book summary HRM

Human resource management: book


1. The balancing balancing act of managing human resources
1.1. What is Human Resource Management?
 Refers to the constellation of decisions and actions associated with managing
individuals throughout the employee life cycle to maximize employee and
organisational effectiveness in attaining goals.
 Ultimately, HRM is about making decisions about people
1.2. Human resources matter
 Human resources refer to the pool of human capital under the firm’s control in a direct
employment relationship
 Human resource practices are the organizational activities directed at managing the
pool of human capital and ensuring that the capital is employed towards the fulfilment
of organizational goals
 Only through their employees, organizations can create value and achieve sustained
competitive advantage
 Why is it that HR has a hard time getting a seat at the table?
o Most HR managers aren’t particularly interested in, or equipped for, doing
business
o HR is too narrowly focused on pursuing efficiency instead of value
o HR pursues standardization and uniformity in the face of a workforce that is
heterogenous and complex
o HR is still primarily concerned with ‘soft’ personnel matters, such as planning the
annual team outing, or family picnic
 There is a strong consensus among executives that human resources are an important
source of sustained competitive advantage, but there is also scepticism about how
those resources are managed or should be managed
1.3. The main message
1.4. Performance and well-being
 Human resources are active individuals with past experiences, internalized values, and
norms not necessarily matching those of the employing organisation
 Organizations should care for the well-being of the people they employ, not only
because a healthy workplace leads to better results but also because well-being is
important
1.5. HR roles and competencies
1.5.1.Introduction
o What do HR managers actually do? What does it take to be a successful HR
manager?
o HR business partner model
 Strategic partner:
▫ Strategic focus
▫ Processes
 Change agent:
▫ Strategic focus
▫ People
 Administrative expert:
▫ Operational focus
▫ Processes
 Employee champion
▫ Operational focus
▫ People

, 1.5.2. HR as administrative expert
o HR should become an expert in the way work is organised and executed, delivering
administrative efficiency to ensure that costs are reduced while quality is
maintained
o HR professionals should try to improve the efficiency of their own function,
lowering costs by removing steps or leveraging technology
o Administrative experts seek efficiency gains in each of the following HR functions:
 Work analysis
 Recruitment and selection
 Training and development
 Organisational career management
 Performance appraisal and management
 Compensation and benefits
 Labour legislation
 Human resource planning
 …
1.5.3. HR as employee champion
o This role entails vigorously representing employees’ concerns to senior
management and at the same time increasing employees’ commitment to the
organisation and their ability to deliver results
o Creating an engaged workforce can be achieved by:
 Offering employees challenging work
 Opportunities for personal and professional growth
 By providing resources that help employees met the demands put on them
o HR staff must be an advocate for employees, representing them to management
and be their voice in management decisions
o As employee champions, HR professionals aim to influence workers’ ability,
motivation, and opportunity to contribute to firm performance
o The term psychological contract refers to the unwritten set of expectations of the
employment relationship as distinct from the formal, codified employment
contract
1.5.4. HR as strategic partner
o HR is responsible for guiding serious discussion of how the company should be
organised to carry out its strategy
o To effectively manage human resources one needs to have thorough knowledge of
all parts of business.
o HR should take stock of its own work and set clear priorities that follow from the
organisation’s goals and strategy, and that are most likely to be linked to business
results
1.5.5. HR as change agent
o HR should become an agent of continuous transformation, shaping processes and
a culture that together improve an organisation’s capacity for change
o HR professionals need to partner up with senior managers and executives to assist
them in changing the organisation, not by deciding what changes the organisation
needs, but by leading the change process
o The change agent is mainly concerned with:
 Preparing people for change
 Managing organisational culture
 Conflict resolution
 Action plans
 Monitoring progress