Human Resource Interview - Essay Example

? Human Resource Interview Human Resource Interview Introduction Human Resource (HR) field is a significant part of any organization because it deals with people management. Both large and small organizations need to have clear department for human resource that is efficient and up to date. This is in a bid to have a point where employees can be recruited, selected, trained, and given the necessary guidelines to pursue their responsibilities. This paper summarizes an interview I conducted with Kevin Warns the HR manager of Wabash Valley Power Association (Price, 2011). Kevin Warns is the Human Resource (HR) manager at Wabash Valley Power Association which has its headquarters at Terre Haute, Indiana. Kevin lives in within Delaware, Indiana with his family and his address is Delaware, Indiana 569034-001 and phone number is (302) 654-0000. He can be reached through the office email address kevin@wabashvalley.org as the human resource manager who has been with the company for the past 5 years. Kevin involvement in human resource development stems from various companies and he has eleven years of experience, Wabash Valley offers wholesale circulation of power in 28 cooperatives within Indiana, Illinois among others. Kevin duties and responsibilities include ensuring that Wabash Valley Power Association generates efficient programs that enhance the reputation of its employees. This means focusing on ensuring that Wabash Valley employees have the right skills, attitude and expertise to complete their jobs efficiently. This means that he coordinates recruiting, selection and hiring employees while at the same time training as well as guiding them to fulfill their duties efficiently. It is his duty in coordination with the training manager to evaluate, monitor, and counsel employees so that they can achieve their full potential. In addition, he takes the responsibility of ensuring the employees are working in a safe and secure environment. This means guaranteeing that they have the right tools and equipment necessary for completing their tasks efficiently (Price, 2011). Kevin has the role of creating compensation plans, appreciation policies, direct compensation, and reward as well as punishment. It is imperative to deal with job-related accidents, employment lawsuits, and any unresolved conflicts among employees. Kevin uses his tools and abilities to foster growth in employees within the company. For instance, he focuses on encouraging employees to maximize the level of sales using training procedures, enhancing engagement levels, and sending focused workers to educational seminars. It is clear from the interview that Kevin preserves management procedures by, modernizing, and endorsing human resource polices that have the potential to accomplish goals of Wabash Valley. Kevin indicated that he participates in team effort to complete result oriented duties that are essential to the company (Sims, 2007). Kevin argues that HR manager requires various competencies, skills and knowledge to successfully achieve human resource development, the first competence is having knowledge of the business and its operations. It is paramount for HR to realize the business strategy, how the business generates money, technological practices involved, and organization potential among others. The HR manager ought to have understanding of various business fields like finance, marketing, Information Technology, operations and management. Kevin suggests that HR director should have awareness of “Best Practices” necessary to deliver quality services. In this way, continuous process of enhancing expertise in their filed and awareness of high tech best practices in recruiting, development, compensation, performance execution among other HR duties. Kevin emphasizes the need to deliver exceptional skills of people management and focus in a bid to take the business to its next level (Price, 2011). In addition, Kevin indicates that HR manager must have the capability to change management skills in a flexible manner. He adds that in a drastically changing business environment, businesses must be adaptable and change their internal processes to deal with new challenges and opportunities. It is clear that change revolves around getting the attention of people, and therefore, Kevin insists that HR manager should have expertise to assist line managers to accomplish such transformation. In this way, they require skills of problem solving, innovation, process development, inspiration, discussion, communication and above all leadership. Kevin finally adds that HR professional should be able to have personal credibility in their work. This is a scenario where they should portray behaviors of proficiency, integrity, accountability, discretion, as well as ethical standards that inspire line managers and workers. Kevin supports the idea that a record that shows quality in performance is significant in earning credibility but also other personal characteristics cited above are extremely crucial (Price, 2011). Kevin professional philosophy as the HR manager is providing the necessary leadership and direction to Wabash Valley employees in order to generate and develop policies that add to their growth. He strives to generate an environment that promotes respect for one another, coordination, and a state that contributes to efficient teamwork. Kevin states that his focus is to recruit employees with determination and potential to perform. His viewpoint calls for equal recruitment prospects to all people regardless of one’s gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, race, color and even handicapped individuals. He supports an environment that offers employees and all workers dignity and self-esteem while depending on mutual respect to generate good decision making. All employees are given freedom and should not be harassed within Wabash Valley operations. Unstable behaviors both verbally and physically that aim at harassing other workers are not tolerated in Kevin’s work environment (Sims, 2007). From the interview I learnt that Human Resource management is a diverse field and significant in building people skills. The HR department is a “pace setter” by creating an atmosphere where all others processes can learn smoothly. This includes areas of production, line management, finance, marketing, and operations among others. However, the most important part of HR management is ensuring employee recruitment, training and motivating them to become high performers in their areas of work. This means that employees ought to be engaged in their work by offering them motivation programs, rewards for good performance, and evaluation of areas that they need to improve (Price, 2011). It is imperative for HR managers to possess necessary skills, knowledge and expertise to deal with changes that occur within the business. Decision making process regarding employees lies solely on the human resources and therefore, it is important to have knowledgeable and competent individuals in these positions. HR management must also focus on team building techniques that have the potential to bring employees together. This means that teamwork of HR manger, line managers and employees would result to clear objectives and effective decisions to reach the business goals. A management style where employees are united with their managers results in productivity and growth in their areas of work (Sims, 2007). Conclusion This interview indicated that human resource department is significant in employee management and growth. The HR manger has the responsibilities of overseeing recruiting, selecting, hiring, training, and offering guidance to employees to in their jobs. They are also responsible for compensation, rewards and motivational programs that aim at enhancing employee performance. This interview also showed that HR professionals need expertise, knowledge, skills and capabilities to carry their duties effectively. These skills are necessary in order to deal with constant changes that occur within the business world. References Price, A. (2011). Human Resource Management. Kentucky: Cengage Learning. Sims, R. (2007). Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities. Charlotte, North Carolina: IAP. Read More