1. General Definition. Human resources management is a set of planning activities. They include the acquisition, maintenance, and development of an organization's human resources. In general, human resources planning consists of forecasting the human resources that the firm will need in the future.
Acquisition includes planning that leads to hiring new personnel.
Maintenance of human resources consists of motivating employees to remain within the firms and to work effectively. Motivation includes the following aspects:
Rewarding an employee through monetary payments,
Providing benefits and promotions to ensure an employee's well being.
Development aspect of HRM is concerned with improving employees' skills and capabilities. Employee training and development programs enhance the ability of employees to contribute to the firm.
Candidates for open positions may be recruited from within or outside the firm. In the selection process applications, resumes, interviews and references may be used to obtain information about candidates.
2. Employment Applications. Everyone who applies for a job (an applicant) must submit an application. An employment application is useful in collecting factual information on a candidate's education, work experience, and personal history. The data
obtained from applications are usually used for two purposes: to identify candidates who are worthy of further scrutiny and to familiarize interviewers with applicants' backgrounds. A typical employment, application represents a special form to be filled in.
3. Resumes. Many job candidates submit resumes to employers, and some firms require them. A resume is a short summary of the candidate's background and qualifications. It includes a description of the type of job the applicant is seeking. A resume may be submitted along with an employment application. In Britain a resume is often referred to as a curriculum vitae (CV).
4. Interviews. The employment interview is the most widely used selection technique. Job candidates are usually interviewed by at least one member of the HRM staff and by the person for whom they will be working. Interviews provide an opportunity for the firm and the applicant learn more about each other. Interviewers can ask different questions to learn something about the candidate's attitude to the job and motivation.
Very often interviewers ask different questions-of different applicants, so that it becomes impossible to compare candidates' qualifications. Some of these problems can be solved through the use of structural interviews. A structural interview is an interview in which an interviewer asks a prepared set of questions.
5. References. A job candidate is generally asked to indicate the names of references people who can verify background information and provide personal evaluation of the candidate. Personal evaluations obtained from references may not be of much value because applicants list only the references who say good things about them. However, references are often contacted to verify such information as previous job responsibilities and the reason an applicant decided to leave a former job.
6. Orientation. All the information collected during the selection process is then used to select the most appropriate candidates for the job. Newly hired employees should go through a firm's orientation program. Orientation is the process of acquainting new employees with the organization.
7. Feedback. Feedback is talking of a manager to subordb nates to let them know how well they are doing and how they can work better in the future. In other words, it is performance appraisal. These appraisals may be positive or negative. Feedback must help eliminate job-related weaknesses. For a good job employees get rewards such as pay raises and promotions.
Exercises
