Introducing Human Resource Management
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Introducing Human Resource Management

Caroline Hook, Andrew Jenkins

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eBook - ePub
No longer available

Introducing Human Resource Management

Caroline Hook, Andrew Jenkins

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About This Book


Introducing Human Resource Management is a lively and engaging introduction to the key topics and
issues surrounding people management. Clearly linking HR theory to the work environment, this book
explores core areas such as HR strategy and planning, employee engagement, diversity and equality,
and talent management and development. The text combines solid academic underpinning with
practical examples to allow you to consolidate your learning and apply it in practice.

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Information

Publisher
Pearson
Year
2019
ISBN
9781292230375

Chapter 1


Introducing human resource management

Objectives

By the end of this chapter you will be able to:
  • define what is meant by the term ‘human resource management’
  • understand the roles of line managers and human resource managers in managing people
  • outline the range of activities with which practitioners of human resource management are likely to be involved
  • demonstrate how human resource management can make a difference by adding value to an organisation
  • outline some of the current issues facing HR managers
  • start to review and develop your employability skills.

Introduction

This book is designed as an introductory text for students studying human resource management (HRM) either with a view to becoming HR specialists themselves, or starting or hoping to start a career in management. As you will discover, people management forms a large part of every manager’s job, whether they work in a large multinational organisation, a not-for-profit organisation or a small charity. Organisations also increasingly aim for all employees to be motivated and involved, so an understanding of the subject is important for everyone.
As stated in the preface, we intend that you should become actively involved in your own learning as you progress through the book. Learning how to learn is a vital skill not just so that you achieve a qualification, though of course that is also important, but also so that you can continue to learn and so update skills and knowledge throughout life.

HRM skills

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2018a), as well as achieving qualifications and gaining work experience there are some key behaviours needed to be a success in HR, which include:
  • curiosity
  • decisive thinker
  • skilled influencer
  • driven to deliver
  • collaborative
  • courage to challenge
  • role model
  • personally credible.
Being a strong communicator capable of influencing others, being curious and continuing to learn, an ability to work collaboratively in a team and being aware of and interested in the ways businesses work are skills that employers say that they want in anyone starting a job with them.
HR practitioners also need to be analytical and to act decisively once they have analysed relevant data and other information in order to reach practical solutions. A person in an HR role needs to be personally credible in that they have the ability to deal with ambiguity, to think things through logically and apply their judgement and emotional intelligence in situations that do not necessarily have one right answer.
A person working in HR also has to set a good example and act with integrity, impartiality and demonstrate sound judgement as they may be regarded as something of a role model. There may also be times when the HR person has to challenge other points of view, perhaps when a more senior manager is about to do something potentially illegal or unfairly discriminatory so, at times, they must display courage to challenge others’ viewpoints.
Of course, it would be too much to expect that you would develop all of these qualities just by reading an introductory textbook in HRM: many will be developed by experience, perhaps during your course or in paid employment or by working as a volunteer. However, the ‘HRM case studies and activities’, ‘Review questions’, ‘What do you think?’ and ‘HR in the news’ topics included in each chapter aim to enhance your knowledge as well as help you to develop some of these HRM skills. Studying HRM will also enable you to see things from the perspective of an HR practitioner, which may also be useful in increasing your business awareness and enable you to gain better insights in planning your own career and in job applications in particular.

Employability skills

We have also focused on some specific generic skills in a section called ‘Improving your employability’ at the end of each chapter. While there are many things that could contribute to improving employability, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the National Union of Students (NUS) (2011) say that students need to be proactive about using their time at university or college to gain experience by volunteering or getting involved in clubs and societies and trying to gain work experience in their chosen topic or topics. They go on to say that a positive attitude and willingness to participate in new things or try out new ideas is important as is a desire to get things done. The knowledge and qualifications gained on your course, which in this instance is knowledge about HRM, is also important but other generic capabilities are also often required by employers. These include the following:
  • Self-management – this could include skills such as time management, management of your own learning, flexibility and a willingness to learn from feedback and reflecting on your learning.
  • Problem solving – learning to be more analytical to identify causes of problems or situations and then selecting solutions that would be appropriate in the circumstances.
  • Working with others – working in teams, pairs or small groups and contributing to discussion as well as using skills of cooperation, persuasion or negotiation.
  • Communication – the ability to communicate clearly in various forms, both written, such as business reports, and spoken, such as making a presentation.
  • Business awareness – understanding more about what drives a business to achieve success and also about building customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  • Application of numeracy – being able to work with numbers to use them in an appropriate business context.
  • Application of information technology – IT skills and familiarity with commonly used programs.
The NUS (2018) added to this list and included:
  • Planning and research skills – this involves coming up with a suitable strategy and a plan of action and involves finding information from a wide range of sources and then analysing, interpreting and reporting your findings.
  • Resilience – this is about the way in which you cope and deal with setbacks or stressful situations when a problem occurs or when there is an unexpected change in a project.
  • Relevant work experience – this is increasingly important as more and more graduates compete for jobs.
While we cannot hope to perfect your skills in all these areas in an introductory textbook on HRM, nevertheless, we hope to help you to start to develop some of these while you learn more about the subject of human resource management.

HRM? What’s it all about?

Even though you are just beginning this subject, you may already have ideas about some of the topics that you are about to study and you may even have a general idea of the role and functions of the human resource management or personnel department in an organisation. Your ideas may not all be right but, after all, that is why you are studying the subject. Many students talk of studying HRM because they would ‘like to work with people’, and they seem to think of human resource management as a cosy job that involves being nice to people at all times. While this view is not entirely accurate, it is certainly a career that provides a wealth of variety and a great deal of job satisfaction. HRM is also a career that is constantly changing as the role evolves in response to changing social, political, economic and demographic issues, and we shall examine some of the ways the profession is changing in response to these later in this chapter.
According to the CIPD (2018b), a career in HR offers endless possibilities with a huge variety of roles. A career in HR is ‘about helping to create successful businesses through people’. This means that most organisations will need the expertise of an HR professional and this is true for charities, banks, media organisations, education, retail engineering firms and a host of other organisations both in the UK and in other parts of the world.
One of the main reasons people give for enjoying their HR careers is that it provides variety, challenge and interest in organisations where HR is at the heart of the business and can make a difference. There are many different roles within HR and managing people ensures there is never a dull moment (CIPD, 2018c). A survey by XpertHR in 2014 found that 58.7 per cent of those surveyed would choose to pursue a career in HR again in spite of the fact that almost half of them (48.5 per cent) had actually started work in other areas prior to HR and said they had entered the HR profession by chance. Of those surveyed, 36.8 per cent had made a deliberate choice to pursue a career in HR because they wished to work with people (Murphy, 2014).

What do you think?

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body that represents over 150,000 people worldwide who are involved in the management and development of people. It is committed to championing better work and better working lives.
In your opinion, why do you think so many people are attracted to a career in HRM?
What do you think are the advantages of joining a professional body such as the CIPD?
(Source: CIPD, 2018d)
We shall discuss in this book the variety of roles and tasks that modern HR professionals cover but it is important to note that it is not just the HR professionals who work in these areas: line managers are also involved. Therefore, this book is also written as an introduction to HRM for them too.
Let us start with an activity to help you focus on your ideas about human resource management and the respective roles of HR managers and line managers. You can compare your answers with the answer that we give at the end of the chapter. Later in the chapter we shall also look at what researchers and HR practitioners say HR is about.

Illustration

Activity 1.1

What do you think are the main areas in which a human resource manager is likely to be involved? Make a list of these areas. For each of the areas on the list, indicate the type of involvement of the human resource practitioner and whether other managers are also likely to have a role in handling this activity (use Table 1.1). We have completed the first row of ...

Table of contents