Understanding Human Resource Management (HRM)

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of Human Resource Management (HRM). It examines Charles Handy's model of organizational culture, particularly focusing on power culture within tall organizational structures. The influence of autocratic management styles on employee motivation is analyzed, highlighting both potential benefits and drawbacks. Finally, the importance of training and development as a core HRM function is emphasized, drawing upon examples from leading companies like Amazon.

Running head: UNDERSTANDING HRM
Understanding Human Resource Management (HRM)
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UNDERSTANDING HRM
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Organizational culture and structure......................................................................................2
Autocratic management style influences employee motivation............................................3
The importance of training and development........................................................................4
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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UNDERSTANDING HRM
Introduction
Human resources are the precious assets of any organization as they are the strength
of any company. However, without efficient HRM team it is very difficult for any
organization to build a productive team of working professionals. The major functions that
HRM deals with are recruiting and training employees, providing training, motivating staffs
along with maintaining workplace safety and proper communication1. This report is in
relation with the HRM professionals and discusses the Charles handy model of organizational
culture, the influence of autocratic management style on staff motivation and the importance
of training and development as the basic HR function in organizations.
Discussion
Organizational culture and structure
Tall organizational structure has numerous levels of hierarchy. In this type of an
organization, it has been found that there are many managers and each of them has small
range of control, as they are responsible for a small group of people2. However, there are total
four types of culture as proposed in the model of Charles Handy, which the organizations
follow, and they are as below-
 Power culture- In the organizations who follows power culture mainly handovers the
powers in the hands of only limited people at the top of the hierarchy and they are the
only ones who are authorized to take all-important decisions.
 Task culture- Organizations following this culture is mainly formed to attain the
targets or solve important problems by following a task culture.
1Hendry, Chris. Human resource management.Routledge, 2012.
2Lee, Ju-Yeon, Irina V. Kozlenkova, and Robert W. Palmatier. "Structural marketing: Using organizational
structure to achieve marketing objectives." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 43.1 (2015): 73-99.

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UNDERSTANDING HRM
 Person culture- This type of a culture in any organization means that employees feel
that they hold more importance than the organization.
 Role culture- In this type of culture employees get the roles or responsibilities based
on their specialization, interest or qualification which can extract the best from them.
In this type of culture power follows responsibility.
Thus, from this model it can be said that tall organization structure goes best with power
culture. As explained in power culture that power remains in the hands of few people in the
organization, in tall structure only the few employees sitting at the top of the hierarchy has
the authority to hold the power and take the best decisions on the organization’s behalf. Here
the managers delegate responsibilities to other staffs. This can influence recruited employees
in the organization because cultural values do affect HR practices and this culture is highly
involved in employee’s satisfaction as well as motivation along with which for new
recruitments this plays an essential role for establishing clear goals, reward systems as well as
developing them3. However, there are many companies who can support this explanation and
they are Starbucks and Mc Donald’s in United Kingdom as well as Britain gas all are found
to have currently following tall organizational structure.
Autocratic management style influences employee motivation
Autocratic managers are the one who hardly allows their employees to take part in the
decision-making in the organization. However, this type of management style is beneficial in
a rapid work environment where employees need to take fast decisions for their day-to-day
task. Moreover, autocratic management style does motivate employee’s motivation by
building confidence in the manager’s capability to make reliable and productive decisions4.
Therefore, workers become comfortable with the knowledge of their managers about the
3Alvesson, Mats. Understanding organizational culture.Sage, 2012.
4Naile, Idah, and Jacob M. Selesho."The role of leadership in employee motivation." Mediterranean Journal of
Social Sciences 5.3 (2014): 175.

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UNDERSTANDING HRM
industry as well as the processes of the organization and obtain motivation from the
manager’s capability to retain the department attentive on achieving the goals of the
organization. Autocratic managers might threaten their employees with salary deficits for
failing to meet their targets and therefore it can be seen that it can act as a motivator and the
employee achieve his targets in the fear of salary cut5. However, many companies are found
to have autocratic management style, which influences their employee’s motivation like
Leona Helmsley who is the leader of corporate world with her Helmsley hotel chain. Then
Steve jobs who has made what Apple Inc. is today. Their autocratic management style has
made their company successful and renowned. The autocratic leaders have pushed their
employees to give more than what they think they can.
The importance of training and development
Amazon is a renowned e-commerce organization who currently has training and
development as an important HRM function. They think this is important because they want
their employees to feel that they are the owners from the very first day and so for them
training helps their employees to take the ownership of those products and this also energies
them to discover on behalf of their consumers. An integral part of any organization’s HRM
function is the training and development and this have been the focus of maximum of the
companies in recent years6. Training and development is important for every organization
because every employee has certain weaknesses in their professional skills and a well-
designed training program can strengthen those skills that an employee needs to improvise.
Employees who are bestowed with appropriate training are better at handling their job.
Training builds confidence in the employees and thus, they become more responsible and
build powerful understanding of the industry they are working. A well-structured training and
5Bhatti, Nadeem, et al. "The impact of autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction."
International Business Research 5.2 (2012): 192.
6Daley, Dennis M. "Strategic human resources management." Public Personnel Management (2012): 120-125.

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UNDERSTANDING HRM
development programme by the HR confirms that the employees have a constant experience
and surrounding knowledge. This further provides the employees with the awareness of the
expectations as well as the procedures within the organization. Lastly, training and
development plays an important role in employee’s satisfaction. Training can provide such
information to the staffs which were impossible for them to find out themselves. Employees
who are more appreciated and have been challenges through their training opportunities are
more satisfied in their jobs7.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above report it can be said that HRM is an important part of any
organization as they have major functions to play starting from recruiting and training
employees, providing training, motivating staffs along with maintaining workplace safety and
proper communication. Then discussing about Charles Handy model of organizational culture
it is clear that power culture is the one fits with a tall organizational structure. Further
discussion suggested that Autocratic management style does motivate their employees by
building confidence in their employees about the ability of their managers. Lastly, it has been
seen that training and development is an essential HR function and has been followed by
today’s leading companies.
7Jehanzeb, Khawaja, and Nadeem Ahmed Bashir. "Training and development program and its benefits to
employee and organization: A conceptual study." European Journal of business and management 5.2 (2013).

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References
Alvesson, Mats. Understanding organizational culture.Sage, 2012.
Bhatti, Nadeem, et al. "The impact of autocratic and democratic leadership style on job
satisfaction." International Business Research 5.2 (2012): 192.
Daley, Dennis M. "Strategic human resources management." Public Personnel Management
(2012): 120-125.
Hendry, Chris. Human resource management.Routledge, 2012.
Jehanzeb, Khawaja, and Nadeem Ahmed Bashir. "Training and development program and its
benefits to employee and organization: A conceptual study." European Journal of business
and management 5.2 (2013).
Lee, Ju-Yeon, Irina V. Kozlenkova, and Robert W. Palmatier. "Structural marketing: Using
organizational structure to achieve marketing objectives." Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science 43.1 (2015): 73-99.
Naile, Idah, and Jacob M. Selesho."The role of leadership in employee motivation."
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 5.3 (2014): 175.