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HR and the line: The distribution of HR activities in Australian organisations
Author(s) -
Kulik Carol T.,
Bainbridge Hugh T.J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1177/1038411106066399
Subject(s) - line management , devolution (biology) , business , human resource management , skepticism , line (geometry) , human resources , public relations , management , political science , sociology , economics , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , epistemology , anthropology , human evolution
Results from a national survey of Australian Human Resource Institute members and CCH subscribers document a trend within Australian organisations to devolve people management activities to the line. Results indicat that human resource (HR) managers and line managers have different views of the trend, with HR managers being more optimistic that the trend has had positive organisational outcomes and anticipating more devolution to occur in the future. We identify several important issues for organisations wishing to transfer people management activities to the line: the awareness of people management ‘hot potatoes’ that are ineffectively performed by both HR and the line, and line manager scepticism around the reasons for HR‐to‐line transfer of people management activities.