Introduction to Human

Resource Management
Chapter 1

Human Resource Management at

Work
What Is Human Resource Management (HRM)?
The process of acquiring, training, appraising, and

compensating employees, and of attending to their labor

relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns.

Organization
People with formally assigned roles who work together to

achieve the organizations goals.

Manager
The person responsible for accomplishing the organizations

goals, and who does so by managing the efforts of the

organizations people.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain what human resource management is and how
it relates to the management process.
2. Show with examples why human resource management
is important to all managers.
3. Illustrate the human resources responsibilities of line
and staff (HR) managers.
4. Briefly discuss and illustrate each of the important
trends influencing human resource management.
5. List and briefly describe important trends in human
resource management.
6. Define and give an example of evidence-based human
resource management.
7. Outline the plan of this book.
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The Management Process

Planning

Controlling

Leading

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Organizing

Staffing

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Evolution of HR
Management
HR management as a specialized function in organizations began its
formal emergence shortly before 1900.

Before that time, most hiring, firing, training, and pay-adjustment

decisions were made by individual supervisors.
The scientific management studies conducted by Frederick W. Taylor
and others, beginning in 1885, helped management identify ways to
make work more efficient and less fatiguing, thus increasing worker
productivity.
As organizations grew larger, many managerial functions such as
purchasing and personnel began to be performed by specialists.
The growth of organizations also led to the establishment of the first
personnel departments about 1910.
Work by individuals such as Frank and Lillian Gilbreth dealt with task
design and efficiency.
The Hawthorne Studies, conducted by Elton Mayo in the mid1920s, revealed the impact of work groups on individual workers.
Ultimately, these studies led to the development and use of employee
counseling and testing in industry.

Evolution of HR
1930s TO 1950s
Management
In the 1930s, the passage of several major labor laws, such as the

National Labor Relations Act of 1935, led to the growth of unions.

. The importance of collective bargaining and union/management
relations following the labor unions rise to power in the 1940s and
1950s expanded the responsibilities of the personnel area in many
organizations, especially those in manufacturing, utilities, and
transportation.
Such work as keeping payroll and retirement records, arranging
stockholder visits, managing school relations, and organizing
company picnics was often the major role of personnel departments.
The role of the HR department in the organization as a staff function
to support operational (line) departments expanded during this
period, and line/staff issues grew to influence HR departments in the
following decades.

Evolution of HR
Management
1960s TO 1980s

Increased legal requirements and constraints arising from

the social legislation of the 1960s and 1970s forced dramatic
changes in the HR departments of most organizations.
HR departments had to become much more professional
and more concerned about the legal ramifications of policies
and practices. Also, organizations took a new look at
employee involvement and quality of work as a result of
concerns about the impact of automation and job design on
worker productivity.
During the 1980s, the strategic role of HR management
became essential as organizations reduced staff, closed
plants, or restructured. Outplacing employees and
retraining the rest became prime concerns of HR
departments. Containing the costs of health-care benefits
also grew in importance.

Evolution of HR
Management
1990s -Present

Changing demographics and increasing

shortages of workers with the needed capabilities
have grown in importance.
Related to the demographic shifts, HR
management has had to address the issues and
implications of workforce diversity.
Both the out-scourcing of HR activities and the
computerization of the administrative aspects of
HR activities, even in small firms, have received
attention as well.

Personnel Aspects of a Managers

Job
Conducting job analyses
Planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates
Selecting job candidates
Orienting and training new employees
Managing wages and salaries
Providing incentives and benefits
Appraising performance
Communicating
Training and developing managers
Building employee commitment
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Personnel Mistakes
Hire the wrong person for the job
Experience high turnover
Have your people not doing their best
Waste time with useless interviews
Have your firm in court because of discriminatory actions
Have your firm cited by OSHA for unsafe practices
Have some employees think their salaries are unfair and
inequitable relative to others in the organization
Allow a lack of training to undermine your departments
effectiveness
Commit any unfair labor practices
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Human Resource Management

Processes
Acquisition

Training

Fairness

Health and
Safety

Human
Resource
Management
(HRM)

Labor Relations

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Appraisal

Compensation

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Basic HR Concepts
The bottom line of managing:

Getting results
HR creates value by engaging in activities
that produce the employee behaviors that
the organization needs to achieve its
strategic goals.
Looking ahead: Using evidence-based
HRM to measure the value of HR activities
in achieving those goals.

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HR should be defined not by what

it does, but by what it delivers

David Ulrich

HR Management In
Transition
The changing role of HR requires that there

should be a balance between being an employee

advocate and being a strategic business
contributor
HR management has three roles in
organizations.
1.The administrative role
2.The operational role
3.The strategic role
The traditional administrative and operational
roles of HR management have broadened to
include more strategic facets.

Administrative Role of HR
The administrative role of HR management is heavily
Management

oriented to processing and record keeping.

Maintaining employee files and HR-related databases,
processing employee benefits claims, answering
questions about tuition and/or sick leave policies, and
compiling and submitting required state and federal
government reports are all examples of the administrative
nature of HR management.
These activities must be performed efficiently and
promptly.
This role resulted in HR management in some
organizations getting the reputation of paper shufflers who
primarily tell managers and employees what cannot be
done.
If limited to the administrative role, HR staff are seen
primarily as clerical and lower-level administrative
contributors to the organization.

Operational Role of HR
Management
Operational activities are tactical in nature.

- Compliance with laws must be ensured

- employment applications must be processed
- current openings must be filled through interviews,
- supervisors must be trained
- wages and salaries must be administered..
In short, a wide variety of the efforts performed typically are associated
with coordinating the management of HR activities with the actions of
managers and supervisors throughout the organization
This operational emphasis still exists in some organizations, partly
because of:
- individual limitations of HR staff members
- top managements resistance to an expanded HR role
The operational role requires HR professionals to identify and
implement operational programs and policies in the organization.
They are the major implementors of the HR portion of organizational
strategic plans developed by top management, rather than being
deeply involved in developing those strategic plans.

Strategic Role of HR Management

Organizational human resources have grown as strategic
emphasis because effective use of people in the
organization can provide a competitive advantage
The strategic role of HR management emphasizes that
the people in an organization are valuable resources
representing significant organizational investments.
For HR to play a strategic role it must focus on the longerterm implications of HR issues.
- How changing workforce demographics and workforce
shortages will affect the organization, what means will be
used to address the shortages over time
The importance of this role has been the subject of
extensive discussion recently in the field, and those
discussions have emphasized the need for HR
management to become a greater strategic contributor to
the success of organizations.

Line and Staff Aspects of HRM

Line Manager
Is authorized (has line authority) to direct the work of

subordinates and is responsible for accomplishing the

organizations tasks.

Staff Manager
Assists and advises line managers.
Has functional authority to coordinate personnel activities

and enforce organization policies.

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Line Managers HRM

Responsibilities
1. Placing the right person on the right job
2. Starting new employees in the organization (orientation)
3. Training employees for jobs that are new to them
4. Improving the job performance of each person
5. Gaining creative cooperation and developing smooth
working relationships
6. Interpreting the firms policies and procedures
7. Controlling labor costs
8. Developing the abilities of each person
9. Creating and maintaining department morale
10. Protecting employees health and physical condition

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Human Resource Managers Duties

Functions of
HR Managers

Line Function
Line Authority
Implied Authority

Coordinative
Function
Functional Authority

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Staff Functions
Staff Authority
Innovator/Advocacy

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FIGURE 11

Human Resources Organization Chart for a Large Organization

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FIGURE 12

Human Resources Organization Chart for a Small Company

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Human Resource Specialties

Recruiter

Labor relations
specialist

EEO coordinator
Human
Resource
Specialties

Training
specialist

Job analyst

Compensation
manager

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Trends Shaping Human Resource

Management
Globalization
and Competition
Trends
Indebtedness
(Leverage)
and
Deregulation

Technological
Trends

Trends in HR
Management
Workforce and
Demographic
Trends

Trends in the
Nature of Work
Economic
Challenges and
Trends

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FIGURE 14

Trends Shaping Human Resource Management

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Trends in the Nature of Work

Changes in How We
Work

High-Tech
Jobs

Service
Jobs

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Knowledge Work
and Human
Capital

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Workforce and Demographic

Trends
Demographic Trends
Trends Affecting
Human
Resources

Generation Y
Retirees
Nontraditional Workers

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Important Trends in HRM

The New HR
Managers

Strategic
HRM

Evidence-Based
HRM

Human
Resource
Management
Trends

HighPerformance
Work Systems

Managing
Ethics

HR
Certification

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Meeting Todays HRM Challenges

The New Human
Resource Managers

Focus more
on big
picture
(strategic)
issues

Find new
ways to
provide
transactional
services

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Acquire
broader
business
knowledge
and new HRM
proficiencies

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TABLE 12

Some Technological Applications to Support HR

Technology

How Used by HR

Application service providers

(ASPs) and technology
outsourcing

ASPs provide software application, for instance, for processing

employment applications. The ASPs host and manage the services
for the employer from their own remote computers

Web portals

Employers use these, for instance, to enable employees to sign up

for and manage their own benefits packages and to update their
personal information

Streaming desktop video

Used, for instance, to facilitate distance learning and training or to

provide corporate information to employees quickly and
inexpensively

Internet- and networkmonitoring software

Used to track employees Internet and e-mail activities or to monitor

their performance

Electronic signatures

Legally valid e-signatures that employers use to more expeditiously

obtain signatures for applications and record keeping

Electronic bill presentment

and payment

Used, for instance, to eliminate paper checks and to facilitate

payments to employees and suppliers

Data warehouses and

computerized analytical
programs

Help HR managers monitor their HR systems. For example, they

make it easier to assess things like cost per hire, and to compare
current employees skills with the firms projected strategic needs

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FIGURE 18

Effects CFOs Believe Human Capital Has on Business Outcomes

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High-Performance Work Systems

Increase productivity and performance by:
Recruiting, screening and hiring more effectively
Providing more and better training
Paying higher wages
Providing a safer work environment
Linking pay to performance

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Evidence-Based HRM

Providing Evidence
for HRM Decision
Making

Actual
measurements

Existing
data

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Research
studies

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Managing Ethics
Ethics
Standards that someone uses to decide

what his or her conduct should be

HRM-related Ethical Issues

Workplace safety
Security of employee records
Employee theft
Affirmative action
Comparable work
Employee privacy rights

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