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Example research essay topic: Human Resource Management Human Resources Management - 2,590 words

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Values and Risks: The Aids and Ails of the Human Resource Management Approach Bray and Waring (2005) state two forms of individual contracting: one that is governed by common law the common law contract and the other that is governed by statutes- statutory individual contracts which Work Choices legitimizes. In deeper analysis, the latter type can be perceived as more advantageous to employers than to workers because such exempts employers from following the common law practice of giving employees the rights to freely bargain with their employers (Ibid. , p. 8). Greater managerial prerogative is the essence of labor laws. For instance, Bray estimated that only 20 % of the Australian Workforce is governed by common law contracts (Bray and Waring 2001, p. 9). In practice, Bray and Waring (2005) find that there is insufficient employee input in the drafting of individual agreements. The statutory individual contracts are usually standardized and pattern (ed) as proven in several case studies (Bray and Waring 2001, p. 10).

This means that employees do not really have the right to freely bargain for themselves. If I was a supervisor in a small manufacturing plant and the union contract covering most of your employees is about to expire, I would prepare union contract negotiations where the individual bargaining which is the major feature of the law, with the possibilities of extreme labor disputes arising from provisions of the law on unionism, will often put the human resource managers in the middle of workplace negotiation, or worse employer-employee skirmish. Such scenario will require the HR manager and professional to know the skills and knowledge of negotiation. Negotiation skills are necessary in employee relations especially in this situation, seen as a second-best to winning by employers than conceding (Price 2004, The Negotiating Process). It is a form of decision-making where two sides of equal power both want to attain their goals on an issue, but as the negotiation process progresses, the shift in power can be phenomenal, and the whole thing will become a game of a bluff (Ibid. ). The employees may want to demand for a higher pay, but I can refuse to give in because it will increase production cost (Ibid. ).

During our negotiation, both parties may have similar goals i. e. company expansion; but conflicting views are also inevitable (Ibid. ). This is when HR Manager can come in. More often than not, HR professionals represents the organizations top management to the employees.

They have to balance the goals of the business as dictated by top management, with the demands and needs of employees and workers. Lyons identifies the four stages of the most comprehensible bargaining process model (Price 2004, Models of Bargaining). As a game of bluff, there are strategies or stages that can be employed or implemented in the negotiation process to have the outcomes mutually fulfilling to both employers and employees. Initial positioning. Both parties will set out positions and requirements in emphatic, firm way aimed at giving the impression that there is no possibility of budging from those positions. The situation can appear hopeless at this stage.

Testing. The next stage is a less formal probing of the other side's demands, testing out which are really unmovable and which might bend in the right circumstances. Concession. Some tentative proposals and concessions are exchanged on which detailed negotiations can take place.

Settlement. Finally, agreement is reached and the package of new terms is settled and action. (Price 2004, Models of Bargaining). Skills such as analysis, effective argument, signals of cooperation, and attention to detail are necessary to make our negotiation process successful (Ibid. ). According to Price, negotiation skills are learned from experience and instinctive An assertive style with resiliency is the basic personality requirement I will adopt in the negotiating panel to shift the advantage towards both parties because I know that lack of clarity of aims or goals by one or both sides, poor understanding of the detailed situation, and the failure to identify the real problem are what can cause failure in our negotiations. It is a known fact that a major component of production, especially in the services sector, is the human resource of the company. It is the employees in their designated occupations who make use of the technology, and more importantly, who think about ideas and toil to make these ideas palatable to the market.

It is therefore important to look at how the human resource is managed. This aspect of management tackles how the pool of employees will be tapped to its full potential such that they feel being needed by the company. Also, a significant portion of human resource management confronts employee-related problems that affects there relationship with their work and co-workers. To put simply, human resource management is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most valued the people who are working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business (Armstrong, 2006). Through time, businesses, organizations and institutions have put premium on human resource management to improve the performance of their workforce and the company in general. It therefore begs the answers to the following questions: (a) what is the root by which this new approach has emerged; (b) how can this approach be explained and consequently be evaluated or criticized; (c) how effective has this approach been; (d) what criticisms has been thrown at it; and (e) what are the ways that could still improve the human resource management approach?

The human resources management perspective is both theoretical and practical such that it has an academic theory and a business practice aspect. The baseline of this discussion is the history of the field. In tracing such, it is not a surprise that on stumbles on the concept of personnel management. Torrington and Hall defines personal management as a series of activities which: first enable working people and their employing organizations to agree about the objectives and nature of their working relationship and, secondly, ensures that the agreement is fulfilled (1987).

There is much similarity then with human resource management, however, the literature disagrees that they are essentially the same. A distinction is further made between the two saying that personnel management is used in a more restricted sense as it only refers to activities of recruitment, accruing benefits and payroll the recruits and administering the various work-life needs of the employees thus the definition talks about activities; as opposed to human resources management which Miller describes as those decisions and actions which concern the management of employees at all levels in the business and which are related to the implementation of strategies directed towards creating and sustaining competitive advantage (1987). In this light, the human resources management approach or HRM is seen as a break from the traditional approach of personnel management such that it is more innovative and its scope has widened. It does not talk anymore of just activities but also of decisions which involve the employees themselves. What this does is that it instills a sense of importance in the skills and capacities of the employees and consequently, empowerment and satisfaction in the workplace. Note that in this discussion, a business refers to any organization with goals and with means to operational ized these goals and not only refers to the narrow down concept of business in the private sector.

This implies inclusion of the government bureaucracy, non-government organizations, and interest groups. Thus, to all these kinds of organizations or institutions, this approach is value-adding. This key point can be examined in the context of the practical aspect. The value-adding component of the approach can be seen in David Towers (2006) description of five core HRM activities: (a) resourcing - refers to the recruitment and selection of employees; (b) training and development developing the talent that the human resource department has selected and enhancing the competencies; (c) reward systems motivating the employees; (d) communications communicating management and administrative prerogatives; and (e) general administration. The value then comes from what these activities provide to the company and to the employees.

Essentially, it is the means by which ability, motivation and opportunity are provided (Appelbaum et. al, 2000). For the employees, ability is enhanced when they are trained; motivation is increased when they are rewarded; and opportunity grows when they are involved in the decision-making. The end by which the employees come to be empowered and happy such that they produce efficiently and work diligently, and even more so when this translates to attaining part of the objectives of the business, is the value that the company gets from human resource management. Another aspect of this approach is it its risk-reducing component. Risk reduction is defined as the process of identifying potential problems and crises and then developing strategies to reduce the impact of these risks (Towers, 2006).

The premise whereby this component is derived is that even if the employees are the organizations biggest assets, it also means that they are the biggest liabilities. This implies that ability, motivation, and opportunity are also the key areas, that when absent, pose a great threat to the organizations operations. Decisions of human resource departments on risk reduction often include those of reducing absenteeism, reducing turnover, transforming weaknesses into motivation to improve, and ironing communication lines among others. In practice, almost all companies and organizations have human resource departments in place. They view this segment as necessary to the life sustenance of the company. Basically, this is also the department where the organizational culture of the company is manifested.

In most companies, the Human Resource Agency and the Civil Service Commission of the government both play the core functions of HRM. They ensure that the bureaucratic positions are occupied with employees who have passed an exam and trained to do the job. In a nutshell, getting into the bureaucracy is by merit and skill. From this argument, criticisms start coming in. The literature often focuses on rigid processes and gave little attention to context and human networks.

It has not considered the system of spoils and the argument of relational favors. It is important because this happens in companies run by families and friends and much more so in bureaucracies where largesse is prevalent. The next criticism delves more into the practice than the literature. It says that companies focus more on value-adding than risk-reducing when in fact there should be a balance.

This is the reason why human resource department strive hard to maintain positions in decision-making boards and oftentimes neglect the ground truths on employee performance. This becomes a precursor to the preoccupation with implementing what the board generally thinks rather than creating strategies to improve performance. This means that the human resource departments are sometimes out of focus. Every organization has its own strategy in meeting its predetermined goals and in countering the changes and challenges in the path towards sustainability and success. Strategy is of paramount importance in any organizations today, especially in this time when globalization had increasingly made steep competition and discriminating customers the new norms. As observed among contesting firms, everyone is trying to maximize the opportunities at hand while buffering the limitations caused by inherent weaknesses through the implementation of strategies that are developed through strategic planning. (Gratton, Hailey, Stiles, and Truss, 1999).

For employees to be energized by their work, they must have clear understanding of what performing well requires. Too often, managers assume that employees understand how best to direct their efforts, More likely, employees feel uncertain about what is most important. By working with employees to set specific and measurable goals, managers can clarify their expectations for employees. To be motivators, rewards must be aligned with the things that employees value. The rewards that employees want can be determined simply by asking them. Some employees value monetary rewards above everything else, whereas others value scheduling flexibility, the opportunity to work on special projects, training and development opportunities and so on.

Whenever possible, effective managers find ways to use various rewards to motivate a variety of employees. Performance can be rewarded in tow ways. Extrinsic rewards are outcomes supplied by the organization, such as a good salary, status, job security and fringe benefits. These rewards are similar to the job context items that Herzberg called hygiene factors.

Intrinsic rewards are personally satisfying outcomes, such as feelings of achievement and personal growth. These rewards are similar to Herzbergs motivator factors. In the Porter-Lawler model, both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are desirable. Employees perceptions of whether their rewards are equitable include their evaluations of both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. The management is responsible for bringing people into the organization, helping them perform their work, compensating them for their labors, and solving problems that arise. Consequently, human resource management plays a central role in organizational effectiveness.

Since a companys most important asset is its human resources, all managers should be vitally concerned with the rewards system. (Gewirtz, 1996). The human, material and capital resources of the enterprise must be managed effectively and efficiently. The practice of management requires foresight, intellectual skill, conceptual insight into business realities and judgment. Every business, from the most successful to the most troubled, does some things very right. The most important part of the reinvention process is identifying these things that one does so well from the simplest office procedure. Human resources nowadays need to be able to use as many management perspectives as possible in order to reinvent their organizations.

Lessons one learns from these management theories will enable a top manager to keep his company going, expand his client base, market his products more effectively and grow beyond knee-jerk responses and conventional wisdom (Newham, 2005). In this discussion, we have seen how the concept human resource management is relatively more encompassing than just personnel management. In examining the key functions of tackled in this approach, the two major components of HRM emerge: value-adding and risk-reducing. Both give way to ability, motivation, and opportunity increase.

However, HRM is criticized because it has focused more on value-addition which means less engagement in early strategy creation for risk reduction. A criticism also comes when context and social realities are not considered. In this respect, a recommendation to HR professionals should be to focus on balancing duties and engage on strategy planning early on to identify potential risks that will undermine value. But in its entirety, this approach has more to offer than to any other approach and so it is used extensively and it is worth the examination. Bibliography Appelbuam, E, et. al. , 2000, Manufacturing advantage: why high performance work systems pay off, Ithaca.

Armstrong, Michael, 2006, A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10 th Edition, Bray, M. and Waring, P. (2005) The Rise of Managerial Prerogative Under the Howard Government. Employment Studies Centre, University of Newcastle. Retrieved Sept. 4, 2008 web Gewirtz, D. , (1996). The Flexible Enterprise.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Gratton, L, Hailey, VH, Stiles, P, & Truss, C 1999, Strategic Human Resource Management: Corporate Rhetoric and Human Reality, Oxford University Press, New York. Newham, C. Strategies for leadership. 2005 Retrieved Sept. 4, 2008 at: web Miller, M, 1987, The Columbia Encyclopedia (2005), Columbia University Press.

Price, A. (2004) Chapter 23: Models of Bargaining in Human Resource Management in a Business Context 2 nd Ed. Thomson Learning. Retrieved Sept. 4, 2008 web Torrington and Hall, 1987, The Columbia Encyclopedia (2005), Columbia University Press. Towers, David, 2006, Human Resource Management Essays, Birmingham University.


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Research essay sample on Human Resource Management Human Resources Management

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