Human Resources as an Indispensable Part of the Organizational Culture - Essay Example

Human Resources Human Resource has become an indispensable part of the organisational culture of contemporary times. Its importance could not be undermined by anyone. Human resource is theoretically that part of the organization that takes care of the staff and the labour aspect of the business. It includes the recruitment, firing, agreements, and payment conditions amongst other things. According to Wikipedia, the definition is: "Human resources have at least two meanings depending on context. The original usage derives from political economy and economics, where it was traditionally called labour, one of three factors of production. The more common usage within corporations and businesses refers to the individuals within the firm, and to the portion of the firm's organization that deals with hiring, firing, training, and other personnel issues. This article will address both definitions." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource) This has come to be regarded as the most integral part of businesses today globally. The labour is an asset in the businesses of today and the way it is managed has loads of effects on the performance and efficiency of the business. Labour is the most important component of the production function. It is the only factor of production that could be changed in the short-run and its performance depends upon a lot in the way it is managed and controlled. The bad and poor management of labour could easily turn it into a liability that would perform inefficiently and thus, the business on the whole will suffer a setback. The human resource department in the company these days has a proper hierarchy and organisational culture and the head of this department is regarded as an important member of the business itself. It is a position that requires constant interaction with the labour and is of great consequence for the firm. The recruitment of labour and the quality and quantity of labour recruited depends upon the human resource department. Its recruitment and redundancy and firing policies determine the kind of input the company or a business in terms of labour. If this input is good, the company's performance would get a boost. If the input is poor, the company is going to suffer badly. Is There Difference Between Personnel Department and Human Resource Department We often come across the terms human resource and personnel management. This leaves confusion in the minds of some whether both are the same or have different meanings and connotations. There is in reality a slight difference between the two. The personnel management could be seen as a prelude to the contemporary human resource management that is prevalent and found amongst the organizations today. We can actually search for and find the concepts relating to human resource management in business literature of old times such as the decade of 1970s.These concepts include theories such as human capital theory and human asset accounting. The contemporary and modern view of human resource management gained recognition in the year 1981 when it was included in the course of the famous MBA of the prestigious Harvard Business School. It was a kind of a prelude and introduction to the kind of courses throughout North America and the rest of the world making this version and interpretation of human resource management highly popular and in vogue. Other interpretations of the concept were developed in Michigan and New York. These ideas travelled to other countries in the decades of 1980s and 1990s that included Australia, New Zealand and Northern Europe including specifically the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia. South and South-East Asia and South Africa also got a taste of the approach. Nowadays, the HRM approach is successfully practiced in many countries of the world. Besides being influential it is practised in many parts of the world. It is essentially practised anywhere where businesses want to prove their mettle and become successful. It is an approach used by businesses; small and big alike. It is also recommended by management and business consultants alike and everywhere. Are Labour, Employees and Working Class Losing Out their Power and Control to Management "New Managerialism: Schuler (1990) emphasized that the HR function had an opportunity to shift from being an 'employee advocate' (associated with personnel management) to a 'member of the management team'. Schuler's view was that this required HR professionals to be concerned with the bottom line, profits, organizational effectiveness and business survival. In other words, human resource issues should be addressed as business issues. In fact, line and general managers have been instrumental in the adoption of HRM - often pushing changes through despite the resistance of personnel specialists (Storey, 2001: 7). Radical changes in business structures and supportive - largely right-wing - governments encouraged a renewed confidence in the power of managers to manage. The balance of power moved away from workers and their representatives with the collapse of traditional heavy industries. High levels of unemployment allowed managers to pick and choose new recruits. Existing employees felt under pressure to be more flexible under the threat of losing their jobs. As a result, managers were able to design more competitive organizations with new forms of employment relationships". (http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/introduction_to_hrm/new-managerialism.htm) It tells us a lot about the style of management in contemporary times and how this trend has shifted in modern times. The break-up of heavy industrialised units has led to a decrease in the power of trade unions and subsequently, the workers or the labour class. Thus, managers have come to be regarded as the most significant force in the contemporary culture of organizations today. They have the decision-making powers and the decisions concerning the recruitment and hiring policies of business. Besides, the employees have lesser powers under the pressure of firing policies and there is a threat of unemployment looming over them. Therefore, they don't have much control and authority over their jobs and could not protest the way they used to before. Thus, the managers take the decisions for them now and thus, they are mainly responsible for everything and have a lot of power in the hierarchy of firms. To what extent is it possible for an organisation's Human Resource Manager to take on a leadership role And is the human resource manager that powerful that he can take on a leadership role with its authority and power To find the answer to these questions, we would need to look at the various and differing styles of management and leadership. Following theories are prevalent and popular in the world of management and leadership today: 1. Contingency theories: These believe that an effective and intelligent leadership style changes or varies according to the situation or context. An example could be the Blake and Mouton's managerial grid that has proved highly efficient in organizational culture and development practices. The right style of management is thus situational. 2. Instrumental theories: This group of theories emphasize on task that is work and person-oriented behaviour by the leader. It includes things such as participation and delegation. 3. Inspirational theories: Charismatic leaders and transformational leadership come under it. The leader attracts and appeals to values and the vision. He or she raises confidence and motivates people for a change. He or she thus inspires people and asks them for a change. 4. Informal leadership: This group of theories is associated with those leaders or motivators who are not given any formal authority. These people still mange to wrest authority in other ways and are known as informal leaders because they have no formal legitimacy. 5. Path-goal theory: This theory explores and finds the things leaders must do or follow to get satisfaction and contentment from their work and also take out performances from the workers. It takes its concept from a theory of motivation known as expectancy theory of motivation. Leadership Styles The four leadership styles are: Supportive Directive Participative Achievement-oriented Determination of Leadership Style The selection of the leadership style depends upon a variety of factors. The most important and significant being firstly, the type and nature of the task or the work and secondly, the individual assigned to do it. For example, the routine and mundane tasks would require a supportive style whereas the complex tasks would require a directive style. These styles are mostly North-American based. They are also male-oriented and some feminists doubt their authenticity for females. Following paragraph from a book tells us things about it: "Fiedler one of the leaders of the contingency school -offered a continuum ranging from task-focused to people-focused leadership. He argued that the most effective style depended on the quality of relationships, relative power position between the leader and the led and the nature of the task. He also argued that the style adopted is relatively stable and a feature of a leader's personality and could therefore be predicted. He distinguishes between tasks oriented, relations oriented leaders. Hersey and Blanchard - About the situational leadership whose dimensions are linked to task and relational behaviour: Task behaviour focuses on defining roles and responsibilities whereas relational behaviour is more about providing support to teams. The extent to which either is used depends on the person's job maturity and psychological security. Their test looks at elements around delegate, participate, sell or tell". (http://www.onepine.info/lead1.htm) Discourse On Charismatic Leaders The charismatic leaders are an important part of the leadership hierarchy. They are a topic of discussion in management circles and various books have been written focusing on these charismatic leaders. Many corporate leaders and business tycoons present an awesome picture of these charismatic leaders that continue to enchant us all. Weber first used the term charismatic leaders and thus it was coined by him. These leaders are leaders with a clear vision and foresight. They have an awesome vision that ensures commitment and yearnings of change. They apart from believing in change also offer others the chance to grow in that change. "Words used are trust, loyalty, devotion, commitment, inspiration, admiration, outstanding, exceptional". A survey by House and Shamir believe that charismatic leaders possess sharp and clear vision. They are highly articulate and could draw out strong emotions from their sub-ordinates. They also get work done like this. (http://www.onepine.info/lead1.htm) Their passion and their zeal and zest inspire others and others accept them in their leadership role because of it. Therefore, they have following characteristics: 1. They have a crystal-clear vision and are highly articulate about it. 2. They are risk-takers, that is, they do some tasks against the odds. 3. They sacrifice meaning that they sacrifice for the sake of businesses and people. 4. They are highly passionate about their beliefs and that allows others to accept the control they exercise and practice. 5. They use symbolic gestures and actions to get work done and also for others to associate with them. 6. They have a strong sense of commitment to their beliefs and that again makes it easier for people to accept their dictates. 7. They are also sometimes known as transformational leaders. Transformational Leaders - New Face of Charismatic Leaders The transformational leadership is a new realm in the management styles and is a bridge or a difference between transformational that boosts motivation and give people a higher cause beyond their own and their self-interest and garner commitment and between transactional that deals with the exchange and barter of rewards and threats and punishments. "Leadership style influence level of motivation. However, in a lifetime and its various years, man's motivation is influenced by changing ambitions and/or leadership style he works under or socializes with. Command-and-control leadership drains off ambition while worker responsibility increases ambition". If one will give more responsibility to an employee and trusts him/her with that, it will increase his/her confidence and subsequently his performance and ability. (http://www.motivation-tools.com/workplace/leadership_styles.htm) Management and Leadership: Are they Different or Same Are management and leadership two different names for a single function and task or are they fundamentally different Many management consultants and theorists point out that there is a difference between the two. Managers maintain and control the business. They reach at conclusions and get at the bottom-line and mostly take care of the short-term. They focus and administer systems and controls. Leaders, on the other hand, are concerned with the long-run. They innovate and inspire. They develop and have an over-arching vision. They have an eye on the future and also plan out things. Human Resource Managers And Leadership Role: Could They Or Could They Not The lines of management and leadership are getting distinct. As we just discussed, managers keep view of the short-term aspects of things while leaders are more than just mere administrators. They are visionaries. Managers need to acquire following skills if they are to become effective leaders. Cognitive Capacity Managers make use of their cognitive capacity to resolve issues and find solutions of problems present in the business. They try to utilize effectively their thinking capabilities to guarantee tat projects are executed properly and all parties and stakeholders in a well-defined budget limit. They are experts at gauging and looking at problems and issues that could make their projects a failure. They also motivate and inspire their assistants and sub-ordinates to do the same and perform like that. They try very hard to guess any negative effects of an action and plan and think to avoid such mishaps. This all results in the problem being found out and their efficiency and mental ability allows that to happen. "They consider possible solutions to problems, weighing the risks and benefits of a solution as well as the impact it may have on other projects". (http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/cap/02/manual3_e.asp) The cognitive capacity of a manager can be described as: Looking at and integrating various and often conflicting concerns and aspects of a certain project and managing people. Guessing and predicting problems that can occur within the context of a financial year. Synchronizing information and news from multiple sources of information. Identifying and recognizing, analyzing and resolving issues arising from a project. Making accurate and useful recommendations and suggestions on the basis of those analyses. Visioning Managers make operational the vision of their organizations by using it as a context and reference to guide the work of their departments. Managers have good knowledge and information of the organization's goals and aims and they can also find plans and projects that could make the organization come in coherence with its vision and aims. They also use their knowledge to make such plans. They also sense when is the right time to find and innovate new ways of finding plans work hard and effectively towards making their organization more effective. They act as parables and examples for their staff by communicating the goals of the organization and acting effectively to realize them. The visioning of managers is characterized by following: Bringing projects and people in line with the goals of the firm. Bringing changes into projects as required. They advocate benefits and also organizational change. They implement change and find ways of doing so. Managers overlook the completion and delivery of plans and projects by utilizing their project management and people and human resource management skills, they oversee their own domain of responsibilities. They know and understand their work and the workers they use their acquaintance when doling out projects and work to fulfil the day-to-day needs of the organizations apart from providing avenues for development. They plan out the actions of their departments to maximise the use of their resources both financial and human. They allocate the resources at the start and change the allocation if there are needs and requirements to do so and find and employ additional resources if need be. They keep track of the activities and work of their staff and supervise their work to make sure it is in coherence with the instructions. They demonstrate their accurate judgement in the work they do to achieve goals which is again within the financial and legal context of their organization. "The action management of managers can be described as": They make targets for quality and that for production. They adjust project deadlines to maximise productivity They assess the requirements for resources; financial and human. They modify and re-allocate resources if required. (http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/cap/03/mgnarr_e.asp) Teamwork "They look at their work as a collaboration of different values and concerns and approach their work with a collaborative outlook that places the needs of the organization ahead of the interest of their own units and projects". They work in unison with others outside and inside their organizations to forward common interests and increase the performance and the effectiveness of their organization. They realize the need to intervene when important and also know when to stop and give others space and their inputs. They form and manage effective teams that contain a diversity of talents and skills and give power to their assistants in ways that promote co-operation and also healthy competition amongst staff. The teamwork of managers can be described as: They form powerful teams with much strength. They advance mutual help between teams. They look for solutions instead of compromising on performance. They help in projects that have multiple aims. They share the rewards of fruitful projects with assistants. (http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/cap/03/mgnarr_e.asp) Communication Managers are effective transmitters of information. They make use of a clear communication style that makes messages unambiguous and easy to understand. "They also recognize the importance of listening skills and verbal and nonverbal cues to effective interpersonal relationships". Employing their powerful listening and communication abilities, they become an indispensable link between the upper and lower levels of the organization. They understand the part technology plays in present era and take steps to ensure that it is used in effective communication. (http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/cap/03/mgnarr_e.asp) The communication of managers can be described as: They use communication as a medium for interpersonal interaction ands harmony. They represent and transmit the aspirations and views of the lower-level of workers to the management. The inform and update the members of upper management and stakeholders of progress on relevant projects They employ technology as a tool for effective communication. Personality They are individuals with strong personalities who are proud of their skill to complete project and take them till the end. They are motivated by challenges and also excited by them and keep on working at a task to overcome the problems and difficulties that a certain project faces and see that they are removed. They are aware of the differences in the personality of their staff and turn this fact into their favour. They seek to "understand and benefit from that diversity when managing their staff and working with others". They support their workers to work harder at goals that offer substantial potential for challenge also advance learning and growth. The important personality characteristics of managers can be described as: They do those activities that fulfil the needs of their departments. They support and aid assistants to set and then achieve practical goals. They identify and make use of the roles personalities perform in the realization of goals. (http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/cap/02/manual4_e.asp) Ethics and Values The conduct of the managers is instructed by the code of values and ethics that "are congruent with those of the Public Service and the organization within which they work". They incorporate the same values in their staff and constantly monitor and supervise them to see if their conduct matches the one of the code of conduct and also take action to do so on their own. They have good knowledge of treating their staff and workers fairly and guarantee that the human resources department follow these guidelines. The ethics and values of managers can be described as: Making sure projects are in alignment with the values of the organization and the society. Making use of good practices to carry out duties. Guaranteeing equality and nice treatment to staff in all terms. Carrying out fair and unbiased human resource actions. Conclusion The conclusion that could be easily inferred with regards to the paper is that the human resource management function is highly important and highly powerful in the business organizations of today. However there is a boundary line between the management and the leadership roles. Every manager can not be possibly a leader and a good one at that. Leadership requires more than just control and a good leader is an amalgam of creativity, passion, inspiration and discipline. Managers need to expand their vision and look beyond their conventional wisdoms to assume the role of leader. Besides, they have to think outside the box and look beyond their noses to become leaders. Leaders inspire others and for that to happen they have to be bigger than life for others. Thus, they have to go beyond their ordinary lives and become something that gets inspiring for others. They have to get a taste of something better and bigger. What Does Future Hold The following paragraph is very enlightening in this regard. It is taken from a research report so that we could get an idea of facts and figures: "It makes good business sense for Human Resources to head the process and partner with strategic leaders in the firm because human capital is arguably the number one intangible value driver. Many Human Resource leaders are already looking ahead to the future. According to the SHRM 2004-2005 Workplace Forecast, key HR trends are 1) demonstrating Human Resource's return on investment; 2) Human Resource's role in promoting corporate ethics; and 3) building people management and human capital components into key business transactions. As this report documents, some HR leaders are taking action now: 63% are increasing spending on learning and training initiatives. 40% are changing company policy as a response to environmental issues. 36% are changing company policy as a response to grassroots pressure to change specific business practices. 32% are increasing involvement in social programs. " (http://www.shrm.org/research/quarterly/1204RQuart_essay.asp) This paragraph tells us that some Human Resource managers are already taking up leadership positions. They are on the way to become good leaders and thus, are developing capabilities that would help them in this regard. The time is not far away when there would be managers that will take on both roles effectively. This would make them an indispensable part of the organizations and would also increase and boost their effectiveness. They will get higher rewards financially because apart from managing the short-term aspects of a firm's business, they would also take care of the long run. They will have to assume the characteristics of the leaders because that is what is going to help them in terms of their career and profession. Their professional capabilities and career skills will assume a great degree of weight and importance if they are to become effective leaders and successful professionals with regards to all aspects of their career. Many courses are being offered in universities like MBA programmes that target middle-level managers and administrators that aspire to become Human Resource leaders and assume the leadership responsibilities. Therefore, it is pretty evident from all the sources and news that leadership is far becoming the target and goal of all managers who want to advance their careers. They have realized that the only way forward to gain academic and professional excellence is that of becoming an effective leader. "A leadership or organizational management career involves building and working in a team to transform a group or business; to take it in a new direction or to surpass previous limits. With your training you can visualize the final result, outline and communicate the process and successfully motivate your colleagues to a measurable, obtainable result". (http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/business/leadership-major.htm) It is therefore crystal clear that everyone now wants to move and build a leadership management career for themselves. They want to make sure that they find out new horizons for the company to explore and find so that they become effective leaders and strengthen their careers and also make their businesses and firms more effective. They could become more effective in terms of finance and management and in the way they handle labour which is an input. The new era will see an amalgam of both leaders and mangers that would be responsible for the human resource function and would change the face of the way businesses are handled. References Leadership Major | What Can You Do With a College Degree in Leadership or Organizational Management http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/business/leadership-major.htm Accessed December 7, 2006 Human resources - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource Accessed December 7, 2006 HR and managerialism http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/introduction_to_hrm/new-managerialism.htm Accessed December 7, 2006 leadership theories and models - Organisations@Onepine http://www.onepine.info/lead1.htm Accessed December 7, 2006 Motivation and Leadership Styles http://www.motivation-tools.com/workplace/leadership_styles.htm Accessed December 7, 2006 CAP ASSESSMENT PREPARATION MANUAL - Part 3 of 5 http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/cap/02/manual3_e.asp Accessed December 7, 2006 CAP ASSESSMENT PREPARATION MANUAL - Part 4 of 5 http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/cap/02/manual4_e.asp Accessed December 7, 2006 2004 Research Quarterly - Corporate Social Responsibility: HR's Leadership Role http://www.shrm.org/research/quarterly/1204RQuart_essay.asp Accessed December 7, 2006 Manager Leadership Competencies http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/cap/03/mgnarr_e.asp Accessed December 7, 2006 Read More