Human Resource Management - Rules, Roles, and Functions - Essay Example

Running Head: Human Resource Management Human Resource Management Name: Institution: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Human resource management is an important department in an organization because of facilitating all roles and activities related to organizational personnel. Human resource management, in the plays the role of ensuring that things in an organization relating to people in the organization is widely researched. Human resource management plays various roles such as planning, recruitment and selection, job design, and employee motivation under guiding rules and regulations (Caldwell, 2003,950). These activities fall under every manager's responsibilities though most organizations find it advantageous to establish a specialist division that provides special services on human resource management. Issue 1: Rules, Roles, and Functions Rules There are various rules that govern the activities and practices of human resource departments in various organizations. These rules are of different t and apply varioustuitions as workplaces, organizations, and nations as well (Hailey t al. 2005). The common types of rules governing human resource activities include formal/informal and procedural/substantive rules. Legislations thatgoverns employment procedures include such regulations as discrimination laws that call upon human resource to offer employment opportunities, workplace health d safety laws, and national employment standards. There are also regulations governing minimum wage, modern awards among others (Wright, 2008). There are also informal agreements agreed upon by the parties at the workplace in accordance to Commonwealth legislations. Furthermore, there re organizational documents such as policies and procedures practice, organizational custom and practices, professional norms and code conduct, and workplace norms and ethics. Roles Human resource department forms an important part of an organization when we consider the important roles it plays in managing personnel. The roles of human resource department are divided into three main categories that include transformational roles, transactional activities, and traditional roles. Transactional roles of the human resource include the day-to-today activities such as administration of employee payments, maintaining information systems related to human resource management, and foreseeing employee services (Guest ad King, 2004). Traditional activities of the human resource comprise duties such as managing employee performance, facilitating training, recruitment and selection, compensation, and industrial relations. Finally, transformational activities include roles such as knowledge management, organizational cultural change, and redirecting and renewing organizational strategies. Issue 2: HR Planning ad Job Design By large and wide, human resource planning entails all administrative functions and activities refers to as classic, clear identification, and evaluation of critical human resource requirements for effective goal realization (Allan et al. 2004). This is also tails identification of qualified individuals needed by anorganization. Human resource planning a tool used by organizations to strategize company requirements alongside predicting their direction to maintain the reputable competitive advantage. Importance of human resource planning In most organizations, human resource planning remains the key responsibility of every manager with greater focus on effective evaluation of the demand and supply of labor. Human resource planning also entails the acquisition, development, and exit of labor within an organization. Since the success of any organization lies in the people carrying out various activities, human resource planning becomes an important responsibility of the human resource. Human resource planning ensures that an organization as a predetermined number of employees who are qualified to dispense certain duties in a specified time in the future (Allan et al. 2006). Therefore, at the heart of human resource planning is the need of identifying thenecessary strategies to ensure that an organization has e required staff to meet its strategic business objectives at all times. To achieve this vital objective, human resource planning must be conducted in a manner that complies with theorganization’s overall business strategy,and theorganization’s long-term human resource needs (Benson and Brown, 2011). The human resource department should also cooperate with line managers to ensure maximum success. Additionally, human resource planning allows an organization to anticipate and influence its future human resource needs. Approaches to human resource planning There are three sets of forecasts necessary for anticipating the future human resource requirements of an organization. These include forecasting an organization’s demand for human resources and forecasting supply of external resources. However, to have a clear forecast, the quantitative and qualitative approaches are used in forecasting organization’s demand for human resources (Purcell and Hutchinson, 2007). The quantitative approach In this approach, statistical and mathematical techniques are of much importance. The main aim of this approach is to focus on human resource shortages, career blockages, and surplus. It is aimed a harmonizing human resource supply for an organization while at the same timetaking its objective into consideration. Besides multiple predictive techniques, the quantitative approach encompasses projections of human resource trends and econometric modeling (Siddique, 2004). The qualitative approach This approach applies the use of expert opinion from various line managers to predict the future organizational requirements of human resource.The main focus in this approach lies on evaluation of employee performance, promotability, management, and employee development. Job Design Human resource job design entails a quite systematic attempts by human resource departments to organize tasks, dutiesand responsibilities within an organization into a unit of work. A comprehensive job design entails four components include job specialization, psychological components, ergonomics and work methods, and employee motivation. In the case specialization, a job with a high degree of reputation will certainly result in greater efficiency and high quality (Siddique, 004). Job design in job specialization becomes so efficient employees are assigned to work where they are best qualified. The benefits specialization includes less training, faster work pace, and lower wage paid. Effective HR strategies also consider psychological components of job design. This idea focuses on improvement employee job satisfaction, quality of work life, and employee motivation. Issue 3: Recruitment and Selection As an HR role, recruitment and selection remain the top roles in personnel management. To have the right candidate performing specific duties, recruitment often precedes selection. By definition, recruitment is a process that guides human resource to identify sources of manpower to meet an organization’s staffing requirements (Carroll, 2009). It is also a process of identifying skills and qualifications applied by human resource to employ effective to attract manpower to allow it have the best selection of the qualified staff. Stages of Recruitment and Selection Recruitment and selection process always need well determined steps that do not leave room for any error. This is to say that every step in the recruitment and selection need a high care to ensure that the recruiting organization gets the right people to do specific tasks and follow it up to ensure the people selected deliver quality work as expected of them. The first step in recruitment and selection will be to determine whether to adopt external or internal sources of recruitment. Once the suitable source has been identified, human resource planning is the next step. This is the most important stage as it entails very critical human resource requirements and strategies. It is at this stage that the human resource department will determine the types of jobs to be done and come up with the minimum qualifications necessary for a prospective candidate (Ryan and Tippins, 2004). After human resource planning, the recruitment and selection becomes the next step of employee acquisition. Thereafter, the selected candidates will be evaluated on the basis of job performance and job analysis conducted. The entire process of recruitment will entail a lot of activities from advertisement, shortlisting, interviews,and selection. Key Steps in Recruitment As stated earlier, recruitment is not a simple matter to be left in the hands of non-competent human resource staff since it entails a lot of steps that, if blundered , will definitely affect the entire productivity of an organization. The most crucial step in employee recruitment is the identification of the staff needed to perform the identify jobs that need to be done. These people are identified based on their skills, qualifications, ability to dispense their duties with dedication a hard work, and any necessary on the job experience (Ryan and Tippins, 2004). The step that follows to ensure that the entire process of recruitment is kept is kept legal. This is aimed at ensuring that local and international regulations that govern the employment process and procedures are complied with. Finally, the human resource department should ensure that it selects the right people. Having the right in its ‘bus’ will ensure that an organization effectively achieves s goals and objectives without much strain on its resources. Selection Methods To ensure selection of the right people, human resource departments engage in various methods of selection. These methods include the use of interviews, references from reputable employees, physical ability tests, cognitive ability tests, considering the candidate’s personality, and examining work experience or samples of work. Finally, having selected the right individuals, induction the last activity to ensure the chosen candidate(s) can perform the duties assigned in an impeccable manner. The induction process entails offering the right training and information to new employees about their roles culture of the organization to ensure a smooth and successful transition into heir w positions. It also helps retention of new staff (Carol et al. 2009). Conclusion The most primary and effective human resources planning strategies lie in the clear identification of qualifications needed that identifies the right mixture of talent, knowing people needed in specific locations, and performing duties as expected. Planning extends far being the traditional human resource role as an organizational administrative control function. On the other hand, recruitment and selection need clear strategies to ensure that organizations get the right individuals to perform various duties to ensure effective realization of its goals and objectives. Reference Allan, C., G. Bamber and N. Timo (2006). Fast-food work: are McJobs satisfying? Employee Relations 28(5), 402-420 Benson, J and Brown, M. (2011). Generations at work: are there differences and do they matter? The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22(9), pp.1843-1865. Caldwell, R. (2003). The Changing Roles of Personnel Managers: Old Ambiguities, New Uncertainties.Journal of Management Studies, 40(4), 983-1004. Carroll, M, Smith, M., Oliver, G. and Sung, S. (2009). Recruitment and retention in front-line services: the case of childcare.Human Resource Management Journal, 19(1), 59-74. Guest, D. and King, Z. (2004). Power, Innovation and Problem-Solving: The Personnel Managers’ Three Steps to Heaven? Journal of Management Studies, 41(3), 401-423. Hailey, V.H., E. Farndale and C. Truss (2005). 'The HR Department's role in organizational performance', Human Resource Management Journal, 15(3), 49-66. Purcell, J. and S. Hutchinson (2007). 'Front-line managers as agents in the HRM-performance causal chain: theory, analysis and evidence', Human Resource Management Journal, 17 (1), 3-20. Ryan, A. M. and N. T. Tippins (2004). Attracting and selecting: What psychological research tells us. Human Resource Management, 43(4), 305-318. Siddique, C.M. (2004). Job analysis: a strategic human resource management practice. International Journal of Human Resource Management 15(1), 219-244. Wright, C. (2008). Reinventing Human Resource Management: Business Partners, Internal Consultants, and the Limits to Professionalization.Human Relations, 61(8), pp. 1063- 1076. Read More