Nature of Human Resources
Human Resources Management (HRM or just HR), is basically a fancy term for “people”. At the most fundamental stage, your HRM team should know their roles: deal with hiring, firing, training, and interpersonal issues.
Beyond the basics, your human resources specialists should offer a slew of qualifications because they are in charge of one of the most important components of your company—your team. Since his job is to fuse together the company’s competitive needs with the greater demands of the employees, the person to fill the HRM role would be someone who has a loyalty to you and your SOPs, is trustworthy, and believes in building a team filled with real people who have real values, like yourself.
The HRM’s objective, as stated by Schwind, Das & Wagar (2005), is this: “Human resource management aims to improve the productive contribution of individuals while simultaneously attempting to attain other societal and individual employee objectives.” Wikipedia claims the objective of the HR role is “to maximize the return on investment from the organization’s human capital.”
Responsibilities of HRM include hiring, determining compensations, completing evaluations of performance, offering promotions, improving personal relations, and planning, and they should uphold these responsibilities effectively, fairly, legally, and consistently.
For your HR people to bring value to your company, the research done by The Conference Board found the following six “people-related activities”:
- Effectively managing and utilizing people;
- Tying performance appraisal and compensations to competencies;
- Developing competencies that enhance competitiveness;
- Increasing the innovation, creativity, and flexibility necessary to enhance competitiveness;
- Applying new approaches to work process design, succession planning, career development, and inter-organizational mobility; and
- Managing the implementation and integration of technology through improved staffing, training, and communication with employees.
When going through the hiring process, be sure to outline your qualifications and specifications, so they are clear, honest, and fair. As a result, you should end up with more than just a fancy term for a person, but instead a high performing HR program.
Some managers see their HR role as “laying down the law” and “keeping people in line.” However, that attitude is not conducive to the teamwork required within the organization. Typically, younger and less experienced managers are the ones who disregard this lesson. Building a team is a matter of trust and communication; talk to each other.
