You are on page 1of 6

Shashank Palan FyBCom E 13

Human Resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations. Human resources is also the name of the function within an organization charged with the overall responsibility for implementing strategies and policies relating to the management of individuals. This function title is often abbreviated to the initials "HR". Human resources is a relatively modern management term, coined as late as the 1960s. The origins of the function arose in organizations that introduced 'welfare management' practices and also in those that adopted the principles of 'scientific management'. From these terms emerged a largely administrative management activity, coordinating a range of worker related processes and becoming known, in time, as the 'personnel function'. Human resources progressively became the more usual name for this function, in the first instance in the United States as well as multinational or international corporations, reflecting the adoption of a more quantitative as well as strategic approach to workforce management, demanded by corporate management to gain a competitive advantage, utilizing limited skilled and highly skilled workers. Purpose and Role:In simple terms, an organization's human resource management strategy should maximize return on investment in the organization's human capital and minimize financial risk. Human resource managers seek to achieve this by aligning the supply of skilled and qualified individuals and the capabilities of the current workforce, with the organization's ongoing and future business plans and requirements to maximize return on investment and secure future survival and success. In ensuring such objectives are achieved, the human resource function is to implement an organization's human resource requirements effectively, taking into account federal, state and local labor laws and regulations; ethical business practices; and net cost, in a manner that maximizes, as far as possible, employee motivation, commitment and productivity. Key functions:-

Human Resources may set strategies and develop policies, standards, systems, and processes that implement these strategies in a whole range of areas. The following are typical of a wide range of organizations: Maintaining awareness of and compliance with local, state and federal labor laws Recruitment, selection, and on boarding (resourcing) Employee record-keeping and confidentiality Organizational design and development Business transformation and change management Performance, conduct and behavior management Industrial and employee relations Human resources (workforce) analysis and workforce personnel data management Compensation and employee benefit management Training and development (learning management) Employee motivation and morale-building (employee retention and loyalty)

Implementation of such policies, processes or standards may be directly managed by the HR function itself, or the function may indirectly supervise the implementation of such activities by managers, other business functions or via third-party external partner organizations. Human Resource Department:There is very little direct contact between the top management executives and their regular employees in the big companies. So a human resources department is formed in that place. The Human Resource Department deals with the management of people within the organization. There are a number of responsibilities that come with this title. First of all, the Department is responsible for hiring members of staff; this would involve attracting employees, keeping them in their positions and ensuring that they perform to expectation. Besides, the Human Resource Department also clarifies and sets day to day goals for the organization. It is responsible for organization of people in the entire Company and plans for future ventures and objectives involving people in the Company. Research has shown that the human aspect of resources within an organisation contributes approximately eighty percent of the organisations value. This implies that if people are not managed properly, the organisation faces a serious chance of falling apart. The Human Resource Departments main objective is to bring out the best in their employees and thus contribute to the success of the Company. These roles come with certain positive and negative aspects. However, the negative aspects can be minimised by improvements to their roles and functions. These issues shall be examined in detail in the subsequent sections of the essay with reference to case examples of businesses in current operation.

Improvement of Compensation Packages One of the major functions of the HR department is to motivate employees. This can be done through rewards especially for those who have done well. The HR department needs to evaluate performance of employees and those who have exceeded expectations should be compensated for their actions. Research has shown that rewarding employees for good performance is the number one incentive for keeping up this trend. These compensation packages can come in the following ways; - Holiday Offers - End of Year Bonuses - Equities - Awards - Salary Increments - Provision of Flexible Working Hours - Straight forward Promotion Schemes and Career Developments If the HR department includes these incentives, then it will ensure that employees are satisfied with the Company. It will also contribute towards good staff retention rates. This is especially crucial in increasing stability within the organisation. It also makes employees identify with the firm and instils a sense of loyalty.

Planning in the Organisation The Human Resource Department is placed with the responsibility of ensuring that it plans adequately for all the organisations future engagements that will involve people. One important aspect of this is planning for employees in the organisation. It is important that the organisation ensures that all the employees under its wing are just enough to increase value to the organisation. The Department must ensure that staff members are not too many because if they exceed this amount, then the organisation stands too lose. It must plan adequately to ensure that staff members are not too few either, otherwise they will be overworking those who are already in place. Consequently, there will be poor motivation resulting from fatigue. The HR department is also bestowed with the responsibility of planning future organisational goal in relation to people or clarifying these same goals to staff members. This function of the department ensures that people in the organisation have a general direction which they are working towards. Organisations that have a clear direction are always more effective; those members of staff will be more result oriented rather than just working for the sake of it. The

Department is also responsible for setting day to day objectives necessary for streamlining activities within the organisation and thus ensuring that work is not just done haphazardly. Conclusion The Human Resource Management teams main function is to manage people. There are positive and negative aspects of this function; first of all, the HR department enriches the organisation through recruitment procedures and an example an effective HR team in this area is Tesco Ireland. HR department also ensures that members of staff follow a general direction by frequently clarifying and reminding them of the organisations goals. Besides this, they are also responsible for organising incentives or compensation packages to motivate employees. All these functions contribute towards organizational effectiveness

Case Study
Prashant Casting Pvt. Ltd.:Prashant Casting Pvt. Ltd. started in 1967and has currently four partners. It manufactures Castings, End Shields, Bearing Covers, Fan Covers, Pump parts, etc. Human Resource Policies:Remuneration and Wages:In Prashant casting firm worker are given a fixed wage of Rs.200 for 8 hours of work. If they complete the work and do some extra work they are given extra wages. The salaries of officers are fixed. Working Hours: 8.00-12.00 1.00-7.00

If anyone wants to do overtime, they get double salary per hour. Performance Appraisal:Performance appraisal evaluation of the individual is done with respect to his performance on the job and his potential for development. The appraised employee can qualify himself for higher responsibility, more rewarding and promotion. The partners keep a track of all these matters. Labour welfare:Employees benefits and services are available to all employees. They are given 8days casual leave and 12 days medical leave per year. In case of special medical leave half pay is also given. Bonus is given not on any occasion but 10% of the profits are shared with the employees. The employees fall under ESIS (Employees State Insurance Scheme) that is applicable for employees more than 50. They are given benefits against sickness, accident on duty, death, leave, etc. If any member of workers family needs medical facilities the expenses are borne up by the unit. Provident fund is provided to all employees and for which 12% is deducted for their salaries and 12% are given by the firm. They are even given loans if needed at low rates.

Conclusion:A firm needs to take proper care of its workforce as they are the reason for the success of the company. Prashant Casting does provide various benefits to the employees. It provides double overtime pays so that the workers work hard in the greed of earning more money. It even provides bonus i.e. 10% of profit of the accounting year in March to all employees so that they understand the value that their profit lies in companys profit. The Company used to suffer from a serious problem of excessive labour turnover. Most of the young officers used to leave the company after getting the knowledge in the industry, so the partners decided to alter the policies of the firm and provide more benefits to the employees. Merit was given a greater preference than seniority for promotions. Partners used to personally use to keep a check about promotion matters. Also grievance handling system was made i.e. first the foreman was to be contacted and he would do the required arrangements but in case of serious matters partners where informed about it. The company even started conducting various health check-ups and medical camps for the employees. This resulted in motivated and dedicated workforce and thus the company today has expanded into 3 companies and provides their product world-wide. Thus every company must understand that the workforce of the company is the major aspects for its progress and thus should me handled properly.

You might also like