The following study primarily focusses on the contemporary issues involved in human resource management, such as job stress, discriminations, diversity, safety issues, emotional labour, and employee burnout.
,The origins of HRM
Formal HR practices evolved only at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,
The researcher McKee has successfully described these paradigm shifts in business life and
has also identified the evolving role of H HRM function.
The categories of change that McKee has identified within businesses can be group^ into
four distinct periods:
The mechanistic period. - Associated with the 1940s and 195os when manufacturing was
the driving force in industry.
Period saw the birth of the personnel/industrial relations profession. The main focus of the
HR function was of an administrative nature. Period also saw the emergence of benefit
programs as an area of interest.
The legalistic period. - 1960s and 1970s saw an unprecedented amount of legislation in the
social and employment areas. Legislation began a trend towards the regulation of the
workforce beyond the union contract and company rules. Training and development
began to emerge as a separate and specialized area of HRM and continues to play an
important and vital role.
1970s, the first HR information systems application (the computerization of the salary
database) was started.
The organistic period. - Tremendous organizational change started to take place in the
1980s - Globalization, mergers, acquisitions, re-engineering, and downsizing
HRM function faced numerous challenges (e.g. an increasingly diverse workforce and an
increase of awareness of work and family issues). Movement towards cost and profit
centers became an important issue for HRM, as did the implementation of more
command-and-control policies and procedures to save the organization from failing to
deal with the turbulent environment.
Period seen as the height of HRM specialization.
The strategic period. - 1990s has become known as the strategic period. Strategic thinking
and planning emerged as the most prominent activity to deal with the continual change
faced by corporate organizations.
Organizations were in flux, with structures ranging from webs to networks and matrices.
The HRM function now became a true strategic partner, reporting to the CEO and
interacting with the Board of Directors
Beyond 2000, McKee called this period the catalytic period.
In this period, following issues would play major roles:
• Increase in cross-border employment
• A workforce comfortable in, and with, other cultures
• Fewer organizations from continued mergers and acquisitions
• Use of just-in-time professional workers
• An increase in outsourcing of administrative functions
,• More innovative compensation practices
, • More selective approach by employees regarding their careers
• Telecommuting and other forms of flexible work being widely introduced Teams
playing
The new role of HRM
To be successful, the HR professional will have to:
• Become involved with line managers in strategy formulation and implementation,
• Become an expert in the way work is organized and executed
• Become involved in reducing costs through administrative efficiency, while
maintaining high quality
• Become a reliable representative for employees when putting their concerns to
management
• Become involved in efforts to increase the employees' contribution to the
organization
• Become an agent for continuous transformation, shaping processes and culture to
help improve capacity for change.
Strategic alliance between management and HR has received substantial attention in
both popular and academic literature.
Ulrich proposes a multiple role model for HRM - addresses these as well as other issues.
Ulrich: for HR professionals to be successful, they have to play at least four different roles,
strategic partner,
• administrative expert,
• employee champion
• change agent
Axes of Ulrich's model represent two aspects:
• focus (i.e. short-term and long-term)
• Activities (managing processes, HR tools and systems, and managing people Top
left quadrant (Cell 1). In this cell(management of strategic human resources) the HR
manager works to be a strategic partner by focusing on the alignment of HR
strategies and practice with the overall business strategy
Bottom left quadrant
(Cell 2). This role (management of company infra-structure) requires
HR professionals to design and deliver efficient HR processes,
HR professionals must ensure that these organizational processes are designed and
delivered efficiently.
Top right quadrant
(Cell 3). The third key role to be played by the HR professional is management of
transformation and change. This entails making fundamental cultural changes within the
organization.
Bottom right quadrant
3
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