Strategic Human Resource Management
The human resource department has a responsibility to compile, maintain and administer the policies of human resource in an organization. The functions of this department include management of payroll and administration of benefits, employee relations and recruitment. This requires planning which entails recruitment of the best employees, training them and developing them for future. The human resource department is highly crucial in the maintenance and sustenance of the organization. Therefore, failure could result to financial failures in the organization through various ways (Bratton 2000).
Poor planning of human resources can result to decreased workplace productivity. Workers who are unproductive do not engage in their responsibilities and duties. This results due to lack of motivation and poor management. Failure of the department to support training and workplace morale leads to decline in productivity which leads to lower profits for the organization (Boxall 2003).
The HR department is responsible for the hiring practices of the organization. They work with managers to decide on the hiring needs, interviews and evaluate the skills of the potential job candidates. Poorly planned and unorganized hiring practices result in employment of inept and unqualified employees. This leads to a negative impact on the integrity of the workforce as a result of poor recruiting strategies. Improper policies for screening employees results to hiring of workers with criminal history, which might ruin the organization’s reputation. In addition, lack of clearly defined policies of recruitment could result in discrimination claims from applicants who do not succeed. This costs the organization time and money for defense (Armstrong 2000).
The human resource department makes sure that the organization complies with the labor and employment regulations. These include Medical Leave and Family Act, Equal employment opportunity laws which are a few of these regulations. Poor planning of the legal matters in the workplace could impact negatively on the reputation and moral standing of the organization. This may be due to lack of a well defined policy of anti- harassment. Incidents of harassment result to a lawsuit which has a devastating effect on the financial state of the organization (Dessler 2000).
The department of human resource ensures that they maintain ideal staffing levels for the success of the organization. Understaffed organization is unable to obtain complete benefits. This results in an inability to achieve the optimal profits. Overstaffing means that all the workers are not being utilized fully. This result in payment of large salaries to employees whose productivity is low causing financial failure (Mondy 2005).
The department should ensure that the organization complies with labor and employment regulations through creating awareness of the organization and having a proper plan for legal aspects (Sparrow 2004). Certainly, planning should be done to ensure that poor staffing does not result. The human resource department should evaluate the workforce needs and resources required for hiring employers and the ideal number of workers required ( Mathis 2003).
Reference List
Armstrong, M. 2000. Strategic human resource management a guide to action (2nd Ed.).
London: Kogan Page.
Boxall, P. F., & Purcell, J. 2003. Strategy and human resource management. Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. 2000. Human resource management theory and practice (2nd Ed.).
Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Dessler, G. 2000. Human resource management (8th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. 2003. Human resource management (10th Ed.). Mason, Ohio:
Thomson/South-western.
Mondy, R. W., Noe, R. M., & Gowan, M. 2005. Human resource management (9th Ed.). Upper
Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Noe, R. A. 2006. Human resource management: gaining a competitive advantage (5th Ed.).
Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., & Harris, H. 2004. Globalizing human resource management.
London: Routledge.
