QCF Unit Title: Personnel Administration

Learning Outcome : 1. Understand the support role and operational functions of the Personnel Administrator in the typical organisation. Please note that the content of this Lecture Guide is listed in its recommended teaching order, rather than in numerical order. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : 1.1 Introduction – The Role of the Personnel Administrator. In addressing this topic,

tutors should make it clear that the primary task of the Personnel Administrator is to support the activities of the professionally-qualified and more senior staff in the personnel or HR function. It is important for students to understand what the Personnel Administrator is not:

• The PA is not a manager. • The PA is not normally in charge of any organisational employees.

1.2 The tasks typically undertaken by the Personnel Administrator. Much depends here on whether the Personnel Administrator is employed in a large HR department (in which case his/her activities are much more likely to be specialised within, say, recruitment and selection), or whether the Personnel Administrator is the sole representative of HR, which could be the case in a small but growing business. In that case the Administrator is more likely to be a generalist, i.e. required to know something about the whole range of roles within an HR department. Students should be told about the conventional scope for HR, i.e. HR planning, people resourcing, training/learning/development, employee relations, reward administration, performance management, discipline, grievance-handling, etc. The activities that may be delegated to the Personnel Administrator. Sometimes the Personnel Administrator may perform tasks of a genuinely professional or managerial nature, e.g. selection interviewing, employee induction. Factors that influence the extent to which delegation takes place. These elements include: the size of the organisation, the nature of the business, the attitude of the manager from whom the delegation originates, etc. Students should be invited to consider other factors and to explain, for instance, why organisational size might make it less likely that Personnel Administrators will be given significant amounts of discretion (because large organisations are more likely to be bureaucratic and have detailed rules, processes and procedures).

1.3 The Personnel Administrator should be ‘efficient’ and ‘effective’. ‘Efficient’ means doing things right, whereas ‘effective’ means doing the right things. Students should be invited to discuss the differences – and how it is possible for a person to be efficient without being effective, or effective without being efficient. The requirements of ‘professionalism’ – giving independent advice, demonstrating expertise, acting ethically and with discretion. The obligations of professionalism and ethicality should be regularly showcased in each of the lectures, since these are increasingly important in today’s business world, which can become (rightly) energised about, say, children in factories. The four types of scenario for the Personnel Administrator: Expert advice, Administrative action, Executive action and Discretionary power. The differences

between these three should be explored, with the use of examples – see Martin, Whiting and Jackson, Human Resource Practice, CIPD, 5TH edition, 2010, pp. 28-30.

Examiner’s tips : From the start it is vital for students to be equipped with copies of Human Resource Practice by Martin, Whiting and Jackson (CIPD, 2010): if they can’t afford to buy it individually, then they should be encouraged to share the cost and then share the book. Also, one of the most common causes for failure in the exam is the presence of serious misunderstandings about the support role of the Personnel Administrator, so emphasising this must be a key component of Lecture 1.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 2. Understand the significance of the factors that affect the way in which the personnel/HR function operates, and which therefore influence the role and functions of the Personnel Administrator. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : [Before the lecture begins, tutors should remind students of key points from Lecture 1 – or, better still, invite students themselves to identify the, say, three key issues.]

2.1 The position of the personnel/HR function in today’s organisations. This topic should already have been initiated in Lecture 1, because the Personnel Administrator can’t understand his/her role without seeing the ‘big picture’ for personnel/HR as a whole. What is important here is that nobody should now think of the personnel/HR function as a purely welfare unit, ‘looking after’ the needs of employees. That duty still exists, but tutors should make it clear that the ‘business partner’ model is now more or less universally accepted as a much more productive framework for the function – and that’s why the title of the department has generally changed from ‘personnel’ to ‘human resources’.

2.2 Factors affecting the way in which the personnel/HR department/function

operates and the expectations about its priorities. Tutors should explore such contingencies as these:

• Organisational size – the bigger the enterprise, the more likely it is that the personnel/HR function itself will be large, employing specialists. What effect does this have on the likely role of the Personnel Administrator?

• Organisational location – it makes a difference if the enterprise is located in a highly-developed urban environment or in an isolated rural community.

• Technology – some organisations use a lot of technology but few people, whereas for others it is the other way round.

• The prevalent or desired culture of the business – attitudes to tasks, to people, to customers. Organisations in the private sector must typically pay much more attention to their customers, since they can defect.

• The values of top management – sometimes they want to keep the personnel/HR function sidelined, whereas other organisations put effective people leadership at the heart of their strategies.

2.3 The ‘customers’ for the Personnel Administrator. It’s useful to draw a diagram with the Personnel Administrator at the centre, so that the various ‘customers’ can be inserted at relevant points round all 360 degrees of the compass: low-level employees, new starters, line managers, senior executives, other members of the personnel/HR department, job applicants, local schools, etc. Arguably these are also the stakeholders for the Personnel Administrator. To introduce an element of participation into the lecture, students may be asked to suggest other ‘customers’ for the Personnel Administrator, and also to place all these different ‘customers’ into an order of priority. Given the ‘business partner’ philosophy for today’s personnel/HR departments, the Personnel Administrator’s own manager and other senior executives should be at the top of the list – emphatically not low-level employees, since this simply harks back to the ‘welfare’ role for HR.

Examiner’s tips : It’s a good idea to begin each lecture with a brief reminder about what was covered last time, and in particular about the key learning points. For Lecture 1 these included the fact that the Personnel Administrator’s role is predominantly one of support for the HR professionals – though sometimes the support and the mainstream HR activities can become blurred, especially if there are serious work pressures (meaning that the professional practitioner has to delegate more) or if the Administrator has successfully created an aura of personal credibility for himself/herself.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 3. Understand the competencies required by an effective and efficient Personnel Administrator. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : [Key learning points from Lecture 2 should be emphasised, preferably through the contributions of students themselves – to make sure that there can be no serious misunderstandings about the nature and purpose of the personnel/HR function.] 3.1 The competencies required by an efficient and effective Personnel Administrator

– together with an what it means to be ‘efficient’ and ‘effective’: (a) Tutors must explain ‘competencies’ as skills, attitudes and behaviours. (b) ‘Competencies’ may include personal and interpersonal attributes as well as professional capabilities. (c) This Lecture Guide does not offer a list of appropriate ‘competencies’, but following the guidance often deployed in person specifications based upon the Seven Point Plan, it would be useful to distinguish between those which are ‘essential’ and those which are merely ‘desirable’, between those that are ‘personal’ and those that are ‘professional’. It may also be instructive to consider which of the overall list of ‘competencies’ can be acquired and developed, and which are intrinsic. (d) Tutors should guard against specifying ‘competencies’ which are too broad and generic to be helpful, e.g. “communication skills” or “intelligence”. Such ‘competencies’ should be clarified: which communication skills, for example – oral presentations, meeting membership, report-writing, etc? (e) Strictly speaking, “effectiveness” is about ‘doing the right things’ whereas “efficiency” is about ‘doing things right’. These are not particularly helpful phrases, however. Better to say that ‘effectiveness’ is about achieving added-value results, whereas ‘efficiency’ is about conformity with process obligations, rules and procedures. (f) Is it possible to be efficient without being effective? (Yes) Is it possible to be effective without being efficient? (Again yes) Tutors should discuss the circumstances in which each of these situations can arise, e.g. when people are more concerned about compliance than with the quality of decisions.

3.2/3 Constructing personal development plans. The importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs to be stressed very strongly. The diagnostic and ‘action planning’ processes can be practised at an elementary level. For instance, if any students have difficulties with the English language, or with writing coherent answers in examinations, how do they intend to overcome these difficulties? This is not merely a theoretical issue, since several candidates regularly fail ABE examinations because they cannot express themselves lucidly.

3.4 The legal and ethical obligations concerned with the role of the Personnel Administrator. These should be mentioned, but also re-emphasised at salient points during subsequent Lecture sessions, e.g. when exploring the ethical dimensions of recruitment and selection or some of the ‘good practice’ approaches which should be used when engaging in disciplinary action against employees. Professional Ethics is an important aspect of the Personnel Administrator’s duty.

Examiner’s tips : When covering that part of the Lecture concerned with the ‘competencies’ required by the Personnel Administrator, it is a good idea to present students with a long list of possible competencies and ask them to pick out, say, the top ten which a PA should possess – and the ‘bottom ten’ which aren’t necessary at all. Some of the ‘competencies’ on the list should comprise such vague terms as “intelligence” or “personality” – if these are selected, then the resultant discussion should make it clear that such words have no useful meaning.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 4. Know how the Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution as a Personnel Administrator to the design of an organisation’s HR plans and the day-to-day operation of its people resourcing practices. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content: [The lecture should begin with a 5-minute reminder of the key learning points from the previous lectures. By this stage, too, students should be reading relevant chapters from the textbook so that they can take part usefully in class discussion.] 4.1 An added-value contribution to the development, design, implementation and

review of an organisation’s human resource plans. This part of the lecture should address the following themes: (a) What is HR planning? What is it for? A useful way to help students learn the answer to these questions is to take practical examples, firstly of a company which has benefited from efficient HR planning (Tesco in the retail arena, Singapore Airlines in the world of international travel), and secondly of a company which has suffered because of its failure to prepare for the future (Marks & Spencer in the mid-1990s which had ignored rising customer expectations about quality and service). (b) Is HR planning worth the effort? Arguably it is not, not just because of the rapid pace of change in today’s business world but also because some of that change is transformational rather than merely incremental. In other words, some changes have the effect of making a whole business redundant, so far as customers are concerned. People nowadays don’t need to buy CDs when they can download music from their computers, so CDs are likely to be obsolete in the next five years. On the other hand, not all businesses or organisations experience that kind of revolutionary turbulence: in some the pace of change is very slow (e.g. law firms, and many public-sector enterprises). (c) What do we mean by ‘added-value’? This term is used as part of the lecture but also reflects some crucial dimensions of the lecture series as a whole – and the role of the Personnel Administrator, which should be focused on continuous improvement and ‘making a difference’.

4.2 Appropriate methods of influence and persuasion to improve an organisation’s

people resourcing practices. Increasingly it is expected that the Personnel Administrator will not merely carry out existing administrative activities without question, but will put forward suggestions for improvement to make such processes more customer-friendly, more responsive, more relevant to the changing needs of the business. Unfortunately not everyone in organisations welcomes change, so the Administrator must learn some of the techniques of influence and persuasion – including diplomacy – in order to win over opponents and sceptics.

Tutors should identify some ‘live’ examples and situational scenarios where the skills of influence and persuasion should be exercised – some are to be found in Chapter 12 of Human Resource Practice by Martin, Whiting and Jackson (CIPD, 5th edition, 2010) which reviews a wide range of skills associated with ‘personal effectiveness’.

Examiner’s tips : There are two distinct segments to this lecture and where possible they should be linked so that, for instance, students prepare a debate about the desirability (or otherwise) of HR planning, with some asked to present a case for HR planning and others required to argue the case against. Clearly they would need help in preparing their argument, so a short briefing paper for each ‘side’ should be written by the Tutor in which the key points are summarised and some advice given about the techniques of influence and persuasion that could be applicable. Tutors should give feedback about the lessons learned.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 4. Know how the Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution as a Personnel Administrator to the design of an organisation’s HR plans and the day-to-day operation of its people resourcing practices. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : This is a particularly ‘busy’ lecture, with lots of ground to be covered in just one session. It is therefore permissible if the topic of Recruitment and Selection is introduced towards the end of Lecture 4, or runs over slightly into Lecture 6. 4.3/4 The systematic approach to recruitment and selection. Students must first

understand how the process is supposed to work. Tutors should rely on the diagram shown on p. 123 of Human Resource Practice by Martin, Whiting and Jackson (CIPD, 5th edition, 2010).

Writing job descriptions or accountability profiles. See Martin et al, ibid., p. 125. Note that accountability profiles are becoming more popular: instead of listing the tasks to be performed (as job descriptions typically do), these list the outcomes or results to be achieved, thus leaving it up to the job-holder to determine what specific tasks are to be undertaken and how. Producing person specifications or competency frameworks. See Martin et al, ibid., pp. 125-129. The textbook includes some relevant examples. Recruitment. See Martin et al, ibid., pp. 129-133. Recruitment and selection should be kept separate and treated separately: ‘recruitment’ is concerned with attracting potential applicants, whereas ‘selection’ is the process of determining which applicants, if any, should be accepted. When discussing recruitment methods, tutors should be careful to make it clear that the ‘right’ methods must be applied for each given vacancy, i.e. the methods appropriate for filling an office cleaner role must be different from those used when seeking to appoint an HR Manager. It’s a good idea to present students with a comprehensive list of recruitment techniques and then invite them to suggest which techniques should be used for each of these vacancies. Selection. See Martin et al, ibid., pp. 133-143. Students should become familiar with the fundamentals of selection but more importantly with the contribution that the Personnel Administrator can make to the efficient management of the process. Making the appointment. See Martin et al, ibid., pp. 143-145. This is an important section and should not be overlooked, as it can appear as one of the topics in an examination question. Moreover, the role of the Personnel Administrator is significant here, to check the applicant’s CV details and so forth.

Examiner’s tips : Recruitment and selection is a large field and tutors must inevitably be selective

about what is covered. The relevant textbook chapter is a crucial support tool, but the themes that are central for students are these:

• The difference between ‘recruitment’ and ‘selection’. Many examination candidates appear not to know that there is a difference, and this is a serious weakness which can often mean that the opportunity to acquire marks is lost.

• The dynamics of the selection interview, including the physical arrangement of the interview environment, the types of question to be asked, the skills of interviewing, and the dangers of arriving at premature judgments.

• The tasks of the Personnel Administrator throughout the whole recruitment and selection process, from job analysis to making the appointment.

• The ethical and professional factors which should govern the way that applicants are treated from start to finish.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 5. Know how the Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution to the design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of an organisation’s induction, training, learning and development processes. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : 5.1/2 Induction, training, learning, development – the big picture. First of all, students

must be made aware of the purposes associated with induction, training, learning and development: not just acquiring the skills of job performance, but also cultural assimilation (about the values of the organisation, the ‘right’ attitudes and behaviours, etc.) and the need to prepare employees for the future. See Martin et al, Human Resource Practice (CIPD, 5th edition, 2010), p. 252, for an excellent summary of the reasons why learning and development are important in today’s organisations. This kind of material could well provide the basis for an examination question, as could the same textbook, pp. 254-256, in a section entitled “Learning needs arise because the world changes”. ‘Training’ and ‘development’. Whereas ‘training’ focuses on acquisition of the skills and knowledge necessary for current role effectiveness, ‘development’ is concerned with preparing people for future changes in their current role or future role changes linked to career advancement. So learning about personnel administration could be either, or both, depending on whether the learner is already employed as a personnel administrator or merely aspires to such employment. From ‘training’ to ‘learning’. See Martin et al, ibid., p. 251-252, for an account of the reasons why there has been a shift from ‘training’ to ‘learning’. It is vital for students to be aware of this change, and for them to apply it to themselves and the approaches used when ‘learning’ about Personnel Administration. The learning cycle. This is outlined on p. 253 of the Martin et al textbook. Again this is an important concept and students should be encouraged to apply it to themselves – not just to the learning that takes place during lectures, but the learning that takes place without them necessarily realising it, e.g. whilst gaining experience as a car driver or as a mother bringing up small children.

5.3 Constructing a business case for investment in learning and development. Here it could be instructive for tutors to introduce the subject and then present students with a case study – perhaps about a local business which clearly could do much more to prepare itself sensibly for the future, or about a well-known global enterprise, such as Marks & Spencer or Tesco. What are the learning needs at, say, Tesco, as more customers make their purchases online?

Why not simply spend nothing on training, learning and development? In fact this is the policy pursued by some businesses, which then ‘buy in’ talent as and when needed. They don’t help to develop their own employees for future careers, but allow them to leave when, so to speak, they have outlived their usefulness. What are the implications of a policy along these lines?

Employability. Tutors may profitably spend some time looking at the concept of ‘employability’, i.e. the acquisition of skills and knowledge which are ‘transferable’ to other roles and other organisations. This is an excellent ‘insurance policy’ for employees to pursue in an increasingly uncertain world where their future job security may be very low – which may apply to a large proportion of ABE

students. That being so, the skills of ‘employability’ could well be reviewed, e.g. communication, leadership, team-working, collaboration and positive thinking.

Examiner’s Tips: ‘Training’ is not the same as ‘courses’. Most in-company training is now achieved ‘on the job’ as the cost-effectiveness of ‘courses’ becomes increasingly suspect.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 5. Know how the Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution to the design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of an organisation’s induction, training, learning and development processes. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content: [As with Lecture 5, there is a great deal of ground to cover here, and it would therefore be permissible if some of the subject-matter were introduced as part of Lecture 6.] 5.4 The processes for enabling training/learning needs to be identified, including

those applicable to staff induction. See Martin et al, Human Resource Practice (CIPD, 5th edition, 2010), pp. 258-262. These few pages also provide a stimulating case study (p. 262) which could be introduced to students here, especially as the examination sometimes includes brief situational scenarios for which candidates are expected to supply solutions.

Designing a training/learning/development event or an induction programme. In exploring this field, students should be required to undertake the task of assembling an induction programme lasting two days for a group of recently-qualified graduates joining a world-class airline or a global supermarket. The administration of training/learning/development events. Clearly this part of the lecture is crucial as it explains to Personnel Administrators what is expected of them (a) in preparing for the event, (b) in briefing the trainers/tutors and participants, (c) in supporting the event itself throughout its duration, and (d) in following-up the event to ensure that the learning objectives were achieved. The review of training/learning/development events. Students should be broadly familiar with the methods through which such events can be evaluated and indeed the importance of evaluation (if only to establish that any money spent has not been wasted). The disadvantages of some of the evaluation processes should also be covered, e.g. the misleading nature of the responses supplied on ‘happiness sheets’ completed by participants at the end of training courses, when an attitude of euphoria is likely to take precedence over any systematic analysis to show that the training has actually been worthwhile. The ethical, professional and legal background to induction, training, learning and development. As has been made clear in the subject syllabus, the ethical and professional conduct of the Personnel Administrator is crucial to his/her effectiveness and performance, so it must not be neglected here. It covers such themes as, for example, the treatment of trainees and the methods for dispensing performance feedback to learners after practice sessions.

Examiner’s tips : Throughout this lecture the material should be enlivened with examples of well-designed and poorly-designed training/learning/development events, preferably taken from ‘live’ organisational case-studies. Great care should be taken, too, to ensure that the whole training, learning and development processes are understood against the background of the organisation’s needs. In other words, though some attention

may be given to satisfying the individual learning aspirations of employees themselves, the overwhelming priority must be to ensure that the business has sufficient skills and knowledge to enable it to perform competitively and successfully both now and in the future. See Martin, Whiting and Jackson, Human Resource Practice (CIPD, 5th edition, 2010), pp. 273-274, for an excellent outline of “The Role of the HR Practitioner” in the diagnosis, application and fulfilment of training, learning and development needs.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome: 6. Know how the Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution to the design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of an organisation’s performance management systems. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : [This is a good moment to review the whole tutorial sequence for Personnel Administration – to remind students that the proper role of the Personnel Administrator is to support the HR professional, and to re-emphasise the fact that the Personnel Administrator these days is not simply expected to apply existing rules, procedures and processes, but must play a part in enabling continuous improvement and change throughout the organisation. This leads neatly into a lecture about performance management and performance appraisal.] 6.1 Performance management: what it is, and what it is for. See Martin, Whiting and

Jackson (Human Resource Practice, CIPD, 5TH edition, 2010) for an excellent overview of the answers to these two questions on pages 156 to 159. This section also explains why performance management is important, using some first-class examples in order to dramatise the difference between being ‘efficient’ and being ‘effective’ – an issue referred to elsewhere already in this Lecture Guide. The linked case study on page 161 about the car dealership is especially instructive, and students should read this case and then explore the lessons to be learned.

Performance management: why it goes wrong and how it should work. Martin and his colleagues (ibid., p. 159) provide a list of seven reasons why performance management is not always successful – these should be identified and preferably illustrated/reinforced by means of practical examples.

6.2 Pay and financial reward as performance motivators. Students should be aware

of the principal theories of motivation (Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor) and should definitely understand that simply dispensing financial rewards (in the form of salaries, wages, bonuses, overtime and so forth) is not an effective solution to the problems of performance management. Tutors should consult Martin, Whiting and Jackson (ibid., pp. 177-178) to summarise motivation theories.

6.3 Performance appraisal. Martin, Whiting and Jackson (ibid., pp. 163-175) have a

long section about appraisal and this should be used as the basis for the lecture content. Especially relevant are the paragraphs about “Good practice in performance appraisal” (p. 173 et seq) and the page or so on “The role of HR practitioners” (p. 181-182). This latter in particular helps to spell out what might be required of Personnel Administrators in the design, implementation, review and improvement of a performance appraisal process.

Examiner’s tips : One of the common mistakes made by students is to confuse ‘performance management’ with ‘performance appraisal’, and Tutors should make it clear that the two concepts are not the same and not synonyms for each other. It’s theoretically possible to have ‘performance appraisal’ without ‘performance management’,

especially if the appraisal system is largely intended to promote the development of those being appraised, but it’s scarcely feasible to have ‘performance management’ without ‘performance appraisal’, since so much in performance management depends on agreement about objectives, targets and standards. Another typical student problem concerns the apparent belief that organisations have unlimited quantities of money which can be dispensed to employees in the form of pay, pay increases, promotions (often used as a cover for pay increases), bonuses and so forth. Herzberg’s view about the diminishing returns to be gained from monetary rewards is highly relevant here, and Tutors should make sure that students have a balanced picture encompassing both financial and non-financial rewards.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 6. Know how the Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution to the design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of an organisation’s performance management systems. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : [At first sight it may seem that this lecture simply repeats what is already embraced in Lecture 8. However, the theme in this lecture is solely concerned with making a positive contribution to the design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of both performance management and performance appraisal systems. In order for this lecture to be productive, students must already have become acquainted with the basics for these two crucial dimensions for human resource management.] 6.1/3 Performance management – some questions to be discussed include:

• Why is performance management important? • What is likely to happen if the organisation does not employ a systematic

approach to performance management? • How can performance management help the organisation prepare for its

future? • Why does a performance management system sometimes fail to produce

meaningful outcomes? On page 160 of the ABE textbook (Martin, Whiting and Jackson, Human Resource Practice, CIPD, 5th edition, 2010) there is a definition of performance management as “a vehicle for the continuous and evolutionary improvement of business performance via a co-ordinated programme of people management activities.” This is then followed by a list of these activities. Students should be required to learn this definition and understand the reasons for the activities that together comprise a meaningful performance management system. Performance appraisal – some questions to be discussed include: • What is performance appraisal, and how is it different from performance

management? • What are the possible purposes/objectives for performance appraisal? • How should the appraisal interview (meeting) be conducted? • To what extent should performance appraisal be directly linked to the

payment/reward system? Page 168 of the textbook provides a section on “The components of performance appraisal schemes”, with the four key questions which have to be asked when designing – or evaluating – an appraisal system. Students should be required to learn these four questions and understand why each of them is important. Another equally important ingredient is the section on “Objective Setting” (pp. 171-172). To learn precisely what is involved in the notion of an ‘objective’, students should be presented with examples of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ objectives with a requirement to classify them as one or the other, giving reasons for their views and indicating what changes would have to be made before the ‘bad’ objectives became more acceptable.

Examiner’s tips : The most effective teaching approach for this lecture, after the framework principles have been covered by the Tutor, is the use of brief case-study scenarios which address some of the key aspects of performance management and/or performance appraisal. Several such case studies are provided in the textbook, but others can often be found by consulting the archive of the CIPD periodical, People Management, through the CIPD website.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 7. Know how the Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution to the design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of an organisation’s employee relations and employee engagement practices. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : [Once more the lecture should begin with a broad overview of what is involved in HRM and what is typically required from Personnel Administrators when supporting the HR function. This then places into context what follows in Lecture 11.] 7.1 The purposes for an employee relations strategy – with special reference to

current thinking about the benefits of partnership, involvement and employee engagement. The latter concept – engagement – is particularly important for today’s and tomorrow’s organisations, so should receive considerable emphasis. Tutors seeking up-to-date information should enter ‘Employee Engagement’ as a Google search enquiry and will find valuable guidance especially from the Wikipedia entry on this subject.

7.2 The causes, manifestations, prevention and resolution of industrial conflict. Here

the key topics to be covered are these: • What do we mean by industrial conflict? • Why does industrial conflict occur in organisations? • What forms can industrial conflict take? Note that conflict may be informal –

articulated through unusually high levels of labour turnover, for example, or an unwillingness to accept additional assignments and duties – or formal, expressed by means of strikes, go-slows, ‘working to rule’ and so forth.

• How can industrial conflict be managed, controlled or even prevented (e.g. through dispute procedures, proactive managerial action, the creation of a ‘partnership’ culture through employee ownership).

• When negotiation skills have to be exercised, what are the principles involved?

7.3 The role of the Personnel Administrator in managing employee relations. The tasks of the Personnel Administrator should be explored and reviewed.

7.4 The significance of employee engagement and the HR strategies which contribute to high levels of employee engagement:

• Engaged employees are more motivated, more committed and more loyal: they are more likely to remain with the organisation, and they are more customer-focused.

• Engaged employees are more willing to exercise ‘organisational citizenship’ and ‘discretionary behaviour’ for the benefit of the organisation (Tutors should investigate these concepts via the textbook and/or the Internet).

• Strategies likely to lead to higher levels of employee engagement include: careful recruitment and selection, the use of a company-wide ‘Big Idea’ which is reflected in all company practices, plenty of communication, training and development, managers who are also leaders, and so forth. Please note that high levels of employee engagement are not likely to be promoted through generous financial rewards, since these simply encourage mercenary attitudes.

Examiner’s tips : In bringing alive the notion of employee engagement, Tutors should discuss some examples of organisations which have significant numbers of engaged employees in their workforces, e.g. Tesco, First Direct, Singapore Airlines, Shangri-La Hotels. At Tesco, for example, 87% of employees would recommend Tesco as an employer and also as a supermarket – which on the face of it suggests that most Tesco workers are ‘engaged’. The impact of such a high degree of ‘engagement’ can be discussed – it has clear benefits for the business’s customers – and can be contrasted with the likely consequences for a business whose employees are not engaged, especially so far as customers are concerned.

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Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 7. Know how the Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution to the design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of an organisation’s employee relations and employee engagement practices. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content : 7.4 (continued) Mechanisms to improve upward and downward communication

within the organisation. Some fundamental issues to be covered under this heading include:

• What are the purposes of communication? (Inform, persuade, influence.) • What are the typical barriers to effective communication? • How and why should the organisation communicate with its workforce? • How and why can the organisation encourage upward communication from

the workforce? (To promote a sense of involvement and participation in the organisation’s affairs, to stimulate a flow of new ideas, innovations and suggestions for continuous improvement, and then provide an outlet for individual or collective grievances.)

7.3 (continued) A professional approach to disciplinary situations. Tutors should

address these questions: • What is the purpose of disciplinary action? (textbook p. 218) • What are the principles that should underpin a disciplinary procedure? • How should a disciplinary interview be conducted? (textbook pp. 236-240) • What is the role of the Personnel Administrator when supporting a disciplinary

procedure and disciplinary action?

A professional approach to grievance-handling. Tutors must be careful to make it clear that grievance-handling has nothing to do with discipline, and the employee expressing a grievance is not to be treated as an ‘offender’. That said, the key parameters for grievance-handling are these:

• What is a ‘grievance’? What sorts of situation can give rise to grievances on the part of individuals or groups within the workforce?

• What are the principles that should underpin a grievance procedure? • How should a grievance-handling interview be conducted? • What is the role of the Personnel Administrator when supporting a grievance-

management situation?

Other scenarios in which communication and interpersonal skills may be required or exercised:

• Exit interviews – conducted with departing employees in an effort to find out why they are leaving so that avoidable labour turnover can be minimised.

• Pre-retirement interviews – intended to prepare employees for retirement. Legislative, ethical and professional considerations affecting the conduct of

the Personnel Administrator in any of the above. • Once again the professional and ethical dimensions of a Personnel

Administrator’s behaviour must be emphasised, together with the importance of confidentiality and data protection.

• It would also be relevant to consider the dangers of discrimination.

Examiner’s tips : As mentioned above, it is common for ABE examination candidates to write as if the employee with a grievance deserves to be punished. This is not the case, and the differences between ‘disciplinary situations’ and ‘grievance handling’ should be made absolutely clear. Also, it is important for students to understand that disciplinary action is not solely or even principally about punishment, but rather about an attempt to encourage employees to behave correctly, co-operatively and corporately.

QCF

Unit Title: Personnel Administration Learning Outcome : 8. Understand how a Personnel Administrator can make a worthwhile contribution to the design, maintenance, evaluation and improvement of an organisation’s personnel information systems. Assessment Criteria/Indicative Content: 8.1 The reasons for accurate and comprehensive personnel records. These are

dealt with very competently in the ABE textbook (Martin, Whiting and Jackson, Human Resource Practice, CIPD, 5th edition, 2010, pp. 278-280).

8.2 The Personnel Administrator’s contribution to the design, maintenance,

evaluation and improvement of a personnel information system. This section should include a brief review of the benefits of computerised information systems over those operated manually through the maintenance of clerical (paper-based) records (see Martin et al, ibid., p. 281). If necessary, students should be familiarised with the essentials of computing: unfortunately some candidates appear very uninformed about such fundamental issues as the differences between ‘hardware’ and ‘software’.

The assessment of suitable computer applications for the personnel/HR function, including the role of databases and spreadsheets. This topic is best dealt with through the discussion of specific examples, though a detailed discussion of the possibilities is contained in the ABE textbook (Martin et al, ibid., pp. 282-287).

8.3 The legal and professional requirements for confidentiality, data protection and

the security of data in personnel records. The situation in the UK is admirably described in Martin et al, ibid., pp. 287-293 and p. 296 onwards. Students should be made aware of any legislative obligations in their own countries, if these differ from those found in the UK. The implications of the Internet and email use in an organisation. Again, this is a topic which is explored at length in the textbook - see pp. 293-296. The role of HR practitioners. Tutors should derive their material on this subject from the textbook, pp. 302-303. Although these two pages chiefly deal with the issues from a more managerial standpoint, much of what is said is equally relevant to Personnel Administrators. Conclusion and Key Learning Points from the Lecture Programme. Tutors should end with some reminders about the fundamental principles contained within Personnel Administration: • The proper role for the Personnel Administrator – supporting the HR

professionals in the execution of their duties, but also reflecting the values of continuous improvement.

• The proper role for the HR department – as a ‘business partner’ rather than merely as a welfare and administrative service.

• The legal, professional and ethical dimensions of the Personnel Administrator’s position.

Examiner’s tips : This is the final lecture in the series so it is appropriate for Tutors to conclude with a reminder about the key themes that have been pursued throughout the programme,

e.g. the proper role of the Personnel Administrator, the proper priorities for the HR department, the requirement for Personnel Administrators to conduct themselves professionally and ethically, to act with discretion and support the organisation’s goals. Setting some personal objectives for further learning, especially in those areas where individual students are weak, would also be very desirable – and would reflect the continuous-improvement philosophy of the subject-matter as a whole.