Introduction
The role of Human Resources Management (HRM) has changed considerably over time. With the advances in the technology and globalization of business, the role of human resources has essentially grown into a crucial function of all the businesses these days. This role is vital because of financial impacts of practices, policies, and employee behavior. The role of human resource management is broken into some different functions (Dessler, 2000). The modern human resource managers normally work or specialize in recruiting, training and development, performance measurement and guidelines, employee relations, and compensation, which are among the many parts of the primary role of HR. Each of these HR functions is impacted by the globalization, diversity, and challenges of technology. In turn, these challenges present the opportunities to improve the performance monitoring, safety or health issues, and turnover management.
Discussion
The globalization phenomenon has grown vastly with the advances in technology. As the simplicity of doing businesses globally turns out to be more cost- effective, corporations are going global. In reality, this has introduced a new role to the HR management. As corporations expand internationally, they are spending additional energy and time assessing their workers’ cultural fit for the overseas assignments. With diverse religions, cultures, and races, the employees are not all motivated by just standard work behaviors or money. The contemporary process of hiring and business success is essentially not driven by how better an employee is at a particular function, but by the way such an employee will both respond and perform in different work environment (Information Resources Management Association, 2012).
Workforce regulation also makes the human resource management complicated. With the Equal Employment Opportunity, the human resource managers are finding the process of hiring and firing as influenced by the forced policies. In the modern society, an unjustified or unsupported firing at might be turned into a lawsuit that is discriminatory. Devoid of appropriate policies as well as documentation in place, a certain termination might be alleged discriminatory and win a case most times. The human resources manager, these days, should work towards un- biased and generalized approach to the procedures, policies, and expected workers’ behaviors. Through studying every HRM area, one can understand how he/she can use them in his/her career ambitions and prepare him/her for a productive and prosperous future.
EEO and Affirmative Action
Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action is a vital area of the Human Resources Management (HRM). Equal employment opportunity prohibits all workplace discriminations including religion, race, sexual orientation, creed, gender, and ethnicity. Equal Employment Opportunity affects each area of human resource management from the planning, staffing to the selection among other areas. It is crucial for a company management to get involved in the procedures and processes of EEO. Forming as well as having EEO policies in position helps to avoid the discriminations in the workplace (Liao, 2009). In addition, having an Affirmative Action Plan can essentially assist the human resource management in tackling against the discriminations in the work place.
I now understand that it is the responsibility of the human resources manager to coordinate the company’s equal employment opportunity, as well as affirmative action efforts. For an organization to develop as well as uphold equal opportunity in the place of work, I now understand that the human resource manager should take a proactive approach instead of a reactive approach when prohibiting discrimination. After studying the course, I now recognize that prohibiting the discrimination acts must begin first with the implementation of policies, which identify the corporation’s intolerance and the consequences of these actions.
Various class activities facilitated my learning and understanding of this area of human resource management. One of the class activities was the discussions that I had with my classmates and the course instructor. These discussions were important because it made us educate each other. The discussions made it possible for all of us to consult each other on an area that one did not understand fully. The other class activity was the assignments that our tutor gave us. These class assignments helped to show the areas that I had not understood well.
The understanding of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action is imperative for both my current and future places of work. I will apply my learned equal employment opportunity and affirmative action concepts to fight the discriminations that might appear in my workplace. In doing so, I will take a proactive approach instead of a reactive approach. This will help me to fight the discriminations in the workplace. The importance of this is that it will make all the employees feel equal and appreciated. This will in turn increase their effectiveness as well as the contribution in the achievement of the organizational objectives and goals. In addition, this knowledge is important for my future career plans as it will help me in realizing them.
Human Resources planning, recruitment, and selection
This is another imperative area of HRM. To make sure that the corporation gets the right individuals at the right place and the right time, it should implement the Human resource planning, recruitment, and selection. It is worth mentioning that the effective implementation of all these systems guarantees that an organization gets the needed human resources. Workers are the most vital part of any organization (Mathis & Jackson, 2000). Thus, getting the correct human resources quality as per the needs of the business is of prime significance.
This course has made me understand that the human resource planning involves planning for the correct employees in terms of quality, quantity, expertise, and experience among others. Therefore, it is very crucial that the human resources planning systems in any organization is effective besides taking care of all the needs of the human resources for the present and future. I now understand the importance of human resource planning. It helps organizations forecast, retain, recruit, and optimize the deployment of the staff required to meet the business objectives, requirements, and to react to the external environment changes as competition and technology.
I also realized that human resource recruitment makes sure that satisfactory applicants are available for whichever position in the business, as per the condition. I understand the importance of human resource recruitment. Its effectiveness makes sure that the organization has adequate choices of applicants, and it can pick the best talent that is available (Information Resources Management Association, 2012). I now recognize that the selection process is complete when an organization selects the correct candidate and makes the employment offer.
My understanding of this HRM area was influenced by a number of activities and incidents. One of these activities is external visits. I found myself visiting the nearby organizations to increase my understanding of this crucial area of human resource management. In these organizations, I enquired how the management planned, recruited, and selected their human resources. The other learning activity was structured learning, which took place at two work places.
The gained knowledge in this area will be relevant to my present and future places of work. This knowledge will be important to me when applying for the jobs in the future since I now comprehend what I am required to do to secure the job opportunity. The understanding of Human Resources planning, recruitment, and selection is vital for my future career plans as well as my life at home. I aim to become a manager and I will apply this knowledge in my day to day operations. I now understand all the processes that I will follow in planning, recruiting and selecting human resources. Therefore, as a manager, I will only employ workers who are proficient. This will contribute to their effectiveness as well as contributions in the achievement of the organizational objectives and goals.
Human resources development
Human resource development, refer to the framework that the human resources managers use to help the employees develop their personal as well as organizational knowledge, skills, and abilities (Pinnington & Edwards, 2000). Therefore, it is an area in HRM that deals with employees career development, employee training, succession planning, organization development, performance development and management, key employee identification, mentoring, and coaching. The course has improved my knowledge about human resources development. I now understand that it can be formal or informal. Examples of formal human resources development include a class course, classroom training, seminars and others. An example of informal human resource development is the worker coaching by a manager.
In addition, I now understand that human resources managers use human resources development to improve personal, group, and organizational effectiveness. It develops the crucial competencies, which enable workers in the organizations to execute both current and future jobs by planned learning activities. In addition, it is a good tool that a group in the organization can use to initiate as well as manage the needed change. What’s more, I now understand that it ensures a match between the personal and organizational requirements. The activities that increased my understanding of this part include attending seminars, workshops, and classroom discussions.
My gained knowledge in this HRM area will be important for my future work places. It will assist me in development of the organization strategic planning. In addition, I will work with the training department staffs in developing the programs, designing the strategies for intervention, and implementing the human resources programs. In addition, I will be in a position to develop and coordinate quality management, work teams, and change reports. What’s more, I am now in a position to assessing the junior workers personally, facilitate workshops, and offer career guidance. In future, I aspire to work in a number of workplaces including the health care trainings, private training agencies, and any business with the training needs. The knowledge that I have gained in this specific area of HRM will thus help me choose a career that I will find important without any difficulty.
Compensation and benefits
This is another important area of HRM. I now understand that employees develop various policies on pay procedures, at- will employment, benefits including sick leave, any paid vacation, holidays, attendance and punctuality, and personal conduct. With these policies organizations can essentially preside over their members of staff in a consistent and fair manner. In addition, I have now recognized that policies assist the workers be conscious of what the management wants from them, and this can prevent the misunderstandings about the policies by the employers.
Moreover, I now understand that a supervisor and manager in the organization are better capable to implement the policies, which are communicated clearly in writing. The importance of the written policies is that they help the employers document the compliance with employment regulations and laws like the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. What’s more, I now understand the basic components of the employee compensation and benefits that include variable pay, guaranteed pay, benefits, and equity- based compensation. The learning activities that improved my understanding of compensation and benefits part of HRM include guided independent study, corporations visit, fieldworks, and discussions.
My gained knowledge on compensation and benefits will be very essential to my current and future workplaces applications as well as relevant to my workplace. I also aspire to become either a compensation or benefits manager in a company, and the gained knowledge will be very important. If selected as a compensation manager, this knowledge will help me in managing the pay structure in the organization. I will be in a position to monitor the market conditions as well as the government regulations to make sure that their pay rates will be competitive and current. This knowledge will help me in analyzing the data on salaries and wages, and evaluate how the pay structure of the organization will compare with that of the other organizations. If selected as a benefits manager, my gained benefits knowledge will help me administer the organization’s employee benefits program. This will be important for the HRM to achieve its primary role.
Safety and health
Safety and health are other important areas of HRM. Addressing the issues to do with safety and health is an important function of the HRM. I now understand clearly that the occupational safety and health is a crucial area in the organization that is concerned with protecting health, safety, and welfare of the individuals engaged in the employment. In addition, I know the goal of the occupational safety and health programs, which is to foster a healthy and safe work environment. Additionally, I now recognize that OSH protects the co-workers, employers, customers, family members, and many others that work place environment might affect. What’s more I now understand that safety and health in the occupation is crucial for legal, moral, and financial reasons. I learned this through seminars, interviews, and discussions.
This knowledge is of great importance for my work place. I will apply the knowledge in ensuring that the organizations will care for all the people that the work place environment affects. In addition, my understanding will help me in protecting the lives and health of workers. The potential impact of this knowledge in my future career plans and my personal life is that it will it increases my awareness of the workplace safety.
Employee and labor relations
I will apply my gained knowledge in answering the questions, conflicts, and concerns, which will arise in my current and future work places. The knowledge will help me work closely with all the managers, human resource professionals, and administrators to comprehend the unique objectives and needs of the employees. What’s more, the potential impact of the knowledge in my future career plans and personal life is that it will help me in interpreting as well as ensuring the compliance with the collective bargaining agreement provisions. In addition, it will help me in providing advice and counsel concerning discipline and performance management. Finally, it will also help me in processing grievances as well as offering arbitration process.
Conclusion
I feel that the knowledge that I have gained from this course will help me to develop my overall management skills. I was very interested to learn everything in this course. I strongly believe that this course will help me to manage any organization as a human resources manager. I have acquired the necessary skills and knowledge to analyze, organize, understand, assess, and enhance the business dynamics. What I have learned from HRM course will essentially help me center on becoming a victorious professional in the changing business world. The course helped me build the technique in areas of communication, problem solving, decision- making, appraisal, and ethical management. An understanding of all the areas of HRM will help the management in the human resources increase employees’ effectiveness and contribution in the realization of the organizational objectives and goals.
References
Dessler, G. (2000). Human resource management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Information Resources Management Association. (2012). Human resources management: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference.
Liao, H. (2009). Research in personnel and human resources management. Bingley: Emerald/Jai.
Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2000). Human resource management. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Pub.
Pinnington, A., & Edwards, T. (2000). Introduction to human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
