1. Introduction
Leaders can manage the employees through motivating the employees in order to encourage the productivity as well as ensuring the productivity. The leaders cannot force the staffs to be successful in the workplace as the role of the leaders is to motivate the employees so that they can work to achieve the organisational objectives. Leaders in the workplace can make the plan of managing the employees after discussing with the Human Resource Manager (Bolden 2016). Line managers ask the HR manager to coordinate regarding the recruiting and hiring of the employees and this coordination can benefit the organisation and the employees in developing the training and development.
In this report highlights the critical analysis of the role of the leaders and their relationship with the HR representatives in the management of people in the organisation today. In the first part of the study, key practices of the leaders regarding the management and leadership of the employees are explained with examples. In the next section, theories and models of management and leadership of the employees are discussed; such as path-goal theory, transactional model of leadership, trait theory and Tuckman theory of team management within the organisation. In the final section of the study; the relationship between leaders’ role and that of the HR representatives in the management is explained with limitations, benefits, clarity and tension. Recommendations are also given regarding the management of the employees within the organisation by the leaders.
2. Management and Leadership of employees
Within a workplace, it is required to manage the employees to develop the quality of the work and the employees’ productivity. As stated by Thomas (2015), the performance management can improve the quality of the employees’ production and the responsibility of the performance management goes to the leaders. Good leaders always value the employees’ good and happiness. However, a great leader provides values to the employees’ engagement in the workplace that results from the employees’ happiness. The leaders can manage the employees from their leadership styles and the leaders’ styles can be autocratic, democratic or it can be laissez-faire. When the leaders follow autocratic leadership; the leaders hold the ultimate authority and the responsibility for decisions within the organisation. On the other side, Democratic leaders always take the decisions within the organisation after discussing with the employees. Democratic leaders try to manage the employees including the subordinates into the decision-making process. According to Goetsch and Davis (2014), democratic leaders take the final responsibility; however, the leaders delegate the authority to other employees. Moreover, sometimes the leaders give the authority to the employees as subordinates and departments are allowed to work when they choose no interference. Laissez-Faire leadership style is applied by the leaders in the least effective management and least satisfying workplace where the leaders want to satisfy the employees through giving the power or authority (Shin et al. 2015).
The leaders try to motivate the employees to accomplish the work objectives. The leaders control the work environment where the leaders try to motivate the employees and the workplace should have positive work culture. The leaders must have good relationship with the employees and it will provide important factor of establishing the organisational culture that facilitate the workplace motivation. Workplace motivation is of two types; extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. As stated by Gruber et al. (2015), work culture comprises in the workplace where employees must be trusted and treated like the adults. All the employees have their own set of values, mission and strategic direction; the employees expect that their desires will be fulfilled in the workplace. Team members in the workplace work under the supervision of the team leaders and the team leaders ask the employees to share their vision. The leaders receive the frequent communication and the leaders are treated with civility and respect (Bolman and Deal 2017). Leaders in the workplace should show the respect for the team members and all the employees irrespective of background they belong from. In order to maintain the cultural diversity at the workplace, the team leaders can start the diversity training where the employees will be given training. Team leaders discuss with the HR representatives about the new hiring and about the vacant posts. The team leaders within the organisation manage the employees through motivation, engaging the employees through their passion and the team bonding (Notrthouse 2018). The leaders have the responsibility to mitigate the employees’ conflict and they can facilitate the peaceful and positive work environment through utter control on the team members.
3. Managing the employees within the workplace
Bureaucratic management:
Management within an organisation can follow bureaucratic theory of employee management where two essential elements of an organisation are followed: structure of the organisation and defined rules within the organisation (Van der Voet 2014). If the senior leaders follow the bureaucratic management; the senior leaders need to make clear hierarchy with strict rules to govern the employees. The senior leaders within the organisation can follow the bureaucratic management approach as it starts with proper division of labour where the employees’ specialisation is fixed. Chain of command starts with the organisational hierarchy where the senior management constructed the effective bottom line. In addition, the leaders can separate the official and personal property of the employees. In addition, leaders within the organisation apply the consistent and complete rules for running the workplace. As opined by Sturdy et al. (2016), employee management is not easy thing as the leaders should try to select and promote the employees based on the qualification. When the leaders focus to create the bureaucratic organisational approach; the leaders use high-degree of division of the labour and they can use the legal power to manage the employees.
Scientific management:
The managers in the workplace can use scientific management that synthesises and analyse the workflows (Taylor 1914). The main objective of the scientific management is to improve the economic efficiency and the productivity of the employees. Leaders in the workplace can apply the engineering process to manage the employees. Frederick Taylor is the founder of this scientific theory and the main target of using this concept in the workplace is to manage the employees and to pursuit of the economic efficiency. Scientific management requires the control of the employees from the leaders’ side and employees’ work practice. This process is very detail and there is a chance of friction between employees and the leaders. In the workplace, some of the employees are more gifted and talented than others; however; the smart employees are unmotivated. Therefore, the leaders need to force the employees to do the relative tasks. According to Shafriz et al. (2015), the management pay the same amount of money for the employees who tend to do the work that can be the slowest among all.
4. Identify and critically discuss appropriate models relating to the practice
4.1 Path-Goal leadership model
Path-Goal leadership model is based on leaders’ style of leadership or the behaviour that would best fit within the workplace in order to gain the objectives. The main aim of the leadership is to enhance the employees’ motivation to empower the employees and provide the employees satisfaction (Chemers 2014). The leaders need to focus on effective leadership style so that the employees must become productive members of the firms. As stated by Phillips and Phillips (2016), the path-goal theory of leadership is based on Expectancy theory of Vroom (1994) and this theory states about an individual’s actions in a certain situation on the basis of the expectation that the act would be followed by the given result. Path-goal theory states that leaders in the organisation select the behaviours that must be best suited for them and the leaders’ behaviour must meet the employees’ needs as well. Path-Goal model of leadership generally follows general steps as first step is to determine the employees and characteristics of the working environment. In addition, the employees need to select the leadership style and the leaders can focus on the motivational factors which will assist the employee to be successful.
The leaders’ behaviour is set based on the needs of the employees within the organisation and leaders’ behaviour is based on the degree of structure, perceived level of ability and the affiliation. Environmental characteristics of the team members are very important and leaders follow the steps to help the employees to follow the path around this. The employees can ask the leaders to support for the work as the design of work needs this. The task can be ambiguous and the leaders can help the employees to make it structured. In addition, according to Downes et al. (2017), leaders can provide standard goal as it can depend upon the clear goals. In addition, work-group must be supportive for the team leaders to help them. The leaders must be cohesive and they must have the sense of duty which provides enthusiasm, devotion and comradeship to the employees.
4.2 Transactional leadership theory
Transactional leadership focuses on the management process of organising, controlling and short-term planning. Transactional leadership theory is associated with directing and motivating the employees primarily by affecting their self-interest (Antonakis and House 2014). The power of transactional leaders generates from the responsibility and formal authority in the workplace. Therefore, the main objective of the employees is to respect and obey the instructions of the leaders. According to Breevaart et al. (2014), transactional leaders believe in motivation which comes through the extrinsic motivation like bonuses, rewards and recognition. The employees need to do what they desire and the employees may get the reward from this. There are four dimensions are associated with this and the first dimension is about contingent rewards. Transactional leaders always link the goal towards the rewards and they provide necessary resources associated with this. The second dimension is about active management by exception as the subordinates can watch from the deviation of the rules. Passive management by exception is another dimension as it intervenes when standard when the performance is not as per the expectation of the leaders (Tyssen et al. 2014). Lastly, the transactional leadership has it relation with Laissez-faire where the subordinates are given opportunity to make the decisions of the business. As argued by Birasnay (2014), transactional leadership has assumptions that employees are motivated by the recognition and rewards; in addition the subordinates will obey the leaders and the superiors. It can be concluded that transactional leadership is responsive in nature and it works within the culture of the organisation. Transactional leaders help to motivate the employees by appealing in their self-interest.
4.3 Trait theory
Trait theory of leadership is the concept which is based on the features and characteristics of the leaders; the traits can be both successful and unsuccessful. According to Fleeson and Jayawickreme (2014), trait theory attempts to recognise the physiology, demographic, self-confidence and personality of the leaders and the employees as well. Trait theory takes into consideration about the intellect of the employees, task-related issue of the employees and the social characteristics of the employees. As pointed out by Lussier and Achua (2015), in order to manage the team members, successful leaders show interests, personality traits and abilities which are different from the less effective leaders in the workplace. The leaders identify the core traits of successful leaders and these traits are not responsible to recognise whether the leaders will be successful or unsuccessful. There are many of the core strengths which are important for the leaders to posses which endow the people to have leadership potential. Achievement drive is about effort of employees and the leaders must have the high ambition. According to Dinh et al. (2014), leadership motivation is about intense desire that leads other employees to reach the intent goals and honesty integrity tells about the belief that speaks about the ideas and ability. The cognitive ability of the leaders is about the capability of showing judgement and strong analytical skills. Knowledge of business is needed as the leaders sometimes take the business decisions on behalf of the employees. Emotional maturity is well adjustment and the leaders should not suffer from psychological disorders.
4.4 Tuckman theory of group development
The leaders have their role to make the team within the organisation so that the team members must be able to perform easily. Tuckman theory is about group development as this theory talks about developmental sequence in small groups. There are four stages in group development named; forming stage, storming stage, norming and performing. First stage is forming stage where most of the team members are polite and positive. However, some of the team members are anxious as they do not understand their roles in the workplace. The team leaders plays very important role in this stage as team leaders are dominant to make the team members understand about the responsibilities and roles (Thaibaut 2017). Second stage is about storming and the employees begin to push against the wall or boundaries. In this stage, the team leaders have the responsibility to make a solid bond as many of the teams fail in this stage. In this phase, team members work naturally and their working styles might be different (Forsyth 2018). Norming stage is when the team members start resolving their issues and difference. Informing stage, the leaders start identifying the strengths of the team members and the team members start respecting the leaders (Lussier and Achua 2015). The team members start to socialise together and the leaders provide constructive feedback. The employees develop stronger commitment and the leaders can see good progress towards team. Performing stage is about hardworking and team working can be done without friction. Performance is necessary when to make structure and process the overall progress. The leaders should delegate the work process as the leaders’ duty is to concentrate and development of the team members.
5. Identifying and evaluating the relationship between the leaders’/Line managers role and that of the HR representative in the management of people
Evaluating the relationship between the leaders’ role and that of the HR representative
In order to maintain the productive relationship between leaders and the HR department; the leaders can conduct occasionally meetings with the HR representatives. Successful leaders within the organisation recognise that without the help of HR, they cannot assume the skills, experience and knowledge of the employees to achieve the goals of the organisation. The HR representatives can also help the leaders of the organisation to understand what is happening in the workplace by doing the survey. Then, the effective leader can respond with sincerity and empathy to address the issues of the employees and develop the productivity. Therefore, a positive relationship between the leader and HR can be indicative of the health of the organisation. The leaders like line managers have very significant role within the organisation and the role is not just surrounded by the day-to-day operation and management of the people; however, the leaders like line manager has the role of implementation of HR policies and devolution of the HR activity (Ulrich and Dulebohn 2015). It is important to select the proper line manager within the organisation to develop and manage the organisation in ongoing basis. As stated by Bish et al. (2015), strategy execution can be hampered when the relationship between HR representatives and the leaders’ mutual frustration come out.
a. Benefit
HR department has the function to support the workforce needs within the organisation and leaders and line managers communicate frequently and regularly to discuss and determine the qualifications and skills required for the new recruitment in the departments. Whenever there is vacancy in the department; the HR representatives review the job description to fulfil the vacant posts. The discussion between leaders and HR manager needs to be complete and accurate in order to do the perfect staffing within the organisation (Auh et al. 2016). Leaders like line managers do the strategic planning within the organisation discussing with the HR representatives to involve the review projection regarding the future business needs to determine the current employees. The line managers and the HR prepare the employees for their promotions. Working together of the line managers and the HR representatives can provide the benefit of understanding of the immediate and future staffing with reduced cost of turnover and new hiring (Robert et al. 2016). The relationship between the line managers and HR representatives discuss about the training requirement of the employees and they discuss about the employee performance appraisals. HR trainers can start with training with constructive feedback to the employees and the line managers discuss about the unbiased assessment. Workplace conflict cannot be unavoidable as it is inevitable in nature; line managers and the HR representatives work on to improve the workplace culture and personalities of the employees (Kuo et al. 2015). When the conflict arises within the team; the management can solve the issues while discussing with the HR representatives. Conflict resolution is possible when the line managers and the HR representatives negotiate the matters. Positive working relationship is needed in order to solve the issue and management facilitates the easier handling in order to investigate the workplace issues between the employees.
b. Limitations
HR representatives and the leaders of the organisation sometimes face the issue in their relationship when conflict arises. Trust is very important to HR representatives and the line managers; however, line managers may not understand what the HR wants to convey in the departmental cases contributing the business to focus on another thing. The line managers might be concerned about the cost of the employees and the rewards and recognition of the employees. The leaders might not trust the people in the department of HR; HR professionals might feel insecure by the focus of the line managers as well. Abid et al. (2015) commented that there can be ego issue between HR manager and the line manager within the organisation. Line managers have their own set of responsibilities and the HR managers have their own set of responsibilities; both have to work together in order to maintain the good relationship. If the line managers and the HR managers stop doing meetings regularly; it will lead to create knowledge gap between two departments. HR typically has the power to serve both the CEO and the board of directors within the organisation. Line managers play the role in the operation of the business through providing training to the employees and cross-training to ensure the job rotation (Reilly and Williams 2017). Power is different for HR representatives and the line managers; power creates the stressful situation between the HR representatives and the line managers and it can lead to bringing some provoking situations.
c. Clarity
HR representatives and line managers have some common difference and when any kind of conflict arises, the line managers seek the advice to HR to solve the issues between employees and sometimes line managers ask the HR to resolve the problems between employees and the managers. As stated by Van De Voorde and Beijer (2015), the positive working relationship between line managers and the HR can accelerate the easier handling of the workplace and mediate the differences between the staffs. The line managers have the role of providing coaching and feedback of the performance to all the team and line managers can communicate and ensure the understanding of departmental and functional goals. According to Pohler and Schmidt (2016), line managers identify the needs of the corrective actions and they ensure the quality standards for all process. The line managers evaluate the overall team and performance of the individuals and deliver the reviews of the performance. There needs to be clarity between the relationship of line managers and the HR representatives. Line managers make final employee selection decision whereas HR representatives help the line managers with HR related topics (Nafakhi et al. 2015). In addition, line managers provide departmental specific orientation where the HR representatives select the employees as well as orientation of the employees. Line managers initiate the ongoing training of the employees whereas HR representatives evaluate the training process.
d. Tensions
Line managers within the organisation supervise the activities of the employees, for instance, performance appraisal whereas the HR representatives can make the plan of compensation of the employees. HR representatives can impact on the decision of the line managers as the can build the effective leadership team. The tension between the HR and the line managers occur when the talent of the HR representatives and the line managers clash (Amanchkwu et al. 2015). In addition, when the line managers become unsympathetic towards the feelings of the employees; Hr representatives face the issue. In addition, the HR representatives can approach the line managers for help; tension will occur when the line managers do not help the HR specialists.
e. Devolvement
Management development does not always possess the good terms for the HR and line managers’ relationship. Development of the relationship between HR and Line managers will bring routine request for the business. HR faces the issue of ‘soft skills’ what line managers do not provide their focus. Developing the relationship will focus on the development of the soft skills. The performance of the employees will be exquisite when the employees’ HR representatives and the line managers work together. Improving the skills through HR training may not be successful for the employees; the line managers help the employees to resolve the issues. Line managers are expected to communicate the organisation directly, vision and goals to report the employees.
6. Recommendations
7. Conclusions
It can be concluded that team management involves creating and maintain the future and vision of the employees. In order to maintain the employees’ commitment; the leaders sometimes change the leadership styles. Leaders’ team management is the ability to administer in order to make the baseline assumptions that all the members can be motivated to get the rewards. HR manager has the role of managing the employees strategically. HR manager suggests the leaders handle the employees skilfully. The relationship between the HR representatives and the line managers can help to solve the employees’ related issues as people management decisions must be the key goals. Major barriers in the relationships on each side are that they do not know what others do. Both independent authorities can work smoothly in order to bring collaborative work process to create the workplace more collaborative.
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