Staffing, Performance, Change Management and Administration - Term Paper Example

Human Resource management Among the various departments, which make up the organization, Human Resource Department or HRD is crucial, as they manage the important resource of Human resources or employees, and optimize their functioning for the success of the organization on the basis of Human Resource Management (HRM). HRM not only involves managing the employees for organizational performance, but also understanding the employees’ needs and grievances, thereby solving them to keep the employees happy and motivated. As employees’ motivation will translate to heightened performance, both are interrelated, and it is up to the HRD to aptly manage them. HRM practices will put to use by the HRD or HR manager, during the recruitment of practices. Employees only form the crucial ‘cog’ in the functioning of the organization, and so they need to be recruited and staffed aptly by incorporating best facets of HRM. After staffing is carried out, employees’ performance has to be heightened through optimal HR practices. When the organization moves on this optimal path, changes have to be made inside the organizational functioning. During the change management process as well, HRM has to be effectively implemented. So, in total efficient administration can be actualized. So, this paper will discuss how HRM can meet the key organizational objectives of staffing, performance, change management and administration. Staffing To run an organization productively and successfully, the recruitment and the related staffing function has to be a continuous process. For that, the company’s leader or the managers particularly HR managers need to oversee and effectively run the staffing process. Recruitment forms the first part of the staffing process. After checking and analyzing the job needs or vacancies inside the organizations, it will be the HRD or HR manager, who will publish the recruitment intimation after consultation with the management. Then, through effective recruitment processes like written exams, personality judgment tests, personal interviews, etc, employees with apt skill level, knowledge, good attitude and experience are selected. “Skills, experience, and knowledge have economic value to organizations because they enable to be productive and adaptable” (Jackson and Schuler 80). However, recruiting the apt workers is not the end of the task for HRD. By applying effective HR practices, they have to aptly prepare the staffs through an effective staffing process, which will mainly include training. That is, when the recruited as well as the already working employees’ performance is short of expected mark, mainly because of lack of skill and knowledge about the organizational processes, then they can be trained as part of HRM. Training based HRM includes using the in-house employees as well as experts from outside to prepare and equip the employees. Among the various training methods, coaching and mentoring can aid the employees to orient and integrate with the working environment, thereby fulfilling the work needs. Recognizing the importance of these aspects, today’s successful organizations invest substantial amounts of time, effort, and money in recruiting and staffing the needed human resources even by reorienting HRM (Sims). So, only if the workers are staffed effectively, they can work flawlessly and provide optimum productivity. Performance After the staffing process, the role of HRM is to fulfill the organizational objective of improved performance by providing an optimal working environment. Optimal working environment in the sense, HRD or HR manager has to establish an HRM based optimum performance management system, which can ‘sprinkle’ motivation into the minds of the workers, thereby increasing their performance. “Performance management is an essential tool for high performing organizations, and it is one of a manager’s most important responsibilities, if not the most important responsibility” (Pulakos 4). To improve the performance of the employees, based on HRM, the HRD or HR manager should first need to create an optimal working environment with a set of pre-determined rules, standards, cultures, etc. Then they have to make the employees follow those rules, standards, culture, etc as part of their functioning, thereby integrating themselves to the common and optimal working environment. After embedding that working environment or common work culture, HRD has to sustain it as well as rectify it, when faults occur, all on the basis of apt HRM. Once a common work culture is integrated with the employees functioning, they will start having a common thing to hold on to. Then, when all or many employees ‘get’ into this working environment or adopt this common culture, then could form into teams, with common work culture acting as the binding element. “HRM concerns with setting consistent HR policies which reflect and communicate “core values” of the company. It is through building culture and sharing common values among people that companies are trying to ensure that their acts and decision are based on best interest of the company, thus achieving the element of speed” (alagse.com). Thus, it is clear that HRM factors have to be clearly focused and incorporated to actualize a common and optimal working environment or culture. This environment will increase the performance of the employees, by bringing together under a common ‘structure’ and making them to work as a team, with a motivated mind. Change management Change management is the process during which the organization will undergo structured changing or even transitioning of employees, departments as well as the organizations on the whole from an unconvincing current state to a favorable end state. When the change is set into action, all the faulty organizational processes, strategies, even physical infrastructures will be changed. However, the changing the mindset, working style, etc of the employees will be quite difficult, and here also HRM concepts has to be implemented by the HRD and HR manager to actualize an effective change management. In any organizations, once change is resisted and if that is not taken seriously with HRM it may back fire on the organization’s future performance. So the role of officials at different stages is to take care of change management very seriously. This resistance to change could at times of mergers and acquisitions, especially when more when there is a hostile take over or merger which is generally against the wishes of the company employees. Even in other situations, the challenge to change management will mainly come in the form of experienced workers, who will be working in the same job, importantly with the same mindset and environment for years. Changing them to orient with the change management will be one of the difficult parts of HRM. However, changing is of utmost importance, otherwise there will dissension and disunity among the employees, and that will lead to decreased work productivity and other problematic issues. “In order to remain competitive, change is an inevitable part of organisational life. But resistance to change can trigger productivity paralysis through low morale and reduced output.” (Training zone). In those scenarios, the HR manager with HRM is mainly responsible to make them fall in line with the changed or new processes and functioning. These groups of workers have to be given extra attention as part of HRM, and made part of the change undergoing inside the organization through apt motivational and training programs. Administration Another function of HRM is to carry out apt appraisal process and thereby actualize an administration which provides optimum and unbiased rewards to the effectively working employees. Good rewarding system can only motivate the employees by instilling in their mind that their work performance will be recognized and rewarded. However, this rewarding system should not be biased, illogical, un-genuine, as it could negatively affect their performance. So, HRD under HRM need to actualize an effective rewarding system, by first conducting the appraisal aptly. “Appraisals are used for determining pay increases, who gets let go, who gets promoted. Often they are used to focus on what people have done wrong.” (Bacal). Thus, appraisal will fulfill objective in a two dimensional way, that is, to find out whether they are performing well to deserve rewards or not performing well, so they can be trained further. Rewards and incentive component is the key, because to keep the core group of high performing workers in a motivated state, the organization has to reward them with correct appraisal inputs from the HRD. “Especially in organizations that use performance management as a basis for pay and other HR decisions, it is important to ensure that all employees are treated in a fair and equitable manner” (Pulakos 37). In organizations, employees will carry out their tasks because of personal motivations like money, taking care of their family, etc. However, their motivation level will get accentuated, if they are given financial rewards as well as job promotions. This rewarding to deserving and ‘success achieved’ employees will motivate and make them work even harder, and at the same time, will also motivate others to reach that status. Thus, apt implementation of HRM during the rewarding process will increase the motivational level of the employees, and will help the organization meet its objective of efficient administration. Works Cited alagse.com. Human resource management and personnel management - shift in focus. 10 November 2010. Bacal, Robert. Management File - What IS The Point Of Performance Appraisal. 2004. 10 November 2010. Jackson, Susan E. and Schuler, Randall S. Managing Human Resources for Strategic Partnership. Florence: Thomson South Western. 2003. Pulakos, Elaine D. Performance Management: A roadmap for developing, implementing and evaluating performance management systems. Society for Human Resource Management, United States of America. 2004. Sims, Ronald R. Organizational Success Through Effective Human Resources Management. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. 2002. Training zone. On The Couch: Counseling at Work. 10 November 2010. Read More