Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management

Human resources, easily recognized as the most important of the resources required for the production of goods and services, are the key to rapid socio-economic development and efficient service delivery. According to Barney (1995: 50), human resources include all the experience, skills, judgement, abilities, knowledge, contacts, risk-taking and wisdom of individuals and associates with an organization. Without an adequate, skilled and well-motivated workforce operating within a sound human resource management programme, development is not possible. A manager or an employee, whether in the private or public sector, who underrates the critical role and underplays the importance of people in goal achievement, can neither be effective nor efficient.

According to Frank (1974), human resource management is a series of activities in which the job, the individual and the organisation all interact as each develops and changes. He further identifies two major activities within the human resource area. The first is concerned with the recruitment, selection, placement, compensation, and appraisal of the human resource. This group of functions is usually referred to as personnel or human resource utilisation. The other group of functions comprises those directed at working with the existing human resources in order to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. The activities are designed to enable the existing members of the organization to assume new roles and functions. These activities are concerned with human resources development.

Human resource management is concerned with obtaining the best possible staff for an organization and, having got them, looking after them so that they will want to stay and give of the best to their jobs (Cuming, 1968: 21). In other words, getting the right calibre of people by the process of recruitment to meet the organization’s need is not just enough. Conditions have to be created which would make them stay on the job, happy on the job, and cope with the demands of the job.                                                   

Mathis and Jackson (1997) see human resource (HR) management as the design of formal systems in an organization to ensure the effective and efficient use of human talent to accomplish organizational goals. Similarly, Griffin (1997) sees HR management as the set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining an effective workforce.

Goals and Role of Human Resource Management

The goals of HR management are to develop the workers in the organization to contribute to goal achievement in the organization by management improved productivity, quality and service. In addition, HR management has some specific roles to play, in an organization. These are strategic and operational roles.

           

Strategic Role 

Human resources are critical for effective organizational functioning (Terpstra & Rozell, 1992). Human resources were once relegated to second-class status in many organizations. But its importance has grown dramatically in the last two decades. Its new importance stems from increased legal complexities, the recognition that human resources are a valuable means for improving productivity, and the awareness today of the cost associated with poor human resource management (Wright and McMahan, 1992). HR also represents a significant investment of organizational efforts. If managed well, HR can be a source of competitive strength for the organization. Indeed, managers now realize that the effectiveness of their HR function has a substantial impact on the bottom-line performance of the firm.

Strategically, then, human resources must be viewed in the same context as the financial, technological and other resources that are managed in organizations. As a matter of fact, we rate human resources higher than other resources since the management of other resources (eg information resources) entirely depends on the former. 

Collective Bargaining

1. Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at reaching agreements to regulate working conditions. The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. The collective agreements reached by these negotiations usually set out wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms, and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs.[1]
The union may negotiate with a single employer (who is typically representing a company's shareholders) or may negotiate with a group of businesses, depending on the country, to reach an industry wide agreement. A collective agreement functions as a labor contract between an employer and one or more unions. Collective bargaining consists of the process of negotiation between representatives of a union and employers (generally represented by management, or, in some countries such as Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands, by an employers' organization) in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of employees, such as wages, hours of work, working conditions, grievance procedures, and about the rights and responsibilities of trade unions. The parties often refer to the result of the negotiation as a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) or as a collective employment agreement (CEA).
2. Collective bargaining is a process in which working people, through their unions, negotiate contracts with employers to determine their terms of employment, including pay, health care, pensions and other benefits, hours, leave, job health and safety policies, ways to balance work and family and more. Employees jointly decide their priorities for bargaining.
Union employees choose who will speak for them in bargaining sessions with the employer, and vote to accept or reject the contract reached by the employer and employee bargaining committees. A ratified contract legally binds both sides—management and workers—to the contract terms.
3. Collective bargaining is specifically an industrial relations mechanism or tool and is an aspect of negotiation applicable to the employment relationship. In collective bargaining, the union always has a collective interest since the negotiations are for the benefit of several employees. Where collective bargaining is not for one employer but for several, collective interests become a feature for both parties to the bargaining process.
4. Collective Bargaining is the process by which a group of employees negotiate with the employer in order to bring about an agreement that regulates working conditions. The interests of the employees are generally represented by the members of a trade union to which the employees belong. This collective bargaining model rests on the worker's representatives submitting proposals that they consider ideal, but show willingness to settle for less, and the management willing to concede more than what they publicly acknowledge.
Meaning:
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiating between management and workers represented by their representatives for determining mutually agreed terms and conditions of work which protect the interest of both workers and the management. According to Dale Yoder’, “Collective bargaining is essentially a process in which employees act as a group in seeking to shape conditions and relation_ships in their employment”.
Michael J. Jucious has defined collective bargaining as “a process by which employers, on the one hand, and representatives of employees, on the other, attempt to arrive at agreements covering the conditions under which employees will contribute and be compensated for their services”.
Thus, collective bargaining can simplify be defined as an agreement collectively arrived at by the representatives of the employees and the employers. By collective bargaining we mean the ‘good faith bargaining’. It means that proposals are matched with counter proposals and that both parties make every reasonable effort to arrive at an agreement’ It does not mean either party is compelled to agree to a proposal. Nor does it require that either party make any specific concessions.
Why is it called collective bargaining? It is called “collective” because both the employer and the employee act collectively and not individually in arriving at an agreement. It is known as ‘bargaining’ because the process of reaching an agreement involves proposals and counter proposals, offers and counter offers.
Objectives:
The basic objective of collective bargaining is to arrive at an agreement between the management and the employees determining mutually beneficial terms and conditions of employment.
This major objective of collective bargaining can be divided into the following sub-objectives:
1. To foster and maintain cordial and harmonious relations between the employer/management and the employees.
2. To protect the interests of both the employer and the employees.
3. To keep the outside, i.e., the government interventions at bay.
4. To promote industrial democracy.
Importance:
The need for and importance of collective bargaining is felt due to the advantages it offers to an organisation.
The chief ones are as follows:
1. Collective bargaining develops better understanding between the employer and the employ_ees:
It provides a platform to the management and the employees to be at par on negotiation table. As such, while the management gains a better and deep insight into the problems and the aspirations of die employees, on the one hand, die employees do also become better informed about the organisational problems and limitations, on the other. This, in turn, develops better understanding between the two parties.
2. It promotes industrial democracy:
Both the employer and the employees who best know their problems, participate in the negotiation process. Such participation breeds the democratic process in the organisation.
3. It benefits the both-employer and employees:
The negotiation arrived at is acceptable to both parties—the employer and the employees.
4. It is adjustable to the changing conditions:
A dynamic environment leads to changes in employment conditions. This requires changes in organisational processes to match with the changed conditions. Among other alternatives available, collective bargaining is found as a better approach to bring changes more amicably.
5. It facilitates the speedy implementation of decisions arrived at collective negotiation:
The direct participation of both parties—the employer and the employees—in collective decision making process provides an in-built mechanism for speedy implementation of decisions arrived at collective bargaining.
Source: Wikipedia

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