Human Resource Management - Case Study Example

Human Resource Management Introduction Human Resource is one of the important parts of an organization. This department mainly deals with the employees working in the organization. The details and information about the employees are stored by the human resource department. The medium and storage pattern depends on the type of organization and its structure. The main aim of this study is to analyze an organization’s approach to collecting, storing and using the human resource data. It also determines how effectively these human resource data are used in the development of an organization. Human resource plays a vital part in an employee’s service in the organization. Since it deals with more of personal information, the data storage becomes a matter of concern. Reasons for HR data collection There are various reasons as to why an organization collects human resource data. The main reason, of course, as simple as it is, is to maintain an employee’s record. This record is used for each and every purpose of managing an employee’s profile like providing access to the employees etc. (Philips, 1999). This also helps the organization to perform the background verification of every employee they newly employ. Human resource data is also used during the appraisal and promotion of an employee. In this case, the employee’s details are verified to make sure that the person is capable enough to be allocated to certain division of work. Data collected in an organization is of various types and forms. The data collection may depend on the type of the organization and its practices related to human resource management. Though there are various types of data namely, qualitative and quantitative, data collected in an organization is entirely different. The major types of data include personal and professional data. Personal data comprises of an employee’s personal details like family background, residence and other details. Professional details include his experience, work pattern in previous company and details regarding his conduct in previous companies. (National Resource Council, 2002). This will enable the human resource department to assess and analyze an employee’s standard. It will also help the organization in assessing an employee’s performance. Since appraisal is mainly based on an employee’s performance, human resource data becomes all the more crucial for both the success of the employee as well as the organization. Human resource practices differ from one organization to another. These practices involve decision making, man power allocation and project distribution. When compared to the past, the human resource practices have come a long way and has changed and evolved to suit the current trend. As human resource management is a tedious task, certain standards and policies are implemented to make the process an easier one. These human resource practices mainly depend on human resource data and they can be accomplished only if the data are accurate. Each and every piece of information, either related to personal or professional aspect of an employee, certainly eases the workload of human resource executives to maintain and follow these human resource practices. Human resource practices affect the employees directly or indirectly. They also influence the working pattern of employees since the practices vary according to each individual. Since human resource practices are framed to suit an organization’s framework, it requires complete information regarding the employees. This will enable the executives in human resource department to form the practices based on these employee information. (Lawler, 2008). To accomplish this task, the human resource data must be properly stored and maintained. Though there are various storage mechanisms, only few make it to the list of best storage techniques. That too in a company which manages thousands of employees, selection of this mechanism is an important criterion. Nowadays data are stored directly in computer system so that they can be accessed whenever it is required. Companies can chose the type of data storage mechanism they require depending on the volume of information they need to handle and also the different perspectives of information they require from the collected mass of data. It also allows the executives to retrieve or modify it in whichever way they require. It eradicates the problem of keeping them in manual records and eases the process of searching a particular data. As the data is stored separately, the time required for data retrieval is comparatively less. The company must make use of this approach and store the data of each and every department as a separate record. A centralized system must be installed so that information about all the departments in an organization is made available to each and every employee. It enables them to access their information from any of the system available in their organization. The next method of storing human resource data is to store them in their respective department’s server system. Though the former is better, this provides the department heads an opportunity to know about their employees without requesting the human resource executives. This procedure makes the job of data searching easier. The major advantage of this method is that the time consumption is less as the people working in the concerned department can get their data without much difficulty. Data storage and retrieval is considered to be an important aspect of any organization and each and every government follows a set of rules to store and use this data. According to the European government, details of an individual must be protected and it must not be made available to other employees. Processing of their personal data without prior permission is also prohibited under the European law. Data privacy and security must be given high priority while designing the storage system of an organization and it should also be made sure that there is no violation of employee privacy. The legislation generally varies from one country to another and it is mandatory for every organization to follow their country’s laws and policies. Human resource management does not end with the storage and maintenance of data. In addition to that, the arrangement and preparation for induction also lies in the hands of human resource executives. Induction Induction is the first process in an employment of an individual. Any individual who joins a company goes through a phase of induction. This induction is done to make the person know about the company, its standards, rules and policies, mission and vision and the process that takes place in the organization. The main benefit of this induction is it gives opportunity to an individual to understand about their company and its policies. It also reduces the burden of the employees, since the new joiners will have a basic knowledge about the company. Induction is beneficial to an individual as well as the organization. Any individual who joins a company may or may not have a prior knowledge about the organization. When considering an organization, it simplifies the process of imparting knowledge for the new employees. The training period forms an integral part of an employee’s life in the organization. (Lawler, 2008).The main purpose off induction is to, integrate the staffs among the organization which turns out to be beneficial to both the employees and the organization as well. Every organization must conduct an induction programme irrespective of the organization size and nature. The induction programme may be of any type and it purely depends on the organization and its operations. It also improves the integration among the various departments of the organization. Benefits of Induction There are various benefits of induction are Employees can have a better understanding of the company. Employees can easily adapt to the projects in which they are allocated. Staffs will get used to their job very easily without much hassle. Helps the organization to identify the talents of an employee. They can identify the flaws in the performance of the employee. Goals can be achieved without much problem as the employee has prior knowledge about the organization. Human resource department is responsible for the induction that is conducted in an organization. The induction programme is developed well in advance and it is implemented in such a way that it yields benefit to the organization. Induction programme is generally carried out on the first day when the employee begins his work on the organization. Induction is also conducted when an employee moves on to a new project or moves to onsite. (Philips, 1999).This is done to make sure that the employee gets a clear idea about the new project or task. The duration and schedule of training is decided at the time of induction. This will enable the organization to decide on the type of training that has to be provided to the employees. Induction programme must be effective enough to improve the current standards of an organization. A sample programme indicates the first three months of a staff’s employment. The induction programme is carried out and the details are recorded for future verification. An induction programme will include general information, details pertaining to the project in which a staff is assigned to and other conditions regarding the organization’s practices and policies. The general information include Name of the employee. Department. Designation. Date of joining The details pertaining to a particular project are Employee’s role and responsibilities within the concerned department. Employee’s higher official to whom he must report his work. Work allocation. Priority of work. Skills required for the department. Training details. Information to be collected from a new employee include Introduction to thee new department. Employee’s job and his role in the project. Conditions regarding the project and company. The final list of an induction programme constitutes the rules and policies of the organization in which the person is employed. It includes Working hours and shift systems. Bonus and other allowance details. Details regarding the training period and their reimbursement during training. Duration of training. Declaration. Apart from this, additional information may be included depending on the company’s requirements. The induction programme and the details are decided by the human resource department and they prepare it in such a way that complete information about the employee is recorded by the organization. Talent Planning Talent planning is one of the important functions of any organization. The organization must decide which resource should be allocated to which project. The planning plays a major role since a wrong decision may result in severe consequences. An organization must decide on the talent planning schedule. Generally recruitment is done based on the requirement in a particular project. In certain cases, people are hired after which they are allotted to specific departments according to the current vacancy. This ensures that only talented employees are hired by the organization. (National Research Council, 2002).The organization must also ensure that people with accurate and required skill are put into a particular project. This avoids any further problems in the project and ensures that a project has people pertaining to their current project. The staff must have a thorough knowledge on the domain in which he works. There are various factors that affect the organization’s approach to attracting talent. An organization recruits people only based on their talent and this process depends on the current situation and the project’s requirement. In certain cases, the organization may allot a person who works on a different project. This is done to minimize the cost incurred in recruiting a new person. Instead, allocating a person who is already employed in the company saves time. The employee who is already working in an organization will be able to have a better knowledge about the organization as well as the project. If a new person is hired, the responsibility of the organization increases as he must be provided with explicit training. Attracting and retaining a diverse workforce forms the integral part of any organization. The organization is more benefited if it manages a diverse workforce since it need not conduct a recruitment drive every time a resource is necessary. Instead, the company can select the staff from the employees who are already working in the same organization. This process saves time and does not incur much cost to the organization as the employees may possess a complete knowledge regarding the company. Diverse workforce is the aim of any organization as they can select the employees based on their skill and knowledge. The organization does not allot people for specific recruitment and they can as well conduct a similar interview among the staffs of the organization. Works Cited Philips, Jack. Accountability in Human Resource Management. U.S.A: Butterworth- Heinemann, 1999. Print. National Research Council. Using Human Resource Data to Track Innovation. Washington: National Academy Press, 2002. Print. Lawler, John. The Global Diffusion of Human Resource Practices. U.K: Emerald Group Publishing, 2008. Print. Read More