contribution.
e.
Concern for performance management with maximization of the
human resource through development, reward, organizational culture,
planning and so on.
Where as S Tyson and A Fell suggests 4 major roles for
personnel / HRM which illustrates the shift from odd to strategic viewpoint:
a. To represent the organizations value or its culture
b. To maintain the boundaries of the organization its identity and the flow
of people in and out of it
c. To provide stability through planned succession, flexibility and etc.
d. To adapt the organization to change

2. PERSONNELS RELATIONSHIP WITH LINE MANAGEMENT

Ambiguities in the role of personnel

PM operate in different areas and at different levels as crisis handlers,

administrators, policy makers and innovators.

Charles Handy suggested that the effectiveness of the traditional personnel

department is reduced by ambiguity between the roles it acts such as: line
managers; advisers; service department; auditors and as co-ordinators & planners
which leads to inefficiency and loss of authority as they try to do all this with
bureaucratic institution. Handy and Legge provided solution this problems.

Further ambiguity is: who is its customer according to IPDs Code of

Professional Practice in Personnel Management PM has 3 pricipal areas of
responsibility: to his employer; resolve conflict between management team + the
workforce + individual employees; and dealings with other bodies.

PM is middle person between employee and employees as both are

customers acting as representative and adviser and plays the diplomatic role but
not the representative of the work force but paid to be management team.

Though personnel function deemed as staff function but line managers

have to listen to specialist and several factors contributed to the need of
specialized personnel function such as:
a.
Increasing regulation and legislation which needs expert
attention
b.
The changing workforce which needs individuals with the labor
market knowledge.
c.
Social responsibility for employees with information need to be
provided such as EU working conditions etc
d.
Behavioural Sciences need to be monitored.
e.
TUs, Industrial Tribunal, and etc where those familiar with such
liaison is required.
PM has no direct control over other staff except over specific responsibility such
as officer under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 but other respects as an
advisory or functional relationship.
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Should HR be centralized or decentralized?

HR function exists to support line managers in the interest

of competitive business performance and people management responsibilities
handed down to line managers with HR focus on more strategic aspect which
includes:
a. Strategic issues change management, planning etc
b. Organizations wide communication TU related, IR related and etc.
c. Specialist services and advice such as consultant services etc.
d. Auditing HR systems selection process, appraisal process etc.

As such centralized P functions, the following aspects could be

devolved to line managers to minimize redundant problem solving and
reinventing the wheel:
a. Recruitment and selection process
b. Administration routine - to be centrally duplicated
c. Intra-departmental disciplinary
d. Issuing employment contracts
e. Appraisal
f. Determination of patterns of work
g. Contract management and deployment of part-time and contract workers
h. OH and S
i. Welfare of employees (departmental / functional)
So P management is centralized and decentralized.
The authority of the personnel manager
The P specialist may lack positional or legal power but posses resource (over
manpower / pay) and expert power and operates upon consent and perception of
its authority by line management. PM suffers lack of creditability from:
a. Lack of definition and its contribution towards business objectives
b. Between ideal and theoretical basis of people-oriented activity
c. Perceived ambiguity loyalty to management always a suspect
d. Traditional role lack of creativity and pro-activity.
3. HR VISION: MANAGING A QUALITY WORKFORCE
Customer care and the personnel function
The customer knows best and is the king & know your customer which
brought movement from technical based / production based to marketing
orientation as such customer care programme put in place. Due to customer have
wide choice of service & product where providence of service makes the
difference.
As a consequences the organization objectives are obtaining and retaining
external customer so PM will staff organization with relevant employee through
recruitment, transfer, training, training etc such as training staff to be customer
orientated and so on.
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Internal customers
The concept of internal customer to change the perception of internal king
concept take it or leave it, if I dont do it then as such suggest the
following;
a.
The receiver of services are customers
b.
Customer choice operate internally and externally so if internal
service fail to deliver to external party no room for complacency
c.
Efficient and effective identification and satisfaction of customer
needs within and outside the organization which has advert effect on the
organization makes it providers of services to be competent
And its wrong to presume that employees of the organization are the principle
customers of P department and therefore their key internal customer are the top
management who are charged with devising and implementation of the
organizations strategic direction. P department is to assist in this area. The internal
customers includes:
a. Line managers
b. Senior management
c. Employees
A quality workforce

The need for productive, trained, flexible and innovative workforce

(quality workforce according to Stephen Connock) leads the notion for visionary
and strategies HR managers.

Connock listed out dimensions of quality for employers such as

customer services orientation; well trained and developed staff; maintain quality
standard; searching for continuous improvement and etc.

So to move away from tradition definition of P function need to be

pro-active.
4. BENCHMARKING AND HRM
Benchmarking
BM increasingly popular with 2 approaches: competitor BM and process BM. It is
claimed that BM works because;
a.
The comparison carried out by manager and they have to live
with the changes
b.
BM focus on improvement where targets are achievable and
managers are not asked to perform miracles.
5. THE NEED FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Human one of the resources management need to control as they are not only
subject to environmental factors but to behavioural at individual and group level.
As such shortage of a particular skill for example will affect the organization
performance which may be caused by decline in education, training or population;
effect of competitor entering the market or even de-motivation of key skilled
person.
Labor resources control is becoming more difficult as it may get things wrong
HR planning is risk management to get the right person, in the right job at the
right time and HR planning outlined as: demand and supply forecast; and plan to
remove any discrepancy between demand and supply.

Proactive or reactive
Assuming HR planning is anticipating and preventing problems before it occur so
its a pro-active and forward looking process. But things are not as simple as
attempt need to be made beyond present and short-term and to prepare for
contingencies due to PEST and KASA aspects
6. THE PROCESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING
The complexity of demand and supply regards to human resource of an
organization will require systematic approach towards the following;
a.
Forecasting human resource requirements by grades and skills
b.
Forecasting HR supply
c.
Acquiring or shedding employees
d.
Developing required skills and abilities
The HRM focus is employ right, develop right and retain right.
HR demand forecast must consider:
a. The objectives of the organization
b. Labor utilization
c. The cost of work force
d. Environmental factors such as internal and external factors

The available supply of labor (within and outside organization must

consider:
a. The value and productivity of current work force
b. Wastage and mobility rates
c. The flexibility of the work force
d. The lead time to fill skilled vacancies either by recruitment, training or retraining
e. Potential supply of relevant skills in the environment
Closing the gap between demand and supply
A deficiency in the workforce may be meet with: internal transfers, promotion,
training and development, external recruitment, extension of temporary contracts
reducing staff turn-over, using of free lance / temp/agency staff, encouraging
overtime work, productivity bargaining, automation and other methods

A surplus in the workforce may be met with: accelerate wastage, freezing

recruitment, redundancies, early retirement, tougher stand on discipline, part-time
working or job sharing, eliminating overtime, redeployment or other methods.
HR strategy requires integration of policies for: pay system, promotion,
recruitment, training and industrial relation.

The human resource plan

HR planning based upon analysis of HR requirement, the implication for
productivity and cost and should at least consist of the following elements: the
recruitment plan; the training plan; the re-development plan; the productivity
plan; the redundancy plan and the retention plan.
How scientific is human resource planning?
HR planning is regarded as a scientific, statistical exercise but they subject to
interpretation and managerial judgements. They are also product of social
processes with various social reason which are not predictable.
Forecasting is not an exact science most sophisticated method would claim
accuracy as element of guesswork has been reduced and general principles can be
applied to indicate problem and stimulate control action. The uncertainty is the
main problem of HR planning so exercise is necessary to reduce the risk element
and this does not mean planning is futile as we can not assume as if it were based
upon certainty.
Statistical method varied in form of quantitative and qualitative information.
Work study method aimed to set standards of man-hour per unit of output in order
to achieve maximum productivity science. Managerial estimates is it science
or is it good, advantage or disadvantage.?
7. WORKFORCE FLEXIBILITY
Flexibility is an area of current in interest in HR complex and from many view
points but at least:
a.
For the organization cost effective and efficient
b.
From view point of the employee good and bad ?
Organizational and cultural mechanisms for developing flexibility includes:
a. Erosion of demarcations between job areas break of specialization
b. Flexibility in the deployment of the workforce in terms of man hours fixterm contract, non-permanent, flexi-time and etc
c. Cultural flexibility

HR function has a role to design flexibility to pave way for flexible

organizations to avoid any social and legal implications
Flexible working methods
To analyze GA Cole diagram Flexi work methods are born as result of torn
between down-sizing exercise and providing security of employment which
includes programmes such as non-permanent labor structures.

Atkinson suggested workforce is divided into a core group and a peripheral group
(top-up staff and permanent staff).
Changing rewarding system with breaking down artificial status and reward
barriers will not only provide greater mobility but as a morale boasting activity.

Flexible working hours

Various techniques includes annual hours contract, overtime working, shift
work, flexi-time, part-time working and teleworking/ networking/ homeworking.
Two of these discussed part-time working and teleworking and homeworking
8. THE NATURE OF THE JOB
The job vs. the skill portfolio
Traditional bureaucratic structure which is inflexible (provides job stability) vs
vendor workers
New psychological contracts
Job shift scenario with lifetime employment or even career within organization is
no longer valid. It may:
a.
Discourage work complacent culture
b.
Encourage social responsibility of having employee manage their
own careers
c.
Attractive employer honest employers and where market
produces educated employees who are cynical about unrealistic job offers.
On the other hand it could be;
a. Loss of morale and performance
b. Loss of skilled labor those who want to manage their own career

One concept arising from de-jobbing of employment is employability

where employers contract may offer employability training for employees to be
knowledgeable about their job prospect and marketability which makes /
facilitates employees transition.

Individual Assignment
To your perception what is the difference between
personnel
management
and
human
resource
management? And how these two themes are similar or
different from human capital management?
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 3-5 page only Font 12, Times Roman, double

spacing.
Due date 26 June 2003 by 4.00pm.
5% of your assessment.