CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW 

INTRODUCTION         

This chapter  examines the existing knowledge information and facts written by various authors and scholars including other bodies as they relate to the subject matter.

An organization cannot operate in isolation without the presence of human resource may must work before goals are achieved in an organization. It is a well known fact that it is the combination of information, capital material and human resource that make up an organization but it should be noted that material resource can not operate without the help of human resources which directs and manage the activities in an organization.

human resource development is not new, many scholars; present and past have written a lot about it, some in form of coments, statement, opinion etc as contained in journals, magazines, book and newspaper. The researcher will be devoted to viewing some of the these works various author and scholars.

CONCEPT O HUMAN RESOURCE

Man over time has become an indispensable tool in accomplishing organizational goals. The absence of man when other factors of production are available will be the end of the organization. Therefore,  the importance of man in an organization can not be replaced, man must work before goals are attained and to make man work, he must be understood; as such it has became very important to have a department that will be responsible for developing a better man for better organizations the name of such department varies from one organization to the other, some call it human resource department others call it personnel welfare department, personnel development unit, personnel department etc the departments play a major role that is centered on the human resource of an organization.

Management is a generic term and subject to many interpretations, different ideas are attributed to the meaning of management, everyone can be regarded as a manager to some extend but we are concerned of management as involving people  working beyond themselves and exercising formal authority over the activities and performance of other people.

We can therefore regard management as defined by Mullins (1999) in his book “management and organization behaviour” as:

1. Taking place within a structural organizational self and with prescribe roles.
2. Directed towards the attainment of aims and objectives
3. Achieved through the effort of other people using systems and procedure.

Human resource management according to Michael Armstrong (2006) is defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued asset – the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.

Storey (1989) believes that human resource management can be regarded as “a set of inter-related policies with an ideological and philosophical under pinion. He suggest for aspects that constitute the meaningful version of human resource development.

1. A particular constellation of beliefs and assumptions
2. A strategic thrust informing decisions about people management.
3. The central involvement of line manager; and
4. Reliance upon a set of ‘levers’ to shape the employment relationship.

(Longh 1990) also defined management as the act of guiding the activities of a group of people towards the achievement of a common goal.

Donnelly (1995) in his view defined management as “the process undertaken by one or more individuals to coordinate the activities of others to achieve the result not achievable by the individual acting alone.

Human resource development can be said to be that part of management concerned with people at work and their relationship within an organization or enterprise. It stresses the role of individuals in an organization and covers the set of activities which indicates an increased awareness of the implication of the phrase “human resource” human resource development requires that employee to be treated as importance resources to be invested in prudently, to be used productively and from whom a return can be expected, a return that should be monitored there wisely. Human resource development fund anywhere there are people in employment and whose activities call for coordination’s where there is high degree of division of labour. Human resource aims at bringing together and developing the men and women who make up an enterprise and ensures that individuals and working groups are well coordinated to achieve success. It is also aimed at expressing the nature of the employment relationship in changing circumstance.

Human resource management therefore can be defined as the process of accomplishing organizational objectives by acquiring, retaining, terminating, developing and properly using the human resource is an organization. “Accomplishing objectives are regularly accomplished the organization ceases to exist” Donnelly (1995) fundamental of management. Human resource management according to Graham (1991) is to ensure that employees of an organization (human resource) are used in such a way that the employer obtains the greatest possible benefit from their abilities and the employees obtain both material and psychological rewards from their work.

Human resource management is a more comprehensive approach to the organization of people at work with a base in the behavioural science, which is concerned about the motivation and development of individual employee and the performance and productivity of the organization. It has a holistic view and strategic dimension with all activities designed in a unified and interlocking manner. Human resource are much more difficult to manage than material resources, partly because of conflict often occurs between the employee and employees due to the fact that employees to an increasing extent try to share in decision making.

Human resource management is seen as that aspect management that is concerned with people at work and their relationship within the organization or enterprises. It stresses the role of individuals in an organization and is about the effective management of people in the organization.

EMERGENCE AND ORIGIN OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Human resource management appears to have its origin in the united state of America (USA), IN 1950S although it did not again recognition until the early 1980s and the United Kingdom (UK) LATE1980s.  there are numbers of reasons for the emergence of human resource management over the least decade, among which are the most important is the pressure experienced in product market during the recession  of 1980 – 1982, combined with a growing recognition in the USA, that trade union influence in collective employment was reaching fewer employees. By the 1980s, the USA economy was being challenged to the Japanese workers was not good enough and the declining rate of American innovation was alarming from the above, an idea sprang up for the desire to  create a work situation which is free from conflict where both the employees and employers will work in unity towards achieving same goal.

          In United Kingdom (UK) in the 1980s, the business sector also became conducive to changes in the employment relationship, as it is in the USA. This was partly driven by the economic pressure in the form of increased product market competition.

However, in the form of increased product market competition. However, unlike USA, the significant factor in the UK was the desire of the government to reform and reshape the conventional model of industrial relations especially the development of more employee oriented employment policies on the part of the management. The old industrial practice in UK was restructured. Another factor is that the economy in UK was very weak especially when places like Japan, Germany and America were not experiencing the same problems. This resulted to employers being accused of poor training and management development by critics in the UK.At the long run, the concept of employee commitment and employment became very crucial in management practice and human resource management.

What makes some people call human resource management, personnel management? Personnel management is seen as that part of management that is concerned with people at work and their relationship within an enterprise. This applies not only to industries and commerce but also to all field of management personnel management aim at achieving both efficiency and justice, neither of which can be pursued successfully without the other. However, human resource management is seen as set of activities that are designed to influence the effectiveness of employees in the organization. The organization must always at all time through appropriate authority provided effective working condition and a satisfactory  environment both within and outside the organization, for the workman, and also provide a means of developing the worker through training and development.

While personnel management respond to changes in employment law, labour market conditions and trade union actions; human resource management is prescriptive and concerned with strategies, the initiation of new activities and development of the ideas. Thus, human resource management has long-term perspective that seek to integrate all the human aspects of the organization into a coherent while and at the end establishing high level of employee goals.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVE 

Human resource management is aimed at reducing the level of inefficiency in the allocation and utilization of both labour and capital in the organization. It’s also expresses the nature of employment relationship is changing circumstance. Human resource management aims at boosting the effectiveness of the organization by bringing together and developing the men and women who make up the enterprise.

The main objective of human resource development is matching the size and skills of the workforce to the productive requirement of the organization, achieved by raising the quantity of individual employees; contribution to production. Human resource objective are determined by the organization objective a whole. The organization cannot on its side afford to have programmes set aside for human resource planning, management and development wrong. The objective reflect on the increased social responsibility of firms, which include the traditional responsibilities to customers, employees and shareholder not only to these but also to the community at large, thereby creating employment opportunities for the disadvantage and provide greater financial security and a favourable worm environment.

POLICIES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MAANGEMENT 

Human resource policies are the continuing guideline on the approach the organization intends to adopt in managing its people. They define the philosophies and values of the organization on how people should be treated and from these are derived the principles upon which manager are expected to act when decisions are made about people. They help to define the way things are done around the organization.

Human resource policies help to ensure that when dealing with matters. Concerning people, an approach in line with corporate values is adopted through out the organization. They serve as the basis for enacting value (converting supportive value into values in use), they provide framework within which consistent decisions are made and promote equity in the way in which people are treated. The policies also provide guidance in what managers should do in particular circumstance and facilitate improvement, devotion and delegation.

Policies not only fit who corporate culture but helps in shaping it. For organizations to achieve their goals, there is need to continually access the  quality and quantity of human resource policies because the policy is a clear-cut statement of the  aims and objectives of an organization setting out what is to be achieved. human resource policies have an important role to play in facilitating effective implementation and management process such as total quality management.

IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCES

People often asked “is human resource management really needed”? in the past, many organization pay little or no attention to their human resource but in the present time, organization have  seen the need to take cognizance their human resource.

Human resource development holds the key not only to the survival of individual organizations but the Nigeria economy as a whole. Human resource management designed to analyse employment relationship, human resource greatly affects the profitability of  organizations. Without the right people in place resource management by definition will fail (Druker, 1982) the only difference between one organization and the other is the performance level of the employees.   

Harper (1987) viewed human resource management as that aspect of management which seeks to maximize resources efficiently for the productivity of people. He was of  the opinion that it will be of great advantage to organizations to invest on employees to strengthen than thereby resulting in their full commitment and at the end, contributing to the overall success of the organization.

The smooth running man or woman is an essential future of any organization and for some; people are just not important but are seen as the key factors for successful performance.

DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCE IN NIGERIA 

Development began with the history of colonial administration. Management was then moulded to meet requirements of the colonial regime, not until the mid 19th century; there was no standard of payment and appointment. The colonial administration’s main task then was to pacify this area of conquest. There was then the protectorate of northern Nigeria and southern Nigeria. The two were amalgamated on January 12, 1914 under Fredrick Lugard. By 1920s, some educated Nigerians led by Herbert Macaulay agitated for participation in the country’s affairs and thus, the emergence of an indigenous Nigerian. Management in response to this, Lord Lugard set up an advisory body called the Nigerian council, thirty (30)  being colonial masters with only six (6) Nigerian’s. 

During the Clifford’s constitution of 1943, Nigerians were allowed to participate in policy formulation for the first time. The Richard’s constitution of 1946 paved way for greater participation of Nigerian by dividing the country into three (3) regions; northern,   southern and eastern regions. Between 1946 and 1953 Nigeria management witnesses the delegation of their regional administration. After the independence of Nigeria, by February 1961 Nigerian expatriate managers came together with the hope of setting up a Nigerian branch of British institute of management but the Nigerians were so anxious and went ahead to established the Nigerian institute of management in April 1916.

Having seen the efforts of the Nigeria institution Management (NIM) as stimulate in both in the public and private sectors, other institutions were established like the industry training fund (ITF), centre for management and development (CMO), administrative staff college of Nigeria (ASCON).

FUNCTIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The function of human resource management should be focused on the need to facilitate changes as key objectives of the organization. Such changes as seen include changes of values, changes in the method of work, introduction of new technology, changes in career pattern and adoption of external social value and expectations.

It is necessary to have an effective personnel function whether it is the responsibility of the owner or of a manager. Even in smaller organizations or other organizations where a specialist department is not established, there will be need to recruit, train motivate and reward staff also to comply with the law reacting to employment.

Over the years management scholars, starting with Henri Fayol have identified many function to include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling as the key function. The 1970s framework use planning, organizing, directing, and controlling (PODC) a planning is seen as the process of defining goals, establishing strategy for the achievement of the goals, mapping actions to integrate and coordinate activities organizing determines the tasks to be performed, establishing a framework of authority and responsibility relationships among and between people meant to accomplish the task. Directing has to do with motivating, educating guiding and communicating with subordinate either individually or in groups and resolving conflicts. Controlling helps to prevent, identify and correct deficiencies in all phases of the operations to ensure that objective are attained as planned.