Chapter 1 – Foundation and challenges of human resource
management
1.1 People Practises in South Africa
- South Africa remains highly ranked compared to other countries in sub-
Saharan Africa
- The people component needs to be managed as one integrated whole to
enable an organisation to obtain and maintain its competitive advantage
- All HR practises needs to be in sync
1.2 Human Resources: Past and Present
- The scientific management approach
- The human relations approach
- The human resource approach
1.2.1 Scientific management approach
- Was considered as the most effective means of managing employees
- Constant supervision and threat of the loss of their jobs
- How work could be efficiently designed
- Resulted in work methods and techniques that showed great concern for
employee output and little concern for employee satisfaction
- Employees were expected to produce at a maximum level to satisfy what
was believed to be their only work-related need: money
1.2.2 Human relations approach
- Employee productivity was affected not only by the way the job was
designed and the way employees were rewarded economically, but also by a
certain social and psychological factors
- Employees’ feelings, emotions and sentiments were strongly affected by
work conditions like group relations, leadership styles and support from
management which in turn have a significant impact on productivity
- Therefore it is important to treat employees with dignity in order so enhance
employee satisfaction and enable the achievement of higher productivity
- The shift to human relations was also influenced by growing strength of
unions
- This approach was instrumental in improving the working environment of
many employees, but achieved minimal success in increasing employee
output and job satisfaction
, 1.2.3 The human resource approach
- Organisations benefit in two significant ways: an increase in organisational
effectiveness and the satisfaction of each employee’s needs
- Rather than addressing organisational goals and employee needs as
separate and exclusive, the human resource approach holds that
organisational goals and human needs are mutual and compatible
- Managing people as resources rather than as factors of production
- Organisations have challenges within this approach: changes in the
environment, introduction of technology, balancing work and personal life and
diversity of their workforce.
1.3 Strategic Human Resource Management
- Long term planning s risky, but essential
-how organisations make decisions about their future in this complex and
changing world-process of strategic management
- Strategic human resource management (SHRM): a focus on the
integration of all HR policies with one another and with the overall strategy
and direction of the organisation
-SHRM involves making those decisions that define the overall mission and
objectives of the organisation, determining the most effective use of its
resources, and crafting and executing the strategy in ways that produce the
intended results
- Business strategy is a management’s game plan
-SHRM activities address a wide variety of people issues relevant to the
business strategy
- Human resource management crosses all the functional areas and is fully
integrated with all the significant parts or the organisation: operations,
marketing, finance etc.
- The process is led and coordinated by top management
- In the past, people issues were the sole province of the personnel
department
- Today, strategic human resource problems are the responsibility of every
manager in every department
- The HR staff are themselves resources to be called on in support of
operating managers
- HR managers need certain competencies to be successful:
Business mastery: know the business strategies of the organisation
HR mastery: stay informed about changes relating to issues such as staff,
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