Human Resource Management (HRM) has been in vogue for ...

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developing policies themselves with the HR assistant developing an induction process and the HR advisor designing an employee handbook. There was evidence of some respondents carrying out data processing tasks. The HR administrator reported that she simply processed employee data and generated contracts in an outsourced HR function. This respondent believed that her job was monotonous and that she was using none of the skills developed on the MSc. The HR assistant also reported that she had to process the details of leavers whilst one of the graduate trainees reported that managers sometimes expected her to do administrative work which was not part of her role. In terms of the respondent‟s views of HRM, four of the six respondents were keen to stress that HR was predominantly business centred and/or of central strategic importance. One of the graduate trainees, for example, stated that one of the most enjoyable features of her job was the development of an HR „business partner‟ model within her organisation, away from an administrative role. The personnel manager also revealed that one of the least favoured aspects of the job was dealing with personal issues that employees had, believing that such problems detracted him from more important business-related tasks. The views of two of these strategically minded respondents had changed since finishing study. The HR assistant claimed that since starting work she now saw HR issues much more from the employer‟s viewpoint, whilst one of the graduate trainees reported that: „there‟s strategic decisions everywhere [in HR] … [this] goes to prove that the academic stuff was true … it was surprising actually‟. The personnel manager
however stated that he had „always considered HR a management function‟ whilst one of the graduate trainees reported that she now saw HR less as an academic subject and more in terms of its practical applications but did not state that her consideration of the strategic importance of HR had changed. The HR advisor reported a more employee-centred view of HR and stated that the most enjoyable part of her job was dealing with people and resolving employee queries and problems. This respondent stated that one of her main motivations for working in HR was the felt „sense of helping someone‟. The HR advisor had worked in HR before her studies began and, resultantly, her expectations of the role had not changed since finishing the MSc. The dichotomy between those taking a strategic and person-centred view was, however, not clear cut and some respondents reported tensions inherent in the HR function. The personnel manager, for example, reported that he liked to use disciplinaries as a development tool. This viewpoint frequently brought him into conflict with line managers who, he believed, used disciplinaries as a means to justify sacking staff. One of the graduate trainees and the HR advisor also revealed that dismissals, redundancies and disciplinaries conflicted with the people-centred objectives of HR and gave the function a „bad name‟ (HR advisor). Concluding comments This paper reported on the perceptions, expectations and experiences of students undertaking the CIPD-accredited Postgraduate Diploma/MSc in Human Resource Management at the University of Strathclyde. The research is timely in allowing for
Page 1 and 2: ‘Employee champion’ or ‘busin
Page 3 and 4: What are participants‟ experience
Page 5 and 6: term which encompasses all sub-disc
Page 7 and 8: aspiring and existing HR practition
Page 9 and 10: were conducted with the students at
Page 11 and 12: work analysis has been done for 200
Page 13 and 14: ecause you‟re working with real p
Page 15: survey responses. Indeed, it was no
Page 19 and 20: and educators to think reflexively

Human Resource Management (HRM) has been in vogue for ...

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