ABSTRACT
The general idea of the human resource management (HRM) approach advocated in this chapter is the empowering of the individual. Attention is focused especially on the elderly employee, since for several reasons he or she suffers from greater powerlessness than younger workers. Improvements in this situation can be made by the creation of training opportunities, greater transparency of organizations and function assessment. A possible intervention method to mobilize self-empowered resources are age-conscious personnel policies. Part of such a policy might be the HRM approach. For optimal HRM, employees should themselves be given responsibility, supplemented by adequate training opportunities. The aimed-for higher autonomy and freedom of the individual worker can be attained by taking measures like job redesign, task enrichment, higher mobility and so on. The success of such measures depends on adequate training of skill, implementation of age-conscious personnel policies and self-management training. Possibilities and techniques to attain this success are discussed. The gains of the HRM approach are more freedom for the employee, to arrange his or her own work and to choose challenges. Direct benefits are a strong identification with and more interest in the job and improvement of health and well-being; indirect benefits are less sick leave, higher productivity and so on. There are some contra-indications, however, namely its dependence on the right organizational culture, a basic trust in the sincerity of the organizational intentions and the intrinsic motivating qualities of the work. Other factors are union support and the cost of implementing the approach. In sum, the emphasis of the HRM approach lies in the decrease of power differences by empowering the less powerful. It seems an attractive way to cope adequately with the continuously changing environment.
