SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AND NEW DEFINITIONS OF

Transcript:SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AND NEW DEFINITIONS OF:
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AND NEW DEFINITIONS OF PEOPLE MANAGEMENT Professor Sola FAJANA, FCIPM 1. INTRODUCTION This presentation examines the extent to which labels describing the activities called ‘management of people at work’ (Beach, 1975) have altered in sync with changes in management thoughts and practices. In this paper, Elkington (1994, 1997) triple bottom-line is considered a very influential current management thought. The overall effect of this approach to people management on organisational sustainability is examined; and the prospect of adoption of the emerging sustainable HRM is discussed. It is expected that this intervention will generate further discussions during this conference. I thank you for my invitation and the opportunity to share my thoughts with you. 2. EMERGING DEFINITION OF PEOPLE MGT Human resource management (HRM) is the most currently globally accepted label of activities connected with people management. It describes an academic discipline and an area of industrial practice with contents in concepts, theories, models, policies, strategies, plans, programmes, rules and regulations and other activities that are connected with the acquisition and effective utilisation of people towards the achievement of organisational goals for overall organisational effectiveness and sustainability (Fajana, 2002). Recently, more and more scholars are connecting sustainability to HRM (Ehnert, 2009, 2014, Kramar, 2014). 3. A PERIODISED HISTORY OF PEOPLE MANAGEMENT Human resource management is as old as the history of man. For instance, in Genesis 2:15-16, it is written, “and the Lord God took the man (Adam) and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it”. Elaborate commandments and controls (disciplinary rules?) were given, and specific work standards for sustainable all-round excellent performance were set up and handed over to the first workers (Adam and Eve). Nevertheless, the function was not initially labelled as human resource management. Since the industrial revolution of the early 1800s, the ‘management of people at work’ (Beach, 1975) has evolved through the following labels: HISTORIC LABELS Labour Administration Labour and Staff Administration Personnel Administration Personnel Management Human Resource Management Strategic Human Resource Management Human Capital Management 3.1 Labour Administration 3.2 Labour/Staff Administration 3.3 Personnel Administration 3.4 Personnel Management 3.5 HR / Strategic HR / Human Capital Mgt 3.5.1 Human Resource Management Technique The HRM strategy was pioneered at General Electric Company in the United States in the 1960s. It is a practice whereby the employer packages for its workers research-based and industry-averaged rates of pay to which organised