Contribution Of Contemporary People Management And Human Resource Management To Organizations And Society

Discussion

Contemporary People management can be essentially described as a line of discipline which deals with the manner in which the different people in the organization, such as the employees present must be treated (Binkley 2014). The people management can be described as a sub set of the human resource management which not only deals with the daily issues of the people in a firm but also with the strategic, financial, policy as well as the general management of the different employees. The primary aim of the essay is to highlight the link between the Contemporary people management and the Human resource management with ethics along with examining the Utilitarianism and the `Happiness Principle`. The essay aims to prove that there exists a link between Contemporary people management and Human resource management and the theory backed by Bentham`s Utilitarianism and Happiness Principle. The arguments will be backed by theory and relevant readings.

According to Bolton and Houlihan (2007), the Human resource management is a practice which involves the hiring, recruiting, managing and deploying the different employees as present in a firm. The term was used in the 1900s and become more common in the 1960s and was referred in regard to people at the workplaces. The Human resource management, primarily deals with the employees who are believed to be the assets of the organization. The employees at a firm are primarily known as the human capital and hence, as a business aims to expand its other assets and improve the overall operations of the business, in the same manner, it needs to be the primary objective of any organization to make an effective use of the different employees as present in a firm and to maximize the return on investment. In a modern Human resource term, the Human resource Management is also known as the Human Capital management and adopted as a key term by different large sized as well as mid-sized organizations.

There are a large number of Human resource management functions which the Human resource department in an organization needs to look out for and ensure that it is successfully completed. These functions are functions like talent management and workforce management, employee recruitment, compensation, performance management, succession planning, recognition of the employees and training them so that they are able to perform as per the needs of the organization.

Bolton and Laaser (2013),  state that earlier, the Human resource management was just concerned with the general management of the employees in an organization, however at present it is concerned with the strategic utilization of the different employees and moreover, the human resource department needs to act as the strategic partner of the firm whereby they have to assist the firm in recruiting those employees who will successfully able to ensure that the firm is able to achieve its long term objectives.

In line with the Human resource management, another term came into light which is the Contemporary People management. The contemporary people management practices tend to be the most effective when it is used mutual to the different strategies of the firm at large. Moreover, there is an evidence of the increasing use of people management practices at the workplace as they bring about unique performance of the firm at large (Youtube.com. 2018). The contemporary people management deals with the different functions as follows. It is primarily engaged in the strategic analysis of the organization and the identification of the different skills and jobs involved at large. Moreover, another aim of the contemporary people management is to create a right workforce for the organization and the maintenance of a productive environment which shall thereby ensure that the firm is successful. The theories of contemporary people management realize that the employees in an organization need to be treated with importance and respect which thereby empowers them and improves the functioning of the firm.

Link between Contemporary People Management and Human Resource Management

The Contemporary People Management, as stated previously relates to the management of the different managers and employees in an organization in a manner such that the `People` in the firm are highlighted and given the utmost importance to. The Contemporary People Management can be stated to be strongly related to the Human resource function of the organization in the sense that it is a subset of the Human resource function in an organization whereby the primary objective of the firm at large is to improve the overall operations of the firm and thereby focus on the communication which exists between the different employees at large.

Utilitarianism is a function of ethics which is primarily concerned with the overall welfare of the society and in ensuring that the people in the society remain happy as well as satisfied. The theory of utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart in the 19^th century and thereby underlined that the primary motive of the theory is to promote happiness not only with respect to the performer of the action but also for the overall people in the society. However, Post et al. (2002), states that the theory of utilitarianism is the opposite of the ethical theory which seeks to maximize the utility but here the main motive is to improve the overall happiness and welfare of the firm at large. It states that the actions of the people indulge in the creation of happiness which devoid the people of suffering and pain. According to Klikauer (2010), in this aspect the theory not only analyses and examines utility in terms of quantitative terms but also in terms of qualitative terms.  Hence, the main objective of the stated theory is to improve the overall happiness as present in the workplace or a society and reduce the negative things. The theory considers the consequences of the action as the end result and the ultimate cause of happiness or sadness. Klikauer (2012)  has stated that the main underlying theory of Utilitarianism is based on the Happiness principle and that if certain actions as performed by the management or the employees give rise to happiness or they end up in maximizing the utility of the firm then it is considered to be moral, else if it yields the opposite results it is immoral. It is not considered with the regard to the actions but the right consequences. In this regard, the happiness principle has faced various criticisms and flaws as it goes against the correct ethical system.  In addition to this, it ignores the third party impacts and is ready to have an impact on the society in a negative way just for achieving happiness (Wikipedia.org. 2018).

Some authors like Klikauer (2015), have also stated that it ignores the laws of the government and does not take into consideration the future aspect.  Therefore, although the theory is believed to be one of the best theories related to morals and influence especially in regard to a firm, it is greatly criticized for its ignorance of the ethical considerations. Moreover, according to Collings, Wood and Szamosi (2018), the subject of Human resource management has revolved considerably over the last few years and with respect to this, the Contemporary People management is concerned with the new and extended fucntions of the Human resource Management in a firm and that it assists in adding value to the different aspects of the organization and ensure that the Human resource management is successfully able to act as a strategic partner to the firm and assist in the long term achievement of the goals (Wikipedia.org. 2018).

Contemporary People Management: Functions and Theories

In addition to this, the Contemporary People Management is concerned with the maintenance and management of the humanity and ethical considerations in a firm, thereby ensuring that there exists a high standard of moral conduct at a workplace.

In this aspect,  Bolton and Laaser (2013), agree and state that ethics and the principle of utilitarianism has a  huge impact on the HRM and contemporary people management as it is linked to the end results and the welfare of the employees at a workplace. The Human resource function in a firm aims to improve the overall profit at the workplace and that to check the goals are achieved and hence, there are different rules in the firm which are formed based on the utility aspect.  There exists a sense of gap between the perspectives of the employees and the management as the utility according to them is quite different. On one hand, the manager is concerned with improving the overall happiness at the workplace which shall then ultimately indulge in the welfare of the firm.

However, on the other hand they engage in activities which may harm the third parties. Hence, the main role of the managers lies in ensuring that there exists justice in the organization and a sense of clarity as well as harmony between managers and the employees. Lastly, the utilitarianism aspect comprises of both hard and soft HRM ethics whereby the hard human resource management is concerned with going to any extent to meet the employee goals whereby the soft HRM is concerned with the correct treatment of the different employees and empowering them at large (Bolton and Houlihan 2007).  Therefore, there does exist a strong link between them and the human resource management along with the Contemporary people management will be extensively contributing to achieve the happiness goal.

Conclusion

Therefore from the given analysis it can be state that the Human resource management forms one of the most  crucial functions of the organization at large and it is primarily concerned with ensuring that the different members of the organization such as the senior management as well as the junior management are satisfied and empowered at the workplace. The aim of the essay was to highlight the concepts of Human resource management and contemporary management along with linking them to the concept of Utilitarianism and the Happiness Principle. The essay reflected that the functions of Human resource management and contemporary management have a crucial role to play in the achievement of strategic objectives and that these disciplines are strongly linked to the concept of business ethics.

References

Binkley, S., 2014. Happiness as enterprise: An essay on neoliberal life. Suny Press.

Bolton, S.C. and Houlihan, M. eds., 2007. Searching for the human in human resource management: Theory, practice and workplace contexts. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Bolton, S.C. and Laaser, K., 2013. Work, employment and society through the lens of moral economy. Work, employment and society, 27(3), pp.508-525.

Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.

Klikauer, T., 2010. Critical management ethics. Springer.

Klikauer, T., 2012. Seven Management Moralities. Palgrave Macmillan.

Klikauer, T., 2015. Critical management studies and critical theory: A review. Capital & Class, 39(2), pp.197-220.

Klikauer, T., 2015. What is managerialism?. Critical Sociology, 41(7-8), pp.1103-1119.

Post, J.E., Lawrence, A.T., Weber, J. and SJ, J.W., 2002. Business and society: Corporate strategy, public policy, ethics. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Wikipedia.org. 2018.  Utilitarianism [online]. Available at:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism (Retrieved on: 26 Oct. 2018).

Wikipedia.org. 2018. John Stuart Mill. [Online]. Available at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill (Retrieved on: 26 Oct. 2018).

Youtube.com. 2018. Peter Singer: ‘Doing Good’ (Carnegie Conversations: Ideas for a Better Australia) [online]. Available at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmONAN_U_iI (Retrieved on: 26 Oct. 2018).