Role of HRM in Organizations
Human Resource Management is considered as the central feature of every organization whether it is a big organization or a small organization. Experts have realized the role of human resources, which has an immediate impact on the organizational performance outcomes and they should be well aligned with the corporate goals of the firm. The human resource functions of the firm comprise of strategic planning, management of the diversity, recruitment and selection, work-life balance and ethical treatment. The HR management should have diverse skills as well as expertise so that they can fulfill the expectations of the employees and the management. The implementation of HR policies remains a big challenge for the HR managers.
This paper would aim to provide a reflective journal comprising of analysis, feedback coupled with the various reflection theories. Their application along with practical knowledge would also be defined.
The first week of the human resource management class gave introductory idea about practice of HRM in Australia. It is an important component in the development of business strategy that can be effectively implemented in the organizations. I believe that the vital functions of HRM comprises of the employee development, recruitment, selection, retention and job design. I agree with the fact that the organization has huge duty of recruiting right persons with right skills. I am so excited about this unit and I am eager to join Australian workforce.
The strategic human resource management is considered as one of the main factors of HR as it defines various strategies for being competitive in the market. This addresses the different types of competitive challenges of the organization and how the company would be able to handle them. There are different kinds of strategies involved in the HRM such as training and education, job satisfaction, organizational development, job security and others. For the purpose of improvement of the current job role, it is important to engage in training. The development is not only related to the job role of the individual but it is also related with the overall well being of individuals and development of necessary skills. The training can be either long term training or short term one. It is important to perform SWOT analysis to successfully identify the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
One of the examples of the short term goal is the apprenticeship program, which is offered to the university students. This program has particular duration, which is being done under the supervision of a senior employee or there is the introduction of a buddy system. On the successful completion of the program, the company is willing to apply for another student or a group of students and by this way the apprenticeship program would continue. One more example can be seen in the case of contractual positions. On the completion of a contractual project, the employment gets over and a new contract can be developed with a new project. In this case, the sustainability or the long-term program can be considered as the most problematic area. HR should take an active part in making the employees happy and satisfied. One of the examples of attracting employees in the organization is the implementation of social intranet in the organization or the implementation of social media network in the organization. The social intranet is useful as it is helpful in reaching out to cross border employees, located in different geographical terrains.
Diversity Management and Work-Life Balance
Innovation is defined as the procedure of development, introduction and the implementation of the improved goods or services. I have understood the fact that innovation propels the individuals to think out of the box. It is concerned about the development of the creativity as well as improvement of the services. The factor of micromanagement often prevents the employee creativity in which some of the managers are not observed. I have certain personal experience in Australia, which makes me think that micromanagement is practiced in such organization that needs to improve upon the parameter of innovation. On a converse note, it can also be argued that the American Corporations usually do not practice micromanagement. On the event of the new employee, it is believed that they can fulfill the company’s expectations, which has been originally discussed in the appointment letter.
The job quality is considered as the most important factors for the attraction as well as retention of the employees. HR should focus on the job quality framework, which is based on different kinds of Australian surveys. In 2015, there were around 30% of the Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) members, who suffered from mental health issues (news.com.au 2015). There are several factors associated with the FIFO workers such as isolation feelings, basic accommodation and social accommodation, long working hours and others. HR should ensure that the FIFO jobs provide adequate benefits to the workers in terms of health and safety. When I was doing my Associate degree in TAFE, Perth, we have been advised to join the Australian Computer Society (ACS). I have attended various networking events.
I was recruited for a bookkeeping job by one of my close friends. My main job duties were to perform timesheets, payroll, receivables and reconciliation tasks even when I have least experience. There are instances when it is not important to have experience for the jobs and we can get it if we have close friends working in the industry.
Diversity management is concerned with the method of managing different people from various diverse cultures, differences, values and similarities. They come together to work in one particular environment with one common organizational objectives. The work life balance is concerned with the striking balance between professional and personal life.
The aspect of work diversity as well as work life balance are attractive programs that can be offered by HR. The diversity is considered as different person’s different identity such as gender, race, age, religion, lifestyle, origin and others. The equal opportunity employment as well as bill amendment for women in workplace are considered as some of the affirmative actions which are taken to ensure that the different individuals receive opportunities for employment, receive equal pay and are preach gender equality.
Recruitment and Selection
The work life balance is considered as the flexibility to do work from personal space and at convenient time. I understand that the HR programs should include the part-time work, flexible working hours,relocation, emergency leave, employee assistanceand provision of different amenities like laptop, mobile devices.
I have worked for three years in Intel Technology in Philippines as one of the IT Support Specialist and they have allowed me to work from home once a day every week. This allowed me to look after my ill parents and managing work at the same time. I was fortunate enough to be given work from home option.
The concept of ethics is the collection of the moral principles which are concerned with right or wrong that governs the behavior of the group (Zheng et al., 2014). I have realized that HR has adopted the different diversity programs in organizations these days. I consider the fairness of the recruitment as well as selection process in Australia as an unfair one. I attended one event in Computer Society and we were told that if I knew someone in the company, I would get the job. I feel this practice to be unfair and I do not support the same. I feel that ethics is getting lost from today’s world. I have also experienced performance appraisal during my tenure of work at Intel and I find it equal and subjective. I feel that performance appraisal is beneficial for the employees and it should be disclosed to the employees during the induction process. The employee would get monetary value which is based on the group competition which is defined by HR. I have a firm belief that HR managers would have to practice the aspect of ethics to the maximum possible extent and influence the culture of the organizations. I would always do the correct thing and morally right thing. I would abstain from doing any negative things or morally degrading action.
The HR metrics for the various aspects of economics, human performance, social,corporate governance and environment. These are important for strategic planning of the organization. I understand the fact that different activities such as traditional, transactional and transformational are important for organizational success. It is the duty of HR to monitor these functions. HR programs should be measured in an effectiveness of the HR programs which have been implemented. I found that one of the most effective ways of measuring it is to perform survey and analyze the results of the same.
Training and Innovation
I found out that the common modifications in the organization for fulfilling the financial goal is concerned with the restructuring of the organization as a result of downsizing. For example, the different change in the organizational hierarchy in which there are multiple reporting authorities under HR director, the staffs may directly report to the HR director. In such a case, the HR director would have quick assessment of the project as there is direct reporting.
I found out that outsourcing is another popular way of improving the various HR functions. When HR contracts to a recruitment agency for hiring skilled workers, then they would engage in different forms of advertisement. I feel that in order to determine the corporate social as well as environmental duty of the organization, it should have well documentation of their major activities. Their websites must be properly updated. It is also important for the companies to have social media link in which the communities would be able to leave messages in the form of recommendations, comments or review so that the organizations are able to measure their performance as well as improve themselves so that they can meet the community’s expectation.
Conclusion
The human resource management has an important role in the organization for developing programs, policies as well as meeting the expectations of the shareholders. It is an important point of contact between the organization and the employees. It is important for HR to take care of employees at all levels. If the employees have high skills and have high job satisfaction, then the organization should value their contribution and have happy work environment. The employee turnover rate would be reduced and the employer would not have the need to invest on training and development. It is also important to practice ethics in the workplace. The HR directors, executives, managers and personnel should undertake ethical measures at all points of time and should not engage in any unethical conduct.
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