Fundamentals of Human Resources Management - Essay Example

Human Resources Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction Human resource management is an organizational function to maximize performance of employees. Their performance is enhanced to meet strategic objectives of an organization. The operation of many modern organizations majorly relies on the activities of HRM. Human resource management comprises of wide set of operations ranging from employee recruitment to employee retention. There are different systems and policies of human resource management in an organization. HR department of an organization is responsible for many activities such as recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, training and development, and rewarding. Industrial relations are also focused on by human resource department since these regulations are strongly associated with governmental laws and collective bargaining. There is always a need towards balancing industrial regulation with organizational practices. In global environment, companies are inclined towards nurturing talent and retaining employees within the system. Human resource management facilitates development of workplace environment where skills or capacities of employees can be enhanced in order to achieve higher levels of job satisfaction. The responsibilities of HRM are categorized into three main managerial areas: employee compensation, job designing and staffing. The main aim of HRM is to improve the output of an organization through maximizing the effectiveness and reliability of the workers. One of the main constituents of HRM that is applicable to many organizations is job designing. Job designing can be defined as the act of putting tasks on some jobs by equally putting into consideration the interdependence of the tasks with the other jobs. Discussion Human resource management is centred towards “people” dimension. The role of human resource management is to provide assistance to line employees and active indulge into production of goods or services of an organization. In every organization employees are considered to be most valuable asset. Companies acquire talent, enhance their skills and develop strategies to retain employees for long term. There are four basic functions of human resource management – staffing, motivation, training and development. HRM is a critical aspect from business perspective. Potential of workforce is important in order to sustain growth and development of an organization. The right talent should be acquired by an organization so as to create a leadership pool. Job design and work design strategies are important in terms of talent acquisition and retention. Human resource management is highly distinguishable from the concept of personnel management. The prior approach is directly linked with organization’s strategic management, commit towards organizational goals, individual needs are taken into consideration, enables flexibility within an organization and considers workforce to be an essential asset. Human commitment and capability is important for achieving set objectives. This factor differentiates one organization from another. Human resource management is usually incorporated within organizational strategy and needs to be regulated by top management (Armstrong, 2014). The major area of concern is to evaluate specifications of job position and recruit individuals as per those requirements. There are companies who are not able to select proper candidates for job roles and designation. This in turn reduces the level of workplace productivity since it is dependent on skills or expertise possessed by individuals. Recruitment process is considered to be an important activity in human resource management practices. To certain extent this activity is strongly associated with work and job design. The importance of human resource management is integrated with management function of an organization. HRM department has to be more concerned about initiating workforce commitment rather than staying focused on compliance. The commitment factor is enhanced through offering best job roles as per candidate’s skill and then nurturing talent for longer period of time. It has been witnessed that employees’ productivity is associated with performance appraisal system. Employees need to be rewarded in due course of time so as to ensure that they are satisfied with their job position. Hence designing of reward systems forms the backbone of human resource management. Reward schemes generally vary from one organization to another. These schemes can be in monetary or non-monetary terms. The major objective behind reward system is to encourage employees so that they perform well. HRM plays a significant role in terms of designing a workplace where employees can be encouraged for their hard work and dedication. Recognition always makes an individual feel that their knowledge, skills and values is being appreciated by management (Paauwe and Boon, 2009). This in turn influences other team members to perform equally well and it eventually increases overall workplace productivity. It can be stated that high satisfaction level in workers is reflected in their job performance. Team productivity is generally high for those companies which encompass a wide base of satisfactory employees. The motivation theory states that job performance of an employee is equal to collaboration of motivation and ability. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs forms the basis of workforce motivation. There are different needs which have to be addressed appropriately. The needs basically correspond to physiological needs, safety needs, love needs, self-esteem needs and self-actualization needs. These needs are linked with enhancing performance level of employees. The three basic needs are fulfilled at the initial stage but human resource management is inclined towards fulfilling love and self-esteem needs. In this context reward systems is essential as it motivate employees to perform above specified work standard. Herzberg’s theory on motivation states that productive worker is basically equivalent to one satisfied worker. This theory lays the foundation that productivity is increased only through keeping an employee satisfied. Job dissatisfaction results into making an environment unhealthy in terms of team work and goal accomplishment. Human resource management is also responsible for converting a workplace into a learning organization. Learning aspect is essential for every firm while operating in a competitive business environment. Kolb’s learning cycle comprises of certain elements which governs flow of operations in a workplace (Johnason, 2009). As per the theoretical framework, learning need has to be identified firstly, followed by designing opportunities, influencing learner to grab such opportunities and then evaluating the whole learning mechanism. This phenomenon is followed by every firm in order to enhance productivity level of an organization. Job designing is aimed at improving the progress of an organization, for example by reducing the operational costs of the organization and the training expenses (Arthur, 2004). Job designing improves all these through many strategies, which, are put in place by the administrative body of an organization. These strategies are; job enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation and extension of work time length. Job enlargement: This is the process of assigning employees more than one task and of different provisions. This helps in lowering the degree of specialization among the employees and helps them to develop new skills due to their experiences in the jobs. Job enrichment This is where the employee is given some authority left on the hand of the administrative body of an organization. Though it helps in equipping the employee with some managerial skills, it has some disadvantages. The disadvantage is that the employee may be granted much power, which may lead to serious administrative drawbacks. Job rotation; this is where an employee is posted to different departments within an organization. This helps the employee to absorb knowledge to under those different departments and save the organization from the cost of training other employees and also reducing the cost of paying large number of works. Job designing contributes towards organizational productivity. Job enrichment and enlargement are two effective strategies of job designing. Both these concepts are closely knitted with the technique of enhancing employee productivity. Job enlargement helps an employee to expand on its domain through handling different kind of projects. Job enrichment facilitates exercising power over team members belonging to same domain. Workplace design is upgraded through incorporating these innovative strategies which are inclined towards goal achievement. Extension of work time length This is where the length of the working time is increased in order to give workers ample duration to offer their services without any inconvenience due to lack of enough time. This also helps the workers to work at a reasonable pace with low supervision and still produce better turn out. Job simplification This is where analysis is made on the most essential components of a job with an aim of reorganizing the job in order to improve its efficiency. According to Robertson and Smith (1985), there are different steps involved in job simplification. The steps are as follows: The first step involves the managerial body going through literature and other additional information in order to avoid confusion within the organization. The second step involves inquiring from the answerable managers the tasks, personnel and responsibilities required to tackle the job efficiently. The third step involves inquiring the same information from the employ assigned the job The fourth step involves noting the worker who performs the assigned job well The fifth step involves attempting the job personally and caution should be taken in order to avoid taking on dangerous jobs that may require the attention of employees with long and better experience on the job. In modern organizations there are advanced technology used to make job roles simpler for employees. This kind of simplification is needed because it helps employees to analyze well their job roles and perform accordingly. Job role confusion often leads to unsatisfied employees who are not able to differentiate their job designation from that of other team members. Work simplicity is effectively managed by human resource managers through implementing different software’s (Mullins, 2013). This technology based mechanism help managers to communicate directly with employees in context of making them understand their job roles and expected level of performance. Human resource management is not only about recruiting best talent on board but it is also centred towards adopting strategies which could retain employees. Job design strategies are the procedure through which employees are shown their importance in the system by giving some additional duties. It is witnessed that more responsibility tends to make an individual feel valued which is required in modern organizations. Value creation is not only important in context of sustaining market position but it is even required while maintaining a pool of talent in a firm. Training and development session also forms an integral part of work design because it is associated with making employees aware about job roles and description. Through this session human resource representatives is able to analyze needs of every employee and then align them with job requirements. The necessary skills are always not present within employees and hence it becomes essential to train them on specific grounds (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007). Training and development program are usually aligned with job specifications and it comprises of additional information which might prove to be beneficial for employees in long term. Evaluation mechanism also forms a part of this training and development program. On basis of this activity managers are able to analyze which of the employees are most suitable for the job position. Evaluation also means imparting required skills and attitudes within employees that will be needed in long run. Work flexibility is another issue that has been introduced by human resource management in contemporary firms. This type of flexibility is enhanced through providing employees with a scope to work simultaneously in different departments and gather sufficient knowledge. It is also associated with giving flexibility to contribute innovative ideas and opinions. Conclusion In conclusion, HRM plays an exceptional role in providing an enabling surrounding for the modern organizations and the employees. As discussed above the essential component of HRM that is job designing helps the organizations to minimize their operational costs and other unnecessary expenses. It also helps the employees to develop new skills in the process of doing assigned jobs of different professions. This enables them to exploit their skills effectively. As per this study, human resource management is a central component in business operations. There are some basic functions encompassed within the approach of human resource management. HRM in modern organizations is not only about staffing but it includes designing strategy in order to retain employees in the system. Job satisfaction is a vital factor that is closely associated with productivity of an individual along with an organization. This satisfaction level is increased through different mechanisms such as job design and work design. There are theoretical frameworks used in this study denoting that motivational element is enriched through making an employee feel valuable. Job performance would be higher only when employees are motivated or determined to perform a specific task. Their level of performance strongly contributes towards team performance and productivity. In overall context employee productivity is increased when they are highly satisfied with their respective job roles and designation. References Armstrong, M., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice twelfth ed. London: Kogan Page. ARTHUR, D. 2004. Fundamentals of human resources management. New York, N.Y., American Management Association. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=11511. Huczynski, A. A. and Buchanan, D. A., 2007. Organisational behaviour 6th Ed. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Johnason, P., 2009. HRM in changing organizational contexts. London: Routledge. Mullins, L. J., 2013. Management and organisation behaviour 10th Ed. New Jersey: FT Prentice Hall. Paauwe, J. and Boon, C., 2009. Strategic HRM: A critical review. London: Routledge. Read More