Human Resource Management and Changing Nature of HRM Function

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers.

Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

HRM:
The management of the workforce of a business to ensure sufficient staff levels with the right skills, properly rewarded and motivated.

Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. The terms "human resource management" and "human resources" (HR) have largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations. In simple sense, HRM means employing people, developing their resources, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement.

Human Resource Management:  All methods and functions concerning the mobilization and development of personnel as human resources, with the objective of efficiency and greater productivity in a company, government administration, or other organization.

human resource management (HRM)

  

Administrative activities associated with human resources planning, recruitment, selection, orientation, training, appraisal, motivation, remuneration, etc. HRM aims at developing people through work.

Human Resource Management

Human resource (or personnel) management, in the sense of getting things done through people. It's an essential part of every manager's responsibilities, but many organizations find it advantageous to establish a specialist division to provide an expert service dedicated to ensuring that the human resource function is performed efficiently.

Objectives

• To help the organization reach its goals.
• To ensure effective utilization and maximum development of human resources.
• To ensure respect for human beings. To identify and satisfy the needs ofindividuals.
• To ensure reconciliation of individual goals with those of the organization.
• To achieve and maintain high morale among employees.
• To provide the organization with well-trained and well-motivated employees.
• To increase to the fullest the employee's job satisfaction and self-actualization.
• To develop and maintain a quality of work life.
• To be ethically and socially responsive to the needs of society.
• To develop overall personality of each employee in its multidimensional aspect.
• To enhance employee's capabilities to perform the present job.
• To equip the employees with precision and clarity in trans¬action of business.
• To inculcate the sense of team spirit, team work and inter-team collaboration.

The Changing Nature of HRM Function

Some critical issues have clearly emerged - planning, acquisition and development of human resources, responding to the demands of the work place and, above all, evolving a strategy of dealing with industrial conflict. As a management practice, it covers all the conventional areas of personnel management and industrial relations, as well as the relatively new areas such as communication, counseling, training and development, and job enrichment. An attempt has been made in this paper to point out the experiences on the emerging issues in managing human resources.

The Changing Nature of HRM Function

Today, competitive advantage is based on the successful application of knowledge. Managing people, as an HRM function, has broadened, to include managing organizational capabilities, relationships, learning and knowledge. These functions include four generic areas, i.e.,
(i) Roles,
(ii) Relationships,
(iii) Strategic focus, and
(iv) Learning focus.
These areas are different from each of the economy functions, like traditional, transitional and knowledge.

Innovate HRM

 Crafting creative business strategies·

 · Organizational restructuring

 · Creating social networks

 · Invoking new challenges

 · Shifting approach

 · Enabling companies to go global

 · Leading to superior performance

 · Creating knowledge work force

Human Resource Information System (HRlS) for Effective HRM

In today's competitive business environment, the cutting edge for any organization is given by the speed with which it takes decisions to respond to changes in the environment, internal or external. A well-designed computerized HRIS alone can provide

 the information and analysis within the shortest possible time. Now-a-days, many organizations are using the computerized HRIS. They keep records in a compact manner, enabling access and retrieval, in a flexible way.

Benefits of HRIS

 · Simplified data entry

 · Less paperwork

 · Fast and accurate

 · Better use of feedback

 · Increased efficiency

 · Improved tools for data analysis

HRIS has great significance in every sector and it can play a vital role. It helps to have a better communication process in the organization and we can offer better service with less effort at reduced cost.

Most importantly, organizations can hire and retain top performers, improve productivity and enhance job satisfaction of the employees.

Aspects of HRM

Human Resource Planning, Recruitment, Selection, Placement, Inductions, Transfer & Planning, Job Analysis, Performance Appraisal, HR Audit, Total Quality Management, Quality of Working Environment, Quality Cycle.

HRM in the Present Scenario

 · Low motivation or mounting frustration

 · Promotions are consolations for transfers

 · Cadre conflict

 · Reward and punishment system

 · Development of strong training system

Trends in HRM

An organization's labour force comes from its external labour market - individuals who are actively seeking employment. HRM helps organizations find and keep the best possible fit between their social system and technical system. Organizations need employees with broad skills and strong motivation. Recruiting and selection decisions are especially important for organizations that rely on knowledge workers. Employees' responsibility and authority are given to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or customer service. HR professionals can support organizational strategies for quality growth and efficiency. Organizations with international operations hire employees in foreign countries, where they operate, as they need knowledge of differences in culture and business practices.

Now-a-days, information system has become a tool for more HR professionals, and often, these systems are provided through the Internet. The widespread usage of the Internet also includes HRM applications. Organizations search for talents, and screening candidates online. Employees may receive training online. The employment relationship takes the form of a psychological contract that describes what employers and employees expect from the employment relationship. The employees are looking for flexible work schedules, comfortable working conditions, greater autonomy, opportunities for training and development, and performance-related financial incentives. For HRM, the changes require planning for flexible staffing levels. Organizations seek flexibility in staffing levels through alternatives to the employment relationship. They may use outsourcing as well as temporary and contract workers.

Strategic HRM

It is that set of managerial decisions and actions that determine the long term performance of a corporation. It includes environmental scanning, strategy formulation, implementation, evaluation and control. The biggest benefit that strategic HRM offers is  competitive advantage by building critical capabilities of HR in an organization. Strategic HRM facilitates in strategy formulation by making an organization's SWOT analysis, and also in policy implementation by providing competent human resources and competitive intelligence.

HRM in LPG (Liberalization, Privatization & Globalization) Era

We can divide HRM into seven sections, i.e.,
(i) HRM - Environment and Strategies
(ii) HRM - Acquisition and Absorption
(iii) Development
(iv) Maintenance and Retention
(v) Control
(vi) Miscellaneous
(vii) HRM Practices

HRM Environment and Strategies includes objectives, scope and functions, evolution and development of HRM.

Acquisition and Absorption includes HR planning, job analysis and design, recruitment, selection, placement, induction and socialisation.

Development section includes career planning and development, employee training, executive development, organization development and internal mobility and separation.

Maintenance and Retention section includes job evaluation, wage and salary administration, incentives and benefits, motivation, employee empowerment, workers participation in management, employee health and safety, social security, employee discipline, employee grievance, industrial relations, industrial disputes, trade unions, collective bargaining, performance & potential appraisal.

Control section includes personnel research and audit, human resource audit and human resource information system.

The final section is HRM Practices in various organization levels.

Corporate Strategy in Human Resource Management

Today, there is an urgent need to link human resource management, inextricable, to the business of the organization, at both the strategic and practical levels. The HR manager has the task of being on a constant look-out for the right choice of employees, fine-tuning the job mix and compensation package to benefit the individual and the organization, devising a flat organization structure and organizing training programmes for continuing the education at different levels in the organization.

Best Practices in HRM

A best practice in HRM has invoked a great deal of interest among HR professionals. Companies that are currently under-performing in the HR area can learn and adopt some of the best practices from organizations that have acquired some mastery over the good practices in HR. In the era of liberalization, the competitive scenario in the business environment has changed a lot. Consequently, HR practices have also changed phenomenally. The performance of the employees determines the failure or the success of an organization. There are four stages of integration between HR functions and the strategic management functions: -

 · Administrative Linkage

 · One-way Linkage

 · Two-way Linkage

 · Integrative Linkage

HR experts are having the opinion that, though "best practices in HRM" cannot be uniformly applied to all the organizations, they have a kind of uniform applicability in some functional areas, where psychological factors play an important role. Such areas are broadly classified as follows: -

 · Process of selecting and recruiting the best talent.

 · Allotment of work and responsibility, as would be appropriate to the employees natural talent and skill.

 · System of initial training for new employees and specialized training for the experienced and skilled employees.

 · Inculcation of a sense of team spirit.

 · System of healthy and transparent communication, intra and extra company.

 · System of periodic appraisal of the performance of employees.

 · Suitable policy for career advancement of employees.

 · Suitable policy for placement and transfer of employees. 

 · Suitable policy of recognizing and rewarding merit.

 · Provision of security in service, to the deserving employees.

BPO Scenario: HR Issues & Challenges

Human resources are the lifeline of BPO companies. The majority of the workforces in the BPO industry are young, literate and dynamic. Outsourcing HR functions will be the next big leap in India's BPO arena. The HR outsourcing segment is still in its nascent stage in the BPO Industry.

HR Function & Performance Management

The challenge before human resource professionals today is to create an enabling organizational climate for the employees, For this, they need to examine relevant issues such as training and development, performance appraisal and career planning in the organization. Selection and recruitment of personnel is an important responsibility of the human resource department. The recruitment policy provides competitive remuneration as per industry norms, maintains high standards for selection of recruits, and encourages lateral induction to infuse fresh ideas and new skills in the organization.

Trends in Recruitment

Recruitment is increasingly becoming a two-way process, as a result of both employers and employees having higher expectations from one another. The first trend is using the resume database for recruitment; the other trend gaining prominence is the recruitment of key personnel from competitors, which is called "poaching".

Training

After successful selection and recruitment of manpower, it is essential that all employees undergo specific training programmes that help in maximizing their potential. Today's need is to place training and development at the heart of a business strategy. Training should be a continuous process keeping in view the changing market demands, the environment and the organizations' own culture. The role of a trainer, on the other hand, should be that of a mentor, facilitator and change agent.

Action Plan for Initiating Training & Development

 · Assess the training needs of individuals who will be undergoing training, to avoid a mismatch with training programme.

 · Provide a questionnaire to help the participants analyze their own capabilities. This includes their knowledge, skill, aptitude and attitude. 

 · Bring out the latent potential in people and channelize it towards the common goal of the organization.

 · Design training programmes.

 · Ensure that the programme covers behavioral and cognitive leaning, focuses on upgradation of skills and encourages group participation.

 · Include the real world programmes to solve the real life problems.

Role of HR Manager in Employee Training

 · To serve as an internal consultant.

 · To identify programmes for individuals in tune with their individual skills.

 · To plan a judicious mix of internal and external training programmes.

 · To follow up activities to ensure that new skills learned, are applied in the organization.

 · To monitor the performance appraisal of employees, to ascertain the impact of the training programmes and identify the future training needs.

Essentials of Performance Appraisal Alignment, Standards, Commitment

Performance appraisal is a process of assessing the capabilities, both known and hidden, of employees, so that their strengths and weaknesses can be determined for increasing the organizational effectiveness. The appraisal is for identifying, whether the employee is: -
(i) Due for a promotion or reward or an increase in salary.
(ii) Capable of handling additional responsibilities or needs future training and development to upgrade their skills.
(iii) Incapable of meeting the requirement and is, thus, dispensable.360° feedback appraisal system is the formal performance appraisal system. In this system, the employee receives feedback from his manager, supervisor, peers and others, that he comes in contact with. It helps in increasing employee participation, makes the person feel more committed, increases his sense of ownership for company policies, and allows alignment of personal expectations with organizational goals. It helps in assessing the employee strengths and weaknesses.

Action Plan for an Effective Performance Appraisal

 · The HR manager should explain the basic purpose of the exercise.

 · Formal communication workshops should be organized.

 · HR department should keep the confidentiality of the appraisal report; two-way feed-back should be created, the exercise should be presented as a forum.

 · HR department should make a time-table for the appraisal process and review discussion in forums.

 · HR department should work out the methods, incentives and department-wise ratings.

Performance & Rewards

It is a positive achievement cycle; it serves as a powerful motivational force for future growth. Success compensation refers to a salary component, various fringe benefits, performance-linked bonuses, stock options, etc. Compensation package emphasizes on performance, linked compensation, sharp increase in perks and allowances, recognition of special skills and abilities of individuals, increase in senior management remuneration, and salary increases for junior managers.