Major Focuses and Aspects of Effective HRM - Coursework Example

Question 1: Organisations in the present era need to focus on developing human resources to remain competitive. What are the major focuses or aspects of effective HRM and how could effective HRM assist organisations in facing up to the challenges? Student’s Name: Grade Course: Tutor’s Name: Assignment Due Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents ii Introduction 1 The critical aspects of HRM 2 Planning 2 Recruitment and staffing 2 Appraising 3 Rewarding 3 Developing 4 HRM’s assistance to organisation in facing challenges 5 Conclusion 6 Introduction In the 21st century, human resource management (HRM) has emerged as a scientific and professional discipline that aids in management, and especially for purposes of resolving the economic and political conflicts between employees and the management. In its basic definition, HRM refers to the philosophy, practices, procedures and policies that relate to the management of employees (Sims, 2002, p. 2). Notably, the emergence of HRM as a critical management function was partly influenced by changes in the social, organisational and industrial psychology that occurred during the industrial era as noted by Thite, Kavanagh and Johnson (2012, p. 6). Porter (1990, p. 54) notes that while a firm may have valuable organisational and physical resources, no other resource is as critical to a firm’s competitiveness as its human resource. Porter’s argument is informed by the critical role that human resources play in efficient organisational processes, and this ultimately shapes the quality or lack of it of products or services that a firm offers to the consumer market. Much of the HRM literature appears to draw a line between what can be described as ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ HRM. Kane, Crawford and Grant (1999, p. 496) specifically observe that soft HRM is used in reference to employee management practices that adopt a humanist approach. Such an approach focuses on “fostering employee motivation, commitment and development” (Ibid.). Hard HRM is on the other hand associated with a situational-contingent approach, and as such, the human resource is perceived as a critical component in a firm’s strategy. In the latter approach, Storey (1992, p. 26) observes that employees are viewed as “a resource to be used dispassionately and in a formally rational manner”. Whichever part of the divide HRM practices fall, it would be argued that firms adopt them for purposes of enhancing their performance and hence improving their competitiveness. In the following sections, this essay will identify the major aspects of effective HRM as planning, staffing (recruitment), appraising, rewarding and developing the human resources. The critical aspects of HRM Planning The planning aspect of HRM generally refers to the ability of an organisation to understand its human resource needs, acquire and retain the same in a manner that ensures that the firm never has a surplus or a deficit in the same. While planning may appear like a simple undertaking, Sims (2002, p. 4) notes that it is a complex process that may involve forecasting, developing programs and managing risks in order cater for any surpluses or deficits that may occur during any given period. Through planning, an organisation is able to develop strategies that would enable it to recruit, select and train the right people in the right numbers and at the right time in order to cater for human resource needs presented to the firm at any time. Recruitment and staffing According to Sims (2002, p. 2), the success of a firm is largely affected by its ability to attract and retain talented employees. Just like planning above, staffing is not as simple as it would appear. The process involves attracting the right people for the job, interviewing, screening, selecting and hiring them at the right time, and retaining them as long as they serve their rightful purposes in the workplace. The word ‘right’ here is especially important because as Sims (2002, p. 2) observes, employees need to possess the right set of skills and expertise needed to perform specific duties in the workplace. Beyond their skilfulness and expertise, they must possess the motivation needed to put their skills and expertise into practice. Although used together, recruitment and staffing refers to different aspects of the HRM process with the former being focused on identifying a pool of potential employees, while the latter refers to the actual assessment and selection of candidates. The human resource (HR) department in a firm may not always find the desired skill set that it needs for a specific job from either external or internal recruitment pools. As such, it may have to recruit people who can be trained and equipped with the knowledge needed to fill a specific job position. Appraising Appraising focuses on determining employees’ performance in relation to their skills, expertise, and remuneration. In other words, performance appraisals determine whether an employee is giving the organisation returns for its investment on them (e.g. through training and remuneration). As Sims (2002, p. 6) observes, appraisals are among the unpleasant activities that managers have to take; yet, the timely and accurate appraisals are critical for an organisation to determine if there are any problems (e.g. in skills gaps, or motivation issues) among the employees. Rewarding Rewarding employees refers the monetary or non-monetary compensation that is given to employees based on their contribution to the organisation (Sims, 2002, p. 6). Often, rewarding employees is a logical result to appraising processes, since the organisation is able to determine the type of compensation that a specific kind of input from an employee deserves. The most basic form of rewards is direct monetary compensations, which are given as salaries or hourly wages. Employees can also earn benefits based on performance and other agreed upon conditions. Notably, one can argue that the HR department must ensure that the rewards that a firm gives to its employees are within the range that it can afford. In other words, much as the HR department may want to reward the workforce for purposes of maintaining a competent and loyal workforce, it must ensure that the rewards are affordable to the organisation. Additionally, and as noted by Sims (2002, p. 6), the HRM function must ensure that compensation practices are in line with prevailing legal requirements, for example in matters pertaining to minimum wages or over-time pay. Among other considerations that an effective HRM function would need to consider while designing the rewarding system include the fairness concept (i.e. do employees consider the rewards fair based on their input), and the ‘prevailing pay levels in the labour market’ (Sims, 2002, p. 7). Developing Developing employees is among the main ways through which contemporary organisations are expressing their long-term interests for employees. According to Sims (2002, p. 6), organisations are increasingly ‘developing career development programs’, which are intended to enhance organisational performance by improving employee productivity. Additionally, organisations that develop their employee careers are able to attract and retain qualified employees, and this increases their competitiveness in the local and global environments. HRM’s assistance to organisation in facing challenges HRM’s role in the organisation is to acquire human capital (Jackson & Schuler, 1995, p. 241). Based on the HRM aspects above however, the human resource function in an organisation can decide to either ‘purchase’ human capital by say, providing competitive pay and other rewards, or develop its own capital through training and development (ibid.). Human capital is defined as “the productive capabilities of the people”, and as such, instead of just hiring for the sake of filling vacant positions, the HR department has to consider how capable the hired people are, and what their contribution to organisational objectives would be (Jackson & Schuler, 1995, p. 241). By so doing, the HR department would be equipping the organisation with the skills and competencies needed to overcome competitive challenges. Through other functions such as job analysis, understanding the organisational strategy, understanding the environment, and abiding by employee safety and health standards, the HRM function in an organisation would also be assisting the firm to overcome related challenges. Overall, it is clear that the HRM function has a role to plan the human resource needs of the firm, obtain employees who are best suited to handle specific job requirements, gauge employee on-job performance, reward them, and put in place career development plans where necessary for purposes of helping an organisation to face challenges in its product or service development and marketing processes. As Seyed-Mahmoud (2003, p. 205) notes, the efficiency outcomes of HRM in a firm are manifested on three levels namely individual (i.e. through performance, job satisfaction, and learning); organisation (i.e. through efficient work practices, a cohesive approach to work; and adaptable job practices); and societal (i.e. through enhanced productivity, better quality of life, and enhanced capital development), hence the argument that an organisation “is only as the people who comprise” it (Human Resource Management International Digest, 2010, p. 26). Finally, and in light of the ever changing global business environment, Seyed-Mahmoud (2003, p.205) observes that HRM needs to become the “agent of continuous transformation” in order to shape processes and internal organisational cultures in a manner that enables the firm to overcome competitive challenges that it may meet. For the aforementioned to happen however, HRM would need to become an active participant in issues affecting the organisation in order to understand how the HR function can be used to address such issues. Conclusion In conclusion, it is worth noting that an organisation is just as good as its human resource capital. However, acquiring such human resource capital is (in most contemporary organisations) the work of a dedicated human resource management department. Such responsibility therefore means that HRM can make or break an organisation. The HRM function has only one arsenal to use in supporting the larger organisational objectives – its responsibility to hire and manage employees in a manner that it beneficial to the firm. As indicated elsewhere in this paper, the role of hiring and managing the human resources consists of several aspects which include planning, recruiting and staffing, appraising, developing, and rewarding employees. The implications of such realisation on management and leadership are that HRM cannot be ignored by any firm that wants to attain or maintain its competitiveness. Additionally, managers and leaders ought to understand that aside from hiring and firing employees, HRM has a more detailed role in planning the human resource needs of the firm, obtaining employees who are best suited to handle specific job requirements, gauging employee on-job performance, rewarding them, and putting in place career development plans where necessary. References Human Resource Management International Digest. (2010). A treasure too valuable to water: Human resource management. Human Resource Management International Digest, 18(3):26-29. Jackson, S. E., & Schuker, R.S. (1995). Understanding human resource management in the context of organizations and their environments. Anna Rev. Psychol. 46: 237-264. Kane, B., Crawford, J., & Grant, D. (1999). Barriers to effective HRM. International Journal of Manpower, 20.8: 494-515. Porter, M. (1990). The Competitive advantage of nations. NY: Free Press. Seyed-Mahmoud, A. (2003). The future of human resource management. Work Study, 1(4): 201-207. Sims, R. R. (2002). Organizational success through effective human resources management. West Port, CT: Quorum Books. Storey, J. (1992). Development in the management of human resources. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Thite, M., Kavanagh, M., & Johnson, R. D. (2012). Resource management and human resource information systems- the role of information technology, In Kavanagh, M., Thite M & Johnson R (Eds.). Human resource information systems: Basics, applications and directions, 2nd ed. California: Sage. Read More