Significance of HRM to organizational profitability and survival - Term Paper Example

Significance of HRM to organizational profitability and survival Human resource management refers to a system for organization of all the people of the organization to ensure the attainment of organizational goals and objectives in the most efficient ways possible (Al-Adwani, 2014). Basically, HRM entails the acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of human resources, to promote the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. This paper is a reflection on how the various aspects of HRM such as human resources planning, recruitment, selection, as well as development and compensation, among others interact to enhance overall organizational performance . This paper will also reflect on the degree to which each one of the HRM aspects contributes to the achievement of organizational goals and objectives as well as on how the HRM role can be enhanced for influencing workplace behavior and attitudes. Given that the primary function of HRM is to enhance the effectiveness and contribution of each organizational employee in the achievement of organizational goals and objectives, the HRM function is critical to the longer term survival and profitability of the organization (Becker & Gerhart, 1996). Equal employment opportunity (EEO) prohibits discrimination of people on the basis of sex, color, religion, nationality, disability and age at the workplace; EEO ensures that everyone has a fair chance in the hiring process, as well as equal opportunities to promotions and training and/or professional development. On the other hand, affirmative action refers to the deliberate organizational approach to addressing past practices of discrimination, by proactively recruiting, hiring and promoting the previously marginalized groups at the workplace including women, minorities, and disabled individuals, among others. EEO is essential at my workplace because it has fostered fairness in all the various human resource aspects of our organization, from hiring to training and development, to promotion of deserving human resources. At my workplace, EEO regulations protects all employees against discrimination on the basis demographical factors; as a result, everyone is treated with respect and dignity that they deserve, regardless of their sex, color, religion, nationality, disability and age. The new knowledge gained in the process of this reflective exercise is that EEO instills confidence in all employees at the workplace while enhancing their self-motivation and commitment towards the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. This fosters the development of a unified and fully integrated workforce that is not only highly motivated and committed to the organization, but also actively engaged in the pursuit of organizational goals and objectives (Koç, Çavus & Saraçoglu, 2014). My future career plan as a HRM professional is more likely to be greatly influenced by the understanding that all human resources are entitled to a fair chance in the hiring process, as well as equal opportunities to promotions and training and/or professional development. This knowledge will greatly boost my professional performance as I will seek to implement EEO regulations to prohibit discrimination of people on the basis of sex, color, religion, nationality, disability and age. The human resources planning function entails all the activities undertaken in determining personnel requirements, programmes and policies, among other crucial things in advance. At the core of planning process are two crucial components namely succession planning and turnover, both of which are critical to effective human resource planning at the workplace. The first component assesses the potential turnover in core posts, identifies best candidates to fill those posts in posterity and ensures that they receive suitable training and exposure for those roles. On the other hand, turnover has to do with retirement, resignation and redundancy at the workplace; although it is nearly impossible for organizations to control factors such as resignation, it can actively monitor turnover to enhance its own capabilities at maintaining staff in future. The human resources planning function at my workplace is taken seriously, particularly because it ensures that the organization has the right people to undertake specific roles at the right time, thereby contributing to the overall success of the organization (Itika, 2011). Precisely, the human resource planning function enables my organization to project its short to long term human resource needs respectively; as a result of that planning, my organization is able to adjust its human resource requirements, to meet shifting priorities, as need arises. This reflection highlights new knowledge that human resource planning is essential for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives because it ensures that the organization has the appropriate size of qualified human resources to carry out its tasks all the time. My future career plan as a HRM professional will benefit significantly from this knowledge; with the understanding of the critical significance of human resource planning, I will be able to plan effectively for the optimum utilization of the scarce human resource, to ensure achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Recruitment and selection are the two phases of the employment process of getting human resources to occupy organizational positions (Obeidat et al., 2014); recruitment is aptly defined as the process of identifying and securing possible candidates for existing and projected vacancies in the organization”. Which implies that it basically entails searching for candidates for employment and encouraging them to apply for various roles in the organization; contrariwise, selection involves screening candidates to choose the most suitable persons to fill the vacant positions. My organization is keen on attracting the largest pool of human resources through its recruitment process. On the other hand, its selection process is detailed to ensure that the successful candidates that are chosen from the large pool of applicants are indeed the most suitable people, with requisite qualifications and skills. The new knowledge gained in this reflection is that the scarcity of qualified human resources in the global labor market is a great threat to organizational survival and profitability in the longer term (Zaitouni, Sawalha & El Sharif, 2011). In that respect, I will be able to utilize this new knowledge in my future career plan as a HRM professional to attract and retain the relevant human resources required in the achievement of my organization’s goals and objectives. Human resources development refers to a framework that enables human resources to build their personal as well as organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities; it includes opportunities for employee training, career development, coaching and mentoring among others. Employee development is essential for enhancing employee’s knowledge and skills for performing specific work tasks while enabling them to achieve their full potential in terms of personal as well as career development goals (Delaney & Huselid, 1996). My organization dedicates adequate attention and resources for the promotion of employee development since it understands that employees are highly motivated to perform their tasks when their personal growth goals are being sufficiently catered for by their employer. This reflection highlights the new knowledge that employees are more likely to have a high turnover rate or to be demoralized in their performance if their personal growth goals are not met. With this knowledge in mind, I will be able to guide human resource towards high performance in my future career plan as a HRM professional, by enabling them to realize their full potential through human resource development programs. Compensation and benefits/rewards are often used interchangeably in modern human resource management but they actually have different philosophical foundations; compensation assumes that work is a negative thing and that workers lose something that they must be recompensed for accordingly. Contrariwise, benefits regards work as a positive thing that has to be rewarded on the basis of quantity and quality of accomplishment; human resources are entitled to compensation and benefits that are commensurate to the level of effort they expend on the job. At my workplace, the HRM function ensures that all employees are adequately compensated and rewarded for their efforts through a consistent employee compensation and rewards system that recognizes high performance while encouraging all employees to improve their performance. This reflection highlights the fact that human resources are highly motivated to perform their tasks when they are adequately compensated and rewarded, thereby ensuring the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. This knowledge will be beneficial in my future career plan as a HRM professional, particularly because it will enable me to ensure achievement of organizational goals and objectives through employee compensation and reward systems. The health and safety responsibilities in the organization also lie within the scope of the HRM department; human resource specialists have an obligation to promote employees’ safety and health. With the knowledge of the work environment, the employees and their job demands, human resource professionals must know when and how best to utilize existing capabilities and resources to respond to the concerns of employees at the workplace. To effectively fulfill their role, HRM experts must have a clear understanding of the health and safety obligations of both employers and employees and everybody else at the workplace. These professionals must also enforce workforce management guidelines to ensure that every one at the workplace is well informed of their specific responsibilities while at the same time establishing the best approach to fulfilling health and safety responsibilities. The occupational safety and health policies at my workplace regulate the health and safety standards within the organization with the aim of preventing accidents, injuries and diseases. The new knowledge gained in this reflection is that a healthy and safe workplace environment promotes the achievement of organizational goals and objectives because it instills immense confidence in the employees to perform their tasks effectively. This knowledge will be beneficial to my future career plan as a HRM professionals because it will enable me to ensure that both the management and employees accomplish their health and safety responsibilities as stipulated in the organizational policies and programs. The fundamental role of the employee relations function within the HRM department is to nurture the establishment of a smooth working relationship between management and the employees at the workplace. Employee relations can be distinguished from labor relations, which handle matters to do with complaints, union agreement discussions, mediation, strikes and work go-slows, particularly in large unionized organizations. Employee relations professionals are concerned with the manner in which the management reacts to grievances from non-union employees, as well as how it manages and responds to their performance. The HRM function at my workplace fosters the establishment of positive employee and labor relations to ensure that employees are motivated to perform their tasks to their best ability. The new knowledge gained in this reflection is that positive employee and labor relations are critical for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. This knowledge will be extremely beneficial to my future career plan as a HRM professional because it will enable me to foster positive labor and employee relations that will eventually ensure the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. The human resources are undoubtedly the most crucial asset of the organization, particularly because they are the single most essential source of unique capabilities that yield competitive advantage for the organization (Ci-sheng & Shu-ming, 2012). Precisely, the human resources’ unique capabilities not only enable the organization to beat competition, but also to achieve its goals and objectives in the most efficient manner possible, thereby remaining profitable in the longer term (Wang, Chiang & Tung, 2012). In that respect, effective management of the people side of the organization is undoubtedly one of the core functions in corporate management, especially in today’s highly dynamic and fast-changing global business environment. Undoubtedly, the HRM function is particularly essential for the longer term profitability and survival of the organization because it enhances the individual performance of each of the organization’s employees. Ultimately, the discussion above does confirm that indeed the HRM function is critical for the longer term survival and profitability of organization, particularly because it enhances the effectiveness and contribution of each organizational employee in the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Evidently, the human resources are essentially the most critical asset of the organization because they are the single most critical source of unique capabilities that enable every organization to achieve a competitive edge against their rivals. In that respect, given that the primary function of HRM is to enhance the effectiveness and contribution of each organizational employee in the achievement of organizational goals and objectives, it is definite that the HRM function is critical to the longer term survival and profitability of the organization. References Al-Adwani, A. (2014). Effects of implementing strategic human resource management on organizational success: Case study of (kuwait finance house-KFH). International Business Research, 7(3), 149-158.  Becker, B., & Gerhart, B. (1996). The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: Progress and prospects. Academy of Management Journal, 39(4), 779.  Ci-sheng, W., & Shu-ming, Z. (2012). Organizational learning and the complexity of strategic human resource management.Kybernetes, 41(9), 1297-1304.  Delaney, J. T., & Huselid, M. A. (1996). 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