Monday, November 5, 2012

Unit 1 - Personel vs SHRM

From the 1980s, initially in the USA, there developed a further version of people management, known as ‘strategic human resource management’ (SHRM) – often just called HRM – in which the ‘s’ of strategic denotes that we are maintaining our focus on the collective rather than the individual level.

SHRM has been characterised by Storey (2007) in a set of underlying principles defined below, which are the beliefs and assumptions of leading-edge HR practitioners.
1.       Beliefs and assumptions;

a.       That it is the human resource which gives competitive edge.

b.      That the aim should be not mere compliance with rules, but employee commitment.

c.       That employees should be very carefully selected and developed. 

2.       Strategic qualities:

a.       Because of the above factors, HR decisions are of strategic importance.

b.      Top management involvement is necessary.

c.       HR policies should be integrated into the business strategy – stemming from it and even contributing to it. 

3.       Critical role of managers:

a.     Because HR practice is critical to the core activities of the business, it is too important to be left to personnel specialists alone.

b.     Line managers are (or need to be) closely involved as both deliverers and drivers of the HR policies.

c.       Much greater attention is paid to the management of the managers themselves. 

4.       Key levers:

a.       Managing culture is more important than managing procedures and systems.

b.      Integrated action on selection, communication, training, reward and development.

c.       Restructuring and job design to allow devolved responsibility and empowerment.

(Storey, 2007, p. 7)

Table 1.1 Twenty-seven points of difference between personnel management and SHRM



Dimension

Personnel and industrial relations (IR)

SHRM

Beliefs and assumptions

1

Contract

Careful delineation of written contracts

Aim to go ‘beyond contract’

2

Rules

Importance of devising clear rules/mutuality

‘Can-do’ outlook; impatience with ‘rule’

3

Guide to management action

Procedures

‘Business-need’

4

Behaviour referent

Norms/custom and practice

Values/mission

5

Managerial task vis-à-vis labour

Monitoring

Nurturing

6

Nature of relations

Pluralist

Unitarist

7

Conflict

Institutionalised

De-emphasised

 

Strategic aspects

8

Key relations

Labour management

Customer

9

Initiatives

Piecemeal

Integrated

10

Corporate plan

Marginal to

Central to

11

Speed of decision

Slow

Fast

Line management

12

Management role

Transactional

Transformational leadership

13

Key managers

Personnel/IR specialists

General/business/line managers

14

Communication

Indirect

Direct

15

Standardisation

High (e.g. ‘parity’ an issue)

Low (e.g. ‘parity’ not seen as relevant)

16

Prized management skills

Negotiation

Facilitation

Key levers

17

Selection

Separate, marginal task

Integrated, key task

18

Pay

Job evaluation (fixed grades)

Performance-related

19

Conditions

Separately negotiated

Harmonisation

20

Labour management

Collective bargaining contracts

Towards individual contracts

21

Thrust of relations with stewards

Regularised through facilities and training

Marginalised (with exception of some bargaining for change models)

22

Job categories and grades

Many

Few

23

Communication

Restricted flow

Increased flow

24

Job design

Division of labour

Team work

25

Conflict handling

Reach temporary truces

Manage climate and culture

26

Training and development

Controlled access to courses

Learning companies

27

Foci of attention for interventions

Personnel procedures

Wide-ranging cultural, structural and personnel strategies

Adapted from Storey, 1992, p. 35

 

No comments:

Post a Comment