Introduction
One of the recognized post-secondary educational institutions of British Columbia situated in Kamloops is Thompson Rivers University (TRU). In Canada there are numerous higher educational institutions. Thompson Rivers University is one of the famous and top universities inside Canada. The university has developed tremendously a remarkable status through its academic excellence, research, and extensive range of the studies accessible to the students throughout Canada. The institution covers almost every area of educational study. The Department of Human Resources of the Thompson Rivers University has been evaluated as the best as for as the performance is concerned.
The department of Human Resources of any institutions is usually the department or section which is directly concerned with the area of employment. This department specifically deals with all the matters directly or in directly related to the employees of the organization. The department of the Human Resources is generally engage in induction or hiring of the employees, training of newly inducted personnel, implementing the benefits for the employees, issuing payroll, pension and firing of the in-efficient workers. Moreover, addressing any of the issues related to work conditions can also be dealt with human resource department. While the departments of HR may vary from one person to a complete division, therefore, the importance of these cannot sufficiently be emphasized. The fundamental tool of an organization to be prosperous is skilled, talented and technical manpower. Until and unless an organization has the technical and trained manpower as per their requirement, it will not be able to achieve its targets as designed in the logical frame work. The studies revealed that the organizations having skilled, technical and professional human resources; would get the maximum share of the market.
The first and foremost step of the human resource development is to hire or recruit the elite from the market. It is an obvious fact that the appropriate selection of the individuals during the process of recruitment can certainly result in implausible success of an institution or company. Additionally, the compensation and training may also have significant effects in motivation of the employees. This motivation subsequently results in enhancement in performance of the employees. Since the Thompson Rivers University is certainly a huge one, therefore, the Human Resource department comprised of a big number of the professionals, skilled and technical personnel.
According the TRU HR department website, their mission statement is as follows: “We support the success of TRU, our staff and students by developing and maintaining strategic and value-added HR programs, services and processes. “ Their vision includes “As a strategic partner, we provide integrated organizational effectiveness and organizational development tools and processes. We are recognized as a "go-to" Center of Expertise for a full range of comprehensive Human Resource services.” The website further continues: “Social awareness and sustainability contribute to our decisions and attitudes toward each other, our clients and the environment.”
The Thompson Rivers University is being chosen for the case studies by most of the people. The basic reason of choosing the TRU is that it has the ample range of the information available on website of the HR. One the other hand, most of the other corporations has complicated mantras, policies and visions for the H R Department. Most of the organizations have limited amount of information accessible to the community and only few information is granted to their potential candidates or existing employees. However, the website of Human Resource department at Thompson Rivers University has fully been developed, organized and also quite easy to navigate.
The vision, strategies, and the mission statement pertaining Human Resource Department of Thompson Rivers University altogether are realistic and encompassing. If the effectiveness and efficiency of the Human resource department is not assessed by an organization in its vision, mission statement and goals, means that they do not understand that what priorities of the department have.
The website of TRU regarding department of HR has a diversity of the links. This website provides the employees, faculty and staff with all the information pertaining to the services of the department. The website provides the information regarding; career searches, services through the department of HR, professional services development, safety and health information, benefit and payroll information, review of employment programs, planning and retirement information, orientation, procedures / policies information and agreements collective materials.
Organizational Hierarchy:
The Thompson Rivers University’s team has a chain of command based on qualifications, skill, and the responsibilities of different members of the team. As other organization have its own organizational chart depicting the number of managers, directors, deputy directors and all other members working under the President and vice Chancellor of the organization. Similar organizational chart has been developed by the TRU and is available on its website of HR development. The chart depicts that the Associate V P of Planning and Human Resources is responsible to report to the V P of the Finance and Administration who then further reports to the president or Chancellor. This university has more than 2000 employees .
Human Resources Management Department:
The HR department plays significant role to effectively achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. The HR resources department addresses the issues and fulfills the needs of the employees of the organization. The department also provides orientation to the employees initially appointed upon hiring and then their training for career development.
The process of recruiting the new staff at the TRU is pretty sophisticated and comprised of the support, administrative, faculty and positions for career development. A web portal has been developed by TRU that permits the individuals to look for the postings, making applications and appraise matches online after creation of and the password. The web site is frequently updated by the IT personnel showing the open employment positions in every department. The users get them registered through on line and put their application by incorporating their bio data on it and submit online. These applications are then reviewed by the professional of Human Resources department which are specialized in the selection process. On the web site, complete detail of the position or the post is given; including the designation, tenure, type of appointment, period of contract, pay package, required education and experience etc. By the help of this information, the candidates assess themselves and choose the job as per their qualification and experience. The candidates are also provided with the maximum health and insurance benefits offered to them during the course of their job. The pay package presented to the candidates depends upon the types of the position and experience of the candidates.
Additionally, the Department of the Human Resources also provides the employees with the services which assist them understand new environment of organization and make their families and them easy to feel. These services consist of campus tours and introduction of city information. Many other services can also be offered by University which comprised of the child care availability on campus that provides the care to children of the employees of the university. Furthermore, the employees of the university have also access to the convenient parking, health services, athletic facilities and the bookstore.
The HR department of TRU better understands and considers the importance of proper training of newly inducted personnel in the organization. It also recognizes the significance of the initial orientation of the newly inducted staff and its effects on future perspective. It is evident from the studies that proper training of the new staff can effectively improve the competence of the employees, their productivity and eventually their morale. In addition, the HR department also provides the newly inducted employees a half-day training which helps them to understand the issues on the department of HR, history, services and additional information relevant to the new inducted employees. These sessions of the training are held bi-annually (winter and fall semesters) and include lunch and refreshments as well.
As the company is committed to have a comprehensive services of human resource which is why the employees when once settled are reviewed and planned through our “employee review and planning program”. In this program the company thoroughly has a session with employees. This session is based on their performance, problems, future plans and attitude of their colleagues with each other. Working environment, basic facilities and infra-structure are also discussed which motivates our employees to share their view about respective issues. If any of the employees have a serious trouble regarding any of the above stated area then it is diagnosed and solved till our employee is satisfied. Moreover this program also sets goals for each of our employee according to their job description, qualification, area of expertise and experience. Each individual is then analyzed on these bases and then is rewarded accordingly. Through this token of appreciation; it encourages our employees and they strive for even more achievements. And on the contrary if an employee doesn’t meet the set goal then the required action has to be taken by the employer and the department.
One of the most useful tool “smart worksheet” has been created by the human resource department which is used during these meetings by the employee as well as the employer. This tool is basically a spreadsheet which has certain rows and columns in it. The main purpose of this spread sheet is to set ambitions and goals for the progress and performance of the employees in the organization. This makes the work easy of both the employees and employer. Plus it also helps the department to maintain a record of each individual so that it can easily be traced at the eleventh hour. Moreover it also helps the employees in three ways: first it assists them to set goals for themselves, second it helps them to know which goal is realistic and achievable and last but not the least what steps should be taken to achieve the desired goals.
SWOT Analysis:
Much information has been gathered through the interview taken with an administrator at the Thompson Rivers University Human resource department as well as the material published on the website. On these bases here is the comprehensive strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats being faced by the Thompson Rivers University Human Resource department.
The Thompson Rivers University Human Resource Department has numerous strengths. Foremost of all is the leadership and development skill. Leadership is the key to success in any organization. Leaders build the organization- from a building to a well reputed organization. All the employees thinks them self not only a part of the university but take the responsibility as being the leader and influencer for their students. It takes a great courage to build a leader in an individual and the development abilities which TRU provides is a great example of making leaders out of them. This boosts the morale of the employees and thus it results in low turnover in the organization. Any employee who is given his due perks and incentives with his desired token of appreciation then he would never think of leaving such esteem organization which is so employee friendly.
Growth and prosperity is another aspect which motivates and keeps the employees on their toes to work harder and achieve higher. This in turns result in self-fulfillment and then employees doesn’t give much heed to financial benefits too. Additionally, all the members of human resource department which have been a part of this project are well informed of the policies of Thompson Rivers University Human resource department. It also informs them about the services which are available for all the employees may it be a faculty member or a clerk, to students and their family members. When you talk about such satisfied employees then off course the reason behind such smiling and content employees are a great working condition, a handsome salary packages which includes perks, leverages and benefits too. This is also one of the major strength of TRU. All employees work as a useful member of the organization and thus act as a pillar to strengthen the bases of the university. Let’s discuss strength of Thompson Rivers University Human resource department. It is employee planning program. It makes sure that an employee receives at least two reviews per year.it could be more but obviously not less than that. The reason employees wait for their annual or semiannual review is to hear a good news about salary raise and promotion. They also take advantage of knowing and removing their grey areas if any. It makes them even more confident about their work and themselves.
It’s obviously a feast time for all the organization’s employees when they are appreciated by their employers. Furthermore it allows them to set new goals for future and to work harder on the areas which require more attention, focus, hard work and efforts. Employers also thus help their employees to locate their goals and motivate them to achieve it in the best possible manner. This whole practice in return makes employees feel that the university success, fame and reputation belong to them also as much as it belongs to the employer. They are a part of the success story of this renowned university and the journey is meaningless without them. It’s like a football team where efforts of all individual lead to a win at the end of the match.
Next to be discusses is the weaknesses of Thompson Rivers University Human resource department. The main weakness observed lies in the recruitment process. As soon as the vacancy is found it is stated in the outdated web URL of the university. But this system has become obsolete because it is not updated and enhanced since many years. Today it’s the era of social networking where Facebook and twitter is not just friends gathering sites but also where employees and employers meet. There are many pages on Facebook which is solely for professionals where jobs opportunities are published but Thompson Rivers University Human resource department lacks such official recruitment page. Even it can have a link on “linked in” which is said to be a ‘professional zone’ of all employers and employees.
Thompson Rivers University’s Human resource department needs to innovate and invest in the technological up gradation of their recruitment process. The low turnover and high success rate of employees may be a reason of ignoring this major tool of recruitment and its technological up gradation because they might don’t need much employees every now and then. Also many job seeking employees visit them on their own. The major part of the documentation in Human Resource department is in black and white that is it’s a pure paper work and nothing is available online. This may lead to a serious trouble because no organization can now rely on documentation. All the data must be professionally save in shape of software and backup must be taken care of in case of loss of any data.
There are many opportunities for Thompson Rivers University Human resource department to polish the hiring process and to increase the pool of professional candidates. There is a need of capital investment to enhance the process of recruitment. It requires multiple innovative and informative ideas also so as to attract many new candidates for the position vacant. This will in turn leads to many alternatives and options and so employers have the best available human resource through which they can choose the most suitable, experienced and devoted candidate. There is always a need of smart brains and human resource which can be attracted through a modern technological recruitment process.
When any organization needs to expand their branches then it has to formulate and implement greater and better policies for their staff and faculty. It includes rights, incentives and perks along with appreciation more than what they have been practiced. No one can ignore the importance of developing the sense of pride and ownership in each individual of the organization. It can be considered as the branding of any organization just like the branding of any product done for its growth and sustainability. A satisfied and content personality leads to a happy successful product may it be a material thing or a student facilitated by his teacher.
Like any other organization Thompson Rivers University Human resource department is also facing some real threats. In particular the human resource department can have a serious setback in subsidies and funds allocated by government. As government subsidies are chopped off then there will be a serious impact on human resource department because then it has to limit their man power and thus they have to delegate the existing bundle of responsibilities to their existing team of employees. The outcome can be dreadful in shape of exhausted and tired employees who can ultimately start searching for an alternative job.
Conclusion
In a nutshell where the Thompson Rivers University Human resource department has many strengths in shape of their effective policies and satisfying pool of employees there remain many serious areas which has to be addressed. The serious concern is mostly about the process of recruitment and obsolete technological methods adopted by the human resource department. Also the lack of presence in social media is one serious matter which should be given a special care by the authoritative. Thompson Rivers University Human resource department must upgrade their information system and develop a professional well equipped software and train their employees accordingly for the prosperity of the organization. The department must also be all set and ready to fit an increased number of employees in near future. it must funnel down its policies while recruiting the new bundle of employees and also during training and after evaluation process.
Works Cited
TRU. "Faculty & Staff." n.d. http://www.tru.ca. 30 03 2013.
—. "Welcome to Human Resources ." n.d. http://www.tru.ca. 30 03 2013.
