HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

1) Introduction

Human resource management (HRM) is the process of hiring people, training them, compensating
them, developing policies relating to them, and developing strategies to retain them. HRM can be
divided into the following areas:

a. Staffing

b. Development of Workplace Policies

c. Compensation and Benefits Administration

d. Employee Retention and Motivation

e. Training and Development

f. Dealing with Laws Affecting Employment

g. Employee Health and Safety

h. Awareness of External Factors

The key challenges for HRM professionals in the modern business world include:

i. Cost containment - HR managers need to show the necessity and value of their
functions to the organisation.

j. Fast-changing technology - HR managers are also responsible for devising

policies dealing with 'cyberloafing' and other workplace time wasters revolving
around technology.

k. Economic factors - changes in the economy can represent challenges for the
human resource manager.

l. Aging and changing workforce - working with multiple generations at once can
create challenges as different expectations and needs arise from a multigenerational
workforce.

Communication plays an essential role in HRM. There are four main styles of communication:
 m. Expresser - people with an expresser style rely heavily on hunches and feelings and
don't like too many facts.

n. Driver - people with a driver style like to have their own way and tend to be decisive.

o. Relater - people with a relater style like positive attention and want to be regarded
warmly.

p. Analytical - people with this analytical communication style will ask a lot of questions
and behave methodically.

Listening is another important central part of communication. There are three main types of listening:

q. Competitive or combative listening - occurs when we are focused on sharing our o

wn point of view instead of listening to someone else.

r. Inpassive listening - happens when we are interested in hearing what the other
person says but assume that we hear and understand what the person says
correctly, without verifying

s. Active listening - involves verifying that

our understanding of what the speaker says is correct. This style has four key
phases which include sensing, interpreting, evaluation and the response.

Nonverbal language accounts for a large part of communication. Without seeing and hearing
the nonverbal clues, it is easier to have misunderstandings. Nonverbal language can include, facial
expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, posture and physical gestures.

The Ulrich HR model is a common approach to strategic HRM planning, which suggests that HR
functions should be classified into four categories:

1. Strategic Partner - alignment of the HR function with the needs of the organisation.

2. Change Agent - the skill to anticipate and respond to change within the company as a whole.

3. Administrative Expert and Functional Expert - the ability to understand and implement
policies, procedures, and processes that relate to the HR strategic plan.

4. Employee Advocate - the ability to assist, support and protect current employees within the
organisation.

The following steps should be taken into consideration before creating the strategic HRM plan:
1 Conduct a Strategic Analysis

2 Identify Strategic HR Issues

3 Prioritise Issues and Actions

4 Develop the HRM Plan

After creating the HRM strategic plan, the HRM plan can be developed to address specific issues
within the human resource department.

A compensation plan refers to all aspects of a compensation package (e.g. wages, salaries and
benefits). There are five guidelines that should be taken into consideration when developing a
compensation strategy:
Internal and External Factors in Determining Compensation Strategy:

Internal factors include the selection of a compensation strategy such as a market compensation
(i.e. going rate) policy, market plus or market minus policy.

External pay factors can include the current economic state, such as inflation and the cost of living.

A job evaluation system is used to determine the relative value of one job to another. There are
several ways to perform a job evaluation:

- Job Ranking System - job titles are listed and ranked in order of importance to the organisation.

- Paired Comparison System - individual jobs are compared with every other job, based on a
ranking system, and an overall score is given for each job, determining the highest-valued job to the
lowest-valued job.

- Job Classification System - every job is classified and grouped based on the knowledge and
skills required for the job, years of experience, and amount of authority for that job.

- Point-Factor System - determines the value of a job by calculating the total points assigned to it.
Points can be allocated over a range of areas or skills.

This is the process of setting the pay scale for specific jobs or types of jobs. There are five main
types of pay systems, which include the:

- Pay Grade Scale

- Going Rate Model
- Management Fit Model
- Variable Pay System
- Broadbanding Systems

Besides the motivational aspect of creating a pay structure, there are some other considerations
such as:
- The size of the organisation.

- Whether the organisation operated internationally globally.

- Level of communication and employee involvement in compensation.

After a pay system has been developed, we can begin to look at specific methods of paying our
employees. We can divide our total pay system into three categories: pay, incentives, and other
types of compensation:

- Pay is the hourly, weekly, or monthly salary an employee earns.

- An incentive, often called a pay-for-performance incentive, is given for

meeting certain performance standards, such as meeting sales targets.

- Other types of compensation can relate to health benefits, fringe benefits and retirement plans

2) The Recruitment Process

The recruitment process is an important part of human resource management (HRM). Recruitment is
defined as a process that provides the organisation with a pool of qualified job candidates from
which to choose.

The key steps for developing a recruitment strategy include:

1. Refer to the staffing plan.

2. Confirm the job analysis is correct through questionnaires.

3. Write the job description and job specifications.

4. Review internal candidate experience and qualifications for possible promotions.

5. Determine the best recruitment strategies for the position.

6. Implement a recruiting strategy.

 The job analysis is a formal system developed to determine what tasks people actually perform in
their jobs. A job analysis can either be a task-based or competency-based analysis.

Based on the job analysis, an accurate job description and job specifications can be written. A job
description lists the components of the job, while job specifications list the requirements to
perform the job.

 The main recruitment methods include:

o Recruiters

o Campus recruiting

o Professional associations

o Websites

o Social media

o Events

o Referrals

o Traditional advertisements

The key advantages and disadvantages of hiring internal or external candidates are summarised in
the table below:

 Internal Candidates
Advantages:
- Rewards contributions of current staff.
- Can be cost effective, as opposed to using a traditional recruitment strategy.
- Knowing the past performance of the candidate can assist in knowing if they meet the criteria.

Disadvantages:
- Can produce “inbreeding,” which may reduce diversity and difference perspectives.
- May cause political infighting between people to obtain the promotions.
- Can create bad feelings if an internal candidate applies for a job and doesn’t get it.
  External Candidates
 Advantages:
 - Brings new talent into the company.
 - Can help an organisation obtain diversity goals.
 - New ideas and insight brought into the company.

 Disadvantages:
 - Implementation of recruitment strategy can be expensive.
 - Can cause morale problems for internal candidates.
 - Can take longer for training and orientation.

Our last consideration in the recruitment process is recruitment costs. We can determine this by
looking at the total amount we have spent on all recruiting efforts compared to the number of hires.

The cost of recruitment for a particular candidate/campaign can be calculated by using the following
formula:

cost per hire = advertising costs + recruiter costs + referral costs + social media costs +
event costs

The Selection Process

 The selection process refers to the steps involved in choosing people who have the right
qualifications to fill a current/future job opening. The selection process consists of five distinct
aspects:

1. Criteria development - this entails determining which sources of information will be used
and how those sources will be scored during the interview.

2. Application and résumé review - people have different methods of going through this
process, but there are also computer programs that can search for keywords in résumés
and help shortlist candidates.

3. Interviewing - after the HR manager and/or manager have determined which

applications meet the minimum criteria, he or she must select those people to be
interviewed.

4. Test administration - any number of tests may be administered before a hiring decision is
made. These include drug tests, physical tests, personality tests, and cognitive tests.
 5. Making the offer - development of an offer via e-mail or letter is often a more formal part of
this process.

 Typically interviews can be unstructured or structured. There are six main types of interviews:

o Traditional interview

o Telephone interview

o Panel interview


o Information interview

o Group interview

o Video interview

 Most interviews consist of many types of questions, but they usually lean toward situational
interviews or behaviour description interviews:

o Situational questions are based on hypothetical situations such as a mock work
scenario.

o Behavioural questions can assist the interviewer in knowing how a person would
handle or has handled situations.

 A variety of tests may be given upon successful completion of an interview. These tests can
gauge a person’s KSAOs(Knowledge, Skills, Ability and Other) in relation to another
candidate. The key types of tests include:

o Cognitive ability tests

o Personality tests

o Physical ability tests


o Job knowledge tests

o Work sample

 A clinical selection approach is probably the most common selection method. This approach
enables the decision makers review the data and, based on what they learn from the
candidate and the information available to them, decide who should be hired for a job.
  Once you have made the decision to hire someone, make the offer to the candidate right
away. Normally this is done through a phone call and a follow-up e-mail, outlining the details
of the offer.

Training and Development - Learning Outcomes

 When developing your training plan, there are a number of elements that should be taken into
account such as:

o Needs assessment and learning objectives

o Consideration of learning styles

o Delivery mode

o Budget


o Delivery style

o Audience

o Timelines

o Measuring effectiveness of training

 Training can be classified into four main categories which include:


1. Employee Orientation - this includes socialisation, information sessions, guided tours and
general training to help new employees learn how their role fits within the organisation as a
whole.

2. In-House Training - may be self-led learning or tiered, competency-based training with a

clear ladder of progression. Many companies provide in-house training on various HR topics
as well.

3. Mentoring - after the employee has completed orientation and in-house training, companies
see the value in offering mentoring opportunities as the next step in training. A mentor may
be a supervisor, but often a mentor is a colleague who has the experience and personality to
help guide someone through processes.
 4. External Training - includes any type of training that is not performed in-house such as
attending conferences, seminars or even paying tuition for a course.

Most training programs will include a variety of training delivery methods, such as:

Lectures

This type of training is led by a trainer or a teacher, who covers a specialised topic, such as how to
use a new piece of technology or soft-skills based training. This tends to be an appropriate method
to deliver orientations and some skills-based training.

Online or audio-visual media based training

This delivery style may be podcasts, prepared presentations, or online learning platforms. This might
be a suitable delivery method for safety training, technical training, professional training and quality
training. However, for some training, such as soft-skills training, skills training, managerial training,
and team training, another more personalised method may be better for delivery.

On-the-job training

On-the-job training is a hands-on method of teaching the skills and knowledge needed by employees
to perform a specific job within the workplace.

Coaching and mentoring

This type of training is similar to the on-the-job training delivery method, except a mentor training
method is less focused on skills training and more focused towards the ongoing employee
development. A mentor may be a supervisor, but often a mentor is a colleague who has the
experience and personality to help guide someone through processes.
Outdoor or off-site programmes

Team building activities build bonds between groups of employees who work together. They may be
physical challenges, like rope or obstacle courses, or problem solving tasks like puzzles or escape
rooms.

Managing Employee Performance - Learning Outcomes

Performance appraisal of employees is one of the most efficient methods for employees’
development, motivation and evaluation. There are various methods of performance assessment,
which are summarised in the table below.

Management by objectives

First, the manager and employee meet together and develop objectives for the time period. Then
when it is time for the performance evaluation, the manager and employee sit down to review the
goals that were set and determine whether they were met. To be efficient at MBOs, the managers
and employees should be able to develop strong objectives that are SMART (Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Revelant and Time-bound)

Work standards approach

For certain jobs in which productivity is most important, a work standards approach could be the
most effective way of evaluating employees. With this results-focused approach, a minimum level is
set and the employee’s performance evaluation is based on this level.

For example, manufacturing companies often use this method as production output is vital.

Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)

A BARS method allows performance to be assessed along a scale with clearly defined scale points
which contain examples of specific behaviours. In this system, there is a specific narrative outlining
what exemplifies a “good” and “poor” behavior for each category.
 Critical incident appraisals

The manager records examples of the employee’s effective and ineffective behavior during the time
period between evaluations. When it is time for the employee to be reviewed, the manager will pull
out this file and formally record the incidents that occurred over the time period.

Graphic Rating Scale

This type of evaluation lists traits required for the job and asks the source to rate the individual on
each attribute. The ratings can include a scale of 1–10; excellent, average, or poor; or meets,
exceeds, or doesn’t meet expectations, for example

Checklist scale

With a checklist scale, a series of questions is asked and the manager simply responds yes or no to
the questions, which can fall into either the behavioural or the trait method, or both. Another variation
to this scale is a check mark in the criteria the employee meets, and a blank in the areas the
employee does not meet.

Ranking

In a ranking method system (also called stack ranking), employees in a particular department are
ranked based on their value to the manager or supervisor.

Obviously, there is room for bias with this method, and it may not work well in a larger organisation,
where managers may not interact with each employee on a day-to-day basis. In addition, if the
rankings are public knowledge within the company then this method may negatively impact on
employee morale.

 One of the most difficult parts of managing others isn’t when they are doing a great job — it is when
they aren’t doing a good job. Sometimes performance issues can be related to something personal,
such as drug or alcohol abuse, but often it is a combination of factors. Performance issues can be
classified into the five following categories:

1. Mandated Issue - this type of issue usually needs to addressed immediately.

2. Single Incident - usually resolved by informally letting the employee know what he/she did
wasn’t appropriate.

3. Behaviour Pattern - this can occur when the employee doesn’t think the incident is a big
deal because he/she hasn’t been correct before or may not even realise they are doing
something wrong.

4. Persistent Pattern - occurs when the employee has been corrected for a behaviour pattern
but continues to exhibit the same behaviour.

5. Disciplinary Intervention - if the employee continues to be nonperforming, you may

consider using a progressive discipline process before initiating the employee termination
process.

 When an employee is having a performance issue, often it is our responsibility as HR professionals

to investigate the situation and properly
documented. This documentation should include the following information:

o Date of incident

o Time of incident

o Location (if applicable) of incident


o A description of the performance issue

o Notes on the discussion with the employee

o An improvement plan, if necessary

 Once the issue has been documented, the manager and employee should meet about the
infraction, which is called

an investigative interview. If an employee is not meeting the expectations, discipline might need to
occur.

 Discipline is defined as the process that corrects undesirable behaviour. To have an

effective discipline process, rules and policies need to be in place. Here are some guidelines
on creation of rules and organisational policies:

 o All rules or procedures should be in a written document.

o Rules should be related to safety and productivity of the organisation.

o Rules should be written clearly, so no ambiguity occurs between different managers.

o Supervisors, managers and HR should outline rules clearly in orientation, training an

d via other methods.

o Rules should be revised periodically, as the organisation’s needs change.

 The steps of a progressive discipline approach normally consist of the following:


o First offense: Unofficial verbal warning. Counseling and restatement of
expectations.

o Second offense: Official written warning, documented in employee file.

o Third offense: Second official warning. Improvement plans may be developed to

rectify the disciplinary issue.

o Fourth offense: Possible suspension or other punishment, documented in employee

file.

o Fifth offense: Termination and/or alternative dispute resolution.

 Employee separation and employee termination are two such phrases and are used
depending on the circumstances and the reason an employee leaves a job.
 There are six general different types of general employee separation:

o Retrenchment - sometimes, for various reasons, an organisation may need to cut
the number of employees in certain areas. Reasons can include organisational
downsizing, rightsizing or restructuring of staff.

o Retirement - at retirement age, or when enough of a pension is saved, an employee

may wish to leave employment all together.

o Redundancy - for a variety of reasons, a job may no longer be required by an

organisation. In this situation, the employee with that job will often be made
redundant. This can occur due to introduction of new technology, outsourcing of
tasks or changes in job design.

o Resignation - either an employee may leave an organisation of their own accord to

seek employment elsewhere, or the employee may be given the option of a
 Voluntary Departure Package (VDP) and asked to leave voluntarily, with the
incentive of a good benefits package.

o Dismissal/Termination - an employee may be asked to leave an organisation for

one of several reasons. These reasons can relate to poor work
performance, misdemeanour offences or other legal reasons.

o Death or Disability - in the case of employees who are no longer able to do their
jobs, or no longer do them full time, due to disability, the employee may be entitled to
compensation if the disability was work related. In the case of an employee dying
their next of kin may be entitled to the same if the cause of death was work related.