A line manager is is an individual responsible for the staffs of an organisation. A line manager has responsibility for the employees's work. A manager at low level could be a supervisor.
(dictionary.bnet (2010) business dictionary: Line manager)
Advantages of a line manager working with HR:
- Line managers are more involved with HR managers and their activities and therefore could aquire new skills needed by the Human resources for any future references.
- Line managers know how the organisation runs on a daily basis as they are the ones who monitor it and therefore they could pass on those onformations to the HR who could then use it to train its staff better.
- This may allow line managers and HR manager to be more closer and therefore co operating with each other better resulting in better and more efficient decision making.
- By allowing line managers to participate in HR activities, the organisation is slowly training line managers to aquire the skills needed to work for HR and as a result of that when HR personels leave, the company could select new HR personels internally.
- Recruitment and selections will be made easier as tasks to complete thoise processes will be divided between HR and line managers, hence being able to select the best candidates possible suitable for the job role.
Disadvantages oh line managers working with HR:
- The relashionship between HR and line managers may not be good which may result in bad comunication and bad decision making.
- HR and line managers may have disagreements which may lead to conlicts, and result in bad decion makings.
- Line managers may not have the required skills and may not be able to cope with the tasks or even do them wrong which could be bad for an organisation as they would have lost money as well as time.
- All these conflicts between managers may affect employees on the long run, as line manager would be stressed out and may take things out on the employee or care less about their employees.
- In order for this management to be effective, co-operation betweeen line manger and HR is vital, and sometimes co-operation is at its lowest, bringing the organisation down.
- Managers need to be able to manage all operational costs of the running of the business. This is vital as it could lead to big losses if costs increase unnecessarily .
- They need to ba able to manage rotas and allocate their staff shifts properly. If these rotas are not done properly, Unnecessary costs may occur as there would be extra people working that are not needed. Allocation of shifts plays a great role in cost management.
- They should be able to monitor employees work and check quality so that quality of work is perfect.
- Managers should also be able to deal with customers and be able to resolve any conflicts.
as well as being able to do this, line managers should also develop the abilities of recognising employees good work, giving a work balance to employees that would suit their life styles, praise and reward excellent jobs. These are the main skills needed to get positive feedback from employees. Managers have to be strict as well as freindly to their employees.
(cipd (2010) The role of frontline managers in HR)
BP Line Managers:
The line manager of BP Bessborough was performing verywell, he was showing manegerial skills such as cheking quality of work and employees working, he had good cost management skills, as he ordered a prduct only when it was needed and had reduced staff hours a lot. Another clever way of reducing cost was that, he would employ people on a low hours contract for example a 8 hour or 16 hour contract but would make his staff work for more hours if needed. staff were happy but only until when the holiday peiod came, as they wouldn't be able to get as much paid holidays as they have worked because their contract was only 8 hours or 16 hours. This created great levels of conflicts between employees and my manager. Bt anyways, when it came to cost management he was good. He was great to deal with customers as he was always able to resolve problems. Eventhought he had all these skills, he neva was able to keep his employees happy, he never rewarded them, never recognised them for the work they do, doen't comunicate with them and listen to their views. This had resulted in high level of staff leaving the organisation, including me.
Could i be a line manager? or a HR manager?In this section I will research the job roles of both HR managers and line managers and decide wether i am more suitable for line manager job or a HR manager job.
Doing all the researches i belive that a job aof a HR manager is far above the present skills i have. My skills will more likely to suit a line manager job role rather than a HR manager job role. That said people can always be trained and gain knowledge and therefore i am sure that with the correct training and learning i would be able to meet HR managers job role requirements.
(cipd (2010) The role of frontline managers in HR); (jobprofiles (2010) Human resource managers)
Conclusion:
Line managers working with HR managers could bring ver successful results to the organisation, only on the basis that both management co-operate with eachother. On the other hand if co-operation is not good enough this could lead the organisation in a very bad situation with very large levels of losses. In conclusion, eventhought it is extremely advantageous for the company to let line managers and HR managers to work, however it could also be bring devestating results if both parties do not co-operate properly, and for this reason i would prefer not to let them work together.
Reference:
(dictionary.bnet (2010) business dictionary: Line manager [online] available at: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/line+manager.html [accessed: 05/02/2010])
(cipd (2009) The role of frontline managers in HR [online] available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/maneco/general/rolefrntlinemngers.htm [accessed: 05/02/2010])
(jobprofiles (2010) Human resource managers [online] available at: http://www.jobprofiles.org/bushrmanager.htm [accessed: 05/02/2010])
