Introduction : Organization and Human Resource Department
Employees form the most important part of an organization. Management of these employees or human resources take part in all the organizations, in different ways and by different agents. Traditionally, these roles are assigned to a dedicated Human Resources Management Team or Department. Human Resource management (HRM) is referred to the works related to the challenging responsibilities of motivating, finding, hiring employees and keeping them productive (Dunn, 2010). Human resources Management team within our organization comprises of personnel who perform various activities like employee on-boarding, performance appraisal and monitoring, employee engagement programs to maintain the productivity of the employees of the organization and training & Development of those employees to meet the expectations of the organization. They also have to look after the employee retention plans and efficient recruitment process to attract and hire talented and high-performing employees and also retain them from leaving for other organizations. Appropriate succession planning are also planned by HRM team in order to prepare capable employees to take the role of key employees leaving the organization. Therefore, the function of HR is not simply limited to performing the set number of activities of the HRM Department but encompasses the entire managerial role taken at all levels with respect to the employees’ journey of the functions, joining, development and nurturing and exit of the employees while making best use of the skillsets to achieve the company’s business objectives(Valverde, 2001).
The roles and decisions of Human Resource Management (HRM) are probable of having a unique and important influence on the performance of the organization (Becker & Gerhart, 2017).
Roles of Line Manager –Impact of HRM qualities
Traditional role of line manager
It was found from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey ( WERS) of British Workplaces that the line managers had handled more Employee Relations (ER) issues than the ER specialist issues (Millward, Bryson, & Forth, 2000). Similarly, in my organization, the line managers are increasingly becoming a major player in handling employee relations and other issues wherein the line managers resolve most of the issues that the employee has. Only the major issues which cannot be resolved at the level of the line manager is taken forward to HRA department for further deliberation and resolution. Line managers are also increasingly being held responsible for the conduct of the employees or team members. The line managers manage and supports the employees or team members under them. In my company, the yearly performance appraisals are conducted by the line managers wherein the various strengths and weaknesses of the employees are highlighted along with the areas of improvement. The highlighted areas of improvement form the basis for the training and development need of the particular employee or team member. The line manager also conducts feedback sessions and provides support to the employees in addition to addressing the grievances of the employees by proposing appropriate actions. Thus, the line managers provide HRD roles in the areas of employee analysis and monitoring, mentoring, supporting and training and development. Brewster and Larsen (2000) notes that the reasons why the line managers are increasingly getting involved in HRM areas are to realize these characteristics:
a) To minimize costs;
b) To have a more complete approach HRM;
c) To place HRM accountability with line managers most responsible for it;
d) To enable faster decision-making ; and e) as an another option to outsourcing the HR roles and responsibilities (Brewster & Larsen, 2000).
Cross section of Roles between Line Managers and HRM
The HRM activities include activities at decision-making level and HRM level. At decision-making level there are policy, operational, strategic and administrative activities whereas at HRM level, there are training and development, change management etc. Line manager plays a key role in the human resource development process. The roles of human resource management can be delegated to the line managers as they are much more in direct contact with the employees. The line manager manages a team of operational staffs on a daily basis and are thus, responsible for performing HR activities.
The HR Department depends on the help of the line managers for the information dissemination as well as for the implementation of various policies at operational level e.g. in performance appraisal and imparting of training and development. The line managers also acts as an important agent providing various ground-level information to the top management for important structural and organogram changes related to HRM.
The roles of HRM department which are also performed by the line managers can be categorized as follows:
Strategic decision-making, where the line managers provides relevant inputs influencing the important organization decisions and redesigning of the organizational structure.
Operational aspects and human resource management, where the line managers decides on the need for hiring of new employees based on the requirement, conducts performance appraisals and identifies the skills possessed as well as training and development needs and other benefits derived on the basis of the performance appraisal.
Performance monitoring, wherein the line managers evaluate the effectiveness of the training and development activity. The employees fills up the training effectiveness form after 3 months of returning from the training and development activity. The training effectiveness form mentions the various aspects in which the employee has improved/benefitted and how effective the employee has been in implementing the activities related to the learning outcomes of the training in his workplace. The line manager also monitors the daily performance of the staffs and also monitors the processes related to the health and safety in the workplace.
Enhancement of their performanceThe line managers holds an undeniably important role in implementing HRM as they are the ones who executes and implements HR practices at the operational work place (Guest, 1987). Most of the researches conducted till now have been restricted to the HR practices and effectiveness of the organizational HRM system, and not
much has been seen on the implementation part of HRM. A few limitations on the implementation of HRM has been pointed out in the devolution literature. According to Redman’s (2001) findings regarding performance appraisal, it was noted that performance appraisal is was often not done properly by the line managers and it is their “most disliked managerial activity” (Redman, 2001)(Redman, 2001, pp. 71-2, 68 use this one instead). Therefore, the line managers could be briefed more on how to conduct the employee performance appraisal with more accuracy and efficiency. Towards the same, the line managers can be trained in the various aspects of performance appraisal starting from right target setting, proper assessment and evaluation to skillsets in communicating, handing grievances, convincing the employees of their performance and effectively communicating performance and discipline issues.
The basic point of human resource management principles is understanding that majority of the people want to be successful and belong to a successful team. Thus, the performance level and job satisfaction of employees touches heights when a workplace is created dedicated to motivating and engaging employees.
Conclusion
The performance of the line managers have become critical with the increasing responsibilities upon them for implementation of HRM (Nehles, van Riemsdijk, Kok, & Looise, 2006). Sharing of responsibilities between the line managers and the Human Resource Management team is crucial for bringing all the employees aboard in being actively engaged and motivated.
References:
Becker, B., & Gerhart, B. (2017). The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance: Progress and Prospects. Academy of Management Journal, 39(4).
Brewster, C., & Larsen, H. H. (2000). Human resource management in Northern Europe: trends, dilemmas and strategy: Blackwell Publishing.
Dunn, B. H. (2010). Human Resource Management: The Importance of Getting It Right. Rangelands, 32(4), 2-3.
Guest, D. E. (1987). Human resource management and industrial relations [1]. Journal of management Studies, 24(5), 503-521.
Millward, N., Bryson, A., & Forth, J. A. (2000). All change at work?: British employment relations 1980-1998, portrayed by the workplace industrial relations survey series: Taylor & Francis US.
Nehles, A. C., van Riemsdijk, M., Kok, I., & Looise, J. K. (2006). Implementing human resource management successfully: A first-line management challenge. management revue, 256-273.
Redman, T. (2001). Performance appraisal. Contemporary human resource management, 57-97.
Valverde, M. (2001). Mapping the HRM function: an exploratory study of responsibilities and agents in the managing of people. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus.