Exam Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Exam Questions - Essay Example Line managers maintain the arduous role of ensuring that employees are achieving performance targets, focusing on proper planning, scheduling and generic supervision to ensure compliance to corporate policies. However, when line managers take on the role of providing HR assistance, they become much more psychologically involved with employees to improve their dedication and motivation. Consider an organisation with a structured production system governed by traditional line management. In the role of HR provider, the line manager goes beyond the work schedule and efficiency measurement, becoming a strategic partner with the human resources division to create value rather than merely productivity. Research in human resources identifies that employee empowerment is one of the most fundamental methods of gaining their commitment and motivation. Empowerment strategies give employees more flexibility in taking active roles in corporate decision-making, thus giving employees a perception o f control and prestige within the organisation. According to Yusoff (2008) when employees are granted more authority, it becomes easier in the long-run to ensure discipline and control. Line managers have the most frequent contact with employees and thus act as the intermediary for team development. Line management has more intimate knowledge of employees’ attitudes, lifestyle preferences and skills capabilities than that of the HR manager due to their close proximity in the production (or non-production) environments. This gives line managers a unique ability to utilise many different HR theories to ensure that they become more like coaches or mentors than simply authoritative line managers to assist in developing employees’ core competencies. For instance, in a production environment, there is a constant demand for change. Change comes in the form of new technology implementation or systems process restructuring in order to meet cost or strategic-based performance or output goals. The line manager acting as an HR facilitator can become more active in training provision, giving employees hands-on tacit knowledge that can be transferred for better organisational learning and knowledge exchange. According to Bambacas and Bordia (2009, p.225) when training is provided that is perceived as being non-transferrable to another business, it becomes too costly for the employee to leave in pursuit of different employment. Traditionally, the HR manager handles the process of developing and implementing training packages. However, when involving the line manager, the management team can provide a distinctly different element to ensuring employees have the knowledge and skills to accept and embrace changes in the work environment. Line managers hold intimate knowledge of the systems that drive organisational productivity and can thus take this self-contained, tacit knowledge and disseminate it directly through concrete and applied training; something not ach ievable with the HR manager who is not personally familiar with operational systems. The line manager empowers employees, establishing a sense of group belonging in the team, constantly reinforcing that uniqueness of the training packages to gain a psychological advantage over employees. By using both line