Post on 28-Mar-2015
Human Resource Management in the Service Sector
Review of the course
2
Overview
Course examines the HRM challenges in the knowledge-intensive service sector
1. Introduction: characteristics of the service sector and identifying the knowledge-intensive section of this sector (1 week)
2. Develop theoretical frameworks and perspectives for analysing the HR challenges (2 weeks)
3. Investigation of HR challenges in four types of organisations in this sector: call centres, management consulting, law and creative (8 weeks)
Summary and review (second half of final week)
3
Course design
HRM challenges theory
Call centres
Theory
Management consultancies
Theory
Law Firms: theory and case
Creative Firms: Theory and case
Managing knowledge workers
Call centres
Case
Management consultancies
Case
Law Firms: theory and case
Creative Firms: Theory and case
Cha
ract
eris
tics
of t
he s
ervi
ce s
ecto
r
Sum
mar
y an
d re
visi
on
4
Literature focus for the course
HRM & knowledge-intensive services
Services sector Professional Services
5
Week 1: Introduction to the service sector: objectives
• Outline the importance of the service sector in modern economies
• Identify the key characteristics of service work and the areas of the sector for detailed study: knowledge intensive work
• Outline the research in the area• Introduce the HRM challenges posed by
knowledge based service sector working
6
Converting Human Capital into Intellectual Capital
Human Capital
Employee Knowledge Skills Experience
Conversion Process
Intellectual CapitalHuman Capital
Role of HR practices in this
conversion process
Products and services which have market value
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Implications for HRM
Intangible
Knowledge based
Customised
Professional
Measurement
Standardisation
Performance management/reward
Training and Development
Recruit and retain
Staff allocation
Renewal
Organisational commitment
Nature of Work Managerial problem HRM issue
(Drawn from Suddaby and Greenwood (2006) Maister (2003) and Batt (2006))
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Week 2: HR practices in knowledge intensive firms: objectives
• To understand the distinctive characteristics of knowledge intensive service firms
• To identify the key resources (forms of capital) that knowledge intensive firms draw on for their success
• To identify the challenges for managing people and managing knowledge faced by knowledge intensive firms
• To explore the ways in which HR strategy, structure, delivery and practices can be used to create valuable products and services
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Pressures on knowledge intensive firms
Product market - Customers and clients
Financial success – short and long term
Employment market – needs of employees
KIF
(Maister, 2003)
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IntellectualCapital
Human capital
Social capital
Structural capital
NetworkCapital
Client Capital
OrganizationalCapital
Forms of CapitalKnowledge skills and experience of staff
Knowledge embedded in values, culture and relationships
Ways of structuring work
Procedures, policies and processes
Knowledge of and relationships with clients
Knowledge of and relationships with network members
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Human capital
Social capital
Structural capital
NetworkCapital
Client Capital
OrganizationalCapital
IntellectualCapital
Resourcing
Job and
Work D
esign
Trai
ning
and
Dev
elop
men
t
Pay and Reward
Perform
ance
Managem
ent
Invo
lvem
ent
Delivery
Strategy Structure
The HR Wheel
Kinnie et al 2006
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Week 3: Managing knowledge workers: objectives
• Define a knowledge worker• Identify the characteristics of knowledge workers and
understand the human resource management challenges presented by them
• Explain how knowledge workers are managed• Identify and discuss the dilemmas associate with the
management of knowledge workers• Understand how social identity can resolve some of the
tensions involved in the management of knowledge workers
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Managerial challenges• How can organisations retain and develop their
professionals?• Presents three dilemmas that sit between the
employee and the organisation
Retention Employability
Organisation specific
Transferable
Value capture Ownership of value
Mult
iple
Identi
ty
pers
pect
ive
14
Multiple sources of identity
Organisation
Client
Professional
Team
EE
15
Weeks 4 and 5: Call Centres: objectives
• Define call centres and understand the reasons for their growth
• Identify the key characteristics of the nature and management of call centres
• Analyse their forms of human capital and consider the implications for HR especially recruitment, selection and retention
• Examine recent changes in call centres especially the moves towards outsourcing and off-shoring
• Apply the 4 ID model to gain insights into the nature of work in call centres – with reference to the Norwich Union case
(Refs: Deery and Kinnie, 2004; Korczynski, 2002, Frenkel et al, 1999, Homan, 2004)
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Weeks 6 and 7: Management Consulting: objectives
• To understand the characteristics of the management consulting industry– History– Types of organisations– Types of consultancy activities
• Typology of human capital – According to the client interface process – Career structures within management consultancy– The role of consultants as knowledge brokers
• Typology of client capital– The consulting firm – client relationships
• The HRM practice focus:– Recruiting human capital– Managing across boundaries
Human capital
Social capital
Structural capital
NetworkCapital
Client Capital
OrganizationalCapital
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Using external facilitators poses a challenge to many forms of intellectual capital flows
Clients Facilitators
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Facilitator network: HC viewpoint
External pool of facilitators
Focal Practice Group
Regions
Other Practice Groups
Clients
Clients
Clients
ClientsFacilitators
within clients
External skill experts
External skill expertsExternal skill experts
HC boundary
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Weeks 8 and 9: Law Firms: objectives
• Understand the basic characteristics of the sector• Identify the traditional model of organising and
management of HR• Consider some of the key changes in the sector
and the responses of law firms• Identify the challenges this presents for HRM and
for knowledge management• Focus on the key issue of remuneration and
reward, especially variable reward• Analyse a practical case drawing on our knowledge
of theory
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Traditional HR practices ‘Up or Out’
Elite recruitment
Apprenticeship model
Partner in 6 years – or leave the firm
High reward for equity partners
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‘High Trust’
• Local law firm - medium sized and growing fast• Strong emphasis on culture and values inclusive
and mutual respect – building social capital – sharing work and knowledge
• Issue of how to reward their staff who contribute to the success of the firm while reinforcing their values
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Weeks 10 and 11: Creative Firms: objectives
• Understand the basic characteristics of the sector and establish our focus on advertising/marketing agencies
• Identify the key forms of capital present in these firms
• Identify the challenges this presents for HRM especially the development and retention of staff
• Draw contrasts between two practical cases on the way they manage these HR challenges
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Building network capital
Client
Marketing manager
Agency
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Key challenges and tensions facing HRM in marketing agencies
• External Resourcing– Attraction and retention of staff valuable to the firm and to existing and potential clients– Recruiting for internal development – recruiting experienced staff
• Internal Resourcing– Promotion and career building – efficient allocation of staff– Rotation of staff - building and maintaining client and network relationships
• Training and Development– Developing human capital - developing client capital– Importance of coaching, feedback and development – importance of serving client needs
• Reward– Intrinsic rewards linked to development – extrinsic rewards linked to client success– Longer term rewards through promotion – shorter term linked to targets
• Our focus: the interaction between the need to develop employees, serve the needs of clients and achieve financial success
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Revision
• Essential to understand the basic theoretical frameworks underlying the course (weeks 2 and 3 especially)
• Need to be able to apply these to the four sectors studied (eg how does the reactor model apply to creative firms)
• Facility to move between theory and practice (to understand the theory in practice and the practice in theory)
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Revision continued
• Cases studied in class are important along with other cases and your own experience
• Key is to build up your understanding of the issues – at a sector level and at a macro/cross sector level
• Use the frameworks and models to guide your analysis – to help you understand the issues/problems/cases
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Examination structure and rubric
• Unseen paper in 2 hours no additional materials
• 6 questions – one from each sector studied plus two others
• Answer three questions
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Sample questions
• What are the most important external pressures on the managers of knowledge intensive firms? How might HR strategy and practice help to manage these pressures?
• How might the concept of multiple identities help managers of HR contribute to the creation of organisational value in professional service firms?
• With reference to the ‘High Trust’ case study discuss the problems associated with designing a variable reward system in law firms. How might these problems be resolved?
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Expectations
• Demonstrate your learning and your understanding of the theory and the practice
• Answers which directly focus on the question (basic descriptive answers will get a low pass)
• Explicit references to previous research (you will get credit for this)
• Good use of practical examples to illustrate points (credited)
• Highlight conflicts and tensions where they exist• Develop an argument which is supported by theory and
evidence (illustrates higher level understanding)
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Advice
• All the basics apply: plan your answer/focus on the question/refer to relevant theory and examples/pull it together
• Thorough revision – understanding not rote learning – test yourself out – use the models to analyse cases; use the cases to ask: what is this an example of?
• See links between the models and sectors• Use contemporary examples if you can – shows
engagement with the material