Rhetorics and Realities of Hrm
THEME: RHETORICS AND REALITIES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
It is common in discussions about human resource management (HRM) to distinguish between “rhetoric” and what is regarded as clearly separate “reality”.
We have made an analysis of the above statement by examining the following Human Resource functions to see the gap between the rhetoric and the reality: 1) Human Resource Planning 2) Recruitment and Selection 3) Training and Development 4) Performance Management 5) Employee Relation 6) Employee Reward
Rhetoric | Reality | Soft HRM * Employees considered as “valued assets”. The soft approach to HRM emphasizes the need to gain commitment of employees through involvement | Hard HRM * In reality, the Hard approach to HRM is adopted whereby a business oriented philosophy which regards employees as human capital from which financial return can be obtained | Human Resource Planning * An integral part of the broader process of corporate planning. * Linked to the development of the organization as a whole. * Derived from long-term and operational plans of organization. | Human Resource Planning * No integration of human resource planning with strategic planning. * Planning is often an isolated event which is not monitored, refined and updated. * In reality HR Planning focuses on the short term replacement needs and fails to coordinate plans with the long-term plans of organization. | Recruitment and Selection * Consideration of sources of suitable candidates. * Understand knowledge, skills, experience and aptitudes required * The selection process normally is through individual interview to identify the “best candidates” | Recruitment and Selection Inappropriate recruitment method results in the best qualified not always being selected for the job. Job description and person specification are most of the time not done prior to recruitment. * Interviews widely used in selection
Introduction
It is common in discussions about human resource management (HRM) to distinguish between “rhetoric” and what is regarded as clearly separate “reality”.
We have made an analysis of the above statement by examining the following Human Resource functions to see the gap between the rhetoric and the reality: 1) Human Resource Planning 2) Recruitment and Selection 3) Training and Development 4) Performance Management 5) Employee Relation 6) Employee Reward
Rhetoric | Reality | Soft HRM * Employees considered as “valued assets”. The soft approach to HRM emphasizes the need to gain commitment of employees through involvement | Hard HRM * In reality, the Hard approach to HRM is adopted whereby a business oriented philosophy which regards employees as human capital from which financial return can be obtained | Human Resource Planning * An integral part of the broader process of corporate planning. * Linked to the development of the organization as a whole. * Derived from long-term and operational plans of organization. | Human Resource Planning * No integration of human resource planning with strategic planning. * Planning is often an isolated event which is not monitored, refined and updated. * In reality HR Planning focuses on the short term replacement needs and fails to coordinate plans with the long-term plans of organization. | Recruitment and Selection * Consideration of sources of suitable candidates. * Understand knowledge, skills, experience and aptitudes required * The selection process normally is through individual interview to identify the “best candidates” | Recruitment and Selection Inappropriate recruitment method results in the best qualified not always being selected for the job. Job description and person specification are most of the time not done prior to recruitment. * Interviews widely used in selection