Devolving Hr to Line Staff free essay sample

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment and management, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring,  performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training. This is the reason why HR managers in some multinational companies are called people managers or people enablers and the process is called people management. The HR expert manages the relationship between fulfilling employee expectations and achieving the management purposes. The major goal of HRM is the development and management of knowledge, skills, creativity, attitude and talent with the use of the strategic and comprehensive approach. An effective HRM enables employees to contribute effectively and productively to the overall company direction and the accomplishment of the organizations goals and objectives. In an organization, there are line and staff authority. Authority is the right to make decisions, to direct the work of others, and to give orders. In management, we usually distinguish between line authority and staff authority. Line  authority  entitles a manager to direct the work of an employee. It is the employer-employee authority relationship that extends from top to bottom. A line manager directs the work of employees and makes certain decisions without consulting anyone. On the other hand, Staff authority gives the managers the authority to advise other managers or employees. They create staff authority functions to support, assist, advice, and generally to reduce some of the informational burdens that the line managers have. Line managers in many organizations also carry out activities that have traditionally fallen within the remit of HR such as providing coaching and guidance, undertaking performance appraisals and dealing with discipline and grievances. They also often carry out tasks such as recruitment and selection or pastoral care in conjunction with HR. Staff managers assist and advice line managers in accomplishing their basic goals. They do, however need to work in partnership with each other to be successful. The relationship between a staff manager has with a line manager is a staff manager can prescribe certain procedures in his specialist area. For example, he can develop and implement recruiting policies and procedures that are used across the organization. The line manager is expected to follow those organizational procedures unless he has a solid rationale for exceptions. Advantages In order to be able to discuss how the devolution of HRM functions to Line managers affect the capabilities of the staff, it is important to understand how the devolution happens and what are the arising conflicts from carrying out devolution are. Researchers suggests that the involvement of Line Managers in some HR decisions does have a favorable effect on the achievements of the organization as a whole as well as allowing the implementation of a corporate vision and strategy with a beneficial effect upon performance and upon employee motivation. There is further evidence to show that nowadays more than a half of larger organizations have moved towards the devolved model with a reduction in the size of HR departments and a change in HR function, as well as an increase in line managers’ responsibility. Providing responsibility of HR activities to the line managers to both public as well as private sectors is believed to have tighter the bond between line managers and employees with a prompter decision making speed and effective solution of any difficulties on workplace. This gives them a unique and specialized knowledge of day-to-day relationships with employees and an insight into some functions previously assumed to be the area of HR. The move towards devolution then simply highlights the importance of these ‘people skills’ in order to boost their integration into the line manager role. Besides, there are also other benefits from devolutions of HRM to line managers. Their people management skills will improve; they will become better at creating good teams, managing teamwork and interpersonal skills. This will in turn benefit the organization as a whole. Through devolution the line managers have gained the opportunity of directly affecting the motivation levels of their employees and, through devolution the line managers are also becoming faced with the challenges of motivating and leading the teams effectively. Moreover, line managers will see an increase in the importance and respect for their role as they take on more of the devolved functions and their job becomes more complex, and also as change within organizations increases with the complexity of modern working life. From the point of HR, line management involvement can allow the HR specialist to concentrate on their strategic approach. Overall, responses to HR challenges can be more immediate if it is handled by the line managers and can be more specific to location. HR will also benefit from the increased satisfaction from employees as it will allow them to build strategically more upon day-to-day improvements. Further studies shows that the advantages of devolution of HR functions to line managers with the provided evidence of positive effects of devolution with the research from 174 HR managers and also directors. They were asked to assess the changes over the years in overall responsibility, degree of integrations with other units and involvement in the organizational plan. They have found out that devolution had an overall positive effect from the respondents reported that devolution has led their HR unit being perceived more positively by line management than in non-develop organizations. They also report that an overall increased in HR responsibility and also better integration between Line Management. They conclude that HR is in fact better able to play the strategic role they were intended to play by the devolution. However, looking at the attitudes of the 40 line managers react towards the devolution of HR function and discovered a rather more mixed response. There were both negative and positives about the devolution. Positive aspect would be the willingness of the line management to take on both responsibility and also accountability for the new HR tasks, and also flexibility to approach as well as the keen to become involved. The respondents were successfully managing large numbers of employees, and taking a professional attitude to the new tasks, and not simply dismissing them as â€Å"soft† aspect of the job. They also saw HR in a positive light and, a source of help and support as well as seeing career benefits for taking on the new role. Disadvantages While line managers know their end of the operations, many companies obtain better result by assigning personnel matters to a human resources or HR employee or HR department. HR department often recruit, interview and hire new workers and manage employee payroll and benefits. It is tempting with a small company to devolve their HR functions to their line management, but handling personnel work to a line manager can burden his or her with too much extra works outside his or her area of expertise. In an organization, HR requires a specialized knowledge. While managers have a direct, front line connection with their employee, they lack the HR specific knowledge of their counterparts in the HR department. This can be particularly important in areas such as related to the legal and regulatory requirements and the rules and regulations of the organizations must follow. HR professionals have both educational and professional backgrounds that provide them with current information on issues that impact their organizations and the HR profession. Participation in industry groups like the Society for Human Resource Management, which offers certification to HR professionals, helps to ensure knowledge. With a HR department in charge of hiring, the company can expect to hire the type of workers they wants. The department examines the applicants, checks references and administers tests to determine whether the workers meet the qualifications. The department may ask line managers to assist in interviewing so that the HR can get feedback from the person who will be the applicants direct boss. The orientation of these new employees is best handled by human resources, particularly when it comes to explaining company policies. A line supervisor may have too narrow a view of company operations to handle much of what is covered in orientation. Besides that, there would be difficulties in relationships and communications between the line managers and the employees. The line manager may fear disputes with their staff regarding decisions made about performance, pay and career development. They may have be reluctant to take on role of learning facilitator, and personal personality clashes might occur during the employee training. Relationship between the employees and management may not be as neutral as is possible being with a dedicated public relation department. There can also be also assumptions on the part of HR that line managers are more technically competent and knowledgeable than they are in fact, and that the HR function can be picked up by simply doing the job. This can lead to a lack of training offered by senior management and hence to poor performance  in the future of the employee. Another problem, highlighted in a study by McConville of middle managers, was a lack of trust between middle and senior management which meant that the middle managers felt powerless to put forth any influence over higher levels of decision making. Another studies found in addition that there was evidence for poor leadership from HR and a low quality of advice given to line management. Training was also poor, with little ongoing development to help line management integrate personnel aspects into their role. Further tensions arose because of conflicts between line and HR over the precise lines drawn between their functions. Thus, the line management work load will increase with new responsibilities and the need to balance other demands of the job with new role. This can lead to dislike of HR and reluctance to get involved with HR work. Besides, heavy workloads and job pressure are major source of problem with devolution. Line manager would have time constraints and do not have the time to attend in full to ‘people management’ issues, rather than concentrating on the day-to-day job running of their department and solving problems as they appear. The shortage of time and consequent pressures upon line managers is particularly problematic in the public sector where there is added pressure from having to implement policies originating with government while also dealing with professional bodies’ standards, monitoring and also the increasing commercialization of the sector. Hence, HR and line management operate from a distinct viewpoints with different priorities, which can also lead to conflicts and problems. Line Managers are typically very involved in the day-to-day running of the department, reacting to issues as they arise. They dislike the need for staff to take time off for training and dislike the need to take such a personal viewpoint, perhaps dealing with their own problems with home life for example. The characteristic line management approach can mean less opportunity for staff development. While a separate HR department is focused upon learning and staff training, line managers have more than one focus, so, for example, if the department is short-staffed any training and development might be put to one side. There would be a pressure to deal with short-term problem rather than address the long-term solution. Conclusion First and foremost, the devolution of HR functions has both advantages and disadvantages. Handling complete HR responsibilities to line managers can be problematic as line managers really do not have the HR skills and the knowledge that is enough to handle the situation properly. Increasing workload may affect their everyday activities or regular job. To prevent this problem while making line manager more responsible for HR, area of responsibilities should be clearly stated. Precaution should be always taken to eliminate possible conflict. Therefore, HR department is needed into support of staff recruitment, staff training and orientations, and also the organizations rules and regulations that are needed in the organization.