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There is an increase in the devolution of HR activity to line managers. What challenges do faced by both line managers and the HR function and how can organizations overcome them?

In the ever challenging new business environment, practitioners as well as academicians have been discovering that relying on HR department to manage people in an organization is no longer sufficient. Particularly in the large organization, the people managing jobs are increasingly devolved to line managers (Dessler, 2011). This is because very often, line managers are in better position to manage the workforce under their supervision. Under such arrangement, when HR related jobs are devolved to line managers, HR departments are held responsible to set relevant and correct HR policies while line managers are responsible in executing those policies.

However, devolution of HR activities to line managers may not be something easy, there are many challenges faced by both line managers and HR personnel as follow:

Line managers may not want to take up new responsibilities. Line managers may already being heavily burdened by the tasks on hand, and yet they are required to take in new jobs as the HR functions are devolved to them. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that they will resist changes. In order to solve such issues, managing resistance to change among the line managers is necessary. For example, senior management should persuade the line managers on the benefits of devolving HR tasks to them. Senior management can also highlight the fact that learning new skills can enhance the career of these line managers. Feedback from the line managers should also be listened properly. Besides, line managers can also be involved in the change process, so that they feel the ownership of the change program and become more motivated to take on new roles.

Line managers may not have the experiences and knowledge in managing people. For this, training and development of line managers is important.

The need to develop HR self-service software to facilitate HR works for line managers. Devolving tasks to line managers means that organization must invest in new IT/ IS system to facilitate the change process. Corporation should also allocate budget to set up new software system that link HR related paper work, such as performance appraisal, employees absenteeism, and others to the desktop of line managers (Dessler, 2011), so that they can work efficiently and effectively.

HR personnel need to take on new roles and learn new skills. As the tasks are devolved to line managers, HR personnel are now required to think in a more strategies terms, to implement policies and practices that can benefit the organization in the long run. All these are not easy task, as experiences and deep insights on the subject of people management is required (Ming, 2002). That means many HR personnel may not up to the level to involve or excel on strategic human resources management jobs. For this, training, education and long term development programs must be delivered to enhance the competencies of these HR personnel.

References:

Dessler, G. (2011) Human Resource Management ,12^th edition, Prentice Hall,

Dyer, L., & Holder, G. W. (1988). A strategic perspective of HRM. In L. Dyer & G.W. Holder (Eds.), Human Resource Management: Evolving Roles and Responsibilities. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs.

Ming, W. (2002). Strategic Human Resource Management. Academy of Chongqing Institute of Commerce: Beijing.