MODULE: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Impact of Line Managers on Organizational Performance

Impact of Line Managers on Organizational Performance

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to research and evaluate the role of line managers within organizations and consider their impact on the organizational performance. The paper proceeds with the discussion on the way organizational culture may impact their management styles, communication and decision making, delegation and empowerment. An explanation would be provided for the way line managers typically operate in today's business environment. The investigation is further extended into how line managers will affect staff motivation and employee engagement, both as individuals and teams. Furthermore, its impact will be analyzed on the way people work and, as a result, what impact it has on their performance.

Role of Line Managers within organisations today

In the literature of HR devolution as well as of managerial roles, a long term responsibility and role of line managers for the issues of people management is claimed by the authors. One of the roles of line managers has been pointed out as the development of environment wherein they work. Also, the activities related to staffing are taken as part of the managerial role. This managerial role model has been used in a number of studies for the order of recognizing the role of people or line manager. Furthermore, it has been argued by numerous authors from the literature of HR devolution that such responsibilities of line management have considerably increased during the past decades because of the evolution of human resource management in contrast to the personnel management and the pressure faced by the human resource managers for making a strategic contribution.

For the purpose of contributing towards the strategy realization of the firm, for human resource management, the responsibility of line management is considered as essential (Harris, 2001, pp. 1182-1192). Line managers, after all, occupy a fundamental position in the realization of major corporate objectives and may thus have a more direct influence on the discretionary behaviour, commitment, and motivation of the subordinates in comparison to the overall human resource department. In spite of the major role which is attributed to the line managers in bringing about the strategic contribution of the human resource management to the organization, it is quite recent that a case is made to take into compass the human resource management role of the line managers in the relevant literature. This human resource management role of the line managers comprises components of management and leadership.

Line management deals with the performance of formal and specific practices of human resource management which are the responsibilities of the line manager (Kulik & Bainbridge, 2006, pp. 240-256). These include the training and performance appraisal activities, recruitment practices, and more. Leadership is related to the consistent exhibit of an extensive variety of leadership attitudes. For instance, leadership is about the provision of support to the subordinates, recognition of the worthy contributions made by the subordinates, and consultation with the subordinates regarding significant decisions. All these practices are intended to impact behaviour and attitude ...