What Makes the Human Resource Department the Most Important Department in an Organization - Essay Example

Running Head: VETERAN AFFAIRS HUMAN RESOURCES Topic: Veteran Affairs Human Resources Lecturer: Presentation:Introduction Human resources refer to the over all workforce in a business or an organization. These are people who are entrusted with the role of implementing managerial policies and decisions concerning production and manufacturing processes (Lidgoster, 2010). The human resource department on the other hand is a component of an organizational structure, which deals strictly with issues concerning the management of these important resources, without which an organization can never fulfill its vision or mission (Lidgoster, 2010). This paper is a critical evaluation of human resource department discussing its roles, participants as well as its impact on the overall organization. Human Resource Department The human resource department is an important entity in the running and success of a business organization. This is due to the fact that it involves the management of employees to ensure that quality and timely results are delivered within the set budgets in order to guarantee returns on investment. This department is headed and controlled by a manager, who is the overall authority in matters related to employees (Cole, 2004). In an organization, such as the Department of Veteran Affairs in the US, the work force is divided into various sub sections that are entrusted to individuals who act as supervisors and policy formulators in their respective fields. This organization came into existence in the year 1981 with the mission of assisting veteran soldiers with a means of rehabilitation as well as providing them with medical assistance after serving the army in hostile enemy lines. These individuals comprise of and not limited to; Accountants, account clerks, administration and program staff, administrative officer, auditor, budget analyst, cash processing clerk, cemetery administrator, computer clerk, compliance inspection department, claims examiner, financial administrator, HR assistant, HR specialist among others (Department of Veteran Affairs, 2009). Roles of the Human Resource Department The human resource department is charged with a major responsibility of managing and developing people working in an organization (Pareek, 2006). This is a process that gives it an upper hand as compared to other departments since these people are the back bone of the business as they provide labor which is necessary in the overall success of a business organization. These responsibilities include and not limited to: Hiring and Firing of Employees The HR department under the manager in charge is responsible for ensuring that the work force available has the capacity of delivering results in a timely manner. However, this may not be possible in cases where employees are subjected to huge work loads due to lack of enough people to share the tasks. The management should keep on evaluating and reviewing the demand for new work force and where necessary take the appropriate action i.e. either increase or reduce the number of employees (Pareek, 2006). This is a task that should be conducted with diligence based on the fact that it is possible for these managers to exploit these opportunities by encouraging activities such as corruption and nepotism, which may amount to abuse of office. An effective manager ensures that due process is followed by ensuring that selection is conducted purely on merit. By doing so, professionalism in the work place is guaranteed as there would be no cases of misconduct, which sometimes may be encouraged by favoritism on the basis of family connections (Morrison, 2001). It also enables the manager to exercise his or her powers to discipline errant employees without fear, which may be due to the fact that may be some of them were recruited just because their friends are in higher levels of management. Firing of employees may be necessitated by a reduction in demand meaning that the supply for the commodity being produced would require to be reduced. If this occurs, it means that the number of employees would have to be reduced in order to cut down the cost of production and to prevent idling. In a construction company for example, the more the work progresses, the chances of firing employees remains minimal up to a certain time close to the completion of the project when only few are left to continue with the final touches, for example painting and other interior decorations. Firing may also be considered as a disciplinary action upon employees who fail to produce results in their respective areas. The manager should be able to assess the prevailing conditions and be able to take an informed and timely decision, which would benefit the company (Morrison, 2001). The department of veteran affairs for example is faced with a workforce dilemma due to the fact that most of the employees are in their old age and future projections indicate that within the next five years, they will have already attained their retirement age. This means that the HR department has to come up with a strategic work force plan based on the fact that they can not fire these employees and at the same time they cannot hire replacements all at once because it may lead to overstaffing. To solve this, the hiring is distributed across 2 years. For example, it is projected that in the period 2010-2012, the department will acquire the services of approximately 48000 new employees to cover the workforce deficit (Jeffery, 2009). Employee Motivation Employee motivation is an important business practice which aims at increasing productivity at an extra but reasonable cost (Bowen, 2004). This acts as an encouragement for employees to work harder thereby impacting greatly on the performance of an organization by increasing production as well as the profit margin. An effective manager should be able to observe and realize his employees’ motivational factors as they are diverse in nature (Bowen, 2004). For example, it is difficult for people in general to concentrate on their official duties when they have personal problems for example poor health. A working person should be able to afford medical check ups on regular basis so that he or she can be diagnosed of any illness before it attacks as a surprise. However, it has been observed that most people wait until the illness becomes serious in nature for them to seek medical attention thereby failing to report to work as expected without prior notice (Bowen, 2004). Knowing this, a manager may come up with a medical program whereby employee treatment is subsidized and if possible extended to their immediate families, who may divert their attention from work. Other forms of motivation may involve organizing trips either educational or casual, rewarding the highest performers either in terms of cash or gifts as well as promoting them or punishing those with low performance ratings (Bowen, 2004). This increases competitiveness such that each and every employee would be determined either on individual basis or as a team to outdo the others performance. In addition, it allows the manager to concentrate on other important matters other than supervising tasks especially due to the fact that we have two main categories of employees which are; hard workers and lazy ones, who must be supervised in order to deliver (Pareek, 2001). Where employees are well motivated, a sense of ownership and respect for the organization is built, which makes the employees proud to be associated with the business. It is important to note that these people act as internal clients who are capable of building or destroying the reputation and the image of the company in the society by the way they describe it. Employee remuneration should correlate highly with his or her knowledge and responsibilities in an organization. It is the role of the human resource manager as the overall supervisor to ensure that workers’ salaries are reviewed on occasional basis and promotion granted where it is due (Bowen, 2004). It is wrong for an organization through the HR department to let people serve in one capacity for a long period and when an opportunity arises, people from outside are given the first priority to fill the vacant positions. Whereas some may argue that this is important in introducing new ideas, it disillusions those within the company especially if they have the necessary qualifications to hold higher offices than what they currently hold. This is one reason why employee turn over may become a haunting reality for human resource managers and the entire business (Bowen, 2004). The Department of Veteran affairs has managed to overcome this challenge by putting in place effective succession plans, which are supported by an online system which allows visitors and members to fill in questionnaires in order to contribute their ideas (Jeffery, 2009). Conflict Management In any society, there exists a possibility of conflicts arising especially due to diversity of ideas and the work place is no exemption (Lidgoster, 2004). The HR manager keeps a close tab on the activities of his or her employees so as to intervene in case a physical conflict ensues. For example, an angry employee may try to use the tools in his access for example a hammer or a piece of metal to attack his or her workmate. In such a circumstance, the manager is responsible for ensuring that that does not go unpunished in order to prevent future occurrences. If not so, he may decide to separate the two employees by shifting them to other sites or if one has a record of busting in anger and uncontrollable temperament, he may decide to terminate his employment in accordance with the state’s labor laws. Solving such problems promotes harmony in the work place thereby creating a favorable environment for service delivery and also saves the organization from unnecessary expenditure which may be incurred in treating sustained injuries. On the other hand, conflicts may arise not between the employees but between them and the management. Such an occurrence may be ignited by factors such as fear of change, poor working conditions and remuneration etc. The human resource department acts as a bridge for the gap between employees and the higher levels of management that deal with policy formulation (Lidgoster, 2004). As such, they have the responsibility of ensuring that employee concerns are relayed without fear or favor so that a viable solution can be found. Failure to do so may tarnish the name of the organization as it would encourage employees to go on the streets to exercise their right to conduct peaceful demonstration. If this happens, the media may come in and report negatively on newspapers and television, which may reduce consumer as well as investor confidence. In addition, it is important to note that not all demonstrations are peaceful in nature and this may subject the organization’s assets to vandalism thereby stalling the production processes. Profit margins would also go down due to workers failing to report to work. A simple go slow in the work place may result to huge losses, which may take a long time to recover. It would also give competitors a chance to capitalize on the lost good will of the society. Employee Training The ability of a business to survive the turbulent competition for market share, it must embrace the dynamic nature of technology especially in production and service delivery as well as marketing (Ollins, 2001). This requires procurement of new systems for example computers and disposing the old ones which may be out dated and inefficient. However, this does not necessarily mean that the existing employees would have to be replaced with new work force as this would mean incurring a lot of expenses. The HR department is entrusted with the role of deciding the best way of utilizing the available work force under the new settings. From this aspect, it is faced with the challenge of selecting individuals and supporting them with the required training either by managers them selves or outsourcing training staff. On the other hand, the HR management, being agents of change, should keep close tabs on the most current developments in the market as well as seminars and forums taking place in different parts of the world so that he or she can seize the opportunity to send a delegation to represent the organization (Ollins, 2001). In these forums, a lot of issues and new ideas are brought forward and discussed from various point of views and any one attending would have a great opportunity to acquire a lot of knowledge, which they can share with other employees in the company. This is essential in that it helps in building confidence in the work force thereby making it more efficient and dependable. A company for example that specializes in software manufacturing may require conducting these activities frequently since customer demands are changing almost on daily basis. It would be out of order if the HR department decides to hire new employees every time there is a change in demand and fashion. Conclusion The human resource department is an important entity in the organizational structure of any business. This is because it entails managing the entire work force, which is sometimes referred to as human capital and upon which the entire success of the organization is dependent. Some of the responsibilities entrusted to this department include and not limited to; hiring and firing of employees, employee motivation, conflict management, as well as employee training among others. These make it the most important department in an organization. References Bowen, B. (2004). Recognizing and Rewarding Employees, McGraw-Hill Cole, A. (2004). Management: Theory and Practice, Thomson. Department of Veteran Affairs, VA Business / Administration Careers, Retrieved 04 November 2010, from Jeffery, V (2009). The Quality of Warfarin Prescribing and Monitoring in Veterans Affairs Nursing Homes. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 5(8) 1475–1480 Lidgoster, H. (2010). “Negotiation and Conflict Management,” the International Journal of Human Resource Management, 3(1), 28-48 Morrison, E. (2001). Leadership Skills, Da Capo Press. Ollins, J. (2001). Good to Great: why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others dont, Harper Business. Pareek, U. (2000). Actualizing Managerial Roles, Studies in Role Efficacy, McGraw Hill Read More