Foundations of Human Resource Management - Silver Creek Winery - Essay Example

? Foundations of Human Resource Management (Case Study Analysis) Executive Summary In business management, one of the most valuable resources is labor. Labor establishment and utilization are directly linked to the profitability of any given organization. For this reason, the manager is faced with the challenge of inducing productive labor in their organization. Therefore, they have a role to prepare adequately before they undertake the process of recruitment. Skills of human resource planning and job analysis form a strong foundation of any recruitment process. In itself, the recruitment process should be well structured and organized in order to achieve the required skillful labor. After recruitment, a systematic training approach should be employed in order to induce the new recruits in their designed positions. In Silver Creek Winery Company, there is a need for business expansion. This requires an effective recruitment procedure to fill the job positions that will arise during this development. This report will assist the manager of Silver Creek Company, Julia, to implement an effective staffing process. Foundations of human resource management Business management refers to the use of management skills to utilize the fundamental business resources in order to optimize the profit. The growth and future of a company can only be shaped by effective management strategies. Being a developing company, Silver Creek requires well schemed management strategies in order to achieve the effective expansion and to exploit its potential of growth. The various challenges facing this company demand for proper planning in order to come up with a prompt solution. These plans should be implemented in all the entities of this business. As the Human Resource manager, Julia carries the greater burden of the company as the future of the company lies on her shoulders. This report will assist Julia to employ Human resource planning, job analysis and training in the recruitment process in order to facilitate the staffing required during expansion of the company. Human resource planning is a crucial tool that is employed in the recruitment process. It is used in determining the current and future human resource that a particular business requires in order to achieve its set goals (Hartel & Fujimoto, 2010). It requires that the human resource requirements are established and a proper plan designed to satisfy these requirements. This goes hand in hand with the financial resource allocation for the entire process. The manager has a role to budget for the process effectively, in order to achieve a successful output. Recruitment refers to the use of management skills to induce the right labor resource, with the right skills at the right time. This resource should just be adequate, without shortage or surplus. This is the greatest role of a human resource manager. In theory, Human resource planning can be used to design the staffing process in any organization, be it small or large (Hartel & Fujimoto). This process can be implemented in a number of stages. First, the company should assess the current human resource capacity of the business organization. At this stage, the skills and knowledge of the available employees should be established. To achieve this, academic documents should be used. For instance, the certificates are effective in establishing the area of specialization and the special skills that an employee possesses. Also, the day to day performance of the employees should be monitored in order to learn the potentials of all the employees. Secondly, it would be important to determine the future needs of human resource. Here, the manger focus is on the positions that are likely to arise in the future, and the skills that will be necessary. These parameters should relate to the dynamic state of the market. Then, a gap analysis should be conducted in order to estimate the difference between the position of the organization at the moment and that in the future. Finally, a restructuring plan should be determined. At this stage, it would be important to evaluate the new management structures to cater for the growing labor force. In the Silver Creek Winery, there is further need for expansion of business. This demand for a staffing procedure in orders to fill-in the job opportunities that would arise. To do this, it would be crucial for Julia to follow the procedure for proper Human resource planning. First, it would be necessary to determine all the positions that would need to be filled, and the skills that would be required in the new branches. At this instant, the manager should consider the technological and structural changes that would require to be implemented in the new branches. In addition, the manager of this company is overburdened. Consequently, there would be a need to establish a new management structure to assist her in management responsibilities. For example, it would be practical to establish regional managers, who would be answerable to the overall manager. In essence, a new job hierarchy would be necessary. However, the manager should be prepared to face any challenges that are inevitable during such a process. Julia, the Human Resource manager of the Silver Creek Winery, would need job analysis skills to implement the organizational transition that is required by this company. Job analysis is the process of identifying the content of the work in terms of activities and skills that pertains to the specific jobs. It is dedicated to the major job requirements. Job analysis is a crucial tool in preparing job descriptions and specifications, which help the manger to hire the right people for their workforce. In detail, it entails the definition of work, job description, and development of performance appraisals and promotion criteria. All human resource managers should embrace this strategy in order to be able to gather information required for personnel selection, training, classification and compensation (Muchinsky, 2012). In the Silver Creek Winery, a business expansion is expected to take place during the process of growth of the organization. Job analysis would be relevant prior to the recruitment stage. The skills necessary to carry out analysis can either be acquired through training or by hiring external industrial psychologists who are specialized in job analysis. The best approach to determine specific job tasks in this company would be to use a task oriented approach (Management guide, 2012). In this method of job analysis, one concentrates on the activities that are likely to arise from a new investment plan. In Silver Creek, there would a necessity to recruit procurement, research and advertisement staff in the new regions. These positions are directly linked to the activities that their holder would have to undertake. Research would be important to investigate the market conditions in new locations so that effective strategies can be planned to counter the prevailing competition from similar business organizations (Muchinsky, 2012). After establishing specific job positions through job analysis, the next step would be to employ a recruitment and selection process in order to acquire the required employees to fill in these positions. Recruitment and Selection is the entire process that is followed in order to obtain the best individuals that fit specific job descriptions in an organization. It is a channel for employment of new employees. In Silver Creek Winery Company, there is the need to induce new employees required in the new branches. The management should have a chronological approach while implementing this process. The whole process is characterized by a number of steps (Thomas, 2007). To begin with, Julia should develop a job description for all the positions identified during the job analysis stage. The job descriptions should be written down having all the specific tasks that need to be handled. The responsibilities and qualifications should be written clearly. This will help to attract only the qualified individuals. The next stage would be to model a recruitment plan. At this stage, it would be wise to form an organizational unit. This unit would be responsible establishing the best criteria for employment. The advertisement should be released to the public by the use of posters and social media. This will ensure that the pool of applicants is diverse and hence a better selection can be done. The final stage is the implementation of the recruitment plan. This refers to the specific activities that take place during the first encounter with the pool of applicants (Thomas, 2007). Silver Creek Winery being a small company, the most recommendable method of recruiting would be through structured interviews. Interviews are meant to screen the outstanding elements such as talents in individuals. Usually, the interview questions are coined from the job specifications. Therefore, every position should have specific questions that are relevant and useful. Prior to the interview, screening of documents should be carried out. Only the academically qualified individuals should be invited for an interview. The interview can be approached from different angles. It can either be outsourced from recruitment agencies or done internally in the company. In this company, the latter would be the best option because in this case the company management comes into direct contact with the subjects. At this point, structured interview questions would serve best in questioning of the employees. According to Linda (n.d), structured interview questions are very effective in comparing the problem solving skills of the interviewee. Examples of structured interview questions for a procurement position are shown in the appendix. Those who succeed in the interview should be assimilated in the company framework (Thomas, 2007). After recruitment, the company requires to develop a procedure to induce their employees into their respective job positions. One of the best ways to introduce the employees into their working environment is by the use of the systematic training process. A systematic training process is a step by step induction process that is aimed at orienting the new recruits into their working environment so that they adjust and fit for their positions as quickly as possible. The aim of systematic training is to hasten the induction process. Essentially, the faster the employees adjust to their positions, the faster the business starts rolling out. Consequently, the business picks up quickly. In addition, the employees fill their position their positions more comfortably leading to higher labor utilization (Tracy, 2007). The training process should be implemented in a step by step manner. First, the employee should be oriented to their working environment. This should be done by emphasizing the importance of an employee in the success of the company. The new employees should be introduced to their co-workers in order to create familiarity. This can be done by holding a party for all the workers in order to create the spirit of unity among them. At the same time, they should be taught the company objectives, mission and vision. This will help them to understand the direction of the organization. At this stage, they should be provided with a clear definition of their job position, roles and responsibilities. This will help them to fit into their positions more comfortably and easily. Another important feature of orientation is the handling of tools of work. This may include all the facilities such as offices, computer and software that will be at their disposal for work purposes. This will help the new employees to utilize their tools to work more effectively (Hartel & Fujimoto, 2010). To achieve systematic training a better labor utilization Silver Creek should resort to systematic training to induce the workers into the new work environment. Given that this company will establish new branches; this means that the company will recruit completely new staff to run business in the new locations. This is challenging for the management since there are few or no older employees who would serve as a guide to the new employees. Therefore, the management should design a good plan for inducing the new employees right from scratch. To achieve a successful training process, they management should identify the themes, practices and skills that the employees require in practice. During the training process, the recruits should be allowed to air their opinions on these themes and any matter that they feel need to be revised for effective labor delivery. The whole process should be enjoyable in order to catch the attention of these new members. The spirit of cooperation between employees and between departments should be communicated. This will help the employees to understand that the whole company has a common goal in the long run. An effective training will help this company to utilize the available labor resource more profitably (Hartel & Fujimoto, 2010) In conclusion, developing companies such as Silver Creek winery often face challenges associated with the expansion. Business expansion requires new staff to run the new branches of the company. To achieve effective recruitment, the company should use human resource planning to establish the future position and requirements of the business specifically in terms of labor resource. Next, job analysis would be important to ensure that job positions and their requirements are well defined. This should be followed by an effective selection and recruitment process in order to obtain the right people with the right skills for the available job positions. Finally, a systematic approach should be used to induce the hired labor force into the new working environment. This will guarantee maximum labor output, which help place the business on a higher competitive edge. Appendix A: Interview Questions for the position of a procurement officer 1. Please tell me about yourself. 2. How did you learn about this vacancy? 3. How do you cope with stressful situations? 4. Have you been employed previously? Where and why did you leave? 5. Tell me about your worst employment conditions, worst boss or your worst co-worker. 6. In the field of procurement, what tools do you require in order to get your job done the best way you can? 7. Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? 8. Can you provide with an account of how you would contribute to the development of our company? 9. Do you have anything that you would like us to know? References Hartel, Y & Fujimoto,Y. 2010. Human Resource Management. Australia: Pearson Authors Education. Muchinsky, P. 2012. Psychology Applied to Work. Summerfield, NC: Hypergraphic Press, Management guide. 2012. Job Analysis methods. Retrieved from: Thomas R. 2007. Employee recruitment and Selection. WarrenHall; Cornell University. Retrieved from: Tracy, M. 2007. Systematic Employee Performance Training. Retrieved from: Banks, Linda. N.d. Structured Interview Questions. Retrieved from: Read More