A2 People

Human Resource Management

HRM Vs Personnel ManagementHuman Resource Management - the management of people at work in

order to assist the organisation to achieve its strategic objectives

HRM is an all embracing integrated approach aiming to make the most effective use of staff

Personnel management considers the elements of managing people as separate

Since 1980s HRM has tended to replace personnel management in describing the function that deals with:

Recruitment and selectionAppraisalTraining and developmentReward of people

Hard HRM

HRM that takes the view employees are essential for a business to

function but need to be controlled.

Employees treated as just another resource to get the best from,

monitor and controlling costs

Centralised decision-making

Autocratic/authoritarian leadership

Soft HRM

HRM that views employees as valuable assets to be developed, skills

and expertise of employees can be a major competitive advantage for

achieving strategic objectives

Developing motivation and culture important

Democratic leadership

Delegation

Decentralisation

High levels of employee participation

Which approach?

Depends on:

History of firm

Culture

Leadership style

Relationship with unions

Skills and attitudes of staff

Level of employee participation

Today, employees are likely to respond best to soft HRM

Effective HRM is vital for communication, motivation, commitment, higher productivity, lower absenteeism and labour turnover

Workforce planning (or human resource planning)

The method by which a business forecasts how many and what type of employees it needs now and in the future, and matches the right type of employee to the needs of the business.

One of the central activities of HRM

Workforce planning cycle task

Put the following stages in order to complete the workforce cycle:

Develop strategies to fill gaps or reduce oversupply of labour Right people, right place, right time Identify the gaps or areas of over supply of labour Assess the current workforce Assess the workforce needed in the future

Workforce planning

Stages

Convert corporate objectives of the firm into HRM requirements

Consider short, medium and long term

Estimate future demand of staff and skills required

Look at current and future state of labour market

Develop an appropriate workforce plan for short, medium and long term

Workforce Plan

Construction - Factors that influence the number and type of staff required include:

Corporate plan, marketing and production plan, financial position of business, external factors such as state of the market and economy

Review - a workforce plan may be inaccurate because of:

Changing corporate objectives - crisis, ownership change

Changing market conditions - demand changes

Changing labour market - required skills and worker may not be readily available

Workforce planning therefore needs constant review and updating

Benefits of workforce planning task

Produce a spider diagram listing as many benefits as you can of a firm using workforce planning

Benefits of workforce planning

Ensures the right number of staff and skills are present at all times

in the organisation

Account for future trends and ensure adequately staffed

Avoid morale and motivation problems from being understaffed therefore limiting

labour turnover and absenteeism

Makes the firm proactive rather than reactive to events meaning quality decisions are

made when it comes to staffing

Ensures continuous production and high quality products produced

Student Activity

Complete Alliance direct case study

Student activity

Read the case and answer the question

Pg. 146 Surridge and Gillespie