Human Resource Management – Global Perspective
Lecture 1
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
• Core themes of the course:
1. Five core HRM practices & systems of HRM practices
2. Comparative HRM
3. Current trends and challenges
4. Understanding effects based on OB theories
5. International HRM
INTRODUCTION TO HRM PRACTICES: WHAT IS HRM?
• Human resource management refers to the policies, practices, and systems
that influence employees’ attitudes, behavior, performance
Or…
• Human resource management is a distinctive approach to employment
management which seeks to obtain competitive advantage through the
strategic deployment of a highly committed and skilled workforce, using an
array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques (Storey, 1995)
WHAT IS HRM?
->
WHAT ARE HRM PRACTICES?
• ‘programs, processes and techniques that actually get operationalized in the
unit’ (Wright & Boswell, 2002, pp. 263-264)
• ‘Things that happen’
• Concrete ways in which people are managed in the organization
• Certain level of facticity
Versus…
• ‘the actual, functioning, observable activities, as experienced by employees’ (Boselie et al., 2005, pp.
74)
• Actual practices and experiences
• Observable…
• Focus on five core HRM practices:
✓ Employee relations and collective communication
✓ Recruitment and selection
✓ Performance management
1
,✓ Rewards
✓ Training and development
• Introducing the practices: linking practices to:
✓ Theme 2: Comparative HRM
✓ Theme 3: Current trends and challenges
✓ Theme 4: Understanding effects based on OB theories
HRM PRACTICE 1: EMPLOYEE RELATIONS AND COLLECTIVE COMMUNICATION
• Employee relations concerns matters of overarching employment or collective workforce policy, such
as bargaining (the traditional focus of industrial relations), and expression of the collective voice of
employees.
• Current trends and challenges:
• Changing nature of work: tele-working
• e-HRM
• Importance of employee relations and collective communication for employee commitment and
retention -> e.g. exchange theory
HRM PRACTICE 2: RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
• One of the purposes of recruitment is to determine present and future staffing needs in conjunction
with job analysis and human resource planning
• Selection – a linked but separate practice after recruitment – then involves the identification of the
most suitable person from a pool of applicants
• Current trends and challenges:
• War for talent
• Unemployment versus tight labour markets
COMPARATIVE HRM: RECRUITMENT PRACTICES
2
, COMPARATIVE HRM: SELECTION PRACTICES
HRM PRACTICE 3: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
• The name given to the formal conversations between line manager and employee about priorities and
their achievements
• But also…
• HR designed process designed to align the workforce with the strategy
• Current trends and challenges:
✓ HRM analytics
• Effects on outcomes:
✓ Expectancy theory
HRM PRACTICE 4: REWARDS
• People are the largest single operating cost item of most businesses
• Using rewards to motivate employees and/or engender their active commitment or engagement
• Current trends and challenges:
• Bonuses
• Performance related pay
• Pay differences
• Effects on outcomes: motivation theory, efficiency wage theory
3
Lecture 1
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
• Core themes of the course:
1. Five core HRM practices & systems of HRM practices
2. Comparative HRM
3. Current trends and challenges
4. Understanding effects based on OB theories
5. International HRM
INTRODUCTION TO HRM PRACTICES: WHAT IS HRM?
• Human resource management refers to the policies, practices, and systems
that influence employees’ attitudes, behavior, performance
Or…
• Human resource management is a distinctive approach to employment
management which seeks to obtain competitive advantage through the
strategic deployment of a highly committed and skilled workforce, using an
array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques (Storey, 1995)
WHAT IS HRM?
->
WHAT ARE HRM PRACTICES?
• ‘programs, processes and techniques that actually get operationalized in the
unit’ (Wright & Boswell, 2002, pp. 263-264)
• ‘Things that happen’
• Concrete ways in which people are managed in the organization
• Certain level of facticity
Versus…
• ‘the actual, functioning, observable activities, as experienced by employees’ (Boselie et al., 2005, pp.
74)
• Actual practices and experiences
• Observable…
• Focus on five core HRM practices:
✓ Employee relations and collective communication
✓ Recruitment and selection
✓ Performance management
1
,✓ Rewards
✓ Training and development
• Introducing the practices: linking practices to:
✓ Theme 2: Comparative HRM
✓ Theme 3: Current trends and challenges
✓ Theme 4: Understanding effects based on OB theories
HRM PRACTICE 1: EMPLOYEE RELATIONS AND COLLECTIVE COMMUNICATION
• Employee relations concerns matters of overarching employment or collective workforce policy, such
as bargaining (the traditional focus of industrial relations), and expression of the collective voice of
employees.
• Current trends and challenges:
• Changing nature of work: tele-working
• e-HRM
• Importance of employee relations and collective communication for employee commitment and
retention -> e.g. exchange theory
HRM PRACTICE 2: RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
• One of the purposes of recruitment is to determine present and future staffing needs in conjunction
with job analysis and human resource planning
• Selection – a linked but separate practice after recruitment – then involves the identification of the
most suitable person from a pool of applicants
• Current trends and challenges:
• War for talent
• Unemployment versus tight labour markets
COMPARATIVE HRM: RECRUITMENT PRACTICES
2
, COMPARATIVE HRM: SELECTION PRACTICES
HRM PRACTICE 3: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
• The name given to the formal conversations between line manager and employee about priorities and
their achievements
• But also…
• HR designed process designed to align the workforce with the strategy
• Current trends and challenges:
✓ HRM analytics
• Effects on outcomes:
✓ Expectancy theory
HRM PRACTICE 4: REWARDS
• People are the largest single operating cost item of most businesses
• Using rewards to motivate employees and/or engender their active commitment or engagement
• Current trends and challenges:
• Bonuses
• Performance related pay
• Pay differences
• Effects on outcomes: motivation theory, efficiency wage theory
3
