20.6.2 What Does Human Resource Management
(HRM) Do?
Human resource management, in organisations, tries to manage people effectively,
using two main features:
(1) integrating the employees with business goals and strategies
(2) viewing employees as assets to be developed to improve productivity, instead of
expenses which need to be reduced or removed.
These features confirm that people are important because employees affect the
effectiveness and success of the organisation in significant ways. It is judicious here
to distinguish between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ HRM:
The ‘hard’ approach lays stress on the economic and rational viewpoint that
people are resources to be used conjunctively with capital and plant. They are
organised in an ostensibly calculative way, conducive to economic gain: employees
are a means towards an economic goal. Management tries to maximise the efficient
use of labour towards meeting the economic objectives of the organisation. This may
entail a strict and tight control by managers with employees having a minimal scope
in decision making. Job performance is wisely monitored, with motivation mainly
based upon reward and punishment.
The ‘soft’ approach adopts a more humanistic viewpoint that organisational
objectives are accomplished with and through people, because they are a valued
resource which needs to be encouraged and developed. Managers are, in this case,
more concerned with approaches to improve consultation, participation, cooperation, communication, job satisfaction and the quality of working life. The manager
tries to obtain employee commitment, by facilitating and encouraging employee
participation, training and developing employees to their full potential, motivating
them through practices such as job enrichment and appraisal.
Neither approach is necessarily the best one to use, and it is likely that most
organisations use a mixture of both, even infrastructure providers. Much depends on
the initial set up of people who form the part of the organisation, and how the
situation evolves. They create the rules, guidelines, procedures and systems, and
create the cultural climate of prevailing values, attitudes and behaviours. The way
middle and junior managers behave decides how the human resource is organised
and managed and, thus, what people experience as ‘human resource management’.
How the managers themselves are managed and developed is an important influencing parameter in the way employees are consequently treated.
20.6.3 Quality Circles
The notion of quality circle emanates from Japan. A quality circle or quality
control circle is a group of employees who do the same or similar work, who
20.6 Human Resources Management for Infrastructure
591
(HRM) Do?
Human resource management, in organisations, tries to manage people effectively,
using two main features:
(1) integrating the employees with business goals and strategies
(2) viewing employees as assets to be developed to improve productivity, instead of
expenses which need to be reduced or removed.
These features confirm that people are important because employees affect the
effectiveness and success of the organisation in significant ways. It is judicious here
to distinguish between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ HRM:
The ‘hard’ approach lays stress on the economic and rational viewpoint that
people are resources to be used conjunctively with capital and plant. They are
organised in an ostensibly calculative way, conducive to economic gain: employees
are a means towards an economic goal. Management tries to maximise the efficient
use of labour towards meeting the economic objectives of the organisation. This may
entail a strict and tight control by managers with employees having a minimal scope
in decision making. Job performance is wisely monitored, with motivation mainly
based upon reward and punishment.
The ‘soft’ approach adopts a more humanistic viewpoint that organisational
objectives are accomplished with and through people, because they are a valued
resource which needs to be encouraged and developed. Managers are, in this case,
more concerned with approaches to improve consultation, participation, cooperation, communication, job satisfaction and the quality of working life. The manager
tries to obtain employee commitment, by facilitating and encouraging employee
participation, training and developing employees to their full potential, motivating
them through practices such as job enrichment and appraisal.
Neither approach is necessarily the best one to use, and it is likely that most
organisations use a mixture of both, even infrastructure providers. Much depends on
the initial set up of people who form the part of the organisation, and how the
situation evolves. They create the rules, guidelines, procedures and systems, and
create the cultural climate of prevailing values, attitudes and behaviours. The way
middle and junior managers behave decides how the human resource is organised
and managed and, thus, what people experience as ‘human resource management’.
How the managers themselves are managed and developed is an important influencing parameter in the way employees are consequently treated.
20.6.3 Quality Circles
The notion of quality circle emanates from Japan. A quality circle or quality
control circle is a group of employees who do the same or similar work, who
20.6 Human Resources Management for Infrastructure
591