Human Resources Management (HRM)

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