The Reflection of Human Resource Management - Essay Example

Reflection Executive Summary The essay is based on a reflection of human resource management and its varied chapter. This essay intends to convey varied knowledge about human resource management. This essay is a reflection of my understanding about all chapters of human resource management. From the all chapters HR forecasting process has been indeed very intriguing. On the other side, chapter second, HR strategy has been quite difficult to comprehend for me. Nevertheless, the entire experience throughout the week has been unique coupled with increasing my knowledge base. Introduction The topics discussed in each weak indeed contributed towards acquiring rich understanding and knowledge about different aspects pertaining to strategic human resources planning. Human resource, finance and marketing and other related concepts and discussion covered in each week enhanced my knowledge base to be competent future managers. Moreover, from human resource I have gathered knowledge about organizational policies and programs and other functional activities such as forecasting, succession management, downsizing & restructuring, mergers & acquisitions, and outsourcing among others. Alongside, from marketing and finance studies I learnt about varied strategies and functional activities of management. The understanding derived in each week helped me to perform more effectively in my professional and personal life. More importantly, prior to attending the weekly session I have little knowledge about strategic human resource planning. However, the understanding that I acquired in each week together made the role of strategic human resource planning crystal-clear. Notably, with the help of human resource management, an individual can develop a positive attitude about cultural belief and value in the workplace. Therefore, I believed that human resource management helps an individual to maintain proper balance among personal and professional life. Reflecting upon the understanding and knowledge that I derived from the discussion facilitated an in-depth insights. Accordingly, f human resource management has been linked with marketing and finance. In general, sustainability of an organization in a market depends on productivity and labor force (Anderson & Nilsson, 2012). Moreover, it was learnt that human resource has helped managerial heads to perform better in market. Management functions include planning, organizing and motivating. With the help of human resource, managerial heads has implement strategy for enhancement of organizational growth. Besides, decision-making is observed to be an important part of organizational development. During decision making process human resource is ascertained to provide support to organizational head (Armstrong, 2006). In a nutshell, this essay intends to produce course reflection covered in each week which primarily included human resource management and its impact on organizational development. Explanation of Learning Elements The first chapter describes human resource management and its responsibility in organizational activity. From this chapter I have learnt that human resource has minimized gap within organization. The core responsibility of human resource management is to serve organizational objectives. The entire chapter has provided significance of human resource management and its effect on organizational development. The purpose of human resource management was also described in this chapter (Wright, 2008). The below presented diagram depicts HR purposes for organizational and individual level. Source: (Wright, 2008) The second chapter entailed discussion about organizational strategies. It has been learnt that human resource management has been played an important part in forming organizational policies. The organizational beliefs, values, culture, mission, vision, and goal all have been observed to be an integral element of human resource policies. From this chapter I have learned about strategies of porter and Mintzberg’s crafting strategy. In addition, this chapter also provided a huge description about mission and its relation with human resource management. The use of example that included vision and value Wal-Mart clearly facilitated in acquiring vital knowledge regarding the role their role in the current business environment (Rothwell, 2010). The below diagram has been depicts formulation of strategic proposal and mission, vision and values function to it. Source: (Rothwell, 2010) The third chapter described about strategic HRM and its role in organizational growth. It has been learnt that the strategic HRM firmly related to three modes including universal, contingency and Configural (Rothwell, 2010). The fourth chapter discussed about the job analysis which rendered huge information about elements such as reliability and validity. It has been learnt that the job analysis is a systematic approach, which ensures that decision, and processes are based on job requirements. This chapter also delivered ample knowledge about trends in organizational design and its impact on job analysis. The sources of job analysis have been observed to include job analysts, incumbents, supervisors, and subject matter experts. Besides, it has been reckoned that job analysis is also known as task analysis. In addition, it has been comprehended that the task analysis has some pros and cons (Mohammadi & et. al., 2006). Through the discussion of chapter five, six and seven a pool of knowledge regarding the HR forecasting and competencies along with HR demand and supply has been derived. It was learnt that forecasting activity is subdivided into three categories such as transactional-based, event-based and process-based forecasting. All three forecast has ben observed to reduce HR costs, increases organizational growth and ensure a close linkage to Macro business forecasting process. It addition, it has been learnt that human resource forecast assist in controlling demand and supply of workforce and other production resources. The forecast process has been learnt to be helpful for internal and external workforce. More importantly, it was comprehended that through HR forecast technic, an organization is capable of managing workforce deficits (Mohammadi & et. al., 2006). Similarly, the discussion of chapter eight which included succession management also rendered valuable insights and knowledge. It has been learnt that succession management process involves training of skilled to meet strategic objective an organization. In general, it has been comprehended that succession management is a process of finding replacement for key managerial positions (Maier & Dandy, 1998). The discussion relevant to the chapter ten which emphasize downsizing and restructuring comprehended about the augmented managerial functions. In this regard, the discussion facilitated that to balance the production cost and organizational expenses HR department of a company downsize its permanent workforce and restructured organizational process. Downsizing activities are identified to be undertaken with the aim to improving organizational efficiency and productivity. In addition, it was learnt that the downsizing strategies are of three types to include workforce reduction, work redesign and systematic change. Besides, due to downsizing organizations are observed to face inplacement and outplacement issues. These two issues are ascertained to produce positive as well as negative effect among work force (Lewin & Johnston, 2000). The discussion of chapter twelve and thirteen involving the aspects of merger and acquisitions along with outsourcing indeed facilitated in acquiring considerable and valuable knowledge. In this regard, it has been learnt that merger is the consolidation of two organizations into single organization. Mergers take place horizontally as well as vertically. It has been comprehended that when merging of two competitors take place, it is known as horizontal merger. On the other side, vertical merger is ascertained to take place among buyer and seller or supplier. Conglomerate merger, acquisition, consolidation and takeover are identified to be the commonly used the definition of merger (Galpin, 2014). The discussion has been indeed very intriguing, it has been found from the evaluation of the historical data that among 100 per cent, 20 per cent of all mergers were successful, 60 per cent were faced disappointment while 20 per cent were complete failure. Moreover, mergers are more successful when a large firm have absorbs a small firm. Besides, it has been learnt that currently there is a growing trend of outsourcing HR function. In this regard, outsourcing of HR functions has ben observed to render significant benefit to client firm in the form of cost saving and improved service level among others (Ernst & Young, 1994). Personal opinion about the topic Every chapter has provided a vast knowledge about human resource management and its different areas. All chapters has enriched with varied knowledge of human resource management. Nevertheless, HR forecasting process chapter has been the most intriguing chapter for me. This chapter rendered diverse knowledge about workforce management. From the HR forecasting chapter I have gain lot of information about organizational capital as well as workforce planning during crisis. As a management student HR forecasting, will help me in my future career. With the help of HR forecasting, I can plan work force as well as capital during the event of organizational crisis. Every organization has gone through good as well as bad financial situation. HR forecasting has provided me clear information about planning of organizational resources and how to cover up the workforce deficit. For that reason, this chapter has fit into my understanding of HR (Ernst & Young, 1994). On the other side, among all, discussion on second chapter which included the HR strategy was quite difficult for me to understand. This chapter has represented diverse theories and models based on firm resource management and others. In the middle of this chapter, I have felt a need for extra information about HR strategies. The second slide of this chapter has provided very limited information. Understanding the relationship between the HR planning and value, rareness, inimitable and non-substitutable has been quite difficult for me. The bottom of the slide included two questions such as ‘homogeneity vs. heterogeneity?’ and ‘Causal ambiguity & social complexity?’ I cannot relate these two questions with the main topic (Galpin, 2014; Aswathappa, 2005). Every chapter of this topic has delivered important information. Students from marketing and finance specialization can easily understand every chapter. According to my view, every chapter presented is very simple and informative. Moreover, human resource management is a combination of finance and marketing. Nowadays, every organization has implemented diverse strategies to survive in market place. In this context, strategic HRM has to be clear for management student for future professional life as it is one of the most imperative elements in the context of management studies. In future, I will continue to do a research on organizational culture. As per my knowledge, organizational culture has changing day-by-day. Due to merger and acquisitions every multinationals has witness cultural change. The dimension of cultural change in organization is huge as well as interesting (Aswathappa, 2005). Conclusion Based on the above study, it has been observed that human resource management is the main support for organizational development. Every chapter of human resource management discussed has provided vast knowledge. Moreover, it has ben recognized that workforce are the main resource of every organization. Likewise, all chapters have provided information about employees and others related aspects of the modern organization. For instance, job analysis and downsizing produce information about employment. On the other side, chapters like HR forecasting and succession management has provided knowledge of organizational productivity and recruitment of senior employee. As a student of management this presentation has increased my knowledge about human resource management and its varied functions. Every chapter has provided vast information in a very limited time. The graphical representation of HR theories and model has enhanced my interest about human resource management. The model and of human resource management has change my perception about strategic HRM and organizational activity. It can be said that without the support of human resource management, marketing and finance study is incomplete. Notably, organizational financial health has totally depended on human resource management. References Anderson, H., Havia, V. & Nilsson, F. (2012). Mergers, acquisitions, and stakeholders: the critical role of stakeholders. United States of America: Routledge. Armstrong, M. (2006). A handbook of human resource management practice. United Kingdom: Kogan Page Publishers. Aswathappa, K. (2005). Human Resource and Personnel Management. United States of America: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Ernst & Young. (1994). Mergers and acquisitions. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons. Galpin, T. J. (2014). The complete guide to mergers and acquisitions: process tools to support m&a integration at every level. United States of America: John Wiley & Sons. Lewin, J. F. & Johnston, W. J. (2000). The impact of downsizing and restructuring on organizational competitiveness. International business journal, 10, 45-55. Maier, H. R. & Dandy, G. C. (1998). Neural networks for the prediction and forecasting of water resources variables: a review of modelling issues and applications. Environmental modelling & software, 15 (2000), 1-24. Mohammadi, K., Eslami, H. R. & Kahawita, R. (2006). Parameter estimation of an arma model for river flow forecasting using goal programming. Journal of hydrology, 1-7. Rothwell, W. J, (2010). Effective succession planning: ensuring leadership continuity and building talent from within. New York: Amacom Div American Mgmt Assn. Wright, P. M., (2008). Human resource strategy. Shrm foundation’s effective practice guidelines series, 1-38. Read More