Role of Human Resource Management - Essay Example

Role of Human Resource Management Course Name and Code Institution Name Faculty Name Insert Your Name Insert Your Number Instructor’s Name 04 August 2009 The main objective of any firm is to ensure that they achieve their vision and mission statement requirements. It also requires appropriate utilisation of all resources within their reach ensuring that the organisation succeeds. In any organisation, there are diverse requirements and many parties are involved; in a normal organisation, there are the financial sector, marketing sector and human resource sector to name some. These different sectors fulfil different responsibilities and are given specific roles that they have to fulfil. Human resource management is a coherent and strategic approach in management of the organisation’s personnel; personnel either in terms of individual or collective ensure that the organisation achieve the aims and objectives that are in place. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the role of human resource management in an organisation. The main role that human resource management (HRM) plays is hiring or staffing the organisation (Dessler, 2007). Specification and description of jobs are the paramount tools in the staffing process. In any organisation, some event (e.g. firing of employee) or someone (e.g. manager) in an organisation will determine the need for an employee to be hired. In large organisation, there are steps that are followed to provide means in which an employee can be employed. Such organizations use employee requisition, which is usually submitted to HRM in that it specifies the department in which the new employee is required, job title and the date that the employee is needed. From this information, job description is developed and then it is advertised (Pell, 2001). The candidates’ resumes who respondent to the advertisement are screened by the HRM and then calls for those with appropriate paper qualifications for interview. Moreover, when the HRM select the appropriate candidate, the candidate is aligned to the requirements of the position ensuring that the job description and current job analyses reflects the current position (Mathis and Jackson, 2004). Another important role that is fulfilled by the HRM is performance appraisal. After employing a talented individual, the HRM ensures that the environment in which the individual is working in is comfortable in achieving the required goals; this may include rewarding and motivating the employees. Assessing performance ensure that the appropriate appraisal strategy is utilised and can be accomplished using performance evaluation that can be done periodically. Some of the common appraisals strategies include using rating scales, ranking of employees, managing objectives and recording critical incidents (Pell, 2001). Thus, achievement of the performance appraisals, the HRM will utilize it to lay strategies and means that will motivate and reward the employee. Some purposes that are served by the performance appraisals are rewarding employees, guiding the department to promote, fire and hire, providing means of understanding position of the entire organisation determining sectors that should be improved, identifying development and training to improve employees’ performance and obtaining relevant data that can be used by human resource planning (Mathis and Jackson, 2004). Human resource management should develop ways and means of determining compensation and benefit requirements. Compensation is payment that usually is in terms of salary and wages while benefit includes pensions, insurance, sick days or vacation. Employee performance, and compensation and benefits complement each other. The HRM should ensure that the compensation that is provided should be adequate, legal and ethical, fair, cost-effective, motivating and provision of employment security (Pell, 2001). Thus, when the employees feel that they are paid and compensated adequately (rewarded with sufficient benefit and what they are worth) they will feel satisfied and it contributes towards their commitment to the position or responsibility (Lengnick-Hall, 2002). Training and development ensure that employees improve their quality in fulfilling current requirements and preparing for future opportunities. Due to changes of socioeconomic and political requirements, e.g. globalisation, the organisation structure continuously changes and the HRM are required to devise ways to ensure that the organisation can manoeuvre through the changes and associated turbulence, a process that can be achieved through training and development programs. Training and development ensures that development of desired skills, orientation and informing employees, prevention of accidents through safety training and provision of both technical and professional education is achieved (Mathis and Jackson, 2004). The HRM involvement with development and training benefits specific individuals and sometimes the entire organisation. Trained employees reduces employee turnover, decreasing accidents, providing better customer service, and improves quality and quantity of production. Generally, training usually focuses on the current job, while development concentrates in improving the entire organization requirements for the long term (Dessler, 2007). HRM other role is to ensure that organisation links with employee and union relations. The main aim of many unions e.g. ILO is to ensure that the organisation provides appropriate wages and salaries to employees and eliminates many conditions that are placed by the employer (Lengnick-Hall, 2002). Moreover, the HRM role is to ensure that the organisation is responsible for contract such as working conditions, individual’s rights, discipline procedures, contract length, compensation and benefits, job security and management’s rights. Moreover, the HRM is responsible for collective bargaining between the employees and unions preventing complications such as union strikes (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2004). Furthermore, HRM should provide an environment that is safe and healthy for the employees. The employees should be protected from injuries that are related with work accidents and ensuring that the employees are healthy, and are free from emotional or physical illness. Thus, HRM should devise ways in which the employees’ safety and health are guaranteed (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2004). Generally, Human Resource Management is a major component in ensuring that organisation succeeds and fulfils the required aims and objectives. HRM sector ensures that employees, the major asset in any organization, are working in an environment that is friendly and conducive to fulfil their requirements. Thus, some of the roles that are played by Human Resource Management are staffing, performance appraisal, developing compensation and benefit strategies, following employee and labour relations, and provision of safety and health. HRM is supposed to play these roles to ensure that the organization is successful and preventing the organization from any labour associated complexities e.g. strikes or organization been sued because of not fulfilling their contractual obligations. References Dessler, G., 2007, Human Resource Management, 11th Ed. London: Longman Publishers. Lengnick-Hall, C., 2002, Human Resource Management in the Knowledge Economy. New York: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Mathis, R. L. and Jackson, J. H., 2004, Human Resource Management, 11th Ed. New York: Thomson/ South-Western Publishers. Pell, A. R., 2001, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Human Resource Management. New York: Alpha Book Publishers. Torrington, D., Hall, L. and Taylor, S., 2004, Human Resource Management, 6th Ed. New York: Financial Prentice Hall. Read More