Highlights on HRM

Highlights on Human Resource Management
By
Prof.Satya Sidhartha Panda
Copyright@sidharthmission.blogspot.com
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS STUDIES, BANGALORE
Department of Management
B.A (Hons.Distn), MBA-HR, MJMC, CCMM, (Ph.D)
Email-ID: Satyasidharth@yahoo.com
Blog: http://sidharthmission.blogspot.com/


Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time .Give the required time to your family, friends & have proper rest.
‘Value has a value only if its value is valued ’
-- Bryan Dyson –Former CEO of CoCa Cola
Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business.
Evolution of HRM
Industrial Relations
Personnel Management
Human Resource Management
1. Industrial Relations:
The field of industrial relations (also called labor relations) looks at the relationship between management and workers, particularly groups of workers represented by a union.
2. Personnel Management:
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, ensure that the agreement is fulfilled.
3. Human Resource Management:
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
‘Essentially, the HR discipline views workers in terms of their psychology and fit with companies, rather than as interchangeable parts’.
HR’S New Value Proposition:
HR practices lie at the heart of these intangibles !
ü HR Employee value.
ü HR Customer Value.
ü HR Investor Value.
Four Fields of HRM:
ü Strategic business partner
ü Change agent
ü Employee champion
ü Administration
Goal of HRM:
The goal of human resource management is to help an organization to meet strategic goals by attracting, and maintaining employees and also to manage them effectively.
The key word here perhaps is "fit", i.e. a HRM approach seeks to ensure a fit between the management of an organization's employees, and the overall strategic direction of the company.

Processes in HRM:
Human resources management comprises several processes. These processes are performed by the HR department. Some tasks can also be outsourced or performed by line-managers or other departments.
Workforce planning
Recruitment (sometimes separated into attraction and selection)
Induction and Orientation
Skills management
Training and development
Personnel administration
Employee benefits administration
Personnel cost planning
Compensation in wage or salary
Time management
Travel management (sometimes assigned to accounting rather than HRM)
Payroll (sometimes assigned to accounting rather than HRM)
Performance appraisal
Knowledge Management:
Research Highlights:
FORTUNE 500: 80% has ‘KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT’ initiatives in place…
IDC: Fortune 500 wasted $12 billion in duplicating work.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: 95% of CEO’s feel ‘KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT’ is critical to success
Source: ‘Take a Knowledge Journey’ by Dr. Nick Bontis; www.bontis.com

To start with let us look into the working definition of this concept and the basic principles governing it:
Working definition:
Governing principles :
Managing explicit knowledge is not enough, tacit knowledge is often more valuable.
Technology enables the solution but does not create it.
An organizational culture that promotes willingness to share is essential.
Self-directed knowledge seeking is preferred; “pull” better than “push”.
It is important to link efforts to business objectives.
Key Factors for a Successful Knowledge Management Program:
Clear Objectives: It is essential to identify what the expected tangible business impact will be from a KM program. Articulating such objectives will help managers identify KM projects that offer the best return on investment.
Knowledge Assets: If an organization cannot explicitly identify knowledge assets that will be useful in its value chain, then launching a KM program would surely be a waste of resources. These assets could be either internal or external to the organization and should include both explicit and tacit forms of knowledge.
Conducive Culture: Often overlooked, the culture of an organization can encourage or undermine a KM program. The most effective KM programs can be found in organizations that encourage, support and reward knowledge transfer. Consequently, KM initiatives often involve efforts to change organizational culture.
Systems & Infrastructure: Here we are focusing on the processes, procedures, policies, people and technologies that enable knowledge management. One needs to be careful here, as many unsuccessful KM initiatives have overemphasized the importance of technology at the expense of other success factors.
I like to think of these factors as being multiplicative in nature, rather than additive. By that I mean that if an organization scores zero in any one of these factors, the overall impact of its KM program is also likely to be zero.
The Vast Majority of Knowledge Assets are Likely to be Tacit:

When engineering a KM program, one should keep in mind that the vast majority of knowledge assets are likely to be tacit in nature. For professional services firms, such as management consultancies, tacit knowledge may account for as much as 90% of all relevant knowledge.
Consequently, organizations should resist the temptation of focusing their efforts on codifed knowledge simply because people can easily relate to the tangible nature of this form of knowledge.


An Infrastructure must be built to Support Knowledge Sharing:
Without appropriate systems and an adequate infrastructure to support KM activities, an organization is unlikely to see sufficient impact from its KM program. Three main categories of infrastructure are people, processes and technology.
Organizational Culture: An Often Overlooked Ingredient

Without a supportive organizational culture, KM initiatives are doomed to fail.
Senior management must serve as excellent role models by involving themselves in KM activities. In essence, they must “walk the walk”, rather than just “talk the talk”
The Environment must encourage individuals who possess knowledge to share that knowledge with others. There is no room for a hoarding culture where individuals are rewarded for what they and they alone know Knowledge breakthrough’s frequently come from experimentation, so this must be encouraged. At the same time, we know that experimentation sometimes leads to failure, so this must be expected and accepted as part of the learning process Individuals respond to incentives, so proper incentives must be put in place to encourage and reward knowledge creation and sharing and to discourage knowledge hoarding .There must be a willingness to invest in a KM infrastructure. This is likely to include support for communities of interest where like-minded individuals can jointly explore knowledge domains.
The Result:
Once all this is done, it’s time for the final result. And this is how it flows:



Top 10 HR Best Practices
1. Safe, Healthy and Happy Workplace
Creating a safe, healthy and happy workplace will ensure that your employees feel homely and stay with your organization for a very long time. Capture their pulse through employee surveys.



2. Open Book Management Style
Sharing information ensures that the employees are as enthusiastic about the business as the management. Through this you can create a culture of participative management and ignite the creativity of the work force. It involves making people an interested party to your strategic decisions, thus aligning them to your business objectives. More importantly, it helps in building trust & motivates employees.
3. Performance linked Bonuses
Paying out bonuses or having any kind of variable compensation plan can be both an incentive and disillusionment, based on how it is administered and communicated. Never pay out bonus without measuring performance, unless it is a statutory obligation.
4.360°PerformanceManagement Feedback System
This system, which solicits feedback from seniors, peers and subordinates, has been increasingly embraced as the best of all available methods for collecting performance feedback. Every person in the team is responsible for giving relevant, positive and constructive feedback.
5. Fair Evaluation System for Employees
Each employee should have well defined reporting relationships. Evaluation becomes fairer if it is based on the records of periodic counseling & achievements of the employee, tracked over the year. Cross - functional feedback, if obtained by the immediate boss from another manager (for whom this employee's work is also important), will add to the fairness of the system.
6. Knowledge Sharing
Store knowledge in databases to provide greater access to information posted either by the company or the employees on the knowledge portals of the company. When an employee returns after attending any competencies or skills development program, sharing essential knowledge with others could be made mandatory.
7. Highlight performers
Create profiles of top performers and make these visible though company intranet, display boards etc. It will encourage others to put in their best, thereby creating a competitive environment within the company.
8. Open house discussions and feedback mechanism
Ideas rule the world and employees are the biggest source of ideas. Open house discussions, employee-management meets, suggestion boxes and idea-capture tools such as Critical Incidents diaries are the building blocks that can help the Managers to identify & develop talent.
9. Reward Ceremonies
Merely recognizing talent does not work, you need to couple it with ceremonies where recognition is broadcast. Looking at the pay check is often less significant than listening to the thunderous applause by colleagues in a public forum.
10. Delight Employees with the Unexpected
Occasionally delight your employees with unexpected things that may come in the form of a reward, a gift or a well-done certificate. Reward not only the top performers but also a few others who are in need of motivation to exhibit their potential.







‘People who have left their imprint in the field of HR’
1. Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915)
Scientific Management, Increase Industrial Efficiency & Time and Motion study.
2. Max Weber (1864 – 1920)
Bureaucracy





3. Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970)
Hierarchy of Needs
4. Douglas McGregor: (1906-1964)
Theory X: In this theory, management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can. Because of this, workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed.
Theory Y: In this theory management assumes employees may be ambitious, self-motivated, and anxious to accept greater responsibility, and exercise self-control, self-direction, autonomy and empowerment.
Theory Z : Theory Z focuses on increasing employee loyalty to the company by providing a job for life with a strong focus on the well-being of the employee, both on and off the job. Theory Z management tends to promote stable employment, high productivity, and high employee morale and satisfaction.
Characteristics of the Theory Z:
• Long-term employment and job security
• Collective responsibility
• Implicit, informal control with explicit, formalized measures
• Collective decision-making
• Slow evaluation and promotion
• Moderately specialized careers
• Concern for a total person, including their family
5. David C. McClelland (1917–1998)
• Scoring system for the TAT & Personality Assessment
6. Frederick Herzberg (1923 – 2000)
Two Factor Theory
Satisfaction, which is primarily the result of the motivator factors. These factors help increase satisfaction but have little effect on dissatisfaction.
Dissatisfaction is primarily the result of hygiene factors. These factors, if absent or inadequate, cause dissatisfaction, but their presence has little effect on long-term satisfaction .



Two Factor Theories
Motivator Factors
• Achievement
• Recognition
• Work Itself
• Responsibility
• Promotion
• Growth
Hygiene Factors
• Pay and Benefits
• Company Policy and Administration
• Relationships with co-workers
• Physical Env.
• Supervision
• Status & Job Security
The Best Companies to work for: India - 2009
Microsoft Mind tree ConsultingJohnson & Johnson Sapient InfosysiGATE Agilent Technologies HCL Comnet
Accenture Dr Reddy's Labs Marriott Hotels India Covansys IndiaHCL Info systems Godrej Consumer Honeywell Tech etc…….

‘Good management is the art of making problem so interesting & their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work & deal with them’ .