Foreign Trade University, Hanoi, Vietnam

Human Resource Management

Session 1: Ch. 1
Introduction to Human Resource Management –
concepts, principles, characteristics.

Dr. Noel Jones, PhD

International Business &
Management Consultant

Dr. Noel Jones 1

WHERE WE ARE NOW…

Dr. Noel Jones 1–2

LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain what human resource management is and how it
relates to the management process.
2. Show with examples why human resource management is
important to all managers.
3. Illustrate the human resources responsibilities of line and
staff (HR) managers.
4. Briefly discuss and illustrate each of the important trends
influencing human resource management.
5. List and briefly describe important trends in human resource
management.
6. Define and give an example of evidence-based human
resource management.
7. Outline the plan of this book.
Dr. Noel Jones 1–3
 Human Resource Management at
Work
• What Is Human Resource Management (HRM)?
– The process of acquiring, training, appraising, and
compensating employees, and of attending to their
labor relations, health and safety, and fairness
concerns.
• Organization
– People with formally assigned roles who work
together to achieve the organization’s goals.
• Manager
– The person responsible for accomplishing the
organization’s goals, and who does so by managing
the efforts of the organization’s people.
Dr. Noel Jones 1–4
 Strategic Role of Human Resource
Managers
• To be: Strategic Partners
• Administration experts
• Employee Champions
• Change Agents

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 Global Challenges for HR
• According to a recent study: A Survey of Global
HR Challenges: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
by Shrivastiva 2015, conducted by PWC on behalf
of the World Federation of Personnel Managers
Associations (WFTMA), several challenges for HR
Managers were revealed.

• Ref. http://think-business.org/index.php/africa-
mid-east/2293-challenges-facing-21st-century-hr-
managers

Dr. Noel Jones 6

 The Top Ten Global HR Challenges
according to the 2015 WFPMA Study
• Top Ten Global Challenges Percentages
• Change Management 48
• Leadership Development 35
• HR Effectiveness measurement 27
• Organizational Effectiveness 25
• Compensation 24
• Staffing: Recruitment and availability of skilled Labor 24
• Succession Planning 20
• Learning and Development 19
• Staffing Retention 16
• Benefit Costs, Health and Welfare 13
• Challenges are changing all the time and are different among
continents, countries and markets, etc.

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 The Management Process
Planning

Controlling Organizing

Leading Staffing

Dr. Noel Jones 1–8

 Human Resource Management Processes
Acquisition

Fairness Training

Human Resource
Management
(HRM)
Health and Safety Appraisal

Labor Relations Compensation

Dr. Noel Jones 1–9

 Personnel Aspects of a Manager’s Job
• Conducting job analyses
• Planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates
• Selecting job candidates
• Orienting and training new employees
• Managing wages and salaries
• Providing incentives and benefits
• Appraising performance
• Communicating
• Training and developing managers
• Building employee commitment
Dr. Noel Jones 1–10
 Personnel Mistakes
• Hire the wrong person for the job
• Experience high turnover
• Have your people not doing their best
• Waste time with useless interviews
• Have your firm in court because of discriminatory actions
• Have your firm cited by OSHA for unsafe practices
• Have some employees think their salaries are unfair and
inequitable relative to others in the organization
• Allow a lack of training to undermine your department’s
effectiveness
• Commit any unfair labor practices

Dr. Noel Jones 1–11

 Basic HR Concepts
• The bottom line of managing:
Getting results

• HR creates value by engaging in

activities that produce the employee
behaviors that the organization
needs to achieve its strategic goals.
• Looking ahead: Using evidence-based
HRM to measure the value of HR
activities in achieving those goals.

Dr. Noel Jones 1–12

 Line and Staff Aspects of HRM
• Line Manager
– Is authorized (has line authority) to direct the
work of subordinates and is responsible for
accomplishing the organization’s tasks.
• Staff Manager
– Assists and advises line managers.
– Has functional authority to coordinate
personnel activities and enforce organization
policies.

Dr. Noel Jones 1–13

 Line Managers’ HRM Responsibilities
1. Placing the right person on the right job
2. Starting new employees in the organization (orientation)
3. Training employees for jobs that are new to them
4. Improving the job performance of each person
5. Gaining creative cooperation and developing smooth working
relationships
6. Interpreting the firm’s policies and procedures
7. Controlling labor costs
8. Developing the abilities of each person
9. Creating and maintaining department morale
10. Protecting employees’ health and physical condition

Dr. Noel Jones 1–14

 Human Resource Managers’ Duties

Functions of
HR Managers

Line Function Coordinative Staff Functions

Line Authority Function Staff Authority
Implied Authority Functional Authority Innovator/Advocacy

Dr. Noel Jones 1–15

 Exercise 1
• How would you describe HR here at FTU?
• What interactions have you had with them as
a student?
• How helpful were they to you?

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FIGURE 1–1 Human Resources Organization Chart for a Large Organization

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FIGURE 1–2 Human Resources Organization Chart for a Small Company

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 Human Resource Specialties

Recruiter

Labor relations
specialist EEO coordinator

Human Resource
Specialties

Training specialist Job analyst

Compensation
manager

Dr. Noel Jones 1–19

 New Approaches to Organizing HR

New HR Services Groups

Transactional HR Corporate Embedded Centers of

group HR group HR unit Expertise

Dr. Noel Jones 1–20

 Trends Shaping Human Resource
Management
Globalization
and Competition
Trends

Indebtedness
(“Leverage”) and Technological
Deregulation Trends
Trends in HR
Management
Workforce and
Trends in the
Demographic
Nature of Work
Trends

Economic
Challenges and
Trends

Dr. Noel Jones 1–21

FIGURE 1–4 Trends Shaping Human Resource Management

Dr. Noel Jones 1–22

FIGURE 1–5 Employment Exodus: Percent of employers who said they
planned as of 2008 to offshore a number of these jobs

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TABLE 1–1 Demographic Groups as a Percent of the Workforce, 1986–2016

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 Workforce and Demographic Trends

Demographic Trends

Generation “Y”
Trends Affecting
Human Resources
Retirees

Nontraditional Workers

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FIGURE 1–6 Gross National Product (GNP)

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FIGURE 1–7 Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes

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 Important Trends in HRM
The New HR
Managers

Strategic High-Performance
HRM Human Work Systems
Resource
Management
Evidence-Based
Trends Managing
HRM Ethics

HR
Certification

Dr. Noel Jones 1–29

 Exercise 2
• What are the major factors influencing HR in
Vietnam’s organizations?
• What are the internal and external factors
influencing HR?

Dr. Noel Jones 30

 Meeting Today’s HRM Challenges

The New Human Resource

Managers

Acquire broader
Find new ways to
Focus more on business
provide
“big picture” knowledge and
transactional
(strategic) issues new HRM
services
proficiencies

Dr. Noel Jones 1–31

TABLE 1–2 Some Technological Applications to Support HR

Technology How Used by HR

Application service providers ASPs provide software application, for instance, for processing
(ASPs) and technology employment applications. The ASPs host and manage the services
outsourcing for the employer from their own remote computers

Web portals Employers use these, for instance, to enable employees to sign up
for and manage their own benefits packages and to update their
personal information

Streaming desktop video Used, for instance, to facilitate distance learning and training or to
provide corporate information to employees quickly and
inexpensively

Internet- and network- Used to track employees’ Internet and e-mail activities or to monitor
monitoring software their performance

Electronic signatures Legally valid e-signatures that employers use to more expeditiously
obtain signatures for applications and record keeping

Electronic bill presentment Used, for instance, to eliminate paper checks and to facilitate
and payment payments to employees and suppliers

Data warehouses and Help HR managers monitor their HR systems. For example, they
computerized analytical make it easier to assess things like cost per hire, and to compare
programs current employees’ skills with the firm’s projected strategic needs

Dr. Noel Jones 1–32

FIGURE 1–8 Effects CFOs Believe Human Capital Has on Business Outcomes

Dr. Noel Jones 1–33

 High-Performance Work Systems
• Increase productivity and performance by:
– Recruiting, screening and hiring more effectively
– Providing more and better training
– Paying higher wages
– Providing a safer work environment
– Linking pay to performance

Dr. Noel Jones 1–34

 Evidence-Based HRM

Providing Evidence for

HRM Decision Making

Actual Existing Research

measurements data studies

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 HR Issues Emerging from Strategic Reviews
• Leads to the transformation of the organization
• Involves major cultural changes
• A significant change in the regional org & the
roles of the management team
• HR planning decisions needed on the capabilities
required for the future
• May need to make management changes or
reduce staff numbers
• Mgmt development & career planning needed,
that reflect the changing culture and structure of
the organization and the different roles managers
and others will be expected to play.
Dr. Noel Jones 36
Outcomes of Research on the Link Between HR
and Organizational Performance
Researcher(s) Methodology Outcomes
Arthur (1990, 1992, 1994 Data from 30 US strip mills used to assess Firms used a high-commitment strategy had
impact on labor efficiency by reference to significant higher levels of both productivity and
either high-commitment or a control quality than those with a control strategy.
strategy
Huselid (1995) Analysis of 968 US firms' responses Productivity is influenced by employee motivation;
exploring the use of high-performance financial performance is influenced by employee
practices, the development of synergies skills, motivation & organizational structures.
between them and the alignment of
these practices with the competitive
strategy.
Huselid and Becker An index of HR systems in 740 firms was Firms with high values on the index had economically
(1995) created to indicate the degree to which and statistically higher levels of performance.
each firm adopted a high-performance
work system.
Becker et al (1997) Outcomes of a number of research High-performance systems make an impact as long as
projects were analyzed to assess the they are embedded in the management
strategic impact on shareholder value of infrastructure.
high-performance work systems.
Patterson et al (1997) The research examined the link between HR practices explained sig variations in profitability
business performance and organization and productivity (19% & 18% respectively). Two HR
culture and the use of HR practices. practices were particularly sig: 1) the acquisition and
development of employee skills; 2) job design
including flexibility, responsibility, variety and the use
of formal teams.
Dr. Noel Jones 37
Outcomes of Research on the Link Between HR
and Organizational Performance
Researcher(s) Methodology Outcomes
Thompson (1998) A study of the impact of high-performance The number of HR practices and the proportion of the
work practices such as team working, workforce covered appeared to be the key
appraisal, job rotation, broad-banded differentiating factors between more and less
grade structures and sharing of business successful firms.
information in 623 UK aerospace firms.

The 1998 Workforce An analysis of the survey, which sampled
Employee Relations 2,000 workplaces and obtained the views
Survey (analyzed by of about 28,000 employees.
Guest et al 2000)
The Future of Work The survey covered 835 private sector
Survey (Guest et al 2000). organizations, and interviews were carried
out with 610 HR professionals and 462
CEOs.
Purcell et al (2003) A University of Bath (UK) longitudinal
study of 12 companies to establish how
people management impacts on
organizational performance.
A strong association exists between HRM and both
employee attitudes and workplace performance.
A greater use of HR practices is associated with higher
levels of employee commitment and contribution, and
is in turn linked to higher levels of productivity and
quality services.
Most successful companies - had a clear vision and a
set of integrated values that were embedded,
enduring, collective, measured and managed. They
were concerned with sustaining performance and
flexibility. Clear evidence existed between positive
attitudes towards HR policies and practices, levels of
satisfaction, motivation and commitment, and
operational performance. Policy & practice
implementation is vital in linking people management
to business performance and this is primarily the task
of line managers.

Dr. Noel Jones 38

 Managing Ethics
• Ethics
– Standards that someone uses to
decide what his or her conduct
should be
• HRM-related Ethical Issues
– Workplace safety
– Security of employee records
– Employee theft
– Affirmative action
– Comparable work
– Employee privacy rights
Dr. Noel Jones 1–39
 HR Certification
• HR is becoming more professionalized.
• Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM)
– SHRM’s Human Resource Certification Institute
(HRCI)
• SPHR (Senior Professional in HR) certificate
• GPHR (Global Professional in HR) certificate
• PHR (Professional in HR) certificate

Dr. Noel Jones 1–40

 The Plan of This Book: Basic Themes
• HRM is the responsibility of every manager.
• The workforce is becoming increasingly diverse.
• Current economic challenges require that HR
managers develop new and better skills to
effectively and efficiently deliver and manage HR
services.
• The intensely competitive nature of business
today means human resource managers must
defend their plans and contributions in
measurable terms.

Dr. Noel Jones 1–41

FIGURE 1–10 Strategy and the Basic Human Resource Management Process

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 Quiz Questions Ch. 1.
• 1. Explain what HR management is and how it
relates to the management process.
• 2. Give examples of how HR management
concepts and techniques can be of use to all
managers.
• 3. Illustrate the HR responsibilities of line and
staff managers.
• 4. Why is it important for a company to make
its human resources into a competitive
advantage? How can HR contribute to doing so?
Dr. Noel Jones 43
KEY TERMS

organization
manager
management process
human resource management (HRM)
authority
line authority
staff authority
line manager
staff manager
functional authority
globalization
human capital

Dr. Noel Jones 1–44