Human Resource Management: a Survey - Essay Example

Human Resource Management: A Survey Human Resource Management: A Survey Introduction Human resource management is an integral part of every modern organisation, and this involves aligning individual potential toward organisation objectives. HRM functions by acquiring and developing human resource skills, motivating individuals for high performance, and by ensuring their commitment towards organisation. HR management plays a noteworthy role in the strategic planning and execution within the organisation, and influences the overall performance of the organisation to a great extent. The concept of HRM evolved greatly over the years from a personal administrative management level to strategic business partners. Earlier, in personal administration, more focus was given to functions like staffing, evaluating, training and development, safety and health, labour relations and compensation. Little focus was given to the overall performance of the organisation. However, factors like impacts of globalization, technological changes and employment regulations caused organisation s to develop strategic planning according to which various organisation components worked together to attain common business objectives. Evolution The last decade witnessed several unprecedented changes like globalization of business and changes in various socio-economic, political and technological fields worldwide. This has contributed to several changes in HR world as well. As Ramlall (n.d.) points out, during the past few years, with the tremendous growth of information technology, the performance of HR function within organisation was greatly improved. For instance, human resource practitioners were able to deal with intranets, online recruiting, self service, e-learning and online employee surveys effectively. The past decade also witnessed significant changes with regard to HR functions and service delivery. As Lawler (2012) describes, human resource management was able to perform different roles at a time i.e. as a provider of human resource services, as an employee advocate, and also as operating centre of excellence. Most of the decision support contributions of HR are now associated with its role as strategic partner in the organisation. Nowadays, Human resource management is giving great attention to functions like recruitment, selection, organisation design and development (p. 152). Overall, business understanding skills and interpersonal dynamics of HR professionals improved greatly over the past decade. Nowadays, most of the companies are making use of Human resource information system (HRIS), which is an online service that can be used for data entry, data tracking, and information for several HR activities. Hence, employees and managers can easily obtain essential job information, and data from HRIS could be used for performance management. Another recent trend in HR is that companies are now increasingly outsourcing many of their HR activities. HR professionals as strategic partners Strategic planning is the process in which an organisation s’ top management determines the various objectives and purpose of organisation and decides how these objectives are accomplished. According to Mondy (2008), as HR managers are becoming the strategic partners within an organisation, they have to work with senior leadership in developing concrete plans and in achieving great results for the company. They must be aware of the operational side of business, and should understand the complex organisation design. It is their job to determine the abilities of workforce within the organisation, and to ensure that human resources are supporting the mission of the organisation (p. 13). Today, HR professionals have a strategic role in managing human resources. In several companies like Procter &gamble, yahoo etc, HR is in the highest strategic level. Now, HR deserves a seat in the corporate table to take part in important discussions. It is their role to integrate the human resource goals with organisation goals through effective management of human resources. By doing so, they can add more value to the organisation. In order to successfully perform their role as strategic partners, HR managers should ensure that the HR department is working based on rigid standards, and they should effectively make use of data available for them to forecast outcomes. Distinct areas in HR field A Human resource job can include all the functions from recruitment to reward or it can specialize on any single area. In small organisation s, only a single HR manager may be required, but in large companies HRM duties are divided into several specialty areas. As described in SHRM (2010) Curriculum Guidebook, most common specialization areas in this field include Employee relations: In this specialty area, focus is given to maintaining a positive and productive work environment. Functions include analyzing, developing, and implementing relationship between employee and employer, continuous evaluation, resolving workplace disputes, and ensuring employee performance. Organisation and employee development: This area deals with organisation performance and developing its human resources. Functions include training employees for current and future job demands, change management, leadership development, coaching, succession planning etc. Compensation or Benefits: Different types of employee compensation or benefits which can attract and retain workers. They include paid leave, retirement income, insurance and other benefits permitted by law. Equal employment opportunity or affirmative action: It deals with administering and developing affirmative action programs. Functions include resolving EEO disputes, monitoring organisation practices and developing policies needed for EEO compliance. Safety and security: It deals with occupational safety by developing accident prevention strategies, stress management, employee assistance programs, legal and health policies, and maintaining confidential HR files. Labour and industrial relations: This area deals with laws and regulation that control the organisation and employees. Functions include solving employee relation issues, collective bargaining assistance, handling grievances, negotiation for union agreement etc. And, Staffing: This area deals with different strategies and processes for recruiting, hiring and retaining employees. Functions include pre employment screening and testing, recruitment technologies, retention strategies etc (Source: SHRM 2010 Curriculum Guidebook). Responsibilities of HR generalist and HR specialists There are several designations in Human resource profession which include HR executives, HR generalists and HR specialists. An HR executive is one who reports to the organisation s CEO or head of any major division. An executive could be considered as a top level manager. As specified in SHRM website, an HR generalist is an executive who have broad level of responsibilities. He or she performs variety of tasks which may include all the major HR functions. Some of the responsibilities include staffing, training and development, managing workforce, maintaining fair compensation programs, planning future human resource needs, developing personal policies etc. According to SHRM guidelines, an HR specialist is an HR executive or manager or an official who deals only with one of the major human resource functional areas. HR specialist is generally found in larger organisation s. A vice president in industrial relations is an HR specialist and executive. Compensation manager or benefits analyst is also an HR specialist. HRM as a career A career in human resources offers several opportunities for career progression. Many choose human resource management career as it offers great opportunity to influence various elements of an organisation. Also, one can play a noteworthy role in taking strategic business decisions and can help in the employee development. A student looking to advance his career in Human resource field requires several skills and personal qualities. A human resource professional has to work with diverse work force, and he should be able to supervise people belonging to diverse cultural backgrounds, having different levels of experience and education. An HR professional should be capable of working under pressure and handling conflicting point of views. Conclusion Human resource management is becoming the most important aspect in a modern business environment. The business leadership and HR professionals can now work together to achieve necessary changes to improve organisational advantages and functional capabilities. As human resource management has become strategic partners within an organisation, all the HR functions are now integrated with a vision and mission of organisation. Future of human resource management seems bright, and with wide range of specialty areas and diverse work options, human resource is growing as a powerful career option. References Lawler, E. (2012). Effective Human Resource Management: A Global Analysis. Stanford University Press. Mondy,R. W. (2008). Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Ramlall, S. J. (n.d.). Enhancing The Effectiveness Of HR Through The Integration Of IT. Journal of Business & Economics Research, 1 (10), 47-56. SHRM 2010 Curriculum Guidebook. 21st-Century Human Resource Management Strategic Planning and Legal Issues. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/45673_1.pdf SHRM. Careers in Human Resource Management. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/communities/studentprograms/pages/careersinhrm.aspx Read More