The Institutional Antecedents of the Assignment of HRM Responsibilities to Line Managers (original) (raw)
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Human resource management on the line?
Human Resource Management Journal, 1997
and Catherine Truss, Kingston Business School his article provides an examination of the prospects for devolving HR activities (eg recruitment, performance appraisals and career development) to line managers on ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ ~ 12 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL-VOL 7 NO 4 McGovern eta/ which meant that the HR dimension was an integral part of business strategy rather than something which flowed from it. In short, the overall argument is that if people are really so critical then HRM is too important to be left to personnel specialists (Storey, 1995). In the British context, this has traditionally been depicted as a devolution of certain personnel activities to line managers after a voluntary reallocation of responsibilities by the personnel specialists, possibly as part of a strategic review of their work (Storey, 1992). Again, there is considerable ambiguity over how an organisation, or its personnel function, would devolve its activities in practice. While the message that line management has an important role to play in HRM is reasonably clear, some questions may be raised about the assumptions behind it. There is also considerable ambiguity over what this actually means in practice. First, the distinction between the role of line managers under personnel management and under HRM may be somewhat thin. While there may be some basis for such distinction when comparing stereotypes of personnel management and HRM at an abstract level (Guest, 1987), there is little empirical evidence to support the existence of these stereotypes within industry. For instance, one of the characteristic features of the role of the front-line supervisor has always been the direct control which they exerted over the output of the 'human resources' under their command. This included the hiring, performance monitoring and firing of employees (Child and Partridge, 1982; Edwards, 1979). Secondly, the idea that line managers should internalise the importance of human resources and behave accordingly suggests that they should also engage in good people management practiceswhich would include such things as interpersonal skills, team building skills etcalong with implementing personnel policies. However, this distinction between HR and people management practices has never been made explicit. Thirdly, there are no indications of what the role of the supervisor should be under HRM.
Organising HRM: The HRM Department and Line Management Roles in a Comparative Perspective
Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management
A core characteristic of human resource management (HRM) work is that it cannot be fully allocated to one particular actor or unit within the organisation (Tsui & Milkovich, 1987). Instead, HRM work involves HRM specialists, line and top management. Organising HRM work addresses the task of assigning HRM tasks and authority to diff erent units within an organisation and enabling these units to coordinate their work with each other. The varying roles of HRM specialists, the debate over devolution of operational HRM tasks from specialists to the line (e.g. Nehles et al., 2006; Perry & Kulik, 2008) and the longstanding question of whether HRM is a specialist or a generalist task (Baron & Kreps, 1999: 503) indicate that organising HRM work is not straightforward. But what are the possible alternative ways to organise HRM work? And why do organisations employ a particular form of organising HRM? In this chapter, we outline three options for organising HRM work and review how HRM scholars have explained diff erences and similarities in the prevalence of these alternatives in a cross-national perspective. Our subsequent focus on the national context builds on the premise that organisations are open systems that need to relate their structural elements to their environments in order to survive. While contextual factors relevant for organising HRM work can be found at various levels (e.g. industry, sector, organisational), the national context is a particularly promising perspective: fi rst, government activities such as labour legislation and structuring of labour markets have contributed to the rise of the HRM function in organisations (Baron et al., 1986; Jacoby, 2003). Second, the HRM function operates within the specifi c societal context that sets limits or encourages development towards decentralisation and devolution (Andolšek & Štebe, 2005: 327). We review four theoretical perspectives that seek to explain why there are diff erences and similarities in organising HRM work across countries: contingency theory, cultural theories, institutional theory and paradox/ duality theory. We examine what factors these perspectives see as relevant and review how far HRM scholars have applied these perspectives in
Enacting the HRM Role: What Matters to Line Managers?
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2015
Line managers' performance in enacting the HRM role has been criticized as they failed to meet the expectations of organizational members. Meanwhile, limitations in exploring the development of the line managers' HRM role have been identified in several areas. One of these limitations is the tendency of research to focus on HR specialists view, but failed to place line manager at the centre of the research analysis. To gain a deeper understanding of the causes and outcomes of line managers' HRM role, it is important to gather line managers' experience as a role holder. Drawing on a role theory concept, case studies are conducted at three Malaysian airports to gather in-depth data about line managers' HRM role. 23 interviews were carried out with line managers at the selected airports to understand the challenges they experience in enacting their HRM roles. Line managers' challenges are measured on five factors: desire, capability, competencies, support and HRM policy and procedures. This study revealed that line managers perceived no real challenges hindering them from performing their HRM role. Work environment is a new challenge identified in this study that influence line managers' performance in enacting their HRM role. Importantly, line managers suggested some improvement would assist them in performing better, particularly in terms of sufficient and consistent support from superiors and HR specialists. A clear feedback regarding the implementation of HRM policies and procedures from superiors is regarded as an important tool for line managers in improving their HRM role performance.
The Role and Priorities of the Human Resource Management Function: Perspectives of HR Professionals, Line Managers, and Senior Executives, 2019
How do HR professionals, Line Managers and non-HR Senior Executives view HR strategies? What are the main deliverables of HR activities as viewed by the different groups? What level of importance is placed on HR practices by the respective groups? What are the implications for the HR function? What gaps exist among the stakeholder groups of HR relating to the importance of HR? How can there be more synergy of HR practices among the stakeholder groups? Unlike previous research studies, this study examines a more holistic view of HR and the level of importance placed on the respective strategies. The findings not only identify the major accomplishments of HR and alignment to business strategies but also highlight several key areas in which there is a significant gap in emphasis and importance as viewed by different stakeholders.
National and firm-level drivers of the devolution of HRM decision making to line managers
Journal of International Business Studies, 2015
Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the author's name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pagination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the date of the award.
IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: ITS ROLES, INFLUENCE AND CREDIBILITY
The purpose of this research paper is designed to identify extant literature that addresses the roles and relative influence of business line managers and human resource professionals in the management of human resources and specifically whether any of this literature focuses on the capital markets and investment banking sector. For the purpose of this study is ―'human resource environment' is defined as the socially complex organisation environment within which all internal and external stakeholders interact.The source material for the literature review includes academic papers published in respected management journals and human resource specific journals; books published for academic study and popular business texts; general management periodicals, human resource specific periodicals; business sector specific periodicals and reports; consultancy papers; and, conference material. A large and varied body of literature exists which investigates various aspects of the human resource environment within organisations and represents both quantitative and qualitative methodologies (Legge, 2005). However, the different methodologies and their associated methods do not always appear to have informed each other in a critical and progressive way and this is exemplified by Strauss (2001) who states that
Barishal University Journal of Business Studies, 2019
In response to globalization and growing customer demands, HR department of many organizations are formulating competitive strategies and policies emphasizing on innovation and competency development. Up to recently, numerous efforts were made by past scholars to explain the roles and competency required for HR professionals. However, there exist a lack of empirical research relating line managers' (LMs) performance of HR roles and HR competency. The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship of four HR roles namely strategic partner, change agent, administrative expert, and employee champion with HR competency. A survey with self-administered questionnaire was utilized for collecting data and also the judgmental sampling method was used for obtaining responsesfrom a sample of 220 LMs working in private commercial banks (PCBs) in Bangladesh. Applying variance based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the findings pointed out that strategic partner, change agent, administrative expert, and employee champion role were significantly and positively related to HR competency. Thus, PCBs and their senior management should possess interest and nurture supportive environment for HR management, and prioritize HR policies which in turn lead LMs to assume newer HR roles and fulfill the HR competency target set by the organizations.
HRM and Performance Linkage: The Role of Line Managers
ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT, 2012
Assuming that HRM serves as a value creation function and despite the great research interest in HRM and performance linkage issue, there is still disputes concerning HRM nature, performance outcomes and the causal path involved in the linkage between two constructs. The paper proposes an answer to the question-how HRM practices can influence organizational performance. The approach of impact is based on role of line managers by delivering HRM practices. Acknowledging that there is the gap between what is formally determined and what is actually delivered, the role of line managers as essential intermediaries in shaping HRM practices and performance are revealed. Besides, the paper presents empirical research showing how the employee perceive the activities of line managers and indicating that the role of line managers in delivering practices has a positive relations with HRM practices and two affective human resource reactions: organizational commitment and job satisfaction.