Operative functions of human resource management

Human resource management and its operative side

People are the most valuable asset of an organisation; what it achieves depends on the quality of its human resources. Every manager has to manage people, but as a business grows a separate human resource department of specialists takes over much of this work. The question concerns the operative side: the concrete tasks carried out on employees from the day a job is defined onwards. Staffing is the core of it, being the practice of finding, assessing and building a working relationship with people.

Getting the right people in place

• Manpower planning and job analysis. The organisation works out how many people, and of what kind, it needs, by comparing the workload with the workforce available, so that it is neither overstaffed nor understaffed; the needs are then turned into job descriptions and candidate profiles.
• Recruitment. Prospective employees are searched for and encouraged to apply, from inside or outside the organisation.
• Selection. The best candidate is chosen from the pool through tests and interviews, which also tells those chosen that the organisation takes its standards seriously.
• Placement and orientation. The new employee is introduced to colleagues, rules and policies and given charge of the job; this first experience can decide whether the person stays.

Building their capability and careers

• Training and development. Training raises the skills needed for a specific job, while development covers the growth of the whole person; both raise productivity and morale and help retain talent.
• Performance appraisal. An employee's performance is judged against standards he knows in advance, and he is told how he is doing.
• Promotion and career planning. Promotions place people in posts of greater responsibility, usually with more pay and satisfaction, and serve their long-term interest.

Paying them fairly

Compensation covers every form of reward: direct payments such as wages, salaries, incentives, commissions and bonuses, and indirect ones such as employer-paid insurance and vacations. Direct pay may be time based, performance based (for example, piece rates) or a mix of the two, and its design is shaped by the worth of the job, labour laws, unions, company policy and equity. The department also prepares incentive plans.

Keeping the relationship healthy

The department maintains labour and union relations, handles grievances and complaints, provides for employees' social security and welfare, and defends the company in lawsuits so that legal trouble is avoided.

At a Coimbatore textile mill, these functions follow one another: the HR office estimates looms to be staffed, hires and trains operators, appraises them each year, pays a piece-rate bonus, and settles grievances with the union.

Conclusion

The operative functions take an employee through a full cycle: procurement, development, compensation and maintenance of good relations. Done well, they put the right person in the right job and keep that person productive and committed.