Line Managers and HRM - Report Example

Line Managers and HRM In Context of an Interview with a Line Manager Table of Contents Line Managers and HRM In Context of an Interview with a Line Manager 1 Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Responsibilities 4 Employee supervision 6 HR function role 6 Line managers’ role in the management of human resources 10 Most significant HR challenges and opportunities 12 Interaction with HR 13 References 14 Introduction In order for human resource management (HRM) to be successful two primary requisite are important. One is the presence of HRM practices and another is how effective is the implementation. Since HRM practices are implemented by line managers on the floor, it can be said that they are responsible for HRM implementation. But, as research points out, it is the implementation itself that the line manager find difficult to execute. It is primarily because line managers are unlike any other managers in an organisation on account of certain limitations. One of the foremost limitations is the absence or deficit of their desire towards any such implementation. This is not because of their unwillingness to work in this direction but because of other important and pressing demands and expectations an organisation has from them. This is generally taken as their lack of capacity towards HRM implementation. Their short-term responsibilities weigh heavily on any long-term responsibilities. This is complicated to some extent on account of the fact they do not have as much training on HRM competence as do managers who are directly linked to it. It cannot be denied that an organisation’s HRM strategy's success is directly proportional to how effective is its implementation. Line managers rely more on clear practices and policies but HRM is, more often than not, implemented in the absence of the same. This is what leads to the significant differences between the two (Nehles & Boon, 2006). These differences are disadvantageous as both success and presence of HRM practice are two crucial component of its implementation (Gratton & Truss, 2003). In an organisational context performance of an organisation as a link-up to HRM practices has been studied comprehensively as against the effectiveness of HRM implementation. Over a considerable research it has come to be understood that for an organisation to be competitive it is not only the presence of HRM practices that is important but what is also important is how effectively these practices are implemented. This responsibility is pinned on line managers as when it comes to implementing the same on the work floor; it is they who have to do it. Limitations on part of line managers, as mentioned above, prove to be of damaging hindrance (Renwick, 2002; McGovern et al., 1997; Whittaker & Marchington, 2003; Hall & Torrington, 1998, Gennard & Kelly, 1997). That HRM practices are formulated correctly need also to be complemented how effectively they are being implemented by the line managers. When line manager fail to implement them correctly, even if they might have been developed properly, the practices are rendered ineffective (Nehles et al, 2006). HRM plays a central role in an organisation and research validates the assumption that an organisation derives as much as 80 percent of its value from human resource people (Handy, 1999). This is achieved mostly by twin functions of performance appraisal and recruitment and selection. Through both these functions the HR provides the fundamental input to the organisation first by selection of the most skilled workforce and second by developing policies like that of appraisal which help in their retention. To gather a firsthand account of how line managers deal with HRM implementation and related issues this paper was built upon a telephonic interview conducted with Ander Dan, product line manager of NgaNet, an information technology and services company based in Melbourne, Australia. The subject was discussed with respect to two HR functions of performance appraisal, and recruitment and selection. The sections have been divided as per the questionnaire format used for the telephonic interview. Responsibilities The main responsibilities of line managers is to supervise a small or a big team of their own, depending on the type of organisation they work with, and report the performance to a higher management level. Even though there are pre-determined sets of duties that line managers are supposed to follow; broadly one or more of the following responsibilities is what line managers are supposed to shoulder. These include providing technical expertise, day-to-day people management, organisation of work allocation and rotas, managing operational costs, monitoring work processes, customer dealing, quality checking, and measuring operational performance. Dan says that he also attends to work, from time to time, which is normally taken up by HR personnel like guidance and coaching. That is not all, argues Dan and adds that a line manager is in reality answerable to three entities. One, their seniors; two, the work group; and three, themselves. Their seniors expect line managers to deliver tasks allocated to them in time and on budget, apprise them of any problems and also keep them informed, represent the seniors and the organisation to work group in a positive light, give the work group only that information which is a must to be passed on and filter the rest, and devise methods for the work group to be more effective. Work groups, on the other hand, expect line mangers to be realistic when setting targets for them or assigning tasks, be impartial in giving feedback for pay and appraisal, appreciate achievements, don a positive behaviour and steer clear of creating favourities, guide and provide training when the situation demands, create active work group participation and be aware of or understand their needs; create an atmosphere of motivation, be patient listeners, provide reasons for direction and decisions when demanded, represent them to senior management and not take credit for everything, and create an atmosphere of safety in the organisation. From themselves line managers should expect being a role model driven by positivity, do not do to other what they would not like to be done to themselves, show honesty and integrity towards the work group and at the same time learn to be politely blunt to safeguard the interests of the organisation, and speak for the work group when it is under undue and unjust attack from any quarter in the organisation. This apart, line managers need to understand the sanctity and importance of work/ life balance. Employee supervision Dan says he supervises 12 employees in all. Most of them are delegated work that they are best doing at and when he feels work can be swapped between any two or more employees; he does not mind doing it. This, according to him, breaks the monotony and infuses new interest in an employee who has been on a specific task for excessively long time. This enables employees to be adept at multitasking approach to work. HR function role Recruitment This, feels Dan, makes a value addition in his own capability by understanding different mindsets and skills that a manager can exploit from a group member. This is greatly helpful in recruitment process which the organisation wants Dan to take up from time to time. HR specialists and line managers have an important role to play in the recruitment process, which forms the critical backbone of an organisation. Foot and Hook (2008) have opined that many facets are involved in the recruitment process of an organisation. Even though an HR manager is considered to be the primary respondent in a recruitment process, it is the line manager who is fully aware of the job specification. This is because a line manager has a clear idea on the types of jobs that are needed to be executed within the organisation and the relevant profile that matches the same. Dan says from time to time he has to prepare job description because he has the firsthand knowledge of the type of job that is vacant and type of employee who will be required to fill the same. Line manager’s role gets further expanded during the selection process after he has gone through the cover letters and curriculum vitae. Line manager’s experience in evaluating a candidate come handy here. So that nothing could be left to chance an effective line manager prefers face-to-face interview with a potential candidate. But, adds Dan, the best way to pick up the correct candidate for the job is to have two interviewers during the interview session. This prevents interviewer errors. Besides a line manager, other interviewer could be a HR specialist or an experienced senior manager from the organisation. According to IRS, line managers should not shriek from assuming a greater responsibility in the selection process. Effective organisations vest line managers with an extensive responsibility of taking up recruitment process through all three phases of recruitment - canning and selecting matching application, interviewing the candidate and then making final decision on recruitment. Performance appraisal A book published by Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in 2004 observed that line managers were a key to good performance management, which is considered by 95 percent of employees as pillar to building an effective organisation. The book, Performance Management, by Michael Armstrong and Angela Baron has demonstrated the transition in attitudes on performance management since 1991. Performance management today has come to be known as something beyond mere pay and perks. It not only has raised new paradigms but also given new meaning to a host of organisational issues and ways to solve them. The authors have discussed how line managers are aligned with performance appraisals of an organisation. They need to recognise the fact that the success of an organisation depends largely on how they project their work groups. Research has revealed that around 61 percent of line managers second the powers of effective performance, 62 percent use personal development and objective-setting plans, 75 percent are of the opinion that performance management acts as a motivating factor for work groups, 71 percent think that it is developmental and 87 percent operate performance management on a formal pattern (The Online Recruitment Resource, 2004). It is normally line managers who conduct performance appraisals since they are continually involved in a dialogue with individuals in the organisation. The employees' performance and development happens in front of them only and they are completely aware of issues and achievements that their work groups have encountered in a given financial year. In other words performance appraisal and performance management are two sides of the same coin. Dan says it is important for line managers to understand their role in performance management in the first place so that they can appraise by using proper judgment and parameters. They best way to appraise is to call an appraisal meeting which should be an interactive platform to discuss a variety of issues, accolades and achievements. While line managers have a central role to play in performance appraisal, the better and the more sensitive method of conducting performance appraisals is to make a 360 degree assessment. This involves collection of feedback from several quarters, which can include customers too, and then pooling the data to discuss final appraisals. Dane says he prefers this method since it leaves no scope for bias. Of special interest to Dan is the cross-cultural component of performance appraisal as around 40 percent of his work group hails from non-Australian backgrounds. In a globalised economy as today's this is an important factor to be considered as two-thirds of the global trade done through multinational companies have skilled workforce from several ethnicities and culture. Work has gone global in the true sense and strategic human resource management is seen as a key factor that determines the success of an organisation (Brewster, Sparrow, & Vernon, 2007; Farndale & Paauwe, 2007). In such cases much of the onus to project the organisation in the positive light lies on a line manager in terms of carrying out the appraisals fairly. This is because line manager represents or follows policies of the organisation and carries out work according to the same. Line manager is to create a positive perception about both him and the organisation. When employees perceive a supportive human being in a line manager, their level of engagement in the organisation increases by default (Frank, Finnegan & Taylor, 2004; Saks, 2006). Social exchange theory describes it best, according to which someone provides a benefit if he or she expects the same in return (Cropanzano & Mitchel, 2005). Line managers’ role in the management of human resources Earlier on this aspect of line managers was cast in some aspersions since critiques believed that concerns about line managers' capability to effectively implement HRM were genuine. This started getting diluted over a period as organisations looked into new methodologies of human resource management, recruitment and appraisals. But research as of Cunningham and Hyman (1995) and Hall and Torrington (1998) continued to be quoted on account of concerns that both had raised about line managers' lack of motivation and kills. The latter even remarked that this lack of kill and motivation led to employee being treated in an inconsistent manner. However, there is a positive aspect to this scenario as employees have been generally found to be satisfied with their line managers. This has a concurrence with Perry and Kulik (2008) who believed HRM effectiveness got a positive effect when HR task were transferred to line managers. Dan says his opinion is that line managers' willingness to implement HRM actually decreases overall effectiveness of HRM. He considers this as an over-enthusiastic act and thus contradicts himself with Huselid (1995) who has argued that lack of willingness is a precursor towards ineffective performance. One reason for this decreased HRM effectiveness could be that most of line managers' motivations are directed towards implementation of HRM; a process during which they expose themselves to inadvertent chances of ignoring other core area of importance relevant to their designated work. These include career management, people management, personnel management, and evaluation and rewarding. In other words they very thing that the line managers want to pursue with passion is the thing that gets reversed in the long run. For example when a line manager attempts to use HRM practice on personnel management, he or she would spend more time on it and less on the personnel themselves. It is like following the effect and ignoring the cause. Employee is a cause and come first, but in this case takes a backseat. Employees expect that line managers devote more time in work groups – acting as a team member, listening to them and solving problems. They would not expect line managers to devote more time to the HRM acts. It further calls for more introspection as there is dearth of any conclusive research on the subject. A larger context needs to be explored. Some organisations report effectiveness while some do not. Research has shown significant relationship between line managers' HRM implementation effectiveness and perceived competences. Line managers who are higher on the hierarchical ladder have a self-perceived HR competence; when it is that they would perform better in the tasks assigned to them. Devolution literature supports this view of competences and HRM skills complementary to each other. Employees are of the opinion that when line managers are confident about their HRM knowledge and skills, their performance is great. This perception brings home a point that line managers are looked at as people who are employee-centric rather than policy-centric. Most significant HR challenges and opportunities HR is all about people management and in an organisation the most important resource are the human beings. While an organisation's success is greatly dependent on its people, it is the people again which could be origin of the organisations problem areas. Most challenges, problems and frustrations in an organisation are related to people only. This is what makes human resource as one of the most challenging jobs in an organisation. A human resource manager, be he working in any capacity or department, is to always walk a tightrope and has to be adept at striking an intra-personal and extra-personal balance to suit the larger organisational context. Most difficult challenge encountered include related to attitudes, aspirations, assumptions, motivations, life goal and psychology. As a result of this managers need to have grasped clear concepts on strategic and conceptual skills. Challenges have to be dealt with in a proactive manner. Dan has not been any exception and a he narrates he has had his own share of challenges as a line manager. While technological changes in the organisation have always been of a challenge for him to adept and disseminate at the same time, he says one of the biggest challenges came up in his team when one member had attitudinal issues. His behaviour was not befitting the type of organisation he is working with and over a period it had started spilling over and interfering with other people's work. This was disruptive, says Dan and adds that rather than being intimidating with him, he decided he needed counseling at one-to-one level. Dan heard him patiently and in the process of investigation he realised this employee's negative attitude was as a result of his family tension. This was also some element of work/life balance involved since this employee had been working on some demanding tasks for the last couple of months. This was impacting his family and ensuing tension in the family was impacting his official climate. Dan thought it better to take him off that specific work and put him on the one that was not as much demanding. Interaction with HR The interview reveals that Dan’s interaction with HR has mostly been favourable and one peculiar thing to note is that HRM has been delegating him greater responsibilities in tough times, probably either to make them stronger or dissolve being an evident weakest link. This has been putting Dan to some vulnerability; making him rethink on accepting challenges as these which actually camouflage a risk lurking within. Instances as these are an indication that HR is in fact relinquishing a job so that considerable part of the responsibility gets on to the shoulders of a line manager. This, according to Dan, can be termed as an interaction which is not favourable. He suggests both sides should make attempts to exert restrain in passing on the “burden” to each other, but work towards solution of a situation together as a team. References Cunningham, I. & Hyman, J. (1995). 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Line managers are key to good performance management. Retrieved http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/line-managers-are-key-to-good-performance-management. Accessed January 11, 2013. Whittaker, S. & Marchington, M. (2003), Devolving HR responsibility to the line: Threat, opportunity or partnership? Employee Relations, 25 (3), 245-261. Read More