www.bradford.ac.uk/management

Employee Relationship

Management

Employee Management

Managing an employee means:
• Recruitment
• Performance
• Development
• Retention

Competencies and Performance

• “Distinctive Competencies are sets of unique capabilities and values

possessed by certain organisations

.”

Selznick, 1949

• “Distinctive Competencies .... each organisation should identify and

exploit those resources, skills and organisation characteristics that
give it a comparative advantage over its competitors

.”

Hayes and

Wheelwright 1979

Once an organisation knows what these are and harnesses them, it
begins to measure them. Yet:
“As soon as an performance measures are used as a means of control,
the people being measured begin to manage the measures rather than
performance” (Neely, 1998)

Why People are Important

As product life cycles shorten and skill
development life cycles lengthen .....
then the resource base must therefore
be actively managed as the mainstay of
competitive strategy

(Klein, Edge and Kass 1991)

Identifying Resource

o

What it is

-

An activity and or process that is

capable of utilisation

by the organisation

o

What it does

-

An activity or component within an organisation that

adds

value

to the Organisation

o

How it does it

-

Provides functionality

to the organisation

o

Definition

-

Resources are those aspects of an organisation which constitute

order-Qualifying

and

order winning

capabilities

(where recognised)

Tangible resource

–

Machines - skills - location - use of existing technology - adaptability - information
transfer

Non tangible resource

–

Good will - knowledge - willingness to adapt - future technological capability - ability
to learn - match of organisation culture - communication

Managing People

Most organisations develop systems and
procedures to manage their human assets
• Appraisal schemes
• Career planning
• Compensation system

(Understanding Organisations, Charles Handy, 1993:225)

Performance-driven Behaviour

De Waal, 2007:211

Design a

Performance-driven

Behavioural Model

Foster

organisational

performance-

driven

behaviour

Foster

individual

perofrmance-

driven

behaviour

Align personal

with

organisational

objectives

People and Knowledge

Knowledge is information with process

applied to give it “value added”

Liebowitz, 1999

“Knowledge is information combined

with experience, context, interpretation,
and reflection. It is a high value form of
information that is ready to apply to

decisions and actions”.

Davenport et al., 1998

Performance and Knowledge

Two distinctions can be observed from the
definitions of knowledge. These are:
• The data-information-knowledge

progression

• The human/social element which

encompasses beliefs, skills and
experiences

Identifying Knowledge

Swan et al., 1999

Social Knowledge

• Knowledge for innovation is socially

constructed and based on experience.

• Knowledge can be tacit and is

transferred through participation in
social networks including occupational
groups and teams

• The primary function of knowledge

management is to encourage
knowledge sharing through networking

• The critical success factor is trust and

collaboration

Cognitive Knowledge

• Knowledge for innovation is equal to

objectively defined concepts and
facts

• Knowledge can be codified and

transferred through text: information
systems have a crucial role

• The primary function of knowledge

management is to codify and capture
knowledge

• The critical success factor is

technology

What does knowledge do?

Knowledge…………

• Is the driving force behind operational processes and tasks

• Enables the smooth running of processes that transform inputs into

outputs

• Allows each process to be broken down so that requirements for

performing the tasks can be identified

There fore, knowledge is………….
“ the know what, know why and know how to manage organisational processes
and procedures in the facilitation of input transformation to produce goods
and/or services and is embodied in the successful execution of processes,
routines, directives and organisational practices that help to complete the
transformation process”

Knowledge Management

Activities

Identify Key
Knowledge and
Competencies

Develop key skills
and Competencies

Access
Knowledge at
the right time

Share Key Knowledge

Integrate new
Knowledge, data
and information

Create Knowledge
for Innovation

Business Process
New and Retained
Knowledge integrated

Output

Feedback

KPIs throughout the organisation

Top-

Down “Bridging

Process” To Share

the Strategy & Align

the Workforce

Bottom-Up Process

to Internalize &

Execute the

Strategy

CORP

SBU

The Strategy Focused Workforce

• EDUCATION

• PERSONAL GOAL

ALIGNMENT

• BALANCED PAYCHECKS