Human Resource Management

In the current competitive and dynamic market, organizational operations have become more important as organizations target a bigger market size, more customers, and more sales to remain on top of their competitors. Rapid changes are taking place from the emergence of sophisticated information system and globalization among other factors that are causing competition. A majority of the organizations are targeting cost reduction on operation and production, higher sales, increased number of clients, higher market share, and innovative products among other competitive advantages. Yet, at the center of this, human resource remains an important factor in the product matrix; the workforce is the key to success because it enables achievement of organizational performance. Essentially, business success relies on the optimal utilization of resources; however, the most significant and complex element in the achievement of organizational success is the human resource. In this context, human resource management plays a critically important role in the administration of workers within an organization. Thus, as conceptualized along this continuum, the ultimate question remains, how does human resource management factor into effective organizational operations?

Human Resource Management on Effective Organization Operation

Within the organizational settings, the concept of human resource management is to strategically manage employees’ skills and motivation in order to efficiently contribute to organization progress, achieve goals, and objectives. In particular, the traditional concept of human resource management focuses on providing various services to employees and the organization. Such services include selection, recruitment, training and development, compensation, benefits, and ensuring employee satisfaction among others. In today’s organizations, human resource is one of the most important elements for company success. According to Lawler & Boudreau (2015), in the modern business world, human resource management is focused on creating a  culture of high performance, where teams are accountable and work towards continuous improvement of business process and their skills for organization success. Yet, for this to be attainable, organizations must first realize that employees are different with individual personalities, goals, preferences, and perceptions of others, a factor that makes it hard to perceive them as a whole. The company must also be aware and understand the needs of their employees, to enable employees to see their work as a duty towards the organization and not a mere obligation. In this context, human resource management helps organizations to achieve these strategic goals by attracting, recruiting, retaining, and developing employees who are focused on the aims of the organization. Apart from understanding employee culture, proper utilization of human capital is critical for organizational success. As Lawler & Boudreau note, it is the responsibility of the human resource management to help the organization accomplish utilization of human capital. Normally, human resource departments organize training and development of employees, guided by surveys to determine the skills or knowledge that employees may be lacking. By doing this, the HRM enhances the employees’ capabilities to enable them to achieve the company’s objectives and goals. Besides, by offering routine training and development, the human resource management encourages employee talent and seeks to enhance business goals by supporting strategic innovation and competence from acquired knowledge and skills. In addition to the above, the human resource management also ensures employee satisfaction for increased output and contribution towards organization goals and objectives. Apparently, when employees are happy and contented with their job, they tend to be more committed and productive. Human resource management ensures that employee satisfaction through performance appraisal, and resolution of conflicts between employer and employees. Essentially, human resource management is the heart of organizational operations, and challenges happen every day. Through the adoption of proper human resource management techniques, organizations are able to overcome these problems to ensure the smooth running of the company’s regular operations for increased organization success.

Components of Human Capital Management

Over the last decade, organizations are faced with increased demands to find ways that set them apart from their competitors. Along with the requirements of the increasingly global economy, the human resource management has experienced a significant shift to encompass a variety of human capital management processes. Currently, human resource management is expected to embrace various methods focusing on workforce acquisition, workforce management, and workforce optimization in order provide certain competencies. Thus as conceptualized along this continuum, human capital management is the process of acquiring, training, managing, and retaining employees for a useful contribution to the operations of an organization (Kucharčíková, Tokarčíková, & Blašková, 2015). The process helps organizations to identify and optimize human capital, which in return increases performance and competitiveness. Essentially, the most viable and feasible strategic human capital management processes include recruitment and applicant tracking, onboarding, benefits administration, performance and talent management, and time and labor.

Recruitment and Applicant Tracking

To a certain extent, organizational effectiveness relies on the efficiency of the employees. With a valued and quality labor force, organizations are more likely to suffer in their operations performance. As Phillips & Gully (2013), note, this means that recruitment is a critical function of an organization, and recruitment of a competent workforce involves the consideration of a variety of factors such as the analysis of the labor market and interviewing among other activities to identify the most appropriate candidate. Human resource management finds qualified workers, keep them engaged, and train them effectively to drive organizational success. The outcome of employee recruitment depends on several factors to acquire qualified employees who are fit for the job description. Human resource management uses the applicant-tracking system to process job applications, analyze resumes, track the status of applicants in the hiring process, and sometimes automate the recruitment process. Normally, with the emergence of technology, human resource management now uses automated systems, which makes it easier and faster for applicants.

Onboarding

After effectively completing the recruitment process, the next important step involves strategic onboard. Within the organization settings, employee onboarding includes helping new employees to adjust to the performance aspects of the organization through assimilation into the operations environment (Messmer, 2007). The process focuses on improving productivity, building employee loyalty, and engagement of the hired employees. Usually, although this is a standard procedure within many organizations, most of the times it is never done right and is often confused with orientation. In the same way that human resource management is involved in the hiring process, they also have a responsibility to oversee the onboarding process. The process includes employee orientation, document management, and benefits enrollment to ensure the new employee fits well within the organization. 

Benefits administration

Benefits administration involves establishing, maintaining, and managing employee benefits in the organization (Messmer, 2007). Some of these benefits include managing employee medical insurance, employee pension, vacation, and sick leave among others. Human resource management is tasked with the responsibility of creating and maintaining an employee profile, keep track of such information, and update records when necessary.

Performance and talent management

Ideally, performance management is used to assess various aspects of employee job performance to establish how well they are doing their work for increased organization growth (Messmer, 2007). On the other hand, talent management focuses various disciplines in employee structure that can be implemented to drive business revenue and growth. `Usually, performance and talent management considers performance reviews, training and education, and employee compensation.

Time and labor

Time and labor in human resource management involve the management of employee payroll, time off, and timekeeping. Ideally, as Messmer (2007) notes, effective time management allows organizations to organize their work and execute daily tasks effectively. By monitoring employee time off, HR managers are able to plan the operations of the organization, to plan and organize tasks, and avoid interruption of the company productivity.

Changing Workplace and the Future of Human Capital Management

Traditionally, executives and key stakeholders always sat at the top of the organization structure and made decisions regarding the work structure of the organization employees. Information was usually passed on through the middle-level managers who then gave it to the various employees in different departments. However, currently, this trend is starting to change, and employees are taking charge in the decision-making process. For instance, the unprecedented competition for talent is forcing the organizations to shift from an environment where employees need to work there, to a place where employees want to work there. Virtually, this change also brings along the ultimate question, with the changing workplace, what is the future of human capital management?

Ideally, human capital management refers to the process of managing organization employees to achieve a maximum contribution of employees for overall organization productivity (Baron & Armstrong, 2007). In simpler words, it involves enhancing the skills of the employee and getting the best out of them. Apparently, there is a lot of change in the global workforce. Correspondingly, employees are now bringing new values, expectations, attitudes, and new ways of working in the organizations. Of course, the change is, by all means, going to affect the human capital management and in several ways. Currently, the additional drivers of talent in the workforce and the opportunities in the global economy are forcing companies to examine the way employees work, and organizations are being forced to change to align with the transformation. Ostensibly, research shows that these changes have largely been brought about by the rapid changes in social and mobile technology, which has changed the way people work. More precisely, the increased use of social media is now changing the recruitment process (Landers & Schmidt, 2016). Nowadays, companies have a chance to search for the candidates and examine their profile online through social networks such as LinkedIn. Transversely, hiring people through social media is giving organizations a composite view of the candidate that is more comprehensive and helps in getting the person for the right job. Social media is transforming talent acquisition and the human resource management process. If employers are not social, they risk becoming irrelevant. In this context, the human capital management must be willing to change to embrace technology and not risk being left behind in the global IT world. In addition to the above, understanding the workforce is necessary for successful collaboration. As the global workforce changes, the internal workflow is moving from a hierarchy to a structure of relevance and cooperation (Heath & Isbell, 2017).). Organizations must be able to understand their workforce and the capabilities of the workforce for a proper collaboration. Ultimately, the human capital management will thus need to shift their focus to finding out the employees with the necessary skills that are valuable for collaboration. Essentially, creating a winning team that is focused on driving business growth starts with a strong, customer-focused workforce. Human capital management has the potential to drive this transformation of future work and must continually evolve with the changes in the workplace for increased productivity and organization success.

Within the organization setting, human resource management is a tool for achievement. It is imperative for human resource managers to understand the concepts of human resource management and its influence on the organization operations fully. An organization cannot exist in a vacuum and must have a workforce to help them achieve their objectives. Human resource management involves working with the employees of the organization to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. As part of its responsibilities, human resource management must be able to manage the utilization of human capital. Evidently, for human capital management to be successful in managing the use of human capital, it must also embrace various components that act as the drivers of what human capital management is expected. Besides, the global workforce is changing, and along with it, the human capital management is expected to change. In particular, the future of the human capital management is based on the changes of the current and future workforce. Ultimately, human resource management must continually evolve to align with the global changes.

References

Baron, A., & Armstrong, M. (2007). Human capital management: Achieving added value through people. London: Kogan Page Ltd.

Heath, R. G., & Isbell, M. G. (2017). Interorganizational collaboration: Complexity, ethics, and communication. Long Grove, Illinois : Waveland Press, Inc.

Kucharčíková, A., Tokarčíková, E., & Blašková, M. (2015). Human Capital Management – Aspect of the Human Capital Efficiency in University Education. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 177, 48-60.

Landers, R. N., & Schmidt, G. B. (2016). Social media in employee selection and recruitment: Theory, practice and current challenges. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Lawler, E. E., & Boudreau, J. W. (2015). Global trends in human resource management: A twenty-year analysis. Stanford, California : Stanford Business Books.

Messmer, M. (2007). Human resources kit for dummies. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley Pub.

Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. (2013). Human resource management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Centage Learning.