Human resource management is not always or solely the presentation of gifts. Sometimes bad news has to be delivered. We aren't thinking here of bad news as in, "You're fired," in which the relationship is ended. Think instead of "You didn't get the promotion" or "We won't fund that training in your case." It sometimes helps to be able to layoff at least some of the blame in such instances. Doing so can help preserve cordial relations between a superior and subordinate. In addition, hearing bad news from a third person may help the person getting the bad news to save face, a psychological fact of life that has a lot to do with the persistence of management consulting as an industry.
As for objectivity, it is sadly the case that some general managers are less than paragons of objectivity and virtue. Some are susceptible to corruption, some attend to private agendas, some are prejudiced, and some are simply capricious. To place the administration of human resources practices solely in the hands of such a manager is unlikely to produce good outcomes. Moreover, to place the administration of human resources practices solely in the hands of a virtuous paragon can lead to (incorrect) feelings of caprice, corruption, prejudice, and so forth. Not all paragons have had the time and track record needed to develop the untarnished reputation they deserve, and an employee who is denied a promotion or rise by a paragon can be forgiven for sometimes confusing his own unhappy outcome with managerial discretion exercised unfairly. And when an individual manager is given a lot of authority, even if she is incorruptible, the temptation to try to corrupt her might prove too strong for those whose futures she will influence. leia todo o artigo
