CHAPTER ONE

1.0      INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF STUDY

In the last ten years, organisations especially in Africa have been hit with the undisputable fact that the creation of competitive advantage lies in people. Organizations have increasingly recognized the potential for their people to be a source of competitive advantage. Human Resource (HR) functions were the preserve of “Personnel Managers” whose duties were to recruit and select, appraise, promote and demote. These duties may be performed by any manager, it therefore never seemed necessary to employ an expert in the form of a human resource manager let alone create a whole department dedicated to HRM (Human Resource Management).

Little attention was paid to human resource management issues and its impact on organisational performance. The emphasis on traditions and socio-cultural issues injected an element of subjectivity in “personnel manager” functions such as recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, promotion, demotion, and compensation. In a competitive world as today and rapidly changing business world, organisations especially in the service industry need to ensure maximum utilisation of their resources to their own advantage; a necessity for organisational survival.

Most studies that organisations can create and sustain competitive position through management of non-substitutable, rare, valuable, and inimitable internal resources (Barney, 2001). Human Resource Management has transcended from policies that gather dust to practices that produce results. It has the ability to create organisations that are more intelligent, flexible and competent than their competitors through the application of policies and practices that concentrate on recruiting, selecting, training skilled employees and directing their best efforts to cooperate within the resource bundle of the organisation.

Potentially, it can be a consolidate organisation performance and create competitive merit as a result of the historical sensitivity of human resources and the social complex of policies and practices that rival may in one way or the other find difficulty in imitating their diversity and depth. Organisations lately, are focused on achieving superior performance through the best use of talented human resources as a strategic asset.

Human Resource Management strategies or policies must now be aligned to business strategies for organisational success. Irrespective of the amount of technology and mechanization developed, human resource remains the one and only singular most important resource of any success-oriented organisation or establishment. After all, successful businesses are built on the strengths of exceptional people. HRM has now gained significance academically and business wise and can therefore not be relegated to the background or left in the hands of non-experts. More attention must be paid to the human resources organisations spent considerable time and resources to select.

Armstrong (2009) defines Human Resource Management (HRM) as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued assets; that is, the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives. The practices can be seen as a set of organisational activities which aim at managing a pool of human capital and furthermore, for the achievement of organisational objectives, this capital must be employed (Wright and Boswell, 2002).

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Human Resource Management has made significant inroads into the Nigeria corporate world. It is common to see large organisations in Nigeria set up a whole department for the sole purpose of managing human resources and hire experts in the field to be in charge of HRM. The enormous benefits of properly managing human resource cannot be over emphasized. However, the majority of the corporate organisations in Nigeria are yet to catch the “HRM cold”. Inappropriate HRM policies and practices of some of these organisations may be attributed to the non-existence of HRM specialists or HRM departments. Finally, several researches have been carried out on human resource management but not even a single research has been carried out on the impact of human resource management in a corporate organisation.

1.3   AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The main aim of the study is to determine the impact of human resource management in a corporate organisation. Other specific objective of the study includes:

1.          to determine the effect of human resource management on corporate organisation.

2.          to determine the factors affecting human resource management in a corporate organisation.

3.          to determine the extent to which human resource management affects the corporate organisation.

4.          to proffer possible solution to the problems.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS               

1.          What is the effect of human resource management on corporate organisation?

2.          What are the factors affecting human resource management in a corporate organisation?

3.          What is the extent to which human resource management affects a corporate organisation?

4.          What are the possible solutions to the problems?

1.5   STATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0:   Human resource management has no significant effect on corporate organization.

H1:      Human resource management has a significant effect on corporate organization.

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study on the impact of human resource management in a corporate organisation will be of immense benefit to the entire corporate organisations in the sense that it will prompt policy makers and implementers to pay due attention to HRM practices and the role of HRM strategies in achieving organisational goals. The study of will help corporate organisation to appreciate the impact of HRM of organisational performance. Finally, it will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge to this field of study and basis for further research.

 

 

1.7   SCOPE OF STUDY

The study on the impact of human resource management is limited to corporate organisation.

1.8   LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9   DEFINITION OF TERMS

ImpactThe action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.

Human Resource Is the company department charged with finding, screening, recruiting and training job applicants, as well as administering employee-benefit programs.

ManagementThe process of dealing with or controlling things or people.                                  

Corporate Relating to a large company or group.

OrganisationAn organized group of people with a particular purpose, such as a business or government department.

 

 

 

 

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