People are the most central asset of
an organisation. The value people embody are primarily labour, knowledge and
intellect which, normally, are applied simultaneously.
The importance of the human element
in production (both for profit and not-for-profit) calls for specialist
attention, and hence the presence of a human resource manager in many
organisations.
Human resource management can be
split into three main areas, namely, employee supply, employee maintenance and
administration. We shall examine each in turn, even though these passages will
hardly do justice to the wide field of human resource management, and so are
better treated as guidelines. They do, nevertheless, present key areas of the job
of superintending over the human segment of production.
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| Some Basic Components of Human Resource Management |
EMPLOYEE SUPPLY
It is the process of finding and
hiring the people to make the organisation operate efficiently and effectively.
It includes:
Planning.The future requirements of an organisation need to be
forecast. It necessitates job analysis,
centred on job specification and job description.
Job analysis is the determination of
the task content of a particular post, the qualifications the position requires
and its importance relative to others.
A job description is a list of the duties a
person has to perform in a given post.
A job specification is a list of the qualifications
– in terms of education and experience, and as a person –that an individual has
to have to fill a vacancy.
Recruitment and selection. It is the activity of soliciting for possible candidates to
fill a position and finally contracting the most suitable-looking. An interview
of applicants is normally conducted. Vacancies can be filled through other
avenues such as head-hunting and
promotion of an existing employee. In head-hunting, there may not always be an
interview:a pre-identified top-performer is merely coaxed into joining the
organisation.
Orientation and Culturalisation. Orientation means making
a new employee familiar with the operations of the new employer. Some of the
components of the orientation process are:
- - Understanding the practices of the
organisation.
- - Meeting old members of staff and
getting to know different departments.
- - Appreciating the mission and vision
of the employer.
Culturalisation involves introducing a
new person to the norms, values and customs of the workplace. It includes
explaining how employees interact with each other and with their employer, and
what they hold dear, like marking the birthday of everyone with a celebration.
Placement. This takes place after hiring, orientation and culturalisation.
The new employee is finally put in thejob that suits their qualifications.
EMPLOYEE MAINTENANCE
Employee maintenance includes all
activities of basically a motivational nature that, ultimately, have the effect
of making valuable employees stay with the organisation as long as possible. The
employee maintenance responsibilities given below are just some.
Remuneration. It is the compensation
in various forms,direct and indirect, financial and non-financial, given to
employees in exchange for their services.
Training and development. Training is schooling
given to enable one perform better in their existing job. Development is
education designed to enable an employee work satisfactorily in a higher
position in the future.
Fringe benefits. This is remuneration in
addition to the normal salary or wage, such as company accommodation.
Job redesign. It is action taken to
keep employees stimulated and working at their best. It commonly takes the form
of job enrichment, job specialisation, job enlargement or job
rotation.
In job enrichment, an employee may be
assigned to do work normally done by someone or others in a higher position.
Job specialisation meansreducing the
number of tasks one does.
Job enlargement is expansion of the
range of duties performed by an individual, and job rotation involves enabling
employees to switch from one job to another, performing each temporarily.
Appraisal. These are reviews,
usually annual, of employment performance. They can result in such decisions as
recommendation of additional training, development programmes, or promotion.
Appraisal can indeed lead to moving
an employee to a position of a lower level that is seen as less demanding but
more appropriate, action referred to as demoting.
It should really be the last direction to look in, as human resource
management should seek to help everyone reach the expected standard of
performance. Demotion can also be effected as a disciplinary measure.
By and large, demotion, especially
today, remains a route requiring delicate treading.
Labour relations. Human resource
management has to do the balancing act of meeting the interests of both
management and workers, which do not always coincide.
ADMINISTRATION
Administrative tasks of human
resource management are basically those not exactly falling under either employee
supply or employee maintenance. They embrace, but are not limited to, updating
files, devising employee-employer-friendly leave plans (normally done
hand-in-hand with employees and their supervisors), and ensuring that everyone
operates within organisational policy.
From time to time, human resource
managers find themselves in the unenviable situation of performing the
formalities of severing ties between employee and employer.
Rupert
Chimfwembe
8 November, 2016
