Introduction
Human resource management (HRM) is the logical and strategic approach to the management of the most important assets (the employees working there and contribute to the fulfillment of the business’s goals individually or collectively) of an agency or organization. The term personnel management has been substituted by the terms human resource and human resource management in explanation of the procedures used in controlling personnel in organizations (Armstrong 2006, p.5).
HRM is viewed by many of the personnel in the field as a more creative way of managing workplaces than the conventional approach. HRM methods make the businesses managers state their objectives with specificity in order to be comprehended and accepted by the workforce and offer the required resource to complete their missions successfully (Towers 2009, par.4).
Generally, an HRM system has the following functions; recruitment and selection, payment and benefits, training and development, labor relations and performance feedback/appraisal (Foxit Software Company 2004, p.2).
Executive summary
This paper will address the issues of human resource management. The definition of the term HRM has been given and the analysis of the functions of an HRM system has been done in the introduction part of the paper. The HRM system comprises of performance appraisal, pay rewards, labor relations, training and development and recruitment and selection. The key components of the selection process include; job description, person specification and selection techniques.
In the selection process between the sales team leaders and sales representatives, there are some factors that have to be considered in each category which include; skill and experience gap. The new staffs in the company have to be given induction information by the HRM department which has to take place at the headquarters. E-recruitment has been a solution in the area of the selection process. This is because it saves time and cost and moreover, it advances the experience of the applicants.
When the HRM methods are practiced effectively, they are expressive of working practices and goals of the organization overall. In addition, HRM is viewed by many people as an important role to reduce risk within the organization.
Recruitment Difficulties Continue
Key components of the selection process:
Job description
The selection process of personnel is a paramount issue that determines the effective operation of an organization. Managers need to consider the following key components in selecting new sales teams in the food manufacturing company; job description, specification of the right personnel and the selection methods (interview, tests and assessment center). Job description covers; duties and responsibilities of the job holder, methods of carrying out the duties and reasons why the job has to be done, meaning that it looks into the job content, conditions and environment of the employment. The manager who is to recruit the new sales team needs to understand all that is required for that job. (Foxit Software Company 2004, p.3).
Specification of the person
A statement that recognizes the skills, knowledge and abilities that are needed to perform the job effectively is needed. This statement of person specification includes; qualifications needed, past experience needed, specific skills required such as foreign languages. This is an essential tool in evaluating the persons suitable for the job and refers to the specific individual and not the post (Foxit Software Company 2004, p.3).
Selection techniques
The major techniques used in selecting people in a business are; interviews, tests and assessment centers. The main purpose of the interview is to give an idea of whether the person is interested in the post and the competence to perform. The manager should use the interview to determine whether the candidates want to be a salesperson or not. In addition, the manager needs to use the test in the selection process because they are used to evaluate the ability like literacy competence. Results of the tests only give quantitative information about the applicant but not qualitative. Tests are advantageous since they raise the opportunity of selecting the best candidates fit for the sales work and will reduce the expenses of selecting the wrong candidates. Finally, in the selection techniques is the assessment center which is a process rather than a place as the name sounds. It utilizes several selection methods, tools and exercises together and is designed to analyze a person’s development needs. An assessment center measures an individual’s ability by looking at his or her performance in suggested work situations. This will be important if the manager will use it in selecting a salesperson since he or she will be in a position to measure their productivity rate and will know how the applicants will fit into the company and their reliability (Foxit Software Company 2004, p.3).
Differences between selecting the sales team leaders and the sales representatives
Since both, the two new sales teams need a sales team leader and five sales representatives, the selection process for the two personnel should be different. This is because the sales team leaders need to have more experience, should have worked in the same positions in other organizations while the sales representatives ought to be personable, passionate and prepared to attend new training if need be. Therefore, the job descriptions for the two categories need to be different but the description for sales team leaders should be more specific on the skills and the number of years in a similar position (experience). However, according to the survey done, 70% of the British employers surveyed said that they lacked qualified candidate skills which make them face challenges during recruitment. 42% of the respondents said that most of the candidates lacked experience and this too contributed to difficulties in recruitment. Therefore, when the manager will be selecting the sales team leaders and sales representatives he or she should emphasize more on the skills and experience of the applicants but be ready to face the challenges of skills and experience gap.
In addition, the manager ought to set up formal strategies to solve the problem of gaps in skills and experience after recruiting the salespersons. Examples of the strategies that can be used include; offering extra training to the recruited salespersons and having career development programs within the company. The manager needs to carry out the interview using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, and Result). In this technique the applicant is questioned on a situation that will give a quality, which the sales job need like the leadership knowledge for the post of sales team leaders, the task they are required to carry out, actions they took and give the results (Afghan Development Association n.d, p.5).
Induction information
The applicants who succeed in the recruitment process start their employment period with an induction session which takes place at the Head office of the company and is facilitated by the HRM department. Effective induction training makes sure that the new employees are retained and they settle fast and happy to engage in their duties (Chapman 1995, par.1).
An induction meeting normally takes little time and it involves information that can help the new employees to settle in a job and organization. The most important information that the management needs to offer to the new staff includes; support at the departmental level, job level and organizational level(Foxit Software Company 2004, p.4). Information on the departmental and organizational levels will involve providing them with the important information that will welcome and support the new employees to make them feel confident, comfortable and valued in their new area of employment. This will make them contribute successfully to the company’s goals. Information on job level will assist the new staff to comprehend and achieve what is expected of them during their period of employment.
Aspects of recruitment
The two main types of recruitment include internal and external recruitment. The internal form of recruitment is the type, which involves recruitment within the organization, company, or business premises while external recruitment involves sourcing of employees outside the organization or company. One of the methods used to recruit employees in external recruitment is e-recruitment. E-recruitment refers to advertising of jobs, permitting applicants to download application forms with job descriptions and person specifications and to apply for those jobs through the internet. E-recruitment saves time and costs incurred by the employers. In their website, the Improvement and Development Agency argues that e-recruitment improves productivity and minimizes the expenses used in hiring the right candidates. It makes the process of recruiting the candidates to be faster, more standardized and accountable. Secondly, it reduces the use of paperwork where the published information is usually limited. E-recruitment also offers a larger range for the applicants to get more information of the job description and apply through the internet Information about job description when posted online provides the applicants with better management information (Improvement and Development Agency, 2001, par.2).
In their website JobsDB Dimension says that appropriate use of e-recruitment improves the experience of the applicants. The other thing is that e-recruitment provides a centralized platform since it gathers applicants’ information in an average format and combines information from several recruitment sources. In addition, it provides better communication and enhances productivity rate because the employers share knowledge and information through the internet and work together with colleagues to raise productivity (JobsDB Dimension n.d, par.2). The two website sources used above to learn about e-recruitment are credible since they are both articles published by organizations. So the information published must have been from different personnel within the organizations.
Conclusion
HRM is an essential tool to organizations since it covers all areas within an enterprise starting from recruitment to the firing process. Therefore, for a company or organization to achieve its strategic objectives by drawing, maintaining and developing workers, HRM has to act as a link between the employees and the organization.
Reference
Afghan Development Association, n.d. Human Resource Management Manual. [Online]. 2009. Web.
Armstrong, M., 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 10th Ed. London: Kogan Page
Chapman, A. 1995. Induction training and induction checklist. [Online] (Updated 2009). Web.
Foxit Software Company, ed., 2004. B120: An Introduction to Business Studies: Foxit PDF
Improvement and Development Agency, 2001. E-recruitment. 2009. Web.
JobsDB Dimension, n.d. Why e-recruitment solutions? [Online]. 2009. Web.
Towers, D. 2009. HRM (Human resource management) essays and reports. [Online]. Web.