home Management Theory and practice of personnel management - Shchekin GV

Theory and practice of personnel management - Shchekin GV

3. New in the theory and practice of personnel management

Over the past decades, in the United States, as in many countries of Western Europe, as well as in Japan, personnel management has undergone radical changes [2, p. 97-104]. A new view of the labor force as one of the key resources of the economy, reflecting a real increase in the role of the human factor in production, strengthening the dependence of production on the quality, motivation and the nature of the use of the workforce as a whole and each individual employee is affirmed. In the US economy, this is expressed, on the one hand, in raising labor requirements, on the other hand, in increasing the costs of human resources development on the part of the state, and especially private business.

The increasing role of the human factor in production is confirmed by the results of economic research by leading American scientists. Beginning in 1929, the main source of growth in labor productivity and national income in the triad "labor-land-capital" is the first factor that encompasses the aggregate of educational, qualifying, demographic, and cultural characteristics of the labor force.

Investments in human resources and personnel work become a long-term factor of the company's competitiveness and survival. The growth in the scale of training in corporations is a consequence of the implementation of their own personnel policy, rather than regulatory requirements [2].

3.1. New concepts of human factor use

Increasing the role of human resources and changing attitudes towards them of entrepreneurs and managers is primarily due to profound changes in production. Traditional technology, including the Taylor conveyor , sought to minimize the possibility of human intervention in sustainable technological processes, making them independent of the skills and other characteristics of the workforce. Stabilization of production processes made it possible to widely use labor of low qualification, which made it possible to economize on costs associated with hiring, training and payment of labor. The scientific concepts of the organization of labor and management proceeded from these requirements. There was an unconditional division of labor into managerial and executive labor, with predominance of sub-specialization and rigid operational control in the management of production. Traditional technology was characterized by a weak dependence on the subjective factor of production [2].

Scientific and technological progress is associated with major changes in labor activity. According to Western researchers, in the next decade, many jobs, methods of work and the enterprises themselves will differ significantly from the current ones. Gradually, traditional technology will give way to flexible production complexes, robotics, science-intensive production, based on computer technology and modern means of communication, bio and laser technology. As a result of their implementation, the total number of personnel will be reduced, the proportion of specialists, managers, highly skilled workers will increase, and the amount of capital that will be set in motion by one employee will increase.

According to leading American sociologists, the expansion of authority in the workplace, the control of the worker himself for the production process (with consequent consequences for motivation and personnel management) is the main distinguishing feature of the industrial revolution that is taking place today.

The content of labor activity also changes. In general, the role of skills in physical manipulation of objects and means of labor is diminishing, the meaning of "conceptual skills" is growing. This refers to the ability to represent complex processes in an integrated system, to conduct a dialogue with the computer, to understand the meaning of statistical quantities. Particular importance is attentiveness and responsibility, communication skills, oral and written communication.

Modern production requires more and more qualities from employees, which not only did not form in the conditions of mass production, but were intentionally reduced to a minimum, which made it possible to simplify labor and reduce the cost of labor. Such qualities include: high professional skills, ability to make independent decisions, skills of collective interaction, responsibility for the quality of finished products, knowledge of technology and production organization, creative skills. Today, one of the distinguishing features is the dependence of production on the quality of the labor force, the forms of its use, the degree of involvement in the affairs of the enterprise. Personnel management is becoming increasingly important as a factor of increasing competitiveness, long-term development of the company.

The essence of the two approaches to the management of personnel (classical and human resource management) can be traced as shown in Table. 2 scheme, which is used by American specialists for educational purposes, in order to emphasize the differences between these approaches.

Despite the conventionality of the above scheme, the formulation of new principles of personnel management points to the aspiration of theorists of the concept of "human resources" to emphasize the importance of personnel in modern management and to find more effective ways of using it. In parallel, the whole system of personnel work changes.

The widespread use of the term " human resources management " does not mean that the concept is universally implemented. Today it is used as a synonym for the term "personnel management" (regardless of the content change) or to express a new look at the role of human resources services, or to indicate a new management concept. Table 2

Initial provisions of personnel management [2]

Most experts formulate the concept of human resources quite broadly, emphasizing the differences in the criteria for evaluating effectiveness (more complete use of human assets versus minimizing costs), on the basis of control (self-control against external control), on the preferred form of organization (organic, flexible versus centralized bureaucratic) and Tp

Changes in the use of labor reflected in the renaming by most US companies of human resources departments in human resources services. But the replacement of the name does not in all cases reflect a turn in the content and methods of personnel work. At the same time, with a great difference in the financial and organizational capabilities of the new units, as well as the methodology of personnel work, there is a clear tendency to increase the role of the analytical functions of personnel services, especially in recent decades. A characteristic feature of the organization of work with the staff within the framework of the new concept is the integration of HR services in all aspects of work with human resources, all stages of their life cycle from the moment of selection to the payment of pension benefits [2].