Special Features of Managing Human Resources Research Paper

Special Features of Managing Human Resources - Research Paper Example 2. Human resource management is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce using an array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques. (Guest, 1999) There are a number of things to notice in Storey's listing. Firstly, human resource management is clearly not simply the province of the human resource manager. Line managers play a critical role in human resource management and, in fact, could be argued to be the main organisational exponents of people management. Secondly, human resource management is firmly embedded in business strategy. Unlike the personnel manager, the HR manager is part of the top level strategic team in the organisation and human resource management plays a key role in the achievement of business success. Thirdly, the shaping of organisational culture is one of the major levers by which effective human resource management can achieve its objectives of a committed workforce. Thus, human resource management is concerned not only with the formal processes of the management of people but also with all the ways in which the organisational culture is established, re-inforced and transmitted. 3. Organizational development and innovation is ...ues, strategies, structures and practices so that the organization can better adapt to competitive actions, technological advances, and the fast pace of other changes in the environment. Organization development helps managers recognize that organizations are systems with dynamic interpersonal relationships holding them together. The reasonable next step was to try to change groups, units, and entire organizations so that they would support, not necessarily replace, change efforts. In short, the general objective of organizational development is to change all parts of the organization in order to make it humanly responsive, more effective, and more capable of organizational learning and self-renewal. It relies on systems orientation, causal models, and a set of key assumptions to guide it.4. The flexible model of working shows the ability of the company to also consider the needs of the employees in terms of time. This model shows h ow flexibility affects both the employers and the employees. There are advantages and disadvantages with using this model. The term flexible working refers to working practices, mutually agreed between employee and employer, which cover working hours, locations or patterns of work. Such arrangements have to comply with the law on working time, including hours, rest breaks and the working week. 5. As work has become less central to people's lives, vying for time with family and leisure, many have become concerned with what is termed the 'work-life balance'. 'Work-life balance is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work. It is achieved when an individual's right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and