Human Resource Planning - How to Utilize Human Resource - Essay Example

HRM – Reflective paper Human Resource is a valuable and integral part of an organization. It is equally if not more important than any other resourcelike Capital. The field of managing personnel in an organization refers to Personnel Management or Human Resource Management (HRM). There are some key aspects in performing effective and efficient HRM. Some of them are: Human resources planning, recruitment, and selection, Human resources development, Compensation and benefits, Safety and Health, and Employee and labor relations. I think that a good strategy of HRM would be to plan how to utilize this vital resource, these include the employment of proper and suitable personnel, developing them, making sure they are provided good remuneration and other benefits and that proper attention is paid in their safety and health. Moreover, a vital requirement is to understand the psyche of the employees and maintaining good relations with them. The identification of proper fit for the right personnel and its allocation can be referred to Human Resource Planning. For an organization to be successful, it is pertinent that all managers have a plan irrespective of Finance, Marketing or Human Resource department. A plan works wonders. It lays out the objectives of the organization, identifies its goals and requirements and hence proper resources can be easily allocated to the relevant requirements. In the Human Resources department, employee recruitment plays a central role in planning. The HR managers must identify the ‘right man for the right job’ and assign him the role that best suits him. This identification of suitable people can be done from outside the organization, new employees being hired, or from within the organization, current employees being promoted. There are several ways in which organizations may choose to recruit. First of all, the right person for the job has to know that a job is available within the organization. Hence, the organization must advertise the availability of the job. These can be done through several mediums such as approaching Headhunters and Employment Agencies (Mafoi etc.), visiting College campuses for on campus job interviews of graduating students, advertisement in print media (Newspapers and Magazines etc.), digital Media (Television and Radio etc.) or a new trend emerging quite successfully is the Online Medium. There has been a recent push on the online medium with several websites like monster.com getting popular. The process is simple, all one has to do is create an online profile (quite similar as setting up a Facebook account) upload a recent Resume detailing academic qualifications and working experience. Then he can go ahead and view the jobs available according to his qualification and experience and apply. As several prospective people apply for the same job, the organization short-lists a few candidates based on their Resume and Letter of Intent and calls them for an interview. A more recent trade in the online medium for recruitment has been social media. These include dedicated online portals like LinkedIn which are like a social networking website but are good at making connections with your future employers. Then there are still newer concepts which are just emerging such as Glassdoor, which started off from Facebook. I have an organization in mind which I want to work for, I have made connections on LinkedIn and Glassdoor with some key executives in the organization. After graduating I hope that there will be an opening in the organization and I am sure my connections would prove useful in making sure I land the job. Through these connections, I can learn about the functioning of the organization, key decisions made by them at critical junctures. Overall it’s a free learning experience for me. Microsoft for example employs a number of techniques to employ the right people. It seeks out employment agencies, visits colleges for on campus recruitment. Moreover, it even has a link on its website that prospective candidates can visit and apply for open positions. (Microsoft, n.d) Once the personnel has been selected and hired for the relevant job, the onus is on the management to develop the personnel to perform at his best. Adequate training is an integral part of personnel development. Each organization has its individual needs and specializations. The new hire has to be informed of the process of the organization and he must be provided all the skills and knowledge he knows to perform his task at maximum efficiency. An effective training program should start with recognizing the need for training, what aspects of training is needed. This depends on the uniqueness of the organization, as well as the individual. A good and planned training program design must be in place, which outlines the process of training. This should be holistic yet simple and complete. The training has to be developed according to the resources available to the organization. Whether the organization has the ability and resources to provide un house training or should the new employee be sent to some specialized institute for a training program. A training program is useless, if it is not delivered properly. After effective delivery of the training program, the organization must look to collect feedback from the employee. The organization has to know if the program was effective and if it benefitted the new employee understand his role in the organization any better. Did the program add any value to his skill sets? If there is a problem in the program, the feedback provided can go a long way in rectifying the problem for the future implementation of the program. Boston Consultancy Group has probably been the pioneer in training employees for career growth. They have a unique personalized learning portal called LAB, “provides everyone with access to all of BCG’s training resources. Their suite of online training materials not only provides the expertise their consultants need when and where they need it, but also maintains the personal touch that makes all their training programs unique.” (BCG, n.d) BCG invests over $200,000 per person on training, be it a junior executive or a senior partner. (BCG, n.d) The development of the employee can be done through motivation also. This involves recognizing his work and giving him confidence. Moreover, remuneration and other benefits go a long way in motivating and retaining an employee within the organization. The pay of employees should be at least according to industry standards, and the employee should not feel that he isn’t getting paid enough for his job. Moreover, benefits should be provided on achieving specific organizational goals. For example, I have worked for large Real Estate Company. Apart from the fixed salary, I was also given a commission on the sales generated through me. This certainly pushed me to sell more and perform better. One of the benefits often provided by organizations is health insurance. It is a low cost for the organization, but the employee feels safer with insurance, knowing that he will not have to worry too much about medical expenditures if he gets sick. Normally this insurance is extended to his immediate family as well (Spouse, dependent children) Moreover, benefits like car service/ conveyance allowance allows employees to take the extra effort and visit places and handle the responsibility on the their own, rather than delegating the responsibility to someone else. Maintaining proper safety protocols is the responsibility of the organization especially in high risk jobs, for example, construction jobs. An employee must feel safe while doing his job or his concentration shall wander. Moreover, some safety measures are a legal requirement. Safety is not limited to the employee and physical safety. Safety can also apply to the organization in terms of safely managing their human resource. An organization must provide equal opportunities to all and sundry and not engage in any discrimination based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Walmart was recently heavily criticized over a row regarding gender discrimination at work place. (Shapiro, 2012) Moreover, the organization must take affirmative action, i.e. the organization take adequate steps to stop any discrimination at work place. Recently, there are several reports regarding Sexual harassment at the work place, especially by women who have alleged inappropriate sexual advances by their bosses/colleagues. Sexual harassment is criminal offence. It damages the reputation of the organization as well. The organization needs to address this issue through regular education on harassment and take a clear stand that any kind of such mistreatment shall be met with strict punishment. Probably the most important role of Human Resource Management is Employee and labor relations. It is a known fact that a happy worker is a productive worker. “The Employee Relations Policy outlines the steps that supervisors should take to immediately address critical work performance and behavioral issues”. (Brown, n.d). The HR managers need to set simple and clear objectives and benchmarks for performance at work. The employees must be given proper clarification on what is expected from them. Moreover, proper feedback must be given to improve performance at work. Interaction is a good way to maintain and develop employee relations. Interaction may be done at individual level or with a union (if one exists). Proper coaching and training methods should be implemented which identify the objectives, process and outcomes of a specific task. The objective of the training program has to be employee development and increased work performance. If coaching proves to be ineffective and problems persist, Counseling may be required. “Counseling consists of a more explicit explanation of the work performance concern. It should also reinforce and clarify work performance expectations”. (Brown, n.d). Coaching and Counseling are regarded as informal measures of communicating a problem with employees. If these two tasks prove to be ineffective, the management must initiate proper formal communication to the employees. A written notice of expectations from the employee is often the first step of formal communications. A written notice encompasses the desired performance standards, it identifies the gap in the performance of the employee and what is the expected benchmark of performance. Moreover, the notice should clearly outline the measures the employee can and must take to improve his performance. In addition the mentioning these requirements the immediate need of improving performance must be stressed upon. If required, proper disciplinary measures should be taken to reprimand the employee. If all these actions are still ineffective in increasing performance, the employee may be terminated. However, termination should be last step and not the first. An organization must have a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) (Brown, n.d) The PIP should: “Identify specific details of the issue or concern; Explain how the performance (or action) is falling short of expectations; Detail expectations for improvement and the corresponding time-frame; Identify measurements, resources, and support for the employee to improve performance; Include a statement that if the unacceptable performance continues, or other problems occur, the staff member will be terminated”. (Brown, n.d) I think that training is vital for the development of employees. Even if the organization canot find the perfect recruit, a compatible one with good training can prove to be effective. Moreover, training keeps employees encouraged to perform better by providing them up to date techniques in handling the different challenges the day to day activities of an organization. It also helps interaction amongst employees as well as the management and employee. Hence, I think training is probably the most vital asset in HRM. As discussed in detail, I think that a good strategy of HRM would be to plan how to utilize Human resource, these include the employment of proper and suitable personnel, developing them, making sure they are provided food remuneration and other benefits and that proper attention is paid in their safety and health. Moreover, a vital requirement is to understand the psyche of the employees and maintaining good relations with them. A collective focus on the above-mentioned details would certainly increase employee productivity in an efficient and effective manner. These would result in lower costs and hence better profits for the organization which is essentially the critical part of any Profit making company, THE BOTTOMLINE. References: BCG. (n.d). Career Growth. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from Boston Consultancxy Group: http://www.bcg.com/careers/career_growth/learning/ Brown. (n.d). Human Resources: Employee Relations. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from Brown University: http://www.brown.edu/about/administration/human-resources/policies/employee-relations Microsoft. (n.d). Careers. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from Microsoft: http://careers.microsoft.com/careers/en/hk/applyoverview.aspx Shapiro, L. (2012, January 25). Walmart Faces Long Battle On Sex Discrimination, Despite Supreme Court Ruling . Retrieved March 16, 2014, from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/walmart-sex-discrimination-supreme-court_n_1227352.html Read More