Role of Human Resources Function Essay Example for Free

Role of Human Resources Function Essay Nowadays, the world of business is shrinking day by day, technology has conquered almost every place of the business sector with its different technological instruments and equipments, which perform and accomplishes the role two times greater than a human accomplishes. In midst of these innovations, a number of companies give credit to the role of human resources for their success and prosperity in their business and service sectors. (Frembrun, 1984) Subsequently, the role of human resources and the need of proper human resources management have been significantly given importance for their proper management, in order to achieve better and long-term positive results in a company. In this regard, we will try to define, analyze, and discuss various aspects of human resources management and their different functions of recruitment, selection, and planning of human resources in a company in this paper. An educational hypothesis or a business practice, in which employees are managed through its theoretical and a practical procedure, is termed as Human Resource Management. (Goss, 1994) Mainly, the employees with varying needs and goals are given primary importance in this hypothetical discipline, and do not allow the consideration to think of them as basic business resources, for example, filing cabinets and trucks. (Ferris, 1995) Practitioners see the Human Resource Management as a more innovative analysis of workplace management, rather than the older traditional approach. (Frembrun, 1984) Managers of an enterprise are forced through its methods to express their goals with specificity, so that workforce may understand and undertake them easily. The academic theory of Human Resource Management’s basic assertion is that humans are not degraded as just machines. (Marta M, 2005) Therefore, an interdisciplinary assessment of populace is necessary in the workplace. As a result, psychosomatic, sociological, industrial fields, and post-structuralism, post-modernism critical theories engage in recreating a major role in the aforementioned regard. (Zwieg, 1991) In recent years, varieties of performance enhancing and progressive human resource management practices are adopted by the U.S. companies, to improve their competitiveness in the global marketplace. These recommendations may be unsurprising, because the way of managing people in an organization influence its performance was more emphasized by the professionals and academics. (Mckenzie, 2002) Therefore, many testimonials were produced in the last decade to the value of progressive human resource management practices and their regarding systems. While assuming the staffing selection and its quality, many employers seek fresh graduates for the colleges, with a major in human resources, industrial or labor relations, human resources administration. (McNeil, 2004) Rest of them seems to be looking for the graduates with a business background or a kind of arts education. Previous experience is an asset for many specialized jobs, for example, the jobs of arbitrators, mediators, and managers. Due to overwhelming supply of these qualified college graduates, keen competition for the jobs is expected from the employers. (Burke, 2005) In particular, improvement of the performance of organizations is widely due to the staff involvement, empowerment, job redesign, extensive employee training; team based production systems, and performance-dependent inducement compensations. (Hutton, 2004) The success of any organization is very significant in regard of attracting the qualified employees and their matching for the suited jobs. (Chelladurai, 2006) However, it is impossible for many large enterprises to allow the top management to be in the close contact with the employees. This connection is provided by the labor relations, training, and human resources managers and specialists. (Tayeb, 2005) In the past, the performance of the managerial functions of an organization was related to these abovementioned workers, such as handling employee benefits, interviewing, recruiting, and hiring new staff as per the policies and the requirements of the top management of the organization. (Dransfield, 2000) Nowadays, top executives are consulted regarding the strategic planning to manage the tasks by these human resources employees. These workers have come up from their behind the camera work to leading the corporation by their suggestions and improving the policies. The financial success of an organization is due to the significance of the human resources management department, and therefore, is recognized by the senior management. (Bach, 2005) These workers are also helping the organizations, in an effort to augment their productivity and morale, performance and their business results by using employee skills and providing required training and giving opportunities to develop themselves, to increase the satisfaction of the employee in their working environment. While some jobs do not require close contact with the public, but still, dealing with people is an important key factory of the human resources job. (Jackson, 2006) A human resources generalist in a small business handles every aspect of human resources work and may require a variety of knowledge for this purpose. However, in a large corporation, the management and development of human resources programs and policies is frequently done by the top human resources executives. (Dransfield, 2000) Several departments are supervised by the human resources director, with an experienced manager, likely to be specializing in any one human resources activity, like benefits, training, compensation, development, and employment or employee relations. However, the placement and employment managers do the supervision of hiring and supervision of workers and various employees. (Jackson, 2006) In the recruitment, the college campuses are often visited by the aforementioned specialists, and screening the applicants occasionally. In order to discuss wages, promotional opportunities, and working conditions with prospective employees, these specialists must familiarize themselves with the policies and the organization, itself. They should also update themselves with the equal employment opportunity and affirmative actions guidelines, like, Americans with Disabilities Act, etc. (Marta M, 2005) Equal employment opportunity statistical reports are complied and submitted by the equal employment opportunity officers, and delegations, in an attempt to investigate and resolve grievances regarding corporate practices for possible violations. (Mckenzie, 2002) Employer relations representatives are usually seen in the government agencies, maintaining working relationships with local employers. Promotion of use of the public employment programs and services is also sustained by these rep resentatives. Specialization programs in specific areas like position classifications or pensions are conducted by job analysis specialists for the employers. These analysts collect and examine job duties information, which explain the training, skills, and duties, required for each job. Expert knowledge of the job analyst is also required, whenever an organization introduces a new job or when reviewing existing jobs. (Tanke, 2000) Research and planning work is conducted by occupational analysts in large firms. Studying the effects of industry and professional trends upon employee relationships and occupational classification systems is also a concern for these analysts. However, compensation managers establish and maintain pay system of a firm as their principal job. Staff specialists assist them, devising ways in order to ensure equitable and fair pay rates. (Buhler, 2002) Surveys are also conducted to examine the comparison of their rates with the other companies, and to examine the pay scale of their firm with the changing laws and regulations. Reward systems such as pay-for-performance plans are also designed by these managers to manage their firm’s performance evaluation system. (Carrell, 1992) As a part of the planning process, the health insurance and pensions plans are managed by the employee benefits managers and specialists. In addition, life, accidental death, and dismemberment insurance, disability insurance are also offered by some firms, to meet the necessities of workforce change, for example, child and elder care, employee assistance, and wellness programs, etc. Changing Federal and State regulations and legislations should be updated, which may affect employee benefits. (Buhler, 2002) Training plays a significant role in the success of an organization. Therefore, training and development programs for employees are conducted by training and development specialists. Increasingly, management recognizes that business results are achieved by increasing individual and organizational performance, building worker’s loyalty to the firm and enhancing productivity by developing their skills and quality of work. So, training is nowadays recognized as a business imperative, while presenting it as a method of improving employee morale and developing their skills. (Rothwell, 2003) The complexity of the work environment, the organizational and technological change’s rapid pace, the constantly generation of the new knowledge due to the growing number of jobs, determines the need of training in an organization. In addition, insights have been provided by the advances in learning theory into the ways of adult learning and the different ways of organizing an effective training for the employees. Planning, directing, and organizing this wide range of training is done by these training specialists. New employees are given the opportunity of on-the-job training and orientation sessions, in order to improve and maintain their job skills and simultaneously, preparing them for the jobs requiring greater skill. Supervisors are also helped by these specialists in order to deal with employees effectively. (Ferris, 1995) International human resources managers are also emerging specialties, which requires the handling of human resources issues related to an organization’s foreign operations. Secondly, human resources information system specialists process human resources information through their developed and applied computer programs, for the matching of job seekers with different job openings, and the handling of other human resources matters. (Ferris, 1995) Classes for the enhancement of the marketable skills of the workers are also offered by most of the specialized organizations in human resources. Certification programs are also offered by some institutions, which help in the advancement opportunities. The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans is an example of these programs, where a designation is conferred to the persons after completing a college level courses series and passes the related exams. (Ulrich, 1997) In terms of selection and recruitment, a thorough job analysis for the determination of level of the skills, technical abilities, flexibility of the employee, competencies is considered very important by the professionals. At this point, the consideration of both the internal and external factors is imperative, which can have an impact on the employees’ recruitment. Current and future trends of the labor market, such as education level, skills, government investment, etc. like issues and that out-with the power of an organization are the external factors. On the other hand, organizational culture and management styles can be controlled, predicted, and monitored easily as the internal influences. (Ulrich, 1997) Consideration of the ethical and legal implications should be necessary in an organization regarding their decisions concerning human resources management policies, which are made to protect employees from racial or ethnic conflicts, such as white employees in the comparison of African-American subgroups. (Foulkes, 1989) Awareness of the rise in discrimination, unfair dismissal, and harassment cases regarding different race and sex, and their harmful effects on employees and organization should be in the employers. A foundation for an increasing interest in diversity during work has been provided by the Anti-discrimination legislation over the past 30 years. In order to understand the different responses of individuals to the labor market’s changes, one should try to understand the different perspectives, such as geographical spread, professional structure, and generational disparity. The organization should consider the distance of traveling for the work while offering the pay. When deciding the requirements and eligibilities of a post, one should also think about the influencing factors, like transportation and infrastructure of the area. (Webb, 1989) During the recruitment and selection process, there may not be any effect of blocking people on the discrimination of race, color, and creed. People with disabilities should also be entertained for the employment opportunities and promotions. Essentials functions should be reflected in the screening, recruiting and interviewing of the candidate. It is appreciable in the human resources, if the people of different color, and disable people may be included in the selection committee. (Mabey, 1998) In the recruitment, an organization can also employ, based on targeted approach. In this case, a request is post to the human resources administrator, in order to approach jobseekers for the vacancy. This request is then reviewed by the administrator to check the arrears at its extreme extent. After the request is approved, the targeted recruitment plan is implemented and then the aforementioned specialists match the jobseekers with the required vacancy. Â  Regarding the affirmative action, it does not end when an employee is placed after the employment process. All the employees should be treated fairly and equitably are some of the logical and subsequent efforts of this action. The goals of workforce diversity will be accomplished greatly, if the administration of reasonable and sound human resources policies will be in a consistent manner. (Frembrun, 1984) In addition, steps should be taken to ensure that equal opportunities are provided to the ethnic or racial minorities, women, and disabled people. It should also be equally important that the workplace environment should be a positive one as these minorities move into the more depressed state where they are considerably unrepresented. (Hristozova, 2006) Conclusively, we have tried our best to explain and understand the Human Resources Management in relation to its recruitment, staffing, training, placement, and planning in a business organization. All these abovementioned aspects play a vital and crucial role in the success of a particular business association, which has been significantly dealt with sensitivity and importance by the professionals and company managers. References Charles J. Frembrun. (1984). Strategic Human Resources Management. John Wiley and Sons. David Goss. (1994). Principles of Human Resource Management. Routledge. David Ulrich. (1997). Human Resource Champions. Harvard Business School Press. Dr Christopher Mabey. (1998). Human Resource Management. Blackwell Publishing. Dr Gerald R Ferris. (1995). 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