10 Important Sections of Recruitment and Talent Management

Checking with past employers can give valuable insight into a candidate's work ethic and performance.

When it comes to hiring new employees, it's important to pick the right candidate for the job. But how do you know who the right candidate is?

One way is to look at their qualifications and experience. Do they have the skills and experience necessary to succeed in the role?

Another way is to conduct in-person interviews and ask behavioral-based questions to gauge how the candidate would handle different situations on the job.

It's also important to consider their cultural fit within the company. Will they mesh well with the team and company values?

Recruitment and Talent Management in Human Resource Management is a comprehensive course that covers key concepts and strategies for effectively managing the recruitment and talent management process within an organization. The course content includes:

Introduction to Recruitment and Talent Management: This module provides an overview of the recruitment and talent management process, including the importance of aligning recruitment and talent management strategies with the overall goals and objectives of an organization.

Job Analysis and Design: This module covers the process of conducting a job analysis, including the identification of key job duties and responsibilities, as well as the development of job descriptions and specifications.

Recruitment Planning and Strategy: This module covers the key elements of effective recruitment planning, including the development of recruitment strategies, the use of various recruitment methods, and the importance of recruiting a diverse workforce.

Ultimately, the key to picking the right candidate is taking the time to thoroughly evaluate all aspects of their qualifications and fit within the company.

Sourcing and Screening Candidates: This module covers the process of sourcing and screening candidates, including the use of various recruitment methods such as job postings, employee referrals, and recruiting agencies.

Interviewing and Selection: This module covers the process of interviewing and selecting candidates, including the use of various interviewing techniques, the importance of effective candidate assessment, and the legal and ethical considerations involved in the selection process.

Onboarding and Orientation: This module covers the process of onboarding and orienting new employees, including the importance of effective communication, the provision of necessary training and resources, and the creation of a positive and productive work environment.

Talent Management: This module covers the key concepts and strategies of effective talent management, including the identification and development of high-potential employees, the creation of career development plans, and the implementation of performance management systems.

Succession Planning: This module covers the process of succession planning, including the identification of key roles and the development of plans to ensure the smooth transition of leadership and responsibilities.

Retention and Turnover: This module covers the key factors that influence employee retention and turnover, including the importance of effective communication, the provision of necessary resources, and the creation of a positive and productive work environment.

Conclusion: This module provides a summary of the key concepts and strategies covered in the course, as well as an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning and consider how they can apply the information to their own professional practice.

Leadership Theory: Understanding Different Approaches and Their Importance in Today's Business Environment

Leadership theory is a broad topic that encompasses many different perspectives and approaches to understanding how leaders influence the behavior of their followers. In the current business environment, leadership theory is of particular importance as organizations face a rapidly changing landscape that requires leaders to be adaptable, innovative, and responsive to the needs of their employees, customers, and other stakeholders. In this post, we will explore different types of leadership theories including Trait Theory, behavioral theory, Contingency theory, situational leadership, contingency theory, Transformational leadership, Transactional theory, Participative Theory, and “Great Man” Theory, with examples.

Leadership theory is a broad topic that encompasses many different perspectives and approaches to understanding how leaders influence the behavior of their followers.

One of the most widely recognized leadership theories is the trait theory, which posits that certain characteristics or traits are inherent in leaders and that these traits can be used to predict leadership effectiveness. Traits such as intelligence, self-confidence, and integrity are often cited as important for leaders. However, this theory has been criticized for being overly simplistic and for not taking into account the complexity of the leadership process. An example of trait theory in action is when a company looks for a leader that has certain attributes such as good communication skills, visionary thinking and ability to take risks.

Another popular leadership theory is the behavioral theory, which focuses on the actions and behaviors of leaders rather than their traits. This theory suggests that effective leaders engage in certain behaviors that are consistently associated with successful outcomes. For example, leaders who are supportive and participative tend to be more effective than those who are autocratic and directive. This theory is exemplified in a leader who is seen as a role model and sets an example for their team to follow through their actions and behaviors.

The situational leadership theory is another popular approach to leadership, which emphasizes the importance of adapting leadership style to the situation at hand. This theory suggests that effective leaders are able to adjust their leadership style depending on the maturity level of their followers and the task at hand. For example, a leader might use a more directive style with a group of inexperienced employees, but a more participative style with a group of experienced employees. An example of this theory in practice is a manager who adapts their leadership style to the different needs and skills of their team members.

The situational leadership theory suggests that effective leaders are able to adjust their leadership style depending on the maturity level of their followers and the task at hand.

The contingency theory is another approach which suggests that the most effective leadership style depends on the situation, and that different styles may be appropriate in different situations. This theory suggests that effective leaders are able to adapt their leadership style to the specific demands of the situation. For example, a leader who uses a democratic leadership style in a crisis situation but autocratic leadership style during normal operations. This theory is especially important in today's business environment where organizations are facing dynamic and rapidly changing environments that requires leaders to be responsive to the situation at hand.

The Transformational leadership theory is another popular leadership theory, which focuses on the leader's ability to inspire and motivate followers to achieve their full potential. This theory suggests that effective leaders are able to create a vision, communicate it effectively, and inspire others to work towards that vision. Transformational leaders are also known for their ability to develop their followers and empower them to be leaders in their own right. A great example of this theory in action is a leader who not only sets a vision but also actively works with their team to achieve it, and helps their team members develop their own leadership skills.

The Transactional theory. The Transactional theory is another approach that focuses on the leader's ability to manage and maintain the status quo and rewards or punishment based on the follower's performance. This theory is exemplified in a leader who sets clear expectations and rewards or punishes based on meeting or not meeting those expectations. This theory is important in today's business environment where organizations are looking for leaders who can manage and maintain the status.

Participative leadership theory is a leadership style where the leader involves their team members in the decision-making process. This theory is exemplified in a leader who encourages their team members to share their thoughts and ideas and takes them into account when making important decisions.

Participative leadership theory is a leadership style where the leader involves their team members in the decision-making process.

“Great Man” Theory is a leadership theory that suggests that leaders are born, not made, and that they possess unique characteristics that make them naturally suited for leadership roles. This theory emphasizes the role of natural abilities and characteristics, such as charisma and intelligence, in determining a person's leadership potential. This theory is exemplified in a leader who is seen as a natural leader and has an innate ability to inspire and lead others.

“Great Man” Theory is a leadership theory that suggests that leaders are born, not made

In conclusion, leadership theory is a complex and ever-evolving field that encompasses many different perspectives and approaches to understanding how leaders influence the behavior of their followers. The current business environment requires leaders to be adaptable, innovative, and responsive to the needs of their employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Therefore, it is important for leaders to be familiar with different leadership theories and to be able to apply the most appropriate one in different situations. From trait theory to the "Great Man" theory, each one offers a unique perspective on how leaders influence the behavior of their followers, and a good leader should have the ability to adapt to the most appropriate style in different situations.

Why Human Resource Management skills are important for An Entrepreneurial Manager

An entrepreneurial manager needs to have a strong set of HRM skills to be successful

An entrepreneurial manager is an individual who possesses both an entrepreneurial mindset and the skills and knowledge needed to effectively manage a business or organization. According to a study by the National Small Business Association, this includes qualities such as "innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, autonomy, and a strong sense of personal control over one's work." Additionally, the study found that entrepreneurial managers often have a "results-oriented focus" and a "customer-centric approach."

Entrepreneurial management is a management style that emphasizes innovation, creativity, and risk-taking in the pursuit of organizational goals. According to a study by researchers at the University of Cambridge, this approach is characterized by "a focus on opportunity identification and exploitation, an emphasis on innovation and creativity, and a willingness to take calculated risks."

Entrepreneurial management is also characterized by its focus on growth and expansion, rather than simply maintaining the status quo. According to a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, this approach is characterized by "a long-term orientation, a focus on creating value, and a willingness to take risks to achieve growth."

References:

• Storey, D. J. (1994). Understanding the small business sector. London: Routledge.
• Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. P. (1989). Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments. Strategic management journal, 10(1), 75-87.
• Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. P. (1991). A conceptual model of entrepreneurship as firm behavior. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 16(1), 7-25.

Real-life examples of entrepreneurial managers include Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook. Both of these individuals have been able to identify opportunities in their respective industries and create successful businesses as a result.

Entrepreneurial managers possess a unique set of skills and qualities that allow them to succeed in their roles. These include creativity, risk-taking, leadership, and the ability to think outside of the box. They are also able to identify opportunities, create and execute business plans, and manage teams effectively.

In a corporation, an entrepreneurial manager plays an important role in driving innovation and growth. They are able to identify new business opportunities and create new ventures within the company. This can include creating new products or services, expanding into new markets, or developing new business models.

An entrepreneurial manager also plays a critical role in leading and motivating teams and in fostering a culture of innovation and risk-taking within the organization. They can also be instrumental in securing funding, building partnerships and in developing strategic plans.

An entrepreneurial manager needs to have a strong set of human resource management (HRM) skills in order to be successful. These skills include the ability to attract, retain, and develop talent, as well as effectively manage and motivate employees.

An entrepreneurial manager needs to have a strong set of human resource management (HRM) skills in order to be successful. These skills include the ability to attract, retain, and develop talent, as well as effectively manage and motivate employees.

One of the most important HRM skills for an entrepreneurial manager is the ability to attract and retain top talent. This requires the ability to identify the skills and qualifications needed for specific roles, as well as the ability to create an attractive and engaging work environment that will attract and retain top talent.

Developing and managing talent is another key skill for an entrepreneurial manager. This requires the ability to identify potential in employees, and to provide them with the training, development and mentoring they need to reach their full potential. This is important because it will help the organization to grow and succeed in the long term.

Effective communication is also a crucial skill for an entrepreneurial manager. They need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with employees, to ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals. This includes the ability to listen to feedback and respond to it appropriately, as well as the ability to communicate changes and updates to the organization effectively.

Another important skill for an entrepreneurial manager is the ability to manage and motivate employees. This includes the ability to set clear goals and expectations, as well as the ability to provide regular feedback and recognition for a job well done. This helps to ensure that employees are engaged and motivated to achieve the goals of the organization.

In conclusion, an entrepreneurial manager is an individual who has the skills and qualities to identify opportunities, create new ventures and manage them successfully. They play a crucial role in driving innovation and growth within a corporation and their ability to think outside the box can bring significant benefits to an organization. And, an entrepreneurial manager needs to have a strong set of HRM skills to be successful. These skills include the ability to attract, retain and develop talent, as well as effective communication, management, and motivation skills. These skills are important because they help the organization to grow and succeed in the long term by ensuring that employees are engaged and motivated to achieve the goals of the organization.

Technological Developments & Human Resource Management

With the support of the hi-tech advancements in the information technology and related fields today we can see human resource management has dramatically modified. Some people may see it is a threat to the industry and some may see it as not.

Pros of Technological Advancements

Today, use of information technology helps to collect many of data which can be convert into information that is very useful. Information are collecting in various levels of the organization including day-to-day using ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, market surveys, news articles, research publications are only few of them. Development of smartphones and excessive usage of different mobile apps, web browsers and websites are collecting information through cookies which can convert into useful information. These information are using to create AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems from simple to more advanced ones such as “IBM Watson” that making thousands or even more decisions in a fraction of a second. There is only one principle that makes technology more advanced; that is “information”.

Having more information is helping to make the most accurate information in any industry. Screening of the information is helping an average organization to minimize the risk of taking a wrong decision and maximize the benefit of taking a correct decision. Advanced systems with tracking keywords are helping to filter necessary information from the jargon and filter that information to minimize the noise which would be possible to make confusions and complications. (Filtering information by keywords is simplify  the process). In real life of a human being or an employee, this is the “experience”. Instead of spending long time to gather the experience for an individual, technology is collecting and analyzing information it collected from long time and many sources to make things easy. This also creates the need of “experienced people in use of information technology” to the organizations.

What is the significance of employee selection?

An employee or human resources is the most important treasure to the organization. They are the ones that leading the organization to the success. No matter managers set the goals and plans, they should have the right employee to execute the plan they made. Because of that having right employee is one of most important thing in the organization. Since selection is the process of choosing the individual best suited for a particular position and the organization, selection is playing an important role in organizational level.

Having right employee is based on the decision making in the hiring. Hiring an employee is based on the selection of a right person. If the organizational manages or selectors select an individual who do not match with the job, then it will cost to the organization.

Why selection is more important? If the selected individual is over qualified or under qualified, the labor turnover will take higher number in the organization, because, if the individual is under qualified, then s/he will not be able to do the job as expected by his/her managers. Hence, the productivity will fall in the organizational level. It may result to fail the organization in the long run. If the organization selects a bunch of individuals, not suit to their requirement, then they may fail even in the short run. If the organization selects the over qualified individual, it may not help to the individual to utilize his/her capacity for the organization. Under utilization of skills will cause to fall the productivity. In both scenarios, the employees will get frustrate soon and will leave the organization or managers may fire them, before they leave. It will cause to the higher LTO (Labor Turn Over)

Selected individuals should fit with the organizational culture, environment, and organizational goals. Those things are key factors to make the success of the organization in the future. If selected individual is not matching with the culture, norms, believes, goals, and the environment, both managers and employees will fed-up with working.

Selecting a wrong person will cost by requiring more training period, (for under qualified persons-they may need more training to get familiar with the job, for over qualified individuals, they may not focus on the culture and other norms and environment. So over qualified individuals will work out of the process. Both situations will make the job harder and will create to do work more than twice. Also, after the employee left the organization or after they got fired, managers may need to go through again with the whole recruitment process. It will time consuming and will consume more money and by that it will make more cost. Furthermore, bad hire will affect negatively to the entire staff, by affecting to the motivation and to the morale, especially in the team works.

As discussed here, the selection is most important thing in the recruitment process, because it deals with so many things relate to the future of the organization.

Labor relations

Labor relation can define as “the relationship between labor or employee and the employer” (as Cambridge Dictionary). Labor relations is combined with the unionize employment situations. Labor relations is expecting to study about relationship of labors in unionize culture. Labor relation is a subject of industrial relations, and social, political and economic parameters are influencing to the labor relations too. Under labor relations, it is need to cover labor law, history, union organization, bargaining, contract of employment etc. Both public and private sector should be aware about the labor relations to continue and follow harmonious working conditions. To enhance harmonious labor relations, governments are involving to create acts, rules and regulations and the institutes such as labor tribunals all around the world. In USA, National Labor Relations Act (in 1935) was established & empowered to regulate labor relations in private sector, and public sector labor relations is regulated by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Civil Service Reform Act established the many of related bodies to function the act and its rules. Also Civil Service Reform Act was abolished some of institutions/bodies or modified them. Many countries all over the world have their own labor relations strategies– labor laws and traditions to regulate their labor relations according to the law that they are following (ex: Roman-Dutch Law). Rules of the different countries may be differing on one to another, but the core of rules or the frame is similar to each other, such as eliminating child labor, provide safe working conditions etc. (There are several organizations working under the labor laws/ labor act and that is an equal situation could be observed in other countries too). Labor acts are empowering labor tribunals and it helps to protect rights of the labors. Labor relation acts are always established to protect labors and it is also expecting to provide equal rights to both employer and employee.  

International Labor Organization (ILO) was pronounced standards for maintain good labor relations and conditions. Members of United Nations are to be expected to follow the standards of ILO.

Many of labor relation acts are accepting the unionization in work places, collective bargaining and collective agreement. Collective bargaining and collective agreement processes are helping to organizations to maintain good labor relations with its employees.

Maintain harmonious labor relations are important to run a company/organization because of, production of service or a good is depend on human resources out of other resources such as financial, technological and natural resources. Apart from other resources, the only living resource is human resource. Employers must pay attention on the subjects such as leave procedures, health and safety, compensation, job security etc.; to maintain good labor relations as well as all above subjects.
Good relationship with labor helps to maintain loyalty, effective and efficient, and productive works from the workers as expecting by employers.  

By many of labor relation acts, employees are permitted to call meetings to unionize, join with trade unions or labor unions as they like, receive fair compensation and working conditions, receive protection in jobs etc. Some organizations are not following guidelines of labor acts regulated them some times, and any occasion that government or relevant agency found that they are guilty for the behavior, will be punished or amerce or executed by the law.

What is Industrial Relations? (Part III) Definition of employment relationship and Industrial Relations

    Employment Relationship is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as "Behaviour and communication between an employee and their employer, especially relating to employees' rights and their happiness in their jobs. The program is aimed at providing managers with the knowledge and skills they need to maintain good employment relations." And "employee relationship is a A broad term used to refer to the general management, organizations' administration and planning of activities related to developing, maintaining and improving employee relationships by communicating with employees, processing grievances/disputes, training and development of HR etc. (Human Resource IQ -www.humanresourceiq.com )". Industrial relations start with the employment relationship. This starts as soon as a person is willing to accept compensation for in exchange for work which is defined as contract employment. This relationship has a legal dimension that is governed by Labor Legislation. For examples management has to pay wages and salaries, provide leaves, safe working conditions and other duties defined by the law. Not to unjustly discriminate workers. It is not only the law, but also the fairness. The legal nature of the employment relationship means there are rights and obligations on both sides. Employees are obligated to obey legitimate work related instructions, to be honest and to promote the business of the employer with regards to the Job description and the title. The employment relationship is embodied in the contract of employment, and is an individual relationship between employer and employee. It has a legal protection rather than a job and a document of contact of employment. Industrial relations begin with the employment relationship but moves beyond the employment relationship. Without the employment relationship there will be no industrial relations.

    Industrial relations usually involve and consider employees as a group and employers as a group. The decisions taken by employers and managers are affecting on industrial relations; e.g.: Opening or closing down of a workplace, introducing new technology or work organization, allocating a specific distribution of profits are some of them. Decisions taken by employees are also affecting  the industrial relations such as strikes, immediate leave without following proper way, and not doing the job in working time.

What is Industrial Relation?

    There are several definitions for industrial relation from the past. Definitions are not clear at all, so there are many disagreements on selecting one general definition. Many specialists defined the term of Industrial Relation and some accepted definitions are mentioned below.

    Professor Barnash (1954) defined IR as “Area of study and practice concerned with the administration of the employment function in modern public and private enterprise. This function involves workers, unions, managers, government and various publics”.

    In this definition, it considered workers, unions, managers, government, and “various public” as a single function (but present days they are considering as different functions). Still there is administration rather than management of people involving, and considering it as a separate function apart from above function of ‘employment’ mentioned in the definition. This is correct, but sometimes this single function is acting as a separate bunch of functions, working separately to get in to one core of a goal or achieve one main objective.

    Professor Margerison (1969) defined it as “The study of people in a situation, organization or system interacting in the doing of work in relation to some form of contract, written or unwritten… the essential element in all industrial relations is conflict…. The nature and development conflict itself.”
    Written or unwritten contracts and ‘situations’ are the major parts of this definition. For the first time there was concern about the situations and unwritten contracts. It opened a new door to the industrial relations. In this study, it was accepted the conflicts are occurring due to many reasons when practicing industrial relations. It became to a true in present situations.

Hyman (1975) has defined IR as “Industrial Relation is the study of process of control over work relations”. Industrial relation also is a process of understand the relationship between employer and employee as well as other functions influence to them.

    Flanders (1975) defined IR as “The relations between the enterprise and its employees and among those employees themselves… the study of industrial relations may therefore be described as a study of the institutions of job regulation”. As per this definition it was taken all the functions of employer, management etc., as an enterprise. It was good to consider the relationships of the employees among them self, because it also affecting to the general behavior of relationship in the industry.

    Deery and Plowman described IR in 1985 as “….in its broadest sense industrial relations is about the behavior and interaction of people at work. It is concerned with how individuals, groups, organizations and institutions make decisions which shape the employment relationship between management and labor”

    In here they gave a broad sense to the industrial relations, and it depends on the behaviors, past experiences, approaches and the way dealing with the functions which involved in the industrial relations. Labor is considered same as worker, but has more legally protected background, acceptance and reputation than worker.


Related topics:

• The Origins of Industrial Relations - (Part I of What is Industrial Relations)
• Evolution of Labor Relations and Industrial Relations - (Part II of What is Industrial Relations)

What is Industrial Relations (Part II) - Evolution of Labor Relations and Industrial Relations

    Knowing of evolution of labor relations and industrial relations, are important to understand what is the industrial relations and how it has been practiced in the past. Industrial revolution changed the nature of work, forms of work organization and nature of production was bringing together many craftsmen under one roof. This is referred to as the stage of cooperation the craftsman. For various reasons, they were deprived of their tools and brought together by the factory owner under one roof and introduced new tools and techniques to them.

    The next stage was the stage of manufacture. Although there were small manufacturers creating small things, mankind went to build large things like machineries in large scales. Businessmen, investors and inventors as well as who was willing to spend their money saved from generations, established factories to manufacture many things. This is when work tasks are broken down or fragmentized and division of labor is introduced. The factory owners attempt to increase productivity by removing some of the skills or the craft work by breaking down work in to simpler steps. The craftsman is still in charge of the work and has skill but his skill is being eroded and simplified. The artisan is now being transformed in to a worked and this changes the social relation between the factory owner and the worker. Some factory owners used their skilled workers to train and establish new things in the factories, and others who were really not trained well were appointed to simple steps. 

    Two processes began to take place at this stage are, the first is de-qualification where the skills of the artisan are broken down. This takes away control of the work from the worker, and allowed the owner to establish whatever he needs. The second is hyper-qualification of a few individuals who in turn are in charge of systematically fragmenting the work of the masses, as mentioned in above paragraph. This makes authorized leaders among the workers. The way this happened is not more different from  the master and servant modal. The only difference is worker allowed leaving factory any time and he should agree to what he gets from the factory owner as salary. Salary was defined by owner and working conditions were also decided by him. Efficiency and the quality was the concerned of factory owners. 
The process mentioned in above paragraph was also involved in adapting the tools of the trade to a narrow focus so as to increase efficiency. Individual workers and owners thought about the tools that makes the process easy. Craft workers and their apprentice were placed under a single roof which was the formation of the factory. Skilled work was slowly broken down allowing mass production, then large factories established such as Ford Motor Company. Thousands of people moved from villages and rural areas to the cities in search of employment. People uprooted from their traditional way of life and traditional forms of work. Creation of new class or people: proletariat or working class. Society becomes divided between the working class on the one hand and owners and managers on the other hand. Human beings now have to sell their labor power in order to survive. This marked the beginning of the era of mass employment and soon, mass unemployment. Mass unemployment - This happened because some economies collapsed in some of regions. (Less productivity of agricultural products may be the reason for that.) In the area of work we find emergence of new patterns in work organizations.

    Emergence of the assembly line and dull repetitive work-1914 Henry Ford introduced the assembly line (via conveyer belts) Ford fixed the worker at one place and made the object of work or product to flow. This created more control over the labor, and also allowed control over the rate of production. (This made workers unhappy at the beginning but soon after the production increased, Henry Ford doubled the salary he paid to workers, and they were able to buy cars of their own after 2-3 months. This attracted the workers more towards Ford factory. Even today they follow this mechanism and satisfy workers by high wages.)

     We also see the emergence of Taylorism or Scientific Management. Taylorism or Scientific Management is a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It is one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management. Taylor followed many trials to measure the amount of work done by a worker in a given period of time. His aim was to scientifically determine the best way of performing a task.

    Taylor attempt to do two things:

1.    Increase the amount of work within a specific period- productivity
2.  Simplify work by breaking it down in to simpler part- deskilling (Breaking work for many activities)

In order to achieve his tasks Taylor conducted a series of time and motion studies.

    Reaction to Taylor’s work came in the form of the Human Relations Movement. Taylor was criticized for being over-rational and dehumanizing. In between 1927-1932 a series of experiments were conducted at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago (Successor AT&T Technologies, USA). (Hawthorne effect, a term used as early as 1950 by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger, is that changes in participants' behavior during the course of a study and Mayo and Roethlisberger believed it is related only to the special social situation and social treatment the participants received.) These experiments established that work conditions and monetary incentives did not have a direct relation to output and behavior. It found that informal work organization and work groups had an effect on output and behavior. Elton Mayo who conducted the experiments argued that the worker should be seen as a human and social being. He promoted the idea of training managers and administrations in social skills. His idea was not only the task would be done, but also to maintain the relationship. This was the beginning of the Human Relations Schools. (HRS) The HRS was criticized for misunderstanding the causes and nature of industrial conflict. The HRS was also criticized for ignoring trade unions and industrial relations. Studies into industrial relations grew in 1948 the Institute of Industrial Relation Research was founded in the USA.


Related topics:

• The Origins of Industrial Relations  - (Part I of What is Industrial Relations)
• Definition of employment relationship and Industrial Relations - (Part III of What is Industrial Relations?)

What is Industrial Relations (Part I) - The Origins of Industrial Relations

          To understand what is industrial relations, it is important to know about the origins of industrial relations. Since the ancient times, feudalism could be seen around the nations of world, especially at eras of Rome, Alexander, Ashok, and Persian and more. It developed after 1200 AC and furthermore, with invasions of Portuguese, Dutches, British, and   French. Before that, it was seen in both western and eastern kingdoms as well. Slavery could be seen from the great era of ancient Egypt. From that era till American civil war ends one could see slavery system, and feudalism. It expanded further in 1900s in some of regions.

        Under Feudalism there were no industrial relations; the only relationship was master and servant. Then gradual Capitalism began as time passed. To understand the origins of industrial relations, we need to understand the evolution of work under capitalism. Under feudalism we had a master and serf relationship, and serfs were bound to the service of the lord or landowner and remained attached to them. Servant was bound to do what the land lord or master said, even the servant is agreed with it or not. If he was not able to do that, the punishment may be hunger or even death. This didn’t happened in each and every place, but in many places it happened. Many of Negros and invaded nations faced this and other forms of slavery. Industrial relations, arose as a direct consequence of the way capitalism organized work.

           .
       Under the feudalism, also existed the master craftsman who worked independently and created useful items- for example, furniture, boats etc.; and this was sold on the public market. Most of eastern countries, those craftsmen’s were capitalized to some areas, and later they were expanded individually to different types of areas and was able to manage their life with the barter system- exchange goods for another good. Some craftsmen’s, who were able to produce pots, swards, knifes etc., and carpenters etc… followed these methods. There could be seen two predominant forms of works under feudalism.  Those are agriculture/serfdom and craftsman/independent labor. Both survived with the barter system or money exchange latterly, from the serfdoms salary given by master.

        The change from feudalism to capitalism saw the emergence of industrial relations as a discipline. The change from feudalism to capitalism was marked by the industrial revolution, the process began in the 14th and 15th century in Britain, and it was spread among other European countries and to the world. The full impact of this was felt in the middle of the 18th and 19th century. World War I and World War II also gave a great impact of the development of industrial revolution. How it happened? In the World War, all parties involved in it needed to win and they invested much more on machineries such as air crafts, trucks, ships, jeeps and tanks and guns and more. In World War II, the situation was at the peak. Hitler’s invasion to Europe and Japanese invasion to USA and Australia made opportunities to do trials and push nations to be success at wars, finish it immediately by defeat the enemy. There was competition among the nations to be the first. After World Wars, nations pushed themselves in to re-establish new world with peace and prosperous. They were depending on the craft work and agriculture work the major form of production; and succeeded.
By 1950, the world began to talk about industrial relations and the most acceptable definition of that era was done by Professor Barnash in 1954. He defined IR as “Area of study and practice concerned with the administration of the employment function in modern public and private enterprise. This function involves workers, unions, managers, government and various publics”.

         After World War II- this is the time industries has begun to expand over the world than expanding with in one industry, and also expanding and start the evolution of industrial relations.

Related topics:

• Evolution of Labor Relations and Industrial Relations - (Part II of What is Industrial Relations 
• Definition of employment relationship and Industrial Relations - (Part III of What is Industrial Relations)

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

What is the collective bargaining? Collective bargaining is a process of joint decision making in work places. It is the process of negotiation between ‘firms’ and workers’ representatives for the purpose of establishing mutually agreeable conditions of employment to enhance the harmonies working status at the work places. The technique of the Collective bargaining is adopted by two parties to reach and understanding acceptable to both through the process of discussion and negotiation. Collective bargaining is making an opportunity to workers to negotiate their desires with employer and employer also receive an opportunity to discuss with workforces to drive the business to success through this. Definition of the collective bargaining could differ from one company to another, but the general idea of this defined by ILO. International Labor Organization (ILO) has defined collective bargaining as “Negotiation about working conditions and terms of employment between and employer and a group of employees or one or more employee, organization with a view to reaching and agreement wherein the terms serve as a code of defining the rights and obligations of each party in their employment /industrial relations with one another.” Collective bargaining involves discussions and negotiations between two groups as to the terms and conditions of employment. It is called “collective” because both the employer and the employee act as a group rather than as individuals. It is known as “bargaining” because the method of reaching an agreement involves proposals and counter proposals, offers and counter offers and other negotiations. Thus collective bargaining is a collective process in which representatives of both the management and employees participate. The representative groups could be group of management and trade union of the company. Also it is a continuous process which aims an establishing stable relationship between the parties involves in it. Collective bargaining is not only involves the bargaining agreement, but also involves the implementation of such an agreement. It attempts in achieving discipline in the industry as well as company. Collective bargaining is a flexible approach, as the parties’ involves have to adopt a flexible attitude towards negotiations.

Some business critics argue that collective bargaining only has a limited role for professionals in the industry. This is some kind of truth, because the parties who involve this should has much more bargaining ability; than a power. The skill of bargaining is the key factor to receive some thing or not. The professionals of works- such as specialists in the fields are bargaining individually to receive their needs from the employer, and most of employers are willing to satisfy their desires, because of the specialty; but collective action takes different role in these situations. Collective actions has opened the doors to any parties to act on be half of them, to NGO s freelancers and any individual. Financial Times blog has describe this argument very briefly.

Industrial relations encompasses all such factors that influence behavior of people at work

Institutions: It includes government, employers, trade unions, union federations or associations, government bodies, labor tribunals and other organizations which have direct or indirect impact on the industrial relations systems.

Characters: It aims to study the role of workers unions and employers’ federations’ officials, shop stewards, industrial relations officers/ managers, mediator/ arbitrator, judges of labor tribunal etc.

Methods: Methods focus on collective bargaining, workers participation in the industrial relations schemes, discipline procedure, grievance redress machinery, dispute settlements machinery working of closed shops, union reorganization, organizations of protest through methods like revisions of labor tribunals etc.

Contents: It includes matters pertaining to employment conditions like pay, hours of works, leave with wages, health and safety, disciplinary actions, lay-off, dismissals, retirements etc., laws relating to such activities, regulations governing labor welfare, social security, industrial relations, issues concerning with workers’ participation in management, collective bargaining etc.

The term industrial relations have a broad as well as narrow outlook. Originally, industrial relations were broadly defined to include the relationships and interactions between employers and employees. (From this perspective, industrial relations cover all aspects to the employment relationship, including human resource management, employee relations, and union-management (or labor relations). Now its meaning has become more specific and restricted. Accordingly, it pertains to the study and practice of collective bargaining, trade unionism, and labor management relations, while human resource management is separate, largely distinct field that deals with nonunion employment relationships and the personnel practices and policies of employers. This has happens because of the development of human relations in the society and the development of recognition to the worker from society as well as employer. Industrial revolution also contributed to this in partially. Specialization to a specific task has developed the employee/worker to done the job with in short time of period, and it has developed the workers skills in that particular task as well. It is caused to make a demand to the skillful worker at the labor market for his/her abilities, and also created the bargaining power of them to everything than the earlier stages of industrial development, simply at pre industrial revolution, Fayols’ stages etc. Managements/ employers also had to step towards to maintain a good relationship with workers to get maximum output of work and earn profits, and grab the maximum market share to them in competitive market. All these revolutions begin because of the competition in the market and having a competent employee is competitive advantages to them in survived in the market.

What is the importance of the concept of industrial relations?

Industrial relations have become one of the most complex problems of modern industrial society; that complexity has caused to make the importance of industrial relations in the modern world in the function of human resource management. Why is that? The reason is industrial progress is impossible without cooperation of labors and harmonious relationships between workers and management. Therefore, it is in the interest of all to create and maintain good relations between employees and employers (Managers).

“Industrial relations involve attempts at arriving at solutions between the conflicting objectives and values; between the profit motive and social gain; between discipline and freedom, between authority and industrial democracy; between bargaining and co-operation; and between conflicting interests of the individual, the group and the community. - Lester”

The Concept of “Industrial Relations”

The concept is used to denote the collective relationships between management and the workers. This is also called as “Labor relations”. The term of Industrial Relations comprises of two terms “Industry” and “Relations”. Industry refers to “any productive activity in which an individual (or a group of individuals) is (are) engaged. Industry Relations refer to “the relationships that exist with in the industry between the employer and his workman/ or employee. Relations also can be define as “the way in which two or more people or groups feel about and behave towards each other” and “the way in which two or more people or things are connected; a thing’s effect on or relevance to another”. Also industrial relations (IR) contain the relationship between employer-employer as well. This is also including the other third party stakeholders who can influence in to this worker-management relationship, such as government and governing bodies.

Marketing and HR

As we discussed about some of HR functions operating in the firm, is not only the thing what we are practicing in day today life. In day to day life we have to manage many of relationships among people. For that part, we need marketing.

We all have management skills. If we haven’t that we wouldn’t be survive till you read this section and till I write these things. We have managed our lives till this time. We are looking for some more for the advance practice. In management concept we can not forget marketing for that end.

Let’s come back to the discussion what we had. Go to your little age and remind how you did introduce your self to others, when you have attended to the primary class. And again remind how you introduced your self to the others at high school. That may have many differences in the time to time. That is because of the marketing skills you have followed at above difference places.

As HRM you should have some marketing knowledge- its better to have 4 Ps’ or 7Ps’ in your mind. That is more than enough to practice HR marketing skills.

At the attraction of a new employee to the organization and as well market your self to the organization at an interview or promote organization at its outside, it some of the parts which using marketing at organization with HR. Rather than that, to whom we are marketing our self? Absolutely that is for the human beings. Then how we can think about marketing with out HR skills? We can’t.

Human Relationships

What is the relationship? A relationship is inter-connection between two people or more than that, according to interesting of any kind of common thing to both parties. Interesting about common thing is referring as plus relationship and not interesting or interesting to opposite things is referring as minus relationship. This may make a confusion in you, when you are considering about a relationship between man and women, who interesting to other party, as same as love affair- as happening in the common world as a negative relationship according to the above statement. But the answer is NO for that question created in your mind; because the common thing of that relationship is “interesting to the opposite sex”. So it became to plus relationship according to that statement.

Usually we are referring HR at this step as Human Resource. But it is good to thing it as well as Human Relationships. Human is a social animal. So human is always maintaining relationships from the very beginning- even before birth of a child, the child has relationship. Think! Child may not in the mothers’ womb, if there wasn’t any bisexual relationship between man and women.

Since the birth of a child, the very first relationship is with mother, because child may not survive without breast milk, as nature. Then the child is starting to build up relationships as you know- same as your childhood. When it comes to the social level, some external influences are affecting to the relationships of an individual. The purposes and events may differ from one to another, but the principle is same. As a social animal, human has many social inter relationships. When a child attending to the primary school, he or she may have friendships with other kids, also with teachers; that relationship is a result of one of social network of a human. When we jump to the elder age, from the childhood, the relationships may have huge variation- with superiors, with subordinates, with co-workers, with clients, with investors, with government etc. that is because of the modern human is working at a global society.
In this global society, to maintain personal relationships- HR skills will be very helpful. Because of, with that globalization, managing relationships may a difficult task at some times. Even that is difficult, it has to do.

HRM practices for managerial and hourly employees in effective and ineffective service based firms

The general hypothesis that predicts major differences in human resource practices used in the manufacturing and service industries follows from a deterministic view of the relationship between environments and organizational forms (Hannan and Freeman 1977). Thus, for example, population ecologists would point to the different niches that are the relevant environments for these two industry sectors and argue that the characteristics of the two environments dictate the forms of the organizations that populate them (Aldrich 1979). Models that emphasize the role of managerial decision-making and choice represent an alternative perspective for generating hypotheses about how organizations are likely to differ in their management practices. The strategic choice perspective assumes that organizations face numerous design options and that the form of management an organization adopts represents decisions made by management. These may be made within some constraints, however, such as the constraints related to operating within the manufacturing or service industry (see Hrebiniak and Joyce 1985). A strategic choice perspective recognizes that multiple design options are often available to organizations, but does not necessarily assume that all options are equally effective within a given environment (e.g., Porter 1980, 1985). Thus, inappropriate managerial decisions can create organizational practices that are less than optimal, in which case organizational effectiveness is likely to suffer. When applied to the issue of human resource management systems, this view of organizational adaptation leads to the prediction that when organizations operating within a given industry sector are compared, those that are more effective will be the organizations that have adopted HRM practices consistent with the demands of the industry. Based on the previous discussion and the literature, several differences would be expected between the human resource practices in more effective service firms in comparison to less effective service firms. Specifically, the more effective the service firm the more likely that-


Job designs will be characterized by skill variety and autonomy;
Employees will have input into their performance appraisals;
Clients will have input on appraisals; ,
Performance appraisal results will be used in determining training needs;
There will be a great deal of training of new employees; and
Performance appraisal results will be used in compensation decisions.

HRM practices for managerial and hourly employees in service organizations

A large literature addresses the nature of the managerial position. According to this literature, the jobs of managers comprise several roles. Mintzberg (1973), for example, described 10 managerial roles clustered into three categories: interpersonal, informational and decisional. While allowing for differences in situations, taken together, these 10 roles characterize the job of manager as being linked with others, taking some risks, focusing on results and process, managing the activities and jobs of others, dealing with unpredictable events and monitoring the environment of the group or unit being managed. Jacques' (1989) concept of the time span of discretion adds another distinguishing feature to this picture of managerial jobs. The time span of discretion refers to the length of time it takes for results of a contribution to become known. For managers, this time span is usually relatively long. Using the Mintzberg role distinctions and Jacques' time span of discretion, managerial jobs can be compared and contrasted with hourly or nonmanagerial jobs. While managerial and non-managerial jobs are similar in that both are remunerated and are important to organizational effectiveness, managerial jobs are generally filled with more unpredictability, risk-taking, results-orientation, interdependence and a longer time span of discretion, in comparison to hourly jobs. These differences may diminish, however, as service organizations reduce layers of management, decentralize and push more responsibility down to lower organizational levels.

Organizations use their HRM practices to encourage the behaviors needed to successfully carry out the managerial role. Given that the managerial role is different from the roles of lower-level employees in organizations, it is reasonable to expect that organizations would use somewhat different human resource management practices for the two groups of employees. Specifically, given the nature of the managerial role as previously described, it is probable that compared to hourly employees in service-based organizations, managers would be more likely to be influenced by the following practices:


Jobs with greater skill variety and responsibility;
Performance appraisals that focus on results;
Performance appraisals that focus on projects that takes a longer period of time;
Compensation schemes based on company-wide bonuses;
Training that is provided for longer-term and broader skill development; and more training hours per year.