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Keywords Line management, Employee relations, Strategy, Human resource management
Abstract Although fine managers have always been involved in managing human resources (HR), it is within human resource management (HRM) that their involvement has been placed centre-stage as a core element of an HR approach. This article reports findings from 40 interviews with fine managers on their experiences in handling IN work that has been devolved to them, from a study of three different UK work organisations. The study finds that significant organisational benefits and costs exist from involving the fine in HR work The article concludes that particpation of both fine and HR managers in HRM needs to be re-assessed, as fine involvement in HRM is a problematic initiative for organisations to adopt.
Introduction
The involvement of line managers[l] in human resource management (HRM) has always been noted in the literature (Guest, 1987; Legge, 1995; Storey, 1992), but in recent years the line have been seen to play a more prominent role in HRM due to more HR work being "devolved" to them (Brewster and Larsen, 2000; Currie and Procter, 2001; Guest and King, 2001; Storey, 1992,2001; Ulrich, 1997, 1998, 2001). Although devolution to the line in the UK is low compared with other European countries, and the dominant pattern across Europe is of sharing human resouces (HR) work between HR and the line (Brewster and Larsen, 2000), WERS '98[2] notes that line managers outnumber employee relations specialists in the handling of employee relations (ER) issues at British workplaces (Millward et al, 2000, pp. 52-3). The rationale of why line involvement in HRM has come to the fore in recent years is seen by Brewster and Larsen (2000) to have five main elements: to reduce costs; to provide a more comprehensive approach to HRM; to place responsibility for HRM with managers most responsible for it; to speed up decision making; and as an alternative to outsourcing the HR function (adapted from Brewster and Larsen, 2000, pp. 196-8).
Other authors note the different roles that line managers should now play in organisations and the reasons for them. These include ideas that line managers "are now expected to do more of their own ERM" and "can benefit from crosstraining in HR processes" (Mohrman and Lawler, 1998,...