2-1 EXCEL

BOOKS
Chapter

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT:
FUNCTIONS, POLICIES AND
ROLES
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ANNOTATED OUTLINE

Introduction
Personnel management may be defined as a set of programmes,
functions and activities designed to maximise both personal and
organisational goals. Basically, it covers three broad areas:

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Three dimensions of Personnel
Management

Personnel Aspect
Recruitment, selection, placement, training,
appraisal, compensation, productivity.

Personnel
Welfare Aspect
Management
Working conditions, amenities, facilities, benefits.

Industrial Relations Aspect

Union-management relations, disputes settlement,
grievance handing, discipline, collective
bargaining.

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Features

deals with employees both as individuals and as a group

concerned with the development of human resources
covers all levels (lower, middle and top)
applies to all types of organisations
aims at attaining the goals of an organisation
aims at securing unreserved cooperation from all employees.

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Managerial Functions

Planning
Organising
Directing
Controlling

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Operative Functions

 Procurement Function

Job analysis
Human resource planning
Recruitment
Selection
Placement
Induction and orientation
Internal mobility
 Development Function
Training
Executive development
Career planning and development
Human resource development     
Cont…

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Operative Functions

      Motivation and Compensation

Job design
Work scheduling
Motivation
Job evaluation
Performance appraisal
Compensation administration
Incentives and benefits
      Maintenance Function
Health and safety
Employee welfare
Social security
Cont…

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Operative Functions

  Integration Function
Grievance redressal
Discipline
Teams and team work
Collective bargaining
Employee participation and empowerment
Trade unions and employers associations
Industrial relations
     Emerging Issues
Personnel records
Human resource audit
Human resources research
Human resource accounting
Human resource information system
Stress and counselling
International human resource management

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Personnel Policies, Procedures And

Programmes

Personnel policies are guides to action. They serve as roadmaps

for managers on a number of issues such as recruitment, selection
and promotion. They cover almost all functions of personnel
management. A good personnel policy should be easy to
understand, based on facts, equitable, reasonably flexible, precise
and related to objectives.

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Types of personnel policies

 Originated policies
 Appealed policies
 Imposed policies
 General policies
 Specific policies
 Written or implied policies

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Advantages of personnel policies

 Delegation
 Uniformity
 Better control
 Standards of efficiency
 Confidence
 Speedy decisions
 Coordinating devices

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Features of a sound personnel

policy

 Related to objectives
 Easy to understand
 Precise
 Stable as well as flexible
 Based on facts
 Appropriate number
 Just, fair and equitable
 Reasonable
 Review

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Coverage of Personnel policies

 social responsibility policies

 employment policies
 promotion policies
 development policies
 relations policies

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Formulation of Personnel policies

 identifying the need

 collecting data
 specifying alternatives
 communicating the policy
 evaluating the policy

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Evaluating the impact of personnel

policies
The impact of human resource policies can be measured through their
outcomes:

 Commitment: how long an employee stays with a firm

 Competence: appraised through performance appraisal techniques
 Congruence: nature and frequency of grievances, disagreement,
discord and conflict
 Cost effectiveness: measured through human resource accounting
techniques

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Organising The Personnel Function

The personnel function can be organised along traditional as well as modern

lines, depending on the nature, scale and complexity of operations in a given
organisation. The organisation of the personnel department in divisional and
matrix structures differs from that of traditional line and staff organisations.

Line and staff relationships: The relationship existing between two managers
due to delegation of authority and responsibility and giving or receiving
instructions or orders is called line relationship. Line authority, thus,
represents uninterrupted line of authority and responsibility running through
the management hierarchy. Staff specialists offer help and advice to line
managers, whenever required. “Staffs think and lines do” “Staffs advise,
lines work” “Staffs have the authority of ideas and lines have the authority of
command”. Viewed broadly, therefore, personnel management is a line
manager’s responsibility but a staff function”.

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Staff role of the personnel

department

 Policy initiation and formulation

 Advice

 Service

 Monitor and control

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Personnel department in a line

organisation

Chief Executive

Personnel Manager

Recruiting Officer Training Manager Compensation Welfare Officer

Manager
Assistants Assistants Assistants
Assistants

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Personnel department in a functional

organisation

Chief Executive

Personnel Manager

Recruiting Officer Training Manager Compensation Welfare Officer

Manager

Assistants Assistants Assistants Assistants

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Personnel department in a line and

staff organisation

Chief Executive

Personnel Manager

Recruiting Officer Training Manager Compensation Welfare Officer

Manager
Assistants Assistants Assistants
Assistants

Line relationship
Staff relationship

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Personnel department in a
divisionalised structure
M anaging D irector

G eneral M anager

M anager M anager M anager M anager M anager

M arketing F inance P roduction R&D H um an R esources

M anger M anager M anager

S outhern Region C entral R egion N orthern R egion

D eputy M anager D eputy M anager Deputy M anager

M arketing P roduction H um an Resources

B ranch M anager B ranch M anager B ranch M anager

N agpur N ew Delhi B om bay

O ffic e r O ffic e r O ffic e r

M arketing P roduction H um an Resources

D enotes Line Relationships

D enotes S taff Relationship

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Personnel department in a matrix

structure
M anaging Director

G eneral M anager

M anage r M anager M anager

Autom obile M achines E lectricals

Supporting Functional Assistance to Projects

P roduction M arketing Person nel Finance

Personnel
G ro u p

Heavy Industrial
M a chine s
Personnel
G ro u p
Light
Industrial
M a chine s
Personnel
G ro u p
Agricultural
M achines & Tools

Flow of Work Perform ance

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Roles Played by a Personnel Manager

 Administrative roles
 Policy maker
 Administrative expert
 Advisor
 Housekeeper
 Counsellor
 Welfare officer
 Legal consultant

 Operational roles
 Recruiter
 Trainer, developer, motivator
 Coordinator/linking pin
Cont…
 Mediator

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Roles Played by a Personnel Manager

 Employee champion
 Placing people on the right job
 Charting a suitable career path
 Rewarding good performance
 Resolving differences
 Adopting family-friendly policies
 Ensuring fair and equitable treatment
 Striking balance between employee expectations and
Organisational requirements
 Representing workers' problems and concerns to management

 Strategic roles
 Change agent
 Strategic partner

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Qualities And Qualifications Of A

Personnel Manager
HR professionals must have a thorough knowledge of the
organisation and its overall functioning. To deliver effective results,
they need considerable amount of knowledge, skills and expertise in
tax laws, finance, statistics, social sciences etc apart from the
training that they receive from reputed B-schools.
Qualities
 Personal attributes
 Intelligence
 Educational skills
 Discriminating skills
 Executing skills
 Experience and training
 Professional knowledge Cont…

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Qualities And Qualifications Of A

Personnel Manager
 Qualifications
 Business mastery
 Change mastery

Professionalisation of personnel management in India

Attributes of a profession
    Well defined body of knowledge
    Formal education and training
    Minimum qualifications
    Representative body
    Service above self
    Ethical conduct Cont…

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Qualities And Qualifications Of A

Personnel Manager
Over the years, personnel management has emerged as a highly
respected profession in India. The reasons are fairly obvious;

 Growth of management institutes

 A growing body of literature
 Professional bodies
 Self-regulatory institutions overseeing the operations of
personnel people
 Code of conduct

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