»leadership«

Human Resources Management - Perspectives, Context, Functions, and Outcomes.
by Gerald R. Ferris, M.Ronald Buckley, Donald B. Fedo.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2002. 4th edition

While the book talks about managing human resources it reveals quite a lot about the resources themselves. Bill Leonard, for example, explores what CEOs want from human resource management. He quotes Mike R. Bowlin, then CEO of ARCO: "Our people are what will truly build a sustainable competitive advantage. In the long run, everyone has the same access to capital and technology, so a company's human resources is what makes the difference and makes it successful. It is the key resource." (p.5)

[p.9] Wayne F. Cascio illustrates the changes that took place in the last decades in the world of work in the US.
In general a shift occurred from wartime economies to economies in rather peaceful and stable environments. Societies formerly based on their industries are now transforming into information societies.

[p.10] Based on Kiechel (1993) he characterizes the new forms of organization as follows:

• rather small companies with only a few employees
• networks of specialists instead of integrated hierarchies
• new working elite are technicians
• payment according to the market value of skills not necessarily by position
• providing service instead of producing goods
• [p.11] loose job structure (flex time, job sharing, telecommuting,...) instead of a fixed bundle of tasks. -> constant learning, mixing free and work time

While the manager used to rule from top command, organizations now experience a breaking down of barriers. Information is expected to be shared and problems are supposed to be solved collaboratively. The focus lies on continuous learning and a constant improvement of skills. [p.12] This consequently calls for a transformational leadership as introduced by Bass (1985): leaders possessing a thorough understanding of human behaviors within organization motivate their employees to uttermost creativity and imagination. Cascio suggests that most work today is done in teams. Therefore it is necessary to understand teams as "intact, identifiable social systems (even if small or temporary) whose members have the authority to manage their own task and interpersonal processes as they carry out their work." Apparently, employees have become their own managers and the former managers are becoming mentors. [p.13] On top of that the working environment has become much more diverse: in terms of culture, gender, age, ... Thus work nowadays calls for an "emphasis on empowerment, cross-training, personal flexibility, self-managed work teams, and continuous learning."

[p.17]
Thus, Cascio says, the growth of any company is closely connected to the development of its individual employees. Human Resource Management needs to emphasize the following:

• "assessment of interests, values, and temperament" in order to help employees to find out about who they are and where they might be going
• "assessment and development of technical and functional work skills"
• "assessment and development of work strategies" as for example conflict resolution.

[pp.18-22]
While the anticipated developments can be regarded as eligible in general they might not be easily implemented. Constructs such as adaptability, consistency, or prosocial behavior do not naturally match a rather individualistic society. Furthermore it has to be taken in account that employees even if they are to determine the outcome of profits they do not necessarily feel to have the power to do so.

Hofstede blames American theories to present the manager as the cultural hero (in accordance with the American perception of managers). Theory seems to consider the manager as the one making all the decision by himself while actually he is much more involved in maintaining networks. "[M]anagers derive their raison d'être from the people managed: culturally, they are the followers of the people they lead, and their effectiveness depends on the latter."

While I do not care so much about the theory, I like the quote in regards of expatriates. Expatriate and host country staff cannot be regarded as separated units. The expatriate is very much dependant on the given staff.

[p.26]
Geert Hofstede: Cultural Constraints in Management Theories
in: D.C.Thomas: Readings and Cases in International Management; Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003.