Managing Human Resources

The Plan of the Fourth Edition How do businesses succeed in today's competitive environment? The factor that can set an organization apart is its people. The quality of the organization's employees, their enthusiasm and satisfaction with their jobs, their experience, and their sense of fair treatment all affect the firm's productivity, customer service, reputation, and survival. In short, people make the difference. Although relatively few students in human resource management (HRM) courses will become HR specialists, virtually all will have to work with other people. Dealing with other people is a fact of organizational life, regardless of whether you are in accounting, finance, operations management, or some other area. Because we believe that every manager is a human resource manager, we've written our book for students who plan to manage others at some time in their career. The idea that all future managers need to understand HRM issues is at the heart ofManaging Human Resources.We cover all the core HRM topics, but our managerial perspective makes the topics meaningful to students in any area of business. Our emphasis is on how to manage human resources and how to successfully implement HRM programs. Because managers in all departments and functions confront HR issues daily, we believe this approach is better than one that looks at FIRM primarily from the perspective of the HR department. Since the first edition ofManaging Human Resourceswas published, the general management perspective has become much more prevalent among practicing managers. Recent environmental and organizational forces have contributed greatly to this trend. Organizations are becoming flatter. Technology such as the Internet fosters communication between all levels of personnel, and managers are expected to be generalists with a broad set of skills, including HRM skills. At the same time, fewer firms have a highly centralized, powerful HR department that acts as monitor, decision maker, and controller of HR practices throughout the organization. Organizations need to be more flexible than ever before to deal with a rapidly changing competitive landscape where global forces play a key role. Many traditional HR programs designed for a stable, predictable context (for instance, carefully defined jobs, which were often used as the basis for setting pay and selecting workers) may actually become a hindrance in contemporary volatile business environments. Discretion in decision making has become critical (witness the recent scandals at Andersen Consulting, WorldCom, Enron, and others), not only at the top executive ranks but also at all levels within the organization. Information technology also encourages a managerial approach to human resources. Why? The technology has permeated most traditional HR functions, decentralizing decisions and increasing the participation of managers and employees in all aspects of HR practice. Managers and employees have greater access to human resource information, both inside and outside the company through both formal (Web pages) and informal (chat rooms and e-mail messages) means. An effect of the Internet, then, has been to democratize the turf of the traditional HR department. The growing importance of a general management perspective to HRM has not lessened the importance of HR specialists, however. Many tools and techniques for selection, training, compensation, performance appraisal, and other traditional HR functions can greatly enhance the duality of hires, the skills of the workforce, job satisfaction, and employee motivation. But HR specialists' focus has shifted from one of control to one of advice and support to line managers. The forces reinforcing this trend include downsizing, outsourcing of the HR function, information technology, and the inclusion of HR courses in undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs designed for tGomez-Mejia, Luis R. is the author of 'Managing Human Resources', published 2003 under ISBN 9780131009431 and ISBN 0131009435.