1.

) Prior to mid-1960s, personnel departments in organizations were often perceived as the

health and happiness department. Their primary activities include planning company
outings, scheduling vacations, and planning retirement parties. Today, their status in the
organization has been elevated. Even the name had changed to human resource
management.

a) Define human resource management. Why is HRM important to an

organization?

Definition of HRM

The word, Human refers to the skilled workforce or employees in the organization, Resource
refers to the limited availability or scarceness and Management refers how to optimize and
make best use of such limited and scarce resources in order to meet and attain the
organizations goals and objectives.

Altogether, Human Resource Management (HRM) is the process of maximizing the utilization of
available limited resources or workforce. The main purpose of HRM is to use the limited human
resources within an organization in efficient and effective ways.

HRM mainly focuses on the recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the
people who work in an organization. Hence, the processes and programs concerning the
employees are under Human Resource Management (TheBalance.com, 2016).

Importance of HRM

They say, employees are the best assets of the organization. Employees are the ones performing
tasks which will lead to the success of the organization. How can an organization survive in an
industry without the presence of workforce? It is impossible to run a business having the owner
alone only to manage the business.

Utilizing and managing human resources is such an essential role and function within an
organization. Hence, it is ideal for every organization to have Human Resource Management
unit where they will be focusing more on the employees and their work-related concerns. In
order to be more aware with the function of this unit, the importance of Human Resource
Management will be further discussed.

Recruitment and Training. Recruitment is one of the critical functions of HRM department.
Choosing the right person for a specific job position must be done properly since it would be
such a waste for the organization if a non-deserving person landed on that job.

HRM department is responsible also in conducting orientations, trainings, seminars and other
activities for employees enrichment and development. The organizations purpose for
investing on these kinds of activities in order to enhance the knowledge and skills of the
employees, to be exposed in other fields and to gain more experiences which can be of a great
help for the improvement of the employees.

Performance Appraisals. In here, HRM encourages the employees to work accordingly based
from their potentials and provides suggestions for his or her own improvement. If the employee
has a less satisfying performance to a specific area of work, then the HR department member
will provide possible solutions on how to improve the work performance. Performance appraisal
most likely serves as a motivation of the employees to do well on their jobs.

Maintaining Work Atmoshpere. Work environment is one of the factors that could affect the
productivity and performance of an employee. A good working environment is what we expect
from an efficient and effective HR department. Safe, clean and healthy working environment is
the ideal place for the employees which will result for a satisfaction on their jobs.

Managing Disputes. Conflicts on work with your colleagues are truly inevitable. So HR
departments role is to serve as the mediator and consultant for the occurred issues or conflicts.
Once the HR department heard the sides of the two parties then the department is responsible
for solutions or right actions in resolving these conflicts.

Developing Public Relations. Since HR department is conducting seminars and trainings for the
benefit of its employees, these activities are also a way of building a relationship with other
invited office sectors. Through this, employees can build a strong relationship with others and
expand more its connection.

If an organization has a poor set-up of Human Resource Management, then it is expected that it
will be encountering serious problems while managing its regular operations. As the business
world is becoming more demanding recently, organizations are putting a lot of effort and energy
to secure a strong and effective HRM.

b) Discuss how HRM is demonstrated in each of the four functions of management

(POLC)?

HRM and Management Functions. Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling also known as
P-O-L-C are the four functions of Management. In Planning, it involves the management in a
decision-making for creating business goals and the methods on how attain them. Organizing is
the function in which the management determines the best allocation of people and resources
within the organization. Leading or directing, includes the instructing and supervising employees
assigned to their specific tasks. In here, instead of being a boss it is ideal if managers will be a
leader where it motivates and directs the employees in a right direction. Lastly, controlling is
the function that analyzes metrics during business activities to ensure completion of tasks and
identify areas for improvement (TheBusinessDictionary.com, 2017).
But are these Management functions interrelated to Human Resource Management? Yes,
processes in HRM involve planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The involvement of HRM
to these four functions will be further discussed on the next paragraphs.

As what we have mentioned above, planning is the function where the management undergoes
decision-making of the organizations goals. One of the goals of an organization may include
optimizing the use of their most valuable asset- its human resources. The planning which
involves human resource management is called human resource planning (HRP). So in HRP, the
organization ensures that the job matches with the employees potentials to avoid manpower
shortages or surpluses. It involves four key steps- analyzing present labor supply, forecasting
labor demand, balancing projected labor demand with supply and supporting organizations
goals- which will lead the organization to have an effective Human Resource Management
(Investopedia.com, 2017).

Organizing is the process of allocating the resources, including the human resources, within the
organization. One of the essential tools for organizing is the organizational chart. The main
purpose of organizational chart is to show the hierarchal structure, or chain of command, within
the organization. This is helpful for organizing the workplace and to know how these human
resources are being distributed to each department.

As what mentioned above, leading function is where the employees are being directed to path
of organizations success. This is made possible with the proper guidance of the managers and
top level management to motivate the employees. Motivating employees can be done through
engaging them in trainings, seminars, workshops and other activities which will sharpen their
existing knowledge and skills and useful for their personal development. A motivated and
satisfied employee would likely to have a good performance towards his or her work. Hence,
motivating employees plays an important role in attaining the organizational goals.

Lastly, controlling involves the monitoring and evaluation of the performances of the employees
in order to assure that they are doing their tasks correctly and effectively. If the manager has
seen any flaws on the employees performance, then he is responsible for correcting and
suggesting solutions on how to do their tasks in a smoother manner and avoid possible negative
consequences.

The four functions of management- planning, organizing, leading and controlling- are essential
for assuring effective Human Resource Management processes and which enable to attain the
organizations goals for the human resources.
2.) You have been offered two positions in HRM. One is a generalist position in a smaller
business, and one is recruiting position in a large corporation. Which of the two jobs do you
believe will give you more involvement in a variety of HRM activities? Defend your answer.

In my opinion, this kind of choice involves the argument of Generalist vs. Specialist. Before we
proceed to the involvement of these two jobs in HRM activities, let us first define Generalist
and Specialist. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a generalist is a person who knows
something about a lot of subjects while a specialist is a person who has a special knowledge
and skill relating to a particular job, area of study.

Therefore, a generalist has a wide knowledge of all things. He is able to do the recruitment
process, conduct trainings and seminars for the employees and evaluate the employees
performances. While a specialist, which could be a recruitment officer, has the knowledge, skills
and experiences of being a recruitment office hence he or she focuses only on recruiting the
right people for the company.

If involvement of the position to HRM is being asked in here, I would say the generalist
position is the right job for me. Despite of a lesser number of employees in this small business, I
would be able to conduct and perform the HRM activities for the employees.

A generalist, having a broad knowledge on the functions of HRM, will be able to build
interconnectedness and find solutions to the existing organizational issues relating to human
resources. In short, he will be able to see a bigger picture and able to come up with ideas and
solutions that will benefit the business as a whole.

Career flexibility is the best benefit a generalist may bring to the company. Since the generalist
has a broader understanding on HRM, have a selection of transferable skills and less restricted
with other career opportunities.

However, too much involvement to HRM activities will cause several downsides to your
productivity and performance. Managing the Human Resource department of a small business is
like carrying a great responsibility for the organization. Though it only includes lesser number of
employees compared to the number of a big and established corporation. If the generalist has
failed or created a mistake on a specific HRM activity, a possibility that the job security of this
generalist will be at risk.

Both offered HR positions are valuable that you will be able you to function effectively. The only
difference is the focus of your nature of work and your involvement to various HRM activities.
Whatever position you are about to choose, you must evaluate yourself first and know your
potentials in which position do you think you will excel the most.

References:

http://www.humanresourceexcellence.com/importance-of-human-resource-management/

http://www.whatishumanresource.com/

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-the-human-resource-department-1918141

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/human-resource-planning.asp

https://www.cleverism.com/ultimate-career-choice-generalist-vs-specialist/