Human Resource Management

HRMS - The Solution to Your Personnel Needs

2011-01-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

Formerly called the personnel department, the human resource department plays a very important role in the company. It deals with the most significant resource in the company - the workforce. They handle the people who help in the movement, growth and progress of the business. We can say that the human resource department is involved in a lot of tasks and their role in the company must not be taken for granted. Being assigned to handle the employees of a company is no easy job.

Because of the great role that the human resource department has, it is important for the company to have an effective and accurate human resource management system (HRMS) to handle and cater the needs of the employees. The HR department deals with the employee by looking at their performance, providing them the compensation, monitor their attendance and look at other issues that concern them.

With HRMS being introduced in the company, it will surely give a different and better scenario of how things are running. Having an HR system will help in having a faster and accurate processing of employee data. The recording of employee attendance, payroll, benefits, vacations, performance and health requires a lot of time and effort to do. Lots of paperwork is involved and it is surely a mess, but with the help of an HRMS, things will turn around and make things better.

The gathering and processing of data will be simpler and faster because of the implementation of HRMS. Processing will be automated and files and data will be more accessible due to its wonderful accessibility features. Unlike before, if you need different information for a particular employee, you have to go to one filing cabinet and through another or vice versa. It becomes a hassle and eats up a lot of time.

With the automated HRMS, the hassle will be solved. The computers that the HR department has, wherein there is HRMS software installed, can now access the different profiles and information of a particular employee. Access of data has now become fast and easy; just one click and everything is there. If there is a new info that has been entered in the system, you can see it right away because those computers that are connected within the system updates the data automatically. Performances can be recorded and analyzed in order to look at the strengths and weaknesses can be seen

A company with a good HRMS in place will surely expect benefits in no time. It will provide the HR department a faster and more accurate system, thus preventing complications and issues regarding employee data.

Motivation - An Effective Human Resource Management Strategy

2011-01-28T12:01:00.001-08:00

Motivation refers to a strategy used for improving employer- employee relations in an organization. Motivation is a driving force within the employees by which they attempt to achieve their targets and goals in order to fulfill organizational expectations. There are several different theories of motivation and it is important for both employer and employee to be aware of them.

An appropriate starting point is considering money as a motivator. Many employers believe that the workers would be motivated by obtaining the highest possible income. Of cause the most basic and primary motivating factor of a rational economic man is the maximum gain. In this strategy employers can motivate their labors through increasing their salaries and wages, extra payment through performance evaluation and other financial benefits such as transport allowance, medical allowance etc

Another factor that can motivate people is socialization at work. According to this thinking strategy, top management and employers should pay attention to peoples needs. The manager should always try to be a coordinator or a guide rather than being a discretionary controller. And group work and team work would improve good human relations within the company. This will result in increase in worker’s efficiency and job satisfaction.

Carrying out social activities that provide opportunity for employees and management to get-together and interact with each other can be recognized under this category. Some common activities organize by companies all around the world are New Year festivals, Christmas parties, annual trips and sports and cultural events. These types of events will give the chance to both sides to get to know each others needs and ideas which will later help to improve industrial relations.

Self-fulfillment can be seen as primary driving force behind some workers. Such employees expect a certain pride at the work, challenges and responsibility at workplace. Recognizing employees for their special contribution to the company will help to establish the pride at work. This can be done by individual or team basis. Awards such as best employee of the month, best sales team, best cost cutting unit can be given to workers in order to motivate them.

But these types of motivation factors should always establish equal treatment among the labor force. No discrimination should be done on the grounds of gender, race, religion or social status. Treating all workers equally is a crucial factor in increasing the job satisfaction. If one worker or groups of workers are discriminated on some ground, they will be unsatisfied. And human resource management strategy of such a company would become a total failure.

Another effective motivation factor is open and two way communication. The labors should have the opportunity to inform their matters and problems to the management while the top managers should inform the workforce about the decisions they made regarding the company. Promoting of both upward and downward communication in a company may help to improve the trust between employees and employers and decrease the number of disputes arise in a workplace.

In order to maintain a good industrial relationship, training and skill development of employees can be used. Some companies may think training and development of labor skills is an unwanted cost for the organization. But as this will increase the skill and knowledge of a worker, it will help to reduce production cost and improve productivity of a company. Employer should identify the importance of employee training for their higher performances and good labor relations.

Most recently developed motivation plan is welfare activities. Providing housing loans, insurance schemes and death donation schemes are most commonly practiced welfare activities. Providing nutritious meals, transport facilities and daycare center facilities are also some welfare activities that can be helped to improve labor motivation.

I Didn't See it Coming: Ten Moves Guaranteed to Alienate HR

2011-01-28T11:55:00.003-08:00

In climbing the corporate ladder, one of the most powerful allies to have on your side is your Human Resources department. They have their finger on the pulse of the inner wiring of the organization, and if there is any staffer who can alert you to upcoming events that might be beneficial to you or your team, it’s someone from HR.

To keep the alliance strong and working to your benefit, here are ten things you should NOT do:

1. Treat HR staffers like glorified secretaries or gofers.

2. Bring in your own search firms without getting HR’s approval list first.

3. Promise raises and/or promotions to your staff unless you’ve first cleared them with HR for consistency with others in similar jobs or grades.

4. Fail to attend a meeting arranged at your request to discuss a performance problem with a member of your staff.

5. Say anything remotely politically incorrect in a public place and then try to explain away your gaff by saying "but everyone knew I was kidding".

6. Miss the deadlines for performance appraisals, bonus recommendations, merit increases, or job requisitions.

7. Yell "With all the paperwork you require, it’s impossible to run a business!"

8. Tell HR it is their job to develop job specs for your department.

9. Be out of the office when candidates have been scheduled for job interviews.

10. Ask for confidential information about salaries.

I DIDN’T SEE IT COMING: The Only Book You’ll Ever Need to Avoid Being Blindsided in Business (Wiley; Hardcover $24.95; 0-470-11645-5; 224 pages; May 2007).

Nancy C. Widmann (New York, NY) was the first woman president at CBS, Inc. She managed CBS Radio for eight years and was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2005. She now serves as an executive coach for senior managers and frequently speaks on corporate politics.

Elaine J. Eisenman, Ph.D. (Wellesley, MA) is Dean of Executive Education at Babson College. She holds a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology and has over 25 years of experience as a consultant, business executive, and board director for both public and privately held companies.

Amy Dorn Kopelan (New York, NY) moved upward for 20 years through the executive ranks of ABC Television and managed programming at Good Morning America for nine years. She is founder of COACH ME, Inc., which provides group coaching for mid-level managers in Fortune 500 companies.

Benefits of Human Resource Management

2011-01-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

The last few decades have seen drastic changes in the human resource management strategies employed by companies. Earlier, human resource management was confined to paperwork related to hiring and payment of the staff in an organization. However, human resource management can now be described as all the procedures required for the management of the people working in an organization. The most valuable resources of any establishment are its employees, as they play a crucial role in the accomplishment of the aims and objectives of any business.

The key functions of human resource management include recruiting people, training them, performance appraisals, motivating them as well as workplace communication, workplace safety, and much more. The benefits of these functions have been discussed here in detail:

Recruitment and Training
This is one of the most important responsibilities of the human resource management team. The human resource managers work out plans and strategies of hiring the right kind of people. They design the criteria suitable for a specific job description. Their responsibilities also include formulating the obligations of an employee and the scope of tasks assigned to him. Based on these two factors, the contract of an employee with the organization is developed. When required, they also provide training to the employees according to the requirements of the organization. An organization cannot build a good team of working professionals without the help of a good human resource management team.

Performance Appraisals
Human resource management encourages every individual in the organization, to work according to his potential and also helps him increase his potential. The management team communicates with the employees, all the necessary information regarding their performances and also defines their respective roles from time to time. This helps the employee to form an outline of their anticipated goals in much clearer terms and thereby, helps them execute the goals with best possible efforts. Performance appraisals taken from time to time also help in motivating the employees.

Maintaining Work Atmosphere
The performance of an individual in an organization is largely driven by the work atmosphere or work culture that prevails at the workplace. A good environment can bring out the best in an employee. A congenial atmosphere gives the employees job satisfaction as well. A good work environment is one of the benefits employees can get from human resource management.

Managing Disputes
There are several issues on which disputes may arise between the employees and the managers in an organization. In such a scenario, it is the human resource department which acts as a consultant and mediator to sort out the issues in an effective manner.

Developing Public Relations
The responsibility of establishing good public relations lies with the human resource management to a great extent. They organize business meetings, seminars and various official gatherings on behalf of the company in order to establish relationships with other business sectors. Sometimes, the human resource department plays an active role in preparing the business and marketing plans for the organization too.

Any organization, without a proper setup for human resource management is bound to suffer from serious problems while managing its regular activities. For this reason, a lot of stress is given these days for the setup of an effective human resource management system.