1. Question: What Is Human Resource Management?

Answer:
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that
focuses on the recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people
who work in an organization.
The HRM department members provide the knowledge, necessary tools, training,
administrative services, coaching, legal and management advice, and talent
management oversight that the rest of the organization needs for successful operation.
HRM functions are also performed by line managers who are directly responsible for the
engagement, contribution, and productivity of their reporting staff members. In a fully
integrated talent management system, the managers play a significant role in and take
ownership responsibility for the recruitment process.

2. What is HR?
The kind of one liner explanation or definition of HR that youre likely to encounter is something like this
Human Resources is an umbrella term for a collection of functions that assist an organisation deliver
value through its employees, contractors and agency staff. However the way I view and define Human
Resources is as a lifecycle I recall quite vividly presenting what is HR as a lifecycle (actually of a
butterfly) to a group of quite senior colleagues at the time, and receiving some confused looked. However,
stay with me on this one, and just like that group of colleagues, I promise youll walk away with a
functional and useful understanding of what Human Resources is about.
The approach Ive taken in explaining what HR does, is to follow an employee through being attracted to
a role/organisation, day one on the job, their day to day interactions with HR, and then finally leaving the
organisation. In other articles I focus more on the HR side, however in this explanation Ive looked at HR
through the eyes of the employee.

3. Question: What Is the Importance of Human Resources Management?

Answer:

Debates about the importance of Human Resources Management occur daily in

workplaces. Some employees regard HR as the policing, traumatizing, systematizing
arm of executive management. These employees see HR staff as gatekeepers, people
who hold little interest in employee concerns.
They also see HR staff as supporting managers, not regular employees.
They attribute nefarious goals and motives to HR staff and talk about why they hate HR.
Part of the problem is that HR has to balance the interests of five different stakeholders,
so employees can feel their interests are ignored. And, HR needs to do a better job of
touting its own horn and educating staff about what they are contributing.

HR Is Important

A good HR department is critical to an employee oriented, productive workplace in

which employees are energized and engaged. Here are the reasons why.
HR monitors the culture. Some organizations say that HR owns the culture, but
as in all other employee relations matters, I recommend that the ownership is spread
across all employees.
HR owns the overall talent management processes. In conjunction with other
managers, HR leads the way in management development, performance
management,succession planning, career paths, and other aspects of talent
management. HR can't do it alone and relies heavily on managers and executive staff to
help plan and execute the strategies. But, HR has to bring new ideas and effective
practices into the organization.
HR is responsible for the over all recruiting of a superior workforce. Once
again, HR cannot do it alone, but must provide support to hiring managers who are also
responsible for recruiting a superior workforce. HR must provide leadership, training,
scheduling assistance, a systematic hiring process, recruitment planning processes,
interview expertise, selection monitoring, and more.
HR recommends market-based salaries and develops an overall strategic
compensation plan. HR provides guidance to managers as they determine the salary
ranges within their organizations.
HR researches, recommends, and implements employee benefits
programsthat attract and retain your best employees. HR is also responsible for
controlling costs and considering various options before recommending adoption.

HR is responsible for recommending and instituting strategies for people

and the organization that further the attainment of the organization's strategic
goals. If your organization is changing direction, developing new products, changing
mission, vision, or goals, HR must lead the way with employee programs and
processes.
HR makes sure that workplace activities, events, celebrations, ceremonies,
field trips, and team building opportunities are occurring. Other employees plan
and implement the activities with or without HR's help, but the HR leader is generally
responsible for monitoring the budget and providing committee oversight.
HR advocates for employees who have issues or conflict with management
and coaches managers and executives who seek a more effective approach to
working with particular employees. Not everyone loves each other but they need to
developeffective working relationships for contributions and productivity. HR can help by
knowing the players and taking on the necessary role of advocate, coach and/or
mediator.
The importance of HR is easily overlooked in the busy day-to-day in the workplace, but
without contributions in each of these areas, the organization would be less successful.

4. Responsibilities of the Line Managers in HR

by Lynne MacDonald, Demand Media

Small businesses with few employees often have no specialist human resources (HR) staff.
Recruitment and management of employees are carried out by line managers. Larger
businesses may have an HR specialist or even an HR department to oversee and coordinate
their employee management policies and procedures. Even where a company employs an
HR specialist, it is line managers who have day-to-day responsibility for implementing HR
initiatives.

Employee Engagement
The approach line managers take to supervising their employees is the most critical factor in
employee engagement. Line managers create the organizational culture for their teams. If
managers focus on their employees' strengths and encourage open communication, they
are more likely to engage and encourage their employees. Line managers who focus on the
negative aspects of employee performance, micromanage their employees or seek only to
boost their own status will create disengaged and disgruntled employees. HR practitioners
measure employee engagement through surveys, but engagement is generated or
extinguished by line managers.

Performance Appraisal
While performance appraisal processes may be designed by HR professionals, they are
implemented by line managers. Employee performance and behaviors are assessed and

rated by direct line managers. Feedback is provided in a one-to-one meeting between the
employee and line manager. For feedback to be effective, it must be conveyed in a sincere
and understandable manner. If line managers appear disinterested and approach the
appraisal as a tick box exercise, the appraisal process will lose credibility.
Related Reading: What is the Hiring Process for an HR Manager?

Disciplining Employees
Discipline in the workplace begins when a line manager sets out his expectations with his
team. These expectations may be supported by policies and procedures produced by the HR
department. However, the line manager's commitment to enforcing the rules is more likely
to influence employee performance and behavior than any glossy employee handbook. If a
line manager is seen to break the rules, he will struggle to enforce them with his team. If he
needs to take formal disciplinary action against a team member, his own behavior will be
cast back at him.

Performance-Related Pay
When a business has a performance-related pay structure, the line manager has a
significant role in determining whether his direct reports will receive a pay increase.
Performance ratings from line managers can influence the amount of increase employees
receive, with top talents receiving more than average workers. For a performance-related
pay scheme to be credible, it must be perceived as fair and objective. Line managers require
training to ensure that their ratings are based on objective criteria and are not biased or
discriminatory.

5.

What is staff authority

A:
QUICK ANSWER

There are two different ways that staff authority can be used in a business. The first is
acting as an adviser of sorts, providing advice and support to different line departments
in a company. The second is to advise other managers in a business.

6. What is the different between line & staff authority?

In line authority you answer to or direct those in line with you, of equal status.
In staff authority you answer to or direct those above or below you, respectively.

7. Definition of line authority

The officially sanctioned ability to issue orders to subordinate employees within an organization. For
example, production and sales managers that have been empowered with line authority typically also have
the responsibility of achieving their company's business goals with the greatest possible efficiency.

8.Effectiveness of Job Interviews

by Ruth Mayhew, Demand Media

Effective interviews foster two-way communication.

Job interviews serve two main purposes. First, they provide the interviewer and interviewee
with enough information to determine whether the candidate's qualifications and skill sets
are suitable for the job. They also help discern whether the candidate's values are closely
aligned with the organization's values and philosophy. Interviews aren't all about the
company and they're not all about the candidate. Both parties have an integral role in the
decision-making process, accomplished by effective interviewing.
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Selection Process
As recruiters and hiring managers start sifting through applications and resumes, they also
start the preliminary screening process to select applicants they're interested in
interviewing. Preliminary screening filters out the applicants who clearly are not a match for
the job. This includes applicants who applied for the wrong position, those whose
qualifications don't meet the job requirements, and those whose application materials are
not complete. For example, if the job posting says applicants must include salary
requirements -- no exceptions -- applications that arrive without salary requirements might
be canned.

Initial Phone Interviews

Initial telephone interviews let employees speak with qualified job candidates who otherwise
would not be available for a face-to-face interview right away, such as those who live
outside the local commuting are. Phone interviews should consume no more than half of a
recruiter or hiring manager's workday. This prevents several interviews from becoming one
blurred telephone conversation and gives the recruiter time to decompress between calls. In
addition, each telephone interview should be 30 minutes or less.
Related Reading: Explanation About the Importance of Job Interviews

Telephone Interview Questions

The purpose of an initial phone interview is to further narrow the selection of viable
candidates. Recruiters who ask all applicants the same questions are likely to be more
effective as they narrow the candidate field based on answers to identical questions. For
example, an effective telephone interview begins with a summary of the job and an
introduction to the company, followed by a series of questions about the applicant's work
history. Deviating from a standard list of telephone interview questions makes it difficult to
objectively rate candidates' answers.

Face-to-Face Interviews
In-person interviews let the interviewer and the interviewee further explore whether the
candidate's qualifications meet the job requirements, and determine if the candidate is a
good fit. Nothing beats face-to-face interaction in terms of judging whether the candidate's
demeanor, values and approach fit what the company is seeking. Nonverbal cues play a big
part in a face-to-face meeting. Ronald Riggio, an organizational psychology professor at
Claremont McKenna College, calls these cues "PIE," for Poise, Interest and Expressiveness.
The PIE approach is useful for both the interviewer and interviewee. They can demonstrate
poise by listening without interrupting, interest by asking follow-up questions that
demonstrate attentiveness, and expressiveness by showing enthusiasm to learn more.

Interview Questions
A combination of behavioral interview questions and situational interview questions are best
posed during a face-to-face interview. Behavioral and situational interview questions should
elicit responses that shed light on the candidate's ability to articulate her skills and expertise
and her method for sustaining positive workplace relationships. An example of a behavioral
question might be, "Describe your time management in handling competing priorities that
could have prevented you from reaching an important project deadline. How did you explain
your dilemma to team members or your supervisor?" Situational interview questions are
especially helpful when interviewing candidates for technical or clinical positions because
they require candidates to describe their functional expertise, which may be key to their
suitability for the job. For example, a registered nurse might be asked, "What are the
advantages to using telemetry for post-operative cardiac patients?"

Advantages & Disadvantages

9.

The Job Analysis Interview: method to collect a variety of information from an

incumbent by asking the incumbent to describe the tasks and duties performed.
Advantages

Allows the incumbent to describe tasks and duties that are not
observable.

Disadvantages
The incumbent may exaggerate or omit tasks and duties.

Interview Methods:
Unstructured Interviews Here the interview is a conversation with no prepared questions
or predetermined line of investigation. However, the interviewer should explain:

the purpose of the study is and

the particular focus of this interview

The roles and the purposes give structure. The interviewer generally uses a questionning
strategy to explore the work the job holder performs. Listening and taking notes are very
important. These enable follow up questions to be posed. The questions and responses with summaries enable the interview to be controlled. The conversation takes on a structure
with areas being considered, explored, related to each other and revisited to secure the
depth of information required in job analysis.
An unstructured interview involves question and response and may be free flowing but it
becomes structured in the sense that the interviewer has a purpose and needs skill to

establish a relationship

ask well-structured questions to generate a conversational flow in which the

interviewee offers information - factual, opinion, subjective and objective about
aspects of the job

to ensure information recieved is heard and understood - listening, clarifying and

reflective summarizing

Effective listening requires concentration and this can be disturbed by interruptions, the
interviewer's own thought processes and dificulty in remaining neutral about what is being
said. Notes need to be taken without loss of good eye contact. Cues need to be picked up so
that further questions can be asked to probe issues and areas of interest.
Structured Interviews A structured interview may assume a definite format involving:

charting a job-holder's sequence of activities in performance

an inventory or questionnaire may be used

Care is needed to set up such interactions. A specialist analyst is not involved and
participants need to know what they are doing, why and what is expected as a result. They
may be intrained as interviewers and not structure the interview as recommended. Notes
and records may be needed for subsequent analysis.
A structured interview may be akin to a staff appraisal or job evaluation interview carried
out by a manager with a subordinate. The manager is the analyst.

Interview Outcomes
Interviewing is a flexible method for all levels and types of job. An interview may focus on
what a hypothetical job might involve.
Interviews generate descriptive data and enable job-holders to interpret their activities. A
good interviewer can probe sensitive areas in more depth. Structured questionnaires cannot
easily do this. Jobholders can give overviews of their work and offer their perceptions and
feelings about their job and the environment. Rigid questionnaires tend to be less effective
where the more affective aspects of work are concerned.
However information from different interviews can be

hard to bring together

there is potential for interviewer bias

certain areas of the work may fail to be picked up

an interview may stress one area and neglect others.

there are problems in interpretation and analysis with the possibility of distorted
impressions

the subjectivity of the data captured needs to be considered

Interviewing as the sole method of job analysis in any particular project has disadvantages.
Interviews are time consuming and training is needed. Co-counselling may remove the
analyst and enable jobholders to discuss work between themselves. Through inexperience
however they may miss items and there is the natural problem of people not establishing
and maintaining rapport with each other during an interview.