Nature of Human Resources
In almost any search for the definition of Human Resources Management (HRM), you will come up with the following: “A fancy word for people.” Certainly, there is an obvious truth to this, but this definition is far too simple in our experience. At the most fundamental stage, your HRM team should know their apparent roles: deal with hiring, firing, training, and inter-personal issues.
Beyond the foundation, what your human resources specialist should offer is a slew of qualifications because they are in charge of one of the most pertinent positions within your company—your team. Since their 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 by 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 organizations human capital.”
Responsibilities include hiring, compensations, evaluations of performance, promotions, relations, and planning, and they should uphold these responsibilities effectively, fairly (to the business and the employees), 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
- Trying 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
- 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 written clearly, honestly, and with fairness; as a result, you should end up with more than just a “fancy term for a person.”
Some managers see their HR role as “laying down the law” and “keeping people in line.” However, that attitude isn’t 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.
