The different structures of the organization HRM services

The different structures of the organization HRM services

In Personnel Management, Paul S. Greenlaw and John P. Kohl describe three distinct, interrelated fields of interest addressed by the HRM discipline: human relations, organization theory, and decision areas. Human relations encompass matters such as individual motivation, leadership, and group relationships. Organization theory refers to job design, managerial control, and work flow through the organization. Decision areas encompass interests related to the acquisition, development, compensation, and maintenance of human resources. Although the method and degree to which those areas of interest are handled vary among different HRM departments, a few general rules characterize the responsibilities, positioning, and structure of most HRM divisions.

HRM department responsibilities, other than related legal and clerical duties, can be classified by individual, organizational, and career areas. Individual management entails helping employees identify their strengths and weaknesses, correct their shortcomings, and then make their best contribution to the enterprise. These duties are carried out through a variety of activities such as performance reviews, training, and testing. Organizational development focuses on fostering a successful system that maximizes human, and other, resources. This important duty also includes the creation and maintenance of a change program, which allows the organization to respond to evolving outside and internal influences. The third responsibility, career development, involves matching individuals with the most suitable jobs and career paths.

The positioning of HRM departments is ideally near the theoretic organizational center, with maximum access to all divisions and management levels. In larger organizations the HRM function might be headed by a vice president, while smaller entities will have a middle-level manager as head of HRM. In any case, because the HRM department is charged with managing the productivity and development of workers at all levels, the top HRM manager ideally has access to, and the support of, key decision makers. In addition, the HRM department should be situated in such a way that it has horizontal access, or is able to communicate effectively with all divisions within the company. Horizontal access allows HRM to integrate, educate, and train the workforce, and to facilitate changes that affect one division and indirectly influence other segments of the company or institution.

The structure of HRM departments differs according to the type and size of the organization that they serve. But many large organizations (including governments, institutions, manufacturing companies, and service firms) organize HRM employee development functions around various clusters of workershey conduct recruiting, administrative, and other duties in a central location. Different employee development groups for each department are necessary to train and develop employees in specialized areas, such as sales, engineering, marketing, or executive education. In contrast, some HRM departments are completely independent and are organized purely by function. The same training department, for example, serves all divisions of the organization.

The HR Management and the HR Model define the basic prerequisites for the HR Organizational Structure. Each organization designs its organizational structure differently and uses different approaches to set the right level of managerial layers and the way of cooperation between HR Front Office, HR Back Office and HR Centers of Excellence. Generally, many similarities can be found in most organizations as they organize their HR Functions.

Most HR Functions operate under similar pressures from stakeholders. The top management demands the execution of the business strategy and the HR Strategy. The line management demands the perfect support from HR Processes. Employees demand a quality of employee services. HR has many stakeholders and the HR Organizational Structure has to fit with all requests.

The organizational structure should be set as the result of the HR Management Goals and the defined HR Model. These two components define the importance of HR Processes and they set clear priorities. The organizational structure does not define priorities, the priorities should be reflected in the organizational structure and workforces assigned to particular HR Processes.

The HR Organization defines clear boundaries around HR Processes. The Compensation and Benefits unit should be clearly about the compensation of employees and building different compensation strategies. The line managers and employees in the organization should not be confused by unclear boundaries between HR Processes. The internal clients have to see the clarity in the organizational structure design. Additionally, HR employees will feel more comfortable with the clear set-up and visible boundaries inside HR.

Each organizational structure restricts the free flow of information. The clear communication channels should be designed as all HR employees know information significant for their job. Many HR Functions do suffer from the insufficient information.

The HR Organizational Structure should be as flat as possible. Thedecision making responsibility should be given to the lowest levels of the HR Organization. The employees will not be seen as accountable in the organization, if they have no authority to make a decision. The managers should be focused on the development of employees and they should delegate the decision authority. Too many managers in the structure always delays the decision making process.

The organizational structure has to be flexible. The priorities of the organization can change quickly and the reaction is needed. The inflexible organizational structure makes the appropriate reaction almost impossible or makes it inefficient. No employee should take the current job position as the final destination.

The structure has to support the career development in Human Resources and the career paths in HR should be aligned with the organizational structure.