HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
The workplace today is in a state of metamorphosis with contemporary issues such as customer satisfaction, competitive advantage, revenue and expenditures, organizational culture, technological advancement, global markets, diverse customer demands and need for effective workforce with a global mindset penetrating every aspect of the organization. Effective workforce is crucial as it is the organization’s primary player in accomplishing goals and delivering service. According to and (2004) a firm’s human resource management (HRM) practices and the kind of workforce help attain organizational competitiveness (). HRM is the organizational function that enhances creativity, innovation, speed, flexibility, and efficiency of the workforce to transform them into organizational assets. Human resource management is now highly recognized as a strategic lever for the organization in creating value.
THE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FUNCTION
and (1995) state that human resource management is a system that attracts, strengthens, encourages, and maintains employees who are responsible for the successful functioning and survival of the organization and its members (). The key functions and components of Human Resource Management are human resource planning, recruitment and selection, employee motivation, employee performance evaluation, industrial relations, employee services and employee training, development and education ( 2006).
Human resource planning as cited by the (2007) is the process by which an organization defines its manpower needs for every job position, forecasts its future needs for people, and evaluates the existing pool of manpower to determine its strengths and weaknesses. The process starts by analyzing the business needs of the organization, competitive pressures, and future manpower requirements. Business needs include increased revenue, profitability, quality of products, efficiency, security, and customer satisfaction. Business organizations are pressured to foresee how employees can contribute to the attainment of these elements ( and 2000, ). Secondly, competition puts pressure on the business. and (2004) state that competitive pressures encourage firms to copy the manufacturing processes, product features, technology, and delivery mechanisms of their competitors. However, human resources cannot be duplicated. Thus, firms must be able to promote an organizational culture that attracts valuable and competent people (). Thirdly, human resource planning involves forecasting the number and kind of employees required for the future. This includes assessing the strengths and weaknesses of personnel, anticipating resignation and retirements, identifying the functions wherein employees best fit, and determining the employees who have the potential to handle any kind of responsibility. One technique used in human resource planning is talent inventory which enables HR practitioners to gauge employees’ competencies, knowledge, and potential, and establish an organizational baseline of human capital. Job analysis comes after talent inventory which is the method of specifying the performance parameters and skill requirements of each job. Information gathered from talent inventory and job analysis serves as basis for recruitment and selection activities ( and 2000, ). Recruitment is the process whereby the firm determines, seeks, and attracts people to fill current and anticipated job vacancies necessary for organizational growth ( 2002, ). Selection, on the other hand, is the process of meticulously documenting and assessing the applicants’ information including skills, employment experience levels, trainings acquired, and salary levels in order to determine their congruency with the specifications of the jobs to be filled ( and 2001, ). Since human resource planning enables the establishment of a workforce profile which includes information on trainings acquired, significant work experiences, present functions, educational background, leadership potentials and so on, recruitment and selection activities are guided as to what kind of people are needed in the organization to enhance existing talents and fill knowledge gaps ( and 2000, ). Recruitment and selection are also assisted in discovering the most qualified people who can adapt to the existing organizational culture and can contribute to organizational outcomes, productivity and financial performance ( and 1999, ). Human resource planning, recruitment and selection are crucial for strengthening a firm’s competitive readiness and renewal abilities to contribute to organizational development ( and 2000, ). (1998) states that employee motivation is crucial to organizational survival because motivated employees offer more commitment and productivity. Motivating employees entails the provision of material and psychological rewards such as good pay, interesting work, recognition or praise, job security, favorable working conditions, professional growth opportunities, and coaching ( 2006). However, (2001) argues that employee motivation also results from the employee’s ability to do a certain job. For example, an employee who is not an accounting graduate cannot effectively perform basic administrative functions of debit and credit. Thus, human resource planning should correctly define job requirements, properly design job functions, and effectively match an employee’s abilities with the specifications of the job. Employees who find their functions to be clearly specified and patterned after their interests and skills would be motivated to perform at their best. Relative to employee motivation is employee retention. An organization cannot afford to lose competent staff due to poorly designed jobs and unfavorable working environment. Human resource planning plays a role in employee retention by anticipating future resignations and separations. This activity entails human resource personnel and managers to monitor the extent, reasons, and costs associated with resignation. Lack of awareness and understanding of the nature of resignation within the organization means that the firm is blind on how many competent employees are being lost. The result of forecasting in human resource planning enables the firm to adopt certain steps to address the issues of employee resignation and retention ( 1996). HRM also facilitates the performance evaluation of staff in order for the organization to take account of its manpower and assess its contributions to organizational goals. Specific reasons for conducting performance evaluation are: to strengthen overall organizational performance by improving the individual performance; to identify existing potential which can be utilized to either handle future higher position vacancies or other jobs for a better use of the abilities; and to provide a fair method of relating compensation to performance where there are no numerical criteria ( 2006). In addition, human resource management is responsible in seeing to it that organizational policies and procedures adhere to labor and social laws. (1998) claims that the human resource management function upholds employee aspirations in light of societal and labor laws and at times is obliged to intervene when employees run into difficulties personally and professionally; serves as the organization's conscience by verbalizing any violations in the organizational values and ethics; and treats people with kindness, respect and affection (). (2002) elaborates that human resource management personnel inform the management on the details of existing employment contracts and emerging trends and how to comply with them; administer the just implementation of wages and salaries; maintain the consistency of employer practices with definite policies; and implement an employee “voice mechanism” for complaints and grievances to reach the management (). Finally, HRM is concerned with employee training, development and education through a career development program and human resource development. The human resource planning activity of establishing a profile of the current and needed skills and competencies of an organization’s manpower renders much importance in training and development. and (2000) state that training and development entail the accumulation and thorough scrutiny of the actual work situation including job descriptions, task analysis and employee’s capacities. Human resource planning provides these things. Thus, training and development can only be effective after an analysis of the existing work situation has been done so that the kind of training is tailored after the real needs of the staff. (2006a) states that employees undergo training, development and education to augment job satisfaction, strengthen the employees’ capability to handle new technologies and procedures, encourage innovation and strategies, and improve the employees’ skill proficiency.
PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
The training function of human resource management is contemporarily termed as human resource development. It is a systematic effort to facilitate employee acquisition of present and future job-related knowledge, skills, and attitudes or assist them to correct any shortcomings in their performance ( 2002, ). and (1998) report that training and development revolves around three areas – individual employee development, career development and performance improvement (). Individual employee development aspires to develop the employee’s knowledge, competence and motivation necessary for improving job efficiency and performance. In order to do this, the trainor must follow eight steps in the conduct of the training: solicit the attention and interest of the employee, orient the employee on the objectives of the training, determine prior knowledge on the concepts of the present training, explain the contents of the training as well as the skills that it wants to impart, provide the parameters for coaching, encourage the trainee to participate, assess employee’s learning while in the training process and encourage the employee to incorporate his learning to actual work situations ( 2007). Secondly, the key objective of career development is to help employees analyze their abilities and interests and decide to enter in a career development program. First, the human resource personnel and managers must develop a helping relationship with the employee. There is a need to encourage the employees to openly discuss their career goals, strengths, and areas of improvement in order to determine the kind of career development to provide. The employee’s interest must also be obtained since this would determine the success of the training. Human resource personnel must talk with the employees on the need for providing the training. When the employee agrees to participate in a career developmental process, the manager or human resource personnel should advice them to work and participate well. After the career development program, the supervisors and human resource personnel must be able to monitor employee performance to evaluate the effectiveness of the training provided ( 2007). Finally, training and development must be aimed at performance improvement ( and 1998) Many business firms use training to facilitate learning, improve performance, ensure continuous learning and enable sharing of knowledge. Employees engage in training and development to learn and practice self-efficacy, effective customer service, tolerance for diversity, teamwork, and technical skills. Training is also a part of continuous learning strategy which is the long-term process of acquiring knowledge, skills, attitudes and motivations for personal and organizational development. Finally, the essence of training and development in performance improvement culminates in the willingness and ability of employees to interact and share ideas to improve production processes, group decision-making, product and service delivery, and inter-department functions ( 2002, ).
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TERMS
Job analysis – This is the process of defining the work, activities, tasks, products, services, or processes performed by an employee. Well-defined jobs help the employees to systematize their performance; enhance communication because the employees know what they are supposed to do and can readily share ideas and knowledge; help managers to assess an applicant’s ability to perform the specific tasks of the job; make performance evaluation easier as the definition of tasks would determine what needs to be done and if the employee is able to do it; establish relative skills levels among the jobs for compensation decisions; serve as the basis for needs analysis in training program development; and assist organizations to identify core functions that must be maintained and the skills required to carry out these functions when confronted with issues of workforce reduction or expansion ( 1994, ).
Job description – Job description in an outline of the general functions and responsibilities of a specific position. Sometimes job descriptions also include the name of supervisor whom the position should report to, the qualifications required for the job, and salary range. Basically, job descriptions are utilized by the firm to advertise vacant and open positions, determine the appropriate compensation commensurate to the responsibilities of the job, and as a basis for performance evaluations ( 2006).
Job evaluation – Job evaluation is a practical process of breaking down jobs into specific tasks and helping employees to judge the size of a certain job in comparison to others. The process develops the foundation for internal ranking of jobs. The two primary methods of job evaluation are whole job ranking wherein jobs are ranked against each other in their entirety; and awarding points for various areas of the job such as education, training and experience. Job evaluation entails the assessment of jobs, not the people. It is a contributory factor for problem solving as it helps determine duplication of tasks and inconsistencies between jobs and specific functions ( 2005).
Performance Appraisal – Performance appraisal is the process wherein supervisors evaluate an employee's performance to identify strengths and areas of improvement. Supervisors look into specific employee actions which may include volunteering for a task or activities that are not formally part of the job; taking extra effort/responsibility; suggesting improvements; displaying initiative; demonstrating functional participation; complying with organizational procedures, policies and rules; advocating organizational objectives; demonstrating loyalty and obedience, civic virtue, and conscientiousness; helping and cooperating with others; using the firm’s resources prudently; and demonstrating flexibility and problem-solving ability ( 2003, ). Performance appraisal provides an opportunity for the employees’ efforts to be recognized and thus improve their motivation. It also offers a chance for supervisors and staff to identify and agree on training needs as well as a basis for managers to assess the effectiveness of the recruitment and hiring strategies. Most importantly, performance appraisal assists employees and supervisors to adopt a new direction for better performance ( 2006).
Job Rotation – It is a management development practice wherein a person is moved through a series of assignments to provide him/her an opportunity to gain exposure to and experience the general operations of the firm as well as allow employees to thoroughly understand organizational processes and encourage greater job satisfaction through varied responsibilities. Job rotation among senior managers is a strategy of succession planning which is the process of developing a pool of people capable of assuming an existing job when necessary. For the lower management, job rotation answers the purposes of promotability or improvement of skills ( 2006).
Job Enlargement - Job enlargement is a process of extending the scope of a particular job through additional tasks that call for the same level of responsibilities and skills. It is facilitated to prevent boredom among employees. This strategy opposes the principles of specialization and the division of labor wherein jobs are broken down into smaller units, each of which is performed repetitively by an employee. Some motivational theories claim that boredom and alienation through the routinary and repetitive performance advanced by division of labor can cause efficiency to weaken. Accordingly, job enlargement aims to motivate employees through additional tasks that do not greatly deviate from their current responsibilities. Some examples are replacement of assembly lines with modular work wherein a worker does not repeat the same step on every product; rather he/she handles numerous tasks on a single product ( 2007; 2006).
Job Enrichment - Job enrichment is a job redesign approach that expands individual jobs by adding more tasks and requiring other kinds of skills and competence to handle the additional tasks. The purpose is to fine tune the division of labor within the firm and improve organizational efficiency. Enriched jobs allow employees to realize their personal goals and evoke work behavior congruent with the objectives of the firm. Job enrichment can correct ineffective work designs, enhance managerial control systems, abolish or lessen the need for labor, and intensify the work process ( 1986, ).
Job Satisfaction – Job satisfaction reflects the conscious attitudes toward one's job. Job satisfaction can be achieved through clear and just organizational policies; supervisors who appreciate employee efforts and outputs as well as guide ineffective performance; appropriate compensation for the job; a corporate culture that allows socialization, camaraderie, and coordination; pleasant working conditions which include individual work areas, sufficient office supplies, ventilated office, and clean health and sanitary facilities; meaningful tasks; freedom to decide and carry out actions; and reward for loyalty and remarkable performance (, , & 1999). and (2004) claim that job satisfaction has been linked to critical organizational outcomes such as employee absenteeism, tardiness, intentions to turnover, actual turnover, job performance, organizational citizenship behavior, burnout, physical and psychological well being, creativity, productivity, loyalty to company and life satisfaction ().
Management Development – Management development recognizes the vitality of managers in the survival of the organization. Thus, a program designed for the continuing education of managers on new management techniques, strategies and approaches is imperative. Contemporary management development programs make use of three approaches: one that focuses on the characteristics, knowledge, and experience of managers and attempts to provide special programs to address their needs; another underscores the improvement of managers as members of a class or a set of classes with overlapping membership; and the last emphasizes a specific organization which results to programs designed to enhance the functioning of a particular organization, with a given manpower and resources faced with distinct situations and problems ( and 1998, ).
Career Planning – Career planning is a lifelong process of identifying, planning, pursuing and maintaining or changing a career. It entails choosing a specific occupation based on a person’s interests and skills, being employed for the job, developing within the job, changing careers when necessary and finally retiring. This process involves five steps. First, the person has to assess the kinds of interests, values, skills, knowledge, and developmental needs that he possesses and the work environment that he prefers. After these things are determined, the person has to explore all options available to him. These options may range from internships, volunteer works, academic materials, or full time employment. Afterwards, there is a need to identify possible jobs that the person can capably handle, assess the desirability of these jobs, analyze alternatives, and select short term and long term options. The fourth step requires the person to prepare for hiring requirements to the chosen job. Finally, the person has to successfully perform job requirements and learn everything that he can while on the job to maintain development of expertise which may be needed for future career plans and changes ( 2007).
REFERENCES
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