Human Resources Management: Case Studies - Research Paper Example

? Human Resources Management: Case Studies Human Resources Management: Case Studies Assignment Technology is growing at a rapid pace today. Hence high-term firms cannot confront the intense market competition unless they adapt to newly evolving technological environments. So as to grab emerging market opportunities effectively, firms today must maintain a potential workforce which is flexible enough to adapt to a fast changing technological landscape. Considering the current pace of change in market environment as well as technological spectrum, it would not be a better idea to recruit candidates only based on their current qualities. In this situation, it is recommendable to recruit employees based on their ability to fulfill frequently changing job requirements and creativity in performing different job tasks. Telephone interview can be an improved and inexpensive strategy to recruit employees if there is a huge pool of job applicants. Although the scope of a telephone interview is limited, it can greatly assist the HR team to obtain good understanding of the applicant’s language proficiency and career expectations. Based on the telephone interview, the HR manager can make a shortlist of eligible applicants for next phases of the selection process. Alternatively, the company can conduct online interviews using internet tools like Skype or Google Talk. Such techniques can benefit the HR management to get rid of the difficulties associated with interviewing large number of candidates in person. Once a short list of eligible candidates is created after telephone/online interviews, personality tests and group interviews can be conducted. It would not be a loss for the organization to perform comprehensive personality tests because personality is as important as education and experience. It is easy to hire a highly qualified candidate with many years of work experience; but his qualification and long years’ experience would not matter if he is of an antisocial personality. Personality tests are very effective to evaluate a candidate’s personality traits and his quality for the jobs specified. Similarly, group interviews can really assist the HR manager to assess how the candidate behaves in a social setting, which could be very similar to an actual workplace environment. Presentations have become a common approach to recruitment and selection because this technique helps the HR team observe the candidate’s communication skills and the way he catches audience’s attention. Candidates are asked to present themselves before a crowd of company personnel in the form of a presentation. This strategy is greatly beneficial for the hiring team to monitor how effectively the candidate manages a pressure situation. By observing the presentation of a candidate, the hiring personnel can determine whether he is effective in tackling customers. As Krizan, Merrier, Logan and Schneiter (2010) point out that today taking lunch with the applicant is a better tactic to witness the way the applicant interacts with the waiters/waitresses who are generally considered to be the low level members of the working class (p.569). Such interactions can aid the HR manager to comprehend the way the candidate would treat his subordinates if he is appointed. In addition, some onsite assignments are recommendable for the HR team to assess the technical knowledge of the applicant and to test whether he is aware of recent technological developments. Assignment 2 HR Management Director is a challenging role because he/she is responsible for guiding and managing the overall activities associated with HR services, policies, and programs for the whole organization. In the given context, the HR director has much greater responsibilities because he needs to manage the HR department of an organization with nearly 8,500 employees and offices spread across 32 countries. According to Martin (2009, p. 36), recruiting and staffing is the primary job responsibility of the HR management director. As he is working for a multinational company, it is vital for him to focus specifically on cultural variance while recruiting employees. In addition, cultural diversity management is one of his major responsibilities because the employees are hired from different cultural backgrounds. Efficient cultural diversity management is essential to ensure effective employee collaboration in the workplace and hence to improve the overall organizational productivity. He is also assigned to deal with organizational and space planning because those practices are necessary to offer a healthy worksite environment to employees and to enhance the firm’s operational efficiency. Another role of the HR director is to deal with performance management and improvement systems. It is clear that employee performance is to be continuously measured because it is a key factor influencing the overall productivity of the organization. The HR director must also ensure that there are potential improvement systems in operation to help the employees to improve their areas of weakness. While dealing with employee recruitment and selection, the HR director should make certain that different processes and procedures are in compliance with regulatory requirements. Similarly, employee orientation, development, and training are some of the key jobs task of the HR director. Better employee orientation is essential to assist the employee to adapt to a new worksite environment whereas employee development and training are important to make sure that employees significantly contribute to the firm’s overall productivity. One of the key strategic roles of the HR director is to support policy development and documentation because this practice is inevitable for the effective workforce management. Similarly, promoting employee relations is another responsibility of HR director because better employee relations are vital to motivate employees and hence to maintain a positive employee attitude towards work. HR management director is required to deal with conflicts management. Timely conflict resolution is important to promote uninterrupted operation of the firm because employee conflicts would adversely affect the sense of teamwork and philosophy of the workplace. In order to keep the employees motivated and hence to improve organizational productivity and market competitiveness, the HR director has to administrate various forms of compensation and benefits. He must evaluate whether the current compensations and benefits are adequate enough to meet employee satisfaction. Finally, the HR management director should deal with employee safety, welfare, and charity. For this, he must frame effective mechanisms for employee counseling, which could be a potential strategy to identify the actual employee problems. Interview questions 1. What is your major weakness? 2. Why would you like to work here? 3. What changes would you like to bring to the company if you are appointed? 4. Tell me the three weaknesses you identified with your previous employer? 5. Suggest some better ways to keep employees creative today 6. If you consider money is not a primary factor, what job would you prefer? 7. What do you think about the future of this organization? 8. Tell me a management dilemma you faced previously and how you tackled the situation. 9. What would be your approach while dealing with recruitment and staffing? 10. What would you do if one of your team members constantly underperforms? References Krizan, A. C., Merrier, P., Logan, J. P & Schneiter, K. (2010). Business communication. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Martin, C. (2009). Perfect phrases for writing job descriptions. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional. Read More