essay on human resources management

Human Resource Management: Functions and Features Essay

Introduction, distinguishing features of human resource management in ghana, human resource management theories, history of hrm in ghana, reference list.

Human Resource Management commonly known as HRM entails the use of human beings in a productive manner to achieve the organizational goals and objectives. Human resources management could be defined as a field of management that is concerned with planning, organizing and controlling the workforce in an organization.

It involves activities such as procuring, developing and maintaining workforce in an organization. The success of any business is largely dependent on the HRM due to the fact that, HRM affects the customers and the performance of the firm.

Successful organizations usually maximizes their human resources through such means as selecting employees with top talent, encouraging employees to raise issues in an open manner, encouraging teamwork, providing employees with guidelines on how to improve on their poor performance etc.

Though HRM has acquired some of the attributes of a profession, it has not yet emerged as a fully pledged profession i.e. it has not been able to achieve the global standards. This is because of several factors such as environmental factors, job attitudes, technological innovation etc. and these factors have thus made each country to adapt its own HRM practices (Dyck & Neubert, 2008, 357).

The following essay examines the distinguishing features of Human Resource Management in a developing country Ghana. The essay also examines the Human Resource Theories, history of Human Resource Management, function of Human Resource Management, distinguishing features of Human Resource

The following are the basic characteristics of Human Resource Management which are also evident in the Ghanaian human resources management; HRM supports the business strategy i.e. it helps in establishing the organizational plans, metrics and goals through the HR planning.

This is important as it allows the employees to prioritize on those Programmes that are important as far as the organization is concerned. Human resource management is all-incisive i.e. HRM covers and manages all the employees in the organization i.e. it applies to workers, supervisors, managers, top executives, and officers’ etc.

Human Resource Management is people oriented for instance, HRM focuses on individual employees and groups within the organization by enhancing human relationships. HRM aims at ensuring that the individuals carries out their tasks in an effective manner so as to realize the organizational goals.

HRM ensue that both the individual goals and the organizational goals are well met.HRM places great emphasis on the employees by empowering them i.e. it organize the employees for involvement by creating self managing work teams.

In their empowered roles, the employees are expected to look for ways to perform their jobs better and to improve organizational functioning (GRATTON, 1999, 123).

HRM is action oriented i.e. it focuses on an action rather than record keeping or procedures. It stresses on the solutions of personnel problems in order to ensure that both the organizational and personal goals are attained (Condrey, 2010, 38).

HRM is individual oriented i.e. under HRM, each employee ion the firm is regarded as unique and so, the HRM provides the employees with programs aimed at facilitating their growth and happiness (Gratton, 1999, 123).

HRM is development oriented i.e. it is concerned with developing the workers’ potential so that the employees can benefit as they work and in turn perform better so as to attain the organizational goals.

HRM usually take into consideration the interests, opportunities, capabilities of the employees and also seeks to help the employees in realizing their full potentials (Marinus, Kok & Kok,2003,23).

It perceives function i.e. HRM is present in every organization at various levels i.e. HRM is not common in one sector alone. HRM is thus equally important in government, sports, banking sector etc. also percolates all the functional areas of an organization i.e. production, finance, marketing etc. (Kumar, 2003, 4).

HRM is future oriented i.e. it helps a company to attain its future goals by ensuring that employees are well motivated and also competent.HRM thus enhances collaboration of employees in order to attain the organizational objectives (Heneman, 2002, 355).

There exist a number of theoretical perspectives of Human Resource Management among them General Systems, the Role Behavior, Institutional and Resource Dependence, Human Capital and Transaction Costs. The general system is concerned with the open and closed systems that interact with one another.

In this theoretical perspective of them the employees’ abilities and skills are deemed as inputs whereas the employees’ performance and satisfaction are considered as outputs. The role behavior perspective is concerned with the roles of individuals within an organization.

Usually, every individual is expected to behave in a certain manner to yield a positive outcome. The institutional theory is concerned with the internal as well as external influences that affect the performance of an organization.

Resource dependence theory is concerned with the relationship that exists between an organization on one hand and the organizations’ constituencies on the other hand. The theory emphasizes that this relationships is enhanced by the exchange of resources and the main source of power is the ability to control valued resources (Schuler & Jackson, 2007, 25).

The history of Human Resource Management in Ghana dates back to colonial days. Ghanaian organizations adopt Western systems of HRM, which were implemented by British colonials. The historical-political factors have been the driving force behind the Human Resource Management in Ghana.

The commercial enterprises and British colonialists introduced the Western labor practices into the country. In Ghana, the rights of workers are represented by the Trade Union Congress commonly referred to as UK. The TUC is concerned with coordinating the activities of affiliated unions and giving guidance on human resource matters.

The Trade Union Congress is usually represented on several committees and boards, which handle matters that concern the employees. The Government of Ghana has legislated trade unions to ensure that the fundamental rights of employees are safeguarded.

The Government of Ghana is has also emphasized on minimum education qualification and minimum desirable standards of performance to ensure that the human resource management in the country achieve professionalism.

The Government of Ghana has also set general and specific management policies aimed at establishing and maintaining suitable organizations that encourages cooperation. Faith-based organizations have also played an important role in Ghana’s Human Resource Management by enhancing staff retention particularly in health sector.

The Ghanaian Government has also enacted such Acts as the Industrial Relations Act that regulates the relationship between the employees and the employers. In Ghana, organizations have assumed bureaucratic forms of hierarchy and formalism.

Many organizations have adopted a centralized decision -making and therefore employees have become aware of maintaining good relationships with their employers.

However, this subordinate-superior form of relationship in Ghana has become more personalized rather than being contractual and this has implications on employee’s treatment (African Studies Association of the United Kingdom, 1979, 19).

Function of Human Resource Management in Ghana

Human resource in Ghana has been the main reason behind economic development as it helps the country to increase its productivity, eradicate economic backwardness, increase its entrepreneurship etc.

Ghana, HRM has the following roles i.e. performance and potential appraisal, training function, the compensation function, recruitment and selection function, integration function and maintenance function. Performance appraisal is among the most crucial roles of team leaders.

Performance appraisal enables the team leaders to evaluate the performance of the employees and thus to know areas that an employee requires to work on. Performance appraisal is done periodically and requires the team leader to impartially rate an employee concerning his or hare present role.

Performance appraisal plays an important role of providing a suitable database that allows the senior leadership team to make such decisions as transfers, promotions, salary increments, placements etc. Performance appraisal thus enables the senior leadership team to identify the employees’ potentials and weak areas.

This is important as it identifies the training requirements of the workers. Performance appraisal also motivates the subordinate workers by enabling them to plan their career paths. It helps in developing positive superior-subordinate relations and thereby reducing grievances. Performance appraisal helps to facilitate research in personnel management.

In Ghana, performance appraisal is done yearly and many organizations uses formal system of evaluating the performance of their employees. In Ghana the supervisor ratings plays an important role in enabling the personnel managers to make decision concerning employees’ transfers and promotions.

However, the adoption of hierarchical structures in Ghana implies that it is difficult to adopt newer modes of evaluating the employees e.g. the 360-degrees feedback (Budhwar & Debrah, 2004, 201).

The training function of Human Resource Management entails the act where employees are prepared mentally and it is usually performed far-off the normal working area. Employees are systematically trained to acquire new skills and to be able to carry out their tasks in effectively.

There are many forms of training among them executive development and career planning and development. The main objectives of employees’ training includes the following; to develop the employees so as to be able to carry out tasks of higher-grades, to rain new workers in an organization, to enhance the employees efficiency and performance standards among others.

In Ghana, the training activity of Human Resource Management has been practiced in public sector. The activity is also done in local organizations as well as multinational; organizations.

The Government of Ghana has sponsored several institutions for training the employees among them the Civil Service Training Institute, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration etc. This World Bank, UNDP and other development agencies have also played an important role of funding the employees’ training programs in Ghana.

Private organizations in Ghana such as the Barclays Ban, Standard Bank, Ghana Airways have provided training institutions where employees are trained on refresher courses. Senior workers in most of Ghanaian organizations are usually sent abroad particularly in a situation where the multinational company has a subsidiary in Ghana (Kamoche, 2004, 127-129).

Compensation is another function of HRM and it involves providing employees with financial payments as a means of motivating them to perform their duties enthusiastically. The senior leadership team should ensure that employees are fairly and equitably remunerated for their efforts in the company.

Organizations should also carry out surveys to determine the compensation structure within an organization. Organizations are required to offer such benefits as sick leave, annual leave etc. so as to enhance working life of the workers.

Other form of compensation includes bonus payment whereby, all the permanent staff members are appraised at the end of every financial year and their contribution towards the overall success of the organization is determined.

Appropriate bonus is thus given to each employee based on his or her contribution and his or her level in the organization (Kamoche, 2004, 127-129).

In Ghana, the determination of salaries and wages is comprised of benefits, allowances and basic wages. In case of semi-skilled and unskilled workers, their basic wage is determined on Ghanaian minimum wage by the Ghana’s Tripartite Committee on Salary and Wages.

The Ghana’s Tripartite Committee on Salary and Wages considers capacity of employers to compensate his or her workers as well as the economic state before deciding on minimum wage. In Ghana, most corporations have a wage and salary structure and thus the annual increments are the ones that the trade unions negotiate due to inflation.

The starting salaries for employees are based on such aspects as initial entry points and educational qualifications. The Ghanaian society is largely dominated by males but gender discrimination does not exist as far as earnings are concerned.

Women in Ghana are more focused with feminized occupations like nursing and teaching in primary schools but they usually earns same wages as males who perform similar jobs.

Allowances and benefits have been the motivating factors among the Ghanaian employees and many organizations across Ghana offers such benefits as housing allowance, medical benefits, maternal leave, annual leave etc.(Panford,2001,47).

Recruitment and selection is the other function of Human Resource Management. This function locates and encourages applicants to submit their applications for a new job opening. There are certain factors that the senior leadership team considers before decision on the kind of recruiting source to use e.g. the firm’s reputation, job attractiveness among others.

In Ghana, many organizations usually place their advertisements in professional magazines and local newspapers for professional and managerial positions. Other modes of recruitment that are used in Ghana includes written notices around organizations a, visits to colleges and university campuses etc.

Ghana, selection interviews forms the most widely used form method of selecting employees. Other methods of selecting employees include recommendation letters and academic qualifications. However, the psychological tests, work simulations and work samples are not widely used in Ghana.

The Human Resource Managers usually makes the hiring decision in Ghana. Decisions concerning hiring managerial and professional employees are usually made by the senior management team together with the Human Resource Manager (Kamoche, 2004, 127-129).

The other function of HRM is the integration function, which entails the act of merging the goals of the workers with those of the company.

Integration in an organization is enhanced through such activities as handling the employees issues, encouraging employees to participate in decision making, resolving conflicts in a fair manner, providing the employees with counseling services as and when they requires among others.

The Ghanaian constitution have set provides regulatory framework regarding Human Resource Management so as to address such issues as HRM policies, employees rights, working environments etc. (Greene & Kirton,2010,6).

The maintenance functions of Human Resource Management. This function of HRM aims at ensuring that the employees well being is safeguarded. In Ghana, the senior leadership team in most organizational ensures that there are safe and secure working environments and this is important as it enhances the employees’ loyalty.

The senior leadership team should set up workers assistance Programmes in order to assist employees in dealing with challenges. The preference among managers and the preference among the employees as to how they wish to be managed interact with the cultural dimensions.

If management attempts to enforce culture that is unacceptable to employees, there will be a reaction such as sabotage of work etc. management should thus ensure that employee’s preferences are put into place to avoid a culture of conflicts (Singh, 2009, 30).

Challenges facing HRM in Ghana

The main challenges facing Human Resource Management in Ghana are; In Ghana, the Structural Adjustment Programs i.e. SAPs has brought about challenges for Human Resource Management in Ghana.

The Ghanaian government has over the years attempted to woo the foreign investors and this has made the Human Resource Managers to work hard in order to enhance the Human Resource Management practice as many organizations operates in an environment that is highly competitive(Hodgson & Willem, 1994,11).

Ghana is a developing country implying that there is the scope for developing HRM further is little because of inadequate expansion of Ghanaian economy. Despite the introduction of structural adjustment programs, the country has remained a rural economy that depends on export of commodities such as cocoa.

Manufacturing industries have significantly reduced over the years as a result of high rates of interest, competition from Japan and China, limited foreign exchange and lack of adequate infrastructure.

Therefore, Ghana is mainly focused on agricultural economy and any meaningful Human resource Management in Ghana is limited about large companies in service and manufacturing sectors (International Monetary Fund, 2006, 46).

In Ghana, the traditional practices and colonialism influences also affects the Human Resource Management practices. These traditional practices and colonialism influences affects decision making in organizations leading to complex situations that undermines the performance in many organizations.

The traditional practices usually conflicts with the economic rationality and this has the effect of making operating levels to be costly and ineffective. In addition, the people of Ghana have a tendency to forgive one another and this affects management concerning punishment and transgression issues.

The forgiveness behavior among the Ghanaian society extends to modern organizations implying that one is usually forgiven if he or she violates the organizational rules. The forgiveness situation poses a major challenge as far as employees’ discipline in organizations is concerned.

Therefore, a Human Resource Manager is expected to forgive a transgressor and if he or she fails to do so, then he or she may be regarded as wicked and insensitive person. Also, the Ghanaian Human Resource Managers do not invoke the disciplinary actions against workers who violate the organizational rules as they fears incurring the employees’ wrath and in turn become unpopular.

The elderly people in the society are usually accorded much respect in the Ghanaian society and this provides young Human Resource Managers with difficulties of disciplining older subordinates.

In addition, many large organizations in Ghana pay increases based on matters of seniority instead of performance or merit and this poses a challenge as far as Human Resource Management is concerned (Towers, 1996, 488).

Time-keeping is another factor that provides a challenge in Human Resource Management in Ghana. In African culture, time keeping is not much emphasized about organizational life.

Thus, most Ghanaians have time-keeping problem and lateness in workplaces is endemic. This thus provides a major challenge for the performance of organizations and Human Resource Management in particular (Towers, 1996, 493).

Another aspect that poses a challenge to Human Resource Management in Ghanaian organizational life is masculinity. In Ghana, both masculinity and feminist exists but masculinity is often emphasized as far as organizational life is concerned.

Thus, the behavior of male chauvinist is prevalent among many Ghanaian organizations and this implies that women are discouraged on taking managerial positions that are mostly held by males.

This thus makes it hard for women to advance in their careers as finding a mentor or a role model is difficult. This also implies that Human Resource Management profession in Ghana is dominated by men (Budhwar, & Debrah, 2004, 199).

In addition, the recruitment and selection of employees lacks objectivity and this affects the Human Resource planning and job analysis. Many organizations in Ghana do not consider Human Resource planning to be important.

Furthermore, the economic environments and political instability in Ghana provides a challenge about HR planning. The Human Resource training departments in Ghana do not have adequate personnel who have statistics expertise and forecasting (Heeks, 2001, 137).

In Ghana, Human Resource Management is concerned with performance and potential appraisal, training, compensation, integration, selection and recruitment and maintenance functions.

Human Resource Management in Ghana is faced with such challenges as limited economic growth, lack of objectivity in the recruitment and selection of employees, masculinity in organizational life, time keeping problems, traditional practices and colonialisms and the introduction of SAPs, which in turn leads to global competition.

In order to enhance HRM in Ghana, the Human Resource managers requires to set up such policies as unbiased recruitment and selection procedures, time keeping among others.

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Budhwar, P.S. & Debrah, Y.A., 2004. Human Resource Management In Developing Countries . London: Routledge.

Condrey, S.E., 2010. Handbook of Human Resource Management in Government . Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

Dyck & Neubert, M., 2008. Management: Current Practices And New Directions . Stamford: Cengage Learning.

Gratton, L., 1999. Strategic human resource management: corporate rhetoric and human reality . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Greene, A & Kirton, G., 2010. The Dynamics of Managing Diversity: A Critical Approach . London: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Heeks, R., 2001. Reinventing government in the information age: international practice in IT-enabled public sector reform . London: Routledge.

Heneman, R.L., 2002. Human resource management in virtual organizations : IAP.

Hodgson, H & Willem, V., 1994. Negotiating structural adjustment in Africa. Oxford: James Currey Publishers.

International Monetary Fund, 2006. Ghana: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper . Washington, D.C: International Monetary Fund.

Kamoche, K. N., 2004. Managing Human Resources In Africa. London: Routledge.

Kumar, R., 2003 Human Resource Management: Strategic Analysis Text and Cases. New Delhi: I. K. International Pvt Ltd.

Marinus, J., Kok, J. & Kok, P., 2003. Human resource management within small and medium-sized Enterprises . Hamburg: Rozenberg Publishers.

Panford, M.K., 2001. IMF -World Bank and labor’s burdens in Africa: Ghana’s experience. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Schuler, R.S. & Jackson, S.E., 2007. Strategic human resource management .Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

Singh, Y.K., 2009. Human Resource Manag ement. New Delhi: APH Publishing.

Towers, B., 1996. The handbook of human resource management. Hoboken: Wiley- Blackwell.

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Top 7 Examples of Essay on Human Resources

Table of Contents

Human capital is a valuable part of any business establishment, so the business must adapt to the growing need to invest in the proper management, development and retention of its people. Accordingly, many companies are now scrutinizing the science of human resource management. If you are a student in management or entrepreneurship, you will have to write at least one essay on human resources.

The main goal of this assignment for the student is to show his competence and ability to express his thoughts and information correctly. At first glance, it might seem like writing an essay on human resources is a daunting task because it involves a lot of effort. But if you stick to the guidelines, you can quickly and easily allocate time and effort to further write an essay on human resources. Find out how to do this below and get inspired by sample essays.

5 Tips on How to Write an Essay on Human Resources

Writing an essay on human resources can take you a lot of effort and time. Therefore, you need to know a few recommendations before starting work. They will help you make the process of writing an essay on human resources easy, fun and short-lived because you will learn how to allocate your energy and time properly.

• Choose a direction that is good and relevant to you about the essay on human resources. To not drown in this ocean of possibilities, first determine what is most interesting to you. What do you think about most often when faced with the study and writing essay on human resources? What gets your attention to the point where you forget about everything else? What would you like to improve in human resource management methodology?
• Once you’ve decided on the direction of writing an essay on human resources, find out what you like best. Depending on this, your essay will be descriptive, analytical, reflective, critical, or otherwise. Once you’ve combined a topic that interests you with the look of an essay on human resources, sketch out a few options for topics. At this stage, it is not the exact formulation of the important topic but understanding the essence of the problem and the potential for its solution when writing an essay on human resources.
• Remember that not every student can write a good essay on human resources without knowledge and information. Therefore, take the time to gather all the information you need to write an essay on human resources.
• When exploring the potential of an essay on human resources topic, pay attention to the availability of literary sources. In some cases, it is more logical to first find the necessary information in the sources, and then begin to form thoughts in the form of essay on human resources. And remember that this knowledge will help you write an essay and when performing other types of academic work.
• After selecting specific topics for an essay on human resources, evaluate each topic for how meaningful you can cover it. Do you have interesting observations and ideas on this topic? Can you surprise the reader with something? Do you feel inspired when discussing this topic? In writing an essay on human resources, you should understand that you will have to formulate a specific thesis and then prove it with arguments. Will you be able to do this for the selected topics?

7 Examples of Human Resource Management Essays

This selection of 7 essays on human resources will help you find the topic you would like to write an essay about in Human Resource Management. After reading, you will be inspired, and it will be easier for you to decide what you would like to write about because this topic touches on many aspects of this type of management. You will also acquire new and valuable write an essay and perform knowledge about human resources to later independently write an essay on human resources.

Human Resource Essay Example 1: “Do I See Myself as a Competent and Good Manager?”

A manager is a person who holds a permanent managerial position and is empowered to make decisions about specific activities of an organization. This person must have higher education and bear a huge responsibility for the success of the company or projects. I believe that a competent human resource manager should know how to correctly use management mechanisms, tools and management methods.

The relevance of these phenomena is due to several factors. Firstly, there is no doubt that the efficiency of the organization as a whole, the effectiveness of the labour activity of employees, etc. directly depends on the level of construction of the management system. Within the framework of the new paradigm of personnel management, the human resource is positioned as the most important resource of the organization, since it is the source of the formation of strategic competitive advantages. Therefore, the functioning of all systems of the organization directly depends to one degree or another on the human factor.

Secondly, do not forget that management in some countries has a rather short history of development in comparison with developed countries. And so every manager needs to constantly learn and experiment. And this necessitates the adaptation of foreign management experience to domestic realities. In our time, many authors have published a significant number of works within the framework of this discipline, and many management models have also been formed. I believe that according to the requirements a manager:

• must be confident in their decisions, be fair;
• must continuously learn and apply new knowledge in practice;
• suggest new good and proven techniques improve the outcome of the project;
• be able to competently and quickly analyze a large flow of information.

In modern conditions, a manager must have many qualities that will help him solve all the issues that arise. After all, a manager must be a purposeful, energetic and persistent innovator who knows how to manage subordinates. It is these qualities that I also possess, which gives me the opportunity to apply for this position.

It is also worth noting that in modern conditions, the correctness of the behaviour of a business entity in the market to a decisive extent depends on the adequacy and timeliness of managerial decision-making by the head. After all, the following points can be identified, which entirely depend on the personality of the leader, his business and human qualities:

• choosing the right direction of the business;
• the ability to anticipate the development of the market situation;
• the correct choice of development strategy;
• selection of team members;
• correct setting of tasks for team members;
• the ability to build viable plans;
• the ability to establish relationships with other entities: suppliers, consumers, governing bodies and others;
• many other points are related to the development of the organization in a constantly changing market environment.

All these aspects of the organization’s activities are understandable and important to me, therefore I am ready to make effective management decisions on them. Therefore, I see myself as a manager and consider myself a worthy candidate.

Human Resource Essay Example 2: “Purpose, Tasks and Functions of Human Resource Management”

Currently, in the age of information technology, when there is an active change in the structure of society and the consciousness of people, it is extremely important to carry out a process to improve the management processes in the organization. But first, every person who has to improve the quality of human resource management needs to understand the basic functions and tasks of such a complex and responsible process.

Human resources are all employees and their responsibilities in any organization. They include production personnel and management personnel. Throughout the development of mankind and civilizations, people had to regulate relationships for the sake of survival and improving the quality of life. Therefore, in our time, human resource management is a complex system that includes interconnected and interdependent subsystems for the creation, use and development of labour resources.

What are the types of definitions of such a phenomenon as human resource management? Human resource management is an approach to a person as the main factor in achieving the goals of an organization. This is an approach to a person as a source of income and an investment. This is an analysis of the organization’s human resource needs. This is an analysis of the situation with human resources in the environment external to the organization. And also this is the formation of the organization’s human resources and the creation of a system of employee interactions.

The main goal of this process is to ensure the use of company employees and their human resources in such a way that the employer can get the maximum possible benefit from their skills and abilities, and the employees can get the maximum possible material and psychological satisfaction from their work. This process is based not only on the ability to organize a team from a quantitative and qualitative point of view, but also on the ability to use psychological techniques.

Each manager should be prepared for the fact that personnel management is a more complex process than managing the technological part of the production. This is due to the high likelihood of conflict situations on both work and personal issues.

Depending on the line of business of a particular company, a human resource manager must perform the functions inherent in this activity. They are different and each of them gives a certain desired result if the process is established by the manager correctly and correctly. What are the most common and working functions of managers or people involved in human resource management?

• Forecasting the need for personnel working;
• planning the number and quality structure of personnel in the divisions of the enterprise;
• searching for qualified personnel;
• holding competitions for vacancies;
• certification of applicants for work;
• organization of the adaptation process for new employees;
• organization of personnel training;
• development of recommendations for professional development;
• organization of personnel retraining;
• organization of management training and a number of others.

Since the functioning of any enterprise is based on the human factor, there is an objective need to regulate this process. It can be argued that the final result of any project depends on the properly organized activities of the staff, be it a small project or a large-scale project to create an innovative product.

Human Resource Essay Example 3: “Staff and Manager Motivation in Human Resource Management”

As you know, human resources are the foundation of any production process, since it is on them that the effectiveness of a particular activity depends. Therefore, project human resource management is a process that results in the efficient use of human resources. The human resource management process of a project involves the organization, management and leadership of the team that directly implements the process. And I think that this should be given special attention.

In any organization, each person involved in the production process is endowed with certain responsibilities. Otherwise, they can be called project personnel. In my opinion, the basis of the project’s human resource management process is the motivation of the participants. The level of staff motivation is desirable for their high-quality and organized work, both with clients and within the enterprise, because their work directly affects the efficiency of the organization. And so we can conclude that employees are one of the key and important resources of the company.

But sometimes crisis situations provoke a difficult situation for the enterprise, due to which panic can arise in the state. Such an environment, naturally, demotivates employees, and the reasons may be different. This can be uncertainty about the future, a decrease or delay in wages, reductions, and increased workload.

The leader plays an important role in motivating employees. The leader is obliged to take part in all areas of the organization. Everyone understands that the market is now in stagnation and that no one has any illusions about this. But the employee must understand what is being done in the company to overcome the unfavourable situation. And to be sure that the management will not abandon them, that they are needed, they are engaged in important business and receive a worthy reward for it.

It is very important to correctly decompose the project and divide it into manageable stages, if necessary, into subprojects and other components. This procedure is performed at the initial stage of the project. Its purpose is to provide a good basis for sound planning. It ensures that plans are made for reasonably chosen time horizons.

When dividing the project, it is necessary to describe the goals of each component and, at least in the first approximation, estimate the resource requirements for their implementation. It is equally important to draw up a milestone achievement plan and milestone level charts prior to each project phase. Moreover, participants must agree on which milestones are particularly critical to the project and ensure that everyone understands the severity of the implications.

In order for the project to achieve its ultimate goal, it is extremely important to organize and provide for all possible nuances. It can be argued that the processes of organizing a project contain three components.

• The first is organizational planning, which involves drawing up a plan and analyzing all stages of work.
• The second link is the appointment of personnel, in accordance with the required tasks and goals.
• And finally, the third stage is team development. An important point here is the motivation of the personnel, the general focus, the team’s ability to work, and the fighting spirit.

Therefore, of course, the success of any project must be backed by a very competent and wise leader who knows the psychological characteristics of each employee, who knows how to properly organize the production process, is able to set incentives and motivation for the staff. Thus, the success of the project is ensured even in crisis situations.

Human Resource Essay Example 4: “Variety Management”

The structural basis of management in the field of various art consists of an organization (theatre, production centre, a philharmonic society, etc.), whose effectiveness will depend on the correctly found model, as well as the personality and professional training of the manager. Each direction on the stage has its own management models, together with the criteria for its effectiveness.

The main goals of management in the field of pop are such as the creation of the most favourable conditions for the promotion of creation and the dissemination of art, for creativity, as well as the professional growth of performers, the development of genres of professional art, copyright protection, and the achievement of optimal financial results. Management in the field of professional art is, in general, a combination of management of the artistic process, economic and organizational activities. The solution of these problems is inextricably linked with the improvement of the culture of serving the population and the formation of services for different categories of the population.

If you were to find yourself behind the scenes of any performance, you would witness total chaos. For example, there might be actors in one corner rehearsing their lines, while tailors and seamstresses hemming their suits at the same time. The background can swirl right and left while the team stands by, ready to carry furniture for the next scene. However, at the centre of all this chaos is a critical person and this is the leader. He coordinates all aspects of the production, from costumes, sets to actors and rehearsals, so that everything goes well.

Stage managers typically provide practical and organizational support to the director, actors, designers, theatre crew and technicians throughout the production process. I believe that such a position presupposes high professionalism and moral training, which will positively influence the work process during crisis situations in an institution or in a team.

Human Resource Essay Example 5: “How to Start the Process of Human Resource Development and How to Avoid Problems?”

Human potential tends to grow constantly. This is due to the fact that over time, an enterprise or organization begins to demand more and more efficiency from its employees. That is why the development of human resources is one of the key issues of the firm’s management.

One of the most difficult periods for any employee is his adaptation to the enterprise. Not only do newcomers have to familiarize themselves with all the organizational issues, but they also have to take a certain place in the team and go through serious psychological pressure. The introduction of a person into a new position is also of great importance, namely, acquaintance with official duties.

The policy of the enterprise management on these issues is of great importance in the course of these processes. A friendly atmosphere is also important, and methodological support is also required. For example, large firms have practices such as conducting lectures and seminars for new personnel, as well as introducing training programs. Thus, the development of the potential of each employee can be quick and beneficial for the company or organization.

But the enterprise can often face difficulties. One of the most important problems faced by the human resource of an enterprise is paying insufficient attention to this issue. Nevertheless, managing people requires specialized knowledge, as well as skills and mechanisms. So, the first thing worth paying attention to is the development of leadership in the team. Moreover, this should relate specifically to the working moments, and not to the personal relationships of employees. Unfortunately, this is often neglected by many businesses.

Another important problem of the organization is paying insufficient attention or completely ignoring the need for human resource management. However, it should be understood that cadres do not have the ability to self-regulate. A clear policy should be developed on this issue.

Also, one of the most serious shortcomings of modern management is considering the organization separately from the staff. So, sometimes employees are not ready for changes in the work of the enterprise. Therefore, the manager must understand the main concept of personnel management. This category includes several aspects:

• economic component;
• strict subordination to a single leader;
• definition of a clear management hierarchy;
• development of discipline norms, as well as a system of rewards and penalties;
• clear definition of the area of ​​responsibility of each of the employees;
• development of organizational culture, thanks to which the personnel feel the unity of the work collective.

In conclusion, I can say that the biggest mistake can be considered an underestimation of the human component in the work of an enterprise, which interferes with the development of human resources. It is often this leadership oversight that causes serious economic problems.

Human Resource Essay Example 6: “What Recommendations Can I Give on the Management of Human Resources?”

In every enterprise or organization, the main motive for development is the competent management of human resources and their improvement. In order for the use of human resources in the enterprise to be effective, managers must be guided by a number of recommendations in their activities. For example, the best motivation for employees will be a clear demonstration of the career growth of senior management. Why is this done? Personnel must set specific goals for themselves and be aware of the reality of their achievement.

Another of the most important aspects is decent wages, even in the most difficult and crisis periods. Employees must receive the agreed amount in order to realize their value to the organization. In any case, the employee will leave the company if he cannot fully support himself and his family.

Also, employees must thoroughly know comprehensive information about their enterprise, as well as the mechanism for making a profit. The knowledge of employees should not be limited to a narrow range of their duties. It is important to note that in communicating with each of the employees, respect should be guided because each of them has the opportunity to leave for another organization.

But the main recommendation is that the manager thoroughly knows and learns new methods of human resource management in the organization. What it is? Methods are a way of influencing a team or an individual employee to achieve a set goal, coordinating his activities in the production process.

Administrative methods are based on power, discipline and punishment. They rely on the administrative subordination of the object to the subject, based on the existing management hierarchy. The main functions of administrative methods are to provide a stable legal environment for the activities of an organization, to protect a specific environment, to guarantee rights and freedoms. And economic methods are based on the use of economic incentives. With their help, material incentives for the team, individual workers are carried out.

By the mechanisms of the economic method, the state has a tax, credit and financial system, a price system, the size of the minimum wage, and plans for economic development.

Socio-psychological methods are based on the use of moral incentives to work and influence personnel with the help of psychological mechanisms in order to translate an administrative task into a conscious responsibility, an inner need of a person. This can be achieved through:

• building a team, creating a normal psychological climate and creative atmosphere;
• personal example;
• meeting the cultural and spiritual needs of workers;
• the establishment of social norms of behaviour and social stimulation of the development of the team;
• the establishment of moral sanctions and encouragement;
• social protection.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the role of human resources should be clearly understood at all levels. This is one of the most important elements of the functioning of not only a single enterprise, but also the state as a whole. It is important to remember that a person is of the highest value, and his abilities and intelligence are of the greatest economic interest. Therefore, managers should not neglect the trust of their employees.

Human Resource Essay Example 7: “What Are the Main Directions of the Psychologist’s Activity in the Human Resource Management System?”

The place of a psychologist at an enterprise is very important because it is this person with a higher education who can objectively assess many human qualities and ways of their development. I believe that the main focus of a psychologist is to create a reserve for the internal growth of a specialist, as well as to participate in career planning. This is done by describing the personal qualities of employees and their development strategies. Determination of opportunities and boundaries for growth and self-development is very important for the categories of specialists and managers.

Also, a specialist in the field of psychology, in my opinion, should be engaged in identifying factors that prevent the emergence and development of conflicts since conflicts cause enormous damage to the organization. It is possible to reduce the likelihood of conflicts by carrying out the correct selection and placement of personnel, taking into account not only professional but also psychological characteristics.

Other cases in which a specialist psychologist can help identify motivation and needs for changing the system of material incentives. In general, with any organizational change, a psychologist’s participation is necessary to reduce the resistance of employees. Latent resistance is especially dangerous. What other types of psychologist activities are there in the human resource management system?

Professional selection is a procedure that, in the case of professions with relative professional suitability, helps assess the effectiveness of an employee and establish a forecast of his professional development. Personnel selection – creating a reserve, completing departments following specific criteria (professional competence, specialization features, etc.) Personnel adaptation is the process of getting new employees acquainted with the organization, with new working conditions and changes in the behaviour and psychological climate of the organization.

Personnel assessment is one of the most critical areas of work with personnel. It is carried out constantly throughout all stages of the personnel life cycle: recruiting, adaptation, consolidation (stabilization), development, leaving (moving personnel to subsidiaries, branches), etc. Assessment is a method of a comprehensive assessment of personnel that every psychologist should know in organizations. It is based on using a system of complementary methods, focused on the real work behaviour of the evaluated employees and taking into account the specifics of the requirements of job positions.

Psychological support of human resource management is a set of technologies, activities, procedures, and application principles, involving the use of psychological mechanisms and patterns of human functioning, who acts as a subject of labour, a collective subject of activity and a social community. I think that the role of psychological support is to optimize the ergonomic, organizational, informational, hygienic prerequisites for the activities of the personnel of the enterprise.

Still, essential tasks for a psychologist are such procedures as psychological, educational activities and psychological examination. Increasing the psychological literacy of staff, creating a favourable image of both the psychologist’s activities in the organization and the tasks of psychological support, popularizing and explaining the latest psychological research, developing the need for psychological knowledge and skills among staff and the desire to use them in professional activities and other life situations.

Expertise is understood as the study of any issue requiring special knowledge, with the presentation of a reasoned opinion. For example, to establish the compliance of professionals with the requirements of the labour post. As well as a study of organizational projects, regulatory documents, workplaces, working conditions, work and rest regimes, incentive and motivation systems for work, systems for the distribution of labour functions, corporate culture, causes of conflicts and causes of injury.

Therefore, do not neglect a specialist in the field of psychology. In my opinion, he can best understand how to properly manage human resources and have the best influence on personnel to achieve better results in an organization or an enterprise.

As you can see, an essay on human resources can be a fun and educational assignment for you, which will open you up to important new knowledge in this area. With the right effort, you can write an essay on human resources well and then it will be easier for you to write more complex academic work while at university. So don’t be afraid to get started!

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What Is Human Resource Management? Definition + Career Guide

Learn about human resource management roles, responsibilities, salary, and how to get started in this field.

Human resource management , or HRM, involves coordinating, managing, and allocating human capital , or employees, in ways that move an organization’s goals forward. HRM focuses on investing in employees, ensuring their safety, and managing all aspects of staffing from hiring to compensation and development. 

HRM careers may specialize in compensation , training , or managing employees . Most HRM professionals hold a bachelor’s degree and some go on to pursue a master's degree. HRM professionals at all levels can also earn professional certifications to help build knowledge and increase earning potential. HRM’s goal is to build a company culture and carry out its mission and overall goals through the management of employees. 

Keep reading to learn more about a career in human resource management, or start learning now with these popular HR courses on Coursera:

University of Minnesota's Human Resource Management: HR for People Managers Specialization

HRCI's Human Resource Associate Professional Certificate

Macquarie University's Leading: Human Resource Management and Leadership Specialization

Definition of Human Resource Management (HRM) 

Human resource management is organizing, coordinating, and managing an organization's current employees to carry out an organization’s mission, vision, and goals. This includes recruiting, hiring, training, compensating, retaining, and motivating employees. 

HRM staff also develops and enforces policies and procedures that help ensure employee safety. The HRM team manages adherence to federal and state laws that may work to protect employees’ private information and ensure their physical safety and mental and emotional well-being. Organizations of varying sizes and industries rely on HRM to keep business running smoothly and efficiently. 

Learn more: What Is Human Resources? (Jobs, Areas, Skills, and More)

Purpose of human resource management (HRM)

The methodology behind HRM recognizes the value employees bring to an organization, also known as human capital. Investing in employees and strategically supporting their needs can improve employee satisfaction and employee motivation. Employees who are well trained, competent, valued, and supported by their employers will likely have the skills and incentive necessary to carry out the organization’s goals.

Let's look at the purpose behind HRM in more depth:

Develop employees' skills.

HRM aims to create a highly skilled workforce and boost confidence and competence so that employees are motivated to contribute. A human resource manager or department might provide:

Tuition reimbursement programs

On-the-job training

Mentorships within an organization

Career development programs to help employees explore their potential

Foster a productive workplace culture.

HRM has a strong focus on company culture and job satisfaction. Much of what motivates employees comes from the culture in which they work. Employee engagement programs can foster an inclusive and collaborative workplace culture. Although culture can be challenging to measure and quantify, it’s an important function of HRM to retain and recruit employees. 

Protect employees.

HRM also protects employees. Human resource (HR) professionals manage legal documents, policies, and regulations, identify what applies to their organization, and find effective ways to educate employees and enforce company policy. HRM aims to be an ally or partner to employees. HRM emphasizes employee development while protecting employees from discrimination, workplace hazards, and unfair compensation. 

Basic elements of Human Resource Management (HRM)

The human resource management field includes recruiting new hires, evaluating employee performance, ensuring fair compensation and benefits, training employees and supporting education and development, and protecting the health and safety of all employees. These are critical cornerstones of the work of HRM professionals. From crafting a job posting to providing continuing education options, HRM functions at all stages of an employee's journey with an organization. To be an effective HRM professional, you will need a mix of personal and technical skills like recruitment strategies, creating compensation plans, and communication and team building. 

Recruitment 

An effective recruitment process is at the foundation of HRM. If you can recruit good talent, you can build on their skills and invest in employees for years to come as they add value to the organization. Equally important is company culture. You want employees that add to the culture of the organization. Some common recruiting tools HRM may use include job aggregators like Indeed or SimplyHired, video interviewing, or even social media sites like LinkedIn. 

Related course: Recruiting, Hiring, and Onboarding Employees from University of Minnesota

Evaluation and performance management  

HRM uses data to track employee performance to ensure a highly trained and capable workforce. The data compiled can also be used to change staff training methods, implement a merit-based system for raises, and more. HRM professionals use formal measures like performance reviews and informal methods like interviews or surveys. 

Related course: Managing Employee Performance from University of Minnesota

Compensation 

Compensation can mean salary, commission, benefits, time off, and other non-monetary benefits. HRM looks to the industry standard to set salary rates, commission rates, and benefits. This ensures fairness and allows for a consistent company standard. Some organizations may use performance reviews to adjust an employee’s salary, among other measures. 

Related course: Compensation and Benefits from HRCI

Employee development and learning 

Engaged employees are effective employees. HRM understands the importance of a workforce that is challenged but also supported. Most employees want opportunities for advancement and to feel competent and valued in what they bring to an organization. Part of HRM is providing these learning opportunities to employees. This might include tuition reimbursement programs, on-the-job training options, conferences, conventions, or certification programs. Aside from individual learning, HRM can also use employee development and learning to help employees adapt to organizational changes, such as system upgrades, technology shifts, and new policies. 

Related course: Learning and Development from HRCI

Employee health and safety

The safety and well-being of an organization’s employees are critically important aspects of HRM. Employee health and safety covers a lot, such as safety against harassment, discrimination, or bullying in the workplace. It can mean physical safety that would involve building fire code compliance. It can also mean adherence to labor laws that protect an employee's rights in the workplace. Safety in the workplace means cybersecurity or safeguarding an employee’s personal information. A lot goes into protecting all aspects of employees’ health and safety, and it is the job of HRM professionals to ensure that protection. A few ways HRM professionals may go about this is by installing security cameras, enforcing internet usage rules, implementing a zero-tolerance policy, or creating restricted access areas.

Related course: Compliance and Risk Management from HRCI

Careers in human resource management (HRM)

You can find many different careers in HRM , with varying points of entry into this field. Most positions in HRM require at least a bachelor’s degree in human resources or a related field. You can also earn certifications to help you find the best position within the vast field of HRM. HRM professionals have important jobs that can be both rewarding and fulfilling. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the human resources management field is expected to grow 7 percent from 2021-2031, or about 12,600 new jobs, on par with the national average [ 1 ]. The BLS cites an average annual US salary of $126,230 as of 2021. Read on to explore specific roles, salaries, and job descriptions.   

*All US salary averages are sourced from Glassdoor, July 2023, and include base pay and additional compensation.

Payroll specialist

Salary: $50,730 

Payroll specialists gather employee information, ensure its accuracy, and administer compensation based on hours worked. This role usually works with a team of other payroll specialists and other departments to approve expenses, manage budgets, and process payroll. A degree in accounting or experience in payroll or accounting is common. 

Training and development manager 

Salary: $88,431 

A training and development manager, who may also be called a training coordinator, oversees employment training and implements training initiatives to build employee competence. Other responsibilities of this role may include communicating an organization's mission statement or company values and creating training programs. Training coordinators typically hold a bachelor’s degree and relevant certifications, and have experience in HR.

Human resources manager 

Salary: $79,987 

An HR manager oversees an entire HR department or portion of an HR department, depending on the company’s size. This role manages the hiring of staff, implementing policies, overseeing payroll and benefits, and advising managers or other supervisors from other departments. Qualifications typically include a bachelor’s degree in human resources or a related field, experience in HR, and possibly certifications. 

Benefits manager 

Salary: $114,196

Benefits managers oversee the payroll department, ensuring all functions related to compensation and benefits are carried out and accurate. This job ensures employees are paid based on an organization’s pay structure, and benefits are granted per employee contracts. As a benefits and compensation manager, you also meet with other departments to discuss financial matters. Qualifications typically include a bachelor’s degree in accounting or related field, experience in payroll or management, and possibly certifications depending on your employer. 

Learn more: HR Entry-Level Job Guide: Jobs, Salaries, and Strategies to Get Hired

Who's hiring?

Glassdoor reports that the top-rated companies, with more than 10,000 employers, that are hiring HR managers include Intuit, NVIDIA, ServiceNow, TaskUs, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and NASA [ 3 ].

How to get started in human resources management

There are different options for launching a career in human resources management. They often include a combination of education, experience, certification, and networking. Read on to discover ways you can begin preparing for a career in HRM. 

Consider degree opportunities.  

Sixty-seven percent of HRM professionals hold a bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, psychology, or a related field, and 14 percent have a master’s [ 2 ]. Common HR degree coursework includes workplace diversity, business ethics, labor relations, strategic HR, and workforce planning. Some programs may also require internship experience. 

As you gain an HR education, be sure to build important skills like performance management, customer service , payroll processing, communication , leadership, and organization. In addition, familiarize yourself with popular HR software programs like ADP Workforce Now , Bamboo HR , and Workday .

Read more: What Can I Expect from a Human Resources Degree?

Gain HR experience.

You can stand out as an HRM job candidate with some experience in the HR field. There are opportunities to gain experience at all levels, whether you’re a new graduate or a seasoned professional.  One way to get experience is through internships and entry-level positions such as human resources assistant or associate. In these entry-level roles, you’ll assist in the major duties of HR and build experience to move forward. Joining professional organizations and attending networking opportunities like conferences and conventions is another way to gain experience, knowledge, and connections in HRM. 

Read more: How to Use LinkedIn: A Guide to Online Networking

Earn professional certifications. 

Consider professional certification to improve your chances of getting hired into an upper-level or senior-level position in HRM. Your human resource management salary may also be positively affected if you gain certifications. There are many professional certification options offered by national HR and business organizations. Choose the one that fits your long-term career goals and eligibility. Select from certifications specifically designed for individuals new to HR up to senior-level employees. 

HR Certification Institute offers eight different certifications. The Associate Professional in Human Resources does not require any educational prerequisites, and you do not need any prior experience in HR to be eligible. This certification is ideal for entry-level candidates who want to advance in HRM. Its professional and senior certifications have both educational and experience requirements and would be suitable for someone who has already worked in HR. International and global options are available for anyone who works with companies outside of the US. 

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) offers two different certifications for HRM professionals. These are the SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) and the SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). You don’t need previous experience in HR, and there are no educational requirements for the SHRM-CP. The SHRM-SCP does have requirements for both experience and education. 

WorldatWork provides certifications specifically designed for individuals who work in payroll or benefits. Any HR professional could benefit from these certifications, as most HRM professionals handle finances, payroll, and budgets. You can earn a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) certification, Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP) certification, Certified Benefits Professional (CBP) certification, and more.

Apply for HRM positions. 

Once you’ve honed the skills you’ll need to work in HRM and acquired any certifications or training, it’s time to polish your resume and apply for positions in HRM. Work on your resume as you go, gathering personal and professional references. Join professional organizations, take online courses, and attend conferences—all of which would be included on your resume and illustrate your dedication and drive.

Read more: 10 Ways to Enhance Your Resume 

When you prepare your resume, include credentials, all related previous professional experience, internships, your education, professional organizations of which you’re a member,  achievements, qualifications, and skills relevant to HRM. One important tip, especially for HR resumes: Optimize your resume with targeted keywords that could be picked up by applicant tracking systems (ATS) , which you will also likely use in your career as an HRM professional. 

Explore human resource management with Coursera

Taking online courses can be a great way to enhance your performance in your current role and prepare for career advancement. Consider taking one of Coursera's top-rated courses in HR:

To learn a data-driven approach to managing people, take the University of Pennsylvania's People Analytics course. This course takes about eight hours to complete and covers staffing, talent management, and more. It's part of the Business Analytics specialization.

To delve deeper into HRM, sign up for the University of Minnesota's Human Resource Management: HR for People Managers Specialization . This five-course program takes about two months to complete and covers such processes as recruiting, managing performance, and managing compensation.

To delve deeper into leading teams, creating culture, and strategizing business growth, consider the Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization . This seven-course program takes about two months to complete and can count towards a degree or graduate certificate from the University of Illinois.

Article sources

US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “ Occupational Outlook Handbook: Human Resources Managers , https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/human-resources-managers.htm.” Accessed July 13, 2023. 

Zippia. “ Human Resources Manager Education Requirements , https://www.zippia.com/human-resources-manager-jobs/education/.” Accessed July 13, 2023.

Glassdoor. " Company ratings by category , https://www.glassdoor.com/Explore/browse-companies.htm?overall_rating_low=4.5&page=1&occ=Hr%20Manager&filterType=RATING_OVERALL." Accessed July 27, 2023.

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Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Essay Example

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Introduction

Human resources management (HRM) emerged together with the need to operate large numbers of workforce and fit the demands of the most valuable corporate assets, the employees, with the company objectives, and to ensure adequate conditions for workers of various kinds, types and categories. The HRM field reflects the major part of people management, i.e. coordination of all policies, processes and practices connected with managing people currently employed in a certain organization. The HRM has faced much criticism currently, and is even considered to be the barrier in building the flexible and supportive environment in an organization, acting as a restrictive tool for reducing payroll and contributing to the employee turnover (Mathis and Jackson 4).

Indeed, at times the activities of HRM executives seem to be more directed at activities than results; nonetheless, the importance of human resources and effective management thereof has long ago been recognized as a vital element of successful competition in the market. More than that, HRM is fairly considered to be one of the companies’ core competencies, under the condition of good coordination and organization (Mathis and Jackson 4). HRM also helps the company find the proper balance in the realm of legal requirements restraining  the work of organizations and protecting employees; it ensures compensation reconsiderations according to the employee performance, and serves as a driving force for employee motivation in performance increases.

The significance of HRM has been recognized as soon as the inner processes governing the activity of any organization have been detected. It is obvious that any organization has a set of assets it manages in the process of its activity: they include physical, financial, intangible, and human resources. Nonetheless, even being equal in row with other resources, the human resources really make the activity of any company work; they represent the ‘glue’ that combines and coordinates the resources, making them bring profit for the company. Logically, one should realize that there is no way to keep the company functioning without human resources, and even under the condition of poor functioning thereof (Mathis and Jackson 4). Proper HRM can help the company save considerable costs for recruiting and retraining, talent detection may help it educate its own leaders and managers etc. – there are numerous examples of the way HRM may benefit a company. They explain the current close attention to HRM and outline the main areas of research in the field of its improvement and successful implementation.

The modern focus on HRM and its implementation in business structures is explained by the wish to establish fast and responsive organizations that can quickly handle the changes in the external and internal environment. The HRM provides the company with the ability to recruit, train and retain employees, and to align their activities with corporate objectives. The traditional, isolated approach to HRM is no longer used, with the organization giving additional responsibilities and powers to HR managers in the overall struggle for better performance of the whole business unit.

Before defining the concept of ‘human resources management’, one has to track its evolution from the term ‘personnel management’ that emerged in the 20 th century to denote the response of employees to public policies and union activities and changed gradually under the pressure of the global change, socio-economic changes and tendencies etc. (Bratton and Gold 6). The full definition of the HRM concept looks as follows:

“That part of the management process that specializes in the management of people in work organizations. HRM emphasizes that employees are critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, that human resources practices need to be integrated with the corporate strategy, and that human resource specialists help organizational controllers to meet both efficiency and equity objectives” (Bratton and Gold 11).

However, even upon seeing the definition, one still may not have a clear idea of what management really stands for in the described situation, and what human resources mean in the given context. The human resources actually mean the human capital that represents one of the company’s assets (alongside with the physical, financial and intangible ones) (Mathis and Jackson 5). The human capital is viewed in the collection of all capabilities, knowledge, skills, life experience, motivation etc. that employees of a certain organization possess. Hence, management thereof refers to the proper distribution of positions, adequate rewards corresponding to the employee performance, training and staffing etc. Consequently, one may understand the definition as a way to manage the human capital in the most productive and efficient way so that the company could enhance its core competencies and ensure a firmer position in the marketplace.

Features and Characteristics of HRM

There is a set of features defining the nature of HRM and its place within the organizational framework. The first feature refers to knowledge management; it pertains to any aspect of creating, obtaining, sharing and utilizing knowledge of any kind (Armstrong 9). The key role of HRM concerning knowledge is to conduct activities to develop, generate, and preserve any knowledge specific for the needs of the company. It is also essential to note that knowledge in the focus of HRM derives from organizational learning processes (Armstrong 9).

The next feature is reward management; it results directly from the incentive of HRM professionals to increase motivation, job management, and commitment of employees towards their company. These practices can be achieved by introducing policies of showing that employees are valued and rewarded according to their performance (Armstrong 9). It is essential to implement various reward instruments and schemes so that they would suit the whole range of competencies and skills of the company’s staff. In addition, the successful HRM strategy should not focus on restrictive sanctions for employees who fall behind in their performance; instead, it should emphasize strengths and promote potentially creative and committed individuals.

Fostering constructive and supportive employee relations is another feature of HRM. Promoting the working climate with productive and harmonious relationships is made possible through positive partnership between management and workplace (Armstrong 9). Trade unions are also involved in the employee relations to ensure the comprehensive effect of HRM in building the coherent and mutually satisfied employee structure. The main challenge of this process is in the next feature of HRM: meeting diverse needs of all company stakeholders (Armstrong 10). Individual and group needs have to be taken into account to design equal opportunities for all employees disregarding the peculiarities of their working style, aspirations, and capabilities.

Finally, the HRM feature is bridging the gap between rhetoric and reality. The company’s mission and vision, HR strategy and corporate responsibility are laid down in all written codes and regulations of the company, annual reports and presentations for shareholders. However, as soon as the planned HR practices are implemented, a number of barriers (including limited support, inadequate infrastructure, lack of resources etc.) preclude those strategies from being successfully introduced. Hence, the ability of HRM nowadays is in identifying such gaps and allocating proper resources for making HR strategies a commonplace organizational reality (Armstrong 10).

Drawing certain conclusions from the discussed HRM features, one can come to understanding the key HRM characteristics shaping its modern image and structure. They are as follows:

diverse (it is essential to encourage diversity in HRM practices because of the integrated, comprehensive and over-grasping focus of HRM aimed at creating a harmonious, homogeneous, and at the same time individually tailored structure of employee relationships with management) (Armstrong 9):

• strategically focused, with emphasis on integration (there is no place for an isolated approach anymore; HRM is embedded in all aspects of corporate functioning, striving to the creation of a coherent, interlinked employee system) (Armstrong 9);
• oriented on commitment (only under the condition of employee trust and loyalty towards the company, HRM can achieve the stipulated corporate goals and make the human resources act as a unifying and enacting force for other company assets) (Armstrong 9);
• HRM is based on the belief that working individuals should be treated as assets, i.e. the human capital (in other way common HRM strategies and assessment tools would not work) (Armstrong 9);
• unitarist and individualistic approach towards employee relations (the workforce should act as a unified, congruent force, but at the same time individual needs, wants, aspirations and ambitions should be taken into account and encouraged to ensure corporate growth and accumulation of intelligence and knowledge) (Armstrong 9);
• management-driven (HRM is seen as a line management responsibility, changing the nature of HRM delivery) (Armstrong 10);
• focused on business values (human resources are nurtured, developed and managed, but always with the proper respect to the company objectives; the HRM should always be consistent with business objectives) (Armstrong 10).

There are a large number of specific and general goals pursued by modern HRM, but considerable research and review have allowed to focus on the twelve dominant policy goals proposed by Caldwell (2004) and cited in Armstrong:

• People constituting an organizational workforce should be treated as the asset crucial for the creation of the competitive advantage for the company in the marketplace. The essence of the goal is to gain the competitive level of performance for the company to become a strong contender with a firm position in the market; it is vital to realize that even under the condition of having plentiful resources of other kind, the company will never achieve success because of the inability to utilize the resources. Without the workforce, there will be no tools for operating and manipulating the company’s resources for the sake of economic profit. Hence, the human capital is the most essential asset possessed by the company, and it has to be treated accordingly (Armstrong 10).
• The HRM policies have to be aligned with the business policies and corporate strategy of every given company. This goal explains the very purpose of HRM existence – through the effective and thoughtful management of the company’s human capital, the HRM department assists the company in gaining the competitive advantage in the market and increasing the employee performance through commitment and encouragement of creativity (Armstrong 10).
• The HRM system is aimed at developing a close fit of HR policies, procedures and systems with one another. Only under the condition of the close connection and alignment of all HR elements within the organizational structure, the successful implementation of HRM principles becomes possible and potentially profitable for the company (Armstrong 10).
• The HRM is responsible for creating a flatter and more flexible organization. The ultimate goal of that effort is to make the company more responsive to the changes of the internal and external business environment. The modern business world is characterized by a high level of turbulence and uncertainty, crises in all spheres of human activity, hence only the affluent and flexible business entities can survive in the harsh atmosphere of making business. The HRM effort can make the company stronger from the inside and reinforce its outer strengths (Armstrong 10).
• The HRM should encourage teamwork and cooperation inside the organization. The specific advantage of such efforts can be seen in the strengthening of the employee interconnection, mutual support and emotional intelligence (Armstrong 10).
• The creation of a strong customer-first philosophy throughout the organization is another policy goal of HRM; the main focus of HRM is driven on the individually correct but still corporately shaped system of employee management, training and rewarding. The employees have to realize their value for the company to be able to provide their respect and commitment to the customer in turn (Armstrong 10).
• Employees have to be empowered for self-management, learning and development. HRM creates the basis for corporate leadership programs to educate the company’s leaders, professionals and inspirers instead of hiring them from outside (Armstrong 10).
• HRM should develop rewarding strategies directly tied to employee performance. Despite the commonly known criticism of the approach, financial incentives still remain a powerful driving force in the increase of performance and commitment (Armstrong 11).
• Internal communication improvement is the goal for HRM effort because of its importance for employee involvement in the company issues. The better the employees are informed about the internal matters of their company, the more trusting their relationships with the employer are, and the higher the commitment is (Armstrong 11).
• A more general HRM is in building the greater employee commitment; it can be achieved by additional means other than financial ones, including strengthening the corporate culture, involving employees in extra-work events and promoting various activities exploring the employees’ talents, ambitions and abilities (Armstrong 11).
• Increasing line management responsibility for the HR policies is another major goal of HRM; as it has been already mentioned, HRM is growing in its importance and grasps others areas of company functioning. Therefore, HRM is equal in responsibilities with line management, providing more ties and interconnections between the internal aspects of management (Armstrong 11).
• Finally, HRM should empower managers in the role of enablers. This refers both to the allocation of financial resources for solving some urgent business matters, and to the empowerment of capable employees offering their potential and creativity to the company (Armstrong 11).

Strategic HRM

Strategic HRM is substantially different from the RHM process itself because it focuses mainly on the activities affecting the behavior of individuals in an effort to formulate and introduce strategic needs of the business (Armstrong and Baron 41). Hence, one can understand that the strategic HRM reflects not the real-time, but the future intentions of the organization regarding the HRM organization, procedures and policies. It includes the long-term people issues, defining the HR strategies that have to be identified for the future effort of the HRM department. In addition, the strategic HRM peculiarity is that it concerns the macro-concerns at the organizational level, including the structure, values, culture, performance, rewards, motivation etc. The aim of strategic HRM deriving from its features consists in the creation of the strategic capability for the company to possess the highly committed, skilled and motivated employees to enhance the company’s competitive advantage in terms of human assets. In order to achieve that aim, the strategic HRM needs to fulfill the individual and collective needs of the employees to further on implement coherent and practical HR policies and programs (Armstrong and Baron 41-42).

Before proceeding to the practical discussion of existing HRM strategies, one has to identify the modern approaches to HRM strategy; they include the classical, processual and systemic ones, having many proponents and followers in the global theoretical HRM thought. The classical approach defends the ‘cold’ analysis of organizational environment and the company’s internal resources, with the further identification of strategic options and final implementation of the chosen strategy (Wilczek 2). It is vital to remember that there is a clear distinction between the authorities responsible for strategy generation and implementation thereof. According to the classical approach, strategies are created by top management and implemented by operational managers (Wilczek 2).

The processual approach promotes the strategic flexibility of the company; it argues that strategies are formulated and implemented in an integrated, non-disruptive manner at all levels of an organization. The approach is more viable for the company in a turbulent environment, with the clear need for expertise and creativity at all levels of the organizational structure (Wilczek 3). The third approach, however, includes the socio-cultural and economic context of the countries in which the strategy is formulated into the strategic HRM process. The proponents of the systemic approach argue that cultural and geographical differences seriously affect the process of strategy formation as well as its outcomes (Wilczek 3).

Consequently, proceeding to the models of strategic HRM, one has to identify its nature as a search of the ‘best fit’ within the organizational structure. The strategic fit is the central concept of strategic HRM, also called the matching model. The essence of the model is in making the HR strategy aligned with business strategies of the company (representing the vertical fit) (Armstrong and Baron 44). The vertical fit is the integral part contributing to the business planning process in an organization; it has to match the life cycle stages of the company and be individually tailored to the dynamics of its development (Armstrong and Baron 46).

The horizontal fit is nevertheless as important as the vertical one, as the HR strategies have to be aligned from the inside, i.e. there should be a high level of coherence between the different elements of people strategies (Armstrong and Baron 44). The logical interconnection among the mutually supportive practices of the HR strategy can ensure the success of the horizontal fit, making the HR strategy the ‘best fit’, the chief objective of the overall corporate strategy. The resource-based approach to HRM strategy also provides a sound foundation for the development and implementation of strategic HRM within the organization; it dictates the resource-based approach to all tangible and intangible assets possessed by the company, and utilization thereof with the purpose of being competitive in the market (Armstrong and Baron 53).

Functions Reflected in Business Practices

The success of any organization depends on the allocation of proper human resources in proper positions to ensure their full engagement, job satisfaction and adequate rewards for the performance; however, the current review of staffing practices has shown much incongruence with the ideal objectives stipulated in each HRM department. The wrongdoings include hoarding professionals at the expense of the organization, fostering promotions on biased principles without consideration of organization-wide options, limiting individual opportunities and depriving them from feedback, promoting decrease of confidence etc. (Fombrun, Tichy, and Devanna 58). All of them lead to employee turnover and loss of intelligence, knowledge and expertise.

Introducing the strategic HRM practices in staffing now plays the crucial role in the success of the organization in the accomplishment of its business objectives. The key processes are the specification of qualification, identification of people possessing those skills, and relocating the employees to the positions that fit them the most (Fombrun et al. 58). The staffing policies are affected by the dominant corporate culture and the stage of business development (the start-up business will conduct recruiting activities to form the staff, while the business at a stage of decline can relocate the existing staff or even involve professionals from external resources to revitalize the organization). Some constructive modern HRM practices regarding staffing within an organization include job posting, management development, and succession planning for the sake of HRM integration in all fields of organizational functioning (Fombrun et al. 65).

Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is another central element of successful HRM because it provides the assessment and identification of critical job behaviors of the management, specifying the objectives of each manage, and agreeing on the steps and resources necessary for the achievement of those objectives (Fombrun et al. 87). There is a high risk of selective focusing in the performance appraisal, especially concerning the top management, because of lack of subjectivity and absence of anonymity. Hence, the innovative HRM practices in appraisal have to be introduced to ensure the successful accomplishment of business goals and strategies.

There are several categories of measures that can be used for performance appraisal; outcome measures are a strong indicator, but they fail to support the appraisal system in full because of the focus on results depriving managers of the opportunity to assess the process of achieving results. This approach may cause the deterioration of the system instead of its improvement, so the behavioral measures should complement the outcome ones (Fombrun et al. 91). Behavioral measures help identify the critical behavior that may aid employees in completing the objectives stipulated for their position, and the critical incident technique may be implemented for the assessment of the employee correspondence to their positions. Behavior measures are also highly helpful in selecting employees and establishing monetary rewards (Fombrun et al. 94).

The job behavioral analysis is utilized to identify the activities top managers have to conduct to implement the strategic plan. Here two types of training programs have proven to assist in objective achievement: accurate recording of what is seen, and giving feedback as well as setting the performance goals. These programs ensure objectivity and enhance the development of self-management capabilities to promote business strategies on the organization-wide level (Fombrun et al. 100).

Compensation and Benefit

The reward system in any organization may play both functional and dysfunctional roles because of the motivation or discouragement that it may bring to the employees. However, it is essential to note that the compensation system, in case it is properly designed, may become the key contributor to the effectiveness of the HR strategy and employee commitment increase. The strategic role of the reward system lies within the behavioral effect it may produce on employees, hence it has to be thoroughly considered in order to estimate the drives and incentives to be used in the effective HRM system design (Fombrun et al. 127).

The first outcome a successful reward system may offer to the company is the attraction and retention of employees. It is widely known that the companies offering the highest monetary rewards still attract the largest numbers of employees and retain them stronger and longer than other companies do. Hence, the monetary motivation turns out to be fairly strong nowadays (Fombrun et al. 128). In addition, the motivation outcome is also the direct consequence of the properly designed reward system – employees who earn more are more committed to their company, they possess a higher level of loyalty and resourcefulness towards their employer.

The organizational culture is also affected by the reward system; the way rewards are developed, administered and managed affect the culture and shape its type, e.g. participant, entrepreneurial or other ones (Fombrun et al. 128). Reinforcement and definition of the company structure are also affected by the reward system – as usual, the hierarchical structure of corresponding rewarding systems for different levels of management (Fombrun et al. 128). Finally, the compensation to employees affects the cost structure of the company. The salaries to employees traditionally constitute a large share of the company’s operating costs; hence, the thoughtful design of rewards and appraisals may save the company a considerable sum of money and help it allocate resources more productively.

HRM now plays an increasingly important role in building the business strategy and achieving the competitive advantage in the marketplace. With the emergence of the innovative approach to human resources as the strongest company asset, a variety of HRM approaches has been developed to assist the company in aligning people management with the business objectives and strategies. Therefore, it is totally possible to state that the modern organizational structure welcomes an integrated HRM system having equal opportunities and responsibilities with line management and operating in a wide range of areas to sustain the company’s consistence with its strategies.

The basis of the HRM processes is successful staffing, planning, management, identification of reward systems, identification of the company’s internal resources etc. All these activities are called to enhance the company’s competitive position and to reinforce its human capital potential. Strategic HRM is focused on the future perspectives pursued by the company, so it is directed at the macro-environment of the organization. The key processes and functions of strategic HRM constitute effective staffing (that is, proper allocation of employees according to their potential and skills), performance appraisal (both according to the behavioral patterns and outcome measures), and design of effective reward systems that would assist the company in accomplishing its business strategy.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Michael. A handbook of human resource management practice . 10 th ed. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2006. Print.

Armstrong, Michael, and Angela Baron. Strategic HRM: the key to improved business performance . London: CIPD Publishing, 2002. Print.

Bratton, John, and Jeffrey Gold. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice . 2 nd ed. New Jersey: Routledge, 2001. Print.

Fombrun, J. Charles, Tichy, M. Noel, and Mary Anne Devanna. Strategic human resource management. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, 1984. Print.

Mathis, L. Robert, and John H. Jackson. Human resource management . 12 th ed. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2008.  Print.

Wilczek, Tim. The “Classical Model” for Practising Human Resource Management: …or is There a Need for an Integrated Approach Including Specialised Human Resource Strategies? Norderstedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag, 2008. Print.

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Essay on Human Resources

Students are often asked to write an essay on Human Resources in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Human Resources

Understanding human resources.

Human Resources (HR) is a department in organizations that manages people. They handle hiring, training, and employee benefits. HR plays a crucial role in building a positive workplace culture.

Roles of HR

The HR team recruits new employees and trains them. They also develop policies for a comfortable work environment. HR ensures employees are treated fairly and respectfully.

Importance of HR

HR is important because they help to maintain harmony in a company. They resolve conflicts and promote employee well-being. Therefore, HR is vital for a successful organization.

250 Words Essay on Human Resources

Introduction.

Human Resources (HR) is a multifaceted discipline that lies at the heart of any organization. It encompasses the management of people within an organization, focusing on policies, systems, and practices that influence employee behavior, attitudes, and performance.

The Evolution of HR

Historically, HR was seen as a mere administrative function, dealing primarily with payroll and personnel management. However, the role of HR has evolved significantly. It now plays a strategic part in shaping an organization’s culture, ensuring employee satisfaction, and driving business performance.

Key Functions of HR

HR is responsible for a wide range of functions. These include recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, employee relations, and compensation and benefits. Each function plays a crucial role in managing the organization’s human capital.

HR and Organizational Performance

Effective HR management can significantly impact an organization’s performance. By ensuring that the right people are in the right jobs, providing opportunities for growth and development, and fostering a positive work environment, HR contributes to increased productivity and profitability.

In conclusion, HR is an indispensable part of any organization. Its role has evolved from a purely administrative function to a strategic one, influencing every aspect of an organization’s operations. As businesses continue to evolve in a rapidly changing world, the role of HR is likely to become even more critical.

500 Words Essay on Human Resources

The evolution and importance of human resources.

The concept of Human Resources (HR) has significantly evolved over the years. Initially, businesses viewed employees merely as tools for production, but today, they are recognized as the most valuable asset of an organization. The HR department plays a pivotal role in managing these assets, ensuring that both their welfare and the company’s strategic goals are harmoniously aligned.

The Role of Human Resources

The primary role of the HR department is to manage people, which includes tasks like hiring, training, evaluating, and retaining employees. They are also responsible for ensuring a safe and healthy work environment, addressing employee grievances, and fostering a positive work culture. Moreover, HR professionals work towards aligning the workforce with the company’s strategic goals, thereby driving organizational success.

HR and Organizational Strategy

In today’s dynamic business environment, the HR department is not just an administrative unit but a strategic partner. They contribute to the formulation and implementation of an organization’s strategy. HR professionals use their understanding of the company’s vision, mission, and goals to develop HR strategies and practices that attract, develop, and retain the right talent. This ensures that the organization has a skilled and motivated workforce that can drive business success.

The Changing Landscape of Human Resources

The HR landscape is continuously evolving, driven by factors such as technological advancements, changing demographics, and globalization. For instance, the advent of HR technology has revolutionized HR practices. Tools like HRIS (Human Resource Information Systems) and ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) have automated routine tasks, thereby allowing HR professionals to focus more on strategic activities. Moreover, the rise of remote work and diversity in the workforce has necessitated the development of new HR policies and practices.

Challenges Faced by HR Professionals

Despite the significant strides made in the HR field, HR professionals face numerous challenges. These include managing a diverse workforce, dealing with the changing nature of work, ensuring employee engagement and well-being, and navigating the legal and ethical issues related to HRM. Additionally, in an era of rapid technological change, HR professionals must continually update their skills and knowledge.

Future of Human Resources

The future of HR lies in leveraging technology to enhance HR practices and adopting a more strategic role. HR professionals will need to harness the power of data analytics to make evidence-based decisions and predict future trends. They will also need to foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptability to keep pace with the changing business environment.

In conclusion, the HR department plays a crucial role in managing the most valuable asset of an organization – its people. By aligning the workforce with the company’s strategic goals, fostering a positive work culture, and adapting to the changing business environment, HR professionals can drive organizational success.

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Essay on Human Resource Management Practices

Executive Summary

This paper looks to examine the role of a robust Human Resource department in the development of the organization. We examine the importance of the Human Resource department, Human Resource practice, and its influencing factors. The paper also provides an elaboration about the upcoming challenges encountered by Human Resource managers in their line of duty in the 21 st  century. The literature analysis digs deeper into the issues that energy various challenging factors and practices of the H.R. management discipline within the 21 st  century. The implications of the Human Resource managers are also discussed mainly with the arrival of a new breed of highly skilled workers who are younger, well educated, have the knowledge, are extremely confident, and are not entirely interested in the paycheck but their welfare in their job as they check not only what they can do for the company but also what the company can do for them. In the paper, we will look at the crucial challenges pertaining to human resource management. The challenges discussed in the paper include work arrangements, gaining maximum market share, demographic shift, and enhancement in creativity and innovation, employee-employer relationship, managing the cost, reward, and compensation system.

Introduction

Human Resource plays a vital role in the development, reinforcement, and changing an organization’s culture. Training and development, pay, onboarding, and performance management are all essential elements of the business culture covered by Human Resource. Human Resources (H.R.) is the division of a business that has the responsibility to find, screen, recruit, and train job applicants, as well as administering employee-benefit programs. Without Human Resources management, companies will not be able to recruit and retain employees effectively. The Human Resource department extracted its roots from the discipline of organizational psychology and has proven to be an integral practice in the management of organizations. In modern businesses, the Human Resource department has evolved to become strategic and has grown to become a vital force. Chatzoglou & Diamantidis (2019) elaborates that in the world of business, as time passes, competition keeps increasing, and the sole factor that anchors the competitive edge of an organization is Human Resource management.

Human Resource plays a significant role in helping companies deal with the fast-changing business environment and the ever-increasing demand for quality employees in the 21 st  century. Additional roles of H.R. include compensation and benefits, firing, recruitment, and keeping up to date with laws that may affect the company and its employees. Today, companies are shifting away from the traditional in-house human resource administrative tasks and outsourcing duties such as benefits and payroll to vendors situated outdoors. The main task of H.R. department is the maximization of the productive capacity of employees and protection of the company from any issues arising within the workforce. Research conducted by Hafez (2018) found crucial activities related to people that the Human Resource has to do effectively for value addition to the organization. Their findings concluded that these factors include applying new approaches in designing the work process, effective management and use of people, and tying performance appraisal and compensation to competency. The researchers also emphasized increasing flexibility, creativity, and innovation for the enhancement of competitiveness and managing the implementation and integration of technology through training and communicating with workers. Human Resource departments adopting Human Resource Management (HRM) practices play the role of thecompany’s workforce improvement more actively. Such HR departments are able to offer process recommendations, approaches, and business solutions to the process of managing the organization. One such example is theGoogle’s parent company, Alphabet that embraces the adoption of proactive approaches to employee relations. The company motivates its employees at Google by offering lucrative compensation and a wide range of employee facilities at thecompany’s headquarters, horseshoe pits, and roller hockey rinks as they understand that employee productivity is directly linked to a happy workforce.

The human Resource must be considered for every company regardless of size, and the question should not be whether H.R. is necessary but should be reframed to how effectively Human resources can be delivered by a company. Most organizations find it cost-effective and convenient to outsource transactional services such as payroll, benefits administration, taxes, and partnering with strategic Human Resource partners. Reasonable employee compensation increases productivity since happy employees feel valued, thus increasing their loyalty and motivation. They tend to work harder knowing their efforts are recognized, which brings job satisfaction that would benefit the company as they would likely retain such employees for longer. Organizational profitability is significantly increased when a company can attract top talent through lucrative pay perks and benefits as they would beat the competition through their benefits packages.

Another HRM practice that raises organizational profitability and productivity is employee involvement in decision-making. Through this combined effort, employees can share different views that might help the organization move forward. They can share challenges whose implementation might be what the company misses for its boom and bust.

Importance of Human Resource department in organizations

Human Resource plays critical roles in the development, motivation, and retaining of employees. Some of the roles are stated herein. To begin with, the H.R. department sustains business in an organization through succession planning. Dany and Torchy, (2017) argue that it is the duty of the H.R. department to develop the succession plan. The succession plan enables the organization to identify employees with requisite responsibilities and the promise for transitioning thecompany’s leadership to the next phase. The human Resource department also plays a crucial role in safety and risk management as employers are tasked with maintaining safe working conditions as required by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations via the maintenance of accurate work logs and development of programs with the aim of workplace injuries and fatality reduction. Specialists in workplace safety also raise awareness about the safe handling of dangerous equipment and hazardous chemicals. The Human Resources department coordinates the training and development activities by assessing which areas are lacking and require training and development. This is also a crucial step to forge the good relationship between the employee and the employer, all in effort to prepare aspiring employees for leadership roles in the future.

Human Resource plays a vital role in the recruitment and onboarding practices in an organization. They screen resumes and schedule interviews to process potential employees. In typical terms, the H.R. determines the best employees that fit into the needs of the organization. The H.R. staff who specialize in employee relations enable the organization to achieve high performance, boost their morale and their levels of satisfaction. They minimize the exposure of the company to allegations about liability and unfair employment practices. Workplace issues are identified, investigated, and resolved by the H.R. department to avoid embroiling the organization into legal matters that pertain to state and federal anti-harassment and discrimination laws and regulations. The benefits specialists in the Human Resource department are tasked with reducing the costs of the company that relates to attrition, turnover, and hiring replacement workers.

Six significant forces influencing human behavior at work

There are internal or external forces or factors influencing human behavior at work, and they all depend on the situation and have the potential to cause either negative or positive impacts.

Organizational Culture

Organizational factors refer to the underlying values, assumptions, beliefs, and other interactive means adding to the social and psychological environment in the workplace. According to Chatzoglou and Diamantidis (2019), individuals in the workplace develop meaning and stability through the organizational culture, affecting employee morale. Each company has its different culture and negative organizational culture results in low morale promotes engagement in unwanted behavior, and employee fraud. The productivity of the employee is thus affected, and organizational performance reduces. The management needs to encourage positive culture by enhancing diversity and clear communication structures. A positive organizational culture would promote innovation since employees would feel part of the organization.

Workplace diversity

Workplace diversity which is the understanding and acceptance of varied individual characteristics, has an influence on employee behavior at the workplace. These include race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and different ideologies individuals may hold. Organizations that embrace diversity tend to benefit through increased performance since employees communicate and collaborate. Bias and stereotypes may be a considerable hindrance to proper interaction, especially among different genders and ethnicities. For instance, race bias against blacks may see whites get better positions in an organization and vice versa. Since the situation lowers the esteem of affected parties, it is prudent that organizations condemn bias and stereotyping. The organization should enact stringent measures to counter harassment and establish mitigation strategies.

Supervisory Management Influence

This is the act of employee management and oversight. Most organizations depend on this aspect to organize human resources into units that can help in the achievement of organizational objectives. Employees will be guided through tasks by these units. They will also be rewarded or punished fairly to articulate the goals of the organization and foster cooperation. The supervisory behavior of the manager is emphasized since it could affect employee motivation, performance, communication, and attitude. An abrasive and loud manager may inspire negative characteristics amongst employees and hinder workplace relationships. Likewise, when employees are micromanaged, they tend to feel equally demotivated despite them being skilled. Therefore, it is recommended that proper channels of communication be put in place, especially those that promote respect and dignity to views of the employees (Martin, 2014). Human resource managers are urged to provide employee autonomy.

Work Group Influence

The workplace environment consists of individuals typically existing in groups within the organization. Some of the factors that contribute to the success or failure of such groups include processes, group structure, and resources. The roles of individual employees and group size are captured in the group structure. Processes deal with communication aspects, power dynamics, and decision-making. Consequently, positive group behavior influences individual behavior positively. When there is negative group behavior and feelings of being sidelined, negative behavior is encouraged, which results in lower outputs and increase employee turnover. It is recommended that team leaders step upfront to reinforce positive behavior in the team, and members will likely emulate their leader. Every group is prone to conflict; thus, sound problem-solving techniques should be employed.

Job satisfaction

Ob satisfaction is the feeling of fulfillment that employees derive from their work. This can influence the behavior of employees in the workplace. Job satisfaction affectsemployees’ commitment levels, work turnover rate, and absenteeism. Dissatisfied employees will likely be absent from work or take their organizational duties lightly, which affects performance negatively. Satisfied employees will be highly motivated and engage in corporate duties wholeheartedly. Organizations can create incentive programs to reward employees appropriately.

Personal characteristics and Family Influence

Besides the workplace, employees have a social support system for their friends and families. Since each person comes from a different background from the rest, the experiences they go through before joining the workforce shape their characteristics. Essentially, a person brings those personal characteristics and family influences to the workplace. This may have a positive or a negative influence on the behavior of employees at the workplace. For example, personality traits like openness enhance curiosity, creativity, and welcoming new ideas. Employees who are introverts conversely, may keep essential things to themselves even if they may be of help in providing solutions to a problem. The organization, however needs not compel employees to change if their characteristics do not affect the workplace behavior negatively. The organization should create an environment that encourages participation and mold the growth of desirable characteristics.

Employee Performance, Development and Reward & Factors that Influence H.R. Decision Making

HRM refers to the policies and systems that influence the behavior, attitudes, and performance of the members of the organization, intending to increasing the organization’s competitiveness and learning capacity. HRM practices are outlined by organizational models in which different inherent factors interact. These practices are translated into policies for an organization, which is defined as a set of principles and rules, which guide decisions and conduct the different activities of the company in relation to HRM. For most companies, there are five types of policies: supply, application, maintenance, development, and control policies.

• Supply policies are about supplying needs organizational aspects at the H.R. level; it implies the practices of H.R. research, recruitment, selection, and integration;
• The application policies correspond to the analysis and description practices functions, H.R. planning, career plans, and job evaluation unemployment;
• Maintenance policies are the practices of retaining workers, management of salaries, social benefit plans and hygiene and safety at work;
• Development policies aim at the development of the worker and organization through training;
• Control policies refer to databases, information systems H.R. information, and audits.

Reward system within the organization is one of the other H.R. practices, which serves to provide better management of workers, and it is essential to understand that they cannot be seen as an isolated component. Before defining the remuneration, it is necessary to plan the labor, that is, planning the type of labor to be selected and recruited for the execution of the function. After this planning comes the function analysis phase, which by the job description to consider the payment to the worker for the execution, and also, the Evaluation of the functions that goes through its classification to understand what are the requirements that each function requires.

The analysis of functions can be defined as a structured process of collecting and organizing information about tasks and operations that a person or group must carry out in the context of their work and still, the identification of the essential requirements to perform its function, that is, understand what the know-how is, skills and competencies needed, even before defining the value to be attributed to the function. After the job definition phase and determining the salary to be paid by their execution, there are a series of adjacent and consequent H.R. activities, namely, Recruitment and Selection, which goes through the process of choosing the candidate indicated for that function, taking into account the salary offered and the skills that the individual has. Al Mamun and Hasan (2017) define recruitment for an organization as a”set of techniques and procedures with the objective of attracting potential candidates, duly qualified and able to occupy a specific position in the organization whose aim is to identify the worker indicated for that function able to achieve the proposed objectives.

After recruitment is done, the time to select the worker is the process by which an organization chooses the people who seem most suited to the specific and available functions. The explanation continues with the practices of Evaluation, training, and career management, where the HRM identifies the”most efficient and greatest potentia” and to value them, monitoring and professional development. Performance evaluation is an essential practice of HRM, namely for the rewards system, that is, it is a tool that allows understanding if the worker is reaching the proposed objectives or not, if he is achieving these goals should be rewarded; otherwise, it is necessary corrective measures, such as training.

Performance evaluation is defined as a system of formal and systematic ways to assess the work done by workers. The objective of this Evaluation is to understand if the objectives were achieved or not, and how performance can be improved,”how to increase goals and results to be achieve”, and also communicate feedback to the worker so that he can be guided and understood where he needs to improve. Performance evaluation should be extended to the entire organization, without exceptions. Organizations should understand the know-how, skills, and competencies needed, even before defining the value to be attributed to the function.

After the job definition phase and determining the salary to be paid by their execution, there are a series of adjacent and consequent H.R. activities, namely, Recruitment and Selection, which goes through the process of choosing the candidate indicated for that function, taking into account the salary offered and the skills that the individual has. Recruitment requires a set of techniques and procedures with the objective of attracting potential candidates, duly qualified and able to occupy a specific position in the company whose objective is to identify the worker indicated for that function, able to achieve the proposed objectives.

Once recruited and selected, people join organizations, seeking the exercise of their functions and personal fulfillment, in addition to the objectives and obligations relevant to each position. It is up to the company to socialize the individual based on their organizational culture, thus ensuring that these assumptions are achieved. With socialization, the new employee renounces a portion of his freedom of action when he joins the organization: he agrees to obey working hours, perform a certain activity, follow the guidance of his superior, meet certain internal rules and regulations, etc. Thus, the organization seeks to induce the adaptation of the individual’s behavior to his needs and goals, strongly marking his fingerprints. On the other hand, the new participant will be seeking to influence the organization and its manager to create a work situation that will provide them with satisfaction and the achievement of their personal goals.

Socializing the individual in the organization, is a process that does not occur only when he is hired, but, throughout his permanence in the position, when there is a change of function, after some transfer, of department, sector, or geographic region, as well as when there is professional growth within the corporate hierarchy. This process must take place through capacity building and training. Also, information is the critical factor in this process as the critical factor of success in organizational socialization is associated with the level and amount of information that an employee receives at the beginning of his activities because the more information pertinent to his permanence obtain, the greater your performance and interest in your job. Human development, in the organizational context, goes beyond the simple training of the individual, while the latter has its focus on the short term and the execution of the tasks of the current position, the latter has on the motivation, on the long term, and new tasks or functions its focus aiming at the growth of the individual, also guaranteeing the valorization of the staff, enabling the professional to assume new and future positions in the organization.

Development is the long-term process for enhancing employees’ skills and motivations to make them future valuable members of the organization. The development includes not only training but also career and/or other experiences. Training is just one component of the development process, which includes all the experiences that strengthen and consolidate the characteristics of desirable employees in terms of their functional roles. The greatest challenge for contemporary organizations is to introduce feedback into their daily routine, and that this is a powerful tool for the development of people and consequently of the organization. This resistance can be broken through training, seminars, or lectures, which explain and encourage the use of feedback in the work environment. To be successful in the practice of feedback, it is important to know exactly what was the result achieved within what was expected, and, for this to happen, there are many tools available for the performance assessment to be as appropriate as possible (Carroll et al., 1999).

It is worth mentioning that there is no successful recipe for performance evaluation and that each company tends to build its way of evaluating its collaborators.

Each system meets certain specific objectives, according to the level and areas of allocation of the personnel involved. It is possible to either use several performance evaluation systems or structure each one of them in an evaluation method that is appropriate to the type and characteristics of the system. People should be evaluated independently; no matter how basic their functions, their performance should be evaluated according to the position held, according to the guidelines and training received, and the opportunities received from your immediate manager. Although performance evaluation is defined as a professional improvement technique, it is usually loaded with other objectives, such as justifying salaries, eliminating bad employees, and the correlation between the result obtained and the employee’s performance. This can produce serious problems and obstacles so that the information is kept up to date, that it is used in an ethical manner and that the evaluation interviews are conducted in such a way as to produce an effective result, and not just a mere routine task.

The method we used in the research to gather information about Human Resource effectiveness to increase organizational productivity and profitability is the interview. I conducted in-person interviews with former job applicants for the H.R. positions in top U.S. companies, most of whom became runners up and were not selected for the positions they applied for. I booked an appointment for a 1 hour interview 2 weeks beforehand, and my aim was to understand the criteria the company uses to ensure the best fit employees are employed and how they motivate their employees. I also wanted to get their view by providing them with a questionnaire with questions that pointed out what could be the best strategies for the Human Resource department. The method used discusses the effectiveness of such HRM practices as compensation management, staff development, employee involvement in decision making, and performance management. I divided the interview conduct into two groups having 189 members each. Some of the questions I asked during the interview include:

Competency-Based Questions for the Interview

• When starting work for a new client, what are a few things you like to do to get to know the person and make them feel comfortable with you around?
• What is the most challenging task you have completed as a personal assistant?
• Do you understand the role of this position? Why do you think you will excel as an assistant?
• Tell me about a time you had to multi-task. How comfortable are you handling more than one task at a time?
• What personal assisting tasks do you feel you are exceptionally good at?
• Are you a patient person? When has your patience shown in the workplace?

From the questionnaire, the first group that comprised 189 members averaged almost similar responses, although not identical in their responses. Most of the participants (102) we’re good at employee development strategies as personal assisting tasks that they felt they are good at. Notably, participants in both groups were not comfortable with multi-tasking and felt they should handle a task at a time. When asked why 56 respondents stated that work efficiency reduces with multi-tasking as there is divided attention. The participants also shunned multi-tasking for fear of poor rating at work. The second question in the questionnaire that asked about the most challenging tasks ever handled by the participants in their role as personal assistants elicited mixed reactions. Each member had experienced different challenges they termed as challenging, with the challenging aspect being subjective and varied from one person to another. What seemed challenging to one participant was not challenging to another.

From the first question in the questionnaire that asked, ‘When starting work for a new client, what are a few things you like to do to get to know the person and make them feel comfortable with you around?’, I noticed a striking resemblance in the responses of participants from group B. Forty of them wanted a new client to feel as comfortable as possible being around them. This was a coincidence since it must be noted that the questionnaire was given and answered in private.

To arrive at the sample size of 278 used in this research, I used a formula called the Cochran Formula. I selected the sample size from 1000 individuals spread across various organizations spanning different retail, manufacturing, and banking industries. However, most participants came from the finance industry as they were more willing to participate in the research. The population I was studying in this research is regarded as small hence the reason for using Cochran Formula. The Cochran formula is:

N 0 = Z 2 PQ/e 2

The desired precision level, also known as the margin of error, is e.

The approximate proportion of the population that is attributed to this research is P

Q = 1 – P

This equation that was used in reaching the Cochran formula is:

n = n 0  / [ 1 + {(n 0  – 1)/ N}]

Where n 0  is the recommended sample size in Cochran, the population size is N, and the new adjusted sample size is n. Hence I calculated

385 / [ 1 + {384/ 1000}] = 278 participants in the research which is relatively small.

In this paper, we analyze a Human Resource department summary starting with the departmental function, which is selection, recruitment, negotiation for employees’ benefits and administering them, and retention. Some of these benefits frequently discussed in this research, include Employee assistance programs, dental life, vision, health insurance, and employee compensation. The H.R. department also coordinates tea building training for senior management and middle management personnel for consideration of optional direction the organization can take to develop in the future. In the budget goals, the H.R. department should come up with, say, a 5 year budget that ensures employees’ skillsets are enough to deal with the ever-evolving technological topography in the 21 st  century coupled with the progress of the business marketplace in today’s world. The budget goals should also include employees’ benefits package that states all the benefits the employees are entitled to and distributed across the financial year.

The Human Resource programs entail the management of the employment system in the organization, which includes employee counseling and training, recruiting process, administering benefits, employee compensation, personnel recordkeeping, legislation compliance, and performance appraisals. Some of the performance objectives of H.R. departments. Although they differ from one organization to another, they include re-certification of full-time staff for First Aid and CPR and recruiting and hiring new staff as fast as possible. The H.R. department is also tasked with conducting administrative audits and investigations

The rationale for the Answers

Part A: The person specification is necessary for shortlisting of the applicants, and having the key skills in bullet points allows you to match it with applicants’ set of skills. It saves time, and the right candidate is selected.

Part B: the first job applicant is selected because he has the most matched set of skills with P.A.’s responsibilities required to be fulfilled at the organization.

Part C: Each of the six questions aims to assess the response of the applicant in different situations that are likely to determine if the applicant can handle the job pressure or not and whether he has suitable set of skills.

Critical Evaluation of the use of a Person Specification

Companies that understand the relevance of person specification in the recruitment and selection process reap important benefits in short and medium, and long terms. The purpose of using person specification is to take into consideration the skills, qualifications and experience a candidate must possess to apply for a certain position. Its use allows the companies to recruit individuals who are the most appropriate individuals for the position. Not only is this, but the person specification also allows a company to conduct competency-based interviews where the most eligible candidate is selected. Following are the benefits of using person specification and competency-based interviews:

Cost reduction: Cost reduction is always one of the goals of any entrepreneur. The use of the appropriate tools and procedures means that HRM spends less time and effort in filling vacancies. Analysts are able to manage the routine better and increase their productivity (Collings et al., 2018). By adding each small gain, the difference becomes even more visible.

Strengthening the business strategy: The hiring of people needs to be aligned with the guidelines outlined in the company’s strategic planning (Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016). This involves issues such as cultural fit, skills, competencies, and technical capabilities of the teams that are formed. A well-structured recruitment and selection process based on personal specification can find the right professionals for the challenges that the organization set out to overcome.

Strengthening the organizational culture: Characteristics such as salary and practice area are no longer the main decision points, and the organizational culture has gained an increasing weight. All of this starts with the selection, which needs to be more careful and adopt specific methodologies to provide this differential. Turnover reduction: In an era where young people tend not to stay in the same company for many years, retention has become one of HRM’s greatest difficulties. The best way to mitigate the turnover problem is to tackle one of the root causes: selection failure.

In conclusion, the need for Human Resource practices cannot be brushed off in the modern business world. Through this research paper, we have delved into the roles and responsibilities played by the Human Resource department in the performance of organizations. A company could be having great products, but unless its staff rally behind it supportively, it is less likely to be successful. The new competitive advantage in most of today’s organizations has a satisfied workforce as it assures the best performance from the employees, which reflects on the organization’s performance. Generating more Human Resource professionals has come as a requirement in most business sectors, especially industrial sectors. It is worth noting that with the increasing knowledge work, the role of the H.R. is changing with time, with managers spending most of their time in communications, making decisions, and analysis. For sustainable business and financial stability of an organization, it is important that H.R. departments enhance tax benefits and funds opportunities. H.R. professionals need to assume more responsibility beyond just employees but also focus on the need to understand and aid in driving the economic environment and strategic direction of the organization.

Recommendations

I recommend that H.R. departments seek the involvement of donors to improve their operations. Beyond that, the organizations and groups providing donations to H.R. department should focus beyond the monetary assistance. The capabilities of H.R. can be built by active knowledge utilization. For instance, as part of Corporate Social Responsibility, a donor can help the H.R. department in the development and operationalization of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), a contribution that goes a long way in assisting the H.R. department increase its efficiency. Secondly, I would also recommend that organizations build the institutional capacity to provide H.R. services. This can be done by establishing national and regional frameworks to develop infrastructure and services addressing a wide array of common needs, which includes training, compensation, financial management, and governance, all in support of the capacity building of H.R. departments.

Developing talent from within the organization is another essential recommendation that will be of great help to H.R. departments. Most companies struggle to find the right personnel skilled and matching specific roles and often overlook the potential that exists within their organization. Companies need to target employees who bear leadership potential by identifying them early and honing their skills. The company should then provide them with a vision for how they can make a contribution to the organization and their personal career goals. This can be done by providing such employees with mentors, training opportunities to acquire new skills or update their skills. Implementation of wellness initiatives is another strategy I would recommend. Promoting employee wellness plays a critical role in the organization’s financial health, considering the rising costs of healthcare. A workforce that is down due to illnesses greatly affectss the organization’s productivity, hence the need to implement a a holistic wellness program as mitigation efforts against the risks of premiums escalation.

Technology and analytics continue to increase the operations in many organizations in the world. It is a new development that is gaining traction and is becoming unavoidable in today’s business world, lest you be left behind. The senior management in organizations needs to relook at the tremendous opportunities of integrating a broad range of experiences in the organization, such as leveraging a Human Capital Management System (HCM). Most Human Resource (H.R.) departments use software for the management of payroll, platforms that often have inadequacies with regards to tax forms management, OSHA logs, employee records, and other information. Embracing the latest technology and analytics will provide security to the portal. It will be possible to manage time-off requests amongst other criteria, and the personal information records will be more visible.

Carroll, M., Marchington, M., Earnshaw, J., & Taylor, S. (1999). Recruitment in small firms.  Employee relations .

Chatzoglou, P. & Diamantidis, A. D. (2019). Factors Affecting Employee Performance: an empirical approach.  International Journal of Productivity and Performance management, 68 (1), 171-193.

Chungyalpa, W., & Karishma, T. (2016). Best practices and emerging trends in recruitment and selection.  Journal of Entrepreneurship & Organization Management ,  5 (2), 1-5.

Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human resource management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.

Dany, F. and Torchy, V., 2017. Recruitment and selection in Europe Policies, practices and methods 1. In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 68-88). Routledge.

Farndale, E., Nikandrou, I. and Panayotopoulou, L., 2018. Recruitment and selection in context. In Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Hafez, H. M. H. (2018). The participation of staff in decision making and its impact on performance A case study of Saudi Telecom Company (STC) 2016–2012.

Martin, G. C. (2014). The Effects of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace.  Journal of Diversity Management, 9 (2), 89-93.

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Human Resources essay samples, topics and guides

16 February, 2022

30 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

If you study at a Management department, you will receive a Human Resources essay as a home assignment sooner or later. What is this type of task? How can you write it to impress your supervisor? Here we uncover all the fundamentals of HR writing to help you jumpstart the writing process and get a […]

If you study at a Management department, you will receive a Human Resources essay as a home assignment sooner or later. What is this type of task? How can you write it to impress your supervisor? Here we uncover all the fundamentals of HR writing to help you jumpstart the writing process and get a high grade for the academic paper.

Let’s start with a definition. A Human Resources essay is a type of academic work that approaches some subject related to managing a company’s staff, either public or private, and resolving issues arising in the process.

Thus, when you are tasked with writing an essay about HR, you can choose among various topics, such as hiring and retaining staff, resolving interpersonal conflict, organizing teamwork, and deciding on the proper staff rewards to keep them motivated and engaged. You can also choose among different approaches to analysis; it may be either a purely theoretical piece that examines various theories and methods or an applied case study considering an example of a specific company.

When you proceed to Human Resources essay writing, it’s vital to understand the principles and peculiarities distinguishing this piece of homework from other assignments you might face at the HR department. Here are the basics of competent and professional composition on HR-related topics:

• To sound competent and knowledgeable about the topic, you need to include practical examples and statistics to argue your point.
• Choose a theme to your liking and focus on something of personal interest; it will be much easier to write a paper on the topic you like.
• Study a couple of Human Resources school essay examples available online to see how others have approached this subject.

If you’re still unsure how to complete your home assignment, and the time of its submission is already coming, you can always hire a professional Human Resources essay writer from our team. We’ve here 24/7, always on standby to help you out with any academic task. Thus, you will always stay on top of the class in terms of grades and timeliness without overstretching yourself or draining your resources.

Human Resources Essay Format

Now let’s proceed to discuss the Human Resources essay format. It has some specifics to consider for the sake of meeting your professor’s expectations and getting a high grade for the assignment. First, we want to note that a Human Resources school essay has the same components as other essays possess, so you don’t need to invent the wheel when approaching this task.

All you need to do is compose an introduction of your paper, a body, and a conclusion.

H3: Introduction

In this part of your Human Resources plan essay, you need to indicate the overall topic of your study and the problem you’re going to examine. You should end this part with a detailed and concise thesis statement showing how you will approach the problem and from which angles you will explore it.

This is the central part of your Human Resources essay in which you present your arguments on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Keep in mind that every paragraph should deal with only one subject, which is typically reflected in the topic sentence. In this way, your essay will have a proper structure and will be readable.

This part of your essay should focus on summarizing the main points you’ve discussed in the paper’s body, restating the thesis statement, and drawing the readers’ attention to broader implications of the subject.

Write Human Resources essay in 5 Steps

Stumbling upon how to write a Human Resources management essay? Here is a simple algorithm that will help you cope with any assignment at hand, including HR writing:

• Study your course materials in detail to see what a professor wants from this assignment.
• Pick a topic from the list of available options based on your interest in the subject and the materials’ availability.
• Conduct in-depth research on Google and across several academic databases to identify credible, fresh literary evidence supporting your arguments and standpoint.
• Find a couple of real-life examples to illustrate your points and prove the applicability of your ideas in HR practice.
• Complete the writing piece according to all academic conventions (e.g., paragraph structure, essay format, grammar and style, originality, etc.).

Human Resources Essay Topics (250)

Choosing a topic is always the most challenging part of the essay composition process. You can’t move further until you’re clear with what to look for and in which direction to move. Thus, we’ve created a list of Human Resources essay topics to help you out and speed up your homework process:

• Does organizational success depend solely on the efficiency of HRM?
• Differences between HR management in public and private organizations.
• Personnel management and transition methods in HRM.
• Strategic HR planning: the essentials.
• HRM principles in healthcare organizations.
• Statistical methods of analysis in HRM.
• The Michigan model of HRM.
• The most significant barriers to effective HRM.
• Job evaluation techniques for HR managers.
• The HRIS technique in HRM.
• Four competencies necessary for career management.
• The variety of career planning techniques.
• The most important managerial competencies in the global HR marketplace.
• Staff competency development models of large corporations.
• Megatrends in the executive development via HRM.
• HRM and online training.
• Primary tenets of performance management practices.
• Approaches to employee recognition.
• What mentoring practices work in the period of COVID-19 distance work?
• Principles of Quality of Work Life (QWL) and HR managers’ role in staff’s work-life balance.
• How can HR managers recognize and promote charismatic leaders in the workplace?

How to Start a Human Resources Essay

Starting a Human Resources essay is not always simple, as you might have a clear plan and roadmap in mind. Otherwise, the process of working on this home task may transform into an unexpected challenge taking too much time and energy from you.

Here are some tips and recommendations from our pros on how to start an HR essay quicker:

• Find a topic that you like and know much about. This will be an excellent start for your essay writing process, as you will have enough background information at hand and will know what to look for online.
• Find a suitable Human Resources essay example in Google or your college library to see how other people have studied the subject of your interest. It may be a good idea to compare several essay samples and develop your own, authentic argumentation on that topic.
• Develop a detailed outline to guide your writing. If you have that roadmap for the whole process of composition, you won’t need to waste time consulting the prompt and double-checking whether you’re on-topic.
• Always opt for the argumentative Human Resources essay topics as they are debatable and offer a freedom of choice. You can study the available sources discussing that topic and choose your standpoint. Argumentative subjects also offer rich evidence on both sides of the debate.

As you can see, starting an HR task is not that hard. But anyway, if you don’t feel like spending another evening over books, maybe it’s time to contact our managers and get professional assistance with the assignment? You can take a rest and relax, dedicating some vital time to yourself and your needs, knowing that your HR home task is in good hands.

We provide all kinds of assistance with essay writing, Human Resources included, so you will never feel shortchanged when working with our experts.

The paper ‘The Recruitment, Selection and Induction Process ” is a great example of a human resources research proposal. This is a working document to focus on the purpose and structure of student essays, which reflects the intent and outlook of their research. It is quite likely and permissible that as students progress with their essays, several aspects of content, direction or emphasis of their essay will change.  It is vitally important that students keep their academic supervisor informed of any such changes – as such changes may require students to reconsider any or all of the content of this proposal form.

Section 1: Briefly describe your research topic for Essay 1

The research topic is to identify the recruitment, selection and induction process which organizations need to adopt so that they are able to determine the mechanism through which correct hiring of people takes place. The research concentrates on indentifying the basic things which need to be included in all the process and also stresses on the need of having different process based on the different needs of the organization. The research brings forward the different methods of recruitment, selection and induction process which forms part of every organization. This has helped to identify the different core factors which are part of the recruitment, selection and induction process and the manner in which business effectiveness and changes are witnessed in the hiring process. The research will help organizations to improve their recruitment, selection and induction process as it will garner a path through which different aspect will be included and will help to improve the overall mechanism of hiring people.

Section 2:  Briefly outline any frameworks, theories or models you anticipate using:

The research has looked to identify the different patterns which are globally accepted and the research is based on secondary sources. The findings from different research are bring used to find out the manner in which the recruitment, selection and induction process can be improved and changes can be made and moulded based on the different needs and requirements of the organization. The framework which has been followed is one where linkage has been developed between recruitment, selection and induction process so that one process leads to the other and provides a basis through which the different dimensions which impact the hiring process can be understood. The overall impetus of the research is thereby towards finding out the different areas and dimensions which will help to facilitate and improve the process of achieving better results and multiplying the overall effectiveness of hiring people.

Section 3:  Briefly provide the main authors and themes relevant to your topic. 

Some of the different sources which have been used and are relevant to the area of research are

Arnold, J. (2005). Work Psychology: Understanding human behaviour in the workplace 4th ed. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.

Cable, D. & Judge, T. (2006). Person-organization fit, job choice decisions, and organizational entry. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 67 (3), 294–311

Dipboye, R. (2002). Selection interviews: Process perspectives . Human Resource Selection (3rd ed.). Orlando, FL: Dryden Press

Hogan, R. (2001). Personality and personality measurement. In M.D. Dunnette & L.M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 2 (2nd ed.) 873–919

Ryan, A. & Schmit, M. (2003). Assessing organizational fit in employee selection. Paper presented at the 8th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, San Francisco, CA

Thompson, P. and McHugh, D. (2009). Work Organizations: A critical approach , 4 th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

The different themes which the different authors and work provided are related to the manner in which overall changes and dimensions are being witnessed in the hiring process. This will help to understand the core areas which the different research has identified and will help to come to a conclusive conclusion regarding the manner in which different factors and aspect has an impact on the hiring process and different things which need to be included so that the mechanism which has been adopted improves and provides a better understanding of the different business environment.

Section 4:   Identify opportunities for further study in Essay 2 and/or gaps in research understanding that will refine your research questions.

The research has been carried outlooks to provides a general perspective of the different factors and areas which needs to be included while designing the recruitment, selection and induction process. The research provides a general idea of the different things which have to be included. This provides an opportunity where future research can be carried out by looking towards an organization or an industry where a specific process of recruitment, selection and induction process is being used. This is an area that can be further researched as it will provide useful information pertaining to a particular industry or organization and will show the different dimensions and aspects which needs to be included in the recruitment, selection and induction process. This will help to understand the application of the different methods in a real organization and will provide useful impetus regarding the manner in which the organization is able to gain due to it. This will thereby help to improve the understanding and having applicability in the real organization will magnify the overall value of the research.

The paper  “Performance and Reward Management” is a comprehensive example of human resources case study. Performance management in human resources refers to a holistic process whereby many elements are brought together to successfully manage people, enabling them to meet their goals and targets. It can focus on the performance of a Company, a section, or even an employee (Armstrong 2000).

TPL has a very traditional command and control approach to management across its manufacturing function, employees are not given an opportunity to demonstrate their ability and explore their talent and potential fully. The Management has an old type of leadership known as autocratic. According to Cameron and Green (2012), he described authoritarian is a style of leadership used by leaders who want to make decisions alone, having total authority. Negotiation and consultation are highly discouraged by these leaders. Whatever they say is final. This leadership style is good for employees that need close supervision to perform certain tasks. This simply indicates the organization applying theory X whereby the management feels and assumes that there are lazy and must be supervised closely. This theory has been proven to be counter-effective in modern practice. The management of TPL needs to change its style of leadership and management and come up with a more democratic approach. This will help the Company in giving the employees confidence and therefore increase productivity (Cameron & Green 2012).

Poor performance appraisal and review process can also be witnessed in TPL, where it is done so casually biannually as a chat between a supervisor and a subordinate. TPL should improve on the way it conducts the performance appraisal and review process, all the parties should be involved by aligning performance with the strategic goals of the organization (Armstrong 2000). For example, TPL supervisors should provide more specific feedback that will help them describe the gap that exists between actual performance and what is expected of the employees.

Reward Management

Reward management in human resources also referred to as a reward system means any financial reward that an organization gives to employees in return for their labor. The reward must not only be a material reward but also non-material rewards. The financial reward consists of basic pay and any other benefit to employees.  Non- financial rewards include promotions, recognition, and personal growth (Price 2011).

TPL has a very poor reward system; the pay system is very simple that technical, senior management, and employees earn flat salaries on a single payment. There is also a yearly salary increment regardless of their performance. This pay system is very unprofessional as it forgets the core reason for working. People work to be paid and if your system does not reward employees according to the effort they make.

TPL should adopt a reward system that is linked to performance; the payment should vary depending on the quality and quantity of work done by an employee. Attention should be given to employees’ achievement or success-oriented individual bonuses (Price 2011). For example, in a sales department, the salespeople should be paid on the basis of turnover. The salesperson who moves a large stock should be rewarded more than the one who moves little stock. TPL should also seize from using a profit-related bonuses element paid shortly before Christmas. This method can easily demotivate the members of staff if no payment is to be made at the end of the year as in the case when the organization does not make any profit.

Employee turnover in TPL is really high; this is due to a poor reward system and low morale. The organization is wasting a lot of money on recruiting new employees as well as training them to be conversant with the work to be done. David McClelland’s theory of motivation involving three basic needs: achievement, power, and affiliation. When employees achieve their target they are motivated, organizations should give power to employees to make independent decisions. TPL should employ theory Z that focuses on increasing employee loyalty to the Organization when treated well (Cameron & Green 2012).

Human Resource Development

Human resource development in the area of human resources can be termed as a curriculum used to help employees develop their careers by improving personal and organizational skills, abilities, and knowledge. It includes training employees, employee career development, and mentoring when planning for succession (Joy-Matthews, Megginson & Surtees 2004).

TPL staff training in terms of how to carry out the functions of their role is generally very thorough but surprisingly many employees are injured in accidents. What could be the reason for accidents occurring despite employees’ training? The main reason is that on-the-job training is not done appropriately; the reason being that it is provided by consultants off-site which is very expensive.

TPL should make training compulsory to the entire employee workforce in all the departments and it should be done on a quarterly basis. Re-training is very important as it refreshes the employee’s minds and improves their skills in their field (Joy-Matthews, Megginson & Surtees 2004).

Equality and Diversity

Equality in human resources refers to a situation whereby employees have an equal right to employment, payment, and equal access to training and development. The organization should put in place measures that will allow equality. Diversity is a situation whereby an organization encourages a diverse workgroup helping the Company to be more effective (Cornelius 2002).

TPL claims to be an equal opportunities employer but it is ironic that people from ethnic minorities are very few in the organization. This tarnishes the organization’s name as it is an indicator of discrimination leading to inequality. Gender imbalance can also be observed in TPL, fewer women are employed in the organization and therefore a form of discrimination. TPL should come up with a policy that will encourage people of all gender, tribe, and color to be employed.

TPL does not employ people with disabilities or those who are physically challenged. This is a very serious form of discrimination. The organization should come up with policies that will allow a certain percentage of employees to be disabled. It is so unfortunate that the organization does not cater to the dietary need of its employees, there is only one locker room and the TPL canteen does not appear to cater to any variety of dietary needs.

#3 Top Paints Limited- Human Resource Development and Reward Management

The paper  “Top Paints Limited- Human Resource Development and Reward Management” is a persuasive example of human resources case study. Top Paints Limited is continuously facing problems related to human resources and the matter has complicated to such an extent that the business has witnessed loss, increase in the number of casualties, increase in staff turnover, and problems that need to be addressed at the earliest. This report identifies the problems faced by Top Paints Limited and looks towards providing alternatives to deal with those.

Top Paints Limited is facing serious issues which have complicated the manner in which business was conducted and needs to be addressed so that a solution to those can be found out as it will help the organization to perform effectively. The issues are

• Top Paints Limited looks to compensate their employees through a model which is outdated. The employees have compensated a fixed salary and the perks are defined beforehand which the employees receive at the end of the year irrespective of the performance which has reduced the efforts made by the employees
• The hierarchical model of the passing of responsibility from the top management to the bottom has restricted the employees from taking initiative in completing the task as they have to follow the ways that have been prescribed to them is another problem that is making it difficult for Top Paints Limited to sustain
• An increase in the accidents rates which are consistent and similar accidents occur shows that lack of training and awareness has made it difficult to deal with the complex issue
• The organization has a dominance of male employees and fewer females and people from the backward class highlighting the fact that despite preaching that there has to be equality and diversity in the workforce the organization has resorted to differentiation making it difficult to conduct business smoothly

Performance Management

Top Paints Limited need to look towards moving away from the traditional system where employees have compensated a fixed salary to a flexible one where the performance of the employees acts as a major force in deciding the salary. Productivity should be measured and based on it employees should be compensated.

The performance-based approach should look towards identifying the performance measures, quality measures, and objectives and look towards control monitoring so that the actual performance is gauged which will facilitate in determining a performance-based pay for its employees.

This will also help Top Paints Limited to ensure that measuring the performance based on the manner the employees have achieved their task will help to understand the manner in which the business will be able to identify the future talent and will guide the management to deal with the future requirements better and have a pool to talent which are able to carry out their responsibilities in the most efficient manner

This is an aspect that Top Paints Limited needs to consider and needs to design the compensation package in such a manner that performance acts as a major point in securing a sound compensation. This would mean moving away from the traditional system where employees have compensated a fixed salary to a flexible one where the performance of the employees acts as a major force in deciding the salary. This would mean using the performance pay approach in compensating the employees. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory will help to design a compensation package where the organization understand the needs and requirements of the employees and based on its look towards package

While designing the reward package special care should be given to ensure that the compensation package has both fixed and flexible pay. Further, through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory Top Paints Limited needs to look towards ensuring that intrinsic reward is provided to the employees through recognition, promotion, and other ways so that the employees are able to associate themselves with the organization. Using the Herzberg theory of motivation and hygiene will also act as a mechanism through which accidents reduce and the organization is able to gain efficiency in gaining the maximum from the employees and will help to reduce the high turnover that the business is facing and will make the employees work for longer period

Top Paints Limited needs to identify the training tools and methods which will help to reduce the number of casualties that the business is witnessing. Top Paints Limited needs to identify the training requirements both on and off the job so that the employees understand the manner in which they should deal with different situations. They should look towards a processual approach that relies less on top-down strategy as it will help to reduce accidents and ensure better working conditions

Top Paints Limited through their process of training will also be able to motivate the workforce and ensure that all employees are able to come together and work towards a common purpose. They should look towards rating scales and surveillance to ensure that the workforce is able to learn during the training and don’t repeat the mistakes again. This will help the business to ensure that the inter-personal relationship between the employees improves and they are able to work as a team.

Equality & Diversity

Top Paints Limited needs to look towards having a mix of people from different cultures and backgrounds so that they are able to demonstrate diversity in the workforce. While recruiting and selecting employees they should look towards using informal contacts, formal contacts, notice boards, advertising, and external sources so that people from all backgrounds are picked in the organization. This will make the employees feel that the organization is looking towards all and will help Top Paints Limited to find new recruits easily.

Having equality and diversity in the workforce will ensure that the employees are able to associate with the company and will help to reduce the turnover rate. Special care should be taken through monitoring which will help to reduce discrimination through stereotyping, marginalization, and invisibilization. This will thereby help Top Paints Limited to prepare properly in the manner they will deal in the future and ensure that a strategy is developed through which the business can be developed.

Recommendations

Top Paints Limited needs to look towards bringing a change in which the compensation is provided by ensuring that performance is a key in determining the manner in which the employees will be compensated. Further, steps should be taken to ensure that turnover rates and accidents are reduced by taking steps where the business is able to ensure better results. Further, Top Paints Limited needs to look towards ensuring a restructuring in the manner the business is done by ensuring equality and diversity so that the business is able to ensure a strategy where they are able to work in all direction and ensure growth for the business

Top Paints Limited needs to work on different aspects of the business so that they are able to improve the manner in which business is conducted. This will help Top Paints Limited to ensure major changes in the manner work is done and will help to reduce the number of casualties and ensure better turnover rates which will help Top Paints Limited to ensure that the business is able to earn profits over a longer period of time.

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Essay on human resource management (hrm).

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Read this essay to learn about Human Resource Management (HRM). After reading this essay you will learn about: 1. Definition of Human Resource Management 2. Objectives of Human Resource Management 3. Scope 4. Need 5. Importance 6. Limitations.

• Essay on the Limitations of Human Resource Management

Essay # Definition of Human Resource Management :

Human resource management may be defined as a set of policies, practices and programmes designed to maximise both personal and organisational goals. It is a process by which the people and organisations are bound together in such a way that both of them are able to achieve their objectives.

According to Flippo, “Human resource management is the planning, organising, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and reproduction of human resources to the end that individual, organisational and societal objectives are accomplished.”

This definition reveals that human resource management is that aspect of management which deals with the planning, organising, directing and controlling the personnel functions of an enterprise. The purpose of these functions is to assist in the achievement of basic organisational, individual and societal goals.

According to Institute of Personnel Management (U.K.):

“Personnel Management is an integral but distinctive part of management concerned with people at work and their relationships within the enterprise. It seeks to bring together into an effective organisation the men and women who staff the enterprise enabling each to make his/her best contribute to its success, both as a member of a working group and as an individual. It seeks to provide relationships within the enterprise that are conducive both to effective work and human satisfaction.”

Essay # Objectives of HRM :

The primary objective of HRM is to ensure a satisfactory accomplishment of the objectives of an organisation and of its employees. While framing the HR objectives of the organisation, care is taken to consider the interests and needs of the employees and of employee goals. This is done by integrating the employee interests and the management interests with a view to achieve the objectives of the entire organisation.

The objectives of the HRM are, basically, four fold as shown in the diagram above:

The objectives are discussed in detail as follows:

(i) Societal Objectives:

The basic objective of HRM towards the society should be to ensure that their organisation manages human resources in an ethical and socially responsible manner through ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards.

Thus, this objective includes:

i. To manage human resources in an ethical and socially responsible manner.

ii. To ensure compliance with legal and ethical standards.

iii. To minimise the negative impact of societal demands upon the organisation.

(ii) Organisational Objectives:

The organisational objectives of HR include the following:

i. HR department, like any other department in an organisation, should focus on achieving the goals of the organisation first. If it does not meet this purpose, the HR department cannot exist in the long run.

ii. HR department should recognise its role in bringing about organisational effectiveness.

iii. HRM is not an end in itself. It is only a means to assist the organisation with its primary objectives. In simple words, the HR department should aim at serving rest of the organisation.

(iii) Functional Objectives:

The functional objectives of HRM include the following:

i. To maintain the HRM department’s contribution at a level appropriate to the organisation’s needs. Resources are wasted when HRM is either more or less sophisticated to suit the organisation’s demands.

ii. The department’s level of service must be tailored to fit the organisation it serves.

iii. HRM should employ the skills and abilities of the workforce efficiently. It should aim at making the people’s strengths more productive and beneficial to the organisation.

iv. HRM should aim at providing the organisation with well trained and well-motivated employees.

(iv) Personnel Objectives:

Personnel objectives or personal objectives of the employees must be met if employees are to be maintained, retained and motivated. Otherwise employee performance and satisfaction may decline and they may leave the organisation.

The objectives of HRM in this context are:

i. HRM should increase employees job satisfaction to the fullest extent.

ii. HRM should also meet the self actualisation needs of the employees’. It should stimulate every employee to achieve his potential.

iii. HRM should assist the employees in achieving their personal goals, at least in so far as these goals enhance the individual’s contribution to the organisation.

iv. HRM should develop and maintain a quality of work life (QWL). It makes employment in the organisation a desirable, personal and social situation. Organisational performance can never be improved without improving the quality of work life.

v. The HRM should also communicate HR policies to all employees. It will help the HRM in tapping the ideas, opinions, feelings, and the views of the employees.

Essay # Scope of Human Resource Management:

According to Dale Yoder, the scope of human resource management is very wide.

It consists of the following activities:

(i) Setting general and specific management policy for organisational relationships and establishing and maintaining a suitable organisation for leadership and cooperation.

(ii) Collective bargaining, contract negotiation, contract administration and grievance handling.

(iii) Staffing the organisation, finding, getting and holding the prescribed types and number of workers.

(iv) Aiding in the self-development of employees it all levels providing opportunities for personal development and growth as well as for acquiring requisite skill and experience.

(v) Developing and maintaining motivation for workers by providing incentives.

(vi) Reviewing and auditing manpower management in the organisation.

(vii) Industrial relations research-carrying out studies designed to explain employee behaviour and thereby effecting improvement in manpower management.

The Indian Institute of Personnel Management:

Personnel Management in India, has described the scope of human resource management into the following aspects:

1. The Personnel Aspect:

This aspect of human resource management is concerned with the manpower planning, recruitment, selection, placement, induction, transfer, promotion, demotion, termination, training and development, layoff and retrenchment, wage and salary administration, incentives, productivity etc.

2. The Welfare Aspect:

The welfare aspect is concerned with working conditions and amenities such as canteens, creches, rest rooms, lunch rooms, housing, transport, education, medical help, health and safety, washing facilities, recreation and cultural activities etc.

3. The Industrial Relations Aspect:

This aspect is concerned with the company’s relations with the employees. It includes union management relations, joint consultation, negotiating, collective bargaining, grievance handling, disciplinary actions, settlement of industrial disputes etc.

All the above aspects are concerned with human element in industry as distinct from the mechanical element.

HRM has a crucial role to play in the organisation, so following scopes can be associated with HRM:

1. Identifying and Developing Persons:

The success of every organisation depends upon the quality of persons it employs. HRM helps in spotting right person for the right jobs. Persons are prepared for taking up different jobs.

Every person may not be suitable for every job. Persons are assigned jobs as per their aptitudes. Persons are given right type of training so that they are able to develop their potentialities to the maximum. They are also motivated to give their maximum to the organisation.

2. Retaining Suitable Persons:

The rapid development of technology is throwing up new challenges every day. Modernisation of various techniques, computerisation and data processing, introduction of microprocessor controlled machines and revolution in communication techniques have resulted in a demand for trained and highly skilled persons.

HRM not only helps in procuring suitable persons but is also useful in retaining them. There may be a redundant workforce because of various developments, efforts be made to offer golden handshake to them.

3. Creating Work Culture:

HRM approach emphasises the development of employees’ potentialities and using them for achieving organisations goals. The aims and priorities of individual workers are given due weight-age in the schemes of the organisation. Human resource policy is backed by human values, understanding and concern for the welfare of people.

Persons in the organisation will reciprocate by improving their efficiency, motivation, self-co-ordination and greater co-operation. The work culture in the organisation improves; people feel satisfied and enjoy their work.

4. Educating Managerial Personnel:

HRM approach will succeed only when managerial personnel change their attitude towards the workforce. There is a need to educate executives, managers and top management regarding various aspects of the human resources approach adopted by the organisation.

5. Conducting Research:

HRM will be successful only if we know the aspirations and expectations of various persons working in the organisation. The framing of human resource policies, strategies and approaches depends upon the information collected through research.

6. Developing a Communication System:

There is a need to develop downward, upward and lateral communication in the organisation. HRM develops a system of communication where policies of the management are properly communicated to the lowest level of hierarchy and feedback from lower levels is conveyed to the top management. Communication system helps in understanding the viewpoints of each other and taking up remedial steps, if needed.

Essay # Need for Human Resource Management:

Human resource management helps in creating a better understanding between employees and management. It helps workers in accomplishing individual and organisational goals. This approach has been attracting the attention of management professionals in the last decade or so.

HRM is considered essential due to the following reasons:

1. Better Industrial Relations:

There is widespread unrest, strained worker-management relations, lack of confidence in each other, rising expectations of workers, emergence of militancy in trade unions etc. These factors have created a gap among workers and managements. Both sides are talking of exploitation by the either side. In the absence of cordiality in an organisation the performance of workers is adversely affected.

HRM approach is required to create proper understanding among workers and management. The workers are developed to meet their individual and organisational objectives. The workers are convinced that various managerial actions will help them in accomplishing their motives besides helping the organisation.

2. Develop Organisational Commitment:

There is a humanisation of work environment in industrialised countries like Japan, U.S.A., Germany etc. and other countries. Globalisation of economy has exposed Indian industries to international competition. An improvement in efficiency and quality of work can come only when workers develop organisational commitment. HRM approach helps in creating a sense of pride for the organisation among the workforce.

3. Coping With Changing Environment:

The business environment is rapidly changing. Technological improvements have revolutionised production procedures. Automation has been introduced in office operations.

Better communication channels have revolutionised vital areas of business. There is a need to cope with new and changing situation. The operational efficiency of employees must improve to face the new situation. There is a need for new approach to manpower.

4. Change in Political Philosophy:

Political Philosophy has undergone a change all over the world. The new approach is to develop human resource properly for making its better use. In India, Central Government has named a Ministry as Human Resource Development and put it under the charge of a Cabinet Minister. This development shows the importance given to human resource. So there is a need for human approach towards the workforce.

5. Increased Pressure on Employees:

The technological changes have necessitated the use of sophisticated machines. The installation, monitoring of machines, maintenance and controlling of operations need trained and skillful people.

There is a regular need for training and development of people for coping with the emerging situations. Human resource development has become essential for every organisation. Research and fresh initiatives in industry require new policy of human resource development.

Essay # Importance of Human Resource Management (HRM):

Human Resource Management is important to the organisation in a number of ways, as follows:

1. Importance for the Organisation:

Human resource management is important for the organisation due to the following:

i. Good human resource practices help in attracting and retaining the best people in the organisation.

ii. In order to make use of latest technology the appointment of right type of persons is essential. The right people can be fitted into new jobs properly only if the management performs its HR function satisfactorily.

iii. Globalisation has increased the size of the organisations, who employ thousands of employees in different countries. The performance of the company depends upon the qualities of the people employed. This has further increased the importance of HRM.

iv. Human resource planning alerts the organisation to the types of people it will need in the short, medium and long run.

v. Human resource development is essential for meeting the challenges of future. The importance of HRM has increased because of the shortage of really good managerial talent in the country.

2. Importance for the Employees:

The human aspect of organisations has become very important over the years. HRM stresses on the motivation of employees by providing them various financial and non-financial incentives. Right organisational climate is also stressed upon so that the employees can contribute their maximum to the achievement of the organisational objectives.

Effective management of human resources promotes team work and team spirit among employees. It offers excellent growth opportunities to people who have the potential to rise. It also encourages people to work with diligence and commitment.

3. Importance for the Society:

Society as a whole is the main beneficiary of good human resource practices. Good HR efforts lead to productivity gains (ratio of output to input) to the society, since it enables the managers to reduce costs, save scarce resources, enhance profits and offer better pay, benefits and working conditions to employees.

The importance of HR is very intelligently explained by Herbert E. Meyer in following words:

“The name of the game in business today is HR. You can’t hope to show a good financial or operating report unless your human relations are in order and it is immaterial what kind of company you are running. A chief executive is nothing without his people. You got to have the right ones in the right jobs for them and you got to be sure that employees at every level are being paid fairly and being given opportunities for promotion. You can’t fool them and any chief executive who tries is going to hurt himself and his company.”

Essay # Limitations of Human Resource Management :

HRM approach is very useful in creating work culture in the organisation but still it suffers from certain limitations:

1. Recent Origin:

HRM is of recent origin, so it lacks universally approved academic base. Different people try to define the term differently. Some thinkers consider it as a new name of personnel management. Some organisations have named their traditional personnel management department as human resource management department. With the passage of time an acceptable approach will be developed.

2. Lack of Top Management Support:

HRM must have the support of top level management. The change in attitude at the top can bring good results while implementing HRM. Because of passive attitude at the top, this work is handled by personnel management people. Unless otherwise there is a change in approach and attitude nothing spectacular is going to happen.

3. Improper Implementation:

Human resource management should be implemented by assessing the training and development needs of employees. The needs and aspirations of people should be taken into account while framing human resource policies.

HRM is implemented half-heartedly. The organising of some training programmes is considered as the implementation of HRM. Management’s productivity and profitability approach remains undisturbed in many organisations.

4. Inadequate Development Programmes:

Human resource management requires implementation of programmes such as career planning, on the job training, development programmes, counselling etc. There is a need to create an atmosphere of learning in the organisation. In reality HRM programmes are confined to class room lectures and expected results are not coming out from this approach.

5. Inadequate Information:

Some organisations do not have requisite information about their employees. In the absence of adequate information and database this system cannot be properly implemented. There is a need to collect, store and retrieve of information before implementing human resource management.

The liberalisation of economy, entry of multinationals in Indian markets, raising of quality standards of Indian goods, growing competition will put pressure on human resources of every organisation.

Managements will be required to constantly assess and reassess competence levels of their employees. Training and development programmes will be needed to motivate personnel to cope with the new requirements. Human resource management will have a pivotal role in managing the business in near future.

Related Articles:

• HRM: Human Resource Management: it’s Meaning and Essentials
• Human Resource Management: it’s Meaning, Definition and Nature

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Essay on Human Resource Management | HRM

Essay on Human Resource Management!

Human resource management is a separate and specialised function which all managers need to perform.

It is that branch of management which is concerned with the recruitment, selection, development and the best use of employees. Thus, human resource management ensures that every employee makes his maximum contribution to the achievement of organizational goals.

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The human resource management that we find today is the result of a number of significant inter-related developments since the era of industrial revolution.

With the emergence of trade union movements, need for a person who could act as an important link between management and workers was strongly felt. Such a role was initially performed by Labour Welfare Officer confined only to the welfare activities of the employees.

With the passage of time, factory system was introduced. Thousands of persons were employed under one roof. The need for employing more and more employees had arisen. And the role for filling and giving people for the organisation was given to a person known as ‘Personnel Officer’. His main function was to recruit, select and place the employees.

As time went by, fast changing technological development necessitated new skill development and training to existing and new employees. Human relations approach recognized people as the most valuable source in any organisation.

The traditional concept of Labour welfare and Personnel Management had to be replaced with Human Resource Management. Presently, all these aspects viz recruitment, selection, placement and labour welfare etc. are concern of Human Resource Management.

Keeping the foregoing in view, it can be concluded that human resource management has replaced the traditional concept of Labour Welfare and Personnel Management.

The main functions performed by Human Resource Management are:

(i) Determining the number & types of employees required.

(ii) Recruitment, selection & placement of employees.

(iii) Providing training to the employees for improving their performance & career growth.

(iv) Performance appraisals

(v) Motivating the employees by providing both financial & non financial incentives.

(vi) Ensuring social security for employees & handling their grievances.

(vii) Defending enterprises from legal complications

(viii) Establishing amicable relations between union & management.

In any enterprise all managerial functions are performed by individuals. No enterprise can function and achieve its objectives in the absence of efficient and competent employees.

Committed, honest, determined and loyal employees are required not only for the growth but also for the survival of organisation. Therefore, human resource is considered as the most valuable resource of an enterprise.

After deciding what is to be done and how it is to be done through planning and deciding the organisation structure, the human requirement of the organisation is assessed.

Staffing function starts with the process of need assessment and goes on to recruit and select people as per the requirement of organisation.

Staffing is also considered as a distinct functional area of management just as marketing management and financial management. Further, success of employees depends upon the quality and stability of the jobs for which they are appointed. Ensuring same is an important role played by the human resource department.

Therefore, staffing is referred to as both viz “a line as well as a staff activity” i.e. an essential function of the management as well as a distinct functional area of management.

Related Articles:

• Notes on Human Resource Management (HRM): Meaning and Nature
• Human Resource Department and Staffing
• Notes on Historical Change from Personnel Management to Human Resource Management
• Essay on Human Resource Management

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