Human Resource Management in Context

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Part One Human resource management in context 20 sense, body shape, and manner of the individual employee, with the increased importance of emotional and aesthetic labour contributing to the shifting defi nition of skill (Tyler and Abbot 1998). 1.8.2 The new challenges for HRM? Arguably, the greater challenges for the HR function are posed by the shifting organizational boundaries and the permeable, networked nature of many companies. The variety of ways in which people are employed and the different contractual bases make it hard to sustain organizational identification, and the rise of the networked enterprise creates tensions in the employment relationship, increasing the complexity of managing and monitoring performance, as well as making it harder to sustain commitment. Even where companies seek to establish an emotional connection with the customer and the employer brand, this has been achieved through the corporate communications function and not necessarily via HR. But the emphasis on the importance of managing the whole personality broadens the scope of HR practice and inevitably spills over to considerations of work– life balance and the boundaries between work and life outside it. More importantly, the emphasis on emotional labour draws attention to the psychological injuries of work and broadens the scope of the HR remit to address issues of bullying, violence, and stress at work (Bach 2005). 1.9. HRM themes revisited The chapter started with an outline of six HRM themes. These have underpinned much of the discussion concerning the introduction and development of HRM models and practices. One of the main ideas introduced during the 1980s that still persists concerns the belief that successful organizational performance is predicated upon a fit between business strategy and HR policies and practices. However, the devolution of much HR activity to line managers has meant that effective responsibility for the delivery of this work—and consequently its relationship to performance—is no longer directly in the hands of the function. For many, this shift of daily responsibility of HR delivery is welcome, as it gives HR the ability to locate its focus on more strategic issues and to operate in the business partner and leadership roles identified by Ulrich as being so central to HR’s credibility. However, research evidence suggests that the extent to which HR now adopts a more strategic role, as opposed to an operational stance, is unclear (Guest and King 2004). The earlier, ‘soft’ models of HRM were concerned with securing employee commitment to the goals of the organization whilst simultaneously aiming to ensure fl exibility via the ability to perform a wider range of tasks and gain new skills. These ideas rose to prominence during a period of industrial restructuring, and, as noted by Bach (2005), it seems that the UK business environment was not conducive to the longer-term investments in human capital involved with these ideas. Whilst the advent of HRM did dovetail with widespread change in the ways in which people were managed, the actuality of those changes is at variance with those advocated by proponents of HRM. In addition, commitment to a single employer who exercises control over HR practices has, in many cases, been replaced by a greater diversity, with some workers under the control of a number of organizations simultaneously. The growth of call centres and the rise of the service economy in general have also had an impact on the ways in which commitment is demonstrated, often through the enactment of culture change programmes and the persistent focus on the customer. This suggests that the conceptualization of commitment witnessed in the models has been replaced by one that is based on the behaviour and personality of employees, seeking a fi t between their values and emotions with the requirements of the job. Finally, whilst the coming of HRM coincided with profound shifts in power and organizational change, the extent to which these ideas infl uenced people management practices is open to question. However, it is pertinent to note the premium placed by HR practitioners on
the ability of the function to identify the contours of change and to be proactive in meeting its challenges. Whether or not it is accorded any opportunity to infl uence strategic responses is a matter of debate and dispute. 1.10 Conclusion The arrival of HRM coincided with a period of economic restructuring experienced by many Western economies. But, whilst HRM was temporarily identifi ed with a given governmental and organizational ‘project’ designed to improve business and economic performance, the term is no longer tied to a particular orientation towards people management, managerial philosophy, or style. However, certain ideas remain infl uential—even if they are still the object of debate and dispute—and revolve around the performance advantages that are stated to accrue to those organizations who secure alignment between the organization’s strategic goals and its HR policies and practices. The promotion of this relationship has allowed those responsible for people management to argue for an increased involvement in the strategic decision-making of the organization—with a consequent enhancement of the HR function. The infl uential work of authors such as David Ulrich has also provided the HR function with a means by which that leverage might be achieved through the development of core HR roles. But, whilst Ulrich’s work remains infl uential, the strategic role he envisaged for HR is still elusive. Although the debates concerning HRM occurred at a highly propitious time for the function, the devolution of much HR activity to line managers meant that the clear-cut link between HR practices and organizational performance was less evident, obscured as it was by the involvement of a third party. In addition, organizational responses to competitive pressures have not necessarily involved companies taking the ‘high road’ in terms of people management practices. Instead of a longer-term investment in worker skills coupled with the provision of more sophisticated managerial styles and abilities, many UK companies adopted a more familiar ‘low-road’ approach, reducing costs through the increased use of IT systems, the deployment of fl exible approaches towards employment, and reductions in headcount. The process of change shows no sign of abating, and the HR function, together with line managers, needs to develop eff ective strategies for meeting future challenges. As work continues for many to be contingent, HRM is faced with the enduring challenge of fostering and maintaining commitment to an organization and its goals in an environment where employees might have multiple employers and be employed on a variety of contractual bases. Seeking employee engagement has now gone beyond the ideas of commitment witnessed in the 1980s and 1990s. This has been subsumed by an approach that seeks to secure a fi t between the values and personality of the employee and the employer ‘brand’. But such emotional engagement and labour are being challenged by increased calls for a more eff ective work–life balance, with HR being required to consider the employee in more holistic ways that spill over the traditional boundaries between work and home. Discussion questions 1 What do you understand by the term ‘HRM’? What does it consist of? How is it different from ‘personnel management’? 2 How would you account for the growth of interest in HRM? Which factors do you think are central to its continued appeal and why? 3 Go to the People Management web site (www.peoplemanagement.co.uk) and survey some general HR jobs. How are the terms ‘personnel management’ and ‘HRM’ being used? You might fi nd Storey’s twenty-seven points-of-difference table helpful in making your assessment. 4 What are the main reasons behind the devolution of much HR activity to line managers? What challenges do you think will have been faced by both line managers and the HR function and how could organizations overcome them? 5 What are the future challenges for people management? Chapter 1 Introducing human resource management 21
Page 1 and 2: Part One Human Resource Management
Page 3 and 4: 1.1 Introduction This book is conce
Page 5 and 6: esourced internally, or whether the
Page 7 and 8: Box 1.4 Window on work The implicat
Page 9 and 10: Selection Performance Appraisal its
Page 11 and 12: Box 1.6 Research in focus Storey’
Page 13 and 14: ( Armstrong 1987; Legge 1989; Keeno
Page 15 and 16: But, whilst many creative or high-l
Page 17 and 18: 1.6.8 Structural change and the pub
Page 19: context altered, HRM as a term beca
Page 23: » Although some of these technique

Human Resource Management in Context

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?