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COURSE: BA. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
ASSIGNMENT ONE
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
SIN: 1503231878
MAYBIN MABIYA
THE HR DEPARTMENT IS A LIABILITY TO THE ORGANISATION
The human resource department (HR) plays a critical role in any organization. The role of
HR is in recruitment, safety, employee relations, employee rewards, benefits, compliance,
training and development to mention the core ones. It has evolved from Personnel
management which focused more on the hiring, orienting ensuring employees are paid on
time and addressing their complaints to a huge profession that seeks to ensure all the hired
employees are treated as an input that must be nurtured and developed to get the maximum of
it potential.
HR now focuses not only on wages and disputes but also on ensuring the organization has a
competitive advantage by planning for future labour needs and analyzing jobs so that the
right candidates are selected thereby reducing labour turnover and increasing job satisfaction
by appropriate rewards which from studies does not only mean money.
However to achieve all these things an organization requires money and this does not always
match with the cost benefit and brings in the notion that HR is a liability. An organization
must weigh the benefits of having an HR department against those of not having one. This
can only be achieved by looking at what the department is offering in terms of benefits. This
is not easier said than done because the benefits of HR policies are not immediate or tangible
and might not be appreciated by a lay person. We need to evaluate the known roles of HR
and see how they can impact negatively on an organization literally or just by perception.
John Stredwick in his book Introduction to Human Resource Management mentions four
roles of the HR practitioner as adapted from Torrington 2002, as follows:

Humane Bureaucrat ;Setting up formal systems of recruitment, selection,
Appraisal, discipline and grievance

Consensus negotiator; Bargaining with unions, creating systems of involvement
And participation.
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
Manpower analyst ; Providing a longer-term plan for employment numbers,
together with programmes for skills, competence and
career development.

Organisation man ;Working strategically with top management to create
organisation structures and management development
systems.
These roles can be beneficial or retrogressive to the organisation depending on how they are
implemented, how they are implemented and the business environment they are implemented
in.
The Humane Bureaucrat: In large organisations with varying jobs and large numbers of
employment, formal employment structures are necessary as they allow managers to focus on
the core business and HR does the rest. This does not work well in smaller organisations
where the top managers feel they can easily put an advert in the paper and interview the
selected respondents without the help of HR. Such organisations will view HR as a cost and
thus a liability on their business.
They would prefer to use HR consulting firms to do the job appraisals and preliminary
selection which would turn out cheaper compared to a permanent department. The nature of
the business also influences the choice of having HR departments. Law firms for example
rarely have HR because they are close nit and prefer known associates to partner in their
organisations. Such organisations negotiate pay directly and their jobs are well defined that
hiring an HR practitioner seems an unnecessary cost.
In larger organisations, dealing with numerous employees of varying expertise, this role is
very critical. Formal systems mean the organisation has a good data base for potential
employees that can be called. The selection is done by HR professionals who study the job
with the help of the user department and know what person to target. They will also have
researched the prevailing market and so will have an idea on what to pay.
When well managed these can be very beneficial to organisations that have the cost benefit of
having HR but it can also back fire. Appraisals are tricky and competitive pay is different
from organisation to organisation depending on the business. A well-meaning HR tasked to
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recruit an accountant in the civil service will find expectations in pay differ from an
accountant coming from an oil marketing firm. The job is the same but HR must be mindful
of the business position in framing the rewards for the job otherwise they bloat the wage bill.
Disciplinary procedures are another role in this area. It is important to treat employees fairly
and a proper disciplinary code and grievance procedures allow employees to express
themselves. HR is the custodian of this process. It is at times abused in that the organisation
loses manpower which should be productive during such deliberations. The standard must be
followed and the organisation bears the cost of proving an employee is right or wrong. The
time it takes to exhaust a case using HR procedures is viewed as a waste of resources when
the manager involved can use a direct approach and implement the stick and carrot
approach.Some managers will thus feel their authority has been reduced and they no longer
have a direct influence on their charges.
Consensus negotiator; This function allows the company to meet the employee through their
unions and negotiate terms and conditions. The HR will facilitate this process which allows
the company to have a feel of what their employees are thinking and vice versa. Usually the
organisation comes up against very taxing demands and is seen as opening a Pandora’s Box
by asking employees what they want when you cannot possibly give them everything. When
HR is not in place supervisors are able to directly deal with key employees and satisfy their
needs whilst offering a take it or leave it approach on others, in short divide and rule.
This of course causes un-even salary structure but avoids the task of a blanket increment to
all employees when HR sits with the union and is pressured into an offer.
Systems of involvement means workers are encouraged to buy into the company, to know
how the company is doing in terms of profits and market position. They get to feel part of the
company which is good for public companies but might not be welcomed in the privately
owned companies. Private companies tend to have shareholders who want maximum
dividends and will not want to appear to be making money and not giving their workers a fair
share. They will thus feel HR is letting them down by allowing employees have access to
much information and being given a lot of common ground.
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Manpower analyst; This role perhaps reflects a larger percentage of why HR is viewed a
liability because many variable affect this role. Planning is never an easy task because one
cannot control all variables. Human resource department has to plan because of the following
reason;

Human resource planning ensures that people are available to provide the continued
smooth operation of an organization. It means, human resource planning is regarded
as a tool to assure the future availability of manpower to carry on the organizational
activities. It determines the future needs of manpower in terms of number and kind.

Human resource planning is important to cope with the change associated with the
external environmental factors. It helps assess the current human resources through
HR inventory and adapts it to changing technological, political, socio-cultural, and
economic forces.T

Another purpose of HR planning is to recruit and select the most capable personnel to
fill job vacancies. It determines human resource needs, assesses the available HR
inventory level and finally recruit the personnel needed to perform the job.

Human resource planning identifies the skill requirements for various levels of jobs.
Then it organizes various training and development campaigns to impart the required
skill and ability in employees to perform the task efficiently and effectively.
The first reason of future needs of manpower can be a make or break factor for HR. To plan
for future needs is costly and sometimes involve management training for staff as junior
managers to come and fill the vacancies left by departing senior managers through retirement.
This is a brilliant staff development program. However it can be a liability if the trained staff
is not patient enough to stay meaning you have trained for other organisations.
These plans are based on forecasts which can change overnight in business. In short they are
based on assumptions that the organisation will grow which does not always turn out that
way. An example is the current economic down turn being experienced. The mines in
particular are hard hit and are being forced to lay off workers to stay afloat. The HR
department in these mines are seeing staff they put on training programs being released at
great cost to the company. When the organisation looks at such costs versus what they
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actually got from the workers, they feel training is a worst of resources if it is not for
immediate use and would rather employ trained personnel if and when they need them.
This means the hr department must be awake and dynamic at all time with a policy that
allows them to notice and adapt to change. This means the department should have a
strategic human resource management suited for the organisation.
Herman schwind defines hr strategic management as “Integrating human resource
management strategies and systems to achieve the overall mission, strategies, and success of
the firm while meeting the needs of employees and other stakeholders.” Human Resource
management: A strategic approach.
HR departments will be considered liabilities if they fail to correctly answer the following questions
pertaining their organisations.

How does the current economy affect our work and our ability to attract new
employees?

How do current technological or cultural shifts impact the way we work and the
skilled labour we require?

What changes are occurring in the labour market?

How is our community changing or expected to change in the near future?
Seemingly easy questions but the impact is terrible when wrongly interpreted. Misreading the
economy can lead to either laying off worker through voluntary retirement and retrenchments
only to rehire a few months later at great cost. It can also mean hiring staff in anticipation of
booming business just to lay them off shortly after.
Failure by HR to evaluate jobs and see how they can be enhanced or removed with advances
in technology can cause the organisation to lose a lot of money and operate inefficiently. An
example is clerical jobs that were once all over being scrapped as data processing has allowed
people to deal directly with a data base without need for a clerk to manually retrieve files.
Computer literacy has now become a requirement in most jobs to accommodate this .HR has
to employ the right people to bring new ideas and technology.
This can sometimes clash with HR policy of bringing up people from the ranks which may
cause difficulties the can’t find suitable candidates. The result is a static workforce devoid of
innovation as they find it difficult to break away from culture. A manager trying to bring in a
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fresh face will be viewed as refusing to follow policy of employee development, yet for that
manager his performance areas require immediate results.
The labour market has to be read accurately as mentioned earlier. Competitive but realistic
reward systems have to be put in place. Poor reward structure will make the organisation lose
potential employees while over the top salaries will burden the organisation. Yet it is not all
money that can cause problems but failure by HR to read legislation can be disastrous to an
organisation. Hr must advise and ensure they draft contracts that protect the organisations
interests.
The human resource practitioner is finally an organisation man and this means he must work
together with management to set up structure, procedures and so on but again this can
become a conflict with his role as a consensus negotiator and humane bureaucrat. This will
make the department being viewed as a liability. Most of the management focus is on
productivity and profits and unfortunately the wage bill and other worker rewards will be
viewed as reducing these profits. The Hr department will have the unenviable task of
ensuring that the worker is rewarded fairly.
This makes them look like they are championing worker cause at the expense of
shareholders. The perception will be strong but the department has to ensure they maintain a
low labour turn over due to frustrations among employees. A well rewarded workforce will
arguably give better production and the company will have better goodwill from the
community which will appreciate where their bread and butter is coming from.
To fight this perception HR have to convince management that this is good for the
organisation and actually saves the organisation money in rehiring costs and retraining of
staff that could have stayed had they been properly looked after.
CONCLUSION
The headline statement has been given prominence and justification because Human resource
is still a growing management tool and many organisations need to appreciate the basic
importance and advantages of the HR department which can be summarised as:
Human Capital Value – The employee must be viewed as capital which must be utilised and
managed.
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For small businesses, in particular, human capital is critical because so many smaller firms
have employees who perform cross-functional duties. With a smaller workforce, if just one
person leaves, it leaves the company with a huge gap to fill and a potential threat to the
company's profitability.
Conflict Resolution-Workplace conflict is inevitable, given the diversity of personalities,
work styles, backgrounds and levels of experience among employees. A human resources
manager or a staff person specially trained to handle employee relations matters can identify
and resolve conflict between two employees or a manager and employee and restore positive
working relationships.
Training and Development-Human resources conducts needs assessments for the
organization's current workforce to determine the type of skills training and employee
development necessary for improving skills and qualifications. Companies in the beginning
or growth phases can benefit from identifying training needs for existing staff. It's much less
expensive than the cost to hire additional staff or more qualified candidates. In addition, it's a
strategy that also can reduce turnover and improve employee retention.
Performance Improvement -Human resources develops performance management systems.
Without a human resources staff person to construct a plan that measures performance,
employees can wind in jobs that aren't suitable for their skills and expertise. Additionally,
employees whose performance falls below the employer's expectations can continue on the
payroll, thereby creating wasted money on low-performing employees.
Sustaining Business-Through succession planning that human resources develops, the
company identifies employees with the promise and requisite capabilities to eventually
transition into leadership roles with the company. This is an important function as it can
guarantee the organization's stability and future success.
Corporate Image-Businesses want to be known as the "employer of choice." Employers of
choice are the companies that receive recognition for the way they treat employees; they are
the companies for whom people want to work. Becoming an employer of choice means
human resources balances recruiting the most qualified applicants, selecting the most suitable
candidates and retaining the most talented employees.
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Steadfast Principles-Human resources ensures the workforce embraces the company's
philosophy and business principles. From the perspective of a small business, creating a
cohesive work environment is imperative. The first opportunity human resources has to
accomplish this is through wise hiring decisions that identify desirable professional traits, as
well as orientation and on-boarding programs.
It is clear that academicians from my observation have seen this challenge face by Hr and
have deliberately introduced at least a module in almost all courses to deal with issues of
human resource . This way , accountants , engineers, technologist and other fields have learnt
to appreciate the role of the Hr in the organisations so that they are viewed as partners and not
worker champions who are an expense. In a few years perhaps the department will be viewed
as an asset and organisations will see that tailoring human resource strategies to their own
organisations needs make HR a wonderful tool in enhancing their organisations.