Functions of HR management

In making their judgments senior managers will question whether the efforts expended have produced: 

• More effective, efficient, flexible employees;
• Faster results in making newcomers knowledgeable and effective than would follow from experience;
• More effective or efficient use of machinery, equipment and work procedures;
• Fewer requirements to implement redundancy (by retraining);
• Fewer accidents both personal and to property;
• Improvements in the qualifications of staff and their ability to take on tougher roles;
• Better employee loyalty to the organization with more willingness to innovate and accept change.

 

1.4 Industrial relations

Good industrial relations, while a recognizable and legitimate objective for an organization, are difficult to define since a good system of industrial relations involves complex relationships between: 

(a) Workers (and their informal and formal groups, i. e. trade union, organizations and their representatives); 

(b) Employers (and their managers and formal organizations like trade and professional associations); 

(c) The government and legislation and government agencies l and 'independent' agencies like the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service. 

Oversimplified, work is a matter of managers giving instructions and workers following them - but (and even under slavery we recognize that different 'managing' produces very different results) the variety of 'forms' which have evolved to regulate the conduct of parties (i.e. laws, custom and practice, observances, agreements) makes the giving and receipt of instructions far from simple. Two types of 'rule' have evolved: 

• 'Substantive', determining basic pay and conditions of service (what rewards workers should receive);
• 'Procedural,' determining how workers should be treated and methods and procedures.

Determining these rules are many common sense matters like: 

• Financial, policy and market constraints on the parties (e.g. some unions do not have the finance to support industrial action, some have policies not to strike, some employers are more vulnerable than others to industrial action, some will not make changes unless worker agreement is made first, and rewards always ultimately reflect what the market will bear);
• The technology of production (the effect of a strike in newspaper production is immediate -it may be months before becoming effective in shipbuilding);
• The distribution of power within the community - that tends to vary over time and with economic conditions workers (or unions) dominating in times of full employment and employers in times of recession.

Broadly in the Western style economies the parties (workers and employers) are free to make their own agreements and rules. This is called 'voluntarism'. But it does not mean there is total noninterference by the government. That is necessary to: 

• Protect the weak (hence minimum wage);
• Outlaw discrimination (race or sex);
• Determine minimum standards of safety, health, hygiene and even important conditions of service;
• To try to prevent the abuse of power by either party.

 

HR managers responsibilities

The personnel manager's involvement in the system of industrial relations varies from organization to organization, but normally he or she is required to provide seven identifiable functions, thus: 

1. To keep abreast of industrial law (legislation and precedents) and to advise managers about their responsibilities e.g. to observe requirements in respect of employing disabled persons, not to discriminate, not to disclose 'spent' convictions of employees, to observe codes of practice etc. in relation to discipline and redundancy, and similarly to determine organizational policies (in conjunction with other managers) relevant to legal and moral requirements (see also 4.).
2. To conduct (or assist in the conduct) of either local negotiations (within the plant) or similarly to act as the employer's representative in national negotiations. This could be as a critic or advisor in respect of trade etc. association policies or as a member of a trade association negotiating team. Agreements could be in respect of substantive or procedural matters. Even if not directly involved the personnel manager will advise other managers and administrators of the outcome of negotiations.
3. To ensure that agreements reached are interpreted so as to make sense to those who must operate them at the appropriate level within the organization (this can involve a lot of new learning at supervisory level and new pay procedures and new recording requirements in administration and even the teaching of new employment concepts – like stagger systems of work - at management level).
4. To monitor the observance of agreements and to produce policies that ensure that agreements are followed within the organization. An example would be the policy to be followed on the appointment of a new but experienced recruit in relation to the offered salary where there is a choice of increments to be given for experience, ability or qualification.
5. To correct the situations which go wrong. 'Face' is of some importance in most organizations and operating at a 'remote' staff level personnel managers can correct industrial relations errors made at local level without occasioning any loss of dignity (face) at the working level. 'Human resource management' and the obscurity of its reasoning can be blamed for matters which go wrong at plant level and for unwelcome changes, variations of comfortable 'arrangements' and practices and unpopular interpretation of agreements.
6. To provide the impetus (and often devise the machinery) for the introduction of joint consultation and worker participation in decision-making in the organization. Formal agreement in respect of working conditions and behavior could never cover every situation likely to arise. Moreover the more demanding the task (in terms of the mental contribution by the worker to its completion) the more highly–educated the workers need to be and the more they will want to be consulted about and involved in the details of work life. Matters like the rules for a flexitime system or for determining the correction of absenteeism and the contents of jobs are three examples of the sort of matters that may be solely decided by management in some organizations but a matter for joint consultation (not negotiation) in others with a more twenty-first-century outlook and philosophy. Human resource management is very involved in promoting and originating ideas in this field.
7. To provide statistics and information about workforce numbers, costs, skills etc. as relevant to negotiations (i.e. the cost of pay rises or compromise proposals, effect on differentials and possible recruitment/retention consequences of this or whether agreement needs to be known instantly); to maintain personnel records of training, experience, achievements, qualifications, awards and possibly pension and other records; to produce data of interest to management in respect of personnel matters like absentee figures and costs, statistics of sickness absence, costs of welfare and other employee services, statements about development in policies by other organizations, ideas for innovations; to advise upon or operate directly, grievance, redundancy, disciplinary and other procedures.

 

1.5 Employee Motivation

To retain good staff and to encourage them to give of their best while at work requires attention to the financial and psychological and even physiological rewards offered by the organization as a continuous exercise.

Basic financial rewards and conditions of service (e.g. working hours per week) are determined externally (by national bargaining or government minimum wage legislation) in many occupations but as much as 50 per cent of the gross pay of manual workers is often the result of local negotiations and details (e.g. which particular hours shall be worked) of conditions of service are often more important than the basics. Hence there is scope for financial and other motivations to be used at local levels.

As staffing needs will vary with the productivity of the workforce (and the industrial peace achieved) so good personnel policies are desirable. The latter can depend upon other factors (like environment, welfare, employee benefits, etc.) but unless the wage packet is accepted as 'fair and just' there will be no motivation.

Hence while the technicalities of payment and other systems may be the concern of others, the outcome of them is a matter of great concern to human resource management.

Increasingly the influence of behavioral science discoveries are becoming important not merely because of the widely-acknowledged limitations of money as a motivator, but because of the changing mix and nature of tasks (e.g. more service and professional jobs and far fewer unskilled and repetitive production jobs).

The former demand better-educated, mobile and multi-skilled employees much more likely to be influenced by things like job satisfaction, involvement, participation, etc. than the economically dependent employees of yesteryear.

Hence human resource management must act as a source of information about and a source of inspiration for the application of the findings of behavioral science. It may be a matter of drawing the attention of senior managers to what is being achieved elsewhere and the gradual education of middle managers to new points of view on job design, work organization and worker autonomy. 

1.6 Employee Evaluation

An organization needs constantly to take stock of its workforce and to assess its performance in existing jobs for three reasons: 

• To improve organizational performance via improving the performance of individual contributors (should be an automatic process in the case of good managers, but (about annually) two key questions should be posed:

• what has been done to improve the performance of a person last year?
• and what can be done to improve his or her performance in the year to come?).

• To identify potential, i.e. to recognize existing talent and to use that to fill vacancies higher in the organization or to transfer individuals into jobs where better use can be made of their abilities or developing skills.

• To provide an equitable method of linking payment to performance where there are no numerical criteria (often this salary performance review takes place about three months later and is kept quite separate from 1. and 2. but is based on the same assessment).

 

On-the-spot managers and supervisors, not HR staffs, carry out evaluations. The personnel role is usually that of: 

• Advising top management of the principles and objectives of an evaluation system and designing it for particular organizations and environments.
• Developing systems appropriately in consultation with managers, supervisors and staff representatives. Securing the involvement and cooperation of appraisers and those to be appraised.
• Assistance in the setting of objective standards of evaluation / assessment, for example:

• Defining targets for achievement;
• Explaining how to quantify and agree objectives;
• Introducing self-assessment;
• Eliminating complexity and duplication.

• Publicizing the purposes of the exercise and explaining to staff how the system will be used.

• Organizing and establishing the necessary training of managers and supervisors who will carry out the actual evaluations/ appraisals. Not only training in principles and procedures but also in the human relations skills necessary. (Lack of confidence in their own ability to handle situations of poor performance is the main weakness of assessors.)
• Monitoring the scheme - ensuring it does not fall into disuse, following up on training/job exchange etc. recommendations, reminding managers of their responsibilities.

 

Full-scale periodic reviews should be a standard feature of schemes since resistance to evaluation / appraisal schemes is common and the temptation to water down or render schemes ineffectual is ever present (managers resent the time taken if nothing else).

Basically an evaluation / appraisal scheme is a formalization of what is done in a more casual manner anyway (e.g. if there is a vacancy, discussion about internal moves and internal attempts to put square pegs into 'squarer holes' are both the results of casual evaluation). Most managers approve merit payment and that too calls for evaluation. Made a standard routine task, it aids the development of talent, warns the inefficient or uncaring and can be an effective form of motivation. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Brief History

In the 1860s Henri Nestlé, a pharmacist, developed a food for babies who were unable to breastfeed. His first success was a premature infant who could not tolerate his mother's milk or any of the usual substitutes. People quickly recognized the value of the new product, after Nestlé's new formula saved the child's life, and soon, Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé was being sold in much of Europe. In 1905 Nestlé merged with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. By the early 1900s; the company was operating factories in the United States, Britain, Germany and Spain. World War I created new demand for dairy products in the form of government contracts. By the end of the war, Nestlé's production had more than doubled. After the war Government contracts dried up and consumers switched back to fresh milk. However, Nestlé's management responded quickly, streamlining operations and reducing debt. The 1920s saw Nestlé's first expansion into new products, with chocolate the Company's second most important activity. The end of World War II was the beginning of a dynamic phase for Nestlé. Growth accelerated and companies were acquired. In 1947 came the merger with Maggi seasonings and soups. Crosse & Blackwell followed in 1960, as did Findus (1963), Libby's (1971) and Stouffer's (1973). Diversification came with a shareholding in L’Oreal in 1974.The first half of the 1990s proved to be favorable for Nestlé: trade barriers crumbled and world markets developed into more or less integrated trading areas. Since 1996 there have been acquisitions including San Pellegrino (1997), Spillers Pet foods (1998) and Ralston Purina (2002). There were two major acquisitions in North America, both in 2002: in July, Nestlé  merged its U.S. ice cream business into Dreyer's, and in August, a USD 2.6bn acquisition was announced of Chef America, Incorporation. 

Corporate Business 

Nestlé is committed to the following Business Principles in all countries, taking into account local legislation, cultural and religious practices:

Nestlé's business objective, and that of management and employees at all levels, is to manufacture and market the Company’s products in such a way as to create value that can be sustained over the long term for shareholders, employees, consumers, business partners and the large number of national economies in which Nestlé operates;

Nestlé does not favour short-term profit at the expense of successful long-term business development, but recognises the need to generate a healthy profit each year in order to maintain the support of our shareholders and the financial markets, and to finance investments; 

Nestlé recognises that its consumers have a sincere and legitimate interest in the behaviour, beliefs and actions of the Company behind brands in which they place their trust, and that without its consumers the Company would not exist;

Nestlé believes that, as a general rule, legislation is the most effective safeguard of responsible conduct, although in certain areas, additional guidance to staff in the form of voluntary business principles is beneficial in order to ensure that the highest standards are met throughout the organisation;

Nestlé is conscious of the fact that the success of a corporation is a reflection of the professionalism, conduct and the responsible attitude of its management and employees. Therefore recruitment of the right people and ongoing training and development are crucial;

Nestlé operates in many countries and in many cultures throughout the world. This rich diversity is an invaluable source for our leadership. No single document can capture every legal obligation that may be required in each of these countries. Indeed, there may be conflicting legal requirements. Nestlé continues to maintain its commitment to follow and respect all applicable local laws in each of its markets. If an interpretation of anything contained in this document is construed as contrary to local laws, such interpretation should not be followed in that country. 

VISION

   “Nestlé’s aim is to meet the various needs of the consumer everyday by marketing and selling foods of a consistently high quality.” 

MISSION

“We strive to bring consumers foods that are safe, of high quality and provide optimal nutrient to meet physiological needs. Nestle helps provide selections for all individual taste and lifestyle preferences.” 

2.2 Analysis of “Nestle” company’s techniques used in the HR management

NESTLE’S SPIRIT:

 “Making Big Investments in People” 

Joining Nestlé

The long-term success of the Company depends on its capacity to attract, retain and develop employees able to ensure its growth on a continuing basis. This is a primary responsibility for all managers.

The Nestlé policy is to hire staff with personal attitudes and professional skills enabling them to develop a long-term relationship with the Company.

Therefore the potential for professional development is an essential standard for recruitment.

Each new member joining Nestlé  is to become a participant in developing a sustainable quality culture which implies a commitment to the organisation and a sense for continuous improvement leaving no room for complacency.

Therefore, and in view of the importance of these Nestlé values, special attention will be paid to the matching between a candidate's values and the Company culture.

Recruiting process