Answer the following questions critically and cite authors and examples from the resources provided on the LMS and upload your answers on the drobox.

1. You are a head of the human resource in a medium-sized manufacturing company. Your new chief executive mentions to you that in her last firm they had a personnel manager and asks you to explain the difference, if any.
2. At a meeting of trustees the chief executive of a medium-sized charity proposed that a director of human resources should be appointed. Two trustees protested that the term 'human resources' implied that employees would just be treated as factors of production not as people. How would you respond.
3. John Story wrote in 1995 that: 'Human resource management is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an integrated array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques.' Examine the approach to HRM in your own organization or any other organization known to you and analyze the extent to which Story's description of HRM applies.
4. You are the recently appointed HR director of a medium-sized distribution company based in Dartford with a staff of 350 including 130 drivers. After three months you have decided that the crucial HR issues facing the company are the high rate of turnover of drivers (35 per cent last year), an unacceptable level of road accidents, and an unsatisfactory climate of employee relations (there is a recognized union for drivers which is militant and hostile and no formal procedures for employee communications or consultation). In spite of this the company is doing reasonably well although it is felt by the board that is should do better and there are plans for opening a new distribution centre in Essex. You have received an e-mail from the finance director who is preparing the company's business plan and asks for your proposals on what needs to be done in HR to support it.
5. What is social capital and why is it significant?
6. HR professionals become strategic partners when they participate in the process of defining the business strategy, when they ask questions that move the strategy to action and when they design HR practices that align with the business (Ulrich, 1997). What evidence is available from research that this is happening today?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Question 1 The difference between a personnel manager and a director of human resources lies in their scope and approach to managing employees A personnel manager typically focuses on administrative t... View the full answer