Optimizing the Human Resource Manager Role - Term Paper Example

? Reflective Paper Reflective Paper Introduction Human resource management (HRM) is an important part of any organization thatdeals with personnel procedures, managerial duties, and policies that affects the workforce. In simple terms, all issues and decisions that relate to employees within an organization are all under HRM. It is an important aspect of the organization since it deals with an area of organization’s most esteem asset which is the people, who are working in the organization. The employees of the company are a valuable asset since they individually or collective strive to accomplish the goals and objectives of the company. The work of HRM is therefore, to oversee that employees have the resources and determination to work towards the organizational goals. HRM deals with a wide range of interrelated activities but they are all geared towards creating performance through people. It is important to understand how the various aspects of HRM work together to assist employees in achieving organizational goals, clarify new areas of human resource, and understand future implications of HRM in a specific company (Randhawa, 2007). In the continually changing area of business, through competition, product changes and increased globalization, it is necessary for organizations to realize ways to achieve a competitive edge. According to (Melkonyan, 2013), the human resource (HR) of an organization is crucial in assisting employees grow and develop their skills. Employees are the most important aspect of a business with the potential to enable a business achieve, competitive edge over the others. The HRM is necessary in ensuring that Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) laws are followed to eliminate discrimination in employment. The HR within the organization has the mandate to ensure that jobs are advertised with required job description and expectations so that people apply for the position. HRM then influences organizational performance by ensuring that qualified, skilled, educated and talented staff members join the company. When employees with the necessary skills are recruited it is evident that the organization gets to enhance its performance in a bid to accomplish the organizational goals and objectives. For instance, Lufthansa Company has a vigorous employee selection process that involves sending a resume, taking an online test, a telephone interview, and then an oral interview. The candidate also has to undergo analytical thinking, vocabulary, arithmetic, and behavior specific tests depending on job position. In this regard, a thorough selection process ensures that an all-round candidate is chosen for the job (Randhawa, 2007). Human Resource Development (HRD) is another important aspect of HRM functions to nurture employees in their various areas of work. This is a strategy that involves offering employees’ enhanced training and development programs that enhance their level of work. The whole idea is to invest in training and workforce growth to generate beneficial results. For instance, the field of technology is constantly changing and therefore, employee need to be brought up to date with current technological advancements as a way of giving the organization a competitive edge. HRD is a concept that ensures employees get opportunities in areas of training, mentorship, career growth, performance management, succession preparation, coaching, and overall organization development (Youssef, 2012). The HRM also encourages employees’ performance through effective compensation and rewards programs. For instance, when there are changes to pay and promotion in the workplace, employees are motivated to enhance their responsibilities to be considered for such incentives. It is important for incentives and compensation to be offered equally and with fairness because discrimination can easily reduce employee morale. The other important aspect of HRM is recognizing efforts among employees and rewarding them for their work. Employees not only require good salary and rewards, they also need safe and favorable working environment that makes them feel wanted in the organization. A combination of these benefits is a key motivator and performance enhancer through growing quality of products and services offered to customers (Melkonyan, 2013), Health and safety in the workplace is an important part of HRM in any organization in a bid to ensure responsibility in the workplace. This means proving a safe environment to avoid harm or injuries to employees in their workstations. The HRM has the mandate to create an environment of cooperation between supervisors and employees in dealing with safety while at the same time generate administrative policies that require employees to report hazardous conditions or occurrences. The HR must ensure that employees recruited care about their safety and that of others to avoid violent cases at work. The company rules must clear so that injuries are reported and compensation given to employees who suffer injuries at work. These kinds of guidelines are necessary in ensuring that employees feel safe and motivated to work and progress in their work in a bid to focus on accomplishing organizational goals (Price, 2011). It is evident from this discussion that all aspects of HRM are important in equal measure because they deal with people management. This is because people within the organization are the most important asset whose main role is to work towards reaching an organization’s goals. According to Armstrong in (Melkonyan, 2013), successful organizations are those that realize that human capital is a necessary and vital asset as they individually or collectively strive to build best practices for the business. It is necessary to ensure that employees are protected in areas of selection, training, compensation and with a safe working environment to make sure they are motivated to work. Employees perform better when they know their needs are valued by the organization and their lives are protected in all aspects (Price, 2011). Optimizing HRM Role HRM role can be improved through technology to enhance organization and employee behavior. The use of technology like emails, employee databases, e-Learning, and teleconferencing has the potential to improve HRM functions through speed and quality. Digital services offer the opportunity to get fast communication, cheap access, better production, and cooperation within the organization which ensures flexibility in carrying out duties. In reality, social media is an effective tool that allows sharing of information and accessing important things easily. HRM can adopt the use of social media to share information, knowledge, and nurture employees in a direct way therefore, enhancing service delivery in a cheap and effective way. This is an effective tool to improve Return on Investment (ROI) since it gives a competitive edge while dealing with demanding clients. Social business is necessary since it changes the way an organization carries it duties by turning traditional ideas into valuable concepts (Waddill & Marquardt, 2011). The other way to optimize HRM is the use of data and analytics in HR so that they understand the metrics of people management. In reality, just like concepts of Finance work on revenue, expenses, and returns, in the same manner people decisions should be based on vigorous, data-driven evaluations. This is what is called HR analytics which can be defined as use of data, metrics, figures, and scientific research through technology to estimate the impact of human capital on achieving organizational goals. This decision making process has the potential to open clear methods of understanding the value of people in a business. In this way, employee productivity is improved through analysis of methods that boost morale and engagement in the workplace (Bhattacharyya, 2009). New Learning in HRM Competency mapping is one of the new areas of learning which refers to identifying the level of skill an individual has in a certain job. The HRM field has introduced this concept to assist in analyzing the potential of an employee depending on position such as mechanical, managerial, or behavioral. It is evident that every job requires certain skills and therefore, a person competency must be analyzed in depth. Determining the competency level of an employee is crucial when recruiting since a new employee would be fully qualified without the need to spend money in training. This competency involves assessing the potential of an employee to deal with new challenges, performance level, and identifying the gap between the skills required and those that a potential employee has (Bhattacharyya, 2009). Six Sigma is a new technique being learnt in HR as a way of generating and delivering almost perfect goods and services. This is a scheme being employed by HRM in various ways including in selection of capable employees. It is a method of measuring unevenness through a fact-based, and data created tool which is performed on a project before it is implemented. It is a technique that offers competitive advantage by ensuring that the tools used can enhance and remove defects from the system. Six Sigma is a tool that is purely customer focused where the organizational leaders listen to customers and holds on to what they need. This is a structured way of organizations to deal with problems by identifying features of service delivery that are crucial in enhancing quality entirely (Bhattacharyya, 2009). Globalization is a new trend in HRM as business interactions are carried out across the globe. The emergence of multinational corporations is one area that has diversified the field of HR in a bid to ensure that a combination of various employees in relation to skills, talent, and cultural flexibility is in place in global transactions. Organizations are required to enlighten employees regarding globalization through understanding of various cultural differences, language, and working hours. HRM has the mandate to generate practices and guidelines that assist multicultural employees to work in a united manner. This new area of learning is important because with the changes in language, cultural backgrounds, and customs, it is imperative that conflicts are likely to increase. In this way, training managers and supervisors to be flexible is crucial since the future employees are likely to come in different colors, races, and nationalities among others (Sparrow, Brewster & Harris, 2004). Class activities and procedures that facilitated learning include the active involvement in the course that was evident. This means that the active interaction between students while at the same sharing ideas through discussions was highly effective. There were the use class tutorials, presentations as well as keynote that focused on various materials in HRM. Handouts, research and reading through the internet is a big contributor in understanding current and new concepts of study in HR. Files and link sharing with other students is an effective way of learning and in addition, projects as well as case studies in class contributed to learning new concepts in the field of HRM. The idea was to understand as many concepts as possible that have been derived in HRM and how they relate to businesses today (Youssef, 2012). In my current workplace at Wabash Valley Power Association Company, HRM concepts are applicable in many instances to ensure smooth running of operations. For instance, the HRM part of the company ensures that HRM policies are adopted by the line managers and HR professionals. This creates an environment of coordination, understanding, and empowering of employees to accomplish their duties. The recruitment in the company is done through online and other media advertisements and thorough interviews are conducted. The selected employee undergoes introduction, job description, training, and then assigned duties as well as responsibilities. The HR ensures that the employee is given support from the other members of the department to get used to the procedures expected in the company (Youssef, 2012). The Wabash Valley Company has favorable working conditions where the HR manager has ensured that all rules of safety are followed. This includes secure workstations, emergency exit doors, health insurance, and security guards to keep the office free from intruders. The work of our human resource has been defined well to ensure that all employees are healthy when coming to work and if one is sick there is permission to visit the hospital. There is compensation for injuries for all workers especially those in production of power since it could be risky. However, the company has installed safety standards on the machines to ensure that they are protected and harmless to use by humans (Youssef, 2012). There is an elaborate compensation scheme within Wabash Valley to ensure all employees are motivated. All employees are entitled to a salary at the end of the month which is given precisely without delays. The company also has a reward program for outstanding employees in all departments that have been set by HR to motivate people to deliver. This program rewards two outstanding employees quarterly each year in a ceremony that is attended by all employees. In addition, the employee that performs exceptionally well in the sales department is recognized as the name suspended on the wall for everyone to approve. We also have holiday incentives for all employees which are given once a year as an appreciation for striving to achieve the company goals. Health insurance is also given to all employees so as to ensure the health of everyone at all times (Youssef, 2012). My future career is likely to improve because of the HRM strategies that have been adopted in the company to benefit employees. This is because the flexible hours we have in the company ensures that I attend classes when am not at work. This process of furthering my education is opening door to my future career as the business world is changing constantly. Improved education and experience gained from Wabash Valley is tremendously going to boost my dreams in becoming a successful Information Technology (IT) specialist. In addition, the training programs in the company are significant in assisting me to acquire more knowledge in my profession. This is bound to generate a rich future of knowledge, skills, and developmental tools to boost my understanding in many other areas (Youssef, 2012). Conclusion The various aspects of HRM are crucial in empowering employees to achieve organizational goals, clarify new areas of learning and understand the future implication of this field. HRM is a field that is people centered and recognizes the need to build employees so that they can continuously continue to serve the goals of the company. In addition, technology and HR analytics are important in enhancing this field as well as motivating employees. The learning techniques adopted in class assisted in understanding new concepts of HRM while various applications of this field in my place of work are highly beneficial. References Bhattacharyya, D. (2009). Human Resource Planning. New Delh: Excel Books India. Melkonyan, M. (2013). Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/1418840/ARMSTRONGS_HANDBOOK_OF_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICE Price, A. (2011). Human Resource Management. Kentucky: Cengage Learning. Randhawa, G. (2007). Human Resource Management. Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Dist. Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., & Harris, H. (2004). Globalizing Human Resource Management. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Waddill, D., & Marquardt, M. (2011). The E-HR Advantage: The Complete Handbook for Technology-Enabled Human Resources. Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Youssef, C. (2012). Human resource management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. Read More