Human Resource Management Process - Research Paper Example

Human resource, as the name implies, refers to the workforce, and the management of the human resource is essentially the management of the workforce. The workforce is one of the most fundamental resources of an organization because all work is conducted through the workforce. Management of human resource includes addressing the individualistic and collective needs of the workers and keeping a check on their daily performance so that their salaries or other organizational benefits can be adjusted to suit their performance.

Planning is the first phase of human resource management process. In this phase, managers assess the specific skills required to accomplish the tasks that need to be done in the project at hand. Different tasks require people with different sets of abilities. Some tasks require more physical input, so they need to be assigned to physically strong employees. Other kinds of tasks that require more mental input need to be assigned to employees that are mentally sharp and have a good academic record.

Once the required sets of skills have been identified, the managers assess the various options for recruiting the employees. There is a whole range of methods that can be used to recruit the workforce. These methods include but are not limited to a face-to-face interview, interview over phone or skype, physical test, and tests directed at checking the intelligence quotient (IQ). Interviews can also be classified according to types in addition to the means of conversation. There are behavior-based interviews that tend to estimate an individual’s personality by listening to the individual’s behavioral response to a situation that he/she is likely to experience in the kind of job he/she is applying for.

Interviews may be structured or unstructured depending upon the choice of the manager. In structured interviews, the manager assesses the responses of individual candidates against a particular set of questions. There is no addition or subtraction to these questions. The questions are chosen with the mutual consensus of expert professionals. In unstructured interviews, there is no definite set of questions that are to be asked to the candidate. The conversation can take any route but it ultimately leads the manager to make a rational assessment of the skills of the candidate.

Interviews may be conducted individually or in the group. In the individual interviews, candidates are called into the office one by one for interview whereas, in group interviews, candidates are called in in groups. Big companies usually recruit the employees by conducting panel interviews of each candidate individually. In such interviews, the candidate is supposed to satisfy a whole group of experts, that tend to analyze the candidate’s abilities in their own ways. The candidate is first given a brief demonstration of the organization, it works, and its culture, and then each professional avails his/her turn to ask the question.