Motivatiin is the thing that induces people to at.

Leasders need to persuade people to act in

certain ways. In workplace situation, staff must first be motivated to follw procedures. This
can be done in a positive way by offering rewards, or in negative way by threatening who do
not comp0ly with the requirement. Lynn. Van Der Wagen and Christine Davies (1998, page,
25”

Human Resources Management consists of all the activities in an organisation

involving the acquisition and utilization of human resource. The most important
activities of HRM are human resources planning, recruiting and selecting, training
and developing, utilizing, and rewarding employees. Later in this report all parts
which forms human resource management will be describes with views from different
authors. Dessler argues that.

“organisations develop high-potential employees through a variety of means. Most

use internal training and cross-functional experiences; they also use job rotation,
external training, and global/regional assignments. Finally, succession planning
requires assessing these candidates and selecting those who will actually fill the key
positions”. Gary Dessler (2005, Page 163)

a) Outline an appropriate human resource planning process for The

Abbey Hotel. (This should take account of what the new owner is
hoping to achieve in the near future, ie. moving up – market from 3 –
star to 4 – star and the implications of this)

The Abbey needs someone who can transform and value all staff from
different levels with same respect without leaving behind who does what.
From my understanding, leaders should have the ability to think not only
strategically but also creatively. Thinking creatively is a crucial part of the
reader’s role. He/she should manage to translate the vision for The Abbey into
policies from which decision can be made by including all line managers.

Training also results in higher performance. Especially for organizations that are
rapidly incorporating new technologies and are adapting to the new, more
competitive business environment, or are suffering from low productivity, training is
more than essential to help their employees perform at the desired level. Although
training can be very costly and training budgets require a large amount of money, in
the long run it proves to be critical to the success of an organization’s efforts.
Training enriches human resources with high productivity;

b) Recommend an appropriate recruitment and selection process for the

new general manager

As The Abbey will be hosting the German Delegates, it is very

important that the General Manger chosen for this role is bilingual,
being able to speak more than one language and German as most

1
 preferences. This must b highlighted in the job advert that most the
high criteria is the applicant must be fluent in both English and
German.

c) Suggest ways in which The Abbey could evaluate the overall

effectiveness of the recruitment and selection procedures you have
recommended, in terms of hiring the right people.

Staff selection

Line and Staff Cooperation The Human resource manager who recruits for a
vacant job is seldom the one responsible for supervising its performance. He or she
must therefore know exactly what the job entails, and this means speaking with the
supervisor involved. For example, the recruiter might want to know about the
supervisor’s leadership style and about the work group- is it a tough group to get
along with, for instance? He or she might also want to visit the work site, to review
the job description with the supervisor to ensure that the job hasn’t changed, and to
obtain any additional insight into the skills and talents the new worker will need. Line
and staff coordination is therefore essential. Gary Dessler (2005, Page 159)

The above views were also contributed by Seyed-Mahmoud Aghazadeh (2003) who
asserts that:

“The changing expectations of employees pose several different challenges for

HRM professionals. In order to retain good employees and keep them happy
and productive, these challenges must be successfully met (Sims and Sims,
1994). Companies need to first identify what their employees need. This is not
necessarily simple. For example, companies with more than one location
should not assume that all employees at all sites have the same needs. This is
particularly true for global organizations since employee needs may be a
reflection of socio-economical or cultural influences”. Seyed-Mahmoud
Aghazadeh (2003, volume 52, number 4, pp. 201-207)

Human Resource Management

It is important to an organisation to have Human resource management in order to
manage the operations of day to day activities. From my understanding the
importance of human resource management is that it should work like representative
to employee. It is the point where recruitment selections are carried out, induction
procedures applied, and also where conflicts that cannot be solved within teams can
be finally solved. There are no big difference from Human resource management and
personal management. Armstrong and Baron (2002, p.20-1) argued that,

2
 “Human Resource management is just a new name for person management.
One of the similarities is that personnel management, like Human resource
management, recognises that line managers are responsible for managing
people. The personal function provides the necessary advice and support
services to enable managers to carry their responsibilities’’

Bush and Middlewood (1997.p.20) argue that,

“Human resource management is about managing human as a resource. It

embraces all core activities of human management”

It is my belief also that the management of human resources should be equal weighed
to all employee and as it was stressed by Armstrong and Baron (2002) this should
involve soft and hard approaches. The following are the Human resource
management approach to managing people, which are ‘soft’ and ‘hard’,

Armstrong and Baron, (2002, p.5), described these as the following

‘The hard approach to Human resource management emphasises that people

are important resources thorough which organisation achieve competitive
advantage. These resources have therefore to be acquired, developed and
deployed in ways that will benefit the organisation’.

The ‘soft’ approach emphasises communication, motivation and leadership. Also it

was described by Storey 1989, (in Armstrong and Baron, 2002, p.6) that,

‘It involved treating employee as valued assets, a source of competitive

advantage through their commitment, adaptability and high quality of skills
and performance’.

Human Capital

Human capital represents human factor in the organization; the combined intelligence,
skills and expertise that gives the organization its distinctive character. The human
elements of the organization are those that are capable of learning, changing,
innovating and providing the creative thrust which if properly motivated can ensure
the long-term survival of the organization.

Scarborough and Elias (2002) believe that:

3
 ‘The concept of human capital is most usefully viewed as a bridging concept
that is, it defines the link between Human resource practices and business
performance in terms of assets rather than business processes.’

They point out that human capital is to a large extent ‘non-standardized, tacit,
dynamic, context dependent and embodied in people’. These characteristics make it
difficult to evaluate human capital bearing in mind that the ‘features of human capital
that are so crucial to firm performance are the flexibility and creativity of individuals,
their ability to develop skills and ability of individuals that create value, which is why
the focus has to be on means of attracting, retaining, developing and maintaining the
human capital they represent. (In Michael Armstrong, 2006, pg 33)

Human Resources Management consists of all the activities in an organisation

involving the acquisition and utilization of human resource. The most important
activities of HRM are human resources planning, recruiting and selecting, training
and developing, utilizing, and rewarding employees. Later in this report all parts
which forms human resource management will be describes with views from different
authors.

Further on in the text book they outlined some operative functions of human resource
management starting with, staff selection, staff appraisal and developments,
leadership and motivation. The purpose of all above is to achieve performance. They
stress that,

‘If individuals within an organisation are allowed to progress in their

professional roles which includes support staff of all kinds, this will
enhance the quality of performance of students’ leaning of the
organisation and of themselves’.

Following is the model from Michael Armstrong, (2006, 260)

Value of Abilities
rewards

4
 Effort Performance

Probability
that reward
Role
depends upon
expectations
effort

Figure 18.2 Motivation model (Porter and Lawler, 1968)

According to Boxall (1992) the advantage of this module are that it:

• Incorporate recognition of a range of a stakeholder interest;

• Recognizes the importance of trade off, either explicitly or implicitly, between
the interest of owners and those of employees as well as between various
interest groups;
• Widen the context of Human resource management to include ‘employee
influence’, the organisation of work and the associated question of supervisory
style;
• Acknowledges a broad range of contextual influences on managements choice
of strategy, suggesting a meshing of both product market and socio-cultural
logics;
• Emphasizes strategic choice it is not driven by situational or environmental
determinism. Quoted from Michael Armstrong (2006,page 7-8)

The following are some of the operations of Human resource management, which
should apply in every organisation.

5
Staff appraisal
, This was argued by Fidler and Bowes (1989, p.17) that,

“Staff appraisal is a major element of staff management; it has the capacity to

contribute too much to ensure that schools operate effectively. It performs
accountability function, by ensuring that teachers are operating effectively and
to a competent standard”.

Bush and Middlewood (1997. p. 169) argue that,

‘The purpose of appraisal relate both to improving individual performance and

to greater organisational effectiveness”

According to the function of Human resource management I would argue that the
point is not just having staff appraisal or staff developments but also that this process
should be reviewed for its effectiveness among staff. The key point that managers
have to keep in mind is that,

• Does staff believe in the appraisal?

• Do they have enough time to attend self-development course?
• Some might be experiencing negative attitudes towards their appraisers and
that can make the process uncomfortable, although there may be no
alternative.
• Targets must be realistic and achievable

All managers are, in a sense, HR managers, since they all get involved in activities
like recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and training, claims Gary Dessler (2005) yet
most firms also have a human resource department with its own top manager. Gary
Dessler (2005, Page 5)

Training also results in higher performance. Especially for organizations that are rapidly
incorporating new technologies and are adapting to the new, more competitive business
environment, or are suffering from low productivity, training is more than essential to help
their employees perform at the desired level. Although training can be very costly and
training budgets require a large amount of money, in the long run it proves to be critical to the
success of an organization’s efforts. Training enriches human resources with high
productivity;

Staff development in human resource management this process is concerned with the
provision of leaning and training. Making sure that staff training needs are assessed
and that staff are made aware of new courses taking place.

According to Armstrong and Baron (2002, p. 163)

6
 “Human resource development strategies can be aimed at attracting and
retaining human capital as well as developing it”.

Other views comes from the lecture notes whereby the author is stressing of how the
human can be managed as a resource, he also looked into the notion of performance
appraisal, reward system as well as staff development and training as he asserts that:

“Performance appraisal is the practice of assessing employee job

performance and providing feedback to those employee about both positive
and negative aspects of their performance. Performance measurements are
very important both for the organisation and the individual, for they are the
primary data used in determining salary increases, promotions, and in the case
of workers who perform unsatisfactorily, dismissal”.

“Reward system is typically managed by HR areas as well. This aspect of

human resource management is very important, for it is the mechanism by
which organizational provides their workers with reward for past
achievements and incentives for high performance in the future. It is also the
mechanism by which organisations address problems within their work force,
through institution of disciplinary measures. Aligning the work force with
company goals, stated Gubman, ‘’requires offering workers an employment
relationship that motivates them to take ownership of the business plan.’’

Another figure was illustrated by (Porter and Lawler, 1968) in Armstrong (2006 page
260)

In performing a health Human Resouce Department, need someone who can

transform and value all staff from different levels with same respect without leaving
behind who does what. From my understanding, leaders should have the ability to
think not only strategically but also creatively. Thinking creatively is a crucial part of
the reader’s role. He/she should manage to translate the vision for the organisation
into policies from which decision can be made. He/she should be able to encourage
the staff to value the culture of the organisation, although it is not possible for all staff
to view things in the same way. Middlewood and Lumby (1998, p.44) described
culture as,

‘As an important dimension within which strategy operates’.

It was then argued by Green, 1998 (in Bate, 1994, p.56) that,

‘The specific role of culture is to allow the organisation to survive an

integrated, ordered community in its various environments’.

It is my view that if the organisation culture is strong and well balanced this can lead
it to high success. Also other authors have looked at this notion of culture, and

7
managed to go further looking into the issue of culture in the cross-cultural
management (CCM. Although this is has been looked in depth I thought that it could
be good idea to be included in order to bring a wider view about this notion of culture.
The followings are views from two researchers “Mary Keating, Karen Thompson “they
write:

“The objective of studies in the cross-cultural management (CCM) approach is

to explain differences in employee behaviours and attitudes as well as
management practices using “culture” as an explanatory variable. Some of the
most important work in classifying cultures and their value orientations has
been undertaken by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961), and their research
has been widely appropriated by cross-cultural management researchers, most
notably by Hofstede (1980) and more recently by House et al. (1999). This
dimensional approach, although the most common method of operationalising
culture in cross-cultural studies, is not without its critics (see McSweeney,
2002)”.

Baker, 1990 (in Bate, 1994, p.56) supported the above by stating that,

‘Culture is glue that sticks the different part of the community together’.

But Baine (in Coleman and Anderson, 2002, p. 201) suggested two dimensions that a
strategy manager can use to control a complex and multifaceted organisation as
indicated below,

‘First there is a need to create a culture which supports the attainment of the
organisation’s key objectives and, second, there is a need to put in a place
appropriate management system.

From my own point of view I still find it hard to reconcile the notion of culture within
different organisations. It is difficult to agree that all staff in the organisation will
share the same beliefs and values.

Managers should be able to find out what motivates their staff. A literature describes
‘motivation’ in different ways, but it all concludes with similar meaning. According to
Everard and Morris, 1990 (in Bush and Middlewood, 1997, p. 212-3)

‘Motivation is about getting results through people or getting the best of

people’.

The above points were opposed by Thomson (2002, p. 75) who argued that,

8
 ‘Motivation is both highly individual and complex and there are differences
between what motivates people to perform above average and what leads to
below- average performance.’

Another definition comes from Bush and Middlewood (1997,p.24) quoting Hersey
and Blanchard, (1993) that, ‘Motivation is a person’s will to do something;
motivations are the ‘whys’ of behaviour.

It is true though in the work place especially that when it comes to complete for
responsibilities, other will develop their own attitudes towards an individual as a non-
performer within a team, and this can lead to a person being de-motivate which later
can result in conflicts within teams.

Armstrong (2000, p. 13) describes the work team as;

‘Members working closely together to deliver result in term of output, the

development of products or process or the delivery of services to customers’.

The above also was supported by the work of O’Nell (in Bush and Fiddlewood, 1997,
p.78) who argued that,

‘Effective teams assume that members will hold different and, occasionally,
irreconcilable views on certain issues’.

O’Nell (in Bush and Fiddlewood, 1997, p.77-8) describe teams as,

‘A small group of people, who recognize the need for constructive conflict when
working together in order for them to make, implement and support workable
decision’.

9
Gary Dessler (2005, Page 153)

Line and Staff Cooperation The Human resource manager who recruits for a
vacant job is seldom the one responsible for supervising its performance. He or she
must therefore know exactly what the job entails, and this means speaking with the
supervisor involved. For example, the recruiter might want to know about the
supervisor’s leadership style and about the work group- is it a tough group to get
along with, for instance? He or she might also want to visit the work site, to review
the job description with the supervisor to ensure that the job hasn’t changed, and to
obtain any additional insight into the skills and talents the new worker will need. Line
and staff coordination is therefore essential. Gary Dessler (2005, Page 159)

10
Succession Planning
Dessler argues that,.

“ organisations develop high-potential employees through a variety of means.

Most use internal training and cross-functional experiences; they also use job
rotation, external training, and global/regional assignments. Finally,
succession planning requires assessing these candidates and selecting those
who will actually fill the key positions”. Gary Dessler (2005, Page 163)

The above views were also contributed by Seyed-Mahmoud Aghazadeh (2003) who
asserts that:

“The changing expectations of employees pose several different challenges for

HRM professionals. In order to retain good employees and keep them happy
and productive, these challenges must be successfully met (Sims and Sims,
1994). Companies need to first identify what their employees need. This is not
necessarily simple. For example, companies with more than one location
should not assume that all employees at all sites have the same needs. This is
particularly true for global organizations since employee needs may be a
reflection of socio-economical or cultural influences”. Seyed-Mahmoud
Aghazadeh (2003, volume 52, number 4, pp. 201-207)

Conclusion

Successful companies or organisations will be those that are able to attract and retain
highly skilled employees. In order to do so, they must be able to match what the
employee wants with what the employer is willing to give. Motivation theories should
be implied as well as to value the culture of the organisation and its members. If
workers are well development they are most likely to bring success in the organisation

References

11
Armstrong, M. (2000) Rewarding Teams, Exeter: short Run Press

Armstrong, M, and Baron, A. (2002) Strategic HRM, Key to Improved

Business Performance, Trowbridge: Cromwell Press

Bush, T. and Middlewood, D. (1997) Managing People in Education,

London: Paul Chapman

Fiddler, B. and Bowles, G. (1998) Effective Local Management of

Schools, Essex, Longman: (BEMAS)

Lynn Van Der Wagen and Christine Davies (1998) Supervision and
Leadership in Tourism and hospitality: Hospitality Press, Australia

Middlewood, D. and Lumby, J. (1998) Strategic Management in Schools

and Colleges, London: Paul Chapman

Thomson, R. (2002) Managing People, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinnman

Mary Keating, School of Business Studies, Trinity College, Dublin,

Ireland

Karen Thompson, School of Business Studies, Trinity College, Dublin,

Ireland

Seyed-Mahmoud Aghazadeh, Seyed-Mahmoud Aghazadeh is a Professor in the

Department of Business Administration, School of Business, State University of New
York at Fredonia, Fredonia, New York, USA. Article Type: Research Paper
Volume 52 Number 4 2003 pp. 201-207
Copyright © MCB UP Ltd ISSN 0043-8022

‘Michael Armstrong, 2006 “Human Resource Management Practice 10th Edition

MANAGING PEOPLE, A PRACTICE GUIDE FOR LINE MANAGERS, Michael

ARMSRONG 1998 ‘Kogan publisher, London

Conrad Lashley, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK Personnel Review

Volume 29 Number 6 2000 pp. 791-815
Copyright © MCB University Press ISSN 0048-3486

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