Introduction
This is a world of organizations: more and more elements
of life which were once a matter of personal action are now integrated
into organizational frameworks. (...) They set financial, service or production targets which determine the activities of their employees.
People managers (a term used in the widest sense here to include line managers) have a critical role in monitoring and controlling performance in order to achieve these targets.
In the we stressed that HRM is a 'holistic' approach to people management. To make the best use of an organization's human resources it is necessary
to manage not only its people but also the corporate structure and .
For a background on organization theory see the following pages of notes on the HRMGuide.co.uk site:
- tracing the
psychological, sociological, economic and systems influences on the topic.
- how Max Weber saw bureaucracy as the most efficient form of organization.
- Henri Fayol's rational interpretation of organization management.
- Chris Argyris' summary of criticisms.
Organizations and the business environment
Like Russian dolls, most organizations
are part of larger entities. They are the complex products of a world subject
to the international division of labour, geographic rationalization and
product differentiation. There is nothing unusual in a business section
in Cork reporting to a Dublin-based department within the Irish operating
division of the European subsidiary of a US multinational (...).
In the section on
we saw that organizations also interact with their environment through the regulatory,
economic and cultural frameworks in which they operate.(...)
Different structures affect the way in which people are managed. HRM is intimately bound up
with the way firms are organized. Businesses throughout the world require the same basic human
resource activities: they recruit new employees; they develop and train their staff; they have
reward systems; etc. But these issues are handled in different ways, reflecting the
expectations and acceptable behaviour patterns within . (...)
Dimensions of organization
How can we differentiate one organization from another? (...)
From our perspective, the first question to ask is: who manages the people? Should the
management of people be part of the role of every manager in an organization; or does it demand
an expertise which can be expected only from trained specialists? (...) One view is that
managing people is what business is all about and therefore that every manager and supervisor
should deal with the individuals within their area of responsibility.(...)
In reality, examples are found along the entire range from specialist to non-specialist. The
decision to manage people in a particular way depends on a number of factors, including the
basic organizational dimensions of goals, size and structure.
Organizational goals
The rhetoric of HRM attaches great importance
to strategy and the linking of employee performance to .
What are these goals? They are expressions of a company's purpose and long-term
objectives.
Contact
HRM Guide Network
