Strategic People Management in Organizations
MANAGEMENT OF PEOPLE
People Management is responsible for all the policies and practices that allow the reconciliation of expectations between the organization and its people so that both can thrive over time.
Objectives of Personnel Management
To help the organization achieve its goals and accomplish its mission.
- Ensuring a balance between the interests of employees and the organization.
- Contribute to the improvement of individual and organizational performance.
- Attracting, developing, and retaining skilled professionals.
- Ensure the commitment and motivation of individuals.
- Develop and maintain quality of work life.
- Managing change.
Character and Contingential Situational Management of People
There is no single model or the best model of Personnel Management that applies to every organization. The design of Personnel Management is established in accordance with the profile of each individual organization. It depends on aspects such as:
- Business Organization
- Financial Capacity
- Internal Processes
- Environmental Context
- Organizational Structure
- Technology Used
- Organizational Culture
MANAGEMENT OF PEOPLE AS A LINE OF RESPONSIBILITY AND HOW TO STAFF
People Management is the responsibility of all managers in the organization. The HR responsibility aims to support (staff) managers and the organization.
Systemic Vision
The Human Resources function is viewed as one large integrated system, composed of various subsystems and processes that are interconnected and interdependent.
THE CHALLENGE FOR ORGANIZATIONS
To be efficient and achieve success, the organization must be able to adapt to environmental changes and implement or invent something new:
- A new technology
- A new product or service
- A new process
- A new marketing strategy
- A new way of serving the customer
- A new management practice
ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Organizational knowledge encompasses all the knowledge within an organization, including scientific knowledge, technological knowledge, technical expertise, and administrative knowledge.
INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL
Intellectual capital depends on human capital and capital structure.
Human Capital
Intangible assets, skills, experience, knowledge, and capacity for building innovations demonstrated by employees of the organization.
Capital Structure
Tangible and intangible assets, resource materials, technologies, patents, trademarks, and all elements that support organizational productivity.
THE ROLE OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF PEOPLE
- Leverage the human capital of organizations to create/enhance the value of their intellectual capital.
- Align the decisions and actions relating to strategic HR with the guidelines of the organization.
- Act effectively in the process of organizational change, to assist in the process of communication and dissemination of guidelines, policies, information, and knowledge at all levels of the organization.
- Adjust their cases in the direction of auxiliary meetings of organizational goals and individual, trying to provide employee motivation, commitment, and conduct training.
Strategic Management of People: The Model of Multiple Roles for HR
- Strategic integration with the operational integration of qualitative targets with quantitative targets, considering both the short and long term.
HR Management Strategies
- Setting HR strategies in alignment with the business strategy as a whole.
- Strategic Partnership
- Development of an organizational diagnosis
- Transformation of business strategies into priority actions in HR
INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT COMPANY
Design and Development of Efficient Processes To
- Hire, train, and evaluate
- Reward and promote
- Manage the flow of employees in the organization
Quest for administrative efficiency, continuous improvement processes
ADMINISTRATION OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES
- Search for greater involvement, commitment, and competence of staff
- Support employees by devoting time and personal presence to them
- Promotion and development of actions that seek to ensure staff provide the expected contribution to the company
ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE
- Identify opportunities for change and implement them
- Assist the organization to move away from outdated culture and adapt to new ones
- Agent of change: identify, structure, and solve problems, build relationships of trust, create and implement plans of action
HR as a Business Partner
To work effectively and efficiently in all the roles of an HR Business Partner, one should be:
- Strategic Partner
- Specialist
- Administrative Staff
- Defender
- Agent of Change
Empowerment
Empowerment means strengthening the decision-making power of individuals or the company’s creation of decision-making power for individuals. Castro (1994) states that the term summarizes a process of transformation in which energization becomes the main focus of the company. Rothstein (1995) defines empowerment as an act of building, developing, and enhancing the power of individuals through cooperation, sharing, and working together. An organization that understands its individuals is the main generator of competitiveness.
Why Use Empowerment?
Enforcement of orders. This kind of attitude is very common among companies and is determined mainly by two factors driving the issue of people management:
- Making sure that only the company is certain: Believing that the organization is always correct in its predictions and guidance.
- The company knows better than anyone what the customer wants: An organization cannot assume it knows its customers with extreme precision without considering the views, suggestions, and comments from those working directly with them.
The Proper Use of Discernment
This is the position advocated by organizational empowerment. These are factors associated with managing human resources.
- Best way to accomplish the mission: Empower individuals who have the ability to assess the situations experienced by the organization, confronting them with their knowledge and experiences.
- Better information: When individuals take responsibility and promote open communication within the company, the quality of information circulating markedly increases.
- This is what the company expects of its subjects: The company wants people who are truly dedicated and committed to their goals. The company wants its people to contribute.
Conditions for the Use of Empowerment
Mills (1996) notes that there are five requirements in the implementation process of empowerment:
- Expertise and experience: If a company wants individuals accountable for their actions and decisions and committed to the objectives it sets, it must be attentive to the fact that only competent, skilled, and experienced individuals can provide valuable contributions.
- Required information: The absolute necessity of information has been mentioned.
- Reward order: The company that seeks the commitment of its people in achieving their goals must recognize the social efforts of its body. Otherwise, there will be frustration and discouragement.
- Knowledge of the mission: To empower individuals, they need to know what the organizational mission is.
- Error tolerance: An empowering company that is true to its word will tolerate the mistakes of individuals.
Steps for Implementation of Empowerment
Error tolerance: Mills (1996) lists some examples of instances in which failure can be safely permitted by the organization:
- When the error is not part of a pattern – when it is committed for the first time.
- When you learn from the mistake – the major benefit of failing in new situations is to learn from mistakes so that the experience enriches the ability to scrutinize people in future decisions.
- When it occurs in the pursuit of goals – it is absolutely human to make mistakes while trying, especially if the experience is related to something new.
- When the error is within the scope of authority – when a person has the power to act, they also have the power to be wrong.
- When the error does not contravene laws and organizing principles – that is when the person misses chasing goals.
Predictability: Develop confidence – this is the least intense degree of confidence that can be. It brings some comfort to people in the workplace but only means that the company acted consistently with its own interests.
Reliability: A company that makes and fulfills promises.
Mutuality: This is the highest degree of confidence that can characterize the company/employee relationship.
To Establish and Maintain Predictability
- Do not give personal contacts – it is important to eliminate the superficiality of relationships between the organization and its members.
- Be consistent – avoid the attitude of officials who demonstrate antagonism towards expressed intentions.
- Be successful – this imbues employees with a sense of confidence in the actions and ideas of their superiors.
To Establish Reliability
- Always, always keep promises – the essence of reliability, as we saw, is in keeping promises.
- Let people know your position and opinion.
To Establish Mutuality
- Promote mutual support – create the basis for exchange and convergence that generates the characteristic implication of the relationship marked by mutuality.
- Reserve some time to take care of people – a company that wants to achieve mutuality in the relationship with its employees must be attentive to their needs.
- Provide maximum security possible – a company dedicated to building mutuality in its relationship with employees must be willing to guarantee them job security.
Vision
The vision is what inspires the organizational objectives set. Vision is something that aligns, motivates, unites, compelling all in the same direction.
Goal Setting
Goals need to express the company’s values, be easy to understand, broad enough to support the design and implementation of empowerment, and limited enough to facilitate the evaluation of results.
Evaluation
- Rating investments: Those that relate to aspects of profits, sales, investment, and spending.
- Market-oriented reviews: Those regarding the customer satisfaction index, both internal and external to the organization.
- Operational assessments: Those on productivity, organizational efficiency, production quantities, schedules, and budgets.
- Organizational reviews: Those relating to the structure, performance, and work values.
Motivation
- Establishment of good wages
- Treat workers fairly
- Offer opportunities for professional growth
- Offer interesting assignments that promote learning on the job
- Do not forget to provide the above-mentioned job security
- Promoting a sense of achievement among employees, i.e., demonstrate when each person’s effort was crucial to the success of the company
Leadership
Leadership is the function of properly using incentives to motivate a group of people who seek to achieve a common goal.
Leadership is the process of directing and influencing the activities relating to the duties of members of a group.
Types of Leadership
- Autocratic: Emphasis is on the leader, and decisions are centralized.
- Democratic: Emphasis is on freedom with responsibility, and decisions are negotiated.
- Liberal: Emphasis is on the subordinate, and decisions are decentralized.
Functions of Leadership
- Maintaining the unity of the group
- Seeking the effective performance of the group, i.e., it reaches its goal
- Assisting in resolving problems encountered by officers or by the group
- Mediating internal disputes within the group
- Ensuring all group members feel valued by all
Behavioral Factors
- Use of authority: The degree of influence that the leader’s attitude has on the group.
- Freedom of subordinates: The power that one or more individuals in the group have to influence the results generated by the group.
Styles of Leadership Behavior
Leadership as Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- Authoritarian => Liberal:
- Leader/administrator makes the decision alone and announces it.
- Manager “sells” the decision to the group.
- Administrator presents the idea and asks questions.
- Administrator presents an interim decision, subject to change.
- Administrator presents the problem, gets suggestions, and makes the decision.
- The administrator defines the boundaries, and the group makes the decisions.
- Administrator allows the work of individuals, within limits set by superiors.
Leadership as Blake, Mouton, Barnes, and Greiner of Harvard College (Managerial Grid)
- Management of type Country Club: Great concern for the employee and little concern for production. Attention is strongly people-oriented. Good relationships with employees but lack of touch with technology issues and productivity.
- Administration of laissez-faire: Low concern for the employee and production. Exerts minimal effort required to perform the work required.
- Management of type “on the fence”: Average concern with employees and production. Balances performance within the organization’s needs to fulfill scheduled production and maintenance of the “morale” of employees.
- Administration of the Democratic type: Strong concern with issues of personal and productive. The good performance of the work comes from committed people. The interdependence through a common interest in the organization’s purpose leads to relationships of trust and respect.
- Administration of Authoritarian type: Great concern with production and low concern with staff. Efficiency in operations results from the minimal interference of the human element in the process.
The Leadership and Contingency Approach
The contingency factors that influence leadership are:
- Personality, past experiences, and expectations of the leader
- The expectations and behavior of superiors
- The demands of the work of subordinates’ expectations and behaviors of peers (administrators)
- The characteristics, expectations, and behaviors of subordinates
- The organizational culture and politics
Leadership Examples
- Charismatic or transformational leader: The leader’s vision and energy inspire followers and produce a significant impact on their organizations.
- Transactional leaders: The leader determines the goals and defines the requirements, making the follower confident that they will achieve their goals.
Working Groups
- Self-managed: Work teams organized around a specific task, comprised of members who possess the skills necessary to accomplish the task and knowledge to define the methods of operation, the assignment of responsibility, and the creation of work programs. Example: participative management.
- Self-leadership: The capacity of workers to motivate themselves to perform both naturally rewarding tasks and tasks that are necessary but not attractive. Example: Empowerment.