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HumanResource

Management

Tony Keenan is Professor of Human Resource Management at Edinburgh Business School,Heriot-Watt University. Professor Keenan has published many papers on recruitment,managerial stress and the education, training and career development of professionalengineers. He has also acted as consultant to a number of international organisationsin these fields. He has held the posts of Dean, Director of the Business School and Headof Department.

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HERIOT-WATTUNIVERSITY

HumanResource

Management

Professor Tony Keenan

Professor of Human Resource Management,

Edinburgh Business School



First published in Great Britain in 1998

c Tony Keenan 1998, 2003, 2005, 2008

The right of Professor Tony Keenan to be identified as Author of this

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and Patents Act 1988.

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Contents

Module 1 The Origins and Nature of Human Resource Management 1/1

1.1 What is Human Resource Management? 1/11.2 The Origins and Evolution of HRM 1/2

1.3 Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives of HRM 1/5

1.4 HRM as a Strategic Activity 1/7

1.5 HRM as an Operational Level Activity 1/9

1.6 Summary 1/11

Module 2 Models of Human Resource Management 2/1

2.1 Defining Characteristics of HRM Models 2/1

2.2 Matching Models 2/3

2.3 Harvard-type Models 2/7

2.4 Summary 2/12

Module 3 Key Themes in HRM 3/1

3.1 HRM Themes 3/2

3.2 Quality 3/2

3.3 Organisational Structures 3/7

3.4 Flexibility 3/10

3.5 Team Working 3/15

3.6 The Learning Organisation 3/18

3.7 Organisational Commitment 3/20

3.8 Culture 3/23

3.9 Summary 3/27

3.10 Strategic and Operational HRM 3/28

Module 4 Analysis of Performance Requirements 4/1

4.1 Specifying Performance Requirements 4/2

4.2 Core Abilities, Skills and Motivational Characteristics 4/5

4.3 Trait Versus Behavioural Indicators of Performance 4/7

4.4 Job Analysis Techniques 4/10

4.5 Job Analysis and Strategic HRM 4/15

4.6 Competencies 4/16

4.7 Performance and Pay 4/21

4.8 Summary 4/29

Module 5 Recruitment and Selection 5/1

5.1 Selection in Context 5/2

5.2 The Selection Paradigm 5/3

5.3 The Process of Validation 5/6

5.4 The Usefulness of Selection Devices 5/10

5.5 Selection Tools 5/10

5.6 Summary 5/22

Human Resource Management Edinburgh Business School 5



Contents

Module 6 Performance Appraisal and Performance Management 6/1

6.1 Determinants of Performance 6/2

6.2 The Performance Appraisal Process 6/3

6.3 Recording Appraisal Information 6/9

6.4 Carrying Out Appraisals 6/12

6.5 Performance Appraisal in Practice 6/15

6.6 Performance Management 6/166.7 Summary 6/18

Module 7 Training and Development 7/1

7.1 Training, Development and Strategic HRM 7/2

7.2 Determining Training Needs and Priorities 7/3

7.3 Design of Training Programmes 7/6

7.4 Evaluation of Training Effectiveness 7/12

7.5 The Relationship between Training and Development 7/19

7.6 Methods of Employee Development 7/20

7.7 Development for Employability 7/23

7.8 Summary 7/23

Module 8 Careers and Career Management 8/1

8.1 The Concept of Career Management 8/2

8.2 Individual Perspectives 8/2

8.3 Organisational Perspectives 8/9

8.4 Gender and Careers 8/18

8.5 Summary 8/22

Module 9 Employee Relations 9/1

9.1 What is Employee Relations? 9/2

9.2 Philosophical Approaches to Employee Relations 9/39.3 The Legal Framework 9/6

9.4 Employee Relations Themes 9/7

9.5 Unions and Collective Representation 9/9

9.6 Grievance and Discipline 9/13

9.7 Health and Well-being 9/14

9.8 Techniques for Increasing Involvement at Work 9/20

9.9 Summary 9/24

Appendix 1 Answers to Review Questions A1/1

Appendix 2 Practice Final Examinations and Solutions A2/1

Index I/1

6 Edinburgh Business School Human Resource Management



Module 1

The Origins and Nature of Human

Resource Management

Contents

1.1 What is Human Resource Management? 1/1

1.2 The Origins and Evolution of HRM 1/2

1.2.1 Business Strategy in an Increasingly Competitive Environment 1/2

1.2.2 Personnel Management 1/3

1.2.3 Organisational Behaviour 1/5

1.3 Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives of HRM 1/51.3.1 Hard Versus Soft HRM 1/5

1.3.2 The Nature of Work Motivation and Behaviour 1/6

1.3.3 Organisational Conditions and Effectiveness 1/6

1.4 HRM as a Strategic Activity 1/7

1.5 HRM as an Operational Level Activity 1/9

1.6 Summary 1/11

Review Questions 1/11

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• understand what is meant by human resource management (HRM).

• describe the main factors which led to the emergence of HRM as a discipline.

• explain how HRM is related to business strategy, organisational behaviour,and personnel management.

• understand the difference between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ HRM.

• comprehend what is meant by strategic HRM.

• explain what is meant by operational HRM.

• describe the main activities involved in operational HRM.

1.1 What is Human Resource Management?

Despite the fact that ideas and techniques derived from human resource manage-ment (HRM) have been adopted in a large number of organisations world-wide,the emergence of HRM as a field is a relatively recent phenomenon whoseorigins can be traced back to the early 1980s. Indeed, because HRM is still in

Human Resource Management Edinburgh Business School 1/1



Module 1 / The Origins and Nature of Human Resource Management

its formative stages, there are controversies about what exactly is meant by theterm itself, about precisely what should and should not be included within thescope of HRM, and even in some instances about the true benefits of some of its proposed approaches and techniques for organisations and the individualsemployed in them.

Because there is no unanimously agreed definition as to what actually con-stitutes HRM and precisely how it differs from previous approaches to themanagement of people in organisations, no attempt will be made to provide acomprehensive definition of the term here. However, one way to look at HRMis as a set of loosely related ideas, concepts, and techniques held together by thecommon underlying premise that, within any organisation, maximisation of theutilisation of human resources is crucial to maintain and enhance competitive-ness in a world where those who do not compete successfully simply do notsurvive. According to this view, unless organisations can make full use of thepotential of their employees, not only will they perform poorly, but their veryexistence will be threatened in today’s highly competitive world.

In order to give the reader an insight into the nature of the field, we willfirst examine its evolution and development from related fields and activitiessuch as business strategy, personnel management, and organisational behaviour.We will then consider the various philosophical strands underpinning HRMthinking and practice. Finally, the distinction between strategic and operationallevel HRM activities will be discussed briefly.

1.2 The Origins and Evolution of HRM

One of the most important catalysts for the emergence of HRM came fromdevelopments in strategic thinking about how businesses would need to adapt

and change to survive in the eighties and nineties. This in turn led to questions being asked about the role and function of traditional personnel managementapproaches to the management of people in organisations. Although HRM wasessentially meant to replace traditional personnel management, the two havemuch in common and indeed some critics of HRM have questioned the extentto which it really is fundamentally different from its predecessor. Finally, manyof the theories and findings from the closely related field of organisational

behaviour have been utilised by HRM theorists and practitioners and theserelationships are discussed briefly below.

1.2.1 Business Strategy in an Increasingly Competitive Environment

From a Western perspective, the early eighties was a time of much soul searchingabout the future competitiveness of the Western economies in general, andWestern-based companies in particular. In brief, the Far East, especially Japan,seemed to have gained significant competitive advantage over the West. Thiswas seen as a particularly threatening phenomenon because of a number of otherfactors, especially the globalisation of markets and the associated intensificationof competition world-wide. Analysis of the Japanese phenomenon seemed topoint towards better utilisation of people resources as a key factor in its success.

1/2 Edinburgh Business School Human Resource Management




It appeared that a number of Japanese management practices such as the focus onexcellence and continual improvement, the provision of an element of autonomyand influence on decisions for employees, the creation of a culture within theorganisation of shared commitment to the success of the organisation, and soon, all served to ensure that each individual’s potential to contribute as fullyas possible to organisational success was realised. This, the argument ran, was

what gave Japanese organisations a competitive advantage over their Westerncounterparts.

Further impetus to the view that optimisation of human resources is crucialfor success came in the form of the highly influential study of high performingUS companies carried out by Peters and Waterman (1982). The message fromthis study largely reinforced that coming from students of Japanese managementpractice, since once again, the conclusion was that how people are managed isthe key to competitive advantage and organisational success.

Around this time the political climate in the West, particularly in the UK andthe USA, was changing in ways which encouraged the development of newthinking about how best to manage organisations. This was the era of the so-

called enterprise culture with its emphasis on individual entrepreneurial activityas the engine of economic success. In the UK in particular, the collectivismespoused by the Trade Union movement was seen as a barrier to economicprogress and a millstone around the neck of organisations trying to competeinternationally. Other key elements of the new culture included the prime placegiven to market forces and the elevation of the status and role of the consumerin the overall scheme of things. A notable change here was the extension of the market-led philosophy and consumerism to the provision of services inthe public sector. Thus, for example, in education students became ‘clients’ andeducational ‘products’ now had to be ‘consumer’, rather than ‘producer’ led. Allof these politically inspired ideas served to create a climate which encouraged

radical new thinking about how best to harness people’s abilities and energiesin the face of the perceived imperative for organisations to restore competitiveadvantage.

The general view in all of this was that, as far as people management inorganisations was concerned, radical surgery was the order of the day. Merely

bolting a few new techniques on to an existing system on a piecemeal basiswould not be sufficient. Rather, a whole new philosophy of how to managepeople most effectively was required. In what has now become something of a cliche people were now ‘the organisation’s most important asset’. New and

better ways to organise activities which would harness workers’ commitmentand energies would need to be developed. Human resource considerations

would need to be linked into the design and implementation of overall businessstrategy in a way that had not been the case in the past. Finally, management of people could no longer be the sole prerogative of personnel specialists. It wouldnow need to be much more the responsibility of all managers.

1.2.2 Personnel Management

Traditionally, within large organisations at least, responsibility for human resourcematters lay within the personnel function. A typical list of personnel manage-





ment functions carried out in organisations would be very wide and wouldinclude advising on activities such as: recruitment and selection, performanceappraisal, training and development, payment and pension systems, industrialrelations, and so on. These are all critically important functions which are capa-

ble of being carried out at two levels. At an operational level, all of these haveto be conducted as a part of the organisation’s everyday activities. However,

most also have a strategic element, in the sense that they can be integrated intothe overall objectives of the organisation. Take the example of training. At theoperational level, the personnel department would be responsible for adminis-tering and running courses. At a strategic level, a relevant issue might be thequestion of how much should be invested in training, given the direction inwhich the organisation is going and what it wants to achieve.

From an HRM perspective, most, if not all, people management issues should be considered from a strategic as well as an operational perspective. A keyissue which now arises is the extent to which, in the past, traditional person-nel management has operated at a strategic level. A number of writers havesuggested that the role of personnel in the past in most organisations has beenoperational and reactive, rather than pro-active and strategic (Torrington, 1995,Hendry, 1995). An example of the reactive nature of personnel management can

be seen in the field of industrial relations, an area which greatly pre-occupiedpersonnel managers in the UK in the seventies. As Hendry (1995) points out,the majority of personnel managers during that period spent most of their timefire fighting. A dispute would arise and personnel’s job would be to react to itand solve the immediate problem. What rarely emerged from personnel depart-ments was a strategy for dealing with industrial relations problems. To takeanother example, in the field of training and development, although personneldepartments frequently have large training and development budgets and areresponsible for running a wide variety of training courses, rarely does one finda coherent strategy linking training to the organisation’s underlying objectives.Again personnel’s role is seen as operational, rather than strategic. We sawabove that there was a view in the eighties that radical changes in the way inwhich human resources are managed would be needed to increase competitive-ness. Presumably, personnel managers, with their specialist knowledge, would

be well placed to initiate and influence these changes. Yet Evans and Cowling(1985) in a study of British personnel managers, found that they were not gen-erally initiators of major change. Nor were they given a large role in advisingon the form such changes should take.

In summary, it appears that, historically, personnel management has had

only a partial role in the management of people in organisations. It has hadan essential role at the operational level in, for example, advising on andimplementing selection systems, payment methods, training and developmentprogrammes, welfare arrangements, and a host of other activities. It has hadmuch less impact, however, at the strategic level. Thus its role has been seenas specialist and technical, rather than strategic. This is seen by many as a keydifference between HRM and personnel management and the rise in popularityof HRM can be seen as largely a response to the need for a more all-embracingapproach to the management of people in organisations.





1.2.3 Organisational Behaviour

The mission of HRM is to maximise the utilisation of human resources. A keyissue is, of course, how this is to be achieved. There are a number of approacheswhich can be taken here, but many of them have their origins in theories andresearch findings in the field of organisational behaviour (OB). OB is the study

of human behaviour and experiences in organisations. An example of the link between OB and HRM is in the area of employee motivation. Many HRMinterventions are designed to increase employee motivation and commitment,and OB has provided rich insights into the nature of both of these phenomena.The same can be said for the management of rewards. As we shall see laterin this text, the introduction of team working, which is another popular HRMinnovation, has its origins in classical OB studies of autonomous work groups.Many HRM theorists stress the importance of culture change in managing peoplemore effectively, and this is another area where many of the building blocksrelating to both theory and practice come from OB. Many other examples could

be given, but these should suffice to make the point that much of HRM relies

on prior work in organisational behaviour.In summary, at least three main influences on the field of HRM can be iden-

tified. From the area of strategy, the economic imperative to gain competitiveadvantage, both nationally and internationally, led to the realisation of the vitalimportance of the need to maximise the utilisation of human resources. Thisgave a more central and strategic role to HRM in people management than hadever been the case for personnel management. Despite the past shortcomings of personnel management at the strategic level, the techniques used in personnelmanagement at the operational level have of course had to be absorbed intoHRM in order to ensure the successful implementation of strategic objectives.Finally, many of the techniques used in HRM are underpinned by theory and

research in OB.

1.3 Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives of HRM

1.3.1 Hard Versus Soft HRM

As indicated above, a unifying theme of all HRM approaches is the belief in thecritical importance of human resource utilisation in determining organisationalperformance. However, when it comes to the question of how these resources can

best be utilised, two distinct approaches have developed. The ‘hard’ approach

sees people as resources just like any other resource possessed by the organi-sation, the objective being to maximise their benefits and minimise their coststo the organisation. This goes hand in hand with an emphasis on profit as theso-called ‘bottom line’. Some examples of the kind of approach taken by propo-nents of hard HRM will illustrate this emphasis on human resources as costs andon bottom line profits. Hard HRM might emphasise the desirability of chang-ing work practices so that fewer people could produce the required amountof goods or services. This would be seen as to the benefit of the organisationsince surplus employees could be laid off to reduce costs. Full-time employees





cost more than part-time ones, so that a shift to more part-time workers wouldalso be advantageous from a hard HRM perspective, as would outsourcing. Thelatter involves contracting work out to agencies, giving the organisation flexi-

bility to increase or decrease numbers of employees as the need arises withoutredundancy or other costs. These few examples should have given the readerthe flavour of the ‘hard’ approach to HRM.

The ‘soft’ approach to HRM, on the other hand, emphasises the human, ratherthan the resource, element of the equation. According to this view, peoplehave enormous potential to increase their contribution to the organisation if theconditions can be set up to release this potential. In this sense people should

be seen as qualitatively different from other resources. If the organisation canharness employees’ reserves of creativity and energy, maximise their skills, andenhance their commitment then this will provide the key competitive advantagethat is required. The emphasis here is much less on people as cost items andmuch more on how to increase their productivity by enhancing their ability tocontribute to the organisation. Consequently, proponents of ‘soft’ HRM tendto focus on methods of enhancing motivation and capability, such as reward

management, training and development, and so on.

1.3.2 The Nature of Work Motivation and Behaviour

Underpinning HRM theories is a set of assumptions about the nature of peopleand what stimulates and motivates them in the work environment. However,as one might expect, not all theories make precisely the same assumptions.As we shall see later, a common assumption is that the key to producingenhanced performance is to create the conditions where employees will have ahigh level of commitment to the organisation. If commitment is high, a wholeseries of positive benefits will flow from this, so the theory goes. Anothercommon assumption is that people will respond positively if they are givenmore power over decision making in the workplace. The reader will be ableto detect other examples of assumptions about human behaviour in relation toHRM theories later in the text. An important issue to which we will returnin later modules is the extent to which the empirical evidence supports these

beliefs and assumptions.

1.3.3 Organisational Conditions and Effectiveness

An integral part of many HRM approaches is a further set of assumptions

about the ideal organisational conditions required to optimise the managementof people.

For example, it is argued that a key pre-requisite for the development of employee commitment is the creation of the right kind of organisational culture.Although, as we shall see later, changing culture is easier said than done,organisational arrangements to facilitate communications at all levels, systemsdesigned to provide managers with appropriate leadership skills, and so on, have

been introduced with this aim in mind. The emphasis on culture change is reallypart of a more general change theme which views the future as characterised





by an environment which is in a constant state of evolution. This creates a needfor organisations continually to adapt and develop in all sorts of ways if theyare to remain competitive.

HRM is often associated with the introduction of new and innovative formsof work organisation, such as the introduction of various forms of flexible

working arrangements. One example of this is task flexibility, where traditional boundaries between jobs are reduced or removed so that, for example, withina work group, each individual is expected to be able to carry out most or allof the different work roles. Another influential set of innovations can be seenin the introduction of a variety of forms of team working. One mechanism forcreating the kind of power over decision making described above is the use of self-managing work teams in which much of the authority previously investedin management is devolved to the team.

Proponents of HRM frequently advocate an element of decentralisation wherepolicies and procedures are determined locally at the level of operating units,rather than centrally. In this way HRM arrangements can be tailor made to

meet the needs and requirements of individual operating units. A good examplewhere this approach could be applied is in the matter of the determination of rates and methods of payment. According to this view, pay bargaining shouldtake place between employees and management within the operating unit in thecontext of local HRM priorities and the prevailing local context. This contrastswith more collectivist approaches, notably where, for example, pay is determinedon a national level in negotiation with trade unions.

A variant on the theme of decentralisation of activities is the notion thatresponsibility for HRM matters should not rest solely with the HRM depart-ment within organisations. Rather, because of the crucial importance of humanresources, all managers should take some responsibility for HRM.

1.4 HRM as a Strategic Activity

What is the linchpin which puts a particular set of HRM philosophies, approachesand techniques within the context of a specific organisation? According to thetheories, this is driven by the strategic role of HRM. It is proposed that all HRMsystems and practices should be integrated into a coherent policy and that thisis derived from the overall business strategy of the organisation. The overall

business strategy provides a vision of what the business is about, about whereit should be going in the future, and about how it should go about setting and

achieving objectives to realise the vision. The process of strategy formulationinvolves a variety of activities, including the analysis of current strengths andweaknesses, the evaluation of threats from competitors, and the identificationof potential opportunities for the future. The end result of this process is theformulation of a set of strategic goals or objectives and the development of aset of policies and procedures to implement these. Since any strategy can onlyrealistically be successfully implemented through the people who make up theorganisation, HRM clearly has a critical role to play here. But precisely howdoes HRM strategy link into this process of overall strategy formulation?





At one level, the role of HRM is restricted to that of facilitating a pre-determined business strategy. For example, suppose an organisation developsa business strategy which aims to gain competitive advantage by producing,high value added, high quality products. Part of an HRM strategic objectiveto support this might be the development of a quality oriented culture withinthe organisation. A number of changes could be introduced to help achieve this

objective. For example, communication systems could be introduced continuallyto reinforce the quality message. Self-managed teams with responsibility for theirown quality control could be set up. In order to back up the introduction of self-managed teams, appraisal systems designed to monitor performance might

be changed from being carried out on an individual basis to being done on agroup basis. This example illustrates both the strategic support role of HRMand the integrative nature of strategic HRM where communication systems,team working, and appraisal systems are considered as a whole in the light of the strategic objective. The reader might like to try to map out an HRM strategywhere the strategic plan emphasised high volume low cost products.

Strategic HRM as outlined above has essentially an enabling role in the sense

that it only becomes involved in the process after the overall business strategyhas been formulated. However, there are strong arguments for the inclusionof HRM at the strategy formulation stage. As indicated above, the analysisof the organisation’s existing strengths and weaknesses is central to strategyformulation. Since the organisation’s human resources are a key aspect of itsstrengths and weaknesses, the nature of these must influence strategic choices.To take just one example, the optimal strategic direction for an organisationwith a large pool of highly educated and skilled employees may be quitedifferent from one where there is a very small pool of such people. At worst,failure to recognise the people resource input into strategic decisions may meanthat strategic plans are simply not capable of being implemented. At best,

the integration of HRM strategy with overall strategy can optimise the wholeformulation and implementation process.

The notion of strategic HRM as an integrated, universally applicable, approachto people management is a seductive one. However, some words of caution arein order here before we proceed to a more detailed examination of what HRMhas to offer. Historically, most HRM concepts and theories originated in theUSA and this raises the question of how far the theories are really applicable inother cultures. For example, as Guest (1994) has pointed out, there is often anemphasis on individualism, rather than collectivism in HRM writings (see thediscussion of de-centralisation and local, rather than national, pay bargainingabove for an example). Guest shows how this fits well with American values

but in Europe there is much more of a tradition of collectivism than in America.This is exemplified by the greater role of the trade unions in many Europeancountries. Much is made, especially with soft HRM approaches, of the idea thatHRM is mutually beneficial both for the employee and the organisation but somecritics have questioned whether this is always the case as far as employees areconcerned. A cynical view of the techniques advocated might see them as waysof getting more out of employees without a corresponding increase in rewardsto them. Much is also made of the integrative nature of HRM. It is hard to arguewith the logic of such an approach, but how often does it actually happen in





practice? Some argue that a piecemeal approach to the introduction of many of the innovative practices we shall be discussing in more detail later in the text isactually much more the norm than an integrated one. It is also questionable towhat extent human resource strategy is to be found in practice, as opposed toin theory.

Criticism of HRM has largely focused on strategic level issues and the theoriesand philosophies which underpin strategic HRM. On the whole, operationallevel issues have been less contentious, especially where, as is often the case, thepractices are already well established from prior use in a personnel managementcontext. In any case, irrespective of whether or not a practising manager adheresto a particular HRM theory or philosophy, the operational issues have to be dealtwith effectively on a day-to-day basis. It is to these that we now turn.

1.5 HRM as an Operational Level Activity

The scope of HRM at an operational level is very wide and some selectivity

in what can be covered in this relatively short text is inevitable. This will bedone on the following basis. Areas of activity where well established tools andtechniques exist will be favoured, especially where they are broadly applicableacross different countries and cultures. On the other hand, procedures whichare very culture specific are beyond the scope of the text and these will not

be covered in detail. Finally, some topics have already been comprehensivelycovered elsewhere in the MBA Distance Learning series and these will be not

be dealt with in depth in this text.

At the operational level, HRM has much in common with conventionalapproaches to personnel management. Nevertheless, an HRM perspective willoften influence both the relative importance attributed to a particular activity and

the precise way in which it is carried out. Thus, while both traditional person-nel management and HRM accept the importance of effective recruitment andselection for organisational performance, the emphasis on the qualities soughtin recruits may be different. For example, strategic considerations frequentlyemphasise the need for organisations continually to adapt and change to meetthe demands of a changing environment. This implies a greater focus on attitu-dinal qualities in selection, such as an openness to new ideas and a willingnessto accept and even welcome change, than might have been the case in the past.To take another example, in the UK and Western Europe the management of industrial relations and collective negotiations with trade unions has tradition-ally been central stage in the work of personnel managers. However, some have

argued that the individualistic orientation of HRM and its tendency to assumethat management and workers have common interests serves to undermine theimportance of traditional collective industrial relations. As Guest (1989) putsit ‘its underlying values . . . would appear to be essentially unitarist and indi-vidualistic in contrast to the more pluralist and collective values of traditionalindustrial relations’. It follows from this that the approach of HRM to industrialrelations would be quite different from that of personnel management.

We noted above that a key element in strategy formulation was the identi-fication of the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses. Of course to do this





effectively methods need to be developed at the operational level to enable theorganisation to specify in a systematic way what is meant by good performance.This has to be done at multiple levels ranging from the macro level of theorganisation as a whole, through sub-units such as work teams, all the waydown to the level of individual job roles. Effective specification and measure-ment of performance is an essential HRM activity at all levels. Its importance

at the macro level can be illustrated with reference to a scenario which will be familiar to readers from the UK. Within the last fifteen years or so, a largenumber of publicly owned organisations have been privatised by government.One frequent argument for doing this has been that ‘waste and inefficiency ’ will

be eliminated by privatisation. But precisely how was ‘waste and inefficiency’(i.e. poor performance) measured by the proponents of this view and how validwas this measure? Similarly, to show that privatisation produced an improve-ment, it would be necessary to demonstrate by systematic measurement that anincrease in efficiency had actually been achieved. Taking another example at thesmall group level, to show that team working is more effective than other workarrangements it is first necessary to be able to measure team performance sys-

tematically. At the individual job role level, we have already seen that in HRMmuch is made of the added value people can provide if properly managed. But

before we can manage them effectively, we need to know what end point weare trying to achieve. In other words, before we can take steps to enhance theperformance of individual workers, we need to be able to define systematicallywhat constitutes good performance in an employee in the first place.

As already mentioned, selection is a central operational level HRM activityin all organisations. Selection is in many ways the foundation upon which allother HRM techniques are built because it provides the raw material with whichthe HRM specialist has to work. Once individuals have been recruited intothe organisation, their performance needs to be managed effectively. Effective

management has a number of elements, often beginning with a systematic assess-ment of their past performance known as performance appraisal. As we willsee, performance appraisal has traditionally been used for a variety of purposes,such as assessing training and development needs, setting future performancetargets, salary determination, and so on. More recent HRM approaches seek togo beyond this by integrating appraisal into a broader scheme of performancemanagement in which appraisal is linked to organisational objectives as a whole.Training and development has long been a core area of activity in personnelmanagement and, if anything, it has assumed greater importance within HRM.If people are a vital resource then it obviously makes sense to invest heavily intheir training. The planning and management of careers in the mutual interest

of employees and the organisation has also traditionally been seen as being animportant responsibility of the personnel department, at least in the majority of large organisations. However, as Herriot (1992) has pointed out, the nature of organisations has been changing in recent years. This has come about partly as aresult of the adoption of HRM theories and practices, but also for other reasons.These changes have profound implications for careers and career management,as we shall see when we come to take a detailed look at this topic.

These core operational areas of specification of performance requirements ina way that can be measured systematically, recruitment and selection, perform-





ance appraisal and performance management, training and development, andcareer management, will be dealt with in depth in the modules to follow. Itis recognised that some areas often regarded as important HRM activities willnot be covered in detail in this text. These include payment systems, industrialrelations, and the legal framework within which HRM activities are carried out.These have not been dealt with in detail either because they are already covered

comprehensively in other Heriot-Watt Distance Learning texts, or because theHRM practices in question differ fundamentally across cultural and national

boundaries. These topics will, however, be referred to selectively where they arerelevant to other issues being discussed.

1.6 Summary

The main impetus for the emergence of HRM was the perceived need, on thepart of a number of large organisations, to improve their competitive position

both nationally and internationally. Better utilisation of human resources through

the adoption of HRM systems and practices was seen as the key to achievingthis objective. Although HRM has much in common with traditional personnelmanagement, it attempts to overcome some of the apparent inadequacies of personnel management as typically practised in the past. This is particularlytrue of the strategic approach adopted by HRM. Operational level HRM, whichis concerned with the everyday management of people in organisations, alsoshares much with more traditional personnel management approaches. However,even here there are differences, due mainly to the impact of strategic HRMconsiderations on operational activities.

Review Questions

True/False Statements

Each statement requires a single response – ‘True’ or ‘False’.

1.1 An important underlying premise of HRM is the need to maximise the utilisation

of human resources if organisations are to compete successfully.

1.2 It is unanimously agreed that HRM is fundamentally different from personnel

management.

1.3 A major difference between HRM and personnel management is the morestrategic orientation of HRM.

1.4 When a personnel department responds rapidly to threatened strike action by

the labour force and manages to defuse the situation it can be said to be

managing people in a strategic way.

1.5 Historically, traditional personnel management has had less impact at the stra-

tegic level than at the operational level.





1.6 ‘Soft’ HRM emphasises the importance of developing people so that they are

capable of contributing more to the organisation.

1.7 Most HRM theorists agree that the management of people is too important

a task to be in the hands of anyone other than specialists from the HRM

department.

1.8 Task flexibility is the term used to describe the situation where an individual is

expected to carry out a variety of different work roles.

1.9 Strategic HRM argues for an integrated approach to people management in

organisations.

1.10 According to Guest (1994), HRM theories tend to emphasise individualism, rather

than collectivism.

1.11 According to Guest (1989), HRM and traditional personnel management are

likely to have a similar approach to industrial relations.

1.12 Although the nature of organisations has been changing in recent years, thesechanges have not had any major implications for individuals’ careers.

Short Essay Questions

1.1 What were the major factors which led to the emergence of human resource

management?

1.2 How does human resource strategy relate to general business strategy?

Apply What You Have Learned: HRM in Action

You are a personnel manager in a large manufacturing organisation in the electronics

industry. The company has plants world-wide, including the USA and the Far East.

You are currently seconded from your normal job on a one year assignment as

special personnel adviser to the organisation’s newly created Scenario Review Unit.

You have just received the following memorandum from the head of the unit. Your

task is to draft a suitable reply.

Memorandum:

From: Head of Scenario Review Unit

To: Special Personnel Advisor

I have just returned from a high level conference on Strategic Human Resource

Management and Achieving Competitive Advantage. They had some very high powered

speakers at the conference from all over the world. They put forward a pretty convincing

case that we really need to fundamentally change how we manage people in our UK

operation. So much so, that I have decided to recommend to our main board that we

put their ideas into practice as soon as possible. I am pretty confident that I know

what is required and I have already worked out the main changes which need to be

made. However, before going to the main board, I thought I ought to run my ideas past





you as a personnel expert, particularly since you have the benefit of all that up-to-date

knowledge you obtained by studying for your Distance Learning MBA. I have outlined

my ideas below. Please let me have your considered comments in due course.

Clearly HRM is the key to improving our use of human resources and is a vast

improvement on the old personnel management approach. Consequently the first thing

we need to do is scrap our existing personnel departments throughout the business,

make the individuals concerned redundant, and get in some new HRM experts. We willonly need one or two new people, however, since HRM theory tells us that line managers

should now be expected to do the bulk of what used to be personnel work. The seminar

speakers suggested that personnel management is not strategic enough, but I think we

may be an exception to this, since we have always been pretty good at reacting to crises.

Anyway, I am producing a business strategy for the UK side of our operation which I

will pass on to the HRM experts so that they can implement whatever is necessary on

the human resource side. By the way, I do not think we should go for this so-called soft

HRM approach – if the workers think we are soft they will walk all over us!

It seems we will need to change the culture of the organisation. As I understand it,

this is quite a straightforward thing to do. Maybe you could take this on and organise a

suitable course for people to go on. Another thing, we will no longer need to employ

those expensive organisational behaviour consultants, since their ideas are obviously outof date now that HRM has taken over the field. Whatever happens, if we do decide

to adopt a strategic approach to HRM, it is likely to involve a whole new approach to

what we do, rather than introducing a few new ideas on a piecemeal basis. Once we

get the new systems up and running successfully, it might be a good idea to suggest to

our colleagues in the US and the Far East that they should follow our lead and adopt

an HRM approach too.

Does this all seem fine to you?

References

Evans, A. and Cowling, A. (1985). ‘Personnel’s part in organisation restructuring’,Personnel Management, January, 14–17.

Guest, D.E. (1989). ‘HRM: Implications for industrial relations’, New Perspectives in Human Resource Management, ed. Storey, J., London and New York: Routledge.

Guest, D.E. (1994). ‘Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management:towards a European approach’,European Work and Organizational Psychologist, 4, 251–270.

Hendry, C. (1995). Human Resource Management: A Strategic Approach to Employment,Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Herriot, P. (1992). The Career Management Challenge, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Peters, T.J. and Waterman, R.H. Jr (1982). In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’sBest Run Companies, New York: Harper & Row

Torrington, D. and Hall, L. (1995). Personnel Management: HRM in Action, HemelHempstead: Prentice Hall.




Module 2

Models of Human Resource

Management

Contents

2.1 Defining Characteristics of HRM Models 2/1

2.2 Matching Models 2/3

2.2.1 Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna’s Model 2/3

2.2.2 The Schuler Group 2/4

2.2.3 Evaluation of Matching Models 2/6

2.3 Harvard-type Models 2/72.3.1 The Original Beer Model 2/7

2.3.2 The Guest Model 2/9

2.3.3 The Pettigrew Approach 2/10

2.3.4 Evaluation of Harvard-type Models 2/11

2.4 Summary 2/12


Learning Objectives


• describe the defining characteristics of HRM models.

• understand the Fombrun Matching model.

• understand the Schuler model.

• describe the main features of the original Harvard approach.

• explain Guest’s model and its relationship to the original Harvard approach.

• describe the Pettigrew model.

• evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Matching and Harvard models.

2.1 Defining Characteristics of HRM Models

Although a number of different models of HRM exist, they can be broadlyclassified into two types. First, there are those which are commonly knownas Matching models. One of the earliest and most well known of these isthe model put forward by Fombrun et al. (1984). The second type, which wasdeveloped by Beer et al. (1984) has subsequently become known as the Harvardmodel. Both of these models originated in the USA, although as we shall see




Module 2 / Models of Human Resource Management

below, variants on them have been proposed by writers from other countries,notably Britain. The Matching and Harvard models have somewhat differentunderlying philosophies and associated implications for how best to managepeople in organisations. Although this does not mean that their prescriptionsare necessarily fundamentally incompatible, they are not easy bedfellows, andin practice most organisations are likely to be attracted to one approach at the

expense of the other.Before proceeding to a detailed comparison of some of the more well known

models, it is useful to consider some of parameters along which they can vary.This will help the reader to identify the similarities and differences among them.

• All models are directly concerned with strategic aspects of HRM. However,some are concerned almost exclusively with strategic considerations, whileothers also give weight to operational and implementation issues. Also, thetreatment of the relationship between HRM strategy and business strategygenerally differs significantly from one model to another.

• Some models are more prescriptive than others. The more prescriptive

models endeavour to tell managers the ‘best way to do things’. With lessprescriptive approaches, the emphasis is much more on understandingstructures and processes than on telling HRM managers how to do it.

• An important differentiating factor among theories is the extent to which a‘hard’ versus ‘soft’ approach is taken, as described in Module 1.

• Another important differentiating factor is the extent to which line managersare assigned responsibility for HRM in the various models.

• Models vary in how far they advocate a departure from traditional personnelmanagement practice. Thus, while some have taken a radically differentapproach, others have been described as being no more than personnelmanagement in a new guise.

• Models vary in the degree to which they adopt a unitarist approach toHRM. The unitarist approach takes the position that there are only a smallnumber of individuals or groups who have a legitimate interest in the fateof the organisation. Furthermore, these major stakeholders should be theones whose point of view should be taken into account in the determinationof business and HRM strategy. At its most extreme, the unitarist view advo-cates that only top management has a responsibility for devising strategyand its major priority in making organisations successful is to satisfy share-holders’ needs (shareholders being the other main stakeholders). Pluralistapproaches, on the other hand, assume a much wider range of stakeholderswhose legitimate interests should be taken into account in the process of strategy formulation. Examples of this wider community of stakeholdersmight include individual employees, trade unions, and society generally.

With these points in mind, let us now proceed to examine some of the majormodels of the HRM process.





2.2 Matching Models

2.2.1 Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna’s Model

This model starts with the basic proposition that HRM strategy should be

driven solely by the needs of the business. The general business strategy of thefirm is formulated in an attempt to meet these needs. Thus, general strategydictates HRM strategy with little consideration given to reciprocal influencein the other direction. According to the model, a number of external factorsinfluence strategy formulation, the three most important of which are economicpolitical and cultural forces. The organisation’s overall mission and strategy inturn dictates both its general structure and its human resource policies.

In this way business strategy determines HRM strategy and the latter must bematched to the former. But how is the latter implemented in practice? The modelemphasises the importance of setting up systems which match the two aspects of strategy. According to the model, there are four key operational systems which

are essential for implementing HRM strategy. These are: selection, appraisal,development, and rewards.

The first stage in the process is to take decisions about the optimal competitivestrategy to be pursued. Typically, this is based very much on market-orientedconsiderations. The next step is to decide, in the light of the overall strategy,what performance goals should be set for employees. When the abilities requiredto achieve these goals have been determined, new employees can be selectedagainst them. Once employees are in place, they are subsequently appraisedagainst these goals. The results of the appraisal are used for reward allocationin order to motivate individuals to further enhance their performance. Theappraisal process also identifies training and development requirements for

improved performance. These four core activities are meant to operate in anintegrated way, so that there is a coherent HRM strategy, rather than a piecemealarrangement.

What are the main characteristics of this model in terms of the parameterslisted above? The model is quite clear on the relationship between general

business strategy and HRM strategy. General strategy dictates HRM strategyand there is no expectation of any influence the other way. While there is acertain logic to this, it does imply a rather mechanistic view of people as aresource who can be readily manipulated to meet the needs of the organisation.Take, for example, the question of the capabilities or even desires and interests of the workforce. According to the model, if these do not match the performance

requirements as dictated by the general strategy, then it is the role of HRMto remedy this state of affairs. But this may be more easily said than done.Suppose an organisation with a highly skilled and highly qualified workforcedecides to move from a low volume, high quality product to a high volume lowquality product where high levels of skill are no longer needed. If people arethen told that they can no longer exercise their skills but will be carrying outmore mundane tasks than before because this is what the business requires, howwill this affect their motivation and performance? The alternative of replacingthe existing workforce with less skilled people is hardly an easy option either.





If, on the other hand, the model had allowed for the possibility that HRMconsiderations might influence general strategy, a broader view of people ashuman resources emerges, with possible beneficial results. In the above example,information about the capabilities of the workforce would be an input into thegeneral strategic process and would thus become a factor, in addition to marketconsiderations, in deciding which direction to take in the future.

The model is highly prescriptive, providing managers with a set of guidelinesas to how things should be done. It is also readily identified as ‘hard’, ratherthan ‘soft’ HRM. People are seen as resources whose contribution has to bemaximised at the same time as their costs have to be minimised. There is littlemention of the needs or interests of employees in the model.

The approach is essentially unitarist, rather than pluralist. Although the modeldoes mention the role of political and cultural forces these are given little empha-sis. There is scant consideration, for example, of possible inputs to the wholeprocess from the trade unions or any other organisation representing the needsof the employees. The emphasis is predominantly on market forces determiningstrategic need which then dictates HRM practices. In this respect, the approachrepresents quite a departure from traditional personnel management, which hasoften seen its role as more than just the implementation of policies designedto meet narrowly defined performance requirements. It has also been seen ashaving a legitimate role in meeting employees’ needs and interests, providedthese are compatible with organisational objectives.

2.2.2 The Schuler Group

The Schuler group (Schuler and Jackson, 1987) has attempted to provide detailedexpositions of the performance requirements (called employee role behaviour in

their terminology) arising out of different competitive strategies. The group hasalso endeavoured to show how these relate to specific HRM policies. Applyingthis approach to Porter’s (1990) generic strategies framework, it suggests a list of performance requirements and associated HRM policies for the strategic objec-tives of innovation, quality enhancement, and cost reduction. Thus, for example,a strategy that emphasises innovation requires employees to be creative, to havea longer term focus, and so on. The HRM strategies are designed to deliver theseperformance requirements. In the example just mentioned, for instance, appraisalshould focus on longer-term and group-based skills because this will help pro-duce the appropriate role behaviours. A selection of performance requirementsand associated HRM strategies, drawn from the more extensive list to be foundin Schuler and Jackson (1987), is shown below:

Innovation

Where the strategic objective is to encourage a high level of innovation, it isproposed that the desired performance requirements would include:

• a high degree of creative behaviour

• longer-term focus

• a relatively high level of co-operative, interdependent behaviour.





HRM strategies judged to be appropriate for ensuring that these requirementsare met include:

• jobs that require close interaction and co-ordination among groups of indi-viduals

• performance appraisals that are more likely to reflect longer-term and group-

based achievements• jobs that allow employees to develop skills that can be used in other

positions.

Quality enhancement

A somewhat different pattern of performance requirements emerge when thestrategic objective is quality enhancement. Examples of these are:

• relatively repetitive and predictable behaviours

• a moderate amount of co-operative, interdependent behaviour

• a high concern for quality.

The relevant HRM policies in this case are:

• relatively fixed and explicit job descriptions

• high levels of employee participation in decisions relevant to immediatework conditions and the job itself

• extensive and continuous training and development of employees.

Cost reduction

Illustrative performance requirements here are:

• relatively repetitive and predictable behaviour• a rather short-term focus

• high concern for quantity of output.

The ideal HRM strategies in this situation are said to include:

• relatively fixed and explicit job descriptions that allow little room for ambi-guity

• short-term results-orientated performance appraisals

• minimal levels of employee training and development.

The approach of Schuler and his group clearly provides a more detailedanalysis of how HRM policies can be used to implement strategies than thatof Fombrun. This apart, it has much in common with their approach and itscharacteristics are similar in terms of the parameters outlined at the beginningof the module.

To what extent are Schuler’s prescriptions for matching particular HRM poli-cies to specific business strategies valid and useful? Hendry (1995), addressingthis question, concluded that, while a number of the proposed links seem intu-itively plausible up to a point, the optimal HRM strategy is unlikely to be





determined mechanistically by the chosen business strategy in the manner sug-gested by Schuler. According to Hendry, the best HRM strategy will also dependon an organisation’s particular circumstances. These would include factors suchas the nature of the technology, local and national customs, and so on. As anexample of the latter, he cites the proposed use of appraisal schemes at shopfloor level and points out that this would be ‘foreign to the British environment’

(p. 83). This is likely to make any appraisal linked policy difficult to implementfor this group of workers in the UK.

2.2.3 Evaluation of Matching Models

Boxall (1992) has advanced a number of criticisms of matching models. Thesecan be summarised as follows.

• The theories have seldom been backed up by systematic research to validatethem. Rather, they have relied on ‘anecdotal illustrations largely unsup-ported by formal fieldwork programmes’ (p. 67). The Schuler group is an

exception to this since it has carried out systematic surveys to back uptheir claims. These studies have provided mixed support for the model,although they have also highlighted the importance of organisational con-text in determining practices. Boxall has also questioned the appropriatenessof the research method used by the Schuler group. The interested readershould consult Boxall (1992) for a fuller discussion of this issue.

• The assumptions of the models are too unitaristic. As Boxall puts it ‘HRMis seen as something that is “done to” passive human resources rather thansomething that is “done with” active human beings.’ (p. 68)

• The process of strategy formulation is not as rationalistic as the modelsassume. The idea that strategy is simply a formal planning process which

leads to decisions being made and implemented more or less automaticallymay be quite divorced from reality. It is probably more realistic to suggestthat strategy is only partly planned, but it also evolves in an unintendedway as events unfold.

• Also, with particular reference to the work of the Schuler group, assump-tions about the validity of the generic models on which they are based may

be misplaced since these models have themselves been criticised.

• The models are overly restricted in their definition of the major areas of concern to HRM. The Fombrun model, for example, ignores many of thefactors which have been shown from many years of research in organisa-tional behaviour to be important for employee attitudes and performance.

An example here would be leadership and supervisory style. As has already been alluded to, there is also little attention paid to the whole field of tradeunions and labour relations and their impact on HRM policies and practices.

• Finally, in these models, much is made of the need to fit HRM strategy tooverall strategy. But Boxall argues that if the fit is too close this can lead tolack of flexibility and an impaired ability to adapt to change.

Despite the telling nature of some of these criticisms, it would not do tothrow out the baby with the bath water. These models have highlighted the





need for an integrated and strategic approach to HRM. They have also shownhow strategic HRM can be informed by general strategy and have demonstratedhow strategy can be used to guide operational level activities. While the modelsmay be somewhat over-simplified and rudimentary, they have at least shownthe need for, and potential value of, theory in this area.

2.3 Harvard-type Models

2.3.1 The Original Beer Model

While, as we have seen, the matching models were mainly influenced by thestrategy literature, the Harvard approach (Beer et al. 1984) has its roots in theliterature on organisational behaviour. The human relations school in particular,was an important influence.

The Harvard model typifies the ‘soft’ approach to HRM, with the focus beingon people as individuals whose talents can be nurtured and developed to the

mutual benefit of themselves and the organisation. From this perspective HRM becomes an important responsibility of all managers, not just HRM specialists.The main components of the model are shown in Figure 2.1.

Stakeholder interests

Situationalfactors

HRM policy HR Long-termchoices outcomes consequences

Figure 2.1 A simplified illustration of the Harvard framework.

According to the model, HRM policy choices (i.e. strategy) are influenced by stakeholder interests and situational factors. There are presumed to beseveral other stakeholders, over and above shareholders and top managers, whohave a legitimate interest in HRM strategy. These include employee groups,government, the unions, and the wider community. Thus, unlike the matchingmodels, not only are the employees’ interests explicitly recognised, but so too arethose of other groups outside of the organisation. As far as situational factors

are concerned, general business strategy is only one of seven relevant factorslisted as important inputs to HRM policy choices. Other influences includethe nature of the workplace, the labour market situation, and even laws andsocietal values. Here again this contrasts sharply with the approach taken inthe matching models where everything is driven by business strategy. There areseveral areas of HRM activity in which policy choices arising out of stakeholders’interests and situational factors can be made. These include choices about: thedegree of opportunity for employee influence on decisions, the nature of rewardsystems and the type of work systems.





Turning to the postulated HR outcomes of policy choices, there is an acknowl-edgement of the importance of cost effectiveness which is in line with the pos-tulates of the matching models. Another outcome is an increased capacity of employees to meet performance requirements as a result of the augmentationof their skills and abilities. However, in the Harvard model, neither of theseare regarded as the most critical HR outcome. Rather, the key outcome to be

achieved is increased commitment. According to the model, if HR policies cansucceed in ensuring that employees have a strong commitment to the organi-sation and what it is trying to achieve, they will perform better in a varietyof ways. For example, they will be more willing to adapt to change and willrespond positively to it. This gives the organisation the crucially important abil-ity to adapt quickly and effectively to new threats, pressures, and opportunities.In addition, because committed employees are more self-motivated they requireless ‘top-down’ management.

A cornerstone of the Harvard philosophy is the belief that these HR outcomesdo not just benefit the organisation but their long-term consequences are also

beneficial to the employee. Commitment results in mutuality between employee

and the organisation resulting in the creation of mutual goals, mutual respectand mutual responsibility. This, along with the opportunity for employees toinfluence decisions, and the enhancement of their skills are all meant to leadto the long-term consequence of increased satisfaction and well-being at work.The first two long-term consequences then are benefits to the employee and tothe organisation. If the third proposed long-term consequence, that of societal

benefit, can also be achieved, then we truly will have found the holy grail in thetheory and practice of HRM!

How can the Harvard model be classified in terms of the parameters listedearlier? Unlike the matching models, the role of general strategy is much lessdominant in the Harvard model. In particular policy choices, HR outcomes, andlong-term consequences all input into the strategy formulation process via thefeedback loop shown in the figure. Thus, strategic HRM is not viewed in thismodel as purely the servant of business strategy. Instead, HRM considerationsare part of the process itself.

The model is more analytical then prescriptive. It presents HRM policy choices,rather than recommending the one best way. Indeed from the perspective of theHarvard model, the specifics of any particular procedure or policy are less crucialthan the general approach which is adopted to HRM. The overall philosophyof how people can best be managed is the key from their viewpoint. However,the model does contain prescriptive elements, especially in its advocacy of commitment as being more or less universally desirable.

As already indicated, this model typifies the ‘soft’ approach to HRM. Also,in line with its general philosophical position that the key to success is peoplemanagement, the model places strong emphasis on the allocation of HRMresponsibilities to individual managers.

The model is much closer to traditional personnel management than thematching models. This can be seen, for example, in its attempt to take accountof the needs of both the employee and the organisation, in its explicit recognitionof a number of stakeholders in the process, and in its attempt to embrace external





factors such as the labour market, laws, and society in the model.

Following from the previous point, the Harvard model is much more pluralistthan the matching models. It recognises the legitimacy of employees’ interestsas well as those of shareholders, and it accepts the need to take into account theviews of other stakeholders external to the organisation.

2.3.2 The Guest Model

This model is considerably more prescriptive than that of Beer. It is less con-cerned with the analysis of strategic options than with putting forward a set of recommendations for good HRM practice. The model has four elements.

First, there are a series of HRM Policies and Practices, many of which onewould expect to find in a traditional personnel department. These are:

• Organization and job design;

• Management of change;• Recruitment, selection and socialisation;

• Appraisal, training and development;

• Reward systems;

• Communication.

In the model, the human resource policies and practices are designed andoperated in such a way as to achieve the four key Human Resource Outcomeswhich constitute the second element of the model. The HRM outcomes are:

• Commitment;• Flexibility;

• Quality;

• Strategic integration.

We have already encountered commitment as a desired HRM outcome inthe Beer model. Guest’s definition of flexibility includes not only the ability tomodify the way the organisation is structured, but also the facility to vary the

jobs people are asked to do and working arrangements such as hours workedand the nature of employees’ contracts. Quality in this model does not justrefer to the product being manufactured or the service being provided, butincludes ‘the quality of the workforce, the management of the workforce, andhuman resource policies’ (Guest, 1994, p. 257). Strategic integration is also quite

broadly defined, including both the integration of HRM policies and the buildingof bridges between HRM strategy and business strategy. As Guest sees it, properintegration also requires an organisational culture where managers share, or atleast accept, the underlying value system driving the HRM strategy.

The third element of the model is the achievement of a desired list of Organi-sational Outcomes. These are:





• High job performance;

• High problem solving;

• High innovation;

• High cost-effectiveness;

• Low turnover, absence and grievances.

Finally, the fourth element needed to make all of this come to fruition isLeadership. This is crucial to ensure the development of the right organisationalculture to and to drive forward strategic HRM as a key goal.

In terms of the parameters listed at the beginning of this module, the Guestmodel is broadly similar to that of Beer, apart from the fact that it is somewhatmore prescriptive.

2.3.3 The Pettigrew Approach

Pettigrew and his colleagues (Hendry and Pettigrew, 1990) have taken the

opposite approach to Guest in the sense that they have taken a more analyticaland less prescriptive view than Beer. Consequently, they are more interested ingaining a better understanding of the structures and processes that influencestrategy making than in what they call the ‘armchair exercise of matchingstrategy to HR processes’ (Hendry and Pettigrew 1990, p. 32).

These authors use the term Outer context to describe the wider societalinfluences on the organisation. These include:

• Socio-economic factors

• Technical factors

• Political-legal influences

• Competitive factors

Although the Outer context can have a direct influence on the overall Businessstrategy content, its main influence is on what they call the Inner context of theorganisation. By inner context they mean factors such as:

• Culture

• Structure

• Organisational politics and leadership

• Task technology

• Business outputs

These organisation-wide context factors in their turn influence the HRM con-text, which they specify as including:

• Role

• Definition

• Organisation

• HR outputs





Finally, the HRM context has effects on human resource systems, defined intheir terminology as HRM content factors. These include:

• HR flows

• Work systems

• Reward systems

• Employee relations

The authors propose that there is a two-way relationship between HRMcontent and the other elements of the model. Thus HRM content is capableof influencing not just the HRM context but also the overall Inner contextand Business strategy content. The model is also pluralistic in its orientation,recognising the many influences that can shape strategy. Finally, as alreadysuggested, the most notable difference between this model and those of bothBeer and Guest is the absence of any real prescriptive element.

2.3.4 Evaluation of Harvard-type ModelsA number of well reasoned arguments have been put forward in favour of theHarvard approach, particularly when compared with the matching alternative.By way of illustration, Boxall (1992) has made the following positive pointsabout Harvard-type models:

• They acknowledge that many groups have a legitimate stakeholder interestin influencing strategy.

• They accept that many other factors in addition to business strategy shouldshape HRM policy.

• Although they accept the existence of market forces, they point out thateverything need not be driven solely by them. Management is not simplya pawn in the face of market pressures and can exert real choices.

• By recognising the importance of societal level influences the door is openedto consideration of international comparisons of HRM practices. In thiscontext it is worth noting that both Guest and the Pettigrew group arewriting from a UK perspective while the Beer model emanates from theUSA.

Of course these models also have their critics. In particular, there has to be aquestion mark as to how realistic these models are in terms of their assumptionsand their practical application in the real world. Is it really the case that increased

commitment inevitably leads to enhanced performance? Do we know how toincrease commitment anyway? Similarly, culture may indeed be very important,

but do we actually know how to change it? Can the philosophy of sharedcommon interests really be sustained in real world situations? Some wouldargue that conflict of interests is an inevitable part of the employer-employeerelationship whatever HRM practices are adopted. We shall examine a numberof these issues further in the next module.





2.4 Summary

HRM models can be classified as either matching models or Harvard-typemodels. The various models which have been put forward can be differentiatedin terms of a number of characteristics, particularly the degree to which theytake a hard or soft approach. Hard HRM sees people as basically no different

from any other organisational resource, whose contribution has to be maximisedwhile their cost is minimised. Soft HRM, on the other hand, puts more emphasison the ‘human’, than the ‘resource’, side of HRM. Soft HRM takes the view thatit is possible to develop HRM policies which will be mutually beneficial to bothorganisations and their employees.

Review Questions



2.1 While there are some minor differences of detail, the underlying philosophies

and assumptions of the matching and Harvard models are the same.

2.2 Prescriptive HRM models are more concerned with understanding organisational

structures than with advising managers on how things should be done.

2.3 Unitarist approaches to HRM tend to assume that the main stakeholders in the

organisation are top management and shareholders.

2.4 According to the Fombrun matching model, there are three key operational

systems which are critical for implementing strategy.

2.5 The Schuler and Jackson (1987) model attempts to provide lists of performance

requirements which fit different business strategies.

2.6 According to Boxall, a strength of matching models is the fact that they have

frequently been supported by systematic research validating them.

2.7 A strength of the matching models is the way in which they have highlighted

the need for an integrated approach to HRM.

2.8 Empirical studies by the Schuler group have produced equivocal support for

their model.

2.9 The Harvard approach regards HRM as an important responsibility of all man-

agers.

2.10 In the original Harvard model, business strategy is only one of a number of

factors seen as relevant inputs to HRM strategy.

2.11 According to the Harvard view, high levels of commitment need to be accom-

panied by a strong emphasis on top-down management.





2.12 The Harvard framework as proposed by Beer et al. (1984) considers cost effec-

tiveness to be a desired outcome of HRM policy choices.

2.13 The Guest model of HRM is much less prescriptive than that of Beer et al.

2.14 The strategic model put forward by Hendry and Pettigrew is analytical, rather

than prescriptive.

2.15 Soft HRM models place more emphasis on market forces than hard models.


2.1 Critically evaluate the Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna matching model of HRM.

2.2 What are the defining characteristics of the original Beer et al. model of HRM?


You are the HR Director of a large chain of retail stores. Twelve months ago you

were instructed by the chief executive to carry out a fundamental review of HR

policies and systems. As part of this exercise, you hired a group of management

consultants to examine the current situation and come up with recommendations for

the future. The main recommendation of the consultants was that the organisation

should adopt a Harvard style, soft, HRM system.

You have decided to accept this advice. You have just made a presentation to

the main board of the company having previously circulated the consultants’ report

to all members. At the end of your presentation, you were asked a number of

questions about the proposal. These are listed below. Your task is to answer eachof them in the light of your knowledge of the Harvard approach.

1 Is this soft approach any better than what they call the hard approach?

2 If we use this approach to work out an HR strategy, do we need to take on

board the views of the unions?

3 The report suggests that HR strategy can influence business strategy, but surely

it should be the other way around?

4 The report says that we should give our line managers more responsibility

for people management. But what if they screw up? In any case why is this

necessary?

5 Is it really the case that the right HRM policies are to the mutual benefit of all

employees?

6 Does it really matter whether or not employees are committed, so long as they

do what they are told by their managers?

7 How easy is it going to be to get people to be more committed?

8 What do we risk if we go down this route?





References

Beer, M., Spector, B., Lawrence, P.R., Mills, Q.N. and Walton, R.E. (1984). Managing Human Assets, New York: Free Press.

Boxall, P.F. (1992). ‘Strategic human resource management: Beginnings of a new theo-retical sophistication?’, Human Resource Management Journal, 2, 60–79.

Fombrun, C.J., Tichy, N.M. and Devanna, M.A. (1984). Strategic Human Resource Manage-ment, New York: Wiley.

Guest, D.E. (1994). ‘Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management:Towards a European approach’, European Work and Organizational Psychologist, 4, 251–70.

Hendry, C. (1995). Human Resource Management: A Strategic Approach to Employment,Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Hendry, C. and Pettigrew, A. (1990). ‘Human resource management: An agenda for the1990s’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1, 17–43.

Porter, M.J. (1990). The Competitive Advantage of Nations, New York: Free Press.

Schuler, R.S. and Jackson, S.E. (1987). ‘Linking competitive strategies with humanresource management practices’, Academy of Management Executive, 1, 207–19.




Module 3

Key Themes in HRM

Contents

3.1 HRM Themes 3/2

3.2 Quality 3/2

3.2.1 Quality as Product Superiority 3/2

3.2.2 Quality as Customer Satisfaction 3/3

3.2.3 Quality in the Guest Model of HRM 3/4

3.2.4 Quality as Organisational Culture 3/4

3.2.5 Total Quality Management 3/4

3.3 Organisational Structures 3/7

3.3.1 Traditional Bureaucratic Structures 3/7

3.3.2 De-layering 3/8

3.3.3 De-centralisation 3/9

3.4 Flexibility 3/10

3.4.1 Different Forms of Flexibility 3/10

3.4.2 The Flexible Firm 3/11

3.4.3 Evaluation of Flexibility in Practice 3/12

3.4.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Flexible Working Arrangements 3/13

3.5 Team Working 3/15

3.5.1 From Autonomous Work Groups to Self-Managed Teams 3/15

3.5.2 Types of Team 3/163.5.3 Potential Benefits of Team Working from an Organisational

Perspective

3/17

3.5.4 Consequences of Team Working for Individuals 3/17

3.6 The Learning Organisation 3/18

3.6.1 The Concept of the Learning Organisation 3/18

3.6.2 Characteristics of the Learning Organisation 3/19

3.7 Organisational Commitment 3/20

3.7.1 The Nature of Commitment 3/20

3.7.2 Determinants of Organisational Commitment 3/22

3.7.3 Commitment, Effort, and Performance 3/23

3.8 Culture 3/23

3.8.1 What is Culture? 3/24

3.8.2 The Relationship between Culture and Performance 3/25

3.8.3 Managing Culture Change 3/26

3.9 Summary 3/27

3.10 Strategic and Operational HRM 3/28





Module 3 / Key Themes in HRM

Learning Objectives


• describe the various ways in which quality has been conceptualised inHRM.

• understand what is meant by TQM.

• compare bureaucratic and de-centralised organisational structures.

• explain what is meant by the flexible firm.

• describe different types of work teams and explain their potential benefits.

• understand what is meant by the learning organisation.

• explain the term organisational commitment and its relevance for soft HRM.

• explain what is meant by organisational culture and discuss its relationshipwith organisational performance.

3.1 HRM Themes

We have seen how the forces for change in the eighties in the form of fierceinternational competition, the enterprise culture, the globalisation of market-places, and so on produced a fundamental re-appraisal of how organisationsshould best be managed to regain competitive advantage in the national andinternational arena. This module will examine in some detail the key HRMthemes and ideas which emerged from this process, some of which have already

been mentioned in passing in the previous two modules, and will consider howthey have been implemented in practice.

3.2 Quality

One of the most fundamental themes underlying most models of HRM is thatof quality. However, as we shall see, quality is not a simple unitary concept. Ithas been conceptualised in a number of different, but overlapping, ways.

3.2.1 Quality as Product Superiority

One of the most influential factors in the adoption of quality as a key themearose out of the perceived superiority of Japanese manufactured products, whichwere seen to be of higher quality for a given price than those produced in theWest. Other factors were, of course, important in creating a focus on productquality, such as the writings of a number of American management gurus, suchas Deming (1982) and Juran (1988) who preached the quality message. Product

quality can be defined in a number of ways such as low levels of defects dur-ing the manufacturing process, reliability in use, and overall value for money.Product quality has also been defined as conforming to a high design specifi-cation. When quality is defined in product terms, an important consideration isthe trade off between cost and quality, since high design specifications and theinstallation of systems to minimise defects are likely to have a measurable costfor the organisation.





3.2.2 Quality as Customer Satisfaction

A major rationale for seeking to enhance product quality is the belief that thisis what the customer wants. If quality is overtly defined in terms of meetingor exceeding the customer’s expectations or requirements and this becomesthe goal, this opens the door for a much broader application of the concept.

Defined in this way, quality can become a key theme not only in manufacturingindustry, but also in the service sector, be it private or public. At first glance,this is hardly a very original notion. After all, the belief that ‘the customer isking’ has been around for a long time and certainly pre-dates the arrival of HRM. However, while the need to please the customer may be self-evident tothe small entrepreneur whose livelihood might well depend on customer loyalty,the concept may not be quite so salient to many employees in large bureaucraticorganisations who (with the exception of the sales force) are often far removedfrom the customer or who do not see their income as tied to customer satisfactionin quite such a direct way. Seen in this light, one of the outcomes of qualityinitiatives in this sphere, such as customer care programmes, is the creation of

heightened awareness of the crucial importance, for all employees, of maximisingcustomer satisfaction.

Customer focused approaches have also resulted in more all-encompassingdefinitions of who constitutes the customer. As well as external customers, forwhom the organisation provides goods and services, there are perceived to

be internal customers within the organisation itself. Thus, for example, whenmanagers take part in an internal training course, they are the customers whoseneeds and expectations need to be met satisfactorily by the training department.In similar fashion, whenever any department or sub-unit produces work or anykind of service for another, the latter is a customer whose expectations need to

be met in the same way as external customers.

In the UK, at the instigation of the enterprise-oriented governments of theeighties, the notion of the service provided to the customer has been widelyadopted within the public sector as a yardstick of quality. From this perspective,anyone at the receiving end of any public sector activity is defined as a customer.Thus, in the UK, students have become clients of the universities. Patients inthe National Health Service are now customers and family doctors are giventheir own funds and thus become customers who literally buy services (such asoperations) for their patients from the hospital of their choice. While there areclear potential advantages in this approach if it leads to an increased concernfor the needs of the consumer of public sector services, the public sector (andto some extent other providers of services), is different in important ways

from the private sector manufacturing industries which spawned these ideason quality. For example, let us assume that quality as far as the customer isconcerned is defined in terms of meeting customer expectations and creatingcustomer satisfaction. Taking expectations first, Legge (1995, p. 213) describesthe difficulties here with respect to healthcare provision. As she points out,it is not difficult to establish through market research what customers expectfrom a new car, but how can a customer (formerly patient) know what he orshe can reasonably expect from a public health service at any detailed level?As far as customer satisfaction is concerned, a rather different example from





the Heriot-Watt Distance Learning MBA can be used to illustrate some of thecontradictions which result from trying to specify quality purely in these terms.One potential way to increase customer (i.e. student) satisfaction in this casemight be to set extremely easy examinations which all students pass. Wouldthis constitute a high quality product? Would difficult examinations, which asignificant number of students fail with resulting low customer satisfaction,

necessarily result in a low quality MBA product? What both of these examplesillustrate is the fact that, while no one would deny the importance of meetingthe customer’s needs, defining quality purely in terms of customer satisfactioncan often be far less straightforward than it seems, especially when applied topublic service organisations and perhaps other providers of services.

3.2.3 Quality in the Guest Model of HRM

While Guest’s model implies both the delivery of quality products and customersatisfaction, he takes a somewhat different focus in defining quality. He pro-poses three aspects of quality. These are the quality of staff (to perform well

you need good people), the quality of performance (the product quality andcustomer satisfaction elements), and a favourable reputation with the public for

being a good employer in terms of HRM policies. This last aspect can actuallyinfluence the other two quality dimensions in a number of ways. For example,an organisation which has a good public reputation is likely to attract high qual-ity applicants when it advertises job vacancies. This enables the organisation toselect good people (quality of staff) who will, by definition, tend to contributeto the achievement of quality of performance.

3.2.4 Quality as Organisational Culture

So far we have defined quality in terms of its focus on people (i.e. customers),on products, or on some combination of both. Yet another approach sees qualityas being even more fundamental to an organisation’s functioning than has beenimplied so far. According to this perspective, the idea of quality is somethingwhich should be embedded in the organisation’s culture. It is really a philosophyabout how things should be done and is an attitude which permeates all aspectsof the organisation’s functioning. Quality comes first in all things and there is acontinual and unremitting striving for improvement in quality terms at all levelsin the organisation. From this perspective, it is one of the core values of theorganisation. Indeed, some would argue that it should be the defining value of the organisation.

3.2.5 Total Quality Management

The notion that making quality central to an organisation’s philosophy is likelyto be conducive to high performance is intuitively very appealing. However,it does beg a most important question. How far can HRM deliver this all-important quality emphasis, and what techniques do we have at our disposal toachieve this desired outcome? One well known system which has endeavouredto achieve this objective is total quality management (TQM).





What is TQM?

As a system, TQM embraces the various perspectives on quality described above.However, it is most clearly identified with the idea of quality as something whichis fundamental to an organisation’s culture and philosophy. In this sense TQMis not just about products or services to external customers. Rather, according

to its proponents, it is about a set of values and ways of operating which driveeverything the organisation does. While TQM has a number of variants, mostTQM systems would, at least in theory, include the following:

1 The discipline of TQM applies to everything the organisation does – not just the provision of goods and services to the external customer.

2 The satisfaction of the needs of both external and internal customers isgiven the highest priority.

3 Everyone in the organisation has to buy into the process – from top man-agement down to the shop floor. Employee involvement and commitmentare seen as central to the success of TQM.

4 The emphasis is on continuous improvement in quality rather than meetinga required standard. TQM is a long-term strategic activity, rather than aquick fix.

5 TQM is about a change in culture. It is about changing ‘the way we dothings around here’.

6 The achievement of TQM objectives may require the modification of tradi-tional organisational structures including devolving power and responsibil-ity down the organisational hierarchy.

7 New methods of work organisation are often introduced as part of TQM.These may include more flexible working arrangements and a greater

emphasis on team working.

It is clear from the above that the introduction of TQM can potentially involvefar reaching changes in organisational structures and functioning. It may alsorequire new employee attitudes, responsibilities, and working arrangements.According to the theory, TQM is an integrated system requiring wide rangingchanges which mutually reinforce each other. It is not about bolting a few newprocedures onto existing systems.

Does TQM Work?

There is no doubt that TQM has been an extremely influential management

innovation world-wide. Its early applications were mainly seen in Japanesemanufacturing industry, and much of the credit for the superior quality of Japanese products discussed at the beginning of this module was attributedto the use of TQM methods. It is therefore not surprising that TQM wassubsequently adopted enthusiastically in the West as part of the drive to competesuccessfully, both at home and in the international arena. However, becausesomething is popular does not necessarily mean that it works. To evaluatewhether or not TQM works we have to look at the evidence from studies of TQM in action.





There is no shortage of individual accounts of the success of TQM in thepopular management press. However, often these are written by proponentsof the method, and as such, they often have more of a flavour of missionaryzeal than dispassionate analysis about them. It is perhaps more illuminatingto consider the findings from more objective, academically-oriented research onTQM effectiveness. The results from these studies are more mixed and, while

there have been some reported successes (Hill, 1991), there have also beenreports of TQM failing to live up to its expectations (Wilkinson et al., 1992).

The failure of some TQM initiatives to produce the anticipated benefits has been put down to a number of factors, including the following:

• failure to adopt a proper integrated approach, with a few TQM concepts being selected and implemented on a piecemeal basis.

• lack of support from middle managers who see it as more work for themwithout any additional benefit.

• insufficient commitment from top management.

• reluctance of management to devolve control and responsibility down theline.

• employee perceptions of TQM as something imposed on them by top man-agement.

Whatever the theoretical merits of TQM, and despite its widespread popularity,it seems clear that there are many implementation problems in ensuring that thepromised quality enhancement is realised in practice.

Total Quality Management and Key HRM Themes

Apart from the overall emphasis on quality, a number of more general HRMthemes have been incorporated in TQM systems. This can be illustrated withreference to the seven defining characteristics of TQM listed above, as follows.

• new organisational structures – point 6 above.

• flexible working arrangements – point 7 above.

• team working – point 7 above.

• employee commitment – point 3 above.

• culture change – point 5 above.

These are all important themes in HRM thinking and practice. However, eachin its own way has been the subject of controversy, particularly in terms of its implications for individual and organisational performance. Each will beexamined in detail in the course of the remainder of this module. For now,the reader is simply cautioned that, whenever any of these concepts is foundwanting, this has implications for our evaluation of the effectiveness of TQM asa system.





3.3 Organisational Structures

The eighties also saw the emergence of an interest in the potential part played by non-traditional organisational structures and designs in enhancing competi-tiveness. While these almost inevitably had implications for HRM, the extent towhich they were influenced by HRM ideas and theories was quite variable.

The well known maxim that ‘structure should follow strategy’ rather than theother way around suggests that the organisation should first decide what it istrying to achieve and then put in place structures which will help this to comeabout. If this is adhered to, structural changes should flow directly from HRand business strategy. So, if a decision is taken to go for a high value addedproduct with considerable emphasis on quality, the optimal structure to achievethis needs to be identified and implemented. From this perspective, structurecan be seen as instrumental in setting up the conditions which are conducive tocertain kinds of working practices which in turn are instrumental in producingdesired performance outcomes.

There have also undoubtedly been a number of instances in recent years where

new structural arrangements were introduced, not so much as a consequenceof an integrated HR or business strategy, but rather as a result of an economicimperative to cut costs in the short- and medium-term. Such changes have to

be managed successfully from an HRM perspective irrespective of their originsor rationale. In reality, regardless of the reason, the introduction of structuralchanges is likely to have significant consequences for employee attitudes andperformance.

It is beyond the scope of this module to carry out a comprehensive reviewof the wide variety of different structures to be found in modern organisa-tions. Instead, this module will concentrate on looking briefly at traditional

bureaucratic organisational structures and contrasting these with two innova-

tions which have particular significance for HRM. These are de-layering andde-centralisation.

3.3.1 Traditional Bureaucratic Structures

The traditional organisational structure, at least as far as large organisations areconcerned, is fundamentally bureaucratic in nature. It is generally hierarchical,with power, status, and remuneration all increasing as an individual movesup the hierarchy. The structure is typically pyramidal, with several layers of management at the bottom and fewer and fewer managerial positions towardsthe top of the hierarchy, culminating in the chief executive. There are usually

parallel structures for different departments based on function (e.g. personnel,finance, marketing). In very large enterprises, such as multinationals, divisionswill have their own parallel structures and hierarchies which feed into and areoverseen by corporate headquarters.

This type of structure clearly has certain advantages. Duties and responsibilities, based on position in the hierarchy, can be clearly spelled out for allconcerned. Similarly, lines of authority are clear and unambiguous. Account-ability is also fairly transparent in bureaucratic structures. All of this makes forefficient control of people and processes. Bureaucracies can also have certain





attractive features from the individual’s perspective. For example, there is nowclear evidence that one of the most potent sources of stress for employees isuncertainty or ambiguity about what is required of them and, while no one issuggesting that bureaucracies are free of all ambiguity, it is at least relativelyclear to individuals what they are required to do and what their responsibilitiesare. Also, the existence of a clearly visible hierarchical structure allows individ-

uals to see potential career paths for themselves in the organisation, allowingthem to aim for specific career objectives.

There are of course downsides to this form of structure, some of which haveimplications for the quality issue discussed above. For example, bureaucraticstructures, being highly rules oriented, are widely regarded as being ratherinflexible and resistant to change. But flexibility and change may be just whatis required if the concept of continual improvement is to become a reality.Hierarchical organisations, by their nature, tend to give more responsibility (andhence more satisfaction?) to those higher up the ladder. If those lower downhave less responsibility, and by implication, less satisfaction, how are they to

be motivated to deliver quality? Furthermore, where bureaucratic organisations

rely heavily on adherence to standard rules and procedures they are in dangerof stifling the kind of creativity and personal initiative which is a significantpart of the human potential which the Harvard approach to HRM in particularseeks to unlock.

3.3.2 De-layering

We have seen above that a common feature of bureaucratic organisations isthe presence of several layers of management arranged in vertical hierarchies.In the late eighties a popular pastime on the part of top management in anumber of organisations was to remove several of these managerial rungs in

the ladder in the process known as de-layering. In this way organisations could be made leaner and flatter. One justification for this action was the suggestionthat the bureaucratic nature of these organisations had led to over-manningat managerial level which was inefficient and could no longer be afforded intimes when value for money for the organisation was paramount in order tomaintain competitiveness. In the face of fierce competition, passengers couldno longer be afforded, so the argument ran. Without doubt, over-manning dueto excessive bureaucracy did exist in some organisations and de-layering wasinevitable in the face of increasing competitive pressures. Equally, there wereother cases where this was not so and de-layering was implemented as a purecost cutting exercise designed to shed expensive managerial staff while at the

same time increasing the workload for those who remained. Even though theworkload of these managers may already have been high prior to de-layering,they could be guaranteed to comply with the new requirements for fear of beingnext on the HR department’s hit list. In these circumstances de-layering wouldseem to be likely to run counter to the soft HRM goal of creating a high levelof commitment among employees. Unless, of course, commitment is defined as‘loyalty’ based on fear of losing one’s job.

From an alternative viewpoint, de-layering could be construed as a vehicle forincreasing commitment. According to this view, removing a managerial position





affords the opportunity to give more power and responsibility to those at thelevel below. Assuming that people value increased responsibility, de-layeringcould therefore lead to increased commitment in those who remain. From thisstandpoint, it could be argued that one of the main reasons for introducingde-layering is to generate increased commitment. Of course, even if such aconsequence was unintended, it might still have this positive effect regardless

of management’s intentions.In conclusion, it is not possible to state in general terms whether or not de-

layering represents good or bad HRM practice. It all depends on the contextand circumstances. If prior over-manning genuinely existed, if this was broadlyaccepted as being the case by all concerned, and if de-layering actually increasedthe levels of responsibility for the remaining managers in a way that gave themincreased job satisfaction, then it would have clear benefits. However, it is muchless easy to justify de-layering in terms of good HRM practice if it is a pure costcutting exercise which results in those who remain experiencing chronic workoverload, low job satisfaction, and reduced organisational commitment.

3.3.3 De-centralisation

We noted above that large enterprises will frequently comprise several differentoperating units, each with its own hierarchical structures and each reporting to acorporate head office. Many of these organisations are engaged in a wide varietyof activities providing a diverse range of products, often embracing a numberof countries and cultures. In these circumstances there is typically considerablecentralisation of power and authority, and corporate head office frequently hasresponsibility, not only for business and HRM strategy, but also for a widevariety of HRM processes and procedures such as industrial relations, companywide pay scales, corporate recruitment, and so on.

A number of arguments have been put forward urging the abandonment of these highly centralised structures in favour of systems which devolve powerand responsibility to the business units. Yet again, the threat from increasedcompetitive pressure is often the impetus to move towards less centralisedstructures. First, there are cost arguments directed at the reduction of centraloverheads. Perhaps the organisation does not need a hugely expensive corporateoffice filled with central support staff in New York, Tokyo, London, or someother high cost location. A second line of argument revolves around the notionof quality and the need to serve customers’ requirements better than in thepast. It is the managers of the local business units on the ground who aremost aware of customer needs and who are therefore best placed to act on

them quickly. But to be able to do this they need a degree of autonomy in themanagement of their business which is absent where there is a large elementof central control. De-centralisation also sits well with at least some models of HRM. From an HRM perspective, de-centralisation means devolving power andresponsibility down the line to the business unit. This autonomy not only ensuresthat full use is made of people’s abilities, it also serves to increase motivationand commitment. De-centralisation could also improve the management of pay,since it gives freedom to local HRM departments to set up whatever pay andincentive systems fit local needs.





Guest (1987) in advocating de-centralisation, argues the case on the basis of the increased flexibility it helps to create. He espouses flexibility as one of thekeys to reacting effectively to changing circumstances which in turn is seen asone of the essential organisational requirements for success. Flexibility has anumber of implications for organisational structure, but its ramifications go far

beyond issues of structure. Because of this, it is considered in its own right in

the next sub-section.

3.4 Flexibility

The underlying argument about flexible working arrangements runs as follows.In highly competitive environments, organisations must be able to respondquickly and effectively to changes in customer demands, economic circum-stances, competitor activities, and so on. The imperative is for rapid reaction tothe needs of the marketplace, whether it be in terms of new products, new pricestructures, changes in the nature of the labour force, or whatever. The key toachieving this, according to its advocates, is flexibility.

3.4.1 Different Forms of Flexibility

Flexibility can take a number of different forms. Blyton and Morris (1992) haveproposed four main types of flexibility.

1 Functional flexibility. This involves the concept of multi-skilling, whereemployees are required to carry out a wider range of activities than before.Traditionally, many work roles are specialised and work is organised so thatthe activities that can be carried out by a person in a particular job role areprecisely, and often quite narrowly, defined. In addition, a person in one

work role is not expected, or in some cases even allowed by the rules of demarcation, to carry out work defined as part of another job role. Thus,for example, it might be laid down that all electrical work, no matter howsimple, is carried out by a fully qualified electrician, and no electrical repairsof any description can be carried out by anyone who is not fully qualified.Similarly, in a component assembly situation, the individual who makes thecomponent does not inspect it. That is someone else’s job role. And so on.The idea of functional flexibility is that specialisation of roles is reduced andindividuals are trained to carry out a much wider range of activities than

before. In this way traditional demarcation lines are attenuated or removedand management has the flexibility to move employees from one task to

another as the need arises. For some, this might entail the opportunity toexpand their work to include more highly skilled or responsible activities,while for others it might require the inclusion of less skilled tasks in therange of work they are expected to do.

2 Numerical flexibility. An important element of flexibility for the organi-sation is the ability to expand or contract the labour force quickly as theneed arises. The former enables rapid response to, for example, an unex-pected increase in demand for a product. The latter allows rapid sheddingof costly staff when they are not needed. To achieve this flexibility requires





the use of a variety of employment practices including the use of part-timeemployees in greater numbers than before, contracting out or outsourcingvarious activities, and so on.

3 Temporal flexibility. In this case both the number of hours to be workedand when they are to be worked varies. Approaches here include flexitimearrangements where the working day can be varied within limits, shiftworking, annual hours contracts (where there is a total number of hoursto be worked but when they are actually worked is varied according tocircumstances), and so on.

4 Wage flexibility. This allows the organisation freedom to vary the payindividuals receive in ways which best allow it to meet its objectives.For example, linking pay to individual performance, rather than payingeveryone the same regardless of their performance, might act as an incentiveto greater effort and subsequently enhanced performance.

3.4.2 The Flexible FirmAtkinson (1984) ) has suggested a model of what he calls the flexible firm, which

brings together a number of aspects of flexibility.

A key theme of the model is the notion of core and peripheral workers.Core workers, who constitute the primary labour market, are the career workersof the organisation. In relative terms they have high job security. They aremore highly paid than peripheral workers and there is considerable investmentin their training. This is necessary because these employees are expected to

be multi-skilled. They are also expected to have a high level of commitmentto the organisation. Typically they are comprised of managerial and technicalgrades and the more highly skilled craft workers. This group provide functionalflexibility through its commitment, creativity, and highly developed skills.

According to Atkinson, there are two peripheral groups of workers. The firstperipheral group, which constitutes the secondary labour market, is normallyfull-time, but does not have the security of the core group. They are employedto carry out a particular circumscribed job role and are not perceived as havinga career as such with the organisation. They are also typically less well remu-nerated. High turnover among this group is expected and indeed contributes tonumerical flexibility.

The second peripheral group is employed on a part time basis, on job shareschemes, short-term contracts, and the like. Once again, individuals in these

groups tend to be less well paid, not just in with respect to wage rates but also interms of fringe benefits. In addition, in the UK at least, they frequently have lessprotection in terms of employment legislation. This group may also be requiredto provide temporal, as well as numerical, flexibility for the organisation.

The model also includes various outsourcing activities as a means of gener-ating flexibility. Individuals who are part of outsourcing arrangements are notemployees as such but are contracted to do specific work. In this way they can

be used exactly as and when needed. A wide range of types of person andtasks can be outsourced, ranging from agency workers such as temporary word





processing staff, to firms contracted to carry out certain activities on a continuing basis (such as office cleaning), to highly specialised consultants such as designengineers.

3.4.3 Evaluation of Flexibility in Practice

One issue in the evaluation of flexibility is the question of the usefulness of theAtkinson model. How robust is it theoretically and how far have organisationsimplemented it as a strategy? Leaving aside the Atkinson model, to what extenthave the various types of flexibility been adopted by organisations and howwell have they actually worked in practice?

The notion of core and peripheral workers is a central feature of the Atkinsonmodel. However, a number of writers have pointed out that the specification of what precisely constitutes the core and what is peripheral is beset with problems.What are the defining characteristics of these two groups of employee? Is it thenature of the employment contract which is crucial? Is it the person’s status

in the organisation, the tasks performed in the role, or what? For example,suppose those on full-time contracts are designated as core and those on part-time contracts are defined as peripheral. The trouble with this is the fact that, insome work environments, part-time employees are often of critical importanceto the effective functioning of the organisation. In these circumstances, does itmake sense to downgrade part-time workers to peripheral status?

As Legge (1995) points out, a further problem when it comes to testing themodel arises because of the mixture of descriptive and prescriptive aspects itcontains. In some places, the model is descriptive in orientation in the sensethat it puts forward flexibility as a description of what organisations are actuallydoing in response to competitive pressures, without actually stating that this

is what they should be doing. Elsewhere, the model is prescriptive insofar asflexibility is proposed as an ideal way to run an organisation in times of rapidchange. This leaves the researcher wishing to test the model unclear as to exactlywhat propositions are to be tested.

Leaving aside the prescriptive element of the model, from a purely descriptivestandpoint, what evidence is there that organisations are actually adopting anAtkinson style core-peripheral strategy as a way of increasing their competi-tiveness? While, as we shall see below, there has been a significant increase inpart-time working in some countries (for example the UK ) in recent years, it isnot at all clear that this is due to a strategic attempt by organisations to set upa core-peripheral workforce of the type suggested by Atkinson. For example,

a large scale survey in the UK of Employers’ Labour Use Strategies (Hakim,1990) indicated that only a small minority of companies had adopted a core-periphery strategy. Where the use of part-time staff, temporary workers, and soon had increased, companies were not on the whole adopting these employmentmethods as part of an Atkinson-style strategy.

In some ways the notion of peripheral workers is focused on numerical andtemporal flexibility, since this is largely what the peripheral workers provide.But what about functional flexibility, which is supposedly provided by coreemployees? To what extent has this been taken up by organisations? Legge





(1995) reviewed a number of studies and reports which looked at this question.One of her main conclusions was that ‘While there is evidence that employ-ers, particularly in manufacturing, are seeking enhanced flexibility from theiremployees, this appears to be at the margins of craft skills rather than truemulti-skilling and to have involved job enlargement for semi-skilled employeesrather than up-skilling’ (p.169)

Turning to financial flexibility, the concept of individualised payment basedon some aspect of performance is hardly new. For example, systems of paymentaccording to the number of units produced (piece work) have been aroundfor many years. Indeed, in some selling jobs in particular, pay is largely on acommission basis, being almost entirely a function of sales achieved. Over theyears many variants of individualised pay have been tried with mixed success. Inrecent times performance related pay (PRP) linked to performance managementsystems has frequently been advocated as an HRM tool. (See Module 4 andModule 6 for a discussion of PRP and performance management respectively).

3.4.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Flexible Working ArrangementsSome advocates of flexibility would have us believe that it is a panacea forevery ailing organisation’s problems. On the other hand, critics of flexibilitynot only claim that it is not saying anything new, but they also argue that itgives respectability to management practices designed to increase control overemployees and reduce the quality of their working lives in the interest of cuttingcosts.

As is so often the case, the truth probably lies somewhere between thesetwo extreme positions. Table 3.1 summarises some of the potential benefits anddrawbacks of flexibility from the perspective of three key sets of stakeholders:the organisations themselves, core workers, and peripheral workers. Notwith-standing some of the difficulties with the core-peripheral distinction, it is usefulin this context since it highlights two categories of employee for whom theconsequences of flexibility may be very different.

What conclusions can we draw about flexibility as an HRM process? Table3.1 suggests that there are a number of potential advantages and disadvantagesof workplace flexibility, depending on which particular group of stakeholdersis considered. Clearly it is not a universal panacea which will automaticallysolve all of an organisation’s problems overnight. While Atkinson’s model hasvalue in helping to focus our thinking on issues and alternative forms of workorganisation, the core-peripheral distinction does not hold up well in practiceand few organisations seem to have adopted flexibility as envisaged by Atkinsonas an integrated strategy.





Table 3.1 Possible advantages and disadvantages of flexibility for different

stakeholders

THE ORGANISATION

Advantages Disadvantages

A flexible core means a more easily controlled/

managed workforce – there is increased

control over deployment with less reliance onparticular individuals to do key tasks.

Core employees more committed due to

enriched jobs, career opportunities, and so on.

Peripheral workforce gives flexibility to hire or

fire easily and at relatively low cost.

High level skills can be bought in as needed

without expensive employment liabilities (e.g.

pension provision).

Cost savings in low wage costs for part-time

workers.

Individualised pay may motivate workers.

Risk of lack of specialised expertise due to

multi-skilling.

Peripheral workers may lack commitment withsubsequent effects on performance.

Peripheral workers may lack necessary

training.

High turnover means frequent recruitment

with associated costs.

Low commitment and lack of training in

peripheral workers may threaten quality.

CORE WORKERS


Relative job security.

Career opportunities.

Investment in training and wide experience

mean core workers may be highly employable.

Possibility of enriched jobs.

Individualised pay awards may mean that

effort and performance are rewarded.

High job demands may result in high levels of

stress with associated effects on well-being.

PERIPHERAL WORKERS*


Flexibility of hours and timing of work may be

convenient for many workers.

Freedom from full-time work requirement

makes it easier to have alternative lifestyles.

Individualised wages means

effort/performance may be rewarded.

Lack of security of employment may lead to

stress and associated effects on well-being.

Lack of training and development means

workers have low employability.

No career structure.

Low pay for sub-contracted and part-time.

groups

Poor financial package – especially non-wage

benefits.

Peripheral workers perceived as ‘second class

citizens’ with low status.

Loss of benefits of trade/labour union

membership.Employment protection laws may not always

apply.

* It is necessary to distinguish here between groups with commonly available skills (e.g. word processing)

and highly skilled specialist groups (e.g. professional engineers). Most of the above disadvantages apply

mainly to the former group.





3.5 Team Working

We have discussed above some of the potential benefits of introducing structuralchanges, such as de-layering, into organisations, and the advantages of flexibil-ity in its various forms. However, for these potential benefits to be realised inpractice, it may also be necessary to introduce innovations in working arrange-

ments, particularly in terms of the distribution of tasks and responsibilities.Team working in its various forms is one such innovation.

3.5.1 From Autonomous Work Groups to Self-Managed Teams

The forerunner of teams as currently discussed in the HRM literature is thesmall work group. It has long been known that the small face-to-face workgroup can have a potent influence on employee behaviour. As far back as the1930s, the Hawthorne studies demonstrated the powerful effects of informalpressures from the group in setting ‘appropriate’ levels of productivity for itsmembers. Much work on groups followed in the fifties and sixties. These studies

focused on a variety of issues including how groups influence individuals, theprocess of group cohesion (how much the members want to be in the group),how leaders emerge in groups, etc. While many of the findings from thesestudies had implications for management, the results were not always madeuse of by organisations to improve the way in which people were managed.One possible exception to this was the introduction of autonomous work groupsarising out of the quality of working life movement (QWL). The QWL movementwas a response to the perceived low job satisfaction of workers which was

believed to be due to the mundane nature of many jobs with their low skilllevel, lack of control over work processes, and lack of opportunity to takeresponsibility for product quality. The idea of autonomous work groups was to

delegate power and influence to the group, while at the same time reducingdirect management supervision and control over activities. In this way, workersas group members could participate in decisions about their work and could

be given more responsibility so that jobs would be enriched and satisfactionincreased. While the primary aim was to increase the quality of working life, byimplication it was expected that better performance would also result throughincreased satisfaction and motivation.

Although the HRM concept of team working has elements in common with theQWL approach (for example both advocate devolved responsibility to groups of workers), the focus of interest is very different. Team working in current thinkingis much less about satisfaction and much more about performance. Teams are set

up because they are believed to increase competitiveness through the delivery of enhanced performance. Any benefits in terms of job satisfaction are of secondaryimportance. Thus the power of the group is now being harnessed much moreexplicitly to management’s needs than in the past. This difference in emphasiscan be seen in the way in which the purpose of the team is clearly spelled outin terms of organisational objectives, in the explicit focus on team goals to beachieved, and in the way in which teams are expected to be accountable fortheir performance. The change in emphasis is also seen in the way in which therole of the team leader, who in some respects effectively replaces the traditional





foremen, is specified. Essentially, the team leader’s role is to facilitate teamperformance and act as an intermediary between the team and management.

3.5.2 Types of Team

There are many different forms of team-working arrangements, each with rather

different potential benefits for the organisation and consequences for the indi-vidual. Some examples of these are given below.

• Production teams are, as their name implies, organised around particularproduction processes. Typically they involve an element of multi-skillingalthough, as we saw earlier, the extent to which functional flexibility isachieved in practice can be quite variable. Production teams are frequentlyorganised on a cellular basis where the team is responsible for a self-contained aspect of a product.

• Self-managed teams are characterised by the delegation of key functions tothe group. Precisely how much is delegated in this process of empowerment

varies considerably from one team to another. Delegated functions couldinclude: election of the team leader, formulation of budget requests, respon-sibility for spending an allocated training budget, the setting of team goalsand targets, etc. By making the group accountable in this way, it is assumedthat commitment and subsequently high performance will result. Whileself-managed teams may have considerable potential benefits in terms of generating high performance, they have to be set up and managed carefullyif they are to be successful. For example, there may need to be considerableinitial investment in training if team members are to be able to carry outtheir new roles effectively. If the group is empowered, what about the man-ager whose power has been taken away? What is the manager’s new role

to be and how can his continued commitment be ensured? Also, creatingstrong identity and loyalty within teams may lead to increased inter-teamrivalry and, if this is not managed properly, the advantages gained may bewiped out.

• Cross-functional teams bring members together for part of their duties, but individuals still retain their existing position and responsibilities in theorganisation. As the name implies, the members of the team may come froma variety of different functions. Cross-functional teams can serve to give asharper focus to the organisation’s strategy. Suppose an organisation wishedto enhance its customer orientation. Teams could be introduced where thefocus is a particular customer, rather than some aspect of a production

process. For example, where a food producer is supplying in bulk to alarge retailer, a team could be set up purely to look after the needs of thatparticular customer. Such teams might comprise people from a variety of functions, such as production, marketing, finance, and sales.

• Problem-solving teams are formed in response to a particular need to solvea specific problem. These are temporary by nature, being dissolved whenthe problem in question has been dealt with.

• International teams, composed of managers from different countries andcultures within the business, can enhance functioning by harnessing the





collective wisdom of diverse viewpoints. International teams also help theorganisation to take a more global perspective on business problems.

3.5.3 Potential Benefits of Team Working from an Organisational Perspective

There are, as we have seen, a number of different types of work teams withdifferent modes of operation, and the perceived advantages of team workingwill naturally vary from one type to another. However, in general terms, theperceived benefits typically claimed for team working include the following.

• A strong theme running through many team-working arrangements is thenotion that, if people are given increased ownership of their task andadditional responsibilities, including responsibility for achieving appropriateperformance objectives, this empowerment of individuals will release theircreative energy and their commitment to attaining high performance.

• By making teams self-regulating and giving them responsibility for enforcingtheir own quality standards, a mechanism is put in place for implementing

the quality-focused approach described earlier. It is no accident that teamworking is an integral part of most TQM systems.

• Teams can be a vehicle for the implementation of functional flexibilitythrough multi-skilling of team members. The benefits for team performancein terms of responding to changing circumstances and requirements areobvious if team members can genuinely switch roles with each other as andwhen it is necessary.

• Financial flexibility can also be a feature of team working through theintroduction of group, rather than individual, bonus systems. Rewardingthe team as a group for achieving performance targets not only helps ensurethat these are met; it is also likely to enhance a general spirit of co-operation

and cohesiveness within the group.

• Also, as already mentioned, the introduction of team working can facilitatethe process of de-layering and the removal of rigid hierarchical structures,since the team can now be given at least some of the responsibilities previ-ously allocated to the grades of management which have been removed.

3.5.4 Consequences of Team Working for Individuals

The HR approach to team working would seem to have the potential to benefitorganisations, as we have seen above. However, what are its consequences for

the employee? Insofar as employees value power, responsibility, and ownershipof tasks, then team working will have positive benefits. In addition, there areadded benefits arising out of the group nature of these activities. Not only isdecision making on a participative basis, but responsibility for decision makingis shared among the group, rather than being on the shoulders of one person.Group members can also give each other mutual support and there is the senseof working together to achieve a particular set of goals or targets.

Team working may also, however, have some adverse effects, at least for someindividuals. It assumes everyone in the group wants increased responsibility





even though it will not necessarily be accompanied by any significant increasein remuneration. Does this assumption really hold? Some workers may not wantincreased responsibility and the extra work demands it entails. Conversely, somemanagers may resent the loss of responsibilities which are now conferred onthe team. Does team responsibility shared by the group lead to mutual support,or does it, as Legge (1995) suggests, result in ‘a self-policing device through

peer surveillance and control’ (p. 231)? Some skilled workers may regret theloss of the status previously conferred on them prior to multi-skilling by thepossession of specialist skills. Also, people frequently prefer certain work tasksor jobs to others, often because they are better at them. But functional flexibilitycan reduce the person’s ability to concentrate on what he or she is best at.

To conclude our brief discussion on team working, it seems that althoughteam working does seem to have a number of potential benefits from theorganisation’s point of view, reservations have been expressed about its possibleadverse impact on at least some team members. Consequently, it may not alwayshave the powerful effect on employee commitment which its proponents claim.

3.6 The Learning Organisation

Many of the themes we have addressed in this and previous modules suggestthat learning in its various forms can play a crucial role in the effective devel-opment and implementation of HRM strategies. For example, the whole processof the development and evolution of strategy can be conceptualised as one of learning through experience. The ability to adapt constantly to a rapidly chang-ing world is dependent on the ability to acquire knowledge (i.e. learn) about theexternal environment on a regular basis. The various continuous improvementthemes, such as TQM, have at their heart the idea of learning from experi-

ence. Innovations such as empowerment, multi-skilling, and the introduction of self-managed teams all require extensive training and learning on the part of employees if they are to be successful.

3.6.1 The Concept of the Learning Organisation

The importance of learning in HRM is seen most clearly in the concept of thelearning organisation. The idea of the learning organisation is that learning itself

becomes a defining characteristic of the organisation. Learning is fostered atall levels in the organisation and is seen as crucially important with respectto a wide variety of functions. It is argued that only through a process of

continuous learning and improvement can an organisation survive and flourish.Consequently, learning becomes a central theme in the organisation’s culture.According to the theory, the adoption of a learning culture produces an impactwhich is more than the mere aggregate of the sum of the training and learningexperiences of the employees within the company. It is a learning ‘Gestalt’ inwhich the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt was a psychologistwho studied perception. He showed that the perception of objects was notsimply the sum of the perception of their individual components. Rather, thecombination of the parts added something extra over and above what resulted





from simply adding them together and this was necessary for the completeperception of the object.

3.6.2 Characteristics of the Learning Organisation

Pedler et al. (1991) have suggested that there are five general themes whichcharacterise a learning organisation.

• Strategy. The formulation and implementation of strategy is explicitlydefined as a learning process which is capable of continuous refinementand improvement. One mechanism for attaining this is through continu-ous feedback obtained by means of extensive consultation with a range of stakeholders including organisation members, customers and suppliers.

• Looking in. As the name implies, this is concerned with the use of internalprocedures to facilitate learning. An example would be the use of accountingsystems designed to give feedback and thus encourage learning. Informationin general should be made widely available to people so that they can learn

what is going on in the organisation.• Structures. Work roles should not be tightly specified. Rather, they should

be sufficiently loose to allow and even encourage experimentation with newideas and new ways of doing things. In this way learning and personaldevelopment can be enhanced.

• Looking out. This emphasises learning through contacts external to theorganisation. All employees who interface with customers, suppliers, andso on should treat their interactions with these groups as learning oppor-tunities which allow them to gain insights which will be useful to theorganisation. Activities such as job exchanges and participation in sharedtraining programmes with customers are also seen as valuable learning

experiences.• Learning opportunities. The maximisation of learning opportunities is

partly achieved through the development of a learning climate where indi-viduals are encouraged to challenge traditional ways of doing things andexperiment with new ideas. In contrast to those HRM philosophies whichemphasise the importance of ‘getting it right first time’, it is OK to makea mistake in a learning climate, since some new ideas will inevitably fail.Learning climates are also characterised by an approach where feedbackis constantly sought from others, both inside and outside the company, tomaximise learning. Encouragement of self-development for all employeesis seen as an integral part of the provision of learning opportunities. This

involves not only the creation of a culture where this is valued, but alsothe provision of resources and other forms of support for self-developmentactivities.

The concept of the learning organisation is certainly an imaginative one andhas much to commend it in terms of putting learning centre stage in thedrive for continuous improvement. However, achieving the type of organisationdescribed above would, in many cases, require the kind of fundamental changesin organisational culture which are by no means easy to achieve. It is not





clear at present how frequently organisations have succeeded in making thesesea changes and, if so, what the consequences have been for organisationalperformance.

3.7 Organisational Commitment

The subject of commitment has already been mentioned on a number of occa-sions in this text. This is an indication of the importance attributed to theconcept, particularly in relation to soft HRM, where it is clearly seen as crucialto the successful implementation of HRM strategy. According to soft HRM the-ories, a high level of employee commitment to the organisation’s objectives andvalues is essential if high levels of effort and performance and the full realisationof the individual’s potential are to be achieved.

Given the centrality of this concept to so much HR thinking, it is appropriateto examine it in detail here.

3.7.1 The Nature of CommitmentOne definition of commitment describes it as a strong identification with thevalues of the organisation and a subsequent desire to support and further theobjectives of the organisation. It is often contrasted with compliance where theemployee reluctantly accepts what is required by management because there islittle option other than to do so. Thus the former is a positive reaction arisingout of a genuine desire to contribute, while the latter is a grudging acceptanceof management’s control over the way things should be done. The former, sothe theory goes, harnesses the employee’s full potential while the latter doesnot. An important question is how far commitment and compliance can really

be distinguished in practice. For example, how can you actually tell for sure

that employees are displaying commitment as opposed to compliance?

Commitment and Related Concepts

Commitment is in fact only one of a series of overlapping concepts dealing withaspects of a person’s level of involvement at work. These include:

• Work involvement refers to the degree to which the person sees work ascentral to his or her life, as opposed to being just something which has to

be done to earn a living. Highly involved individuals also tend to derivetheir feelings of self-esteem from their work. A person with high workinvolvement will not necessarily have high commitment as defined above,

since it does not imply acceptance of the values of a particular organisation.• Job involvement refers to a person’s commitment to his particular job orrole, rather than to work generally. For example, a professional engineermay have high commitment to his particular job of leading a design team,even though work in a general sense is not central to his life. Likewise,a person can be committed to a job role without necessarily adheringparticularly strongly to the values of the organisation as a whole.

• Professional commitment involves individuals who, as well as beingemployees, are members of a profession, may hold strong commitment





to the values of the profession. In some cases, these values may actuallyconflict with organisational values. For example, a value that is widely heldamong the scientific community is the notion that a scientist has a dutyto ensure that any new discovery should be placed in the public domainthrough publication in scientific journals. In this way findings can be avail-able to other scientists and can be the subject of their scrutiny. It is easy

to see how this could conflict with organisational priorities and values. Forexample, how many organisations would wish to inform its competitorsabout the fruits of its expensive research and development activities byhaving research findings published in scientific journals?

• Organisational commitment, as conceptualised in HRM models, is seenas commitment to the organisation as a whole. However, in many cases,individuals are also likely to have commitments to sub-units of the organi-sation, such as departments. These loyalties may not always coincide withcorporate values, and in some cases may even conflict with them.

In summary, organisational commitment is only one of a number of concepts

whose focus is the person’s level of involvement or commitment in relationto work. The precise inter-relationship among these concepts in influencingemployee performance is not clear at the present time.

Types of Organisational Commitment

Definitions of organisational commitment generally propose that it has twocomponents. The first of these, affective commitment, is concerned with theperson’s attitudes and refers to a positive set of feelings about the organisation.These arise out of shared values between the person and the organisation. Froma soft HRM point of view, high levels of affective commitment are extremelydesirable.

The second component of organisational commitment is termed continuancecommitment. This is concerned with the person’s behaviour rather than theirfeelings and manifests itself in a desire to continue working for the organisa-tion. At first glance, high levels of continuance commitment would also seemto be desirable, since high levels of turnover can have a number of adverseconsequences for the organisation. For example, when individuals leave, theinvestment in them in terms of training, development, and so on, is lost. How-ever, high levels of continuance commitment are not necessarily desirable in allcircumstances. It all depends on why the level of commitment is high. Con-tinuance commitment can be a function of the level of affective commitment,i.e., if you like the place and are in tune with its culture and values, you do

not wish to leave. Presumably the organisation would wish to hold onto theseindividuals. However, according to McGee and Ford (1987), there are two otherfactors which can affect the level of continuance commitment. First, people stay

because of lack of alternative suitable employment. In other words, they stay because they have nowhere else to go. Second, they stay because of what McGeeand Ford call ‘sunk costs’. Individuals who have been with an organisation forsome time will have incurred costs to themselves, both financially, and in otherways. For example, they might have invested a significant sum in a pensionscheme. In terms of non-financial costs, they could have invested a considerable





amount of time developing company-specific knowledge and skills. And so on.All of these are sunk costs in the sense that they would be lost if they left theorganisation. These two elements effectively lock people into the organisation.In this case, is a high level of continuance commitment necessarily desirablefrom the organisation’s point of view? Sometimes, if the individual concerned isa high performer or has skills which make him difficult to replace, the answer

will be yes. But what about those who, perhaps because they have less tooffer, are locked in because of lack of job opportunities elsewhere? In this casecontinuance commitment is unlikely to be to the benefit of the organisation.

3.7.2 Determinants of Organisational Commitment

Clearly, if commitment (at least in its affective form) is crucial for organisationalsuccess, it is important to know what determines employees’ level of commit-ment. Many human attributes are a result of a combination of personal qualitiesand environmental influences. In all probability, this is also true of commit-ment. For example, a person might have high organisational commitment partly

because her existing values (a personal quality) happen to coincide with thoseof the organisation, and partly because of steps taken by the organisation toincrease commitment (an environmental influence). Guest (1992) reviewed theevidence on the correlates of commitment and concluded that both personaland environmental factors were indeed associated with commitment. Personalfactors associated with commitment included being older and being less edu-cated. Environmental factors associated with commitment included having a jobwhich met one’s expectations, doing a job which offered the opportunity forresponsibility, and work involvement.

Personnel policies designed to increase commitment have frequently attemptedto do so through various employee involvement techniques. Guest (1992) liststhe following five major types of intervention aimed at increasing involvementand therefore commitment:

• Provision of information to employees. The assumption here is that if people are more aware of what is going on in the organisation they will feelmore involved. A number of methods can be used to improve informationflow, such as setting up regular group meetings to brief people.

• Receiving information from the employee. By improving information flowin an upward direction, employees’ needs, concerns, and ideas for improve-ment can be brought to management’s attention. One means to achieve thisis through the use of suggestion schemes.

• Changes in work systems. If working arrangements are altered to provideincreased responsibility, soft HRM theories suggest that this will increasecommitment. The self-managed teams discussed earlier are an example of this approach.

• Introduction of incentive schemes. Various incentive schemes, such asperformance related pay, profit related pay, and share options have beenintroduced in the hope that these will result in greater involvement andcommitment.





• Changes in employee relationships. Of particular interest here is the notionthat commitment can be increased by the adoption of more participativestyles of management which allow employees to have greater involvementin decision making.

According to Guest (1992), there has not been a great deal of research into

how successful these interventions have been in increasing commitment, and itis not possible to draw firm conclusions on their impact at the present time.However, such evidence as is available suggests that, at best, these interventionshave only a limited effect on commitment. Guest concluded that one reason forthis lack of impact was the fact that they were often introduced in a piecemealway, rather than as part of an overall HRM strategy.

3.7.3 Commitment, Effort, and Performance

Even if employee involvement policies were able to increase commitment sig-nificantly, this still leaves open the question of how commitment actually relates

to performance. We have already discussed turnover in relation to commit-ment and, to the extent that the organisation wishes to have a low level of turnover, this could be construed as one measure of performance. Of course,as we saw above, much depends on who leaves and who stays! The evidenceindicates that commitment is correlated with turnover, but the relationship issmall (Guest, 1992).

What about the relationship between commitment and other aspects of per-formance? It is unlikely that performance and commitment will be directlylinked. Rather, commitment, if it influences performance at all, will presumablydo so because it increases motivation and this in turn influences performance.Currently available evidence supports the conclusion that there is a correlation

between commitment and performance but the relationship is small. This couldeither be because the relationship between commitment and motivation is weak,or it could be the relationship between motivation and performance that is weak.In any event, to date, the evidence does not strongly support the contention of HRM theories that commitment has a pivotal role in determining performance.

According to soft HRM theories, obtaining employee commitment is cru-cial if organisations are to maximise their use of human resources. However,not only are there different types of commitment with different potential conse-quences for performance, there is overlap between commitment and a number of related concepts. Attempts to increase commitment through increased employeeinvolvement have had only limited success. While there is evidence that commit-

ment is correlated with turnover and performance, the relationships are smalland the case for a strong link between commitment and performance is notsupported by the available data.

3.8 Culture

We have already encountered the concept of culture several times in this text.For example, in Module 2, we saw how it is an important element in a numberof soft HRM models. Earlier in the present module, we talked of the idea of a





quality emphasis being embedded in the culture of an organisation and indeedthis was seen as essential for the success of TQM programmes. We also saw thatthe theory of the learning organisation can only really become a reality whenit forms part of the organisational culture. Finally, we talked about affectivecommitment to the values and aims of the organisation, i.e. to its culture. Giventhe central place of culture in so much of HRM thinking, it is appropriate to

examine the concept in some detail at this point.

3.8.1 What is Culture?

In general terms, culture can be defined as a set of shared values and beliefsheld by members of an organisation. These values relate to many aspects of organisational life, including how people should behave towards each other andthe outside world, the basis of reward allocation, the aims and objectives of the organisation, and so on. In short, culture represents the whole ethos of theorganisation and how it functions. As Deal and Kennedy (1982) put it, cultureis ‘the way we do things around here’.

According to Schein (1984) culture actually exists at three levels, all of whichinteract with each other.

1 Artefacts and creations are regarded as the surface level of culture. Theseare visible symbols which send signals to organisation members and theoutside world about the nature of the organisation. They include dresscodes, the physical layout of office space, common behaviour patterns, andthe like. How do such artefacts provide information about culture? Perhapsa few illustrations will help here. Take the example of a school dress codewhich states that all children, without exception, will be required to weara school uniform. This sends a signal, both within the organisation and to

the outside world, about the school’s attitude to conformity and discipline.To take another example, an open plan office arrangement can be used tosymbolise ‘openness’ between different levels of managers. Finally, at the

behavioural level, one assumes that the friendly smile with which one isaccosted by the staff of certain airlines on boarding one of their aeroplanesis meant to indicate the value placed by the organisation on customer care.

2 Values represent the consensus amongst organisational members about ‘howwe do things around here’. Values are less visible than artefacts and maynot always be overtly stated. Nevertheless, people are consciously aware of them, and can articulate them fairly readily.

3 Basic assumptions are the key to understanding a particular culture. These

consist of a set of presuppositions about the nature of people, the organisa-tion, and the environment in which it operates. Although these have beenlearned through experience, individuals may have little awareness of them.Nevertheless, it is these assumptions which, according to Schein, are theessential defining features of a culture.

Let us return to the idea of shared values. An important question hereis, shared by whom? Corporate culture is embodied in the values espoused,sometimes publicly, by top management. But is this the same as organisational





culture defined in terms of common values held throughout the organisation?This may not always be the case. Thus, it is quite possible for the rank andfile to share common values which are different from those of top management.Apart from possible differences between those at the top and the rest of theorganisation, sub-groups within an organisation may have their own cultures.For example, accountants may have shared value systems but these might be

quite different from those of engineers. It seems then that the concept of cultureas applied to organisations is somewhat more complex than it appears at firstsight. In particular, espoused culture from the top may not reflect reality interms of the wider organisation, and sub-cultures may be at least as potent inaffecting people’s behaviour as any presumed organisation-wide value systems.

3.8.2 The Relationship between Culture and Performance

Proponents of soft HRM in particular argue that organisational performance islinked to culture. The general assumption is that strong cultures can, undercertain circumstances, lead to better performance. A strong culture is one where

the corporate culture is clearly articulated and unambiguous and where thevalues it espouses are genuinely shared throughout the rest of the organisation.It follows from this that there will be a high level of consensus of values at alllevels in the organisation and sub-cultures will be weak in comparison.

How can strong cultures be developed in the interests of high performance?The argument runs as follows. Strategic HRM considerations dictate that aparticular culture is conducive to high performance. For example, if quality is

believed to sell products, then this points to the kind of quality oriented cultureembodied in TQM and similar systems. Once the desired values have beenidentified, the next stage is to enshrine these in the corporate culture. A varietyof culture change programmes designed to create a strong culture based on these

values is then initiated. If these are successful, employees will have high levelsof affective commitment based on the new shared values, and this will manifestitself in enhanced performance. There is an appealing logic to all of this, sinceit would seem to create conditions where everyone is apparently pulling inthe same direction to achieve mutually beneficial objectives. However, a fewwords of caution are in order. While a strong culture may be beneficial whenthe strategists get it right, it is likely to be counter-productive when they get itwrong, since everyone is pulling hard in the wrong direction. Also, the existenceof common values throughout an organisation may be another way of sayingthat it lacks diversity of viewpoints. This may be fine under stable conditions,

but it could result in a certain rigidity in responding when circumstances change,

as they inevitably do. Finally, there is an underlying assumption in all of thisthat it is in fact possible to change organisational cultures. Indeed, in terms of practical application, if cultures cannot be managed to increase commitment, thequestion of the relationship between performance and culture is of no more thanacademic interest.





3.8.3 Managing Culture Change

As has just been mentioned, this is a crunch issue in terms of turning muchof HRM theory into practical reality. As we have seen, we are talking hereabout changing values, based on the assumption that changed values will leadto changed behaviour. Culture change programmes could, of course, be applied

to a wide variety of values and it would not be appropriate to list all of thesehere. However, the reader will by now not be surprised to find out that manyculture change programmes are aimed at developing a quality-oriented culture.Attempts to inculcate more customer-focused attitudes are also popular, as might

be expected from what was said earlier in this module.

Methods Used to Produce Culture Change

A number of techniques have been adopted in an effort to produce culturechange. These include:

1 Leadership. Schein (1985) has suggested that leaders play a crucial role indetermining the culture of an organisation. One of the ways in which they

do this is by example setting. Thus, if leaders always behave in a safetyconscious way, and if safety breaches are dealt with seriously by them, thishighlights the fact that the organisation places high value on safety. Leadersare also in a position to make key personnel decisions about selection,remuneration, promotion, and the like, and the basis on which these aretaken sends a strong signal about what the organisation values. If Schein’sviews are accepted, it follows that leaders can be influential in initiatingculture change. Indeed, when radical culture change is the objective, it isnot uncommon for organisations to remove the existing top managementteam (or at least the chief executive) and bring in a new team from outsidewho have the express remit of bringing about culture change.

2 Communication programmes. The idea here is to get the twin messagesacross to everyone in the organisation that there is a need for change, andthat benefits will follow for everyone if change takes place. It is assumedthat, if people can be convinced that both of these statements are true, thenculture change will follow. A variety of forms of communication can be usedto get the message across, such as: briefing sessions from top management;group discussions among employees focusing on problems and solutions;training courses focusing on relevant issues such as customer care; and soon.

3 Personnel changes. Rather than attempting to change existing values, thisapproach tackles the problem by recruiting individuals into the organisation

who have values in line with the desired new culture, or who can at least besocialised into it. However, change induced by this method would usually

be very gradual, since in most organisations the proportion of new recruitstaken on at any one time is usually quite small. Unless, of course, a schemefor increasing the turnover of existing staff is also put in place. A possibletwin approach might be to offer voluntary early retirement on a selective

basis for staff thought to have difficulty adapting to the new culture. Thesewould then be replaced by new staff who would either already possess thedesired attitudes, or who could be socialised into the new culture.





4 Reward management. The basis on which an organisation rewards itsmembers in terms of pay, promotion, and so on can send a powerfulsignal to its members as to what its values and priorities are. Consequently,one way to encourage attitude change is modify the basis of the rewardallocation system in line with the new corporate values. Thus, for example, if customer care becomes a defining feature of the organisational culture, those

individuals who display high levels of customer care could be rewarded fortheir efforts as part of a performance related pay policy. In this way, rewardmanagement is used to encourage individuals to buy into the new valuesystem.

Do Culture Change Programmes Work?

Given that values are often fairly fundamental attributes of the individual andthat they develop over a relatively long period, it seems reasonable to assumethat real culture change is likely to be very difficult to achieve. However, at theend of the day, this is a question which can only really be answered by con-sidering the available research evidence. Unfortunately, while it is not difficultto find anecdotal reports of successful culture change programmes, systematicstudies of culture change are rather more thin on the ground. On the whole,writers on the subject have cast doubt on the ability of culture management pro-grammes to achieve their objectives (Anthony, 1994; Ogbonna and Wilkinson,1990). However, even if such programmes do not change fundamental values(and we cannot conclude this with certainty until we have more evidence), theymay nevertheless have beneficial effects for the organisation. Let us take anexample of a customer care programme, designed to make employees attachhigh value to customer satisfaction. Suppose those on the programme learn newimproved ways of dealing with customers. They might well proceed to put theseinto practice, not because they now really care whether or not the customer is

satisfied, but simply because that is what management requires of them. In thisway, although the declared aim of changing basic values has not been realised,at least the desired end result of behaviour change has been achieved.

To sum up, organisational culture can be defined as a set of shared set of values and beliefs held by members of an organisation. Strong cultures existwhere there is a high level of consensus of values throughout the organisationand where these coincide with corporate values. It has been argued that strongcultures can lead to high performance, provided the underlying values are inline with strategic objectives. A number of techniques have been used to induceculture change along these lines in the anticipation that enhanced performancewill follow. However, it is generally accepted that creating genuine culturechange is a difficult task and to date we have little hard evidence indicating thatit can actually be achieved.

3.9 Summary

In this module, a number of key HRM themes have been examined in somedepth. Quality, as one of the routes to competitive advantage, emerged as a keytheme, particularly as expressed in TQM. A number of arguments have been





3.8 De-layering inevitably runs counter to the soft HRM goal of increasing commit-

ment.

3.9 According to Guest (1987), one of the advantages of de-centralisation is

increased flexibility.

3.10 Multi-skilling is another name for numerical flexibility.

3.11 Functional flexibility refers to the requirement for individuals to carry out a

wide variety of work roles or activities.

3.12 In terms of Atkinson’s model of the flexible-firm, outsourcing refers to the

practice of sending employees out to customers to deal with problems ‘at

source’.

3.13 One of the problems with performance related pay schemes is the difficulty of

measuring performance accurately.

3.14 According to Legge (1995) research indicates that few organisations have

adopted true functional flexibility.

3.15 According to some critics, flexibility is a management device to increase control

over employees in the interests of reducing costs.

3.16 For core workers, an advantage of flexible working arrangements is the high

investment that is often made in their training.

3.17 A disadvantage of flexible working arrangements for core workers is the relative

lack of job security they have, compared with the situation of peripheral

workers.

3.18 The primary aim of the QWL movement was to generate high performance,with any benefits in job satisfaction being of secondary importance.

3.19 Problem-solving teams tend to be temporary by nature.

3.20 One of the disadvantages of team working is its tendency to impede the process

of de-layering.

3.21 Not everyone necessarily wants the increased empowerment offered by team

working.

3.22 The essential feature of a learning organisation is the level of support the

organisation provides for employees to go on educational courses related totheir jobs.

3.23 It is ‘OK to make a mistake’ in learning organisations.

3.24 Learning organisations emphasis learning through information gained from

customers.

3.25 From a hard HRM perspective, commitment is seen as crucial for the achievement

of the organisation’s strategic objectives.





3.26 Soft HRM theories take the view that compliance is essentially the same thing

as commitment.

3.27 Although compliance and commitment may be very different concepts theoret-

ically, they are hard to distinguish in practice.

3.28 A high level of continuous commitment is always beneficial for the organisation.

3.29 Guest (1992) found that more educated workers had higher levels of commit-

ment.

3.30 There is evidence that both personal and environmental factors are associated

with commitment.

3.31 Guest (1992) claimed that employee involvement schemes often failed because

they were introduced in a piecemeal way.

3.32 If employee involvement schemes succeed in increasing commitment, this will

automatically lead to improved performance.

3.33 Research has shown that there is a strong link between commitment andperformance.

3.34 Organisational culture refers to shared values, not shared aims and objectives.

3.35 In Schein’s (1984) definition of culture, dress codes would exist at the surface

level of culture.

3.36 According to Schein (1985), one of the ways in which leaders can influence

culture change is by example.

3.37 According to Schein (1985), leaders only have a minor role to play in bringing

about culture change.

3.38 Strong cultures have the advantage of encouraging diversity of views in the

organisation.

3.39 Attempting to produce culture change by recruiting individuals whose values

coincide with the desired culture rarely brings about rapid cultural change.

3.40 Communication programmes have been used to produce culture change.


3.1 Discuss the various ways in which quality has been defined in HRM.

3.2 Describe the main components of TQM. How well does TQM work in practice?

3.3 What are the advantages and limitations of bureaucratic organisational struc-

tures?

3.4 What are the arguments for and against the suggestion that organisations can

improve their performance by developing a strong culture?






You are a management consultant who has been asked to help an organisation

to develop a strong culture. The company is an international airline with one

of the largest fleets in the world. It is currently facing fierce competition and is

anticipating a fairly long period of over-supply in the industry as a whole. It flies to

almost every country in the world, and its passengers come from all over the world.It also employs staff from a variety of different countries right across the globe. In

addition to head office staff, it has four main categories of employee. These are:

the sales force, pilots, cabin crew, and ground staff. The company has to negotiate

with several different unions, representing the various grades of staff.

The organisation has decided that it wants to develop a quality-oriented culture,

particularly focused on improved customer satisfaction.

Your task is to provide a written summary of the kind of advice you would

give the company. As an external consultant, you would wish to seek further

information and clarification from the airline before committing yourself to specific

recommendations. Your answer should include:

• an indication of the additional information you might require from them

• any general advice you might give them about culture change

• suggested techniques for producing culture change

• any particular circumstances which might need to be taken into account.

References

Anthony, P.D. (1994). Managing Culture, Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Atkinson, J. (1984). ‘Manpower strategies for flexible organisations’, Personnel Manage-

ment, 16, 28–31.

Blyton, P. and Morris, J. (1992). ‘HRM and the limits of flexibility’, Reassessing HumanResources Management, eds. Blyton, P. And Turnbull, J., London: Sage.

Deal, T.E. and Kennedy, A. (1982). Corporate Cultures, Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.

Deming, W.E. (1982). Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, Cambridge, Mass:MIT Press.

Guest, D.E. (1987). ‘Human resource management and industrial relations’, Journal of Management Studies, 24, 503–21.

Guest, D.E. (1992). ‘Employee commitment and control’, Employment Relations, eds.Hartley, J.F. and Stephenson, G.M. Oxford: Blackwell.

Hakim, C. (1990). ‘Core and periphery in employers’ workforce strategies: evidencefrom the 1987 ELUS survey’, Work, Employment and Society, 4, 157–88.

Hill, S. (1991). ‘Why quality circles failed but total quality management might work’,British Journal of Industrial Relations, 29, 541–68.

Juran, J.M. (1988). Juran on Planning for Quality, New York: Free Press.

Legge, K. (1995). Human Resource Management Rhetorics and Realities, Basingstoke: Macmil-lan.




Module 4

Analysis of Performance

Requirements

Contents

4.1 Specifying Performance Requirements 4/2

4.1.1 Organisational Performance Requirements 4/3

4.1.2 Group Performance Requirements 4/4

4.1.3 lndividual Performance Requirements 4/4

4.2 Core Abilities, Skills and Motivational Characteristics 4/5

4.3 Trait Versus Behavioural Indicators of Performance 4/7

4.3.1 Trait Indicators of Performance 4/7

4.3.2 Limitations of the Trait Approach 4/8

4.3.3 Behavioural Indicators of Performance 4/9

4.4 Job Analysis Techniques 4/10

4.4.1 Questionnaires 4/11

4.4.2 Checklists 4/11

4.4.3 One-to-one Interviews 4/11

4.4.4 Observation and Interview 4/12

4.4.5 Group Interview 4/12

4.4.6 The Conference Method 4/13

4.4.7 Work Diaries 4/134.4.8 Work Participation 4/14

4.4.9 Critical Incidents 4/14

4.5 Job Analysis and Strategic HRM 4/15

4.6 Competencies 4/16

4.6.1 MCI Competencies 4/17

4.6.2 Behavioural Competencies 4/18

4.6.3 Organisational Competencies 4/21

4.7 Performance and Pay 4/21

4.7.1 What Pay Means for the Individual 4/21

4.7.2 What Pay Means for the Organisation 4/23

4.7.3 What Constitutes Pay? 4/24

4.7.4 Pay and Individual Work Roles 4/24

4.7.5 Job Evaluation 4/26

4.7.6 Pay and Performance 4/27

4.8 Summary 4/29





Module 4 / Analysis of Performance Requirements

Learning Objectives


• distinguish between organisational, group, and individual performancerequirements.

• distinguish between end results and process criteria.• understand what is meant by core abilities, skills, and motivational charac-

teristics.

• explain why the trait approach to specifying performance requirements is being replaced by behaviour focused approaches.

• describe the major techniques of job analysis and explain the conditionsunder which each works best.

• discuss the relationship between job analysis and strategic HRM.

• explain what is meant by competencies and distinguish between the MCI, behavioural, and organisational approaches.

•identify the limitations of competency analysis.• understand the nature of payment systems and their role in motivating theindividual.

4.1 Specifying Performance Requirements

It is clear from what has been said in the first three modules that the enhance-ment of performance is a central objective of HRM and many HR policies andprocedures are designed with precisely this in mind. However, this is not to saythat, prior to the emergence of HRM, organisations did not value performance.It has always been a traditional role for personnel management to facilitate high

performance. What HRM has done is to give the need to maximise performancea sharper focus and to put it in a wider context than before. In the past, concernabout performance had tended to focus on the individual and improving hisor her performance. Arising out of an awareness that it is not just individuals

but also systems which can contribute to high achievement, HRM has taken a broader view by also emphasising the importance of group and organisationallevel performance.

Before we can design and implement procedures or systems to enhance per-formance, clearly it is first necessary to specify what exactly we mean by highperformance. For example, we need to know what constitutes a ‘successful’organisation before we can begin to consider how to create one. To take another

example, if self-managed teams are to be given performance targets, it is firstnecessary to specify what is meant by ‘good’ team performance. In the sameway, at the individual level, performance requirements need to be spelled outin detail before steps can be taken to enhance the contribution the individualcan make to the organisation. The remainder of this module is concerned withthis important issue of how best to identify key performance indicators andrequirements.

Performance can be specified either as desirable end results or in terms of processes which are assumed to lead to these outcomes. At the organisational





level, one example of an end result might be profit. Process definitions of performance which could be adopted at this level might include the commitmentlevel of employees, or the extent to which the organisation has a strong sharedculture. Of course, to have confidence in a process measure of performance,there needs to be good reason to believe that the process in question actuallydoes lead to the desired end result. To take another example, this time at the

group level, team performance could be defined in end results terms as levels of productivity or in process terms with reference to the degree of internal cohesionor the level of co-operation with other groups. At the individual level, an endresults measure for a salesperson might be the number of new customers won ina given period. From a process point of view, a salesperson’s performance might

be defined in terms of the skills and abilities needed to sell successfully. Thechoice between end result and process criteria of performance will be a functionof the circumstances and the purpose for which performance is being measured.For example at the individual level, if the purpose is to aid recruitment andselection, the focus of performance specification is likely to be largely on skillsand abilities, whereas if the purpose is to provide a basis for performance

appraisal, both abilities and results might be relevant.The issue of performance has been introduced above at the organisational,

group, and individual level. However, organisational and group level issues havealready been discussed in some detail in preceding modules and for this reasonthis module will focus mainly on how individual performance requirementscan best be specified. Before proceeding to consider this in detail, we will look

briefly at organisational and group level performance in order to set the presentmodule in the context of previous ones.

4.1.1 Organisational Performance Requirements

Taking end results criteria first, possible indicators of organisational performancemight include:

• bottom line profit

• dividend to shareholders

• market share compared with the competition

• growth and/or diversification of the business

None of these is a perfect indicator of performance. For example, there is adanger that concentration on profit levels may result in too much focus on short-term considerations, rather than longer-term ones. Exclusive use of shareholderdividends as a performance criteria ignores the interests of other stakeholders in

the organisation. Having a large market share may not be particularly desirableif it is at the cost of over-reliance on a small number of products. Exclusive focuson growth does not take into account the fact that there may be an optimum size

beyond which an organisation is in danger of becoming excessively bureaucraticand unresponsive to changing circumstances. Since all of these indicators havetheir strengths and weaknesses, it is probably safest to opt for a composite set of end results criteria which includes some or all of the above, rather than relyingexclusively on one of them.

Process indicators of performance might include, for example:





• productivity

• absenteeism

• turnover.

As in the previous section, over-reliance on any single criteria can be prob-lematic. For example, a worker using an old machine cannot be expected to

be as productive as one using state-of-the-art equipment. Again quality andproductivity may be inversely related. High turnover can be undesirable insofaras valuable resources invested in training can be lost when individuals leave.However, as we saw earlier, much depends on who leaves and why. Very lowturnover can prevent new blood and fresh ideas coming into the organisation.(From this point of view, what level of turnover would a learning organisationstrive to achieve?) Once again multiple criteria would seem to be the order of the day.

However, there are further problems with the use of end result measures of individual performance of the type listed above, at least as far as certain typesof job are concerned. For many job roles, tangible outcomes of the sort listedabove simply do not exist. This is especially true of many managerial jobs,where, for example, the concept of productivity in an objective sense is simplynot meaningful. How would you measure the productivity of a human resourcemanager in a meaningful way? You could quantify a number of the tasks anHR manager carries out, such as number of selection interviews conducted in aday, the number of performance appraisals carried out, etc., but these are clearlytrivial in terms of any key performance requirements an organisation wouldwish to set for its HR managers.

For these and other reasons, individual performance analysis often tends tofocus on process criteria. (This is not always the case, though, as we shall seewhen we come to discuss MBO and goal setting in Module 6.) Returning tothe above example of the performance requirements for an HR manager, therelevant question is not how we measure productivity as such. Instead, thefocus is much more on identifying the key tasks a person in this role needs toperform, and the abilities and skills which are needed to perform these well.The focus is on the qualities needed to produce a desired outcome. From thisperspective, there are two distinct but inter-related aspects to the determinationof individual performance criteria. First, there is the requirement to carry outa comprehensive analysis of the tasks to be performed in the job. Second, it isnecessary to identify the human qualities which enable a person to carry outthese tasks to a high standard.

The remainder of this module (with the exception of section 4.6.3 below) isconcerned with the specification of individual level performance requirements.

4.2 Core Abilities, Skills and Motivational Characteristics

The rationale for the analysis of individual abilities in relation to job perform-ance is that it constitutes the first step in the process of enhancing individualperformance to the benefit of the organisation and hopefully also for the individ-uals themselves. Before continuing with this theme let us pause for a minute to





consider the different types of human abilities that exist and their implicationsfor HRM procedures and practices.

Some human characteristics are either part of an individual’s genetic makeup or are learned very early in life. Other qualities are readily developed andchanged through everyday experience or through some other means, such astraining programmes. A third type of characteristic is not so much related to

what a person is able to do, but is more concerned with what he is willing to doin a given set of circumstances. An example of the latter is the level of effort aperson chooses to put into his work. The first of these three types can be thoughtof as core characteristics, since they are fundamental to the person. The secondtype is more akin to skills, while the third is motivational in nature. These threecategories are not being put forward as representing a comprehensive typologyof human abilities. Nor is it suggested that abilities can always be neatlyclassified into only one of these types. For example, there is undoubtedly astrong core element in problem-solving ability (some people are more intelligentthan others), but people’s ability to solve problems can also be improved byteaching them problem-solving techniques. Word processing is basically a skill

but some people, presumably because they possess some relevant core attribute,learn it more rapidly than others. Effort is a choice a person makes accordingto circumstances and indeed proponents of soft HRM would argue that theappropriate circumstances are those which engender commitment. On the otherhand common observation would suggest that some people are inherently lazy,while others seem to put great effort into everything they do irrespective of thecircumstances.

In what way is this classification of characteristics into three types relevantfor practical purposes? Take core characteristics for example. Since they are dif-ficult if not impossible to modify, performance in these cannot be significantlyenhanced through HRM procedures such as training, structured experience,

or coaching. Ensuring that these characteristics are present in employees istherefore primarily a selection problem. Anything which is classified as pri-marily a skill can, however, be improved through training and developmentprogrammes. To the extent that motivational characteristics are a reaction to thework environment and context, then this is where action needs to be taken toenhance performance with respect to these abilities. For example, if high effortis required, a payment system which rewards effort could help bring aboutthe desired result. The reader should remember here, however, that effort andcommitment are often only partly a reaction to circumstances and the environ-ment. Effort and commitment can also be a more fundamental attribute of theperson and, in terms of the terminology we are using here, they could be said

to contain core elements. What this means in practice is that an organisationcan seek to enhance motivational qualities either through changing the environ-ment, through selection (for the core element), or through some combinationof both. The best approach will depend on individual circumstances. Let ustake an example related to the motivational characteristic of commitment. SoftHRM theory suggests that this can be increased through environmental manipu-lations, such as employee involvement programmes. Consider a small businessproviding retirement homes for the elderly. Let us assume that the organisationfaces stiff competition from a more profit oriented organisation which has just





entered the market and it decides to change its culture from one where thepredominant value system is one of caring, to one of providing an adequateservice at minimum cost and maximum profit. How easy would it be to changethe value systems of the individuals from a caring orientation to a profit orien-tation? Given that employee commitment to such a radical change could poseconsiderable difficulties might it not actually prove to be more effective from

the organisation’s point of view to offer existing staff who are unhappy with thenew culture suitably generous payments to seek alternative employment andrecruit new staff with the ‘right’ attitudes? Clearly the best approach largelydepends on the extent to which the values in question are core aspects of theindividuals concerned.

4.3 Trait Versus Behavioural Indicators of Performance

Let us consider what a list of the requirements needed to perform a particular job well might look like. Take for instance the job of middle manager in a largeorganisation. There are many tasks a person needs to be able to do in order to

carry out such a job successfully. Included here might be: a set of interpersonal behaviours needed to manage people effectively; a number of activities relatedto the planning and organisation of work; a range of different types of problem-solving behaviours; and so on. As we shall see later when we look at methodsfor eliciting these activities with respect to a particular job, the lists which aregenerated are typically rather long, and can easily exceed 100 items. Such a list,while having the benefit of being comprehensive, is on the other hand extremelycumbersome to work with in practice, and some method of categorising theinformation is clearly necessary.

4.3.1 Trait Indicators of Performance

It is generally accepted that many of the kinds of behaviours we are talkingabout here emanate from deeper underlying traits and abilities of the individual,such as personality characteristics, attitudes and values, intellectual capabilities,and the like. Effectively each of these source traits can be regarded as beingresponsible for a collection of behaviours which co-exist in a person. Thus a traitsuch as conscientiousness might lead to a variety of behaviours in an individual,such as punctuality, meeting deadlines, turning up regularly for work, workingextra hours to make sure the job gets done properly, checking work carefullyfor errors before submitting it, and so on. It is not difficult to see the attractionsof using trait type concepts to specify performance requirements, and for many

years organisations did precisely that. Potential advantages of adopting a traitapproach include the following.

• Because traits can encompass quite large groups of behaviours, a relativelysmall number ought to be sufficient to give a comprehensive picture of performance requirements.

• Since traits represent the underlying qualities which are responsible forthe behaviours required for effective performance, focusing on these wouldseem to make sense.





• The widespread use of the term trait in everyday language is likely to resultin performance requirements specified in this way being readily understood

by, and therefore acceptable to, all managers.

• Last, but not least, the trait concept is underpinned by a large volumeof psychological theory and research and this gives it an apparent seal of scientific respectability.

4.3.2 Limitations of the Trait Approach

Unfortunately, it now seems clear that the early enthusiasm for specifyingrequired performance in terms of traits was largely misplaced. No one is sug-gesting that there is anything fundamentally wrong with traits as a concept.The problem was more the way in which descriptions of performance require-ments, defined in terms of traits, were used in practical situations. A commonuse of lists of performance requirements is as a set of criteria against which toassess individuals for some purpose. An example here would be selection of new recruits. Another would be the assessment of the performance of existing

employees to determine salary increases, promotion, or whatever. At least sixdifficulties have emerged in practice when trait type specifications of perform-ance were used for this kind of purpose.

1 Traits are inferred, not observed. Consider how you would reach a con-clusion that a person possesses the trait of conscientiousness mentionedabove. You cannot directly observe conscientiousness in a person. Rather,you observe certain behaviours, such as punctuality, which you assume to

be indicative of conscientiousness. Provided you observe enough behav-iours which, in your opinion, indicate conscientiousness, you deduce thatthe person possesses the trait. The trouble with this is that all managers

may not use the same list of behaviours to infer a given trait. Thus we havea recipe for inconsistency amongst managers.

2 Traits were often ill-defined. The inconsistency problem mentioned abovemight be alleviated somewhat with careful trait definitions. This could bedone by listing the relevant behaviours associated with the trait. However,one suspects that this was rarely done in practice when traits were usedto specify performance. It would in any case be difficult to list all of the

behaviours which were sourced by a trait (many of which might in any case be unrelated to job performance). Even if this were to be done, much of theparsimony of the trait approach would be lost.

3 Traits were rarely explicitly linked to performance. We have discussed

above the intuitive appeal of the idea that certain important job behavioursare a function of some underlying trait. But, how do we know preciselywhich behaviours are sourced by which traits? The short answer is that weusually cannot answer this question in an objective way. As a consequence,one suspects that, all too often, managers were asked to make that linkintuitively, leading to further inconsistency amongst managers.

4 Not all traits are readily measured. Given that traits cannot be observeddirectly, and taking into account the fact that they are often poorly defined,how likely is it that they can be measured with any accuracy in the kind





of contexts we are discussing here? The answer in many cases must be notvery likely.

5 Traits are different from behavioural repertoires. Careful observation of individuals performing jobs shows that it is usually possible to identify

behavioural repertoires which are particularly pertinent to a particularaspect of the job or area of activity. For example, let us consider a workrole where the individual has to manage subordinates. Much of the abilityrequired here presumably relates to dealing with people at a face-to-facelevel. Analysis of this aspect of the supervisory role might enable theobserver to identify a cluster of relevant behaviours here, such as, for exam-ple: persuading others; listening to other people’s ideas; taking account of other people’s feelings; standing one’s ground in the face of opposition;providing praise and constructive criticism when appropriate; and so on.These behaviours cluster together in the sense that they refer to the samearea of activity, i.e. managing subordinates. But do they constitute a trait?To qualify as a trait these behaviours must be highly correlated in a person.In other words, to the degree that a person displays one of these behav-

iours, they will tend to display all of them and vice versa. Even a cursoryglance at the above list suggests that this is unlikely to be the case. Whyshould being a good listener necessarily mean that an individual will auto-matically be able to stand his ground in an argument? Are good listenersnecessarily always good persuaders? Common sense strongly suggests that,in the above example, the use of a trait label to describe this cluster of

behaviours is inappropriate and misleading. The dangers of attaching anunjustified trait label to a cluster of behaviours can be illustrated by meansof an example from an imaginary selection situation. Assume the cluster of

behaviours listed above is defined as a trait – we could call it ‘leadership’for the sake of the argument. All of the behavioural tendencies are now

meant to be highly correlated in individuals. This effectively means that if a person possesses one of them she possesses all of them and vice versa.Consequently, to assess ‘leadership’ in a selection interview, the recruiterwould only need to obtain evidence about the presence or absence of one of the behaviours in the cluster. If, as is being argued here, the trait assump-tion does not hold, this would clearly not be an appropriate way to carryout this particular set of selection interviews.

6 Many traits are core characteristics. Because the majority of traits tend to be fundamental attributes, there is a danger that defining performance inthese terms leads to a lack of proper consideration of behaviours which can

be modified and developed – defined above as skills. While this may not

be a problem in terms of selection, it would create great difficulties in othercontexts, such as for example, where the main objective was to develop theperson’s capabilities.

4.3.3 Behavioural Indicators of Performance

What then is the alternative to the use of traits to specify performance require-ments? We have seen that traits are really given meaning by the behaviours





which are assumed to flow from them. Also, job performance is ultimatelyessentially about what the person does in the job, i.e. it is about behaviour.Consequently, rather than relying on traits which are inferences from behaviour,why not specify job performance requirements directly in behavioural terms?However if we do this, we are still left with the problem that such a list of important behaviours might well be very long. Remember here that one of the

attractions of the trait concept was the fact that it offered a means of categoris-ing behaviours. Consequently, if we wish to focus directly on behaviour somealternative mechanism for categorising behaviours into dimensions is clearlyrequired. There are a number of ways in which this has been attempted, butmost methods are based on the idea of constructing groups of behaviouralrepertoires around major areas of activity in the job in question. Thus, theremight be a behavioural dimension centred on interpersonal behaviours simi-lar to that described above. Other examples of behavioural dimensions mightrevolve around activities such as: problem-solving and decision making; plan-ning and organisation; task management; and so on. The key point here is thatthe dimensions are based on areas of work activity, and no assumptions are

made about the extent to which the various individual behaviours which com-prise the dimension are correlated within individuals. It is probably fair to saythat behavioural approaches are now dominant in the field, although the use of traits to specify performance is still to be found in a minority of organisations.

4.4 Job Analysis Techniques

Let us assume that we wish to define performance requirements in behaviouralterms. We are still left with the problem of how best to generate a comprehensiveand valid list of appropriate behaviours for the job in question. Job analysistechniques are designed to fulfil this function. However, it should be emphasised

that not all job analysis techniques focus on behaviour directly. Some methodsproduce, instead, a comprehensive picture of the tasks that need to be carriedout in the job. While there is value in this task analysis approach for certainpurposes, in many instances a specification of the behavioural repertoires neededto perform these tasks will also be required. In practice, tasks and behavioursoften shade into one another and many job analysis outputs contain elements of

both.

Blum and Naylor (1968) list nine methods of job analysis. These are described below. Before discussing them in detail, it is worth pointing out that no onemethod is necessarily superior to any other. Rather, the best method will dependon a number of circumstances, such as the nature of the job being analysed and

the purpose of the analysis. Also, it will often be appropriate to use more thanone method in order to get as comprehensive a picture as possible. As weshall see in later modules, job analysis can be used as a basis for a numberof personnel procedures such as recruitment, training and development, andperformance appraisal. However, in practice its use has probably been mostwidespread in connection with selection. The nine methods of job analysisdescribed by Blum and Naylor are discussed below.





4.4.1 Questionnaires

One technique involves the circulation of questionnaires to existing job holderswho are asked to indicate the extent to which a series of statements describestheir job. This may be in terms either of the importance of activities, or theirfrequency, or both. This method can be quite time-consuming for employees,

depending on the length of the questionnaire. It can also take a significantamount of time to develop a suitable questionnaire. However, it does havethe advantage, from the point of view of the job analyst’s time, that it can

be administered to groups of employees, or it can be distributed through theinternal mail for completion and return. This also saves time from the analyst’sperspective. In addition, this method is particularly suitable where there aremany job holders available to complete the questionnaires. When this is thecase, various forms of statistical analysis can be carried out on the data, which isanother advantage of this method. One potential drawback with this approach isthe fact that there may be important features of the job about which the analyst isunaware and which are therefore inadvertently omitted from the questionnaire.

Also, employees who have had limited formal education may react negativelyto the requirement to fill in a written questionnaire. This method is thereforenot recommended if significant numbers of job holders fall into this category.

It is sometimes possible to circumvent the need to spend time designing aquestionnaire by purchasing a ready made system. An example here is theWork Profiling System developed by the well known British consulting firm of Saville & Holdsworth. This is designed to be applicable to all managerial andprofessional jobs. For the job in question, it produces a comprehensive profileof both the key job tasks and the human abilities required to complete them. Itcontains 344 activities grouped into 31 categories. Respondents select the 8 to10 categories which are most relevant to achieving their job objectives. These

are then ranked in order of importance. Examples of the categories include:planning, controlling and directing, counselling, and motivating. With referenceto our earlier discussion, the activities are essentially behavioural in nature andthe categories are akin to dimensions.

4.4.2 Checklists

These are similar in many ways to questionnaires, since they require the jobholder to complete a written document. In this case, however, the employeeselects only those items which apply to his job, rather than rating every state-ment for importance. This avoids the potential problem which exists with ques-

tionnaire methods that, in an effort to be helpful to the analyst, some job holdersmight provide ratings for activities which are not actually a significant part of their job. Otherwise, checklists share many of the advantages and drawbacks of questionnaires.

4.4.3 One-to-one Interviews

Interviews between the analyst and individual job holders provide a rich sourceof qualitative information about the job. They also have the benefit that it is the





job holder who generates the list of relevant tasks or behaviours, rather than theanalyst. Since the individuals actually doing the job will almost certainly knowthe job more intimately than the analyst, this is likely to be advantageous. Of course, it is not necessary for the analyst to restrict his information gatheringto job holders. Superiors and subordinates of the job holder could also holdvaluable insights into key behavioural requirements for the job and they are also

frequently interviewed as part of the process.A major drawback of this method is its time-consuming nature for both

parties. Moreover, the time requirement for the analyst increases as a directfunction of the number of people interviewed. The qualitative data generated

by this approach is both its strength and its weakness. Its strength is the richnessof the data and the reduced risk of missing important job elements. Its weaknesslies in the difficulty of categorising and quantifying the information.

Given the time involved, interviews as a method of job analysis are probably better suited to more complex and perhaps more senior jobs It might also be thepreferred approach where there are only a few job holders available to provideinformation.

4.4.4 Observation and Interview

With many jobs, much can be learned by systematic observation of job incumbents as they carry out their duties. This will of course be more feasible forsome jobs than others. Thus it might be possible to learn quite a lot about thekey behaviours required of someone selling a particular product by observingsuccessful and less successful salespersons, especially if the observation wasfollowed up with an interview to explore why the individuals concerned actedin the way they did. On the other hand, what could an analyst usefully learn

by watching a philosopher thinking? The observational method has the distinct

advantage of being based on actual behaviour, rather than incumbents’ subjec-tive reports either of what they say they do in the job, or of what they believeto be important in the job. However, once again it can be time-consumingespecially, as is usually the case, where observation is on a one-to-one basis.Interviewing job holders to clarify and elaborate on the observational data willof course add additional time to the whole exercise.

4.4.5 Group Interview

One way to gain interview data from a greater number of respondents in agiven time is to use a group interview. Using this method, perhaps between six

and twelve job holders are interviewed by the analyst at the same time. Apartfrom the savings in the analyst’s time, this technique also has the advantagethat respondents may facilitate each other, in the sense that one person’s repliesmay stimulate thoughts and ideas in others. However, there are dangers tooin this approach, since some individuals may dominate the group while othersmay feel inhibited from responding in front of colleagues. This is likely to beespecially the case as the group gets larger. Apart from these considerations, theadvantages and drawbacks of group interview methods are similar to those of one-to-one interviews.





4.4.6 The Conference Method

The conference method involves asking a group of experts who are familiar withthe job to generate lists of job tasks and associated behavioural characteristics.Brainstorming techniques are frequently employed to encourage idea generation.The fundamental principle of brainstorming is the notion that the generation

and evaluation of ideas are treated as distinct and separate activities. Therefore,during the generation phase, lists of behaviours are suggested by individualswithout any attempt being made to make judgements as to whether theseare particularly important or relevant for the job in question. Indeed, criticalevaluation is expressly forbidden at this stage. This is to ensure that people arenot inhibited in making suggestions for fear of contradiction and consequentlythe maximum possible number of behaviours are generated. Once the generationphase has been completed the second, evaluation, stage of the process takesplace. It is here that decisions are made about the importance and relevance of the behaviours which have been generated.

The conference method can include the use of questionnaires as a follow up to

brainstorming. An example of how this whole process might work is as follows.A series of small groups of experts, each comprising 8–10 people, are askedto take part in the brainstorming exercise. The lists of behaviours generated,which might well be over 100 for a managerial job, are then incorporated intoa questionnaire. This is circulated to a new group of experts. There should beas many individuals as possible in this group. Anything less than fifty or sowould really be insufficient and significantly more than this would be desirable.In addition to the behavioural lists, the respondents would be provided witha small number of dimensions, selected to represent major areas of activity inthe job in question. The dimensions chosen would vary according to the job butsome examples of typical ones might include: communicating and influencing;

problem analysis and problem-solving; motivation and commitment; planningand organising; and decision making. Respondents are asked to complete twotasks. First, they are asked to rate the importance of each behaviour for successfulperformance of the job. Second, they are required to allocate each behaviour tothe most appropriate dimension. A series of rules are then used to eliminateunsuitable behaviours. For example, a minimum percentage of managers might

be required to rate the behaviour as being highly important before it can beincluded in the final list. In addition, for a given behaviour, the majority of managers should agree about which dimension it belongs to. The final result of such a procedure might be a list of somewhere between five and ten dimensions,each containing up to ten or so behavioural statements. Considerably larger lists

of behaviours and indeed dimensions are possible, but if the list becomes tooextensive, there is the danger that what is produced becomes too cumbersometo be of practical use.

4.4.7 Work Diaries

There may be some important job activities which are so much part of theroutine of the job that they either go unnoticed or seem too obvious to mentionin an interview or as part of a brainstorming exercise. One way to circumvent





this problem is by the use of work diaries. With this technique, the job holderkeeps a daily record of all the tasks carried out. Work diaries have the advantageof providing a very comprehensive record of job activities. However, apart fromthe demands on the job holder’s time, diary records can be very time-consumingto analyse, especially if there are many trivial items.

4.4.8 Work Participation

In some instances it may be possible for the analyst himself to carry out some orall of the tasks in the job. This can sometimes highlight activities which the jobholder has been carrying out for so long that he is almost unaware of them. It isparticularly valuable for identifying the abilities required to learn the job, sincelearning the job is in effect what the analyst is doing. Obviously this method isonly feasible for certain jobs. Who for example would wish to be a passengerin an aeroplane when the job analyst was going through her work participationroutine for the job of pilot?

4.4.9 Critical Incidents

The critical incident method (Flanagan, 1954) has been used extensively in jobanalysis and indeed in a number of other contexts. Essentially, the techniqueasks respondents to describe specific behavioural events that have occurred inthe jobs in question. The events selected should be important for the successfulor unsuccessful execution of the job, i.e. they should be critical incidents.Individuals are also required to provide examples of particularly effective andineffective behaviours associated with these events. Respondents can be anyonewho is familiar with the job, but would typically be either the job holders

themselves or their superiors. Using this method, an extensive list of relevantand important behaviours for successful performance of the job in question can

be built up. The great strength of this approach is the focus on, and analysisof, real life events that are exemplars of particularly effective and ineffectiveperformance in situations which are especially important. However, becauseof the emphasis on extreme events, there is a danger with this method thatmore mundane, but nevertheless relevant, aspects of the job are overlooked,and this is one of the potential limitations of the method. We have seen thatmany HRM theories advocate the need for constant adaptation and change.This presumably means that performance requirements will also have to changeto meet new job demands. However, because the critical incidents procedure

relies on the analysis of events that have already occurred, it can only describewhat is required for high performance in the job up until the time when theanalysis is carried out. Consequently, it is not well suited to the identification of future-oriented performance requirements.

It should be emphasised that these nine methods are not in any way mutuallyexclusive and often techniques are used in combination in order to generate ascomprehensive a picture as possible of the job in question.





4.5 Job Analysis and Strategic HRM

From a strategic perspective, it has been argued that job analysis as traditionallypractised, which served the needs of personnel management so well in the past,may be less able to meet the requirements of current and future HRM. Possiblelimitations of traditional job analysis in this respect include:

• Adaptation and change. As we have seen in earlier modules, the needconstantly to adapt and change is a cornerstone of many HRM theories.We have already mentioned the backward looking orientation of the criticalincident method of job analysis, and its inability to anticipate future per-formance requirements where job demands are expected to change. How-ever, most of the other job analysis methods mentioned above also tend tofocus on current performance requirements. In many ways, traditional jobanalysis is founded on the implicit assumption that there is a substantialdegree of stability in terms of job requirements. However, if in reality, jobrequirements are continuously changing, one could end up in a position

where, no sooner has job analysis been completed, than another analysis isrequired as a result of changes in the job!

• Functional flexibility. Traditional job analysis is essentially a technique forestablishing the particular requirements of a specific job. As such, it tends toemphasise the differences between jobs and hence the specialised abilitiesneeded to perform each one. But functional flexibility seeks to abandonspecialised work roles with their associated specialised abilities. Instead,the performance requirement is for people to be capable of performing avariety of non-specialist tasks across inter-related work roles. Job analysisis probably capable of being adapted to such a requirement, althoughsome re-focusing might be necessary. However, before we rush to abandon

traditional job analysis, it should be borne in mind that the scope forfunctional flexibility may well be much more limited than its advocateswould have us believe. In the first place, we saw in Module 3 that thedegree to which functional flexibility has actually been adopted in practiceis quite limited. This may be partly a reluctance of organisations to buy intothe flexibility philosophy. But, in addition, in many situations specialisationof work roles simply makes more sense than the flexible alternative. Forexample, take the example of a work team on a commercial aircraft. Wouldit be at all practical or sensible to select pilot and cabin crew on commoncriteria and train them so that they could freely interchange their roles?How much would such an exercise cost and what would be the point of

it? No doubt the reader can think of many similar examples. Flexibilitymay have distinct advantages in certain work situations, but so too doesspecialisation of work roles.

• Diversification of work roles. The term functional flexibility is normallyused to describe the requirement for an individual to take on a broaderrange of tasks within a broadly defined set of inter-related work roles. Inaddition, however, many managers nowadays are required to be sufficientlyflexible to take on a greater number of completely different, non-related,work roles over the course of their career. Thus, in the past an individual





looking for, and competencies were taken up by a number of organisations asthe way to specify their performance requirements.

Competencies is an umbrella term which encompasses a number of different, but overlapping, approaches to the identification of performance requirements.A common thread running through all of the different approaches is the ten-dency to specify performance requirements in terms of what individuals need to

be able to do, i.e. with reference to behaviour. Nevertheless, the word ‘compe-tency’ is used to describe at least three very different concepts, all of which wereintended to be used for different purposes, and each of which developed differ-ent approaches to eliciting and describing them. Unfortunately, in many cases,this fact does not seem to have been recognised within the organisations whichhave adopted a competency approach, so that the concepts and methodologiesare often used interchangeably creating much confusion (Sparrow, 1997).

According to Sparrow, the three major approaches to competencies are MCIcompetencies, organisational competencies and behavioural competencies.

4.6.1 MCI Competencies

The Management Charter Initiative (MCI) originated in Britain in the 1980s. Theimpetus for the development of MCI competencies was a national concern forwhat was perceived to be the poor quality of much of British management atthe time. This in turn was seen to be at least partly responsible for Britain’spoor industrial performance. The aim of the MCI was, and still is, to raise thestandard of management throughout the UK as a whole, essentially throughimproved management education and training.

As a starting point in this exercise, there was seen to be a requirement toproduce a broad generic specification of what managers at various levels inorganisations needed to be competent to do in order to be able to perform their

jobs to an acceptable standard. Once developed, these competencies could then be used as minimum standards of managerial performance. If and when thesestandards became widely accepted, it was hoped that they would become thedriving force for improved education, training, and development programmesfor managers UK wide. The MCI has produced very extensive lists of thesecompetencies which are meant to be applicable across different organisations.

The MCI approach can be seen as analogous to a driving test which seeks toassess whether a learner driver is fit (competent) to drive a car. In the same wayas a driving test examiner has a list of what a driver has to be able to do inorder to be judged a competent driver, the MCI approach provides lists of whata manager has to be able to do to be competent. The driving test does not set

out to identify individuals who are superior or excellent drivers. It is essentiallymeasuring the minimal requirements to be able to perform the task of drivinga car to an acceptable level. In the same way, MCI competencies are not aboutidentifying excellence in managers. Instead, the focus is on minimum standardsrequired to function adequately. Also, an implicit assumption in driving testsis that most people will be capable of passing it with appropriate trainingand experience (some of course take more attempts than others). This is alsoimplicitly assumed in the MCI definition of competencies, with the focus beingvery much on trainable competencies.





quently require managers to identify effective and ineffective performersand describe their behaviour. This is also a backward looking approach,since it asks managers to identify who has done well in previous situationswhich may no longer be relevant because of changed circumstances requir-ing new competencies. It is also subjective in nature and, given this fact,how can we be sure that managers can do it accurately? The answer to

this question is that we cannot be absolutely sure. However, provided themanagers who are to be asked to provide the examples are chosen carefully,and provided there are enough of them, it is at least possible to obtain aconsensus view of what constitutes effective and less effective performance.

2 Competency dimensions. The necessity for categorising the individual behavioural statements into dimensions or competencies is not disputed.However, the way in which this is normally done is problematic. How dowe know which elements should go with which competencies? Often again,we have to fall back on the vagaries of subjective judgement as to whatlooks right.

3 Skills versus core abilities. We have seen that the behavioural approach tocompetencies elicits both core and trainable behaviours. However, in manycases at least, it does not seek to identify which elements are core and whichare trainable and many competencies contain a mixture of core, skill, andmotivational elements. In these circumstances, it is difficult to know whatsteps to take to ensure that job holders possess a particular competency orset of competencies.

4 Generic versus organisation-specific competencies. We have seen that theMcBer model emphasises organisation-specific and job-specific competen-cies. This raises an important issue already mentioned in this module.First, to what extent are managerial competencies really unique to jobs and

organisations as opposed to being generic? Perhaps the qualities needed to be a good manager are broadly similar across a wide variety of jobs andsituations. Unfortunately, there is little evidence available on this question.Unpublished data collected by this author in a series of competency analysesfor entry level managerial jobs from over 30 widely different organisations,indicated that approximately 70% of the elements generated were commonto most of the organisations (Keenan, 1997). In another study, data collectedon 286 jobs in 21 countries suggested to a considerable extent the generalnature of competencies even across cultures (Spencer and Spencer, 1993).However, while these two studies suggest that there is a strong generic com-ponent in competencies, the jury has not yet reached a conclusion on this

issue and we will need much more evidence before any definite decisionscan be reached.

The behavioural competency model has much to recommend it, although inessence it is not fundamentally different from previous behavioural approachesto the identification of performance requirements. It has, however, gained greateracceptance by organisations, partly because it seemed to meet an identified need.Despite its undoubted usefulness in identifying performance requirements, someproblems remain particularly with respect to measurement issues.





on responsibility, for working in unpleasant conditions, and so on? To someextent the setting of pay differentials within an organisation is at management’sdiscretion, although there are often external constraints on this process. Forexample, in certain trades and professions, wage rates are negotiated nationally

by collective bargaining, leading to a ‘going rate’ for the profession. Even whereindividuals do not belong to a group where wages or salaries are negotiated

at national level, they naturally make wage and salary comparisons with thosedoing similar work in other organisations. The existence of such comparisonsalso limits management’s scope to determine pay purely based on internal con-siderations, since individuals often have to be paid at the going rate to avoidlosing them.

All of this leads to the much-discussed question as to the importance of pay formotivating people. This is, it turns out, not an easy question to answer. The issuehas often been couched in terms of the relative importance of what is known asextrinsic rewards, of which pay constitutes a major part, compared with rewardswhich are intrinsic to the job, such as for example, a sense of achievement. It hasnot proved easy to identify the relative importance of these two types of reward,largely because researchers have found that different methods of collecting datayield different results. Suffice to say that both is undoubtedly important and canhave powerful motivational effects on individuals (Gerhart, 1995).

4.7.2 What Pay Means for the Organisation

First and foremost, we must not lose sight of the fact that pay is a cost itemfor organisations, and the extent to which the wage bill is a major contributionto overall costs will have a profound influence on pay policies. Where wagecosts constitute a small percentage of overall costs, human resource departments

clearly have more scope for adjusting pay rates in order to motivate individualsthan is the case where the reverse is the case. Pay is also a vehicle for attractingand retaining staff. Organisations compete in the marketplace for labour andtalent and as such market conditions inevitably influence pay rates. Once againwe have a constraint on the organisation’s ability to base pay purely on internalconsiderations. Pay can also be used as a way of recognising and rewardingthe past contribution of individuals to the organisation. This is one argumentin defence of the pay scales to be found in many organisations. Often implicithere is the notion that individuals will improve or at least maintain theirperformance in anticipation of continued increases in pay in the future, basedon recognition of their past efforts. However, note that there is no explicit

link between pay and performance with this type of arrangement. Nothing isagreed in advance and any payment increases are purely at the discretion of management. However, pay can be explicitly linked to performance accordingto some pre-agreed formula. There are a variety of such schemes in existencewhere pay is used as a direct incentive to improve future performance.

Reflecting back on the theory of Adams, if we regard pay as a key outcomefor individuals, it follows that it can be a useful tool for restoring equilibrium insituations where the organisation wishes individuals to change their inputs insome way. For example pay can be used as compensation when the organisation





for individuals with particular skills, wage rates will tend to be high, the reverse being the case where there is over-supply and weak demand. Thus for example,if an organisation employs engineers with highly specialised skills who are inshort supply in the labour market, it is likely that it will need to pay them highsalaries in order to recruit and retain them. Conversely, individuals in workroles where supply is high and demand low are likely to be paid less highly.

While organisations obviously need to take the external labour market intoconsideration in their payment policies, payment differentials according to workrole are by no means purely based on supply and demand considerations.In most organisations it is generally accepted that individuals in some workroles contribute more to the organisation than in others and that paymentarrangements should reflect this. While intuitively it seems to make sense thatthe rewards people receive should vary according to the work they do andthe contribution they make, assessing what these differential contributions areand how they should be translated into pay is another matter. Most wouldagree, for example, that the chief executive of an organisation should be paidmore than say, a human resource manager. But how much more and based onwhat exactly? What is the appropriate pay differential, if any, between the headof engineering and the chief accountant? How do we measure their differentcontributions and how exactly do we attach a monetary value to these? Shouldelectricians be paid more than secretaries and if so, how much more and onwhat basis? And so on.

What we are talking about here is the process of comparing different workroles in order to determine appropriate pay rates. There are actually two distinctcomponents in this process. First of all, it is necessary to analyse the similaritiesand differences among the various work roles being compared. There are manyfactors to be taken into account here. Examples of relevant factors might include:

level of responsibility in the job; length and amount of training required; amountof stress experienced in the work role; repetitiveness and boredom; length of working week; working conditions; supervisory and leadership responsibilities;problem solving requirements in the job; physical demands of the job; and soon. Although the list of comparative factors is potentially very large, this is infact the easier of the two components to deal with. The second component isintrinsically more difficult. Since the purpose of this exercise is to determinerelative pay, once the relevant factors such as responsibilities, skill requirements,and so on, have been attributed to the various work roles, it is necessary todetermine the monetary value to be attributed to each of the different factors.How much should a person be paid for a given amount of stress and how doesthis compare with a given level of responsibility, or a given level of physicaldemands?

As far as the first component of this process is concerned, detailed descriptionsof the various jobs are essential. Of course, job analysis data can be used toprovide a fairly accurate picture of the similarities and differences betweenwork roles in terms of duties, responsibilities, demands and so on. However,these methods tell us nothing about the second component of the process – themonetary value that should be placed on these factors. To do this we must lookto methods of job evaluation.





4.7.5 Job Evaluation

The main function of job evaluation is to establish, in a systematic way, compara-tive pay rates across different levels and functions in organisations. As describedabove, the process begins by determining the various factors that make up the

job content of each work role to be evaluated. Once the factors have been deter-

mined, job evaluation is used to allocate values to the different factors in termsof their worth to the organisation. From this it is possible to obtain a total valuefor each job position. This is then used to determine relative pay levels for the

jobs in question.

A key problem for all job evaluation schemes is how to determine the valuesof the various different job factors, such as responsibilities, skills, and so on. Inpractice, this typically boils down to the consensus opinion of a panel of judgesdrawn from within the organisation. This then begs the question as to who these

judges ought to be. Conventionally groups of managers have typically fulfilledthis role, although in a number of cases other employees have been included,such as for example, individuals who actually carry out the work roles. While

the basic principles of job evaluation are as we have just described, a varietyof methods exist to help put the process into practice, the most well known of which is the Hay Guide Chart Profile Method. For a detailed discussion of thisand other methods the reader is referred to Armstrong and Murlis (1994).

Job evaluation schemes are useful for organisations in a number of respects.The most obvious advantage is the fact that they provide organisations with asystematic and rational basis for determining comparative pay across differentwork roles. Also, in countries with strong equal opportunities legislation, suchas the UK, they allow employers to demonstrate the rationale behind their wagepolicies, if and when they are challenged in the courts. Third, to the extent thatthe schemes allow participation of a range of employees in the process of pay

determination, they can also encourage acceptance of pay policies. Job evaluation schemes also have their drawbacks and limitations. There is nogetting away from the fact that the system of determining the values of different

job factors, even although it might be based to a greater or lesser degreeon consensus, is still ultimately subjective and based on human judgement.Often job evaluation systems are highly bureaucratic. They can be expensiveto implement, since while on the one hand those groups who turn out to

be underpaid have to receive increases, it is at the same time politically verydifficult to reduce the pay of those who turn out to be overpaid accordingto the results of the job evaluation. These schemes were initiated in the dayswhen organisations had hierarchical structures with clearly defined job roles andthese are the circumstances where they work best. But in organisations with flatstructures and flexible working practices, there are often few clearly definedwork roles. In these circumstances, job evaluation procedures tend to be lessuseful. Finally, in terms of using pay to motivate employees, job evaluationschemes are of limited value, since they essentially reward a person for what hedoes, rather than how well he does it. The logic of job evaluation is to reward aperson for being in a particular work role, rather for performing especially wellin that role.





might the existence of such free loaders have on the morale and motivationof the rest of the team?

• Pay and organisational performance. A number of schemes linking a pro-portion of pay to the performance of the organisation as a whole have

been used over the years. Usually, these consist of some form of profitsharing scheme. Such schemes have the potential advantages of encourag-ing organisation-wide effort and perhaps helping to foster commitment tothe organisation’s objectives. However, there is the danger that linking payto performance defined purely as profits might encourage too much focuson short-term, at the expense of longer-term, objectives. The limitations of using profit as a sole criterion of organisational performance have already

been referred to earlier in this module. There is also the slightly tricky issueof what should happen about profit-related pay in years where the organ-isation makes no profit or even a loss. There is a danger that, followingseveral years of profit-related payments, employees develop an expectationthat these will always be forthcoming. In these circumstances, the absenceof such payments in lean years could actually function as a disincentive. Inany event, it is questionable whether these types of payment can ever havemuch incentive value for the majority of employees, given the remotenessof the link between the performance of any one individual and the profitsgenerated by the organisation as a whole.

4.8 Summary

The analysis of performance requirements is a critical task for operational HRM.Performance requirements can be specified at the organisational, group, orindividual level and in terms of end results or process criteria. Early approachesto the analysis of individual performance requirements often focused on traits,

but this is now being replaced by a behaviour-focused approach. Job analysisis a set of procedures which can be used to identify the key tasks involvedin specific jobs and the human qualities needed to perform these effectively.The recent popularity of competency approaches is partly a response to theperceived narrow focus of traditional job analysis. Despite their popularity,there is a number of measurement and other problems associated with the useof competencies.

The analysis of performance requirements underpins the use of paymentsystems as a motivational tool in organisations. Pay is an important area of

HRM activity and, as the module shows, there are many complexities in theapplication of pay policies in organisations.

This module has mainly addressed the question of how the key performancerequirements within organisations might be identified. However, it is one thingto be able to define in general terms what individuals need to be able to do toperform well. It is quite another to be able to measure these qualities accuratelyin a person. We turn our attention to this question in the next two modules.





Review Questions



4.1 Unlike HRM, traditional personnel management is not concerned with improving

the performance of individuals.

4.2 HRM differs from traditional personnel management insofar as it puts perform-

ance in a wider context and includes group and organisational level perform-

ance.

4.3 End results measures of performance are always preferable to process measures.

4.4 Meeting quality targets and group cohesiveness are both end results criteria of

performance.

4.5 It is usually better to have composite performance criteria, rather than relyingon any one criterion.

4.6 High levels of employee turnover can either contribute to or detract from

enhanced performance, depending on the circumstances.

4.7 One of the problems of using productivity criteria to measure individual per-

formance is the fact that, for managers in particular, many of the key elements

in the job cannot really be quantified.

4.8 It is not possible to have a characteristic which has both core and skill elements.

4.9 Motivational characteristics can only be enhanced by combining environmental

change with new selection practices.

4.10 Core characteristics cannot be significantly changed by training or coaching.

4.11 The idea that there are underlying traits which are partly responsible for a

person’s ability to carry out the activities required in the job successfully is

highly controversial.

4.12 One of the big advantages of using traits to specify performance requirements

is the fact that traits are directly observable.

4.13 One of the weaknesses of the trait approach is the inconsistency it tends

to create amongst managers when they are trying to specify performancerequirements.

4.14 The fact that, when behavioural indicators are used to specify performance

requirements, there is no need to categorise them in any way constitutes one

of the major advantages of this method.

4.15 Job analysis techniques always focus directly on the behaviour of job holders.

4.16 Blum and Naylor (1968) list nine main methods of job analysis.





4.17 A problem with questionnaire methods of job analysis is the difficulty of carrying

out statistical analysis on information collected in this way.

4.18 As methods of job analysis, checklists and questionnaires have little in common.

4.19 The conference method of job analysis uses experts to produce lists of relevant

job behaviours.

4.20 The critical incident method of job analysis focuses on real events which have

occurred in the job in the past and which exemplify either very good or very

poor performance.

4.21 Traditional job analysis has tended to focus on job specific abilities, rather than

generic ones.

4.22 Although the term competency is used to describe three different concepts, all

three were designed for the same purposes.

4.23 The three different approaches to competencies identified by Sparrow (1997)

are: MCI competencies; managerial competencies; and behavioural competen-

cies.

4.24 MCI competencies are often particularly valuable for small organisations.

4.25 The McBer competency approach represented a radical departure from previous

behavioural approaches to specifying performance requirements.

4.26 The critical incident method is one of the most commonly used methods to

elicit behavioural competencies.

4.27 There is now sufficient evidence available to conclude that most behavioural

competencies are generic.

4.28 The organisational competency approach is not concerned with the competen-cies of individuals.

4.29 One of the advantages of the organisational competency approach is the fact

that it can feed into strategic decision making about what the organisation

might be capable of achieving.

4.30 The organisational competency approach is designed to produce an evaluation

of the organisation’s total capabilities.


4.1 What are the various criteria which could be used to specify performancerequirements at the organisational level? What are the limitations of each?

4.2 What are the disadvantages of using a trait approach for specifying performance

requirements?

4.3 Discuss the potential inadequacies of traditional job analysis from a strategic

HRM point of view.




Module 5 / Recruitment and Selection

is, a word of caution is in order here. There are undoubtedly many occasionswhen reference reports need to be interpreted with care. Those who providereferences are sometimes inclined to paint an overly favourable picture of thecandidate who may, after all, be a colleague or even a friend. A cynic mightalso be inclined to argue that one of the best ways to off-load a poor performingemployee is to provide him or her with a glowing reference. In conclusion, it

would seem that a number of factors are likely to influence the authenticityof the information contained in references, including the relationship betweencandidate and referee, the questions asked of the referee in the first place, andthe format of the reference.

5.5.3 The Interview

The interview is probably the most widely used of all selection devices. How-ever, it is misleading to discuss ‘the interview’ as if it consisted of a singlestandard procedure which is applied in a uniform way to all job situations.In fact, interviews take a wide variety of forms depending on the job and the

organisation, the training and experience of the interviewer, the place of theinterview in the selection procedure as a whole, and so on.

Interview Dimensions

Before going on to consider how the interview measures up to the Muchinskycriteria, it is worth considering the ways in which interviews can vary along dif-ferent dimensions, since these variations might well have important implicationsfor their usefulness.

• Duration is an important way in which interviews vary, where the lengthcan range from just a few minutes to two hours or more. In some casesinterviews take place on a one-to-one basis, whereas in others there may bea panel of anything from two to more than twenty interviewers!

• The type of person carrying out the interview can also be relevant. Impor-tant factors here include whether the interviewer is an HRM specialist or aline manager, the amount and quality of training the person has received,the amount of interviewing experience the person has, and so on.

• The interpersonal atmosphere of the interview can also vary considerably,ranging from the supportive and friendly on the one hand, to the stressinterview at the other extreme where there is a deliberate attempt to pres-surise the candidate. Thankfully the stress interview seems to be currentlyout of favour in most organisations.

• The focus of the interview can also be quite different from one situationto another, whether it be on the person’s opinions and attitudes, theirknowledge, their past achievements, or whatever.

• The degree of structure of the interview is a critically important dimension.Because of its importance, this will be discussed in detail below.

Validity of the Interview

Early reviews of interview validity studies, prior to the introduction of themeta analysis method, concluded that validity was low or even negligible. In





a deadline had to be met to satisfy the requirements of an important customer,how many managers would give this job to someone who had frequently failedto meet deadlines in the past? Although research reviews have compared thevalidity of the situational interview with that of the PBDI, to date the evidencedoes not point to one as being superior to the other from a validity standpoint.However, from a cost perspective, the reader should note that there is likely to be

a considerably greater amount of time-consuming development work requiredin setting up a situational interview than is typically needed for the PBDI. This isprimarily in the form of the preparatory work that has to be done with managersto identify appropriate incidents and develop scoring keys. Consequently, theuse of the situational interview is only likely to be practicable when the numberof vacancies is sufficiently large to justify the costs involved.

Cost, Fairness and Applicability of the Interview

It can be deduced from the above comparison of the PBDI with the situationalinterview, that the extent to which the interview is a high cost method of selection will very much depend on the type of interview being carried out.

Most interviews do, however, involve quite a lot of expensive managementtime, and to this extent there will always be significant costs incurred wheninterviews are used for selection. Although research has been carried out onthe fairness of the selection interview, it has proved difficult to arrive at clearconclusions one way or the other. Thus, Arvey (1979) concluded, following areview of relevant studies, that ‘available evidence leaves it unclear whetheror not interviews discriminate’. Finally, the interview really comes into its ownwhen it comes to applicability, since it can be used for almost any job onecares to imagine. Indeed on some occasions it is just about the only appropriateselection tool which can be used.

5.5.4 Psychometric Tests

Only a relatively few years ago, many recruiters could go about their businessquite successfully with little or no knowledge of psychometric tests. However,in many Western countries, the use of these tests is becoming so widespread thatthis is now much less likely to be the case. Thus, for example, as far back as 1988Shackleton and Newell (1991) found that approximately eighty per cent of largeorganisations in the UK and France used psychometric tests of ability as part of their selection process, although not necessarily for all types of applicants.

The Nature of Psychometric Tests

What a recruiter (and indeed the reader) needs in these circumstances is a basic awareness of the nature of psychometric tests and how they work, ratherthan a comprehensive knowledge of all of the technical details of how tests aredesigned and administered. Some of the basic features of psychometric tests therecruiter needs to be aware of include the following.

• Psychometric tests must be constructed using certain well established techni-cal and statistical criteria. While, as we have already pointed out, a recruiterneed not be familiar with these in detail, before authorising the use of any





Usefulness of Assessment Centres

Assessment centres are generally regarded as having high validity. Such evidenceas we have suggests that they tend to be fair, insofar as they do not appearto discriminate against either sex or against individuals from different racial orethnic groups. However, there is a price to be paid for the high validity of

ACs. They have very high costs, not only when setting them up, but also inthe amount of managers’ time needed to run them. Several assessors have to beinvolved, they are tied up for one or more days, and frequently only around sixor so candidates can be seen per assessment centre. Finally, ACs have somewhatlimited applicability, being mainly used for professional and managerial jobs.

5.6 Summary

Effective selection is crucially important for organisational performance. Selec-tion policy will often be influenced by the general HRM strategy adopted by theorganisation. The starting point for any selection exercise should be systematic

job analysis. There are several alternative selection tools available to the recruiterand it is very important that the right choice of tools for the vacancy in questionis made if selection is to be successful. Key parameters here are validity, fairness,applicability, and cost. Conventional application forms and references appear tohave little validity, at least as currently used. Biodata are more valid, but thereis a potential risk of unfair discrimination if items are not carefully checked.The interview can have acceptable validity, but only when used in a structuredformat. Ability tests are more valid than personality tests. Assessment centresgenerally have high validity, but their cost generally limits their applicability.

Review Questions



5.1 Intensive selection methods are more justified for the recruitment of core

workers, than they are for the recruitment of peripheral workers.

5.2 It is likely that self-selection will become less popular in future as employers

place more emphasis on selecting for attitudinal qualities.

5.3 The selection paradigm is most applicable when a relatively large number of

applicants is being recruited on a regular basis.

5.4 The selection matrix matches required competencies with potential selection

tools.

5.5 The latest statistical techniques allow organisations to carry out validation

studies of their selection procedures even though only a few small number of

people have been recruited.




Module 6 / Performance Appraisal and Performance Management

long been recognised, and at least in the UK and the USA, the majority of largeorganisations have adopted such systems. For example, in data collected from306 organisations in the UK, Long (1986) found that 82 per cent of companiesused formal appraisal systems.

There are several defining characteristics of performance appraisal systems,some of which are listed below:

• First, they are formal systems with a set of rules and guidelines which must be followed in their operation. For example, the time between appraisalswill usually be laid down. It might take place every six months, at yearlyintervals, or occasionally even less frequently. The position of the personwho is to carry out the appraisal will also be specified. Up until recently,this was usually the appraisee’s immediate superior, but as we shall seelater, increasingly others are being brought into the process. What is to beappraised is also determined in advance.

• Another defining feature of many appraisal systems is the requirement toprovide a comprehensive assessment of all relevant aspects of performance.

The information collected is recorded in some form, either as a writtenreport, or in the form of ratings of individual aspects of performance.

• The purposes of the appraisal system and consequently the outcomes to beexpected from it are usually made explicit to both the appraiser and theappraisee. Thus for example, if pay rises are to be based on appraisal data,then this should be known up front to all concerned. Similarly, if one of thepurposes of an appraisal system is to establish training and developmentneeds, then the appraisee should be aware that this is the case.

• The basis of the typical performance appraisal system is a review of pastperformance, usually covering the period since the previous appraisal. Oftenthere will be a direct comparison with the results from the previous year’s

appraisal.• In most cases, there will be feedback to the appraisee on how he or she

has been assessed. This is most often done in the context of an appraisalinterview. The interview will typically include a discussion not only of pastperformance, but also of what needs to be done to improve performance inthe future.

While the above list should give the reader an idea of what is meant byan appraisal system, it should be emphasised that appraisal systems can differmarkedly from one organisation to another. To put it another way, an organ-isation has a number of options in terms of the design and use of appraisal

systems. Some of these are relatively unimportant, while others are very signifi-cant in terms of the usefulness of the system from the point of view of both theindividual and the organisation. We shall now look in more detail at some of the more important ways in which appraisal systems can differ and how thesedifferences might affect how appraisal is used as an HRM tool.

Five major features of appraisal systems are discussed below. These are:

• the purposes and desired outcomes of appraisal

• what is actually to be measured




Module 6 / Performance Appraisal and Performance Management


6.1 What are the main purposes of performance appraisal systems?

6.2 Describe the main methods used to record information in appraisal systems and

discuss the strengths and limitations of each of them.

6.3 What is performance management and how is it different from performance

appraisal?

6.4 What are the benefits and limitations of 360-degree appraisal?


You work in the corporate headquarters of a large multinational organisation in

the chemical industry as an HRM trouble-shooter. HRM is largely a de-centralised

activity in the three major divisions of the company. However, as part of a new HRM

strategy, it has been decided that certain systems should in future be standardised

throughout the organisation. One of these is performance management.

You have been asked to review the current systems in the three divisions, identify

what each does best, and come up with proposals for an optimal system which can

be used throughout the organisation. You have written to each of the divisional

HR managers asking for a written report summarising the main features of their

systems. Their replies are shown below.

Your task is two fold. First, you are asked to write a report evaluating each

system. Second, you have to make preliminary recommendations, based on your

analysis of the existing systems, for a new organisation-wide approach.

Report from Industrial Chemicals Division

The main strength of our HR philosophy in this division is our informality and the

friendly and relaxed atmosphere that exists throughout our division. People like

working here and this makes them more co-operative and productive.

Our performance management system reflects our philosophy of informality. For

example, we have no restrictions on when, or how often, the appraisal interview

takes place. We leave this entirely up to individual managers. Because the person’s

immediate boss knows the job better than anyone else, we leave it up to him to

decide what to assess and what to talk about in the interview, if and when he

decides to have one. We do not require anything to be written down, since this

only creates unnecessary paperwork. As far as I can tell, appraisees really like this

way of doing things. Top management also likes it because it lets them keep afriendly eye on how people are getting on.

Report from Agricultural Division

Our system works extremely well – it ought to given how much the external

consultants charged us to install it. The main strength of the system is the highly

sophisticated rating system they put in for us. It is based on the MCI competencies

framework, which I am sure you are familiar with. We find the system to be very

cost effective from the point of view of manager’s time, since the appraisal interview




Module 7 / Training and Development

• explain the use of quasi-experimental designs in training evaluation.

• explain the difference between development and training.

• describe the main methods used in employee development.

• explain the concept of development for employability.

7.1 Training, Development and Strategic HRMTraining and development can be seen as two inter-related yet distinct activitieswithin HRM. For the purposes of our present discussion, we will assume thatthe primary concern of training is the design and delivery of programmes toenhance specific aspects of performance and to deal with particular performancedeficits. Employee development, on the other hand, has a broader perspectivein the sense that it looks at the individual as a whole, not just at specific aspectsof performance. Also, employee development does not focus purely on theindividual’s current job; it is also concerned with preparing the individual totake on other, perhaps more senior, roles in the organisation in the future.

In Module 1, we distinguished between strategic and operational level HRM.Although in one sense training and development are essentially operationalactivities, they have a crucial enabling role in ensuring the successful implemen-tation of HRM strategies. A few examples will illustrate this point.

1 The broad theme of the need to maximise the utilisation of human resourcesimplies that people need to be thoroughly trained and developed in orderto be able to make their fullest possible contribution to the organisation.

2 The high demands placed on core employees and the extent of the organ-isation’s dependence on them clearly implies a need for extensive trainingand development of individuals in these roles.

3 The new responsibilities which characterise self-directed teams, the intro-duction of empowerment generally, and the requirement for flexibility, allpoint to the need for extensive training if these forms of work organisationare to be put into practice successfully.

4 As we saw, many HRM models highlight the need for constant adaptationand change. Training is likely to be a key element in achieving the difficulttask of gaining acceptance of change.

5 Training is likely to be a key weapon in attempts to change organisationalculture and ensuring employee commitment to the changes.

6 Commitment is one aspect of the broader concept of employee motivationgenerally. It has often been suggested that human beings have a strong

motivation to fulfil their potential and that organisations which facilitate thisprocess will motivate their employees. By enhancing a person’s capabilities,training, and even more so development, clearly contributes towards thisgoal.

7 As we saw in the last module, provision of appropriate training and devel-opment is a key aspect of performance management systems.

8 Finally, training and development are essentially about learning and, assuch, are likely to have a pivotal role in learning organisations as describedin Module 3.





Quite apart from any strategic level issues, training and development should be fundamental activities at the operational level in all organisations, even inthose which have never even heard of strategic HRM. Going back to the notionof core abilities, skills, and motivational abilities, we have seen that the mainway in which the organisation can ensure that individuals had the necessarycore abilities is by means of selection. While some selection for skills might take

place in certain circumstances, in most organisations there are likely to be manycrucially important skills which need to be developed by means of appropriatetraining programmes. This will be both in the context of specific circumscribedtasks and in the broader context of the development of individuals.

We have already seen, in the context of performance management, the impor-tance of taking a systematic and integrated approach to HRM activities. How-ever, we also saw in that same context that, all too often, the approach taken byorganisations seems to be piecemeal and fragmented. This need for a systematicapproach applies equally to training, and again one suspects that the reality aspractised in a number of organisations does not quite match up to this ideal.What, then, would a systematic approach to training in an organisation look

like?

Three main areas of training activity can be identified, each of which has to be tackled in a planned and organised way. All three are inter-related, and anintegrated approach demands that they are set up and run in such a way asto complement and reinforce each other. The three areas are: determination of training needs and priorities; design and delivery of training programmes; andevaluation of training effectiveness. Let us now consider each of these in turn.

7.2 Determining Training Needs and Priorities

This is really the first stage in setting up and implementing a training pro-gramme. Given that the resources any organisation can devote to training willinevitably be finite, it is self-evident that training should be targeted at the areasof greatest need. It follows from this that, before any attempt is made to runany training courses, training needs should be identified in a methodical andsystematic fashion. Unfortunately, this is not always done, and training coursesare often designed and implemented without any serious consideration beinggiven to the real needs of the organisation and those who work in it.

7.2.1 Levels of Analysis

Training needs can be identified at three distinct levels.

1 The organisational level

As we have already seen, the strategic approach to HRM emphasises theneed for an integrated approach to all activities, including training. Fromthis perspective, to determine training needs, it is necessary to considerthe organisation’s strategic objectives, and to identify the abilities skills andattitudes individual employees need to possess to make the maximum con-tribution to the fulfilment of these objectives. Once this is done, the next





stage is to identify areas where existing abilities, attitudes, and so on, donot match current or future requirements. These then constitute areas of training needs. If a systematic exercise in determining organisational com-petencies has already been carried out (see Module 4) this can be used asa starting point here, since the level and range of existing individual com-petencies identified in that exercise can be compared with the performance

requirements derived from the strategic objectives.

Organisational level training needs emanating from the necessity to supportHRM strategy will frequently, but not inevitably, result in organisation-wide training programmes. For example, a strategic imperative to movetowards a total quality focus would very likely require training directed atall employees in the organisation. The exact form of such training could, of course, be modified for different employee groups depending on level andfunction.

Given the extent to which organisations have to adapt to respond to chang-ing circumstances in today’s highly competitive world, analysis of trainingand development needs at this level may also involve trying to anticipatefuture requirements. If the competencies required for the future are differentfrom those required at present, then analysis of training needs should reflectthis.

2 Work role level

We saw in Module 3 that, in most organisations, the extent to which func-tional flexibility is being practised is limited. For the most part, work isorganised into specialised work roles, such as secretary, craftsman, foreman,sales person, finance director, and so on. Even in situations of high func-tional flexibility, most large organisations will have some specialisation of work roles.

Clearly, in this situation, job demands will differ from one role to another,as will the skills and knowledge needed to meet these to a high standard.Consequently, the training needs will differ from one role to another and thisconstitutes the second level of analysis. In this case, training would clearlynot be organisation-wide but would be provided for everyone performingthe work role in question.

3 Individual level

Within any given work role, performance will vary from one person toanother. Consequently, at this level, training needs are likely to be individ-ualised according to each person’s skills profile. In addition to the questionof the person’s ability to perform his or her current job well, the issue of

the individual’s potential to take on other work roles in the future needsto be taken into account here. It is at this point that training, employeedevelopment, and indeed performance management, interface.

In this case training would not be provided on an organisational or workrole basis, but would be targeted at individuals who had certain needs incommon, irrespective of their particular job.





specialist who carries out the needs analysis is to identify these critical com-petencies so that they can be given priority. Another factor to be taken intoconsideration is the size of the gap between the desired level of performanceand the level which actually exists. The greater the disparity between the two,the higher priority should be allocated to training in the area in question.

Another important consideration is whether or not an effective training pro-gramme exists or can be developed for a particular set of competencies at areasonable cost. The point here is that the mere fact that something is criticallyimportant, and that a large gap exists between what is present and what isdesired, in no way guarantees that it will be possible to produce the desiredchanges by means of training. Clearly, if this cannot be done, it would be betterto divert precious training resources to where they can have more impact, evenif the competencies in question are less critical. The reader will by now beaware that core characteristics are not modifiable by training or other means.But, these apart, some learned behaviours may be so well established that it isunrealistic to expect them to change as a result of a short training experience.For example, we have mentioned the importance of attitudes and values manytimes already in this text. But some attitudes may be so well ingrained oversuch a long period as to be virtually impossible to change. Similarly, manyinterpersonal behaviours (often confusingly called skills in the HRM literature)have been learned so early in life and reinforced over so many years that theyhave become a fundamental aspect of the person which would be unaffected byeven the most sophisticated of training interventions.

How then can one decide whether it is possible to influence a particular setof behaviours or attitudes by means of training interventions? One questionto be asked here is whether a training course or programme can be found,either in-house or commercially, which looks as if it might fit the bill. Giventhe proliferation of external training consultants in the marketplace, at least inthe UK and the USA, the answer to this question is very likely to be yes. Evena cursory glance at the trade press of the training world reveals a plethoraof training courses on offer covering just about everything under the sun.However, the fact that someone is prepared to offer a training course on sometopic or other is no guarantee that it will actually have the claimed effect on

behaviour and performance, no matter how appealing it may be on an intuitive basis. Unless the training provider, whether internal or external, can provideconvincing evidence as to the efficacy of the programme, its adoption and usewill be essentially an act of faith on the part of whoever is responsible for itsauthorisation. We shall return to this crucial issue of the evaluation of trainingeffectiveness later in this module.

7.3 Design of Training Programmes

Once training needs have been identified and priorities established, the nextstage is to design an appropriate programme or series of programmes as thecase may be. The first step in this exercise is to work out what the contentof the course or programme is to be. In other words, what are the delegatesexpected to learn on the course? After this has been resolved, the next stage is





interest. The experiment will usually involve the manipulation of some variableor other. Once this has been chosen, the scientist will have to decide whatis to be measured in order to evaluate the effects of the manipulation. Thismight be followed by consideration of a series of questions such as when themeasurements should be taken, how often they should be taken, and so on. Asimple example will illustrate the approach. Suppose the scientist is a doctor

who is interested in the effects of a certain drug on the human body. Thevariable to be manipulated is therefore the drug in question. A decision might

be taken to test for the drug’s effects by measuring changes in blood pressure.One possible experimental design would be to give the drug to a single groupof patients to test for its effects, in which case blood pressure could be measured

before and after drug administration. However, one potential problem here isthe possibility that the testing procedure itself might temporarily affect people’s

blood pressure even in the absence of any drug. For example, they might reactto the injection itself. In this situation, the scientist needs to consider whether itis necessary to have a separate group of patients who are put through exactlythe same test procedure, except that they do not receive the drug. This control

group allows any effects of the procedure itself to be picked up.In training terms, the training experience is the variable of interest and is

analogous to the drug in the above example. The choice of one of Kirkpatrick’scriteria constitutes what is to be measured, and therefore corresponds to bloodpressure in the example. It would also be possible either to measure the samegroup of people on a before and after basis as above, or alternatively to have aseparate control group of people who do not receive the training. However, it isimportant not to push this analogy between training and laboratory experimentstoo far. Most training takes place in real life organisational settings, and it israrely possible to conduct a true experiment of the type which might takeplace in a laboratory. Campbell and Stanley (1963) have used the term quasi-

experimental designs to describe procedures which adhere to the principlesof experimental design, but which are necessarily somewhat removed frompure experiments because of the kinds of real life, practical constraints whichexist when training evaluation programmes are carried out. Table 7.2 illustratessome of the quasi-experimental designs proposed by Campbell and Stanley forpossible use in training evaluation. Where the word ‘test’ is used in the tablethis indicates that information has been collected in the form of one or more of Kirkpatrick’s criteria or any other equivalent measure of training effects.

1 After within design. The first approach shown in the table is known as a‘within group’ design. This simply means that information is only collected

from delegates who have been on the course and there is no separatecontrol group. The first of these is the simplest design of the four shown.Data are collected at one point in time, after the training has taken place.Unfortunately, it is often difficult to place much reliance on informationcollected in this way. An example will illustrate the difficulty. Suppose thecourse in question is a customer care programme, and delegates are given aquestionnaire at the end of the course in which they are required to indicatehow they would deal with a number of customer-related situations. Even if the replies are closely in line with the training objectives, we learn little about





The second problem with this design can also be illustrated by means of anexample. Let us take a course designed to change the leadership style of anewly appointed group of leaders of self-managed teams. Before embark-ing on the training, delegates are given a series of examples of leadershipsituations and asked how they would deal with them. This measure is thenrepeated at the end of the programme. Assuming that there were no impor-

tant external influences which could have affected questionnaire responses,it is tempting to conclude that any observed changes demonstrate an effectof training. However, there is another way in which these results could beexplained. Suppose the very act of completing the questionnaire stimulatedtrainees to think about the leadership situations in question. Further reflec-tion on these in the intervening period between the two administrations ledthem to change their views on how best to handle these particular issues.The observed change would thus be a result of this reflective process, ratherthan the training programme itself. It is known that some questionnaire-type measures can indeed have this kind of effect. They are known asreactive measures, for the obvious reason that individuals respond to them

in some way, so that any possible effects of training are confounded withchanges due to the measuring instrument itself.

3 After between design. In this design, in addition to the trainees, there isa separate control group of employees who are not being trained but whoare also asked to complete the training effectiveness measures at the end of the training period. The effectiveness of the training can then be estimatedfrom the size of the difference between the responses of the training andcontrol group. By using this method, many of the problems of within groupdesigns can be avoided. However, it does assume that delegate and controlgroups are similar at the outset and this requires careful matching of the twogroups at the beginning. Also, for technical reasons of a statistical nature,

between group studies are less sensitive when it comes to identifying smalleffects of training than within group studies.

4 Before after within and between design. In the final design shown in thetable, both training and control groups are given the relevant test beforeas well as after the training. This is quite a sophisticated design whichincorporates the benefits of both the within and between approaches andavoids most of the problems mentioned above. For example, it is possibleto check that the control and training groups are properly matched byinspecting their pre-training scores. Reactions to the measure itself or aninfluence of the external environment would be indicated if the controlgroup scores changed over the training period. The use of two within

measures on the trainee group provides the sensitivity to pick up smalleffects. Unfortunately, this type of design is complicated to set up and runand for this reason one suspects that it is rarely used in practice.

7.5 The Relationship between Training and Development

Although training is an essential feature of most employee development pro-grammes, development implies much more than just the provision of training





7.6.2 Self-development

As a method of assessing each individual’s strengths and weaknesses, develop-ment centres can assist the organisation in fulfilling its responsibility to developits employees, and in this respect they perform a useful function. However,as part of their overall philosophy of managing people, many organisations

take the view that development should not be the sole responsibility of theorganisation, but that individuals should also take some responsibility for theirown self-development. One aspect of this is to encourage individuals to analysetheir own strengths and weaknesses in their current work role. Another is toinvite them to consider ways in which they might develop themselves to takeon new roles in future. Going hand-in-hand with these activities would be aself-examination of ways in which their capabilities could be enhanced throughtraining, the provision of appropriate work experience, or whatever. Of coursefor this self-analysis process to work successfully, the organisation would needto provide support for the individual. This could take a variety of forms. Forexample, short courses in how to carry out self-analysis could be set up, per-

haps led by a specially trained facilitator. Another alternative would be to setup self-development groups. This would involve bringing together a group of managers, with or without a facilitator, to discuss their personal developmentneeds and how they might be fulfilled.

7.6.3 The Learning Contract

Consistent with the notion of managers taking some responsibility for theirown development is the idea of the learning contract. This involves a managermaking a formal commitment to a set of learning goals to be achieved withina specified time frame. The contract might include not just the final goals to

be achieved, but also what will be done to achieve these, the resources neededfrom the organisation to support the activity, and how the learning outcomeswill be measured. The reader should note here that the ultimate responsibilityfor making the contract work lies with the individual, not the organisation.

7.6.4 Planned Work Experience

One more or less universally accepted way to develop people is through theprovision of work experience. Of course, a considerable amount of learningwill take place ‘on the job’ whatever the nature of the work the person isdoing. However, to qualify as a development activity, the experience needs to

be properly programmed, i.e. it needs to be planned and systematic. In thiscontext, a starting point in planning such a programme might be an analysisof the future work roles anticipated for the individual, perhaps identified as apart of the formal appraisal system. Once the range of experience required toachieve the necessary learning had been specified, the next step would be todesign an appropriate regime for the individual. This would typically includea specification of the work roles to be included in the programme, the optimaltime to be spent in each, the competencies to be developed, and the expectedlearning outcomes at each stage.





relationship between mentor and those being mentored may mean that the latterfeels more able to seek help with problems and difficulties.

7.7 Development for Employability

A recent innovation in a number of organisations is the idea of developmentfor employability. The notion here is to provide the employee with a widerange of transferable skills which would be valued by other organisations. Inother words, one objective of employee development in this context is to makethe individual more employable outside of the organisation. At first glanceit would seem to be irrational for an organisation to devote time and moneydeveloping someone just so that another organisation can reap the benefits. Whythen have organisations adopted this policy? It is really an attempt to motivateemployees in the face of the profound changes to work organisation broughtabout by the new HRM policies and practices discussed at length in the earlymodules of this text. In particular, the need for organisations constantly to adaptand change and the adoption of numerical flexibility in order to facilitate this

change have meant that the old idea that a person has a job for life withinthe one organisation is disappearing, if it ever existed. Also, flatter organisationstructures means that, in many circumstances, prospects of internal promotionare much more limited than in the past. If security and advancement are nolonger available to employees in the way they once were, what kind of dealcan the organisation offer the employee to maintain motivation? One answer isto offer development which will not only improve the employee’s performancewithin his current organisation but, by providing a range of transferable skills,will also enhance the person’s marketability and therefore his chances of beingemployed elsewhere. While there is some logic to this approach in terms of compensating the individual for loss of security and advancement opportunity,

it can clearly be something of a risk strategy. For example, there is a cleardanger that individuals with highly marketable skills might just decide to leavefor lucrative offers elsewhere at times which are less than convenient for theorganisation. This might well be during periods when their services are mostneeded.

7.8 Summary

In addition to being core operational level activities, training and developmentare critically important for the successful implementation of a number of HRMstrategies. Training needs analysis which is systematic and the determination

of training priorities should constitute the first stage of any major training pro-gramme. For a programme to be effective, appropriate training content andprocess have to be determined. Formal evaluation of training outcomes is essen-tial and this involves decisions about which criteria to use and about how bestto collect the necessary information. Development differs from training insofaras its scope is broader and it has a longer-term perspective. A variety of tech-niques can be used to develop individuals, including: action learning; coachingand mentoring; and planned work experience. Development for employabil-ity attempts to motivate individuals by providing them with transferable skills





7.34 One of the functions of coaching is to provide feedback on performance.

7.35 Mentoring, but not coaching, can help an individual to make political connec-

tions in the organisation.


7.1 What is meant by the term training content? Describe one method of deter-

mining training content.

7.2 To what extent is it true to say that training and development have a crucial

role in the implementation of HRM strategy?

7.3 Describe the various ways in which training needs can be analysed.

7.4 What general learning principles can a trainer utilise when designing and

running training courses?


You are a training manager for a large organisation which is about to begin an

extensive recruitment campaign. You have decided that a number of your managers

require training in interviewing skills. You have asked a recruitment consultant to

provide you with a short outline of the kind of course she would offer. She has sent

you the following summary of the approach she would take.

The course begins with a two-hour lecture from the trainer on the principles of good

interviewing, in which delegates are given advice on how best to plan for and conduct

a selection interview. This is followed by a series of role play scenarios. In the first ofthese, one of the delegates interviews a ‘candidate’ for a particular post. The episode

is filmed on closed circuit television with other delegates and the trainer observing the

interaction. The video recording is replayed in order to review the performance of the

manager and advice given on how performance can be improved. Both positive feedback

on what was done well and negative feedback on what was done badly are provided.

Delegates participate in the feedback process along with the trainer. The whole episode

takes about 45 minutes The process is repeated for each delegate until all have been

exposed to the role play situation. This completes the first day of the course. On day

two of the course, the whole process is repeated so that all trainees have at least two

opportunities to carry out the role play. Once all of the role plays have been completed,

the course ends with a one hour lecture on the evaluation errors interviewers make when

they assess candidates. There is even a pass-fail criteria set for the course and delegates

who have not reached the required standard, as judged by the trainer, are deemed to

have failed the course. Those who fail are not allowed to take any part in selection

interviews in the organisation until they re-take and pass the training course.

Your task is to identify the main learning principles involved in the method she is

proposing and to comment on how valuable these are likely to be in ensuring the

success of the programme.




Module 8 / Careers and Career Management

According to Schein’s theory, when individuals make occupational choices, theydo so in accordance with their dominant career anchor.

Schein (1993) described eight career anchors as follows.

1 Technical/functional competence. The self-image of individuals with thiscareer anchor is tied to the technical content of their work and their beliefs

about their competence to carry it out. For this type of individual, theideal job is one which fits their specific functional area of expertise. Anexample would be the professional scientist who wishes to build a careeras a technical specialist.

2 Managerial competence. Those who have this anchor are primarily con-cerned with competence in managing other people. These individuals arenot fundamentally interested in technical work but see such jobs as a meansto the end of obtaining a managerial post.

3 Security. In this case, what is valued is stability, predictability, and continued job employment. This is more important than the content of the work itself.

4 Creativity. The key motivation for those with this career anchor is the need

to produce something new, which is completely their own. This could be anew product or service, or even a new enterprise.

5 Autonomy. Individuals with this career anchor want to control their ownlives and they do not react well to the rules and regulations that typify lifein many large organisations.

6 Pure challenge. The main need here is to win against strong competitionor to succeed when the odds are stacked against you.

7 Dedication. In this case, the congruence between the person’s social, polit-ical, or other values, on the one hand, and the organisation’s values on theother, is of paramount importance.

8 Lifestyle integration. The key driving force in this case is to ensure thatthere is an equilibrium between work and non-work activities, so that a balanced lifestyle is maintained.

Schein’s theory has a number of implications both for individuals and fororganisations. In particular, knowledge of a person’s career anchors can be auseful aid to career decision making. For example, suppose a technical personis offered a managerial position within an organisation. Would this be likelyto fulfil her needs and could she offer what the organisation wants? Thiswould depend to some degree on whether the individual had a technical or amanagerial career anchor. To take another example, the decision to give up asecure job and set up one’s own business would make more sense for someone

with a creativity anchor than it would for a person whose leanings were towardssecurity. To take an illustration from an organisational perspective, suppose, aspart of a drive to increase flexibility, it is decided to offer some managersthe opportunity to resign from full-time employment and to become occasionalconsultants for the organisation. It is likely that, other things being equal, thosemanagers whose career anchor revolved around life style integration would belikely to respond positively to such an offer.





8.2.2 Career Stages

It is widely acknowledged that individuals go through a series of stages in theircareers, from entry into occupational life through to eventual retirement. Mod-els of career stages have implications for both individuals and organisations. Inparticular, it is likely that individuals will have different needs and therefore dif-

ferent expectations of what the organisation should provide for them, dependingon their career stage. Also, what they are prepared to offer the organisation may

be different from one stage to another.

Super’s Career Stages

Some years ago, Super (1957) proposed that there were four major career stages.These were:

1 Exploration. This occurs roughly between the ages of 15 and 24 and is theperiod where initial occupational choices are made.

2 Establishment. This is the period when the person makes his mark on the

organisation and generally consolidates his value to it. The age range hereis around 25–44.

3 Maintenance. The age range here is from 45–64. The major pre-occupationhere is to hold onto one’s established position, perhaps in the face of thrusting competition from younger, up and coming, managers.

4 Disengagement. Involvement with work gradually becomes reduced andthe individual becomes less of a central player and more of an observer.The suggested age here is 65 plus.

While the sequence of events proposed by Super seems quite plausible, theproposed age ranges are probably in need of modification in the changed circum-

stances of the modern world. In particular, the age at which the disengagementstage begins should perhaps be revised downward in the light of the currenttrend for careers to become shorter. There are a number of reasons for thistrend. It is partly because of a fashion in some organisations to favour youngeremployees at the expense of older ones in the (probably mistaken) belief thatthe former have more to offer. This has led to a situation where older employ-ees are frequently targeted when there is a need for downsizing. From theemployee’s perspective, increasing affluence, at least in the West, has made itpossible for many people to opt out of full-time employment in middle age.Finally, the advent of flexible work practices, where former full-time employeescan be re-engaged on a part-time basis as and when needed, has reinforced these

trends.

Greenhaus and Callanan’s Career Stages

Greenhaus and Callanan (1993) proposed a five stage model of careers whichhas some parallels with Super’s model.

1 Occupational choice. This is the stage of preparation for work and it lastsuntil the person is about 25 years old. Holland’s theory of career choice isclearly applicable to this career stage.





• From a succession planning perspective, systems are needed to identifyand nurture potential within the organisation. While there are some cir-cumstances where vacancies are best filled from outside the organisation,many are best dealt with by promotion from within. Quite apart from themotivational effects of promoting internally, some senior positions may alsorequire such a wide range of organisational competencies, acquired over

many years and in many positions, that promotion from within is the onlyrealistic option. The long-term perspective required here takes us beyondthe medium-term concerns of performance management and managementdevelopment and into the realm of career management.

8.3.2 Career Management Methods

The twin objectives of career management are to help individuals to fulfil theircareer potential to their satisfaction and to help ensure that the organisationhas appropriately qualified people to step into senior roles when necessary.

Some techniques of career management attempt to address both of these aims,while others are more focused on one rather than the other. Because in manyways career management overlaps with performance management and employeedevelopment, it should be no surprise to the reader that the techniques used inthese areas also overlap.

Development Centres

Development centres have already been mentioned in two modules in this text.Their use, alongside appraisal systems, for identifying those with potential forpromotion was discussed in Module 6. In Module 7, we saw how knowledgederived from development centres could feed into the employee development

process. Development centres can also be used as part of the long-term careerplanning process. However, as described in Modules 6 and 7, the main functionof development centres was to evaluate individuals’ strengths and weaknessesfor purposes of helping the organisation fulfil its future staffing needs. Thisstrong emphasis on evaluating the person for the organisation’s benefit doesnot fit too well with the notion of career management as described above.Career management is in many ways more about the individual’s, rather thanthe organisation’s, needs. Indeed this is one of the main reasons why careermanagement is seen as ultimately the individual’s responsibility.

What kinds of difficulties might be encountered when development centresfocusing purely on evaluation are used as part of the career management pro-

cess? In the first place, such an emphasis is likely to lead participants to view thewhole exercise as being carried out primarily for the organisation’s benefit, ratherthan their own. This in turn is likely to influence people’s whole attitude to theexperience. Because development centres are expensive and time-consuming torun, the organisation may only be able or willing to put a proportion of man-agers through the centre. This not only raises the tricky problem of how bestto select individuals to attend; it also risks demotivating those who are notselected for the centre. Demotivation can also occur for those who are invited,

but who do not perform particularly well at the centre, and who subsequently





in addition to the evidence from the development centre. Of course, there isno such luxury when fast track individuals are being sought at the selectionstage. Given the complexity of the selection process and its propensity for error,identification of candidates for a fast track route at this stage seems likely to besomewhat problematic.

There is not a great deal of hard evidence that those on the fast track really dohave accelerated careers, although there are enough examples of this happeningto suggest that it is at least true in some cases. But does this advancement occurin the way the rationale for such schemes suggests? Remember, the theory isthat the career advancement of people who are already specially gifted would befurther accelerated by providing them with enhanced training and development.However, if those identified as fast track really were highly able, perhaps theywould have advanced just as far in the organisation even without any specialtreatment. Conversely, those placed on the fast track could have been wronglyidentified as being particularly gifted, and still have made rapid progression.This could happen in two ways. First, the enhanced training and developmentthey received increases their performance capability so much that, irrespectiveof their original potential, they are able to progress rapidly up the hierarchy.Alternatively, perhaps the mere act of publicly labelling someone as ‘fast track’

becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. This could work as follows. Let us supposethat the line managers of a group of fast track individuals believe that theoriginal assessment is correct and that they do indeed have unusually highpotential. Because of this, they are viewed in more favourable terms than theyotherwise might have been. For example, they receive more favourable appraisalthan their performance merits (‘He must be good – he is a high flyer!’). In thisway the initial label is reinforced by the appraisal system and this in turn thenfeeds into the promotion system. On the same basis, fast track individuals could

be singled out for demanding job roles (‘She is fast track therefore she must be

able to handle this assignment’). Being given demanding job roles enriches theperson’s portfolio of experience, which in turn enhances promotion prospects,and so once again we have the potential for a self-fulfilling prophesy.

What can we conclude about fast track schemes? While there is undoubtedlya place for fast track schemes in career management, the identification of whoshould be placed on such schemes should be carried out with considerablecare, and it is doubtful whether this can really be done satisfactorily at therecruitment stage. Selection techniques are just not that foolproof. Once fasttrack individuals have been identified, great care must be taken to avoid theself-fulfilling prophesy trap. Finally, the consequences of such schemes for themotivation of those not on the fast track must be considered, either by offering alla fair opportunity to get ‘on the bus’ – perhaps by means of open developmentcentres – or by ensuring that promotion opportunities remain for those not inthe scheme.

Coaching and Mentoring

The role of coaching and mentoring in relation to short-term management devel-opment has already been mentioned in Module 7. Both of these can also beincorporated into career management programmes. There are several ways in





which an effective coach or mentor can benefit the individual from a careerpoint of view. These include generally promoting the person’s interests, increas-ing their visibility with important people, alerting them to career opportunitieswithin the organisation, and recommending them for promotion.

Career Counselling

If individuals are to plan and manage their careers effectively, it is importantthat they have an accurate and comprehensive picture of their own strengths,weaknesses, capabilities, and potential. A number of the organisational practiceswe have already discussed, such as performance appraisal and developmentcentres, provide this feedback. However, as we saw above in our discussionof development centres, in many cases such feedback tends to be focusedon the organisation’s needs, with those of the individual often being seen as

being of secondary importance. Career counselling reverses this tendency withthe emphasis being placed firmly, indeed in some cases exclusively, on theindividual’s requirements. In some instances the counselling role is undertaken

by the human resources department, possibly, as we saw above, as part of adevelopment centre. However, in order to ensure that the counselling is entirelyin the individual’s interest, some organisations have preferred to buy in outsideexpertise to carry out this role. This is particularly likely to be the case wherethe counselling is of the out-placement variety. The objective of out-placementcounselling, which is frequently initiated as part of a redundancy programme,is to assist the person to develop his career outside of the organisation.

Career Development Workshops

This is yet another method aimed at increasing individuals’ self-awareness of thecareer options and opportunities that might be available to them. Once again,

the process is very much focused on individual, rather than organisational,needs. For this reason, the workshops are often conducted off site with theconfidentiality of the whole process being emphasised. Typically, a series of tests and exercises will be included in the workshops and the group should

be small enough (around 4 – 10 people) to allow for extensive discussion andfeedback among group members over a number of sessions.

A wide range of career options can be explored in these workshops, not allof which need be limited to the person’s existing organisation. This freedomto consider career alternatives outside the organisation is, of course, consistentwith the individual focus of this approach to career management.

Career Workbooks

These can be used either as an alternative to the workshop approach, or theycan be used to complement it. In any case, the aim is very similar insofar as

both are designed to increase the individual’s self-awareness of job and careeropportunities. Workbooks have the advantage that people can work through thequestions and exercises contained in them at their own speed and in their owntime. What they lack is the detailed feedback from others in a similar situationwhich characterises the workshop approach.





Educational Opportunities

Organisations can support the development of employees’ careers by encour-aging them to embark on continuing education programmes of various types.Of particular interest here would be programmes which enhance promotionprospects or which make it easier for a person to change career direction. Some

programmes will be closely related to the person’s current job, such as forexample, an MSc course designed to up-date an engineer’s technical knowledge.Other programmes are more developmental, in the sense that they widen theindividual’s career horizons. An example here might be an MBA degree under-taken by a technical specialist who wants to develop into a manager. There mayeven be no immediate or obvious connection between the programme and theworkplace, such as when a person embarks on a course to improve his languageskills purely out of personal interest.

Organisational support for this kind of activity can take a variety of formsincluding financial assistance, time off to attend college or university, or even theprovision of an in-company learning resource centre. The latter might include a

variety of self-learning materials such as interactive computer learning packages,distance learning materials, and so on.

8.3.3 New Forms of Work Organisation and the Psychological Contract

In our earlier discussion of the psychological contract, it was suggested thatindividuals embarking on a career have traditionally expected organisations toprovide both job security and opportunities for advancement. In return, theindividual would offer loyalty, perhaps commitment, and a wealth of organisa-tion specific expertise. The crucial issue now becomes whether or not modernorganisations can actually meet these expectations and whether they want what

is offered in return.In traditionally run hierarchical organisations there was no great difficulty in

meeting these expectations with proper career management. Also, such organi-sations presumably valued what the individual was prepared to offer in return.However, there are good reasons for thinking that the situation is changing radi-cally as organisations adopt new HRM philosophies and practices. Indeed, somehave argued that we may be moving to a situation where careers as previouslyunderstood will no longer exist. Let us consider some of the major implicationsof recent approaches to work organisation for the career concept, as in the notionof job security and career advancement opportunities.

The strong emphasis on the importance of bottom line profits and the needto squeeze as much as possible out of the human resource embodied in someHRM theories, does not fit well with the concept of organisations as having thelong-term interests of employees as a high priority.

The emphasis on the constant need to adapt to the external environment carrieswith it the implication that labour force requirements will fluctuate according tocircumstances, with a resulting loss of job security.

Adapting to change by expanding and contracting the labour force as condi-tions require it is seen as one of the key advantages of flexibility and outsourcing.





and priorities associated with their chosen profession and these may well be different from those of the organisation.

4 Feedback versus trust and autonomy. The imperative to deliver the bestpossible service to the customer means that, more than ever, organisationsare dependent on employees providing them with detailed feedback aboutcustomers and the state of the marketplace. In return, the organisationneeds not only to show trust in the employee’s judgement, but should also

be willing to delegate more responsibility to employees when dealing withcustomers.

8.3.4 An Alternative Approach to the Psychological Contract

More recently, Herriot (1995) has suggested that employees feel resentful whenthey perceive that organisations do not fulfil their part of the psychologicalcontract, i.e. they fail to offer job security and a career structure, even thoughthey still expect employees to deliver their side of the bargain in terms of loyalty

and commitment. In particular, employees feel a strong sense of unfairness inthese circumstances, since they are asked to give more than they get in return.They also feel a sense of powerlessness because they have had no say in thesenew work arrangements. Herriot proposes that people have three options whenfaced with these circumstances.

1 Get safe. If you do not feel secure in the job, one way to adjust to thesituation is to keep your head down, do everything by the book, and avoidrisks at all costs. In other words, this option effectively kills off the kindsof innovation and creativity which many organisations value so much.

2 Get out. Another option is to get out at the first opportunity. At first glance,this might not seem to be such a bad thing for some organisations if they

have a need to slim down the workforce. The trouble is that those who goare likely to be the ones who have most to offer another employer, i.e. theones the organisation least wants to lose.

3 Get even. A natural human response to being treated unfairly is to try to geteven with the perpetrator of the unfairness. People working in organisationsare no different from anyone else in this respect. The easiest way to geteven and restore a sense of fairness in these circumstances is simply toprovide less to the employer, so that balance is restored. This can be done

by reducing loyalty, effort, commitment, and anything else the organisationwants.

Given the dysfunctional nature of these responses for organisations, not tomention for the individual, it is clearly important to find some alternativeapproach to career management which will reduce or eliminate the feelingsof inequity and powerlessness which lie behind them. Herriot proposes thata new psychological contract needs to be struck. Unlike in the past, wherethe contract was implied rather than stated, the new form of contract should

be made explicit and should be openly negotiated between both parties. Thiswould require, on the one hand, the organisation being up-front about what itwants and what it is prepared to offer. On the other hand, the employee needs





will continue to be the case when the emerging cadre of relatively youngfemale managers work their way through the system. If these young womenare eventually going to break through the glass ceiling, no doubt they will havea number of disadvantages to overcome. Ragins and Sundstrom (1989) havesuggested that women in this situation face three levels of disadvantage. Theseare:

1 Organisational factors. A number of organisational procedures and poli-cies can impede the progress of women managers. Ragins and Sundstromsuggest that these include selection policies which either deliberately orinadvertently discriminate against women. They also point out that wherewomen, for whatever reason, are denied the same training and developmentopportunities as men, then they will be disadvantaged. How can discrimi-natory practices of this sort be prevented, or at least minimised? One waywould be to have in place the kind of systems for selection, development,performance management, and so on, which have been described in previ-ous modules of this text. It would then be up to the organisation to take

steps to ensure that these are applied in the same way toall

managers.2 Interpersonal factors. In a male dominated environment, the nature of thesocial relationships between men and women will mitigate against womengaining the same quality of experience and support in the workplace as isavailable to men. For example, an opposite sex mentoring relationship will

be quite different from, and perhaps less beneficial than, a same sex one.In a male dominated organisation the latter may not always be available towomen managers. Male managers benefit from membership of the informal,all male, social networks which are often found in male-dominated organi-sations. On the surface, such networks do little more than provide a senseof camaraderie amongst their members. However, on closer scrutiny, theycan provide subtle, but important, benefits for members. In particular, theycan offer the kind of support, contacts with ‘important’ people, and accessto privileged information which so often smooth the process of climbingup the career ladder. As these authors see it, if you are ineligible to jointhe club, you are clearly at a disadvantage as far as career advancement isconcerned.

3 Individual factors. Home-work conflicts can clearly impede a woman’scareer progress if she is in a position where she is expected to shoulderthe major responsibility for looking after the children. This is a particularproblem if she takes a career break to have a family, since she will verylikely come back into the workplace to find herself left behind by her malecounterparts. Responsibility for childrearing and not being the primary

breadwinner can also mean that a woman may not have the necessarygeographical mobility to take advantage of career opportunities when theydo present themselves.

All of this presents a real challenge for HRM managers if they are to ensurefair and equal opportunities for both sexes. In fact there may be an even morecomplex problem if, as has been suggested, there are fundamental differences

between men and women in their attitudes and behaviour at work. We willconsider this in more detail below.





this assumption having any basis in reality. We shall return to this question inthe next section.

Gender Differences in Management Style

Personality is likely to be one of a number of factors which influences a person’s

managerial style. If so, it might be expected that males and females wouldhave different management styles reflecting differences in their personalities.Based on what has been said above, it could be suggested that a typical maleoriented style would tend to be dominant and competitive, while a typicalfemale style would be participative and co-operative. We have already seenhow successful women managers seem to conform closely to the so-called malemanagerial style. However, there is in fact little if any, hard evidence that thisstyle of managing is actually particularly effective from the organisation’s pointof view. Indeed, there are some intuitively appealing reasons for suggestingthat the management style claimed to be favoured by women might actually

be more effective, at least for certain purposes. For example, would a stylewhich emphasises participation and co-operation not be more conducive toincreasing commitment and motivation in subordinates than one which is basedon dominance and competition? If this were so, it would be ironic indeedif women were forced to adopt a male oriented managerial style in order tosucceed in the organisation. However, all of this is based on the presumptionthat there really are clear-cut gender differences in management style. Everydayobservation of men and women in the workplace would seem to indicate thatthis is indeed the case. Despite this, most of the research evidence actuallypoints in the opposite direction, suggesting that men and women managers donot differ greatly in management style.

To summarise this section on gender and careers, it is clear that women take

up different occupational roles from men and are under-represented in seniorpositions in organisations. Women face a number of disadvantages in theirefforts to advance up the career ladder and these undoubtedly contribute to theglass ceiling effect. It is quite possible that there are real gender differences inattitudes and behaviour in the workplace, although research has often cast doubton this suggestion. If significant gender differences in workplace behaviourare ultimately shown to exist, there would of course be nothing untoward inthis. Indeed, such differences could contribute to a healthy diversity withinorganisations. The problem arises when unwarranted assumptions are madeabout the superiority of the apparent attributes of one sex compared to those of the other, with respect to their suitability for more senior roles in organisations.To make such assumptions in the absence of any supportive evidence is not onlyunfair, but is also damaging to the basic HRM objective of optimisation of theutilisation of human resources.

8.5 Summary

Career management can be differentiated from employee development by itslonger time perspective and the greater onus it puts on the individual to takeresponsibility for managing his or her own career. Theories of career choices and




Module 9

Employee Relations

Contents

9.1 What is Employee Relations? 9/2

9.2 Philosophical Approaches to Employee Relations 9/3

9.2.1 The Political Context 9/3

9.2.2 Frames of Reference 9/4

9.2.3 Collectivism v Individualism 9/5

9.2.4 Power, Influence, and Involvement 9/5

9.3 The Legal Framework 9/6

9.4 Employee Relations Themes 9/7

9.5 Unions and Collective Representation 9/9

9.5.1 Union Growth and Decline in the 20th Century 9/9

9.5.2 Union Recognition 9/10

9.5.3 The Future of Unions in Organisations 9/12

9.6 Grievance and Discipline 9/13

9.7 Health and Well-being 9/14

9.7.1 The Business Case for Promoting Health and Well-being at Work 9/15

9.7.2 Physical Aspects of Well-being 9/16

9.7.3 Psychological Aspects of Well-being 9/17

9.7.4 What can Organisations do to Maximise Health and Well-being atWork?

9/18

9.7.5 Lifestyle Programmes and Well-being 9/20

9.7.6 Well-being and Organisational Culture 9/20

9.8 Techniques for Increasing Involvement at Work 9/20

9.8.1 Dimensions of Involvement 9/21

9.8.2 Communication and Consultation 9/21

9.8.3 Financial Arrangements 9/22

9.8.4 Participation in Decision-making 9/22

9.8.5 How Successful Are Involvement Techniques? 9/23

9.9 Summary 9/24





Module 9 / Employee Relations

9.5 Unions and Collective Representation

The role of unions in employee relations provides a good illustration of howit is simply a convenience to compartmentalise employee relations into distinctthemes as we have just done. In reality, most of the topics we will discussoverlap and are inter-connected. Thus, many unions have in the past perceived

themselves as having a legitimate interest in most, if not all, of the themeslisted above. Thus, for example, employees who are involved in grievance anddiscipline procedures are routinely represented by their unions. In line with theirtraditional concern for the welfare of their members, health issues have long

been of interest to unions. In highly unionised workplaces especially, unionshave often seen themselves as the main vehicle for communication betweenmanagement and the workforce. Finally unions have often argued in favour of what they see as employees’ legitimate rights to participate decision-making.

9.5.1 Union Growth and Decline in the 20th Century

HRM takes place in and is influenced by the wider society of which it is apart. Nowhere is this more true than in the area of union-management rela-tionships. Political, economic, cultural and legal factors can all impinge on themanagement/union relationships in important ways. This is well illustrated bythe history of the trade unions in the UK. In the last century, the growth of thetrade unions in the UK was inextricably linked with the political forces of thetime. This was not just because early trade union thinking was often influenced

by the Marxist analysis of the nature of industry and capital which was popularat the time, but also through the development of close links with the BritishLabour Party.

In the UK, union power grew steadily in the first half of the 20th century,

with the sixties and seventies probably representing the zenith of their influence.At that time the unions were a powerful force in many organisations and unionmuscle was frequently exercised in pursuit of wage increases, many of whichseemed ill-affordable for the companies concerned. Restrictive labour practiceswere widespread in highly unionised workplaces and labour flexibility almostnon-existent. Industrial action in the form of strikes was almost endemic. Allof this was made worse by the fact that it coincided with a period of relativelack of competitiveness and economic decline in the face of tough overseascompetition. Many were quick to blame this economic demise on the perceivedexcesses of the unions and indeed the sixties and seventies were periods of considerable angst for employers, government, and society generally about the

poor state of industrial relations in Britain. Government responded, not only by setting up independent investigations into the state of industrial relations inthe UK (e.g. Donovan, 1968), but also with a series of attempts at legislationaimed at reducing strike activity, removing restrictive practices and generallycurbing perceived union excesses. All of this was designed, perhaps somewhatoptimistically, to put workforce relations on a more stable and harmoniousfooting.

It is clear that union power and influence in the UK, and indeed in manyother countries, has declined in the eighties and nineties. A few examples will





repetitive work; conflict and uncertainty related to the individual’s work role; bullying in the workplace; and so on. Consequences of stress in organisationsare also varied, some of the most commonly reported ones being feelings of tension, anxiety, and low job satisfaction (Cooper and Payne, 1980).

While many of these traditional sources of stress are no doubt still relevant,additional sources of pressure on individuals have been emerging recent years,many of which relate to changes in methods of work organisation. Take forexample the case of flexibility. We have already discussed the advantages of numerical flexibility from an organisational perspective in Module 3. Howeverfrom the point of view of well-being, it could be argued that these benefitscome at the cost of stress for those in the peripheral workforce, for examplein the form of the unsettling effects of job insecurity. In similar vein, manycontemporary HRM practices such as de-layering can result in a lack of careeradvancement opportunities with consequent adverse psychological effects on asignificant number of individuals. As already mentioned, while some mightfind empowerment a challenge, for others it can be perceived as a burden.While arguments about the stressful consequences of many contemporary HRM

practices seem well grounded in logic, a note of caution is in order here. Ithas to be admitted that research which specifically addresses the links betweenthese new forms of work organisation and stress on individuals is still prettythin on the ground. We need more hard evidence on this issue. Hopefully, thiswill become an increasingly important research agenda in the future.

9.7.4 What can Organisations do to Maximise Health and Well-being at Work?

There is no single prescription for the management of well-being that can beuniversally applied to all organisations. The reality is that an organisation’s well-

being policies are likely to be shaped by a number of factors, such as the size of

the organisation, the nature of its activities, its workforce characteristics, and itsexisting culture and management style. External factors are also important here,one of the most important of which is often the health and safety legislation inforce at the time.

We have already seen how, as far as physical well-being is concerned, inmany parts of the world, health and safety legislation is now so comprehensivethat any organisation, provided it complies with compliance with both the letterand the spirit of the law would be well on the way to ensuring a healthyphysical environment for its workforce. In this sense, the legal system alreadyprovides organisations with a framework for action with respect to physicalhazards and there is no need for a detailed discussion of these issues here. It

is probably fair to say that on the whole the legislation is less well-developedand comprehensive with respect to psychological well-being. This is partly forhistorical reasons where earlier priorities were naturally focused on physicalhealth, but it is also due to the fact that matters of psychological well-being aremore subtle and generally less well understood than their physical counterparts.In these circumstances, it makes sense for us to focus our attention here on howorganisations might best safeguard the psychological welfare of their members.

Historically speaking, the approach of traditional personnel management tothe psychological well-being of individuals has tended to be reactive rather





than pro-active. Instead of actively seeking to identify organisational threatsto psychological well-being with a view to eliminating or at least amelioratingtheir effects, these issues were dealt with as and when they were brought to theattention of management. Bearing in mind the reduced role of unions nowadaysin representing their employees and their welfare, such an approach in thepresent employee relations climate puts the onus very much on individuals to

complain about their adverse psychological reactions to the work environment.Of course there is nothing inherently wrong in reacting to problems in thisway, but such a policy is predicated on the assumption that individuals havean accurate insight into the causes of their feelings of distress or dissatisfactionat work. It also assumes that individuals will always be willing to bring suchmatters forward to management.

Rather than having a purely reactive policy to psychological well-being atwork, it would perhaps be more effective to also adopt a pro-active approachto managing to this type of issue. What form might such a pro-active approachtake? Continuing with our focus on stress, one example of a pro-active approachmight be to monitor stress and its effects on different types of employee on asystematic basis. This could be done in a number of ways such as, for example,

by conducting questionnaire surveys. Another method which could be usedwould be to conduct interviews with individuals in the organisation about thestresses they were experiencing.

Continuing with this proactive approach, once key sources of stress had beenidentified, the next stage would be to take steps to deal with the problem. Thisthen brings us to the question of how best to alleviate the damaging effects of stress on the individual. There at least two ways this could be tackled. However,it should be emphasises that these are not mutually exclusive and they can becombined in various ways. The first of these is predicated on the assumption that

the sources of the stress are inherent in the work situation and as such cannotreally be eliminated or reduced significantly. Let us take an example to illustratewhat is meant here. Suppose an organisation found evidence of stress induced

by their policy of numerical flexibility but took the view that such flexibility wasessential in order to remain competitive. In these circumstances the way forwardwould be to take steps to improve the abilities of the individuals concerned tocope successfully with the stress. Possible actions here might include varioustraining initiatives, such as for example courses in relaxation techniques.

Other actions might include individual counselling. The key feature of thisapproach is the assumption that the level of stress is given and the individualhas to be helped to change in order to cope with it. The second approach is

somewhat more radical. Here it is assumed that stress in organisations is notinevitable in the sense that the particular organisational arrangements that causethe stress can be altered without necessarily compromising competitiveness.Going back to the example of flexibility given above, under this scenario, thegoal would be to reduce the amount of flexibility in order to alleviate the stress.This might well mean that the organisation would need to engage in a trade-off

between the benefits of flexibility and the benefits of having a less stressedworkforce. Finally, it is worth mentioning again that these two approaches tothe management of psychological well-being are not mutually exclusive and the





best programmes probably combine stress reduction and enhancement of copingability in order to maximise the impact of the interventions.

9.7.5 Lifestyle Programmes and Well-being

In the previous section, the management of employee well-being was discussed

in terms of interventions designed either to modify certain specific workingpractices or to enhance the individual’s ability to cope with the adverse effectsof these. Another complementary way to approach health issues at work isto endeavour to enhance both the physical and psychological well-being of employees through the medium of lifestyle programmes. This is more broadly

based insofar as it does not focus on specific jobs or forms of work organisation.Instead, the aim is to facilitate a healthy lifestyle generally in organisationalmembers. Examples of this approach include health screening programmes, theprovision of opportunities to improve fitness, and the introduction of healthyeating and lifestyle principles. Individual counselling opportunities dealing with

both work and non-work problems which impinge on well-being have also been

introduced in some organisations under this general heading (McKenna, 2000).

9.7.6 Well-being and Organisational Culture

We have outlined above a number of specific policies organisations can adoptto maintain and enhance the well-being of their members and have warned of the necessity of complying with legal requirements in this regard. However,important as these specific initiatives are, it is essential not to lose sight of the overriding importance of organisational culture in this as in so many otherareas. It seems clear that well-being will be most thoroughly addressed whenits importance is embedded in the culture of the organisation. Any organisation

that wishes its well-being policy to bear fruit in terms employee involvement ismost likely to succeed where genuine concern for employee well-being is seenas a fundamental part of ‘the way we do things around here’. Specific measuresaimed at particular health problems are often necessary, but they are seldom of themselves sufficient in the absence of the right culture.

9.8 Techniques for Increasing Involvement at Work

In this module, involvement has been an underlying factor linking the variousemployee themes we have discussed. The case for increasing involvement froma competitiveness perspective has already been put forward, the argument

being that there are attitudinal and performance advantages of high employeeinvolvement. However, even aside from competitiveness issues, involvementshould also be of interest to HRM for at least two other reasons. First, there areissues of human rights and legitimacy. From an ethical standpoint employees,as important stakeholders in the organisation, have a right to be involved inorganisational matters which affect them. Second, in a number of countries,such as for example the UK, there are often legal requirements on employers

both to keep employees informed and to consult them on important issues. Doneproperly, one would expect one of the effects of this to be increased involvement.





forms of communication than techniques such as memos and notice boards, itwas the latter that they actually used more frequently when communicatingwith employees.

Both Holden’s findings and those of Ramsey point to discrepancies betweenthe perceived benefits of employee involvement and the extent to which organi-sations are willing to adopt procedures that ensure that involvement is a reality.This in turn raises the question as to the extent to which, in many organisa-tions, employee involvement is really embedded in the overall culture of theorganisation. Marchington (1989; 1995) provides evidence that, in practice, manyinvolvement systems in organisations were no more than add on arrangementswith little real impact on the individuals they were intended to influence. How-ever, when such systems were integrated with other organisational proceduresand were part of the organisational culture, Marchington et al., (2001) found thatmanagers reported that they had a positive impact.

In conclusion, the balance of the evidence suggests that some types of involve-ment intervention can have positive effects on employee attitudes, especiallywhen they go beyond mere downward communication and where they areintegrated into the general culture of the organisation. However, the evidencesuggests that these conditions are perhaps not met too often in practice!

9.9 Summary

The term employee relations refers to those policies and procedures which areapplied to employees collectively. The way in which an organisation pursues itsemployee relations activities will be influenced by the political and legal context,

by the frame of reference it adopts and by its preference for collectivism asopposed to individualism. A key theme underlying much of modern employeerelations is involvement. The decline of the influence of the unions in the 20thcentury and the growth of new HRM philosophies and techniques has meantthat the role of unions in modern organisations is being re-appraised. Health andwell-being at work continues to be an important element in employee relations,and there are a number of steps organisations can and should take to maximisewell-being at work. There are a number of techniques organisations can use toincrease employee involvement, although it appears that ‘the piecemeal natureof some organisations’ interventions in this area limits their effectiveness.

Review Questions



9.1 All HRM policies in organisations are best dealt with on a collective, rather than

individual, basis.

9.2 In many countries, employee relations activities are significantly influenced by

political forces.





Marchington, M., and Wilkinson, A. (1996). Core Personnel and Development, London: IPD

Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Ackers, P. and Dundon, T. (2001). Management Choiceand Employee Voice, London: CIPD.

Marshall, A. and Cox, B. (1992). The Trade Union Movement in the UK 1992, Oxford:Malthouse.

McKenna, E. (2000) Business Psychology and Organizational Behaviour, 3rd edn. , Hove:Psychology Press.

McKenna, E. and Beech, N. (2002). Human Resource Management, Harlow: PearsonEducation Ltd.

Millward, N., Bryson, A. and Forth, J. (2000). All Change at Work: British Employmentrelations 1980–1998 as portrayed by the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey Series, London:Routlege.

Ramsey, H. (1996). ‘Involvement, empowerment and commitment’, Handbook of HumanResource Management, 2nd edn, ed. Towers, B., Oxford: Blackwell.

Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations (1968) London: HMSO(Donovan Commission).

Slikeu, K. and Frank, C. (1986). ‘Manning the psychological first aid post’, ManagementToday, February.




Appendix 1

Answers to Review Questions

Contents

Module 1 A1/1

Module 2 A1/4

Module 3 A1/8

Module 4 A1/14

Module 5 A1/19

Module 6 A1/24

Module 7 A1/30

Module 8 A1/34

Module 9 A1/38

Module 1


1.1 True see Section 1.1

1.2 False see Section 1.2

1.3 True see Section 1.2.2

1.4 False see Section 1.2.2







Human Resource Management Edinburgh Business School A1/1



Appendix 1 / Answers to Review Questions































6.1 Performance appraisal systems can have a variety of different purposes.First and foremost, a central feature of performance appraisal is to reviewthe person’s past performance over the period since the last appraisal. This

information is then used as a basis for considering how performance can beimproved in the future. Many appraisal systems are designed to identify theindividual’s training and development needs. Thus, Long (1986), in a surveyof organisations in the UK, found that 97 per cent of them used appraisal forthis purpose. Once these needs have been identified, it is important for theorganisation to take steps to ensure that the individuals concerned actuallyreceive the training they require. Many appraisal systems are used to setperformance targets to be achieved within a fixed period (usually the date of the next appraisal). Organisations need to have some means of identifyingpotential in individuals. Appraisal offers one way of doing this. Appraisalcan also be used as part of the process of pay determination, assuming that

the organisation wishes to link pay to performance. It is not being suggestedhere that every appraisal system will be designed with all of these functionsin mind. It is likely that appraisal will be used for different purposes indifferent organisations. Indeed it is particularly difficult to combine thetraining and development functions with the reward allocation functionsof appraisal within the one system. This is because the former casts theappraiser in the role of helper while the latter casts her in the role of judge,and these two roles tend to be contradictory.

6.2 There are different ways in which information from appraisals can berecorded. The best method in any situation will depend on a numberof factors, such as the number of individuals to be appraised, or the pur-pose of the appraisal system. Where the numbers involved are small asimple narrative report from the appraiser may suffice. As the number of individuals to be appraised becomes larger, the use of some form of ratingsystem is more likely to be the preferred option. One approach is to use achecklist of competencies relevant to the job in question. The appraiser canthen indicate which of these are possessed by the appraisee. By means of weighted checklists, the fact that some competencies are more critical thanothers can be taken into account.

One of the difficulties with checklists is the fact that they dichotomisecompetencies as being either present or absent, whereas many behaviours

are more appropriately seen as being continuous variables. Rating scalesattempt to get around this problem by asking appraisers to rate the extent towhich the appraisee possesses the qualities being assessed. Unfortunately,traditional rating scales are prone to a number of rater errors, includingleniency, central tendency, and the halo effect. Behaviourally anchored ratingscales (BARS) can reduce some of these effects. This is achieved by givingraters behavioural examples, known as anchors, illustrating how each scaleshould be used. The drawback of the BARS approach is the time it takes todevelop the anchors. Another attempt to reduce rating errors is by the use

A1/26 Edinburgh Business School Human Resource Management




of behavioural observation scales (BOS). In this case, raters are restrictedto assessing behaviours they have actually observed. Research does not yetallow us to draw firm conclusions as to whether BARS scales are better thanBOS scales or vice versa.

6.3 Performance management attempts to integrate a number of techniques forenhancing performance, one of which is performance appraisal, into anoverall system for managing the individual’s performance. A feature of performance management is the idea that performance should be defined

broadly, in terms of the person’s overall contribution to the organisation.It is not intended to replace appraisal and indeed performance appraisal isusually an essential element of performance management. Compared withconventional appraisal, it is much more concerned with how the individual’sperformance can be linked to the requirements laid down by strategic HRMobjectives. Likewise, the broad definition taken of performance includesa focus on the individual’s contribution to team performance. Comparedwith conventional appraisal, there is more of a focus on the person’s longer

term development, rather than just immediate training needs. Consequently,performance management is more directly involved with the successionplanning process than is appraisal. Another defining feature of performancemanagement is its emphasis on enabling individuals to meet their targetsand objectives. This is done in a variety of ways including the provisionof support, advice, mentoring, and coaching. Performance management isalso typically at the centre of pay determination, often in the context of some form of performance-related pay system. Perhaps the key definingfeature of performance management is idea that all of the various processeswhich relate to performance enhancement should be integrated under theone umbrella.

6.4 The underlying premise behind 360-degree appraisal is the belief that theindividual benefits from receiving as much feedback as possible about hisperformance. This means that appraisal information should come fromas many sources as possible – ideally from every significant person theindividual interacts with, be it inside or outside the organisation. The major

benefit of the approach is the comprehensive feedback the person receivescovering all aspects of performance. Furthermore, because the informationcomes from many sources it is more difficult for the appraisee to refuse toaccept it. Also, since the evaluations come from many sources, managementcan have greater confidence in their authenticity than would be the case

if they only came from a single source (provided of course that there wassome agreement amongst the various appraisers).

One of the limitations of 360-degree appraisal is its time-consuming natureand the difficulties of processing the large amount of information collected.Also, great care has to be taken to protect the anonymity of subordinatesproviding feedback to their superiors. It is also important, with subordi-nate appraisers in particular, that training is given in the need to provideconstructive, rather than destructive, criticism. Finally, 360-degree appraisal





can only really be used for certain purposes. Its value in terms of feedback is undisputed. However, other aspects of appraisal such as targetsetting clearly require much more in addition to the written feedback whichtypically results from 360-degree appraisal systems.

HRM in Action

Your task was to review the reports sent to you outlining the performancemanagement systems in the three divisions of the organisation. You were alsorequired to put forward recommendations for a single, organisation-wide systemin the light of your analysis of the reports.

The following are some of the points you might have made in your report.

Review of Existing Systems

Taking the Industrial Chemicals Division first, they do not actually appear

to have a performance management system, or even anything resembling aperformance appraisal system. There do not seem to be any clear objectives orexpected outcomes of the so-called appraisal. Nothing is done to a specifiedtime scale, which is a basic feature of all such systems. There is nothing laiddown as to what is to be measured. Simply stating that the manager knows bestis no excuse for not establishing what is to be appraised by some systematicmethod, such as job analysis. Without a proper record of the appraisal interview– assuming it actually takes place – there is no way of knowing what has

been agreed between both parties. Nor can there be any check that performancetargets have been met or that undertakings to provide training and developmentfor the appraisee have been fulfilled. Informality and friendliness may be a good

thing, but they are not a substitute for having proper management systems inplace.

Our Agricultural Division at least seems to have some kind of system in place,although from their report they do not seem to have been well advised by theirconsultants. The use of an MCI competency model seems misplaced in thiscontext. MCI competencies are concerned with minimum standards, whereaswe presumably are much more concerned with excellence in performance. Also,the MCI approach focuses on generic competencies, to the neglect of the kindof organisation-specific competencies which are likely to be important to us.They have attempted to combine the training and reward allocation functionswithin the one appraisal interview, which might well lead to problems in the

future if it has not already done so. Acting simultaneously as judge and helperis a difficult balancing act and it is doubtful if many appraisers can carry it off successfully. Although they seem to have adopted some of the techniques usedin performance management, there is little sign of the integrated approach whichis the essence of performance management. Much of what is done seems to bead hoc in nature and sometimes dependent on the initiative of the employee.Thus, people have to ask for training. People are rotated around jobs to preventthem getting bored, rather than as part of an overall plan to develop them. Andso on.





A strong feature of the approach taken by the Pharmaceutical Division isthe attempt to build performance management around their strategic HRMobjectives. It is also notable that they claim to have an integrated approach tomanaging performance. However, the fact that they seem to have assumed thatperformance management somehow does away with the need for performanceappraisal is somewhat worrying. In actual fact, performance appraisal is a critical

element in the whole performance management process. On the face of it, theyappear to have discarded the best elements of their previous appraisal systemand kept the less useful aspects. For example, they have discarded 360-degreeappraisal in favour of the more limited single appraiser approach. Once everytwo years would seem to be too infrequent to allow the appraisal to serveany useful purpose. The opportunity to receive training and development asa result of appraisal is one of its most positive features from the appraisees’point of view and removing it could markedly reduce their enthusiasm for thewhole process. In any case, how else are training needs being determined in thisdivision? Lastly, it looks very much as if they are using the rather old fashionedand largely discredited trait approach to specifying performance requirements.

Preliminary Recommendations

Based on my review of what is happening in the divisions, and in the light of modern thinking on performance management in organisations, the followingrecommendations are put forward.

1 A proper performance management system should be set up. It should belinked to HRM strategy and should cover all aspects of performance. All of our techniques for enhancing performance should be integrated within theoverall system.

2 An effective appraisal system is a cornerstone of good performance man-agement and this must be set up as a priority.

3 We should adopt a competency model for our activities in this area, but theMcBer approach is the preferred option to the MCI system.

4 The precise functions of appraisal and performance management should beclarified and communicated to all concerned. Objective setting, training anddevelopment, pay determination, promotion, and career succession planningare all elements which need to be looked at here.

5 The key parameters of the system must be spelled out and adopted in alldivisions. These will include for the appraisal: when the appraisal takesplace; who does it; and how the information is recorded (BARS or BOSsystems might be worth considering here). For performance managementkey parameters should include among other things: which performanceenhancement techniques are to be used to enable individuals to succeed inmeeting the targets set in appraisal; how the succession planning systemwill operate; the system of pay determination; and the mechanisms to beset up to ensure that all activities are properly integrated.





Module 7










































7.1 The term training content refers to the detailed specification of what theperson is required to learn on a training programme. This can be specifiedin different ways, depending on the objectives of the course. For example,

it could be defined in terms of knowledge or in terms of what delegatesneed to be able to do at the end of the programme. Broad definitions of what is required, such as ‘interviewing skills’ are usually inadequate sincethey tell us little about what should actually be included in the training. Itis therefore necessary to break down broad skills or overall tasks into theirspecific components.

One method for achieving this is hierarchical task analysis (HTA) devised by Annette et al. (1971). This technique works best when the tasks to be performed are clear and unambiguous. It begins by listing the mainoperations to be performed in whatever it is which has to be learned. These

broad tasks are then broken down into smaller components which are then

sub-divided further. This process of sub-division can be carried out severaltimes, so that the tasks are broken down into very fine detail. Clearly, itis necessary to have a system for deciding when no further sub-division isnecessary. This is based on the joint operation of two factors: the difficultyof the task; and the cost of making a mistake in carrying out the task.If the operation is difficult in the sense that an untrained person would

be unlikely to carry it out successfully, then it is broken down further.Likewise, if the cost of making an error is high, the operation should befurther sub-divided.





7.2 There are a number of reasons for suggesting that this is broadly true. In thefirst place, the focus of much of HRM strategic thinking is to find ways of maximising the utilisation of human resources in the organisation. Increas-ing the individual’s capabilities through training and development is clearlyone way of enhancing his or her potential contribution to the organisation.Core employees often have a crucial role in the organisation and, given

this fact and the high demands placed on them, considerable investment intheir training and development is necessary if they are to carry out theirroles to the standard required. New forms of work organisation, such asself-managed teams, make additional demands on employees. Extensivetraining is often needed before they can cope with these successfully. Train-ing is a key element in ensuring that individuals can adjust successfully tothe constant changes which characterise many modern organisations. ManyHRM strategies require fundamental changes in organisational culture andtraining is one of the main methods used to induce culture change. Trainingenhances a person’s capabilities and this is likely to have a positive effect onemployee motivation and possibly also the much sought after organisational

commitment. Finally, many organisations rely heavily on performance man-agement systems for the successful implementation of their strategies, andtraining and development are key elements in these systems.

7.3 Training needs can be analysed at three levels. At the organisational level,training needs are mainly determined by the organisation’s HR strategy.Given the HR strategy, what do individuals need to be able to do? If an organisational competency analysis has been carried out, this shouldhighlight the gaps between what currently exists and what is required inthe light of HR strategic objectives. The training effort can then be directedat areas where the gaps are widest. When training needs are analysed at

this level, the subsequent training would typically be carried out on anorganisation-wide basis.

Training needs can also be analysed at the work role level. A basic tool foranalysing needs at this level would be job analysis. The notion here is thattraining needs will be different depending on the work role. Salespersonswill have different needs from production engineers, whose requirementswill in turn be different from those of receptionists. In this case train-ing would be organised around work roles, rather than across the wholeorganisation.

Within any given work role, performance will vary from one individual toanother. Consequently, training needs analysis can also be carried out atthe individual level. One important source of information here is perform-ance appraisal reports. In this case, training would be organised aroundindividual needs, rather than on a work role or organisation-wide basis.

So far we have suggested that training needs analysis can be carried out byutilising information already available from organisational competency anal-ysis, job analysis, or performance appraisal. It is also possible to carry outa dedicated training needs analysis by systematic collection of informationsolely for that purpose. This could, for example, be done by carrying out





in-depth interviews with job holders and their supervisors about trainingneeds. This qualitative data could then be used to produce a questionnaireon training needs which would then be circulated more widely to gen-erate information of a quantitative nature. While this approach is clearlymore time-consuming than utilising existing information, it does have theadvantage of being directly focused on the issue of training.

7.4 A considerable body of research exists on how learning occurs and onhow best to facilitate it. Many of these research findings can be appliedto training. Research indicates that learning and performance are enhancedwhen the learner is rewarded in some way. Trainers can use a variety of rewards to encourage learning, such as for example, praise when tasksare carried out correctly. Feedback is critically important for learning. Thisshould involve not just indicating to individuals when they have carried outa task correctly. Feedback should also be provided about how and why theperson has gone wrong when the task is not performed correctly. Behaviourmodelling training (BMT) is based on Bandura’s research which showed that

a great deal of learning takes place by observing the behaviour of others.Research indicates that setting specific goals and objectives can increaselearning, mainly by enhancing motivation. This is yet another learningprinciple which can readily be incorporated into the design of trainingprogrammes. Although learning can occur in a passive manner, such as bylistening to lectures, many skills are best learned by actively involving thelearner in a process of learning by doing. Many training courses make useof this principle.

HRM in Action

Several learning principles seem to be operating here. While there is some pas-sive learning in the form of listening to lectures, the major part of the courseinvolves active participation by delegates, rather than passive reception of infor-mation. The emphasis on active learning is a sound principle on which to basethe course. Each person receives knowledge of results in the form of feedback onhis performance from observing the video, from the trainer, and perhaps fromother delegates. Positive and negative rewards operate in terms of praise forexamples of good interviewing technique and constructive criticism when thereare instances of poor interview technique. Once again these are sound learningprinciples. Behaviour modelling (another sound learning principle) can clearlyoccur, since delegates, by watching the video and listening to the trainer’s com-

ments, can observe examples of both good and poor interviewing technique. Theknowledge that other delegates are observing one’s performance, and the factthat the whole process is being recorded on videotape, should provide a motiva-tion to succeed. The existence of a pass-fail criterion should certainly ensure thatthe training provides a challenge to the individuals and could further enhancethe motivational properties of the programme. Overall, the proposed approachseems to be based on sound learning principles.





Module 8




































8.1 As a result of the changing nature of organisations, managers now need tomake more work role changes than they used to. According to Nicholsonand West (1988), work role changes irrespective of whether or not theyrequire a move to a new organisation, tend to be stressful for the individ-ual. The theory postulates that the individual goes through four stages inadapting to a new work role.

The first, preparation, stage takes place before the actual role change hastaken place. It is often characterised by unrealistic expectations and feelingsof anxiety about the demands of the new role. One way in which theindividual can alleviate stress at this stage is by carrying out a systematic

self-evaluation against the demands of the job. Organisations can also help by providing information in advance about the nature of the new work role.One way to do this is by means of realistic job previews.

The second stage, encounter, occurs during the initial period in the newrole. Typical strains at this stage include regret, if the job does not live upto expectations, and uncertainty about the job and the surrounding context.The organisation can help here by providing social support for the person.One self-help technique might be to develop an active information-seekingstrategy.

The third, adjustment, stage is when the individual develops his own way

of doing the job. This can come about either by the individual changing tofit the demands of the job (personal development) or by redefinition of the

job to suit the individual’s needs (role development).

The final stage is known as stabilisation. The person is now so thoroughlyfamiliar with the new role that there is a danger of boredom and subsequentdemotivation occurring. The organisation can counter this by putting theindividual onto special assignments, or even by moving her to a new role,whereupon the whole cycle begins again.





8.2 Work role changes can occur either within a single organisation, or they caninvolve the individual moving from one organisation to another. A numberof factors have contributed to the increased requirement for such changesin recent times. First, the globalisation of markets and the accompanyingexpansion of organisations across different countries and cultures, has meantthat managers are required to be much more mobile than in the past. Often

these geographical moves also involve changes in work role. The processesof downsizing and de-layering have meant that large numbers of employeeshave found themselves having to find jobs with other organisations. Theadoption of new work practices such as functional flexibility require radicalchanges to traditional work roles, as does the introduction of self-managedteams. Modern organisations often find themselves having constantly toadapt and change in order to survive. These changes frequently require theredefinition of work roles for a number of employees.

8.3 Fast track schemes attempt to identify highly talented individuals early intheir careers, either at the selection stage, or soon after they have joined

the organisation. The individuals are then given enhanced training anddevelopment with a view to moving them rapidly up the organisationalhierarchy. Although the logic behind the concept is reasonable – take the

best people and give them special treatment so that they can be groomed forsenior positions – the evidence for their success is largely anecdotal. Evenwhen fast track individuals do progress rapidly, this may not always befor the reasons put forward. For example, simply labelling a person as fasttrack may result in managers assuming that they are talented, regardlessof their true ability. Also, perhaps even individuals who are not especiallyable would rise rapidly up the organisation if given enhanced developmentopportunities. Finally, there is also the risk of demotivating those who are

not selected for the fast track.

8.4 In the past, employees have typically looked to organisations to providesecurity of employment and the opportunity for career advancement. Bothof these are becoming increasingly more difficult to guarantee in manymodern organisations. In general terms, the emphasis some HRM theoriesadopted by organisations place on bottom line profit and individuals asresources just like any other asset, does not sit well with the idea of theorganisation giving priority to the long-term interests of its employees. Theemphasis on the constant need to change carries with it the implication thatlabour requirements will also fluctuate according to circumstances, leading

to loss of security of employment. The adoption of numerical flexibilityinevitably results in low job security for peripheral workers. Downsizingnot only leads to job losses for many; it can also create a feeling of lack if security in those remaining. Organisation of work teams around short-termassignments is also likely to lead to feelings of insecurity in individuals. Byreducing the number of managerial hierarchies, de-layering automaticallyreduces career opportunities. Since there are only a small number of coreemployees in the flexible firm, it follows that there are only career oppor-tunities for a few individuals in this type of organisation. Many modern





organisations place high value on innovation. One way to increase innova-tion is to recruit outside individuals with new ideas to influential positionsin the company. This can clearly undermine any policies of promotionfrom within, so that career opportunities are reduced for those inside theorganisation.

HRM in Action

Your first task was to indicate the information you would seek to obtain in orderto evaluate the extent of the problem and the reasons for its occurrence. Thefollowing are examples of appropriate questions which could be asked.

1 What is the proportion of male and female managers at each level of thehierarchy? Is there a glass ceiling effect, with similar proportions of menand women in promoted positions up to a certain level, but with male

domination of the most senior positions? The answers to these questionsshould provide the basic data on the extent of the problem.

2 Are broadly the same numbers of males and females recruited each year?You would need this information going back over a number of years. If the numbers are unequal and favoured men, this could at least partlyexplain the figures. If more men are recruited, one might expect more to

be promoted, since there are more of them to choose from. However, if this were so, it would then be necessary to explore whether the recruitmentwas fair. For example do the proportion recruited match the proportionapplying? If not, why not?

3 If the organisation is male dominated, to what extent are informal malenetworks in operation? The existence of these could help men achievepromotion to the detriment of women.

4 What criteria are adopted for sending people on external managementcourses? Do the criteria ensure that women get their fair share of opportu-nities to attend such programmes?

5 How does the organisation support women with their family responsibilities.Is there a creche or similar facility for helping with child minding? Is therea system for allowing women to take a career break? Does promotiondepend on geographical mobility and, if so, what steps are taken to ensure

that women who have young children do not lose out because of lack of mobility?

6 Is there any evidence from appraisal records, or from any other source, thatthe abilities of existing female managers differ in any way from those of their male counterparts in ways which are related to promotion? If this isso, the reasons for these differences would have to be investigated.

7 Does the organisation have a male dominated culture, and if so has itaffected attitudes towards the suitability of women for promotion?





Your second task was to make recommendations as to how the situationmight be remedied. Clearly, your detailed recommendations would depend onthe outcome of the investigation. Consequently, only general suggestions can beput forward here. Some possibilities are as follows.

1 All HRM procedures, including selection, appraisal, training, and perform-

ance management, should be reviewed to ensure that they conform to bestprofessional practice. This should help ensure that the most able people areselected, developed, and promoted, regardless of sex.

2 Following on from this review, all procedures should be regularly monitoredfrom a gender fairness perspective.

3 Any existing coaching and mentoring systems should be reviewed to makesure that women are not disadvantaged in any way. This could occur if, forexample, a woman did not have a same sex mentor.

4 If there is any evidence of stereotyping of women by male managers, thenan intensive training programme aimed at attitudinal changes should beinitiated.

5 Where possible, facilities should be provided to support women who havea dual work and family role. An example here might be the provision of creche facilities if demand was sufficiently high.

Module 9


9.1 False. 9.5 False. 9.9 True. 9.13 True. 9.17 False.9.2 True. 9.6 True. 9.10 False. 9.14 False. 9.18 True.

9.3 True. 9.7 False. 9.11 False. 9.15 True. 9.19 True.

9.4 False. 9.8 False. 9.12 True. 9.16 False. 9.20 True.


9.1 Fox (1974) put forward three frames of reference which represent differentapproaches to employee relations. According to Fox, these not only influenceemployee relations, but they can also have an impact on management

styles. The first approach of these is the unitarist approach. The underlyingassumption here is that in the end of the day employers and employees sharethe same common interest in the success of the organisation. Because of this,conflict between these two parties is not inevitable and it is possible for bothto work together harmoniously. The pluralist approach is different insofar asemployers and employees are regarded as having different interests and, asa consequence, conflict is unavoidable. However, according to the pluralistposition, conflict can be contained and managed successfully. This can beachieved by institutionalising the conflict. This can be done by putting in





place systems that allow for collective interactions between employers andemployees.

The radical position is different again. It is similar to the pluralist posi-tion in that it regards conflict as inevitable but it is different because itregards conflict as much more deep rooted. The radical position takes the

Marxist view that conflict in organisations is symptomatic of a wider classand power struggle in society. These frames of reference are importantfor employee relations because they affect the approach that is taken toemployee relations. This can be illustrated with reference to the implica-tions of the three positions for the role of unions in organisations. Froma pluralist perspective, unionisation can offers benefits to the organisation.Since the goal is to manage the inevitable conflict which arises because theinterests of employees differ from those of employers, it is useful to have anappropriate body to represent the interests of the former collectively. Thisis of course the role of unions in organisations. Turning to the radical posi-tion, unionisation would probably be even more strongly favoured, since it

is they who would defend the employees interests in the power strugglewith employers. Of course in this case the objective would not be to makethe conflict manageable as such, since cooperative relationship is not seenas feasible in the face of such deep-rooted conflict. Turning to the unitaristposition, the advantages of unionisation are not so immediately obvious,since the interests of employers and employees are seen as being the same.According to this view, if there is no conflict, employees do not need unionsto defend their interests. Of course this does not mean that unionisation isincompatible with a unitarist position. The advantages of a union presenceare simply less clear-cut in this case.

9.2 Participation is only one of a number of techniques which can be usedto increase employee involvement in organisations. Other methods includecommunication and financial incentives. There are in fact several differenttypes participation in decision-making, and this makes it difficult to pro-vide a simple answer to the question posed here. According to Boxall andPurcell (2003), these differences include: the amount of influence employ-ees have; the types of decisions involved; the level at which the decisionsare taken; which employees are involved; and the methods used to makesure everyone complies with the arrangements. Notwithstanding these com-plications, there is good evidence that participation can affect employees’attitudes in a favourable way (Gallie and White, 1993). However, research

suggests that individuals are more interested in being involved in decisionswhich affect their immediate workplace situation than decisions which aremore remote from their everyday jobs (Hanson and Rathkey 1984). How-ever, some surveys indicate that, because managers rate their own controlover decision-making higher than the apparent benefits of participation, theamount of employee involvement is often quite restricted (Holden, 2004).Another example of the difference between what managers believe to be

beneficial and what happens in practice comes from Ramsey (1966). Hefound that managers often opted for relatively ineffective communication





techniques, such as memos and notice boards, instead of methods theythemselves thought were more effective, such as team briefings.

9.3 6 In the past, the reactive approach to the management of psychological well- being at work has typically been favoured by personnel management. Fromthis perspective, the personnel manager’s role is to react to any situation

which endangers the psychological health of employees as and when it is brought to his attention. In another words, there is no active attempt toidentify threats to well-being. It is simply a case of waiting for problemsto crop up. This puts the onus very much on individuals to come forwardwith information about threats to their psychological well-being, especiallysince nowadays the role of unions, who in the past might have acted ontheir behalf, is much reduced. Obviously personnel managers should reactto problems when they crop up, but a pro-active approach argues thatthey should do more than this. After all, individuals may not have muchinsight into the causes of any feelings of distress they may have. Evenwhen they do, they might not always be willing to come forward. Proactive

approaches seek to take the initiate by setting up systems to investigateand monitor threats to the psychological well-being of the workforce, ratherthan just waiting for problems to emerge. In the case of stress for example,one of the key causes of psychological ill effects in organisations, such aproactive approach might involve questionnaire surveys designed to assessstress and its effects on employees. Another possibility would be to conductinterviews with individuals about the stresses they were encountering intheir jobs. The next stage with a pro-active approach could be to initiatesteps to reduce the problems identified. One way to achieve this might

be to reduce or eliminate the sources of stress. For example, if it turnedout that empowerment was stressful for individuals, it might be possible

to reorganise work roles in order to reduce the amount of empowerment.Of course in some circumstances the organisation might take the view thatit is not possible to reduce the level of stress. In the above example anorganisation might take the view that empowerment, although stressful,was essential in order to maximise the utilisation of its human resources.An alternative way to reduce the threat to psychological well-being might

be to accept the level of stress as given and to provide employees with themeans to cope more effectively with it. Possible ways to enhance copingmight include appropriate training or counselling programmes. Of coursestress reduction improving coping ability are not mutually exclusive andorganisations could use a combination of both in the management of stress.

HRM in Action

There are of course a number of approaches a consultant could take to anassignment of this nature and the summary below represents one possibility.

As a consultant to this organisation your role is purely to give advice and thetone of your responses should reflect this. Both the chief executive and the mar-keting manager have expressed the view that unions are ‘out of date’. However,





it might be a good idea to begin your response by pointing out that, while it istrue that unions are less common and less powerful than in the past, a numberof organisations have managed to combine modern HRM practices and union-isation successfully. Consequently, one should not really rule out recognitionon these grounds. Developing this theme, it would be valuable to explain thatwhile the finance and Production managers are to some extent correct in their

views, insofar as unions have often been confrontational in the past especiallywith respect to wage issues, this is much less the case these days. You mightfurther point out that management can dictate the agenda much more than inthe past with respect to the union’s role in the organisation and partnership,rather than confrontation, could well become the norm in future. The chief executive is worried about a loss of his decision-making prerogative and this iscertainly a danger. But this fear is probably exaggerated in to-day’s world of weakened unions. In any case, any potential loss of decision-making autonomymust be balanced against possible gains from having employee feel that theyare part of the decision-making process. This brings us to the chief executive’slast point. A diplomatic consultant might ask the management team to clarify

exactly what they mean by participation in the context of their organisation.It might be useful to follow this with a short discussion of the various formsparticipation can take, while simultaneously pointing out that there is evidencethat certain types of participation can have beneficial effects.

The production manager’s argument that the organisation is doing ‘prettywell’ and does not need to change flies in the face of much of HR thinkingwhich suggests that continuous change and improvement is essential to remaincompetitive. This is not to say that this company should automatically recogniseunions, but simply that it should be aware of the need for continuous improve-ment, and should assess the proposal in this light. The production manager alsoimplies that formal grievance procedures are unnecessary. As a consultant who

has knowledge of modern HRM thinking, you should be well able to summarisethe various arguments in favour of formal grievance procedures. It might beuseful at this stage to put your discussion of grievance procedures in a widercontext. As we saw in the module, unions provide a voice for the collective inter-ests of their members with reference to a variety of issues, of which grievanceis just one. Consequently, if they decide to stay union-free, they should havealternative arrangements in place, not just with respect to grievances, but also toallow employees an appropriate voice in other matters of importance to them.

As one might expect, the safety engineer is aware both of the valuable roleunions played in safety in the past and of their usefulness in keeping manage-ment ‘on their toe’ in this respect. However, it would be worth exploring withher how much she is aware of current concerns nowadays about psychologicalwell-being at work. Does she realise that legal provisions are less comprehen-sive when it comes to psychological well-being? One also wonders here to whatextent the organisation’s approach to employee health is reactive, rather thanpro-active.

The personnel manager appears to appreciate that unions have a role inlooking after employees’ interests. However, as the companies ‘expert’ in thesematters one would have hoped that he would have spelled out what this





role is in a little more detail for his colleagues. In these circumstances this job really falls on you, the consultant. Your review ought to include not justspecific activities such as pay bargaining, grievances and the like, but alsoa union’s more general role as a communication channel generally betweenemployees and management. You could also take the opportunity here, if youhave not already done so to summarise the advantages and disadvantages of

union recognition. (Alternatively you could deal with this at the end of yourconsultation, by way of summary.). You should also question the personnelmanager’s statement that only the unions can look after employee’s issues.(Diplomatically of course!) The success a number of union-free organisationshave had putting in place alternative employee voice systems testifies to this.The personnel manager is also aware of the dangers of the adverse effects onemployees of denying their apparent desire to become unionised. But this raisesa number of questions. First of all do we know how widespread this desire is?Are we talking about a few politically motivated individuals or is this the viewof the majority of employees? What facts has the personnel manager gathered onthis? We need hard facts here. The statement that there are ‘rumours’ that ‘quite

a few’ workers want this change if far to imprecise for our present purposes.Second, mention is made of employee commitment to the organisation’s futureplans. What are these plans? What exactly does the personnel manager mean by‘greater flexibility’? What systems are currently in place to encourage employeeinvolvement in the organisation generally? Of course we are now touchingon the essential nature of the organisation’s employee relations policies andpractices and the extent to which they are involvement focused. At first glancethis looks as if you are straying beyond your brief as a consultant, which isto advise on union recognition. This is not really the case however, since thedecision to recognise a union or otherwise should be seen not only context of an organisation’s employee relation’s policies, but also in relation to the culture

of the organisation as a whole.




Appendix 2

Practice Final Examinations and

Solutions

Contents

Practice Final Examination 1 A2/2



Worked Solutions A2/30


Worked Solutions A2/36

Note to Students

Starting with the June 2009 exam diet, Human Resource Management will be

examined in a new format. There will be no multiple-choice questions and the

examination will consist of two case study questions and one essay question.

There may be some minor variations from paper to paper but the allocation of

marks will typically be as follows.

Marks

Case Study 1 40

Case Study 2 40

Essay question 20

Total 100

The old format – as per Practice Final Examinations 1 and 2, Past Papers and

Profiler Examinations – will be used up to and including the December 2008

diet.

Practice Final Examinations 3 and 4 follow the new examination format.




Appendix 2 / Practice Final Examinations and Solutions

Practice Final Examination 1

Section A: Multiple choice questions

25 questions each worth 1 mark.

Total marks available in Section A 25 × 1 = 25

Section B: Essay questions

3 essay questions worth 25 marks each.Total marks available in Section B 3 × 25 = 75

Total marks available = 100

Pass mark = 50% of 100 = 50 marks

Section A: Multiple Choice Questions

1 Which of the following would be given more emphasis with an HRMapproach, compared with a traditional personnel management approach?

A Collective negotiations with unions.

B Selecting employees for attitudinal qualities.

C Employee pay.

D Performance appraisal.

2 Which of the following is a characteristic of the Fombrun et al. matchingmodel?

A It is pluralistic.

B It is a ‘soft’ model.

C It assumes that HRM and business strategy have a mutual influence oneach other.

D It is a prescriptive model.

3 Which of the following is a correct description of bureaucratic organisations?

A They are hierarchical in nature.

B They are highly flexible.

C They encourage innovation.

D They are only to be found in multinational corporations.

4 Which of the following is an advantage of flexible working practices, fromthe point of view of peripheral workers?

A The high levels of training and development provided for peripheralworkers.

B Part-time working means freedom to have alternative lifestyles.

C Low levels of stress.

D High wages.





5 Which of the following is a benefit of team working, from the point of viewof individual team members?

A The responsibility for all decision making is allocated to the team leader.

B Because the work is completed more quickly, there is the opportunityfor more free time.

C Group members are able to give each other mutual support.

D Team working allows individuals to specialise in what they do best.

6 Which of the following is true of total quality management (TQM)?

A It typifies a ‘hard’ HRM approach.

B Its objective is to produce high pay levels for employees.

C It gives high priority to maximising customer satisfaction.

D It is only relevant for certain groups of employees in the organisation.

7 Which of the following is true when interview methods of job analysis areused?

A The analyst must only interview job holders.

B It is less time-consuming for the analyst than questionnaire methods.

C Because the interview method is so comprehensive there is little pointin using any other job analysis methods in addition to it.

D The analyst obtains qualitative information about the job.

8 Which of the following is true of self-managed teams?

A Responsibility for key functions is delegated to the team.

B Individuals in the team always have specialised work roles.

C Empowerment means that there is no need for a team leader.

D They have replaced TQM as a way of ensuring high product quality.

9 Which of the following is correct?

A The behavioural competency approach emphasises excellence in per-

formance, rather than minimum standards.

B Behavioural competencies are only concerned with core abilities, notwith skills.

C Research has shown that organisation-specific competencies do notexist.

D Compared with traditional job analysis, the behavioural competencyapproach is very narrowly focused.





10 Which of the following refers to the reliability of a selection test?

A The extent to which applicants can be relied on to complete the testhonestly.

B The degree to which applicants will get similar scores when given the

measure on two separate occasions.C The extent to which applicants can be relied upon to react favourably

to the selection test.

D The extent to which the recruiter can rely on the test to indicate whatthe person’s core competencies are.


A References cannot be used as part of the pre-screening process in selec-tion.

B References can provide information to be explored at interview.

C References have high validity as selection tools.

D References can help the recruiter to assess the validity of the otherselection devices being used.


A Traditional job analysis has focused strongly on attitudinal qualities.

B Strategic HRM has led to a move away from the identification of job-specific abilities in favour of more generic abilities.

C Strategic HRM has removed the need for traditional job analysis.

D Thanks to strategic HRM thinking, specialisation of work roles is nowobsolete.

13 Which of the following statements is correct of Muchinsky’s (1984) analysisof the usefulness of selection devices?

A Validity is only one of five factors to be taken into account when

assessing the usefulness of a selection device.B Applicability refers to the extent to which a selection device can be

used in different organisations.

C Cost is the most important factor in determining the usefulness of aselection device.

D Opportunity costs can be just as important as direct monetary costs indetermining the utility of selection devices.






A When interviewers combine the role of judge and helper in an appraisalinterview, this ensures that the appraisee will not feel defensive.

B It is best to focus on behavioural characteristics, rather than traits,during appraisal.

C Only process criteria can be used to set targets in appraisal interviews.

D The appraisal interviewer should concentrate on core characteristics,rather than motivational ones.

15 Which of the following contributed to the decline in popularity of MBO?

A The use of process-oriented objectives, rather than results-oriented ones.

B The implicit reward-punishment psychology of the technique.

C The problems of persuading appraisees to accept easy goals.

D There was insufficient emphasis on quantifiable aspects of performance.

16 Which of the following limits the usefulness of appraisal for evaluatingpromotability?

A Some individuals may not want to be promoted.

B The skills required for the promoted job may be very different fromthose needed to perform the appraisee’s current job successfully.

C Some appraisers may not be very good at adopting the helper rolewhich is necessary to assess promotability.

D Individuals may need training in order to carry out more senior jobs.


A Development centres cannot be used in conjunction with performanceappraisal.

B Development centres can complement appraisal systems to identify thepromotability of managers.

C Development centres cannot be used to identify core competencies.

D Development centres have little in common with assessment centresused for selection purposes.

18 According to the CRAMP taxonomy, which of the four options below woulddescribe the the kind of learning needed to pass the Distance Learning MBAexamination in human resource management?

A Feedback.

B Reflex learning.

C Attitude development.

D Comprehension.





19 Which of the following statements is correct?

A Systematic evaluation of training is only really essential when a trainingprogramme is not well grounded in theory.

B To evaluate a training programme inevitably costs a large sum of money.

C Evaluation is one of the most problematic areas in the field of training.D Training evaluation schemes must always take into account the organi-

sation’s HRM strategy.

20 According to Alliger and Janack (1989), which of the following represents afalse assumption made by trainers about Kirkpatrick’s criteria?

A Only two of Kirkpatrick’s four criteria can assess external validity.

B Trainee reactions can be biased in various ways.

C The criteria are arranged in such a way that the value of the information

obtained increases as we move from reactions through to results.D Trainees dislike it when their superiors are asked to observe their

behaviour.

21 Which of the following represents a career stage in the Greenhaus andCallanan model?

A Disengagement.

B Occupational choice.

C Disestablishment.

D Establishment.

22 Holland’s theory and accompanying research has shown that:

A There is a strong relationship between congruence and satisfaction.

B There is a weak relationship between congruence and performance.

C There is a strong relationship between being an enterprising type and being a high performer.

D People are best described in terms of the single personality type whichthey most resemble.

23 According to Nicholson and West’s (1988) work role transition theory, whichof the following helps individuals to adjust during the preparation stage?

A Social support from colleagues.

B A realistic job preview.

C Project work.

D An active information-seeking strategy.





24 Which of the following correctly describes the glass ceiling effect?

A It occurs because women are not as ambitious as men.

B Women rise so far up the organisational hierarchy before being con-fronted by an invisible barrier which impedes further progress.

C It only applies to women who have had a career break.D It does not apply to career women.

25 According to Herriot, when employees believe that the organisation has notdelivered its part of the psychological contract, they feel:

A relieved.

B a sense of unfairness.

C low self-esteem.

D intolerance.

Section B: Essay Questions

Each question is worth 25 points.

1 What are the similarities and differences between traditional personnel man-agement and human resource management?

2 Describe the main types of workforce flexibility. What are the advantagesand disadvantages of flexibility from the organisation’s point of view?

3 What are the limitations of performance appraisal systems in practice? Howcan the effectiveness of performance appraisal be maximised?





Answers to Section A: Multiple Choice Questions

1 B see Section 1.2.2

2 D see Section 2.2.1

3 A see Section 3.2.1


5 C see Section 3.5.4







12 B see Section 4.5

13 D see Section 5.4






19 C see Section 7.4











Answers to Section B: Essay Questions

1 Compared with personnel management, HRM is a recent innovation and inmany ways it was intended to replace traditional personnel management.However, despite distinct differences between the two approaches, they

have much in common.The management of people in organisations can be carried out at both a stra-tegic and an operational level. Considering strategic level functions first, it ishere that the clearest differences are seen between HRM and traditional per-sonnel management. Indeed, in many ways it was the supposed weaknessesof personnel management at this level which stimulated the developmentof HRM. A number of writers, such as Torrington and Hendry have arguedthat, historically, the role of personnel management has been operationaland reactive, rather then strategic and proactive. A good illustration of thereactive nature of personnel management, at least in the UK, can be seen inthe field of industrial relations. In many organisations personnel manage-

ment’s role was to react to industrial relations crises, rather than to comeup with strategic solutions to industrial relations issues. Another exampleof the operational focus of much of personnel management is in the fieldof training and development where personnel departments are typicallycharged primarily with running programmes, rather than with developingstrategies to link training to the organisation’s overall objectives. HRM can

be contrasted with this approach in the sense that it places high priorityon the development of human resource strategies which both feed into theprocess of overall strategy formulation and facilitate the implementationof business objectives. An underlying theme behind most strategic HRMthinking is the idea that effective management of people is crucial to the

attainment of competitive advantage. This in turn has led to the notion that,unlike in the past, responsibility for people management should not just restwith specialist personnel departments, but should extend to all managers.

There are many similarities between HRM and personnel management atthe operational level. For example, most of the operational activities forwhich personnel management has traditionally taken responsibility – suchas recruitment, performance appraisal, training and development, and so on– are also the responsibility of HRM. Indeed, many of the techniques used tocarry out these activities on an everyday basis are the same, whether they are

being operated within an HRM or a personnel management context. This isso much so that some have even argued that the differences between HRM

and personnel management are more cosmetic than real. Others, however,point out that, while HRM and personnel management may carry out thesame functions and use broadly similar techniques, there are importantdifferences in the approach taken to these activities. For example, becauseHRM takes a strategic view, priority is given to the integration of thevarious operational activities within overall systems. The development of performance management systems as a way of integrating a variety of activities such as appraisal, employee development, payment systems, andthe like, illustrates this. Furthermore, an HRM perspective can influence





both the importance placed on a particular activity and the way it is carriedout. For example, take the field of selection. If employee commitment isplaced high on the agenda, selection criteria may have to be modified to putgreater emphasis on attitudinal qualities than hitherto. Suppose a strategicdecision was taken to place high priority on the organisation’s ability tochange rapidly in the face of competitive pressures. The ability to adjust

to change could subsequently become an important personal quality in jobapplicants. In the field of training, a strategic decision to install self-managedteams might mean that greater priority might need to be attached to trainingthan had hitherto been the case. To take a rather different example, Guesthas argued that the individualistic philosophy of HRM thinking results in avery different approach to industrial relations from that traditionally taken

by personnel management.

In conclusion, while HRM and traditional personnel management do indeedhave much in common, they also differ in a number of ways which haveprofound implications for the way in which people are managed in organi-sations.

2 Flexible working arrangements are designed to allow organisations torespond quickly and effectively to changes in environmental circumstances.Blyton and Morris have suggested that there are four main types of flexibil-ity. Functional flexibility involves broadening the individual’s work role sothat he carries out a wider variety of work tasks than before. The specialisedwork roles which typify traditional forms of work organisation are removedso that each individual, within a work team for example, is capable of performing a wide range of work tasks. A major advantage of functionalflexibility is the fact that, because people have multiple skills and becausedemarcation lines no longer exist, management has the freedom to move

individuals from one task to another as the need arises.

A second form of flexibility relates to the numbers of people employedin the organisation at any one time. Numerical flexibility exists when theorganisation is able to expand and contract the number of people on thepayroll quickly whenever it is necessary to do so. It is easy to see theadvantages of numerical flexibility for the organisation. If demand for aproduct suddenly increases, the labour force can be expanded accordingly.Similarly, costs can be minimised if individuals can be taken off the payrollrapidly if demand for a product drops. A number of employment arrange-ments can be set up to achieve numerical flexibility. One of these is to havea significant number of individuals on part-time contracts which can be eas-ily terminated. Contracting out various activities can also create flexibility,since the required services need only be bought as and when needed.

Temporal flexibility refers to the situation where both the number of hoursto be worked, and when they are to be worked, are varied according to theorganisation’s requirements. An example of temporal flexibility would be so-called flexitime working, where the starting and finishing time can be variedwithin certain limits. Adopting a variety of shift working arrangementswould also constitute a form of temporal flexibility. Yet another example





would be the use of annual hours contracts in which the total hours to beworked over a certain period is fixed, but when they are actually workedcan be varied according to circumstances. Once again, the advantages of temporal flexibility for the organisation are clear. Quite simply, labour needonly be paid for when it is needed. Shortages of labour at peak times can

be avoided, as can over supply of labour during less busy periods.

Wage flexibility allows the organisation the scope to vary the way in whichindividuals are paid in line with its objectives. For example, in some cir-cumstances it might make sense to introduce performance related pay asan incentive to greater effort and enhanced performance. In other circum-stances some other form of remuneration may be more appropriate.

Before looking in a little more detail at the advantages and disadvantagesof flexibility, it is perhaps worth referring to the distinction between coreand peripheral workers, as drawn by Atkinson in his theory of the flexiblefirm. Core workers are likely to be particularly valued by the organisation.Considerable sums are likely to have been invested in their training, they are

often multi-skilled, and they will probably be operating under conditionsof functional flexibility. They have relatively high security of employment,and typically have reasonable career opportunities with the organisation.Peripheral workers are less central to the organisation’s requirements. Theytend to have little job security and are not seen as having a career inthe organisation. It is this group which allows the operation of numericalflexibility in Atkinson’s model. Considering the advantages of flexibilityfirst, it should ensure that the organisation has a more easily controlled andmanaged workforce. It should, in theory at least, be possible to obtain highcommitment from core employees, given the investment in their trainingand the career opportunities offered to them. The existence of the peripheral

workforce gives the organisation the ability to hire and fire individualseasily at relatively low cost. In addition, high level skills can be bought inas needed in the form of part-time peripheral workers, without incurringexpensive employment liabilities. There may also be cost savings, sincepart-time workers are traditionally paid relatively low wage rates. Finally,performance-related pay could enhance motivation if properly operated. Inaddition to the potential advantages of flexibility, there is also a numberof potential disadvantages of this approach. Multi-skilling carries with itthe risk that the organisation may leave itself short of specialised expertise.Peripheral workers may lack commitment and this could adversely affecttheir performance. Peripheral workers may also lack the necessary training

to do their jobs to a high standard. The high turnover of the peripheralgroup means that high recruitment costs are effectively built into the system.

3 Performance appraisal is the term used to describe the process of assess-ing individual performance in a formal and systematic way. Although thesystems used in different organisations can be quite varied, there are anumber of features which are common to most of them. The person’simmediate superior usually carries out the assessment, although others may

be involved. There should be a formal system of recording the data col-





lected. Normally there is an appraisal interview at which past performanceis reviewed, and targets for the future set. The assessment of training anddevelopment needs can be included as part of the appraisal, as can issuesrelated to pay and promotion.

A number of common problems of appraisal systems have been identified.

When assessment of training and development needs on the one hand, andreward allocation (in terms of pay or whatever) on the other, are carried outsimultaneously, the appraiser is being cast in the opposing roles of helperand judge. This creates a number of problems for the appraiser. In fact, anysystem which includes salary issues can be problematic due to the fact thatthere are inevitably winners and losers. This can create defensiveness andlack of co-operation on the part of appraisees. In some circumstances, theabilities required for promoted positions differ markedly from those neededto carry out the existing job of the individual being appraised. When this isthe case, a review of past performance in an appraisal context provides littleinformation about the person’s promotability. Unless identified training and

development needs are actually acted upon in the form of the provision of appropriate programmes (which does not always happen), appraisees areliable to see few benefits of appraisal from their point of view. Consequently,they are unlikely to co-operate wholeheartedly in the process. As wasmentioned above, evaluations of the appraisee are usually recorded insome way. However, the fallibility of the human judgement process meansthat there are inevitably inaccuracies in the assessments which are made.Some appraisal systems place considerable emphasis on joint goal setting.However, this process is fraught with problems. At the end of the day,the targets which are set often end up being an unsatisfactory compromise

between the appraisee’s attempts to set easily achievable targets and theappraiser’s efforts to do the opposite. Finally, many appraisal systems arepoorly integrated with other key HRM activities and this severely limitstheir usefulness.

Maximising the effectiveness of appraisal largely involves setting up proce-dures to deal with the difficulties outlined in the previous paragraph. Ata general level, however, if appraisal is to work it can only do so in anatmosphere of trust. Consequently, it is very important that the purposesof the system and its potential benefits for all interested parties are clearlyspelled out. By keeping the reward allocation and development aspects of performance evaluation completely separate, the judge-helper dilemma can

be avoided. It is important that checks are put in place to monitor that rec-

ommendations for training and development are actually followed throughwithin an agreed time frame. As far as the assessment of the appraisee’spast performance is concerned, the emphasis should be on aspects of per-formance the person can do something about, such as skills or motivationalqualities. In addition, a behavioural or competency framework should beadopted. As far as recording information is concerned, assuming that ratingscales are to be used, the BARS or BOS approach is likely to give the bestresults. If a results-oriented approach is to be adopted, care should be takenthat any targets set are realistic and achievable. Appraisal interviews are





very difficult to carry out successfully, and in view of this fact, training forinterviewers is essential. It is best not to rely purely on the judgement of a single individual, such as the person’s immediate boss, when perform-ance is being evaluated. The use of multiple appraisers not only allows allaspects of the person’s performance to be evaluated, it also helps to iron outany individual judgement biases which may be present. The promotability

problem mentioned in the previous paragraph can be tackled by includingsome form of development centre as part of the whole process. Finally, per-formance appraisal is likely to be much more effective when it is embeddedwithin an overall system of performance management.






Section A: Multiple choice questions

25 questions each worth 1 mark.

Total marks available in Section A 25 × 1 = 25

Section B: Essay questions

3 essay questions worth 25 marks each.

Total marks available in Section B 3 × 25 = 75

Total marks available = 100

Pass mark = 50% of 100 = 50 marks

Section A: Multiple Choice Questions

1 Which of the following was one of the factors responsible for the emergence

of HRM?

A The human problems created by rapid technological change in organi-sations.

B The need to develop better techniques to select, train, and developpeople.

C The emergence of new theories in organisational behaviour about howto improve the job satisfaction of workers.

D A belief that better management of people is the key to gaining com-petitive advantage.

2 Which of the following is one of Guest’s (1994) four key outcomes of HRMpolicies?

A Innovation.

B Strategic integration.

C Quantity of output.

D Profit.


A Corporate culture is synonymous with organisational culture.

B Subcultures have less influence on employee behaviour thanorganisation-wide cultures.

C Strong cultures create diversity of viewpoints in an organisation.

D The term organisational culture refers to shared values which are heldthroughout an organisation.





4 Which of the following do autonomous work groups and modern HRMteams have in common?

A An explicit focus on team goals to be achieved.

B The view that job satisfaction of group/team members is of secondaryimportance to the prime objective of delivering enhanced performance.

C Delegation of responsibility to the work group.

D The role of the team leader.

5 Which of the following describes the concept of affective commitment?

A The degree to which a person sees work as central to her life.

B The extent to which an individual is committed to his work team.

C The extent to which a person identifies with, and shares the values of,the organisation.

D The degree to which the individual is prepared to do what managementrequires.

6 Which of the following constitutes a limitation on the value of productivitymeasures as a way of specifying group performance requirements?

A Team members may be more interested in maintaining group cohesionthan they are in achieving productivity targets.

B High productivity may be achieved at the expense of quality.

C Factors outside the control of the group may influence employee satis-faction.

D Commitment may not be related to productivity.

7 Which of the following correctly describes the Schuler model of HRM?

A It is a Harvard style model.

B Systematic studies have been carried out to test its usefulness.

C It has little in common with the Fombrun model.

D It is a ‘soft’ HRM model.

8 Which of the following is correct of the MCI approach to competencies?A It emphasises generic competencies which apply to all managers.

B It is mainly concerned with helping managers to obtain increased jobsatisfaction.

C It focuses on core abilities, rather than skills.

D It is concerned with excellence in performance, rather than the achieve-ment of minimum standards.





9 Under which of the following circumstances would questionnaire methodsof job analysis be unsuitable?

A The job holders to be surveyed are well educated.

B The number of job holders to be surveyed is small.

C The analyst needs quantitative information.D Statistical analysis has to be carried out on the data collected.

10 Which of the following refers to the validity of a selection test?

A The consistency of applicants’ test scores over time.

B The extent to which recruiters agree as to how well candidates haveperformed.

C The correlation between test scores and subsequent job performance.

D The extent to which different recruiters giving the test to the same

applicants agree about who are the best candidates.

11 Which of the following is true of the structured interview?

A Interviewers are free to ask whatever questions they like.

B Motivation to join the company and stated career ambitions are essentialquestions to be asked.

C The candidate is put under stress to assess whether or not he canhandle pressure.

D It is based on selection criteria derived from systematic job analysis.

12 Which of the following correctly describes psychometric tests of ability?

A They provide a qualitative assessment of a person.

B They are concerned with the assessment of core characteristics, skillsand motivation.

C They are concerned with all aspects of a person’s functioning.

D They generally have higher validity than personality tests.


A Functional flexibility describes the practice of expanding and contract-ing the labour force rapidly as the need arises.

B In Atkinson’s model of the flexible firm, peripheral workers have thesame level of job security as core workers.

C Numerical flexibility refers to multi-skilling whereby individuals arerequired to carry out a large number of tasks.

D Annual hours contracts constitute a form of temporal flexibility.





14 Which of the following is true of appraisal systems?

A Systems which include pay review as part of the process often createdefensiveness on the part of the appraisee.

B The use of a BARS or BOS rating system eliminates inaccuracies inappraisers’ judgments.

C When performance management is introduced into an organisation,regular appraisal is no longer necessary.

D Appraisees typically try to set difficult targets in order to give them-selves a challenge.


A Research shows that the PBDI is more valid than the situational inter-view.

B Both the PBDI and the situational interview are based on sound psy-

chological principles.

C Both the PBDI and the situational interview use scoring keys withpredetermined answers.

D The situational interview requires candidates to describe situations theyhave experienced in the past.

16 Which of the following is true of 360-degree appraisal?

A It always uses the BARS system.

B It eliminates the halo effect.

C People outside of the organisation can contribute to the appraisal.

D It is only used for setting performance targets.


A In a learning contract, the organisation makes a formal commitment toa set of learning goals.

B A learning contract includes a statement as to how learning goals areto be achieved.

C A learning contract contains a clause about the financial rewards themanager will receive once he has completed the contract.

D The purpose of learning contracts is to ensure that all employees agreeto accept the philosophy of the learning organisation.


A There is no place for appraisal schemes within performance manage-ment systems.





B Performance management has a shorter time perspective than perform-ance appraisal.

C Performance management does not concern itself with the managementof financial incentives.

D One of the functions of performance management is to ensure thatindividual performance is linked to strategic HRM objectives.

19 According to Guest (1994), which of the following is true of HRM theories?

A They are not applicable to European countries.

B They emphasise individualism.

C They emphasise collectivism.

D They have highlighted the inadequacies of the Japanese approach tomanaging people in organisations.


A The underlying assumption of behaviour modelling training (BMT) isthat people learn from observing the behaviour of another person.

B According to Bandura, rewards are essential if learning is to take place.

C For maximum learning to take place trainers should set goals whichare very easy for trainees to achieve.

D Feedback should not be given to trainees about where they are goingwrong, but should focus exclusively on reinforcing what they are doingcorrectly.

21 When evaluating training programmes, which of the following can beassessed using Kirkpatrick’s trainee reactions criteria?

A External validity.

B Trainees’ views about the value of the programme.

C How much trainees learned during the programme.

D Changes in trainee behaviour back in the workplace.

22 Which of the following has influenced the trend in recent years for careersto become shorter?

A Bureaucratic forms of organisation.

B A belief in some organisations that younger workers contribute morethan older ones.

C Self-managed teams.

D Development for employability schemes.





23 Which of the following correctly describes a difference between employeedevelopment and career management?

A There is greater onus on the employee to take responsibility for hisown development, whereas the organisation has more responsibilityfor career management.

B The time perspective of career management is longer.

C Career management, unlike employee development, is concerned withthe whole person.

D Career management can only occur in large organisations.

24 Which of the following represents a sound reason for promoting fromwithin?

A It creates diversity.

B Some senior jobs may require the person to have a large number of

organisational competencies.

C It creates functional flexibility.

D It creates culture change.

25 Which of the following statements accurately reflects available researchevidence?

A There are clear sex differences in commitment and this explains whywomen are less successful than men.

B Women who do not have families consistently show higher levels of

commitment than men.C Most studies showing sex differences in commitment are difficult to

interpret in terms of career success because of confounding factors.

D The number of women in managerial roles is decreasing.

Section B: Essay Questions

Each question is worth 25 points.

1 What are the defining characteristics of the different models of HRM? How

would you describe the original Harvard model of Beer et al. in terms of these characteristics?

2 Under what conditions is the interview a useful method of selection?

3 Describe the main methods of job analysis. What are the advantages andlimitations of each of them?





Answers to Section A: Multiple Choice Questions

1 D see Section 1.1





























Answers to Section B: Essay Questions

1 There are a number of models of the HRM process in existence. However,they can be broadly defined as belonging to one of two types. First of all,there are several matching models, of which the most well known is the one

put forward by Fombrun and colleagues. Second, there are several variantsof what has become known as the Harvard model, originally proposed byBeer et al. There are at least six defining characteristics which distinguishthe various models from each other.

First, although all of the major models address strategic aspects of HRM,some are exclusively concerned with strategic considerations while othersalso consider operational and implementation issues. In addition, whileall models have something to say about the relationship between strategicHRM and overall business strategy, the nature of the relationship whichis presumed to exist between the two differs markedly from one model toanother.

The models also vary in the extent to which they are prescriptive in thesense of offering mangers advice on how things ought to be done. Someare highly prescriptive, whereas others are more analytical, insofar as theyare more concerned with understanding structures and processes than inmaking specific recommendations.

Perhaps the most important single differentiating feature amongst the vari-ous models is the extent to which they take a ‘hard’ versus ‘soft’ approachto HRM. The hard approach puts considerable emphasis on the resourcesside of HRM. Bottom line profit is seen as the major consideration, andpeople are seen as no different from any other resource in this respect. Soft

HRM on the other hand, emphasises the human rather than the resourceside of the equation. People are in this sense a unique resource and thekey to competitive advantage is to realise their potential fully so that theircontribution to the organisation can be maximised.

Another important differentiating factor amongst the various models isthe role assigned to line managers in the implementation of HRM. Somemodels propose that, because effective management of people is so criticalto organisational success, all managers must take responsibility for HRMmatters. Others make little mention of any special HR role for managersoutside of the HR function.

Some models represent a radical departure from personnel management astraditionally practised. For example, some of the proposals put forward bycertain of the matching models seem a far cry from traditional personnelmanagement. At the other extreme, some models look like not much morethan personnel management dressed up in new clothes.

Finally, there is the extent to which the models adopt a unitarist or pluralistperspective. The unitarist viewpoint assumes that there are only a fewlegitimate stakeholders in the organisation, principally the shareholders andtop management. Pluralist approaches assume a much wider community of





legitimate stakeholders, including for example ordinary employees, labourunions, and even the wider community.

The original Harvard model typifies the soft approach to HRM, with people being viewed as the unique resource which makes the crucial difference between the success and failure of an organisation. Partly because of this

emphasis on the importance of people, it advocates that all managers shouldhave a responsibility for HRM. As far as the relationship between businessstrategy and HRM strategy is concerned, unlike some other models, itregards general strategy as only one of a number of inputs into the processof HRM strategy formulation. The model is not particularly prescriptivein its orientation. Thus, for example, the model talks in terms of HRchoices, rather than advocating the one best way to do things. The Harvardmodel is closer to personnel management than some others. This can beseen in its emphasis on taking the needs of all employees into accountand in its inclusion of the trade unions as legitimate stakeholders in theorganisation. Following on from the last point, the Harvard model is notablefor its pluralist approach. Thus, not only does it recognise the legitimacyof employees’ and unions’ interests, it also takes into account the views of other groups outside the organisation such as government and the widercommunity.

2 The usefulness of any selection device, including the interview, can beassessed with reference to the four criteria suggested by Muchinsky. Thefirst of these, validity, is the most important. Validity, which is expressedas a correlation coefficient, is an estimate of how well the selection devicepredicts job performance. Unless a technique has some validity, it will not

be of any use in selection, no matter how well it appears to match upto the other three criteria. Fairness is also an important criterion against

which to evaluate a selection tool. To meet this requirement there must beno unfair discrimination against individuals. The third factor is cost, withinexpensive selection methods being preferred to expensive ones, otherthings being equal. Finally, a selection device has wide applicability when itcan be used for a large number of different types of job, which Muchinskysees as an advantage.

Before considering the results of studies of the interview, it is worth pointingout that there is a wide variety of different types of selection interview andnot all are likely to be equally useful. For example, interviews can vary interms of their duration, the type of person carrying out the interview, theinterpersonal atmosphere created, the focus of the interview, and the degreeof structure of the interview. Research has shown that the last of these,structure, is critical as far as the usefulness of the interview is concerned.

Early research on the interview, before the advent of the structured inter-view, indicated that the interview had low or even negligible validity.However, the picture changed dramatically with the increasing use of struc-tured interviews. This is most clearly seen from the results of the variousmeta analyses which were carried out in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Forexample, Weisner and Cranshaw reported validity coefficients of around





.60 for structured interviews, compared to values of around .20 – .37 forunstructured ones. Both Huffcutt and Arthur, and McDaniel, also reported,in separate studies, very acceptable validities for interviews – provided theywere structured.

The question which now arises is ‘What exactly is a structured interview?’

A structured interview has four main characteristics. First of all it should be built around a thorough competency/behaviourally-based job analysis,so that the interviewer knows precisely what she is looking for. Second,all questions must be job related and must be consistently asked of everycandidate. Broadly speaking, two types of job related questions have beenused. The first type, which are used in what has been called the PBDI (Janz),asks candidates about specific events which have happened to them in thepast. The events must, of course, be related to the required competencies.Thus if ability to meet deadlines was a competency, then questions focusingon meeting deadlines in the past would be asked. This approach is basedon the well established psychological principle that past behaviour predictsfuture behaviour. The second type of job related question asks candidateshow they would deal with a series of carefully selected job situations.This is known as the situational interview (Latham), and it is based onthe principle that people actually do what they say they will do. To datewe do not have enough evidence to say which of these two approachesis the more valid. The third characteristic of some types of structuredinterview is the use of a fixed list of questions along with the alternativeanswers which could be given by candidates to each question. This thirdcharacteristic only really applies to the situational interview, at least as faras the provision of alternative answers is concerned. Finally, in structuredinterviews, interviewers are provided with behaviour based rating scalesagainst which candidates are assessed, usually on a number of dimensions.

Turning to Muchinsky’s third criterion of fairness, we do not have a clearcut answer to this question at the present time (Arvey). Most interviewsrequire significant amounts of expensive management time and in this sensethe interview can be described as a fairly costly method of selection. Onthe other hand, interviews have wide applicability, being appropriate foralmost any kind of job.

In conclusion, while historically interviews appeared to be of little real usein selection, the advent of the structured interview has caused their value to

be re-assessed. It now appears that, provided a structured format is used,interviews are indeed a useful method of selection.

3 Job analysis aims to provide a comprehensive and valid list of what isrequired for effective performance of a particular job or set of jobs. Blumand Naylor list nine main methods of job analysis. The first of these,questionnaires, involves asking job holders to indicate the extent to whicha series of statements applies to their job. Questionnaire methods have theadvantage, from the point of view of the analyst’s time, that they can beadministered to large groups of employees simultaneously. In this sensethey are most useful when there are many job holders available to complete





the questionnaires. When this is the case, and when the information is inan appropriate format, valuable statistical analysis can be carried out onthe data. One drawback of this approach is the time it takes to constructthe questionnaire. Also, important features of the job may be left out of thequestionnaire inadvertently. Finally, questionnaires are not well suited foruse with job holders who have had little formal education.

Checklists have much in common with questionnaires, except that in thiscase the employee selects only those items, from a large list of statements,which apply to his particular job. This avoids the potential problem withquestionnaires that job holders, in a misguided attempt to be helpful, mightprovide ratings for activities which are not actually part of their job. Apartfrom this, the advantages and limitations of checklists are similar to thoseof questionnaires.

Interviews carried out on a one-to-one basis have the advantage that theyprovide a rich source of qualitative information about the job. Also, it is the

job holders themselves – rather than the analyst – who provide the list of

relevant activities. Since they inevitably know the job more intimately thanthe analyst, this has the advantage that important aspects of the job areunlikely to be missed. Interviews can also be conducted with others whoknow the job well, such as immediate supervisors. A major drawback of this approach is its time-consuming nature for all concerned. Also, becausethe data generated is qualitative, categorising it can be problematic.

Depending on the type of job, much can be learned by observing individualsactually carrying it out. This would typically be followed up with a seriesof interviews with job holders. A clear advantage of this approach is thefact that it is based on actual job behaviour, rather than on what people saythey do. Once again, however, we are talking about a very time-consumingprocedure. In addition, it is clearly a method which cannot be applied toall jobs. For example, how much could be learned about the job of novelistsimply by watching as person typing material into a word processor?

Group interview methods involve discussing the job with individuals ingroups. This is clearly more economical in terms of the analyst’s time. Italso has the benefit that one person’s responses can suggest sides to another.On the other hand, some individuals may dominate the group, leadingto biased information. Aside from these considerations, the benefits anddrawbacks of this method are similar to those listed above for one-to-oneinterviews.

The conference method typically uses brainstorming techniques to obtainlists of job tasks and associated behaviours from groups of experts whoare thoroughly familiar with the job in question. Questionnaires can also

be incorporated into this method, with items being derived from the brain-storming exercise. This combination of two techniques is a strength of thisapproach.

Work diaries are particularly valuable in situations where the analyst sus-pects that there are important features of the job which are so routine that





they may go unnoticed when the techniques we have described so far areused. By asking job holders to keep a daily record of all of the tasks theycarry out, a very comprehensive record of work tasks can be built up. Thisof course can be very time-consuming, not just for those who keep thediaries, but also for the analyst who has the job of reading and analysingthem.

Depending on the nature of the job, it may be possible for the analystherself to carry out part, or even all, of the job. This can be valuable forhighlighting aspects of the job which the person doing the job is no longeraware of because of the length of time for which he has been doing it. Aclear limitation of this method is the fact that it is only feasible for certainkinds of job.

The critical incident technique requires respondents, who might be jobholders or their superiors, to describe specific behavioural events which haveactually occurred in the job in question, and which are critically importantaspects of the job. Examples of particularly successful and unsuccessful

ways in which the events were tackled may also be requested. The majorstrength of this method is its focus on real events which exemplify excellentand poor performance in job situations which are particularly important.However, this focus on extreme events brings with it the risk that moreeveryday events, which might still be important, are overlooked. Also,

because it concentrates on past events, the method is not well suited to theidentification of future-oriented performance requirements.

Finally, if there is a need to obtain as comprehensive as possible an analysisof the job, the analyst will often use a combination of these methods.






Note to Students


examined in a new format. There will be no multiple-choice questions and theexamination will consist of two case study questions and one essay question.



Marks

Case Study 1 40

Case Study 2 40

Essay question 20

Total 100

The old format – as per Practice Final Examinations 1 and 2, Past Papers andProfiler Examinations – will be used up to and including the December 2008

diet.

Case Study 1

You are an experienced HR manager who works for a company which produceselectricity by means of nuclear power. There are six power plants in variouslocations in the UK. In total they supply about 20% of the nation’s electricityrequirements. In your current role you are not attached to any particular plant,

but instead you have a roving commission acting not only as a kind of troubleshooter, but also as someone who advises on new ideas and innovations in thehuman resource field.

Recently, an interesting proposal has come up for your evaluation. Unusually,the idea has been put forward by a trade union representative at one of theplants by name of Dave Jones. He has suggested that the organisation wouldfunction more effectively if it were to introduce more team working throughoutthe company. Apparently Dave met recently with a trade union colleague whohad just retired from another company. During their conversations, this colleaguetold him all about what he called the quality of working life (QWL) movement,which had operated in his old company. Apparently QWL, which focuses very

much on team working, has all sorts of benefits and leads to a much moresatisfied workforce. Dave was particularly impressed with the idea that workersare given complete responsibility for all aspects of their work under this system.He emphasised that although the main aim of setting up team working is toincrease worker satisfaction it would without doubt result in people performing

better and this would benefit the company.

You have been asked by your boss to prepare a report on the advantagesand pitfalls of introducing team working and to make recommendations for





the consideration of top management. Your boss has asked you to include thefollowing in your report:

1 What are the benefits and drawbacks of a team working approach from thepoint of view of management and workers?

2 What alternative types of team working should we be considering? Whichof these are most likely to be useful in the context of the nuclear industryin general and this organisation in particular?

Bearing in mind the requirement to take the organisational context into con-sideration, you have decided to begin your investigation by asking the HRmanagers at the six plants for their views on the defining characteristics of the company Their replies can be summarised as follows. They have pointedout that, as the sole providers of nuclear generated electricity in the country,the company has no real competitors. Also, as the government is in fact themain shareholder in the company, it cannot realistically go bankrupt. For thesereasons, there has never been any real pressure to adopt the latest HR fadsand the organisation has run perfectly satisfactorily along traditional lines formany years. As is the case in all organisations, there are a number of competingpriorities, but in our case, there is one overriding consideration - safety. Thishas to be seen as the prime directive and this is why the utmost importance isgiven to not only to the adherence to safety rules and procedures in order tominimise the risk of errors and accidents, but also to the need to adhere rigidlyto all procedures as laid down by management. To meet this objective, everyoneis highly trained for their particular set of job tasks and responsibilities, partic-ularly the safety aspects. Also, the traditional top-down system of managerialresponsibilities ensures that everyone in a supervisory role knows that they haveultimate responsibility for all aspects of the running of their sections, especially

safety. Last, but not least, being the nuclear industry, we are always in the publiceye and there is no shortage of people out there would like any opportunity tomake life difficult for us.

1 Your task is to write a report for management focusing on points one andtwo above and taking into account any of the points made by your HRcolleagues that you consider to be relevant.

(40 per cent of the total available marks)

Case Study 2

You are an external consultant who has been approached for advice by YumYum Supermarkets plc, a company supplying high quality food products at thetop end of the retail food market. According to the background informationthe company has sent you, competition in the field has become more andmore cut-throat and top management has decided that, in order to meet thechallenges of its competitors, it has to downsize. It is clear that a reductionstaff of 20–30% will be necessary over the next 12 months. Furthermore, if profitability is to be maintained it is imperative that there is no reduction in sales





volume. Consequently, considerably higher performance will be needed fromthose workers who remain after the downsizing exercise. Since the organisationtherefore needs to keep its best workers, it has been decided that voluntaryredundancy is not an option in this case. It will instead be necessary to let thepoorer performers go. As the MD has said in his address to the workforce ’Inthese hard times we can only really afford to keep those employees who share

the company’s values and beliefs in what it is trying to do. Only these peoplewill be able to produce the high level of performance we will need’.

You have received the following letter from the Personnel Department.

Dear HR consultant,

Thank you for agreeing to help us carry out our downsizing exercise in the best

way possible. You already know a little of the background to our problem. I

am now writing to you with more details on progress so far and with some

specific questions.

We have carried out some preliminary work on identifying what type of personshould stay with us and what types we should let go. We have talked to our

most senior managers about this and asked for their advice bearing mind the

MDs criteria that we need people with the right attitudes. We have reminded

them all of the basic fact that, if people have the right attitude (i.e. share

the company’s values) they will work hard and generate high performance.

We have had some interesting advice from them. For example, one manager

thought that this would be a good opportunity to weed out what she called

the obsessional types we seem to have attracted to the company recently. She

is referring to people for whom work is not just earning a living but instead it

takes over their whole lives. It’s as if their whole identity is defined by their job.

Have you come across this type of person and do you think we should target

them for redundancy? Someone else mentioned the type of guy who, while he

seems to have a strong interest in his own particular area of work seems little

bothered by the fortunes of Yum Yum as a whole. You know the kind of thing,

where somebody thinks of himself being part of the engineering or accounting

profession first, rather than a Yum Yum manager. What do you think we should

do about these people? Some of our managers have put forward the idea that

we should favour those employees who really seem to want to work for us.

An example here might be those who have worked for us for a long time and

have no interest in seeking employment elsewhere. Maybe this is just the kind

of commitment we need for the future. Yes?

We have a lot more women then men in the company. Strangely this seems tobe especially the case among our middle managers. However, many of them

have young kids and, given their natural commitment to their kids, I guess we

cannot really expect them to give their total commitment to the company. In

the past this has not been a problem for us, but with the future demands on

people perhaps it would become so. The last thing we want is for our staff

to be too stressed so perhaps it would only be fair to let some of this group

go, at least the ones with young kids. Do you see any problems with this?

Another interesting suggestion made by one of our executives was to get rid





of the older workers. Apparently he read in some human resource magazine

that older workers are usually less committed to the company than younger

ones. The funny thing about this suggestion is the executive in question is

nearing retirement age himself! By the way the same manager also read in this

magazine that less educated workers often show little commitment so perhaps

they are another likely target group?

The Personnel Department has been thinking about what, if anything, needs to

be done to make sure that at the end of the downsizing, all of the remaining

employees have high commitment to the organisation’s values and objectives.

You will not be surprised to know that we cannot agree about this. Some

people think that we will not need to do anything because those who remain

will feel so relieved and grateful to be still with us that they will buy into our

values like never before. Another argument in favour of not doing anything

runs along the lines that if we have weeded out those who lack commitment,

those left must have high commitment. The contrary view has been expressed

that some kind of training will be needed since any downsizing is likely to

lower morale and this in turn will damage employee commitment. What do

you think? If you think some kind of training is necessary, any brief tips on the

type of training we should think about would be useful.

Looking forward to an early reply,

O. P. Tomist

1 Your task is to draft an appropriate response, advising them on the bestway forward. In your reply to the client do not forget to make referenceto any relevant material from the literature on HRM with which you arefamiliar.


Essay Question

Compare and contrast the situational interview with the patterned behaviourdescription interview in terms of their effectiveness as selection devices.






Worked Solutions

Case Study 1

The material pertaining to this question is contained in section 3.5.

The answer should include the following:

Although QWL and modern team working have some elements in common,the focus of interest of the two is very different. While QWL is very muchfocused on satisfaction, team working concentrates on performance with satis-faction being a secondary issue.

Even under QWL workers are seldom given ’complete responsibility for allaspects of their work’.

Increased worker satisfaction does not inevitably lead to increased perform-ance.

A summary of the main ways in which team working could enhance perform-ance such as focus on team goals, team accountability, and the team leader’srole as an intermediary between the team and management.

A discussion of the advantages and drawbacks of team working for individ-uals. Advantages include: increased power, responsibility and ownership forthose who value these outcomes; shared responsibility; and mutual support. Onthe negative side not everyone wants responsibility; some managers may resenttheir loss of responsibility; and functional flexibility may mean loss of status forskilled workers.

A summary of the five main types of team and their potential benefits should be included.

The fact that the organisation’s position in the nuclear industry means that itis not facing tough competition perhaps suggests that it has less need to adoptrisky HR innovations in order to maintain its position in the marketplace. Onthe other hand it would be complacent to ignore all recent developments in HRsuch as the growth of team working practices.

Any introduction of team working has to take account of the overwhelmingsafety imperative. Two key aspects of current management practice reflect this.First, everyone has specific job roles for which they are highly trained. To theextent that this policy has enhanced safety, it implies limitations on the degreeof functional flexibility that can be introduced. Second, there is considerable

responsibility on supervisors for safety. Once again, if this has been successfulfrom a safety point of view, it might be prudent to consider a more limiteddegree of team autonomy than might otherwise be the case with team working,at least in the initial stages of the introduction of the new system.

While the issue of public scrutiny of the organisation’s activities is undoubt-edly important, its implications for the introduction or otherwise of team work-ing are not clear.





Case Study 2

The material pertaining to this question is contained in section 3.3, section 3.7 andsection 8.4.4.


Has the company fully considered all alternatives to downsizing? In the endof the day it may be necessary but it is likely to lead to a number of difficultiesduring its implementation and afterwards.

The MD’s belief that only people who share the company’s values will be ableto produce high performance reflects the widely held view that high commitmentleads to high performance. However, the evidence indicates that there is only asmall relationship between commitment and performance.

Why only talk to the most senior managers about what type of person shouldstay or go? Surely others could make a contribution here too.

The ’obsessional types’ mentioned in the text describe people who have highwork involvement. While there is no direct evidence that such individuals arehigh performers, there is no evidence to the contrary either, so that there is noreason target this group for redundancy.

Those who have a strong attachment to their profession are defined as havinghigh professional commitment. Again there is no clear evidence that this relatesto job performance.

Individuals who have spent many years with the organisation may indeedwish to continue to work with the organisation but this may simply representwhat is known as continuance commitment. The answer should explain why

high continuance commitment is not necessarily desirable.A discussion of the issue of gender differences in commitment in relation to

performance. The evidence does not justify selecting women for redundancy onthis basis.

The evidence actually indicates that being older and being less educated arecorrelated with high commitment.

It is not really possible to say definitively what the reactions of those whoremain after the downsizing exercise has been completed will be. Much willdepend on how the exercise is carried out.

While it seems likely that some form of training will be necessary, probablyof the attitudinal variety, one cannot be precise about the form it should take atthis stage.





Essay Question

The material relevant to this question is contained in section 5.3.


• An indication that both are structured interviews.

• A summary of the differences between structured and unstructured inter-views.

• A summary of the defining characteristics of the structured interview: itis built around a competence based job analysis; all questions must be jobrelated; questions must be consistently applied to all candidates; interview-ers may in some cases be provided with lists of possible candidate answers;scoring is based on behavioural rating scales.

Muchinsky’s four factors for determining usefulness should be explained -

validity, cost, fairness and applicability. The comparison between the PBDI andthe situational interview should be discussed in terms of these factors.

• The situational interview is based on what candidates say they would duein response to a series of hypothetical situations which have been obtainedusing the critical incident method. It is based on the assumption thatintentions are a good predictor of behaviour.

• The PBDI focuses on past events which have actually happened to thecandidate. It is based on the theory that past behaviour predicts future

behaviour.

• The evidence does not allow us to say which is superior in terms of validity.• The situational interview is more costly because it is more time-consuming

to set up.

• Cost issues means that the PBDI is probably more applicable in practice.

• There is no evidence of any difference with respect to fairness.






Note to Students


examined in a new format. There will be no multiple-choice questions and the

examination will consist of two case study questions and one essay question.



Marks

Case Study 1 40

Case Study 2 40

Essay question 20

Total 100

The old format – as per Practice Final Examinations 1 and 2, Past Papers andProfiler Examinations – will be used up to and including the December 2008

diet.

Case Study 1

You are a research officer who works for the Manual and Professional Union of Great Britain, based at their headquarters in London. It is one of the strongestunions in the UK and represents employees in a wide variety of manufacturingindustries.

Headquarters has recently received a call from their representative at LongrunTyres, a Birmingham manufacturer of automobile tyres. The representative hasasked for specialist advice and back-up in terms of how to respond to a newproposed initiative put forward by management. In a series of briefings the HRDepartment has announced the company’s intention to introduce what it calls’flexible working arrangements’ throughout the plant within the next six months.The briefings outlined a series of benefits of these proposed arrangements bothfor the company and for the employees. Apparently both the organisation andthe workforce will benefit equally from the proposed changes.

According to the briefings, alleged benefits for the workforce are many. Forexample, people will get the opportunity to do a much wider range of jobs

and tasks than in the past, so that the work will become more interesting andexciting for everyone. Because of something they called ’numerical flexibility’,employees will have the chance to take advantage of less rigid contracts, sothat for example, they will be able to work part-time if they wish. Full timeemployees will even have the chance to work reduced hours in the week fromtime to time. A system called wage flexibility will allow them to earn more byworking harder. A key feature of the new set up will be a new improved gradingsystem for employees. Their will be two classes of worker. The first of these,called core workers, will be best suited to those who can make a big commitment





to the organisation in terms of time and effort. The other ’peripheral’ grade will be designed for those who want to commit less, perhaps by only working part-time. The company has pointed out that there is overwhelming evidence thatwhen such systems are introduced, not only does worker satisfaction increase,

but there is greater efficiency, leading in turn to increased profit and eventuallywage increases.

The union representative has indicated that she is suspicious that the organi-sation has painted an over-rosy picture of the advantages of flexibility from thepoint of view of her members and fears that they may be glossing over thedrawbacks of the system. She wonders whether there really is strong evidencein favour of this system. Unfortunately, neither she nor her colleagues locallyknow much about this concept of flexibility, and this is making it difficult forher to know how best to respond to management on this issue. She is thereforeasking Headquarters for advice about what this ’flexibility’ really amounts to inpractice. She would like to know the extent to which the company’s claims are

justified. Last but not least she would appreciate any information that might be available as to any hidden drawbacks there might be with flexible systems,especially from the point of view of her fellow union members.

1 As research officer, write a report for her giving her an overview of whatflexibility might mean for the employees in the organisation. Do not forget toinclude a comment on the company’s claims about the benefits of flexibilityfor workers.


Case Study 2

Computer Software Solutions (CSS) is a privately owned company whose core business is to install software systems for a range of organisations in the UK.The company has grown rapidly in recent years and now employs 150 people.A number of them are educated to at least graduate level, although manygraduated a number of years ago. The employees are quite a mixed bunchin terms of their education, skills, and personalities. Some could be describedas boffin types while others are much more hands on. Generally, the morecomplex jobs are reserved for the graduates. Another group whose work isless complex and does not require as deep an understanding as that of thegraduates are best described as technicians. The work of another group isessentially routine and mainly involves fault finding by working through a setof checklists provided to them. This group has limited training and often noformal educational qualifications.

Until recently, clients have not been difficult to find and profits have beenhealthy. Indeed much of the work has come from repeat clients. However, thissituation has changed recently with increased competition in the marketplace,especially from a large multi-national which specialises in software applicationsand which has recently begun operating in the area with considerable success.CSS has recently recruited a relatively senior technical specialist from this organ-isation and she has pointed out that their employees are much more highly





trained, especially in technical areas than those in CSI. She has expressed theview this is one of the main reasons for the former’s success in the marketplace.

After several discussions among senior managers in the company, it has been decided that a serious investment in training is needed. Discussion withthe technical director has established that technical training at all levels is the

priority. Furthermore, he has provided a framework in terms of the technicalcontent of the various programmes aimed at different levels of employee. It isassumed that all technical staff will need to be trained. While agreement has beenreached in principle to invest in a series of training programmes, managementhave identified a number of issues in terms of the training process itself. Forexample, the work of the various employee groups is very different not onlyin terms of the types of task but also in relation to the levels of understandingneeded to perform them successfully. Are different types of learning requireddepending on what has to be learned and, if so, how should these be built intothe programme? Common sense suggests that individuals are different fromeach other in the way they learn. How can this be taken into account? Are there

any techniques which can be used to speed up the learning process and if so,how can these be utilised? A number those employees who have been with theorganisation for a long time do not believe that CSS has a problem in termsof marketplace competition and are not convinced that the proposed traininginitiative is necessary. What can be done about these people?

1 From your knowledge of best HRM practice provide CSS with advice onthe issues raised above.


Essay Question

Discuss Herriot’s theories on new forms of work organisation and the psycho-logical contract.






Worked Solutions

Case Study 1

The material pertaining to this question is contained in section 3.4.The answer should include the following:

An overview of what is meant by flexibility in HRM.

A general indication that the company is over-stating the benefits and under-estimating the drawbacks of flexibility form the point of view of the workforce.It is debatable that the workforce will benefit as much as management fromflexibility given the many potential drawbacks for the former group.

Functional flexibility might allow people to carry out a wider range of tasksand this could make the work more interesting for some. However, for others

it will mean doing less skilled work than before, which may have a negativeimpact on them.

Numerical flexibility usually refers to the organisation’s ability to expand andcontract the labour force to suit its purposes so that the advantages of these ’lessrigid’ contracts seem to be mainly for the organisation. Few employees wouldsee the prospect of uncertainty over their future employment as beneficial.

Temporal flexibility does include part-time working among other things, whichmay suit some people. However, part-time working generally means reducedremuneration, which few would see as a benefit.

Wage flexibility can indeed link pay to individual performance, which could

be seen as beneficial for those who perform at a high level at the expense of those who do not perform as well.

The difference between the conditions of core and peripheral workers iscrucial as far as the advantages and drawbacks of flexibility is concerned. Thesituation for core workers is on the whole better since they usually have greater

job security, more training and better career prospects. Often their work ismore interesting. Peripheral workers on the other hand have little security of employment, few career prospects and often relatively low pay.

It is not the case that there is overwhelming evidence that flexibility increasessatisfaction, efficiency, profit, and ultimately wages.

Case Study 2

The material pertaining to this question is contained in Module 7.


The belief of one senior individual from the rival organisation that the successof her former organisation is due to the fact that their employees are more





highly trained may or may not be true. However, on its own it does not seemsufficient to embark on the extensive training proposed. CSS should consider awider strategic review before coming to the conclusion that all its problems aredue to a lack of training.

A proper analysis of training needs and priorities should be carried out, rather

than relying solely on the views of the technical director. A summary of whatthis might involve should include mention of organisational, work role, andindividual levels of analysis.

The need to determine training priorities should be mentioned.

Again, it would not be wise to rely solely on the framework for technicalcontent provided by the technical director. Mention should be made of ways of establishing appropriate training content.

The CRAMP taxonomy should be explained and discussed in response to thequestion about different types of tasks and levels of understanding.

The need to cater for the different education, skills and personalities of theemployees should be discussed in terms of what is known about different typesof learner.

Reference should be made to general learning principles and their role inspeeding up the learning process in answer to the question about techniques.

The possibility of some form of training at the organisational level is suggested by the fact that some long standing employees belief that CSS does not haveany problems in terms of marketplace competition. This would likely take theform of attitude development in the CRAMP taxonomy.

Essay Question

The material relevant to this question is contained in section 8.3.3 and section 8.3.4.


A detailed explanation of the nature of the psychological contract and shouldcover:

• What is expected and what can be offered by both parties to the contract.

• The fact that the contract is unwritten and implicit.

• The fact that certain modern HR practices make it difficult for organisationsto fulfil their part of the bargain.

• The emphasis on bottom line profits make organisations less concerned withlong-term careers of employees.

• The need for constant adaptation and changes mitigates against employeesecurity.

• Flexible work practices may result in minimal job security.





• Downsizing can not only end security for those who lose their jobs but canalso create feelings of insecurity in those who remain.

• Temporary team working reinforces perceptions of employment being shortterm.

• Flatter organisations means fewer promotion opportunities.

• Flexible firms have only a small number of core jobs and hence few careeropportunities.

• The need for innovation may encourage promotion from outside the organ-isation.

Herriot’s four balancing acts should be mentioned.

• Adaptability versus support

• Loyalty versus respect for individuality

• Knowledge and skills versus recognition and tolerance

• Feedback versus trust and autonomy.

It would also be useful here to mention his ideas on the choices facingemployees when the contract is broken: get safe; get out ; get even.

Herriot’s ideas on an alternative approach to the psychological contract should be discussed:

• There is an exchange of information.

• There is a negotiating process.

• Following this there is a monitoring system to evaluate the extent to which both parties are sticking to the agreement.

• Finally there is a re-negotiation process.




Index

ability tests 5/4, 5/6, 5/9–10, 5/18, 5/19

action learning 7/22Adams, J.S. 4/22adaptation 4/15affective commitment 3/21after between design 7/19after within design 7/17–18Alliger, G.M. 7/16Annette, J. 7/7Anthony, P.D. 3/27application forms 5/11appointment decisions 5/5appraisal systems 1/10, 2/6, 6/3–16

behaviour focused appraisal 6/9interviews 6/4, 6/14–15limitations of 6/15–16measuring effectiveness of 6/16, 6/16–17personnel involved 6/12–13process-oriented 6/8–9promotion potential identification 6/6, 6/15,

6/16purposes and outcomes 6/5–6recording information 6/9–12results-oriented 6/6–8and reward allocation 6/6, 6/15360-degree appraisals 6/13, 6/16and training and development needs 1/10,

6/5, 6/6, 6/15aptitude tests 5/18Arvey, R.D. 5/17assessment centres 5/20–22, 6/6AT & T Corporation 5/21Atkinson, J. 3/11attitude development 7/11attitudinal qualities 4/16autonomous work groups 3/15

Bandura, A. 7/9Barrick, M.R. 5/19BARS (behaviourally anchored rating scales)

6/11–12Beason, G. 5/13, 5/13Beer, M. 2/1, 2/7–9 before after within and between design 7/19 before after within design 7/18–19 behaviour and work motivation 1/6 behaviour focused appraisal 6/9

behaviour observation scales (BOS) 6/11–12

behaviour performance indicators 4/9–10 behavioural change 7/14–15 behavioural competencies 4/18–20 behavioural repertoires 4/9, 4/10 behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS )

6/11–12 behaviour-modelling training (BMT) 7/9Belt, J.A. 5/13, 5/13Bevan, S. 6/18 biodata 5/11–12Blum, L. 4/10Blyton, P. 3/10BMT (behaviour-modelling training) 7/9BOS (behaviour observation scales) 6/11–12Boxall, P.F. 2/6, 2/11Boyatzis, R. 4/18 brainstorming 4/13 bureaucratic organisations 3/7–8 business strategy 1/2–3, 1/8, 2/3, 2/3

Callanan and Greenhaus career stage model8/5–6

Campbell, D.T. 7/17Campbell, J.P. 7/15

career management 1/10career anchors 8/3–4choice and decisions

Holland’s theory 8/2–3Schein’s theory 8/3–4

coaching 8/12–13concept of 8/2counselling 8/13development centres 8/10–11development workshops 8/13educational programmes 8/14employee expectations 8/8–9fast track schemes 8/11–12future for careers 8/17–18mentoring 8/12–13, 8/20organisation’s responsibility 8/9–10psychological contract 8/8–9, 8/14–17stages of careers 8/5–6work role transitions 8/6–8workbooks 8/13

change programmes 3/5, 3/26–27, 4/15checklists

Human Resource Management Edinburgh Business School I/1



Index

for job analysis 4/11for recording appraisal information 6/9–10

coaching 7/22–23, 8/12cognitive ability tests 5/18commitment

and de-layering 3/8–9

gender differences 8/21Harvard philosophy 2/8and recruitment 5/2and the psychological contract 8/15and total quality management 3/5and work motivation 1/6, 7/2

communication programmes 3/26competencies 4/16–21

behavioural 4/18–20Management Charter Initiative (MCI) 4/17–18organisational 4/21

competitiveness 1/2

compliance 3/20comprehension 7/10concurrent validity 5/7conference method 4/13continuance commitment 3/21continuous improvement 3/5contracting 8/17core abilities 4/5–7, 4/18, 4/20core characteristics 4/9core workers 3/11–12, 5/2corporate culture 3/24correlation coefficients 5/7–8cost reduction 2/5costs

of interviews 5/17of psychometric tests 5/17–20and quality 3/2and recruitment 5/10sunk costs 3/21

counselling and careers 8/13Cowling, A. 1/4CRAMP taxonomy 7/10–12critical incident method 4/14cross-functional teams 3/16culture 3/23–27

change programmes 1/6, 3/5, 3/26–27corporate culture 3/24definition 3/24–25and performance 3/25and quality 3/4

customer satisfaction 3/3

Deal, T.E. 3/24de-centralisation 1/7, 3/9–10

decision-making teams 3/17de-layering 3/8–9, 3/17Deming, W.E. 3/2Devanna, M.A. 2/3–4, 2/6development centres 6/6, 6/17, 7/20, 8/10–11development for employability 7/23

development workshops 8/13disciplinary procedure 9/13–14discrimination 5/10diversification of work roles 4/15–16downsizing 8/15dress codes 3/24

educational opportunities 8/14employee development 7/20–23

action learning 7/22coaching 7/22development centres 7/20

development for employability 7/23learning contract 7/21mentoring 7/22purpose of 7/2self-development 7/21and training programmes 7/19–20work experience 7/21

employee relations 9/2–24collectivist v individualist approach 9/5definition 9/2legal framework 9/6–7philosophical approach 9/3–6

pluralist approach 9/4radical approach 9/4unitarist approach 9/4

employee representation 9/9–12unions 9/9–12

employeescareer expectations 8/8–9involvement techniques 3/5, 3/22, 3/23motivation 1/5, 1/6, 3/23, 4/5–7, 6/2relationships 3/23role behaviour 2/4

Employers’ Labour Use Strategies 3/12empowerment 3/17, 7/2end-results 4/2–3, 6/6–9, 7/15enterprise culture 1/3Evans, A. 1/4experimental designs 7/16–19

fairness 5/10, 5/12, 5/17, 5/20fast track career management 8/11–12feedback 6/2–3, 8/16financial flexibility 3/13, 3/17

I/2 Edinburgh Business School Human Resource Management



Index

Flanagan, J.C. 4/14flexible working arrangements 3/5, 3/10–14

advantages/disadvantages 3/13definition 2/9evaluation of 3/12–13Flexible Firm 3/11–12

forms of flexibility 3/10–11task flexibility 1/7flexitime arrangements 3/11Fombrun, C.J. 2/1, 2/1, 2/3–4, 2/6Ford, R.C. 3/21functional flexibility 3/10, 3/17, 3/18, 4/15

Gerhart, B. 4/23glass ceilings 8/19globalisation 1/2, 8/7goal setting 6/5, 6/8, 6/14, 7/10graduate recruitment 5/3, 5/13, 5/21

grandfather appraisals 6/12Greenhaus and Callanan career stage model8/5–6

grievance procedure 9/13–14group interviews 4/12Guest, D.E. 1/8, 1/9, 3/9, 3/22

HRM model 2/9–10, 3/4Gutek, B.A. 8/19, 8/21

Hakim, C. 3/12Hales, C.P. 7/8halo effect 6/10

hard HRM 1/5–6Harvard models 2/1, 2/7–11Beer model 2/7–9evaluation of 2/11Guest model 2/9–10, 3/4Pettigrew approach 2/10

Hawthorne studies 3/15health and well-being at work 9/14–20

lifestyle programmes 9/20maximisation 9/18–20organisational culture 9/20physical aspect 9/16–17

psychological aspect 9/17–18Hendry, C. 1/4, 2/5, 2/10Herriot, P. 1/10, 8/15, 8/16, 8/17hierarchical task analysis (HTA) 7/7–8hierarchies 3/7, 3/8’high flyers’ 8/11Hill, S. 3/6Holland, J.L. 8/2–3home-work conflicts 8/20Honey, P. 7/12

human resource managementdefinition 1/1–2origins and evolution 1/2

Hunter, J.E. 5/9, 5/12, 5/15, 6/7Hunter, R.F. 5/9, 5/12, 5/15

incentive schemes 3/22individual ability 6/2individual development 6/17individual level training needs 7/4industrial relations 1/4, 1/9information provision 3/22innovation 2/4international teams 3/16inter-rater reliability 5/6interviews

appraisal 6/4, 6/14–15costs 5/17

group 4/12one-to-one 4/11–12recruitment 5/14–17and training needs analysis 7/5

involvement techniques 3/5, 3/20, 3/22, 3/23,9/20–24

communication 9/21consultation 9/21participation 9/22success 9/23–24

Jackson, S.E. 2/4

Janack, E.A. 7/16 Janz, T. 5/16, 5/16 Japanese management practices 1/2–3 job analysis 4/10–14

checklists 4/11conference method 4/13critical incident method 4/14group interviews 4/12observation 4/12one-to-one interviews 4/11–12and performance 4/16questionnaires 4/11, 4/13and recruitment 5/4and strategic HRM 4/15–16work diaries 4/13work participation 4/14

job involvement 3/20 job roles 1/10, 3/10 Juran, J.M. 3/2

Keenan, A. 4/20, 5/11, 5/13, 5/21Kennedy, A. 3/24




Index

Kirkpatrick, D.L. 7/13–16

Latham, G.P. 5/16, 6/5leadership 3/26, 4/9, 7/19learning 7/8–12, 7/14, 7/21learning organisations 3/18–20, 5/3

Legge, K. 3/3, 3/12, 3/12, 3/18Locke, E.A. 6/5Long, P. 6/4, 6/5, 6/6, 6/7, 6/8, 6/13, 6/19loyalty 8/15

McBer model 4/18–19, 4/20McGee, G.W. 3/21Makin, P.J. 5/13, 5/21management by objectives (MBO) 6/7–8Management Charter Initiative (MCI) 4/17–18management style 8/22managerial roles 7/8

Matching HRM models 2/1, 2/3–7evaluation of 2/6Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna 2/3–4Schuler group 2/4–6

memory training 7/11mentoring 6/18, 8/12, 8/20meta analysis of selection tools 5/8–10Mintzberg, H. 7/8models of HRM

defining characteristics 2/1–2Harvard models 2/1, 2/7–11Matching models 2/1, 2/3–7

Morris, J. 3/10motivation 1/5, 1/6, 3/23, 4/5–7, 6/2Mount, M.K. 5/19Muchinsky, P. 5/10, 5/13Mumford, A. 7/12

Naylor, J.C. 4/10needs analysis 7/5needs identification 7/3–4Newell, S. 5/17Nicholson, N. 8/7, 8/8numerical flexibility 3/10, 3/12

objective setting 6/5, 6/8, 6/14, 7/10observation of job incumbents 4/12Ogbonna, E. 3/27one-to-one interviews 4/11–12operational level HRM 1/9–11organisational behaviour (OB) 1/5, 2/6, 2/7organisational commitment 3/20–23

affective commitment 3/21and compliance 3/20

continuance commitment 3/21–22determinants of 3/22–23and motivation 3/23nature of 3/20–22and performance 3/23related concepts 3/20–21

organisational competencies 4/21organisational level training needs 7/3–4organisational structure 3/5, 3/7–10

bureaucratic 3/7–8de-centralisation 3/9–10de-layering 3/8–9, 3/17

outsourcing 1/6, 3/11

part-time working 1/6, 3/12, 3/12passive learning 7/10Patterned Behaviour Description Interview

5/16–17

pay 4/24and job evaluation 4/26meaning and the individual 4/21–23meaning and the organisation 4/23–24and performance 4/27–29

pay bargaining 1/7pay systems 3/9

and appraisals 6/5, 6/6, 6/15incentive schemes 3/22performance related pay (PRP) 3/13piece work 3/13wage flexibility 3/11

Pedler, M. 3/19performance behavioural indicators 4/9–10and culture 3/25determinants of 6/2and job analysis 4/16, 6/3and organisational commitment 3/23and pay 4/21–29requirements 2/4–6

group 4/4individual 4/4–5organisational 4/3–4specifying 4/2–3

reviewing past performance 6/5trait approach 4/7–9

performance management systems 6/16–17performance related pay (PRP) 3/13peripheral workers 3/11, 3/12, 5/2personal development 8/8personality

and appraisal systems 6/8and career choice 8/2–3

I/4 Edinburgh Business School Human Resource Management



Index

gender differences 8/21–22tests 5/19, 5/19trait approach to performance 4/7–9

personnel changes 3/26personnel management 1/3–4, 1/5Peters, T.J. 1/3

Pettigrew, A. 2/10physical-motor tests 5/18piece work 3/13Porter, M.J. 2/4predictive validity 5/7privatisation 1/10problem-solving teams 3/16procedural learning 7/11processes 4/2process-oriented appraisal systems 6/7, 6/8–9product superiority 3/2production teams 3/16productivity 6/7promotion potential identification 6/6, 6/15,

6/16psychological contract 8/8–9, 8/14–16psychometric tests 5/17–20public sector organisations 3/3

quality 1/8, 2/5, 2/9, 3/2–6as organisational culture 3/4costs 3/2customer satisfaction 3/3–4product superiority 3/2in the Guest Model 3/4

total quality management 3/4–6quality of working life (QWL) 3/15questionnaires 4/11, 4/13, 5/12

race discrimination 5/10Ragins, B.R. 8/20rating scales 6/9, 6/10–11realistic job preview (RJP) 8/7reference reports 5/12–14reflex learning 7/10resource provision 6/3responsibility 3/18

results-oriented appraisal systems 6/7–8Revans, R.N. 7/22reward allocation 3/27, 6/6, 6/15rewards aid learning 7/9Robertson, I.T. 5/13, 5/21Rogers, R. 6/7role development 8/8Rowe, K.H. 6/14

Saville & Holdsworth 4/11

Schein, E.H. 3/24, 3/24, 3/26, 8/3–4Schmidt, N. 5/9, 5/19Schuler, R.S. 2/4–6, 2/6selection matrix 5/4selection paradigm model 5/3selection tools

ability tests 5/4, 5/6, 5/9, 5/18, 5/19applicability 5/10, 5/17, 5/20application forms 5/11appointment decisions 5/5assessment centres 5/20–22 biodata 5/11–12choice of tool 5/4fairness 5/10, 5/12, 5/17, 5/20importance of selection 5/2interviews 5/14–17and job analysis 5/4meta analysis 5/8–10

personality tests 5/19, 5/19psychometric tests 5/17–20reference reports 5/12–14reliability of 5/6, 5/7–8selection and strategic HRM 5/2–3self-selection 5/2simulations 5/4, 5/20, 5/21situation-specific 5/9usefulness of 5/10validation procedures 5/5–8

self-appraisals 6/13self-development 7/21, 8/2

self-managed teams 3/15, 3/16self-selection 5/2sensory-motor tests 5/18sex discrimination 5/10Shackleton, V. 5/17shared values 3/24, 3/25simulations 5/4, 5/20, 5/21situational factors 2/7situational interviews 5/16–17skill deficits 6/2skills 1/8, 2/7, 4/5–7, 4/18, 4/20, 7/3Smith, M. 5/13

social networks 8/20soft HRM 1/6source traits 4/7Sparrow, P.R. 4/17Spencer, L.M. and S.M. 4/20stakeholder interests 2/7Stanley, J.C. 7/17Stewart, R. 7/8strategic competency model 4/21


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