Human Resource Management: The Glue of an Organization
Alexis Kisby
University of Mount Olive
Abstract
This research paper will discuss the vast responsibilities of the human resources team and their important role in any organization. The focus will be on the importance of a knowledgeable human resource staff and the importance of having human resource management (HRM) as a strategic partner. HRM as strategic partner is relatively new in the business world. There are many challenges that face HRM. A solid human resource team is what holds together the employees of an organization. HRM visualizes attaining well-established goals, specific to the company’s mission and objective, through a specific strategy. The human resources department handles all activities relating to the employee; recruiting, hiring, training, and retaining are just the beginning. This paper will examine several academic journals, online articles, as well as two textbooks. The journals cover topics such as the function of the human resource department, planning and strategy, adaptation of employees, training, diversity, sustainability, and employee relations.
Overview of Human Resource Management
Function of Human Resource Management Human Resource Management (HRM) is the term used to describe formal systems created for the management of people within a company (Bateman & Snell, 2015). The responsibilities of HRM are vast and basically cover everything regarding the employee from finding them, to keeping them, to keeping them productive. The mission of HRM is to optimize the productivity of the employees, which in turn maximizes the success of an organization. Although the business world is ever changing, the basic mission of HRM will always remain the same. The basic mission of HR will always be to acquire, develop, and keep talented employees; and align the employees with the business mission and goals. The challenge of HRM is to keep up with current trends and gain competitive advantage.
New Approaches to Human Resource Management “The amount of time the HRM function devotes to administrative tasks is decreasing, and its roles as strategic business partner, change agent, and employee advocate are increasing. HR managers face two important challenges: shifting their focus from current operations to strategies for the future and preparing non-HR managers to develop and implement human resource practices” (Noe & Hollenbeck 2015, pg. 8).Until fairly recently, an organization's HR department was often considered low on the corporate ladder. HR was assigned to administrative duties, preparation of documents, and payroll (Anca-Iona, 2013). But in recent years recognition of the importance of HRM to a company's overall health has grown drastically. This is mainly due to the fact that most employers are now recognizing their employees as their most important asset (Bateman & Snell, 2015).
Strategic Planning Ramona & Anca (2013), discussed that “HR is always involved in execution of an overall strategic plan … the human resource department and employees are critical to ensuring that the HR team is designing and developing initiatives that drive business performance and enable people to achieve results”. Emanoil & Nicoleta (2013), similarly state that “the strategies of Human Resource Management contour the development of each organization in the field of human resources, and their content often decides the efficiency of the interface with the subsystems to which it belongs, the extent to which they maintain and amplify the efficiency and effectiveness of the activities developed”.
Recruitment
Companies can choose to recruit employees from within the company or outside it. Most companies use a combination of the two. Many times if the company is expanding they will recruit externally as they need more employees. However, when someone retires or quits, they will generally promote someone from within the company. There
