Knowledge, Belief and Culture in Human Resource Management for Hr Practitioners and Entrepreneurs

By Arbab Akanda

THIS BOOK IS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE SOCIETY THROUGH ORGANISATIONS THAT VALUE HUMAN RESOURCES IN THE TRUE SENSE AND SPIRIT

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Feb 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504937351

Arbab Akanda

Dr. Arbab Akanda, born in London, is a qualified HR practitioner and through the book: Knowledge, Belief and Culture in Human Resource Management for HR Practioners and Entrepreneurs, is trying to make the point that Knowledge, Belief and Culture based HR interventions, is most likely to make a long-lasting impact. Organisations exist to serve society. If organisations are well run, the society benefits. And to ensure that the organisation is well run, the HR Knowledge, Belief and Culture base must improve through new and innovative ways to management of the human resources. This book is simply a fresh way of looking at the Human Resource Management Thinking. This is the second book of the author. The first book: The Practicalities of Human Resource Management for HR Practioners -Fresh Perspective, published in December 2013 by the publisher: Authorhouse. Arbab took his MSS and BSS from Dhak University, Bangladesh and qualified as a lawyer to the Dhaka Bar Council of Bangladesh. He did his Post Graduation in Personnel Management from the Institute of Personnel Management, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Then he went on to complete a Diploma in Personnel Management from ICS, Glasgow. After the Diploma, Arbab become a graduate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London. In 2007, Arbab become a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London. He was also awarded a Ph.d in Personnel Management. Dr. Arbab Akanda has held various senior HR roles in a number of sectors and in recent years, he has been teaching HR in London. Arbab believes a good understanding of HR is essential for any type of organisation.

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© 2015 Arbab Akanda (FCIPD, UK). All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/25/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-3741-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-3735-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Preface

1 Introduction

2 What Is The Knowledge Based Human Resource Management Approach

3 What Is Belief Based Human Resource Management Approach

4 Knowledge Based Organisational Culture

5 Knowledge Based Organisation Culture Model

6 Cultural Learning In Organisations

7 A Knowledge And Belief: Culture Based HR Framework

8 Management Tolerance And Culture: Pragmatic Approach

9 Signs Of Dysfunctional Knowledge, Belief And Culture Application: Negative Organisation Performance

10 Organisational Presentation

11 Feedback

12 Organisational Roles, Responsibilities And Boundaries

13 The Knowledge, Skill And Behaviour Required By Hr Professional

14 Workshop On Knowledge Based Approach, Belief Based Approach And Culture Based Approach For Hr Practitioners

15 Workshop On Feedback

16 Workshop On Organisational Presentation

17 Workshop On Knowledge, Skills And Behaviour For HR Professionals

Conclusion

THIS BOOK IS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE SOCIETY THROUGH ORGANISATIONS THAT VALUE HUMAN RESOURCES IN THE TRUE SENSE AND SPIRIT

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the following persons:

• Jhuma

• Parisa

• Alisa

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This is with humbleness that I acknowledge the members of the publication team (Authorhouse) and all the members who have rendered their support in bringing this book into reality.

Also, I would like to acknowledge the support given by Dr. H.M. Wasiul Islam and the team members of Ethos UK, a registered charity organisation.

Last but not least, Altamash Pasha who has been a source of constant inspiration.

Author’s responsibility:

The author takes full responsibility for the contents of the book and for any errors.

Contacts details:

Please use the email: ‘[e-mail]’ to discuss the contents of the book.

PREFACE

In contemporary times, Human Resource Management has become a distinct branch of people management knowledge and discipline whose focus is on efficiency and effectiveness of the deployment of human resources knowledge, skills and behaviour and being able to align human resources to the core outcomes of the organisation. And this alignment or I would use the term, ‘fit’ with the core values and objectives of the organisation is the focus of this book. Fit in the sense of not only aligning the Human Resource to the core aims and objective of the organisation but to the external environment that impacts on the organisation. This book is about the application of Human Resource Management from Knowledge, Culture and Belief based approach. Many or a good number of the majority of SMEs and other organisations operate the Human Resource Management which is neither knowledge based nor belief or culture based but at the spur of the moment and with results well below expectations and unable to achieve any greater purpose.

If the knowledge, culture and belief based approach can be integrated, what will reveal is a matured and a responsible response to the complex and multiple HR issues that the HR practitioners and entrepreneurs confront. Good understanding of the three approaches should provide meaningful support to HR related arguments and decisions. The lack of informed decisions is the key challenges of any organisation. Through this book, I have tried to focus on the inside aspect of organisations. The inside aspect means the people activities that take place inside the organisation, the key decisions, the key HR issues, the inside dilemma and how the organisation sets itself to deliver. It is the central issue: how to align the human resources with the values and purpose of the organisation? Such alignment or fit means understanding the discipline: Human Resource Management from the perspective as mentioned below:

• Knowledge-based HR perspective

• Belief-based HR perspective

• Culture-based HR perspective

Knowledge-based approach is basically what we know about human resources and belief-based approach is what we are not certain of. And culture-based approach is basically where the culture of the organisation seems to influence decisions. All the approaches have distinctive value and these are the subject matters of the book where I explore and examine all the three the approaches in-depth. Times are extremely sensitive and complex and that is why HR practitioners must be careful in making HR interventions because to some extent, success of an organisation depends on the decisions we make on our human resources. Mistakes or errors can be costly. We must use HR interventions with caution and this is the central idea of the book: Knowledge, Belief and Culture in Human Resources for HR Practitioners and Entrepreneurs.

The book, I believe will act as an eye opener and mind opener to the fact that knowledge based approach, belief based approach and culture based approach are not the same and have different routes and at times, with the same destination: success of the organisation. How one reaches the destination by taking three different routes is the issue and the consequences that will be explored and analyzed in the book.

The following benefits will be derived from the book:

• Seperating the HR knowledge basis into: Knowledge based HR approach, Belief based HR approach and Culture based approach

• The three different approaches will have their own distinct road map

• Better decisions, depend on deciding which approach to take, dependent on the characteristics of the situation

• Greater awareness of the three approaches should enrich the overall knowledge base of the HR practitioner.

I have also included topics of serious consideration:

• Management tolerance

• Organisational presentation

• Feedback

• Organisation Roles, Responsibilities and Boundaries

• The Knowledge, Skills and Behaviour

• Workshop on knowledge, belief and culture based approaches to HR and a couple of workshops with the aim to consolidate learning.

‘Knowledge, Belief and Culture for HR practitioners and Entrepreneurs’ is a book aimed at HR practioners to advance understanding of HR by providing interesting ideas that can be used by entrepreneurs and the top management.

1

INTRODUCTION

Human Resource Management is a discipline which touches the heart and soul of every human endeavour, towards the achievement of objectives through PEOPLE via organizations. People express their effort, energy and intellect in an organisation and it is this effort and energy used for the greater interest of the organisation that is the primary focus for all the HR practitioners. Decisions made, delivered and formed- all emerges from the fundamental theme:

• What do we know?

• What do we believe in?

• What conventional wisdom takes precedence?

These three questions are the main topics of discussion throughout the book.

It is interesting to note that, HR practitioners do not always differentiate the three stances. Not being able to differentiate between TO KNOW and TO BELIEVE and CONVENTIONAL WISDOM may lead to different answers and decisions that will and may create confusion. And from the organisational perspective, the organisation will suffer.

If the organisation suffers, the people, customers, stakeholders and society will also suffer inevitably.

That is why, HR managers and managers should be trained to not only identify knowledge, belief and culture but also know when to apply the concepts depending on the situation, in a manner which is beneficial and acceptable to the stakeholders of organisations.

I have used Conventional Wisdom to refer to Culture.

Those who have been in the HR and those who aspire to enter this dynamic and intriguing profession must develop a frame of mind that is divided into three basic parts:

• Knowledge

• Beliefs

• Culture

The three concepts may look similar but are by no means the same. The three concepts are the pillars on which the success of any HR intervention depends. Knowledge, belief and culture are important issues to understand, take into consideration and make decisions.

Falling into the trap of taking HR decisions on incomplete knowledge or low belief or high belief and no knowledge or high on knowledge but low on belief and too much reliance on conventional wisdom known as culture can or has the potential to cause disruption, slow progress and making inaccurate HR decisions.

It should be remembered that my focus is on Human Resource Management as my area of specialism. And that is the reason why my domain of the discussion about knowledge, belief and culture is in the field of Human Resource Management.

The book tries to understand the concept of knowledge based approach, believe based approach and culture based approach to the HR practitioners and that includes five areas of concern:

• Decision based on knowledge

• Decision based on belief

• Decision based on no knowledge and no belief

• Decision based on knowledge and belief

• Decision based on ‘that is the way we do things here’: culture, which I have referred to as the conventional wisdom.

In writing this book, I have taken the heuristic approach which I have chosen as the method of inquiry. By heuristic approach I mean, the process of gaining knowledge by experience rather than the pre-established formula.

I have based my HR assertions on experience which is derived from the HR realm of experience and action. The heuristic approach was developed by Clark Moustakas that involves self-search, self-dialogue and self-discovery. This method of inquiry or as it is known as the heuristic inquiry, an inquiry based on self discovery from experience and self discovery on a research topic of inquiry.

The distinctive feature of this book is to give the HR professionals and entrepreneurs a fresh perspective in the management of people with particular emphasis on knowledge, belief and culture.

We all want organisations to succeed. Success through the systematic application of the HR Knowledge, Belief and Culture approach should be sustainable and long-lasting.

HR decisions, people management policies, performance of the workforce, customer satisfaction, stakeholder satisfaction, compliance, and trasperancy in the corporate governance, accountability, and ethical considerations: all these factors can be implemented through the proper application of HR knowledge, belief and culture.

2

WHAT IS THE KNOWLEDGE BASED HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT APPROACH

Knowledge based HR approach is basically all the HR interventions, decisions and actions based on HR knowledge that have been well researched, tested and applied. Some may term the knowledge based HR as the theories of HR. Such assumptions are also true. But the fundamental issue is: knowledge is something that exists and has been researched, tested and accepted as being the truth and well justified. The problem begins with HR actions taken based on inadequate knowledge or even in some extreme cases, on no knowledge at all leading to confusions.

This is the reason why, HR practitioners should first know the business and the organisation before attempting to make any sort of interventions. This may also be termed as commercial awareness.

But before embarking on the journey of what HR practitioners should know or know already, I will briefly discuss the knowledge, generally and then link knowledge to Human Resource Management. The understanding of knowledge and what it is and what are the constituent elements of knowledge will help to create the domain of knowledge based HR decisions.

Knowledge as a discipline is known as Epistemology which comes from the Greek word episteme which means knowledge and logos mean reason. Bringing both episteme and logos together we get epistemology and that means the reason behind the knowledge.

The constituent elements of knowledge:

• Belief

• True

• Justification

This is also known as the tripartite theory of knowledge from the perspective of philosophers.

HR practitioners must understand that HR knowledge to be categorized as knowledge must be believed. In other words, the HR practitioner must believe in the given knowledge. That knowledge must be true and not imagined and the belief must also be justified. Without justifications, beliefs for the HR professionals will be meaningless and may also lack acceptance and credibility.

Some philosophers opine that knowledge involves:

• Certainty

• Evidence

• Practicality

• Broad agreement

Knowledge based HR intervention and decision, means the HR practitioner must be able to align thinking process to belief, the fact must be true and the belief must be justified with evidence, acceptability and practical utility.

The knowledge based HR issues have been theorized, tested and are reliable. A good proportion of the HR knowledge has come by empiricism, deductive approach and inductive approach of inquiry. The deductive approach involves forming a hypothesis and the research begins from the hypothesis which is trying to predict what will happen if the relations between two or more variables change.

On the other hand, inductive approach, much used by social scientists to study patterns, trends and themes by collecting data to form a theory. The research taking the inductive type does not start from hypothesis. Also, HR researchers and business researchers have taken an Ontological approach which means, what is known or what exists and have linked this with the Epistemology which means, what can be known and how can it be known.

Those interested in understanding research, I recommend:

Hall Saunders, M. Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2009) Research Methods for Business Students, 5th edition, FT/Prentice. An absolute must reading for those who want to understand research.

A significant proportion of HR knowledge is derived from empiricism. The term empiricism means the process by which we acquire knowledge is through experience and evidence through tests. That is, experience is the source of knowledge, backed by evidence and tested. It is the senses (perceptions) that create the experience leading to the development and formation of knowledge.

The HR theorists have also relied on the rationalist approach which is about pure reasoning rather than experience. But as HR theorists are social scientists, the usage of the rationalist approach has been somewhat limited, which is understandable. The researchers dealing with pure science where the features of something are to some extent static, for example, one trying to study on rock tend to use the rationalist approach.

As HR researchers and HR scholars are social scientists, dealing with human mankind, feelings and emotions, the only way to understand trends and patterns seem to come through experience by perception and observation that is well justified but not also without critics. The key term is justification.

The key theme is: how we justify claims to make the claim acceptable, valid and reliable. Justification goes through a certain process which is like this:

• In order to justify one item, that item needs to be supported by another justification that is believed to be true.

• The supporting justification is essential to justify something

• But can the supporting justification continue infinitely?

• The answer is no

Thus, from the HR perspective, justification depends on the situation and circumstances and we need to make a rational judgement using discretion to acknowledge a starting point, otherwise, there will be no end to supporting justifications.

Before moving ahead, one other point is that HR scholars and HR practitioners have three types of knowledge to choose from:

• Personal knowledge

• Procedural knowledge

• Propositional knowledge

Personal knowledge is about person knowledge gained from acquaintance and familiarisation. But HR practitioners must be made aware that such knowledge is sometimes just based on belief without any justification as such. Also, the source of familiarisation and acquaintance may be founded on the wrong premise. This means, the HR practitioner is on the wrong track and the probability of dysfunctionalism cannot be ignored.

As HR is a discipline for the people at work, it is the people at work who are at risk, if the HR intervention is based on inaccurate familiarisation and aqauintance.

So, for the sake of justice and fairness, HR practitioners are recommended to think about basing HR decisions on personal knowledge where acquaintance and familiarization is accurately present and can be justified.

Procedural knowledge is about having a good understanding of the processes involved. It is quite usual for the HR practitioner to have good procedural knowledge which is an extremely important criterion for a successful HR practitioner. Good procedural knowledge involves not only understanding the formal and informal internal procedures but also the legal framework. For example, in order to sack an employee, the HR manager must have sound knowledge of the ways or processes as how to sack an employee that is legal, valid and fair. This is just an example. Not that I am advocating for sacking employees. On the contrary, as an HR practitioner, I would like to see an organisation as a happy family where contradictions are managed, good communication is visible, respect is the cornerstone and functions are compatible with ethics.

Now, I will deal with propositional knowledge which is about Fact. This is the most important knowledge for the HR practitioners. Decisions, HR interventions and HR actions must be based on factual knowledge, a knowledge that is factual; reality baked by perception and exists and not hypothetical or imagined. It is something real.

Such knowledge is reliable, verifiable and acceptable.

Take for example, a small privately owned college where the employees are experiencing non-regular salary payments that arrive not