Human Resource Management- Project - Research Paper Example

Human Resource Management-Research Project Introduction Given their prime importance to organizational performance, the human resources are the most critical factor of production that should be managed effectively for the success and growth of organizations, especially in the face of increasing competitive pressure in the global business environment. A skilled human resource, when managed effectively, can develop special capabilities and competencies that can be a source of competitive advantage for an organization (Schuler, 1987); these special capabilities can also be developed through organizational training and development that aims at promoting both the employees’ personal as well as organizational growth. Global organizations should engage in the best practices with regards to the people side of the organization because they can be a source of competitive advantages that can help them survive the mounting pressures of the fast changing global business environment. Following a promotion that put me in charge of a junior employee at the City Bank, I have been tasked to recruit a replacement to my former Head of Finance position and to oversee the new recruit in discharging bank’s goals and objectives. After a thorough job analysis, I have developed a detailed job description, recruiting plan, Selection strategy (including testing and interviewing), performance evaluation, motivation, employee training, and development. This paper examines my best practices of Strategic Human Resource management, including but not limited to the ones already mentioned above, using theoretical perspectives from the organizational behavior literature, classroom knowledge personal experiences. Job Description City bank is a leading financial institution that seeks to recruit a self-driven and experienced Head of Finance; the successful candidate will take charge of the finance management function of the bank ensuring the establishment of appropriate financial plans that will secure the bank’s assets from potential loss. The individual will be responsible for ensuring the bank has appropriate policies and processes and their optimal controls, and carrying out analyses and financial projections in support of the bank’s strategic growth, generate the annual financial budgets and monitoring of the bank’s progress versus these goals. The job also entails maintaining comprehensive yearly cash-flow forecasts, carrying out strategic financial analyses, ensuring the bank’s compliance with regulatory laws, maintaining good relationships with suppliers and other service providers, and supporting external auditing processes. In addition to that, the individual will develop and execute investment plans to ensure maximization of outcomes, continually review and upgrade the accounting systems and procedures in line with the bank’s operating systems, manage and optimize the IT platform to ensure efficiency in data keeping and retrieving. Recruitment Plan The key guidelines for the recruitment plan are the specific skills and competencies that are desirable for the position of the Head of Finance position in the bank, advertising mechanism, and the applications evaluation criteria. Applicants must have a Degree in accounting or financial management and at least 10 years’ worth of experience in financial services; desirable skills for the job include financial accounting, planning, and management expertise. Apart from that, prospective candidates must also be experienced in the development of banking policies and procedures, budgeting and budgetary controls. Knowledge of tax laws and regulations, excellent IT skills and in-depth knowledge of accounting software and staff management, development and discipline skills will be an added advantage. The selection strategy is media advertising, because it was the most effective way of reaching a specific target pool of professionals seeking employment; newspapers and magazine advertisements would be the preferred channel in advertising the position to the prospective candidates. Through media advertising, it is easier to limit the applications to the position by clearly stating the nature of the job, minimum qualifications and skills required for the prospective applicants. I will apply a merit-based selection strategy because the position is a very challenging responsibility and the bank is interested in hiring the one individual that is best suited for it. Interested candidates should send their applications including a cover letter that shows their interest in the position and desire to work in the challenging bank environment, and detailed Curriculum Vitae summarizing their skills and academic qualification. All the applications will be done online to reach the HR manager not later than 30 June 2013 through an application link that will be posted on the bank’s homepage for efficiency purposes. The applications will be reviewed based on the merit of the applicants judging from the strength of curriculum Vitae by a four-member recruitment panel and only the successive candidates will be invited for interviews; this selective criteria will ensure that only the best individuals are interviewed to find the most qualified of them all. Selection Strategy, Testing and Interviewing The four-member interviewing panel comprising of the HR manger, an external manager, a successful member of the bank staff, and I, the recruiting manager, will screen the applicants thoroughly, one after the other. This screening will be impartial and highly objective to facilitate equal opportunity of employment to all the applicants without any discrimination whether on gender, religion, and race basis; the panelists will only be interested in the applicants expertise and competency and whether they match the job specification. The interviewers will assess the employee’s levels of expertise and previous employment performance record to determine their competence in financial services, especially in the banking sector. Their level of competence will be tested and measured through both a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of their performance records, duration of their experience and credibility of their referrals. Specific tests that will be used to evaluate suitability of the interviewees include the paper-pencil tests (includes personality and aptitude tests) and behavioral tests (includes the assessment Center and the Work Sample tests). These selective hiring procedures are aimed specifically at attracting the best professionals in the financial banking sector and arriving at the most suitable candidate to fill up the highly challenging position at the Head of Finance in the bank. Performance Evaluation After the successful interviewee has been selected and assigned the Head of Finance position at the bank, he or she will directly answer to me and my supervisory role will entail assessing the prospective employee’s performance in promoting the bank’s goals and objectives. The performance evaluation is aimed to ensure the employee is clear about the functions, roles and responsibilities of the position, the required outputs and the assessment criteria; this way, performance evaluation provides a legal, ethical and concrete evidence of the employee’s knowledge of their roles and intended outcomes to avoid future confusions in the event of technicalities. Performance evaluation also provides the relevant feedback for employee development and organizational improvement (Saleem, 2009); the written organizational goals provide a framework for individual development and professional advancement thus promotes both organizational and individual growth. Overall, the performance evaluation process is very critical component of the employee’s performance management because it will provide a benchmark for non-discriminatory appraisals in form of increased pay, promotions, and other recognitions. Performance Evaluation Philosophy and Methods The performance evaluation will be guided by the competence-based appraisal philosophy, the employee will be appraised based on performance competence in promoting achievement of the bank’s goals. This philosophy of performance evaluation is critical in performance appraisals because it ensures the efforts of the most successful employees in promoting organizational goals are rewarded while the rest are motivated to improve performance to be appraised as well (Billikopf , 2006). The performance evaluation itself will be a 3-tiers process following individual evaluation methods, multiple person evaluation methods, and other methods such as performance tests and the field review technique. Individual evaluation methods include confidential reports, evaluation through essays, critical incidents evaluation, graphic rating scale evaluation, among others; the multiple-person evaluation methods include ranking, paired comparison evaluation and forced distribution evaluation. The confidential report will be effective in highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the employee at the end of every fiscal year while projecting areas that need improvement for future performance evaluations. Self-evaluation is also an effective personal evaluation method where the employee will be required to judge their own performance by completing a prepared form that allows for both multiple choice responses and essay type of responses (Anderson , 2013). The critical incidents technique will also be an effective way of evaluating the employee’s performance because it will enable me to make an inventory of the most effective and ineffective employee behavior; these behaviors will be a typical representation of both the most outstanding and poor employee behaviors on the job. Overall, the graphic rating scale will provide the most comprehensive and valid performance evaluation and it entails the use of a printed form to evaluate the performance of employees; the method provides for the assessment of a number of performance traits including but not limited to quality and quantity of work. Remuneration Criteria The successful candidate to the position of Head of Finance at the bank shall be remunerated a competitive package as the bank will deem appropriate because the roles accompanying the position are slightly challenging and crucial to the strategic development of the bank. The starting salary for the successful candidate will be between US$60 – US$75, and this package will be reviewed based on the employee’s performance competence after a successful circle at the bank. This is to ensure that the successful candidate is well motivated and committed to achieving the bank’s goals to promote its growth and development especially in the face of the ever-mounting competitive pressure in the banking and financial services industry. Training and Development The successful candidate for the head of finance position will also be taken through intense training and development to further increase their competence at task performance thus promoting both their individual and organizational performance (OPM, 2001). Training and development will not only increase the employee’s expertise and competence at task performance, but it will promote the employees attitudes, motivation, and commitment to the bank. Eventually, the employee’s positive response to training and development is more likely to yield positive employee behaviors that lead to enhanced output. Theory of Organizational behavior- Best Practices Approach The Best Practice theory of organizational behavior provides the theoretical foundation to my positions concerning strategic HR management approach to human resource management; the Best Practice approach measures organizational performance in terms of output as a function of the collective best practices within the organization (Armstrong, 2008). A combination of the best human resource management practices that can yield positive influences on the employee behavior leading to enhanced employee performance. For instance, selective employee recruitment, job descriptions, performance appraisal, training and development, in addition to employee engagement are likely to enhance employee’s attitudes, levels of motivation and commitment to the organization (Feigenbaum, n.d.). In this regard, the Best Practice approach provides a working framework for the successful integration of the human resource management with the strategic management direction of the bank; the bank must engage in the best human resource management practices that promote both the banks and individual growth of the employee. Conclusion Ultimately, the increasing global competitiveness calls for the strategic management of the human resource as a major source of competitive advantage for organizations because they can develop certain talents and skills that are organizational specific. Organizations must engage in the best human resource management practices such as recruitment, job description, selective hiring, performance appraisals in addition to training, and development, among others for success; the best practices in human resource management are effective in unleashing employee motivation and commitment to their work. Job descriptions provide a clear picture of the roles, functions and responsibilities accompanying a certain position in the organization and are important in the employee recruitment process. The recruiting plan outlines the basic criteria for employee recruitment such as the desirable traits that the hiring manager is looking for in the prospective employee; these desirable traits are outlined in the form of specific delimiting competencies and expertise. The selection strategy provides the framework for employee selection after the prospective candidates have been shortlisted for the advertised position, and selective hiring is often the best practice when looking for the most qualified person to occupy the most challenging position. Testing and interviewing procedures are crucial to the hiring process because they help the hiring authority to make judgment on the most eligible candidate to fill a vacant position. Other best human resource management practices that can yield organizational success include competence-based performance evaluation and employee training, and development. References Schuler R.S., &Susan E.J. (1987). Linking Competitive Strategies with Human Resource Management Practices. The Academy of Management Executive, 1(3), 207-219. Armstrong, M. (2008). Strategic Human Resource Management: A Guide to Action. London: Kogan Page Publishers. OPM – United States Office of Personnel Management. (2001). A Handbook for Measuring Employee Performance: Aligning employee Performance plans with Organizational goals. Retrieved June 1, 2013, from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/opm/handbook_performance.pdf Anderson, A. (2013). Methods of Performance Evaluation: Find the performance evaluation method that works best for your company. Smallbusiness.chron.com. Retrieved June 1, 2013, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/methods-performance-evaluation-1869.html Billikopf, G. (2006). Performance Appraisal: A Negotiated Approach. Nature.berkeley.edu. Retrieved from http://nature.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7labor/06.htm Feigenbaum, E. (n.d.). How Does Training Motivate Employees? Chron.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/training-motivate-employees-13656.html Saleem, H. (2009). The Best HR Practices that Successful Companies Practice. Dirjournal.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013, from http://www.dirjournal.com/guides/the-best-hr-practices-that-successful-companies-practice/ Read More