Human Resource Management Techniques

Introduction

Human Resource Management, or HRM for short, is one of the most critical elements in running a successful business, although it isn’t always treated with the time and emphasis that it deserves. To fully understand what HRM is and its influence on the success or failure of a company, we first need to know what it means. The following is a good definition:

The purpose of Human Resource Management is to recruit, develop and use the staff within an organisation in the manner in which is most appropriate to accomplishing the aims and objectives of the organisation.

This essentially translates to “using individuals in the company in the best way possible” though that would be an over-simplified statement that does not echo the real nature and range of HRM. HRM describes all of the techniques and processes that are involved in making certain that all members of staff within a business are pulling in the same direction, and much more significantly, in the right direction. Without good human resource management a business will be expending effort on tasks that it may not directly benefit from.

At its core, HRM combines three major elements that are essential to the productive output of the staff. These factors include motivation, management and leadership, and organisational structures. Consequently, HRM can be employed on all levels of management in your business, not just the shop floor personnel, and it may even be used to adjust the structure of those levels of management as well.

Why is it Necessary?

Quite simply, businesses don’t run without employees. As such, some level of human resource management is required for any organisation to operate at all, let alone in an effective and prosperous manner. Even if you don’t realise exactly how HRM affects the daily working of your enterprise you will surely be using some kind of HRM in order to keep trading.

Human Resource Management has an impact on every level of your business activities with varying degrees of visibility. The most apparent HRM tasks involve the hiring and firing of staff as well as financial systems such as payroll. It may also impact on motivation and communication within your company, which are far more intangible variables but are crucial nonetheless. Bad HRM practice in these less visible arenas can have a negative impact on your company but go undetected for long periods of time.

It also goes without saying that every business is unique and will have a specific set of issues to face and opportunities to take advantage of. HRM can work as a flexible tool that converts workforce power into financial gains and can adjust to fully utilise the strengths of your firm. Without it, your rivals could be afforded the chance to prosper where you missed out.

The proper supervision of human resources is essential for companies providing services with very specific terms like register ltd company because client support is of high significance.

Impact on Business

Whilst this all appears very interesting and significant, how does it actually impact on the daily operations of your business, and more importantly, how will it help to improve the performance and profitability of your firm? The effect of HRM can be broken down into the following areas.

Recruitment & Training

This is probably the part of a company that is most affiliated with human resources – recruitment. Nearly every company in the world, and particularly businesses that are expanding, have to recruit people to work for them. Either current employees have left, or new opportunities have arisen which mean there are jobs that must be filled.

It’s also important to keep your staff training procedures up-to-date to make certain that your workforce is fully capable of doing the job they are there to do. Regardless of whether it is a fresh piece of legislation or a new piece of technology that changes the industry, there is an on-going requirement to keep your company up-to-date and ready to take advantage of any opportunity. There is a phrase that states that “if you are not moving forward you are going backwards” which can be applied to business.

You may also discover that the costly practice of external recruitment can be averted if your company has sufficient training facilities in place. It is much easier to teach an existing worker to a higher level and then use outside recruitment to fill the gap remaining at the lower level than it is to hire straight to a higher level.

Employee Relations

Once you have the suitable men and women working for you it is important to keep them working for you, and to be sure they are doing a decent job. This can be accomplished via good employee relations. The most obvious employee relations practice is the art of motivation – a broad topic itself – but other employee relations issues may include disciplinary and grievance management.

Finances

You cannot keep employees at your company by good motivational techniques alone. They’ll want to be paid a fair amount and on time. Payroll ought to be one of the primary systems that is developed when you launch a company, but they still need to be taken care of and updated when personnel join, leave or switch pay grade. Improper management of your payroll program can quickly lead to disaster in terms of your staff.

Industrial Relations

Numerous companies will have to work with trade union or other workers rights organisations which can be very forceful when defending the interests of their members. When dealing with such bodies it is advantageous to have people within your organisation who can connect comfortably with them whilst keeping the interests of your own business in mind as well.

Regardless of the market they operate in, when any international business company looks to grow they must use recruitment to increase its current workforce.

Workforce Planning

We have seen the effect that human resource management can have on a company and overall it seems like good HRM will have a positive effect on any company. As a rule, this is the case, but good HRM doesn’t just occur overnight.

One way to implement HRM concepts to your company is through workforce planning – a system that has the goal of making sure your staff can complete the upcoming tasks needed for your business to be successful.

Definition

Workforce planning is the method of anticipating in advance the human resource requirements of any organisation, both in terms of the number of employees necessary and the proper skill mix. Recruitment and training policies are designed with a long term focus in order to make sure that the company is able to operate without being limited by a lack of appropriate labour. It is a bit of a balancing act, but when done properly can produce many benefits.Workforce planning can be broken down into four main areas; requirements, recruitment, selection, and training and development.

Requirements

Analysing your workforce demands is vital to the proper planning of your workforce in the short-term and long-term future. If your business is subject to seasonal shifts in demand, such as in the tourism industry, or is prone to seasonal fluctuations in workforce then your workforce planning has to take these variables into consideration. Also bear in mind any future retirements or periods of maternity/paternity leave or you could suffer from a shortage of qualified workers.

Recruitment

Whether you are recruiting externally or from inside your existing workforce you still need to find the right person to fill the position. As part of your workforce planning you should draw up a job description that describes the role that will be carried out as well as a person specification which will give an indication of the sort of person that would be a perfect fit for the job and your organisation.

Selection

The selection procedure can be as involved or as simple as you deem necessary. Over and above standard job interviews there are a number of ways you can learn about about applicants for your jobs, including aptitude tests, group interviews and even psychometric testing. These sophisticated techniques may not be relevant to all workforce planning projects but are an option to recruiters.

Training & Development

The principal goal of staff training and development is to produce a much better quality of worker within your organisation. Workforce planning can use training to fill upcoming gaps in the skill set of your workforce which is commonly faster and more economical than external recruitment.

Before you hire another organisation to promote your own business for offshore incorporation assess your own personnel for people with web based knowledge.

Workforce Motivation

It practically goes without saying that well motivated employees are going to produce a better standard of work and have a higher quantity of production than unsatisfied workers. This improved working rate will inevitably lead to a rise in the profitability of a company. Yet motivation remains a bit of taboo subject among some managers.

Essentially, all motivational tactics can be separated into two models that are often referred to as the “carrot and stick” approach to motivation. The analogy relates to the two ways to make a donkey carry your possessions, either by tempting it with a carrot, or threatening it with a hit from a stick!

Whether you use the carrot strategy or the stick approach will generally depend on your own management style, as well as the industry you work in and the type of people that you hire. Regardless of your method, motivational factors can be broken down into a further two sets; financial and non-financial motivators.

Financial

The most typical financial motivators are payment schemes. You can pay workers in many different ways, either a fixed amount for a fixed service, by an hourly or daily rate, or a rate related to production, such as a commission scheme.

Another financial motivation technique involves what are known as incentive schemes, where by additional financial rewards are handed out for good performance. This may include commission above a fixed salary, performance-related pay grades or even providing a share of company profits. Again, the motivating aspect here is the money alone.

Non-financial

Several human resource theorists have their own thoughts about the different factors that motivate people to do the job, although these are often seen as an added bonus to a worker. It is widely acknowledged that money is the key motivational factor for the majority of people. If you would like to learn more about these theories I would recommend looking up the work of Elton Mayo, Abraham Maslow as well as Fredrick Herzberg.

The Changing Face of HRM

As previously stated, HRM is a versatile tool that is there to match up the characteristics of your staff to the goals of your organisation. As a result, it has had to keep adapting to a business climate that is constantly changing for one reason or another.

Perhaps there is a new piece of government law that will have an effect of how your business can carry out its trading, or maybe a fresh manufacturing technology will come along that can revolutionise your sector. Either way, if you want to ensure that your staff is performing to its optimum level then your HRM strategy should be adaptive enough to cope with an ever-changing economy. After all, what might seem like a threat to most will often appear as an opportunity to a good entrepreneur.