Human Resources Management Essay

Proper management of human resources is vital to being a successful business. Human resources are one of the critical departments within any organization. The purpose of this essay is to emphasize the basic principles of Human Resources Management. EEO and Affirmative Action, Human Resources Planning, Recruitment, and Selection, HRD, Compensation and Benefits, Safety and Health, and Employee and Labor Relations are the six areas of Human Resources Management that will be the focus. All of these Human Resources Management areas should be working together and should correspond with the overall business strategy. According to our text, â€Å"Human Resource Management is specifically charged with programs concerned with people – the employees† (Ivancevich, 2007). It was observed by Edward L. Gubman, in the Journal of Business Strategy, that â€Å"the basic mission of human resources will always be to acquire, develop, and retain talent; align the workforce with the business; and be an excellent contributor to the business. Those three challenges will never change† (Gubman, 2006). In today’s world the terms human resource management and human resources is called personnel management or a personnel manager. â€Å"In simple words HRM means employing people, developing their capacities, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement† (Storey, 2007). The recognition of the importance of Human Resource Management extends to small businesses also. There for some time they did not generally have the same volume of human resources requirements as the larger organizations, but they too face personnel management issues that can have a decisive impact on the business’ health. In The Small Business Handbook Irving Burstiner stated â€Å"hiring the right people and training them well can often mean the difference between scratching out the barest of livelihoods and steady business growth personnel problems do not discriminate between small and big business, you will find them in all businesses, regardless of size† (Burstiner, 2008). The proper management of a company’s human resources is vital to the success of that company. People within an organization are the most precious and vital resource. They should be treated as such. It is important that the managing of human resources should be done correctly as it affects the overall business plan of any organization. As a person that plans to own an accounting business, this course has made realize that human resources are a very important and vital part of a company. This course has given me the tools to ensure that I have proper Human Resource Management and my employees are taken care of. There are many employers that consider themselves to be equal employment opportunity (EEO) employers. There may even be an employee within the organization that is an EEO officer or they could simply make sure they have a personnel manager, and/or other managers who understand and follow EEO. Our text stated â€Å"the human resource manager plays an important role in showing by example that each employee is important and will be treated ethically and equally† (Ivancevich, 2007). This usually means: †¢ That the employer is following the anti-discrimination laws and is ensuring that everyone within the organization understands these laws and abides by them. †¢ That the employer is preparing and implementing equal employment opportunity management plans or programs designed to ensure that everyone really does get equal opportunity within the organization. Most people know affirmative action as having to do with the development of equal opportunity plans and providing special help for minority groups with a disadvantaged past. Affirmative action programs also help give previously disadvantaged groups the skills they need to compete on equal terms with all other employees. This is a way of ensuring that there is truly equal opportunity between all potential and existing employees. There is a full-time EEO officer within my organization. It is my understanding that our EEO officer has never had anyone come to her about any discrimination that has taken place within the organization. An analysis of the job to be done, written into a job description should be written so that selectors know what physical and mental characteristics applicants must possess, what qualities and attitudes are desirable and what characteristics would be a decided disadvantage. Human resources planning usually refer to classic human resource administrative functions. The evaluation and identification of human resource requirements should meet organizational goals. Effectively, selection is essentially ‘buying’ and employee, the wage or salary multiplied by probable years of service being the price. Bad employee buys can become very expensive for any organization. For this reason, for particular jobs, some organizations may use external expert consultants for recruitment and selection. The ‘cost’ of a poor selection is a reason why those who recruit and employ should be well trained to judge the suitability of all potential applicants. The main sources of recruitment are as follows: †¢ Internal company promotions †¢ Appointment boards †¢ Agencies for the unemployed †¢ Advertising or the use of other local media. The businesses vacancy numbers should determine what line of recruitment should take place. It is important that an organization have a background check done to verify experience and statements about qualifications thoroughly before hiring a potential employee. To ensure a good recruitment process it is important to have training in interviewing and appraising candidates. This type of training usually teaches interviewers how to draw out the interviewee and how to rate the candidates. This is probably one of the most important parts of human resource management. Human Resource Development (HRD) helps employees develop their personal and organizational abilities. Opportunities for employee training, employee career development, performance management, mentoring and organizational development are included in Human Resource Development. Human Resource Development mainly focus is the development of the best employees possible. The reason for this is so that the organization and its employees can accomplish the organizational goals. Human Resource Development can be formal, such as a classroom setting or informal, such as an employee mentoring session by a manager. Organizations that are healthy believe in Human Resource Development. They also believe that the development of their employees is what makes the organization prosper. Unfortunately this is not something that takes place within my organization. It would be nice to be able to receive training that would improve my knowledge and skills and allow me to help in other areas of the organization if possible.