Today, "contingent workers" (temporary employees, independent contractors, contract workers and part-timers) represent over 20% of the workforce. Many organizations have restructured in the past few years to become more competitive.
HR Planning and Analysis
However, the implementation of HR activities must be carried out in the context of the organization, which is represented by the inner rings in Figure 1-4. These external aspects are particularly important when HR activities need to be managed internationally, as discussed in Chapter 4.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Staffing
HR Development
Furthermore, all managers with HR responsibilities must consider external environmental forces – such as legal, political, economic, social, cultural and technological – when dealing with these activities. Career planning identifies the paths and activities for individual employees as they develop within the organization.
Compensation and Benefits
Health, Safety, and Security
Employee and Labor/Management Relations
HR Management in Transition
HR as Employee Advocate
Administrative Role of HR Management
Operational Role of HR Management
Strategic Role of HR Management
The strategic role of HR management emphasizes that the people in an organization are valuable resources that represent significant organizational investments. For HR to play a strategic role, it must focus on the longer-term implications of HR issues.15 How changing workforce demographics and workforce shortages will affect the organization, and what means will be used to address the shortages over time, are illustrations of the strategic role. The importance of this role has been the subject of extensive discussion recently in the field, and those discussions have highlighted the need for HR management to become a greater strategic contributor to the success of organizations.
HR Management as Strategic Business Contributor
Enhancing Organizational Performance
The implication of this concept is that changes in the organizational structure and how work is divided into jobs must become the vehicles for the organization to drive towards its strategic plans and goals. A complete understanding of strategic sources of competitive advantage for human resources must include analyzes of the internal strengths and weaknesses of the human resources in an organization. He suggests that HR managers should function much like architects do when they redesign existing buildings.19 In this role, HR professionals prepare new ways to align the organization and its work with the strategic drive of each business unit.
ENSURING FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HR RESULTS A final part of linking human resource management to organizational performance is to consistently demonstrate that HR activities and efforts contribute to the organization's financial results.20 Traditionally, HR was viewed as from the activity. , focusing on what has been done, rather than the financial costs and benefits that resulted from HR efforts. For example, in one firm, the HR director reported monthly to top management how many people had been hired and how many had left the organization. To be strategic contributors, human resource professionals must measure what their activities produce as organizational results, specifically as a return on human resource investments.21 Human resource management that focuses on high-performance work practices has been linked with the best financial performance of the organization. 22.
Expanding Human Capital
But perhaps no segment of the economy has felt the labor shortage more than the trucking industry. DEVELOPING HUMAN RESOURCE CAPABILITIES Human capital in organizations is valuable because of the capabilities that people possess. As part of a strategic role, HR managers are often seen as responsible for expanding the human resources capabilities of the organization.
First of all, it is necessary to identify the necessary skills and relate them to the work performed in the organization. Once a comparison of the "gap" between the capabilities needed in the organization and those existing in the employees is identified, training and development activities should be designed. These programs link rewards directly to the organization's performance goals, so that the reward system is fully linked to the organization's strategic goals and results.
Delivering Cost-Effective Compliance Systems
DEMONSTRATING ADMINISTRATIVE EFFECTIVENESS A final part of HR management is delivering HR services and activities in a cost-effective and timely manner. First is the growing use of information systems to replace manual recording and processing of HR data. In general, records relating to employment, work schedules, wages, performance reviews, merit and seniority systems, and affirmative action programs should be maintained by all employers subject to the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The distribution of HR information has changed dramatically due to the widespread use of e-mail, the Internet, distributed information processing, and other technology. Figure 1-8 shows HR activities that have occurred or are likely to be outsourced. To summarize, HR professionals must justify their existence in terms of costs and administratively perform HR activities efficiently and responsively.
Managing HR Activities
Figure 1-9 illustrates how some of the responsibilities in connection with selection interviews can be shared between the HR unit and other managers. A possible division of HR responsibilities is outlined throughout the book, illustrating HR responsibilities within a particular area and who typically carries out which part of them. These are not attempts to specify "the one way" in which all organizations should perform HR activities, but are merely illustrations of how these activities can be divided.
For example, in a medium-sized bank, all new non-management employees are hired by the HR department. At another equally successful company, applicants are screened by the human resources department, but new employees are actually selected by the supervisors they will work for. Reprinted with permission from HR Magazine published by the Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, VA.
Evolution of HR Management
HR departments have had to become much more professional and concerned about the legal implications of policies and practices. Organizations have also taken a new look at employee engagement and work quality due to concerns about the impact of automation and job design on employee productivity. In the 1980s, the strategic role of HR management became essential as organizations reduced workforces, closed or 'restructured' factories. Replacing employees and retraining the rest became the main concerns of HR departments.
A survey of HR managers involved in reengineering HR management in their companies found that the traditional HR function began to shift its emphasis.29 As Figure 1-10 shows, HR managers of the future will need to be more strategic and more proactive. In relation to demographic changes, HR management has had to address the issues and implications of workforce diversity. Both the outsourcing of HR activities and the computerization of the administrative aspects of HR activities, even in small firms, have also received attention.
Organizing the HR Unit
Each branch has its own HR director and HR staff; HR specialists in each of the strategic business units take care of compensation, training and recruitment. In this way, the central and administrative functions of the HR department can be centralized for greater efficiency, while at the same time allowing each business unit to develop and adapt its HR practices to its needs. Because of this shift, the hospital had to train HR professionals who specialized in an HR function, such as recruiting, as generalist HR professionals.
This shift means that the HR department has fewer people and more flexibility in changing structure and operations as organizational changes require. 32. Obviously, choosing an outsourcer that does not provide good service or results reflects negatively on the HR staff in the organization. When data is available and services are outsourced, HR staff may feel less important and more concerned about not having as much access and control.
Ethics and HR Management
Instead, people should be guided by values and personal behavior "codes", but employers have a role to play through HR management.38 A code of ethics for HR professionals adopted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM ) is reproduced in the accompanying HR perspective. ETHICAL ISSUES IN HR MANAGEMENT HR professionals are frequently confronted with ethical issues.39 According to a study by SHRM and the Ethics Resource Center, a majority of HR professionals surveyed indicated that they had witnessed unethical workplace behavior in the previous year. has. Such practices as gift giving and renting differ in other countries, and some of those practices would not be accepted as ethical in the United States.
To instill in employees and the public a sense of trust about the conduct and intentions of my employer. This Code of Ethics for Members of the Society for Human Resource Management has been adopted to promote and maintain the highest standards of personal conduct and professional standards among its members. Adherence to this Code is required for membership in the Society and serves to ensure public confidence in the integrity and services of human resource management professionals.
HR Management Competencies and Careers
Knowledge of Business and Organization
Influence and Change Management
Specific HR Knowledge and Expertise
HR knowledge, as used by the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), is included in Appendix A. Public sector HR professionals are typically concentrated in the International Personal Management Association (IPMA). Other major functional specialty HR organizations exist, such as the International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM), the American Compensation Association (ACA), and the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).
The best-known certification program for HR generalists is administered by the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), which is affiliated with SHRM. Occupational Health and Safety Technologist (OHST), granted by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene and the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. This site contains HR News On-Line and information about all the services and products available through the Society for Human Resource Management.
Summary
Review and Discussion Questions
Terms to Know
Using the Internet Outsourcing
Questions
Notes
