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Managing Unions Part 1: Supervisory Training
2007-08-03 14:17:00
There is no magic formula to avoid Labor Unions . A company may be people-oriented, well-managed, and generous with employee compensation, but its employees may still organize a labor Union.It would , however, be useful to examine key strategic approaches adopted by some unorganized companies and industries that have helped them avoid the problems of unionism. Allow me to discuss each aspect of those measures.Let me begin with Supervisor y Training Recognizing that supervisors can make or unmake companies' union policies, companies train these people continuously on how to be an effective supervisors of people. Supervisors distribute work, allocate overtime, recommend promotion, demotion , and salary increases, and implement disciplinary actions. In the eyes of the people, the supervisor, is management himself.The Supervisor's job as a front liner is critical to the union avoidance policy of the company. If he does not treat his people well,he is despot, plays favoritism, is no...
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Managing Polarities
2007-07-08 18:37:00
Do you live with any of these seemingly ?no-win? balancing acts?Employee interests and company interests Be the voice of the employee and interpret and enforce company policy Advocate for employees and advocate for management Educate and regulate Employee development and organization development Competitive employee compensation and competitive organization bottom line Focus on relationships and focus on task Training for the job and doing the job Employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction In this downsized, outsourced world with resources stretched thin and performance expectations high, the Human Resources (HR) function must exert leadership to prove its worth as a business partner and show that it can provide incalculable value to the organization. Paradoxically, this requires HR to act as both stabilizer and champion in the midst of the storms of change.he rest of the organization looks to HR to provide needed structures, processes a...

Basic Terms for a non-HR Person
2007-05-20 10:19:00
For those of us who have been around, and for newcomers to the profession, it has become apparent that we need a new dictionary of HR (i.e., Person nel, IR, etc.) terminology. Without one, people in Human Resources will never quite be able to communicate with folks in Personnel. Although my attempts to change Human Resources to the "Mortal Assets Department" last year were met with audible groans, I still feel a compulsion to enlighten those who unfortunately don't perceive a need for a new lexicon. Therefore, setting aside conventional wisdom (see below), it behooves me to define those terms with which we deal every day. Conventional Wisdom - The mother of all oxymorons, neither conventional nor wise.Downsizing - The same thing as layoffs. If the company does have a Mortal Assets Department, the net result of downsizing is "mortal remains."RIFS - An acronym for "Resources Infrastructure Flattening," it is really the same as "downsizing."Layoffs - What we c...
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HRM: Increase your Company's Competitiveness
2007-03-28 17:44:00
In today?s intensely competitive and global marketplace, maintaining a competitive advantage by becoming a low cost leader or a differentiator puts a heavy premium on having a highly committed or competent workforce. Competitive advantage lies not just in differentiating a product or service or in becoming the low cost leader but in also being able to tap the company?s special skills or core competencies and rapidly respond to customer?s needs and competitor?s moves. In other words competitive advantage lies in management?s ability to consolidate corporate-wide technologies and production skills into competencies that empower individual businesses to adapt quickly to changing opportunities. In a growing number of organizations human resources are now viewed as a source of competitive advantage. There is greater recognition that distinctive competencies are obtained through...
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What is Human Resource Management?
2007-03-02 09:08:00
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. The terms "human resource management" and "human resources" (HR) have largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations. Human Resource management is evolving rapidly. Human resource management is both an academic theory and a business practice that addresses the theoretical and practical techniques of managing a workforce.Its Synonyms include: Personnel administrationPersonnel managementManpower managementIndustrial managementBut these traditional expressions are becoming less common for the theoretical discipline. Sometimes even industrial relations and employee relations are confusingly listed as synonyms, although these normally refer to the rela...
More About: Human , Resource Management