1. HRM objectives

2. HRM v Personnel
HRM sees the activities with the workforce as key to corporate objectives. The aim of HRM is to make the best use of the workforce for the company to achieve its goals.
Personnel management considers all the elements of managing people as separate elements / unrelated tasks & ignores the wider picture.

3. What activities do HRM do?
Recruitment
Pay
Training
Appraisal
Motivation

4. Why HRM has become more important?
Most businesses now provide services rather than produce goods – people are the critical resource in the quality and customer service level
Competitiveness requires a business to be efficient and productive – this is difficult unless the workforce is well motivated, has the right skills and is effectively organised
The move towards fewer layers of management hierarchy (flatter organisational structures) has placed greater emphasis on delegation and communication 4

5. HUMAN RESOURCE OBJECTIVES
Corporate Objectives
Functional Objectives
HR Objectives
The targets that the HR function of a business wants to achieve in a given time period 5

6. HRM objectives include…

7. HRM objectives Matching the workforce to the needs of the business
Making full use of the workforce’s potential
Minimising labour costs
Maintaining good employee/employer relations

8. Matching the workforce to the needs of the business
Workforce planning to ensure business has the right number of staff in the right locations with the right skills
Effective recruitment to match workforce needs
Training programmes to cover skills gaps or respond to changes in technology, processes & market
Consider outsourcing activities
Get the right number and mix of staff at each location where the business operates in multiple sites and countries

9. What would happen if you had the wrong number / type of staff?

10. Making full use of the workforce’s potential
Regular appraisals and skills audits
Internal promotion
Development opportunities
Ensure jobs have suitable, achievable workloads
Avoid too many under-utilised or over-stretched staff
Make best use of employees skills

11. Productivity- how can it help the corporate objectives?
Marketing
Productivity- how can it help the corporate objectives?
Customer service
Prices
Finances
Ratios?

12. Minimising labour costs
Reduced labour turnover to keep recruitment costs low
Should not be achieved to the detriment of overall performance of staff and ultimately the business
Pay rates should be competitive but not excessive
Achieve acceptable staff utilisation
Minimise staff turnover
Measure returns on investment in training

13. More generous staffing levels, well paid staff
Harrods staff
More generous staffing levels, well paid staff
Staff are currently leaving RBS due to govt pressure to NOT pay annual bonuses (govt owns 80% stake in RBS through bank bail out). Staff leaving for competitor companies.
Tightly controlled costs; work long hours and have multiple skills. Lower staffing levels
Ryanair staff
(holding their ‘modelling’ photo from calendar!)

14. Maintaining good employee / employer relations
Effective communication
Good industrial relations
Avoiding disputes
Avoiding negative publicity
Complying with all relevant labour laws

15. Recent strike action
In Paris, around 20 museums, art galleries and public monuments had suffered either total or partial closure as public sector workers downed tools over what they described as an attempt to "dismantle and destabilise" France's flagship cultural sector.

16. BT shed 10,000 jobs.
In Nov 2008 BT announced that it intending to cut 10,000 jobs from its global workforce of 160,000.
The news of the cuts sent BT shares 7.5% higher.
Many of the job losses were in the UK.
Which HR objective might have prompted this decision?
Which corporate objective might this decision help BT to fulfil?

17. Are you Hard or Soft?

18. Hard Soft HR strategies
Sees people as an unwelcome cost
People are an input to get work done
Managers are the ‘thinkers’ – give instructions to workers!
Sees people as those who can add value to the business.
A business needs to develop their employees skills, interests & abilities
Managers are facilitators – to coach & help staff to do their work properly.

19. Treats employees simply as a resource of the business.
HR strategies
Hard
Soft
Treats employees simply as a resource of the business.
Strong link with corporate business planning – what resources do we need, how do we get them and how much will they cost
Treats employees as the most important resource in the business and a source of competitive advantage
Employees are treated as individuals and their needs are planned accordingly 19

20. Evaluation skills
What are the benefits of having a ‘hard’ HRM strategy?
Staff are well monitored
Costs are minimised,
Companies can increase / reduce output when needed.
Greater centralisation / control by managers

21. Evaluation skills
What are the benefits of having a ‘soft’ HRM strategy?
High levels of employee participation,
Higher motivation
Greater commitment from staff,
Lower turnover,
Less absenteeism
Greater productivity!