Extract the Excellence Through People

Employee Motivation

Employee motivation is a process of getting the needs of the employees realized with a view to induce them to work for the accomplishment of the organizational objectives. What is employee motivation? Motivation refers to...

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Compensation and Benefits Management

Compensation and benefits management is the process of managing, analysing and determining the salary, incentives, and benefits given by any organization to their employees in exchange of their work. What are compensation and benefits? Whenever...

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Performance Management in HRM

Performance Management What is Performance Management? Performance management in HRM refers to the process to ensure that the organization connects mission with the work of employees. One of the primary HR activities is to manage...

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Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management Introduction

What is Human Resource Management?

There are many definitions of what human resource management is or should be. But there is not even a single definition that actually can properly define what HRM exactly is.

In simple words we can say that HRM is the process of employing the people. And train them, compensating them, developing policies related to them. And developing strategies to retain them and to provide a better environment to work them effectively.

Human Resource Management Meaning

The human resource management refers to a process that consists of activities such as acquisition, development, motivation, and maintenance of human resources. HRM is also responsible for maintaining good human relations in the organization.

There is no best way and procedure to manage people. And it is very difficult task for a manager to predict how employees can be managed because managing people is not a straight forward task.

People are complex beings and have complex needs. In fact, effective personnel management very much depends on the best and effective conditions that an organization would provide to the people.

Human Resource Management Definitions by Authors

  • Scott, clothier, and Spriegel have defined HRM as that branch of management which is responsible on a staff basis for concentrating on those aspects of operations. Which are primarily concerned with the relationship of management to employees and employees to employees and with the development of the individual and the group.
  • Northcott, considers HRM as an extension of general management. And it promotes and stimulates every employee to make his fullest contribution to the business. HRM is not something that could be separated from the basic managerial function. It is a major component of the broader managerial function.
  • French Wendell, defines “HRM as the recruitment, selection, development, utilization, compensation and motivation of human resources by the organization.
  • According to Edwin B. Flippo, “HRM is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of the procurement, development, resources to the end that individual and social objectives are accomplished”.

Human Resource Management Activities

  1. Job analysis and job design.
  2. Recruitment and selection of the employees.
  3. Training and development of the employees.
  4. Performance management.
  5. Compensation and benefits.
  6. Safety and wellness related to employees.
  7. Employee motivation.
  8. Organization development.
  9. Labor relations.
  10. Managerial relations.

Human Resource Management Objectives

The objectives of Personnel Management in an organization is to obtain optimum individual development, sound working relationships between employer and employee and employee and employee.

  • To ensure effective utilization of human resources.
  • To establish and maintain a sound relationship among all the members of an organization.
  • To generate the maximum development of human resources within the organization by offering opportunities for advancement to employees through training and development programs.
  • To identify and satisfy the needs of individuals by offering them various monetary and non-monetary rewards.
  • To ensure the best development of the policies for the employees of the organization who are from a variety of backgrounds in the workforce.

Human resource management Process

There are many activities through which human resource management performs its process of operation which may be as;

  • Human resource planning, i.e., determining the number and types of personnel required to fill various positions in the organization.
  • Recruitment and selection of the personnel for the various post in the organization according to the job specification.
  • Training and development of the employees for their efficient performance and growth.
  • Performance management i.e., to provide an appraisal of performance to employees and taking proper steps such as transfer from one job to another.
  • Remuneration of employees. The employees should be given adequate wages and salaries to obtain a higher standard of living and also motivate them to perform well to achieve higher productivity.
  • Motivation of employees by providing financial incentives and bonuses.
  • Social security and welfare of employees.

Human Resource Management Importance

  • It helps management to prepare, adapt, and continue the evolution of personnel programs and policies.
  • It supplies skilled workers through a scientific selection process.
  • It ensures maximum benefit out of the expenditure on training and development programs held for the employees to improve their skills to get the organizational objective more efficiently.
  • It improve and modify the skills of workers according to the changing needs of organization and environment.
  • It motivates workers and upgrade them to make them enable to accomplish the organizational goals.
  • It contributes a lot to obtain the industrial solidarity and healthy employer employee relations within the organization.
  • It helps in maintaining the sound relationship among all the managers of different departments in the organization.

Human Resource Management Functions

There are many human resource management role and human resource management responsibilities towards the organization. Some of the human resource management functions are;

Human resource management functions

Managerial Functions

The managerial function includes activities like planning, organizing, coordinating, directing, and controlling the employees. However, they are performed by all types of  managers including human resource managers.

Planning

Planning is a fundamental function of  HRM. It involves the decision taken in advance about the future work of the organization.

In this process some decision are taken about the work, such as what are the works we have to perform, the right time and right place to perform, the process how to perform that works, and who will perform that wok.

In planning, a manager research some course of action to achieve the desired objectives of the organization in future and make the planning accordingly.

A plan is a predetermined course of action to accomplish the set objectives, it specifies what and how operative personnel functions are to be performed to achieve the desired objective of the organization in the future.

Organizing

Organizing calls for grouping of personnel activities, assignments of different activities to different individuals. It is used in the sense of an enterprise or a business unit.

In an operational sense, organizing may be considered as consisting of division of work among people and coordination of their activities towards some objectives.

Directing

It is the managerial function consisting of all those activities which are concerned directly with guiding, influencing, and supervising the subordinates in their job.

Some elements of the directing function of  HRM are;

(a) Supervising the work of subordinates to ensure that their performance conforms to the plan.

(b) Maintaining discipline and rewarding effective performance.

(c) Issuing orders and instructions.

(d) Motivating the subordinate to direct their behavior in a desired pattern.

Co-ordination

It is concerned with harmonious and unified action directed towards common objectives. Communication with each other is very important and effective for the organization.

It ensures that all the employees perform their work more efficiently with the optimum utilization of resources and with happy working environment in the organization.

Controlling

It is a function of management which measures and corrects the performance of subordinates to make sure that the organizational objectives and plans made to achieve them are accomplished.

Control thus consists in knowing the extent to which actions conform with plans adopted and instructions issued so that errors and deviations are reported and appropriate corrective action taken.

Operative Functions

Operative functions of human resource management

Procurement

Procurement is the process of recruiting the expected number of employees with the desired qualification and experience which is required for an organization to achieve its objectives.

In fact, it is mainly concerned with hiring the right people, in the right place, at the right time. It is concerned with the obtaining of the proper kind and number of personnel necessary to accomplish necessary organizational goals.

Development

Development is a process of activities performed such as training, seminars, skill development program, group discussion, and education etc in order to increase the efficiency and skills of the workers.

Therefore through development, the skills and efficiency of the employees are improved and these results in the better job performance which is necessary for the organization.

Development function will be influenced by numerous factors like the induction of new machines, promotions, and transfers.

Compensation

This function can be defined as the adequate and equitable remuneration of personnel for their contributions to the organisation objectives. Compensation remains one of the basic functions of personnel management.

A proper wage system takes into consideration several factors subjects like job evaluation, wage policies, wage system, and wage incentive schemes.

Integration

It can be defined as an attempt to effect a reasonable reconciliation of individual and organizational interests. So, functions of procurement, development and compensation must be followed by integration. The function of integration relates to the problem of communication, informal organization, and trade unions.

Maintenance

Maintenance refers to sustaining and improving the conditions that have been established. This would thus include the above functions. However, it must be pointed out that it would be necessary to take care of the physical and mental well being of the employees.

To fulfill this objective, it is important that research must continue to every direction so that the function of maintenance is performed effectively. Maintaining aims at maintaining good working conditions for the employees. It includes the preparation and implementation of health schemes, safety systems etc.

Conclusion

Therefore, the role of HRM is very important in an organization. Personnel management is the key to the whole organization and it is related to all various activities of the management occurred in all the departments such as marketing, production, and finance, etc.

And, Human resource management concept involves a system to be followed in a business firm to recruit, select, hire, train, develop, and optimum utilization of human assets. Therefore, proper coordination of human efforts, effective utilization of human and other material resources is necessary.

By Maaz Anwar, ago

Job Evaluation

What is Job Evaluation?

Job evaluation is a methodical strategy to gauge how valuable a certain position is in comparison to others within an organization. The goal of job evaluation is to develop a framework for comparing the worth of various jobs so that there is some basis for how pay are determined for distinct roles.

The Need for Job Evaluation

Why is it necessary for our organization to employ these methods of job evaluation?

Job evaluations should be conducted periodically for the following reasons:

  • Workflow integration with new technology
  • greater responsibility being placed on workers
  • Reorganization of the business 
  • Modifications to the policies and practices
  • shifts in the workload or job descriptions
  • Promotions
  • fresh positions

The factors mentioned above can affect how a specific job is carried out and what value is attached to that job.

Advancements in technology could reduce the workload of your employees. It frees up time to direct other responsibilities, demanding a corresponding change in pay.

Increased tenure and responsibilities demand regular evaluations of job to ensure employee satisfaction. If responsibilities and tenure continue, you’ve retained, and the person stayed for appreciable reasons.

In some cases, the entire organization goes through some restructuring. This can mean that some people are doing less than before while others are doing more work than before.

All this calls for evaluation of jobs to ensure that everyone gets what they deserve and that the company is also getting the most bang for its buck.

In some cases, employees may even request that their job be reassessed and that their pay grades be re-evaluated. For example, one of the reasons for a pay increase could be that the employee has taken on more duties.

Another reason could be that they have been given more authority in that position and, thus, more responsibility.

Job evaluation

Job Evaluation Meaning

Job evaluation is the procedure of examining and estimating several jobs respectively to ensure their relative worth in an organization.

JE is an estimation of the relative worth of different jobs on the basis of their nature, requirements and personnel factors, such as qualification and skills required.

JE is a system wherein a particular job of an enterprise is compared with its other jobs. In present industrial era, there are different types of jobs which are performed in every business and industrial enterprise.

Comparative study of these jobs is very essential because on the basis of such study the structure of wages for different types of jobs is prepared.

The comparison of jobs may may be made on the basis of different factors such as duties, responsibilities, working conditions efforts, etc.

Job Evaluation Definitions by Authors

Job evaluation represents an effort to determine the relative value of every job in a plant and to determine what the fair basic wage for such job should be.

“Kimball and Kimball Jr”

Job evaluation may be defined as an attempt to determine and compare the demands which the normal performance of a particular job makes on normal workers without taking account of the individual abilities or performance of the workers concerned.

“International Labor Organization”

Job evaluation is the evaluation or rating of job to determine their positions in the job hierarchy. The evaluation may be achievement through assignment of points or the use of some other systematic rating method for essential job requirements such as skill, experience, and responsibility.

“Bureau of Labor Statistics”

Job evaluation as a personal term has both a specific and genetic meaning specifically, it means job rating or the grading of occupations in terms of duties; generally it means the entire field of wages and salary administration along modern lines.

“Bethel, Atwater and Smith”

A process of determining the relative worth of the various jobs within the organisation so that differential wages may be paid to jobs of different worth.

“Wendell French”

Features of Job Evaluation

  • It helps the organization to sustain advanced level of employee productivity and employee satisfaction.
  • It helps in substantiating system by reduction of numbers of different and separate rates.It does not compose the wage structure.
  • A group of experts performs the process of job evaluation rather than the individuals.
  • It helps in assessing the value of job. Further the aspects (like skills and responsibilities) values are also studied in connection with the job.
  • It simply attempts to determine the jobs not people.
  • When the job analysis is done, what we found as an output is job evaluation.

Job Evaluation Schemes

There are two basic types of JE schemes: analytical and non-analytical.

Evaluation of job

Analytical Schemes

An analytical JE scheme can defend against a claim of equal pay for work of equal value. Jobs are broken down into components or demands, known as factors, and scores are awarded for each factor. The final total gives the overall rank order of jobs.

Non-analytical Schemes

Under this scheme, whole jobs are compared with each other. There is no attempt to break the jobs down and analyze them under their various demands or components.

The rationale for non-analytical JE is that it produces a hierarchy of jobs that approximate the ‘felt-fair’ ranking of these jobs in the minds of the people working in the organization.

Examples of non-analytical schemes include job ranking and paired comparisons. These represent different ways of drawing up a list of jobs in rank order.

A non-analytical JE scheme does not provide us with a defense against a claim of equal pay for work of equal value.

Process of Job Evaluation Program

The Job evaluation program is a process involving a few steps.

  1. Gaining acceptance
  2. Creating a job evaluation committee
  3. Finding the jobs to be evaluated
  4. Analyzing and preparing a job description
  5. Selecting the method of evaluation
  6. Classifying jobs

Gaining acceptance

Before undertaking job evaluation, top management must explain the aims and uses of the program to the employees and unions.

To elaborate on the program further, oral presentations could be made. Letters and booklets could be used to classify all relevant aspects of the job evaluation program.

Creating a job evaluation committee

A single person can’t evaluate all the key jobs in an organization. Usually, a job evaluation committee consisting of experienced employees, union representatives, and HR experts is created to set the ball rolling.

Finding the jobs to be evaluated

Every job need not be evaluated. This may be too taxing and costly. Certain key jobs in each department may be identified. While picking up the jobs, care must be taken to ensure that they represent the type of work performed in that department.

Analyzing and preparing a job description

This requires the preparation of a job description and also an analysis of job needs for successful performance.

Selecting the method of evaluation

The most important method of evaluating the jobs must be identified now, keeping the job factors and organizational demands in mind.

Classifying jobs

The relative worth of various jobs in an organization may be found out after arranging jobs in order of importance using criteria such as skill requirements, experience needed under which conditions the job is performed, type of responsibilities to be shouldered, degree of supervision needed, the amount of stress caused by the job, etc

Weights can be assigned to each such factor. A job’s worth is determined when we add all the weights. The points may then be converted into monetary values.

Advantages of Job Evaluation

Job Evaluation is advantageous to management, workers, trade unions and organisations as well.

Management has the advantage of greater order in its pay arrangement and more stable wage structure. Unions benefit from a greater sense of fairness and reasons in pay matters.

Union can play a more important role in determining the relation between different levels of pay and in the joint regulation of work place conditions.

Employees benefit because job evaluation provides an agreed framework for setting questions affecting jobs and so helps to prevent arbitrary decisions.

It also helps to ensure that differences in skill and responsibility are properly recognized. Everyone benefits from a system which enables the pay for new and revised jobs to be settled in the same way as for existing job by preventing anomalies.

Limitations of Job Evaluation

The main limitations of JE are;

  1. JE is not exactly scientific. It is a systematic and not scientific technique of rewarding the job. It lacks scientific precision because all factors cannot be measured accurately.
  2. Most of the techniques are difficult to understand, even for the supervisors.
  3. The factors taken by the program are not exhaustive.
  4. There may be wide fluctuations in compensate factors given changes in technology, values, aspirations of employers, etc.
  5. Employees, trade union leaders, management, and program operators may assign different weights to different factors, thus creating grounds for dispute.
  6. The trade unions regard job evaluation with suspicion because it is made on certain principles, and the results are generally ignored. Some of the methods of job evaluation are not easily understood by workers. Workers fear that job evaluation will do away with collective bargaining.
  7. A job evaluation scheme takes a long time to install. It requires specialized personnel, and it is costly.
  8. Too many factors are used in job evaluation, and there is no standard list of factors to be considered. Definitions of factors vary from organization to organization. Many types of research show that the factors used are not independently valued. It gives more reliance on internal standards and evaluation for fixing wage rates.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that job evaluation is not an exact science. It is a technique that can help avoid several anomalies in wages that cause so many heart burns and disgust today, provided it is used sensibly and is not pressed beyond its proper limits.

By Maaz Anwar, ago

Training and Development Process

What is Training and Development Process

Training and development process is an organized activity for enhancing the knowledge of the employees and transferring technical and management skills to the employees.

Now a days in technology based environment, things are changing very fast. In order to retain its position, an organization has to modify and act very fast according to the changes in the business environment. Hence, for achieving superiority, an organization should have skilled and well trained employees. And it is performed by training and development process.

Through training process the employees are taught specific skills according to the requirements of their respective jobs. And through development process the personalities and management skills of the employees are improved.

Steps in Training and Development Process

Assessment of Organizational Objectives;

First of all, in an organization, there should be a proper assessment of objectives. Nowadays the organizations should adopt new technological changes in the business environment, improve product quality through skilled personnel, enhance service quality and increase productivity to perform better and to stay competitive in the business.

Determining Training Needs;

Before an organization takes decision regarding training & development of its employees and allocate huge resources for it, organizations have to assess the training needs of its employees.

We sit down with the management and help them in identifying strategic goals & objectives, and skills & knowledge needed to achieve these goals and objectives. Then we work together to identify whether our staffs have the required knowledge and skills, if they don’t then training needs are discussed.

Saying of a Trainer…….

Training need investigation step is important due to many reasons. For example, employees performance may be down because the working standards are not clear to them.

And some reason may be faulty selection, lack of motivation, poor job design, less supervision and personal problems. In these cases, the problems may be solved by proper job design, offering incentives to motivate, improving supervision, etc.

If the deficiency in performance is because of lack of knowledge and skills, then training and development of employees is essential in this condition.

Two main ways which are basically used to identify the training needs are performance analysis and task analysis.

Task analysis is a process to identify the specific skills required by analyzing and studying the job in detail. Task analysis is suitable for determining the needs of the employees who are newly selected and new to their work.

And performance analysis is the method of investigating the performance scarcity and then determining the ways to correct this scarcity whether it should be fine through training or some other method like transferring the employee etc.

Apart from these methods, supplementary methods can be used to identify training needs such as supervisor’s reports, personnel records, management requests, observations, test of job knowledge and questionnaire surveys.

Setting Goals and Objectives of Training;

Once it is analyzed that training is the solution of the performance deficiency, then the objectives are set. In other words, once training needs are assessed, then the objectives of the training are established.

These objectives will specify what a trainee should accomplish after the successful completion of a training program.

Preparing the Training Budget;

Preparation of the training budget is specifically concerned with the allocation of funds to be provided for the training for carrying out the training activities as devised in the plan.

Deciding about the training venue;

The decision about the training venue depends invariably on the type of training given. For in company and on the job training, will be in the plant itself.

In case of the job training through external sources, the venue has to be somewhat away from the trainees working environment. The venue of the training will be some where outside the agency.

Fix up the methods and techniques to be used in the training;

There are various types of on the job and off the job training methods which can be used in the training program. The method of training would be chosen according to the specific objectives of the training program.

Evaluation of training program;

When the training program is completed, then the evaluation of program is done by the organization in order to see the effectiveness of training efforts. This is done to check whether the training program accomplish specific training objectives or not.

The conduct of training program is costly; this includes needs assessment costs, salaries of the training department staffs, purchase of equipment (computers, video and handouts), program development costs, evaluation costs, trainer’s costs, rental facilities and trainees wage during the training period.

Thus, it is important to assess the costs and benefits associated with the training program, in order to convince the top management that the benefits outplay costs.

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Training and Development

Training and Development Methods

Conclusion

As we know that training and development programs are very essential for any firm or organization in order to develop their employees. For achieving the success and to grow to a greater height, the organization should have employees with updated skills and knowledge.

As due to rapid up gradation of technology and change in working methods day by day, the training and development process is continuously required by an organization to enhance and improve the skills and knowledge of employees.

By Maaz Anwar, ago

Recruitment and Selection Process

Recruitment and Selection Process in HRM

A well devised recruitment and selection process is very essential for the organization because if an employee selected once, he/she will remain in the company for number of years.

Therefore, faulty recruitment and selection process will lead to low productivity and high labor turnover.

Recruitment and selection in HRM is a process by which the organization develops a set of qualified and desired job seekers for the future human resources needed in the organization even though specific vacancies do not exists in the organization. It is the procedure which connects the employers with the job applicants.

Steps in Recruitment

  • Publicizing information about job vacancies in the organization.
  • Identifying the sources of supply of adequate number and right type of personnel required.
  • Contact and communicate with the source of recruitment which is chosen. e.g. advertisement for vacancies in a newspaper so as to stimulate the prospective candidates to offer themselves for employment.
  • Assessing alternative sources of manpower and choosing the best source.

Recruitment Process

Recruitment process can be defined as the process of searching and choosing the potential human resources for filling the desired vacant posts in a company.

Recruitment process is the first step ob building a strong and energetic personnel base. Because the success of any organization depends upon its talented and effective human resources.

Recruitment process can be organized as follows;

  • Identifying the vacancy. Recruitment process starts when the human resource department receive the requisition for the people needed for the vacant jobs from any department of the organization.
  • Number of posts to be filled.
  • Number of persons required.
  • Qualification required for respective vacancies.
  • Preparing the job description and person specification.
  • Developing the sources required to fulfill the desired candidates for the job. (Advertising etc.)
  • Shortlisting the desired employee with desired characteristics.
  • Arranging the interview with the selected candidates.
  • Conducting the interview and decision making.

After recruitment process is done than immediately selection process starts i.e. the final interviews and the decision making, conveying the decision and the appointment formalities.

Recruitment and selection process

Selection Process

Selection process can be explained as the process in which right candidates with desired qualification and skills are shortlisted and selected according to the nature and requirements of the job.

Selection process includes the following systematic procedure.

  • Preliminary Interview

The organization set some minimum eligibility criteria for the candidates to be selected. And those candidates who do not fit in that criteria are eliminated from further selection process through preliminary interview.

This is basic interview which is conducted to eliminate the candidates who are not suitable to work in the organization. It helps the organization to move further for selection process with potential fit employees to fill their vacancies by removing the unsuitable candidates.

  • Receiving Applications

Those candidates who have qualified the preliminary interview, they are required to fill the application form in the prescribed format. This application contains personal information including name, father’s name, age, sex, marital status, Qualifications, experience, hobbies etc,

These information helps interviewers to obtain the clear idea about the candidates which helps to formulate the questions to get more information about him.

  • Screening Applications

When all the applications are received once, then these applications are screened by a special screening committee who analyse and choose the desired and suitable candidates from the applications to call for an interview.

Applicants could be selected through shortlisting criteria like age, sex, qualifications, work, experience of an individual, etc.

  • Employment Tests

In this step all the candidates have to go through some employment tests organized by the organization in order to check their skills, talent and the mental ability.

This is done through various employment tests like intelligence tests, personality tests, aptitude tests, interest tests, proficiency tests, etc. These tests help the organization to decide and judge the suitable candidates for the job.

  • Employment Interview

Employment interview is an important step. It not only acts as a check on the information already obtained but also provide the opportunity to form a better understanding of the candidate to motivate and inform him about the job and the company.

Purpose of this interview is to analyse and find the suitability of a candidate to the job. And provide him an idea about the job profile and what are the expectation of the organization from the potential employee.

This step is critical because organization has to select the right people for the right jobs. The communication skills and confidence level can also be checked at this stage.

  • Checking References

The organizations usually inquire for the references from the candidates which help the organizations to cross check authenticity of the information given by the candidates.

It is important source of information because through these references, the organization come to know about the capabilities, experience in the previous companies, managerial skills and leadership ability of the candidates.

  • Medical Examination

Medical examination of the candidate is required for several reasons like to ensure that he/she is physically fit for the job that he/she does not suffer from any latent disease and the firm is not liable for any claim under Workmen Compensation Act.

The medical exam is very important step in the process of selection. In some organizations, it is done at the beginning of the process while in some cases it is done after the final selection. Thus, this stage is not rigid and can take place anywhere in the selection process.

  • Final Selection and Appointment Letter

On completion of the selection process, the candidates are finally selected and letters of appointment are issued to them. This appointment letter states the term and conditions of employment including the pay scale, starting salary, allowances, the period of probation, and other benefits etc.

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Recruitment and Selection

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Conclusion

Recruitment and selection process of employees is very valuable and important process in human resource management because it provides the effective and desirable employees to the organization. If it is not done effectively and in appropriate manner than it will directly affect the future growth and success of the organization.

By Maaz Anwar, ago

Training and development Methods

Types of Training and Development Methods

There are several training and development methods available. The use of a particular method depends upon the criteria which accomplishes training needs and objectives.

There are various training and development programs which are held in the organization to train the employees according to nature of their jobs. Training and development methods are classified into two categories;

I. On-the-job Methods

On the job method is the heart and soul of all training in any organization. It is the most universal form of employee development.

It is traditional mode of training which is designed to enhance the knowledge and learning of employees to perform their job properly under the guidance and supervision of trained instructor.

Job instruction training;

This technique of training was developed during the world war II. It is basically used to teach the workers how to perform their current jobs. A trainer, supervisor and co-worker can act as a coach.

Coaching;

It is continuous learning process by doing. Coaching involves direct instruction, guidance, extensive demonstration and continuous critical evaluation and correction.

It is a kind of the daily training and feedback is given to employees immediately by their coach or supervisor.

Mentoring;

In this method, a senior person in the organization takes the responsibility of training as well as grooming of a junior.

A mentor acts as a teacher, guide, counselor, philosopher, and facilitator of the juniors.

Whenever any problem arises to juniors to perform their work than mentor helps them to overcome to that problem through his experience and fine sense of opinion.

Job Rotation;

Position rotations training is broadening of the background of the trainees in the organization.

Through job rotation method a employee understand the larger perspective and different functional areas of the organization.

Special Projects;

This method of training give the chance to the trainees to work on some projects related with departmental objectives.

Through this method the trainees will acquire the knowledge about the assigned work and also learn how to work with others.

Committee Assignment;

In this, the trainees become the members of the committee in the organization. The committee assigned a problem to discuss and make recommendations according to that.

Training and development methods

II. Off-the-job Methods

Another part of training and development methods is off the job method. In this method the trainees have to leave their jobs and workplaces to learn and acquire knowledge related to their work which will enhance their working abilities.

Special courses and lectures;

Being a traditional method it is most popular method of developing personnel even today. These types of courses and lectures are designed to enhance and improve the knowledge of the trainees.

These courses and lectures are designed by any management or professional school.

Companies sponsor their trainees to attend these courses or lectures. This the most easy and quick way to provide knowledge to a large group of trainees.

Conferences and Seminars;

In this method, the participants have to share their ideas, suggestions, thoughts, viewpoints and recommendations.

When the trainees attend conference and seminars, they will observe a problem from different angles because the participants are from different fields and sectors.

Selected Reading;

This is the self improvement training technique. The Trainees obtain required knowledge and awareness by reading various business journals and magazines.

Most of the companies have their own libraries. The employees become the members of the professional associations to have awareness of latest development in their respective fields.

Case study method;

In this method, trainees used to analyze the situation/problem faced by a company in the past. Companies have the record of these situation and their solution in a written form.

These types of cases are provided to the trainees where they analyze and discuss the situations/problems and their solution.

The main aim of this method is to identify and diagnose the problem. The participants can suggest the alternate course of action according to them.

Programmed instruction/learning;

This is step by step self learning method where the medium may be a text book, computer or the internet.

This is a systematic method for teaching job skills involving presenting questions or facts, allowing the person to respond and giving the immediate feedback to his/her answers.

Brainstorming;

This is creativity training technique, it helps people to solve problems in new and different ways.

In this technique, the trainees are given the opportunity to generate ideas openly and without any fear of judgment.

Once a lot ideas are generated then they are evaluated for their cost and feasibility.

Role Playing;

In this method, a role of is assigned to the trainees in which they have to play a role of another person in an artificially created situation.

For example, a trainee is asked to play the role of a trade union leader and another trainee is required to perform a role of a HR manager.

Through this technique the trainees can understanding each other’s situation in better way by analyzing their work and problems faced by them.

Vestibule Schools;

Well established organization provide training center to the trainees within the organization in which the trainees are given some particular training according to the nature of their job.

A vestibule school is a training center operated by the personnel department. It is a training center produced to deliver the training to new employees in the organization according to the job requirements which are assigned to them.

Apprenticeship Training;

This is a saying that this type of training method started in the middle ages. That time, the people used to work under the guidance of a master craftsman in order to learn and enhance the trade skills.

In apprenticeship training the people improve the skills and become skilled workers through training and classroom instructions given to them.

In-basket Exercise;

In this technique, some memos, directives, e-mails, requests, reports, messages, hand written notes, etc., are given to the trainees by the management, staff members, supervisors and other stakeholders.

Then the trainee task is to review these in basket items, analyze the problem and then take action according to the situation. After taking the action a final report is made in the form of record notes, comments and responses.

Business Games;

Business games involves teams of trainees. The teams discuss and analyze the problem and arrive at decision. In this method, the issues which are related to the sales, inventories, research & development, production, etc are taken up for consideration.

Behavior Modelling;

This is a approach where trainee used to learn special supervisory skill. This is based on the social learning theory in which the trainee can learn new behavior by observing.

In this method the trainee is provided with a special model of behavior and also informed in advance of the consequences of engaging in that type of behavior.

Sensitivity (T-group) Training;

In this type of training, a small group of trainees consisting 10 to 12 persons is formed which meets in an unstructured situation. There is no set agenda or plan.

The main objective of this training are openness with each other, enhance listening skills, trust, support, tolerance, concern and help for others. The trainers serve a catalytic role.

The group formed in this method meets in segregation without any formal agenda. And there is a great focus on inter personal behavior. And then trainers provide honest feedback to members about their interaction with each other.

Multiple Management;

McCormick, president of McCormick & co. of Baltimore introduced the multiple management method of training in 1932. He presented the thought of organize a junior board of directors.

Authority is given to the junior board members to discuss any problem that could be discuss in senior board and give recommendations to senior board. Innovative and productive ideas became available for senior board.

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By Maaz Anwar, ago

Human Resource Planning Process

Steps in Human Resource Planning Process

Human resource planning process focuses on the demand and supply of the labor. It involves in the acquisition, development, and departure of people.

Human resources are definitely the most significant part of the organization as the success of any organization depends upon its qualified, skilled and effective personnel.

The purpose of manpower planning is to ensure that a predetermined number of persons with the correct skills are available at a specific time in future.

Thus, human resource planning is the process of identifying systematically that what must be done to fulfill the availability of the human resources needed by an organization in the future to meet its strategic business objectives.

human resource planning process

Analyzing of Organization Objectives;

The human resource management manager first observes the objectives of the organization. Then the manager prepares a  list of all the activities such as jobs, human resources etc. that are required to achieve the organization objectives efficiently.

There are some corporate level strategies like expansion, diversification, mergers, acquisition, reduction in operations, technologies to be used, method of production etc.

So, HRP should start with analyzing these corporate level strategies. Therefore, human resource planning should analyze the corporate plans of the organization  before setting out on fulfilling its tasks.

Manpower Forecasting;

Forecasting the overall human resource requirement like skills, knowledge, values and capabilities in accordance with the organizational plan is one of the key aspects of demand forecasting.

(a)  Executive or Managerial Judgment. In this method the managers decide the number of employees in the future according to the need of the organization. They adopt one of these approaches mentioned below.

  • Bottom Up Approach. In this approach the concerned supervisors send their proposals to the top management who compare these proposal with the organizational plans, and then implement necessary adjustments and finalize them to execute.
  • Top Down Approach. In this approach management prepares the requirements and proceed the information downwards to the supervisory level who finalize the draft and improves it.
  • Participate Approach. In this approach projections are made after participation and joint consultation of supervisors and management.

(b)  Statistical Techniques. In this method statistical methods and mathematical techniques are used to forecast and predict the supply and demand of human resources in the future.

(c)  Ratio Trend Analysis. In this method the past data of human resources like number of employees in each departments and work load, etc. are estimated. Past values are examined in this method to get the fairly and accurate idea of future projections.

(d)  Work Study Method. This technique is suitable to study the correlation between volume of work and labor i.e, demand of human resource is estimated on the workload. Work study method is very much suitable to the field of repetitive and manual jobs when it is feasible to measure work and set standards.

(e)  Delphi Technique. ‘Delphi’ is the name given to this technique after the Greek Oracle at the city of Delphi. The views of different experts related to industry are taken into consideration in this method and the then consensus about the human resource requirement is arrived at. Delphi technique primarily used to estimate the long term requirement of human resources.

Analyzing Human Resource Supply;

The human resource department manager estimates the manpower supply. The manager examines and find out that how many managers and employees are available in the organization.

Every organization has two sources of supply of human resources such as internal source and external source. Internally, human resource for certain posts can be obtained through promotions and transfers.

In order to judge the internal supply of human resource in future human resource inventory or human resource audit is necessary. Human resource inventory assist to determining and evaluate the quantity of internal existing human resources.

Once the future internal supply is estimated, supply of external human resource is analyzed.

Estimating Manpower Gaps;

Manpower gaps can be clarified by matching the demand forecasts and supply forecasts. Such matching will show the deficit or surplus of human resources in future.

Deficit suggests the number of persons to be recruited from outside, whereas surplus implies redundant employees to be redeployed or terminated. 

Action Planning;

Once manpower gaps are identified, plans are prepared to bridge these gaps. Plans to meet the additional personnel may be redeployment in other departments of the organization and may be retrench.

People may be persuaded to quit voluntarily through a golden handshake. Deficit may be fulfill through recruitment & selection of the employees, transfer of the employees, and promotion of the employees.

If there is shortage of certain skilled employees, then organization has to take care not only about recruitment but also retention of present employees. Therefore, the organization should make a plan to retain the existing employees.

Modify the Organizational Plans;

If future supply of personnel is estimated to be inadequate or less than the requirement, then the manpower planner has to suggest the management regarding the alterations or modifications in the organizational plans.

Controlling and Review;

When the action plans are set and implemented, than human resource structure and the processes should be controlled and reviewed according to action plans.

Problems in HRP process

As the future is uncertain so there may be some problems in the process of human resource planning which can be grouped as;

Inefficient information system;

For making the successful human resource planning the human resource information system should be reliable and strong. In the absence of reliable data, it is not possible to develop effective HR planning.

Uncertainties;

Labor absenteeism, labor turnover, seasonal employment, technological changes and market fluctuations are some uncertainties which human resource planning process might have to face.

Inaccuracy;

Human resource planning is entirely dependent on HR forecasting and supply, which can not be cent per cent accurate process.

Time and Expense;

Some of the industries avoid the human resource planning because it is very time consuming and expensive.

Employee resistance;

Employees and their unions feel that the human resource planning increases their workload so they resist the process.

Human Resource Planning at Different Levels

Human resource planning is done at various levels according to their requirements. There are several levels of human resource planning according to different enterprises.

National Level;

Generally, central government plans human resources for the entire nation. It anticipates the demand and supply of human requirements at the national level.

Sectoral Level; 

Central and state governments also plan human resources requirements at sectoral level. It offer to meet the needs of some special sectors like Agriculture.

Industry Level; 

Different types of industries need the different types of personnel according to their nature of work. There are some personal requirements of the particular industries according to their nature of work.

These industries are such as Engineering, Heavy Industries, Paper Industries, Consumer Goods Industries, Public Utility Industries, Textiles, Cement, Chemical Industries, etc. Planning is executed to match personnel requirements of a particular industry.

Departmental Level;

This level of planning is done to fulfill the manpower needs of a particular department in a company, e.g. Marketing, Finance, and production departments etc.

Job Level;

This level of planning fulfills the human resources needs of a particular job family within department. For Example, the number of sales executives required in the marketing department of any organization.


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The purpose of Human Resource Planning process is to assure the availability of predetermined number of people required in the future.

By Maaz Anwar, ago

Training and Development

Training and Development Introduction

What is Training and Development?

Training and Development is a continuous process of skill development of the employees working for any organization in accordance with changing environment. It is a core function of the human resource management.

Training and development of employees is the process of obtaining quality output from employees. It is the most common and continuous task performed in almost every organization for updating skills and knowledge of employees.

Training and development for employees is essential because it improves their working skills, enhance knowledge and ability to perform their task effectively which results in the long running success of the organization.

Training and Development Meaning

Training and development in HRM is simply an organised process for enhancing the skills and knowledge of people for performing a particular job. It is a learning process involving the gaining and enhancing of skills and attitudes.

Training is continuous process because a person never stops learning. The purpose of training is to improve the current performance and to mold the behavior of people so that they can perform their jobs in a better way.

Development means growth of employees in all aspects which includes education, learning and training. The level of development of the employees is higher which concerns with the senior managers.

Training Definitions

  • According to Dale. S. Beach, “Training is a organised procedure in which people working for any firm learn knowledge and skill for definite purpose”.
  • According to Jucius, “Training term used here indicates only process by which the abilities, skills and aptitudes of employees are increased to perform specific jobs”.
  • According to Elppo, “Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skill of an employee for doing a particular job.

Training and Development Importance

There are various benefits of training and development to employees as well as the employers/organization. Some important training and development advantages are;

Training and Development Benefits to Employers

  • Increased Productivity. Increase in the skills of the employees, usually enhances quality and quantity output. Training increases the skills and efficiency of the employees for doing the job in a effective manner which results in the increment of the productivity.
  • Reduced Supervision. when the employees are well trained for their jobs than they can perform better even in the limited supervision.
  • Reduced Accidents. According to the survey, maximum accidents are caused due to the deficiencies in the skills of the people than the deficiencies in the working conditions. So proper training of employees reduces the chances of any accident.
  • Ensures flexibility and stability. Continuous and timely training of the employees make the organization more competent and enables it to overcome shortages of skilled personnel.
  • Economy in Operation. It is a well known fact trained personnel are capable of doing their tasks with care and caution. The wastage of time, energy, and materials is minimized and cost of production is reduced.

Training and Development Benefits for the Employees

  • Increase in morale of employees. Training enhances the morale of the employees by relating their skill with the job requirements. Training builds the confidence in the employees and they see their jobs in more meaningful ways.
  • More employment opportunities. A trained employee gets more employment opportunities as compared to untrained employee because every firm wants the trained and capable employees.
  • More adaptability. As the trained employee can better understand the nature of his job. And he can adapt the changes which are introduced in the working environment due to the changes in the market conditions.
  • Compensates incomplete education. At the time of joining the organization the employees have only theoretical knowledge about the work and training provides the practical knowledge to them, which makes the employee more efficient.
  • More chances of promotion. Training enhances the knowledge and skills of the employees which results in the more chances of promotion because the employees who have more knowledge and skills are considered more efficient as compared to employees who have less knowledge and skills.

Training and development Objectives

  • To increase productivity.
  • To develop first line supervisors to become a most effective mode of management.
  • To bring out more cordial relations, i.e. employee and employer relations.
  • To enhance morale of the employees and team spirit of the workers.
  • To enhance co-operation and co-ordination effectively at all levels.
  • To impact various social and supervisory skills.
  • To develop the people for higher performance by utilizing the knowledge, experience and inherent abilities.
  • To enhance knowledge and optimum use of resources.

Need of Training

Training acts as the bridges which connect the gap between the job requirements and employee’s present capabilities. Every organization should provide training to its workforce due to the technological changes and automation.

There is a need of training due to the following reason;

New Environment;

When a new employee comes to work he is unaware about the environment of the organization. Therefore, he should be given some training to make him familiar with his co-workers, superiors and company’s rules and regulation etc.

Such training is known as induction or orientation. It enables the new employee to obtain self confidence and to make him adjustable with the new environment. Training makes the new employees efficient.

Faculty Methods;

Due to lack of training some employees use inappropriate ways of doing work which will definitely result in wastage and inefficiency. Training is required to remove these defects.

This type of training may be called remedial training to employees which teaches them correct methods and behavior patterns.

Prevention of Accidents;

Training is needed to prevent industrial accidents. For this purpose, safety conscious must be created among the employees so that they realize the significance of safe working.

Moreover, they should be given instructions in the use of safety devices. Such training is known as safety training.

Career Development;

When persons working at lower levels are promoted to higher positions, they require training in the higher job. This is necessary to provide opportunity for advancements to the employees.

Such training may be described as promotional training. It simplifies the problem of executive succession and helps to ensure the continuity of the organization.

Types of Training

1. Vestibule Training;

This term is used to designate training in classroom for skilled production and clerical jobs. Under this method employees are trained in a special training center (vestibule) within the plant.

Training and development of employees

In vestibule training a working environment is created as like the actual work conditions of the work place. Then some qualified and trained instructors provide the training to the people carefully under the well planned and controlled learning conditions.

2. Apprenticeship Training;

In this method the trainees work as apprentices under the direct supervision of experts for a long period and some stipend is paid to them during the training period.

Trainees are imparted knowledge and skill in doing a particular crafts or a series of related job.

3. Job Rotation;

In this method the trainee moves from one job place to another, so that he can know to work on all the seats. This type of training is common for the employees of general management positions.

Under this method trainee understand the problems of the other seats while working on that seats. Such movement may be for the period ranging from 6 months to 2 years before a person is established in a particular job.

4. Internship Training;

This training basically helps to create the balance between the theoretical knowledge and the practical skills required to perform a particular job. It is combined effort of the educational institutions and business organizations.

In this method the theoretical knowledge is imparted by educational institutions and practical knowledge is imparted through business organizations.

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Recruitment and Selection

What is Recruitment and Selection?

Recruitment and Selection is the process of defining the requirements of the job vacancy, describing the essential need of the vacancy and the job holders, advertising for the required job position and picking the most desirable and suitable person for the job.

As human resources are very important for the achieving the organization goal and success. If the organization does not recruit or select the appropriate candidates for the required jobs than it can bear the lose in the future.

So, recruitment and selection of the right person for the right job is the key to success for any organization

Recruitment

Recruitment Meaning

Recruitment is a process of searching and attracting effective job seekers for employment. Recruitment of candidates is a function which takes place before the process of the selection, which helps to create a pool of prospective employees for the organization so that the management can choose the right person for the right job from this selected list.

Recruitment Definitions by Authors

According to Dalton E. Mc. Farland, ” The term recruitment applies to the process of attracting potential employees to the company”.

According to Edwin B. Flippo, ” Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization”.

Recruitment Needs

Planned. i.e. the needs arising from changes in the organization and retirement policy.

Anticipated. i.e. these needs are those activities, which an organization can predict by analyzing trends in internal and external environment.

Unexpected. i.e. resignation, deaths, accidents, illness, etc. give rise to unexpected needs.

After recruitment process is done than immediately selection process starts i.e. the final interviews and the decision making, conveying the decision and the appointment formalities.

Recruitment Sources

Every organization has the option to choose the candidates for recruitment process from two types of recruitment: internal and external sources.

The sources which take place within the organization (like transfer of employees from one department to other, promotions, etc) to fill a desired position are known as internal sources of recruitment.

Recruiting candidates from all other sources which take place outside the organization (like outsourcing agencies etc) are known as external sources of recruitment.

Internal Sources of Recruitment
  • Transfers. According to the need the employees are transferred within the organization from one department to another according to their knowledge and experience.
  • Promotions. Some employees are promoted in the organization with more benefits and greater responsibilities based on their skills and experience.
  • Upgrading and Demotion of current employees in the organization according to their work performance.
  • Any time if there is a need than some Retired and Retrenched employees can also be recruited again if there is shortage of skilled and qualified people or increase in load of work. This type of recruitment saves time and costs of the organization as these people are already aware about the organizational culture, policies and procedures.
  • Many companies also recruit some dependents and relatives of Deceased and Disabled employees so that the family members of these employees do not become dependent on others.
External Sources of Recruitment
  • Press Advertisement. Advertisement of the vacancies in newspapers and journals are a widely used source of recruitment. It is a widely reached method in a short span of time.
  • Educational Institutes. Various management institutes, engineering colleges, medical colleges, etc are good source of recruiting the best talent. They provide the facilities for interviews and placements in the campus and due to which it is known as campus recruitment.
  • Placement Agencies. There are many private consultancy firms who perform recruitment for their client companies by charging a fee. It is known as RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing).
  • Employment Exchanges. Government organizes public employment exchange program throughout the country. They provide information about the job to the job seekers and help the employers to identifying desired candidates.
  • Manual workers can be recruited through contractors who maintain contacts with the sources of such workers. The labor for the construction jobs are recruited through this method.
  • Unsolicited Applicants. Many job seekers visit the office of some reputed companies for the job by their own. This can help in creating the talent pool or to get the desirable candidate for the job.
  • Employee Referrals / Recommendation. In many organization there is a system where the current employees of the organization can refer their friends, family members and relatives for some positions in their organization.
  • Recruitment at Factory Gate. Some workers are recruited at the factory gate and this type of workers are unskilled workers who are employed whenever a permanent worker is absent. And some of them may be recruited to fill permanent vacancies according to their efficiency and skills.
  • Internships. In this process various students got a chance to gain and obtain a valuable work experience working with the organization. In this way the organization can also get the candidates who will be suitable for the various vacant posts in the organization.
  • E-Recruitment. It is also known as online recruitment as it is the process of finding and hiring the suitable and desired candidates for the vacant job positions through internet. Nowadays, almost every organization make use of the internet to reach a large number of job seekers and hire the best talent for the company.

Selection

Selection Meaning

Selection is the process by which candidates for employment are distinguished between those who are suitable for the position and those who are not.

When the process of selection is done than the organization gets the most suitable persons who possess the ability, qualifications and skills to perform on the required posts for which they are selected.

recruitment and selection of employees

In a selection process more candidates are rejected and less of them are selected, so it can also be called rejection. This is the reason why selection is called a negative process.

Selection Definitions by Authors

According to Dale Yoder, “Selection is the process in which candidates for employment are divided into two classes, those who are to be offered employment and those who are not”.

According to Terry, “Selection involves a series of steps by which candidates are screened for choosing the most suitable persons for vacant jobs in the organization”.

Difference between Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment and Selection in Human Resource Management can be distinguished as follows;

BASISRECRUITMENTSELECTION
MeaningSearching candidates to
apply for particular job.		It is appointing the employees
on the right job.
NatureIt is positive process.It is negative process.
AimTo attract more and more
candidates for the vacant job.		To reject unsuitable candidate
and select suitable candidate
for the job.
ContractNo contractual relation is
created.		Contractual relation is created
in the selection process.
SequenceIt precedes the selection.It follows the recruitment
ProcessIt is simple process.It is complicated process.
EconomyIt is economical.It is expensive.
TimeIt is less time consuming.It is more time consuming.


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Conclusion

The success of any organization depends upon its employees. If the organization has optimum and perfect employees than the organization will enjoy the benefits of its unbeatable success.

Recruitment and Selection help the organization to choose the right candidate for the right job. And it helps in reducing the losses of any organization.

By Maaz Anwar, ago