Personnel management is concerned
with the effective use of the skills of people. They may be salespeople in a
store, clerks in an office, operators in a factory, or technicians in a research
laboratory. In a business, personnel management starts with the recruiting and
hiring of qualified people and continues with directing and encouraging their
growth as they encounter problems and tensions that arise in working toward
established goals.
In addition to recruiting and hiring, some of the responsibilities of a
personnel manager are:
1. To classify jobs and prepare wage and salary scales.
2. To counsel employees.
3. To deal with disciplinary problems.
4. To negotiate with labor unions and service union contracts.
5. To develop safety standards and practices.
6. To manage benefit programs, such as group insurance, health, and
retirement plans.
7. To provide for periodic reviews of the performance of each
individual employee, and for recognition of his or her strengths and needs for
further development.
8. To assist individuals in their efforts to develop and qualify for
more advanced jobs.
9. To plan and supervise training programs.
10. To keep abreast of developments in personnel management.
To understand the personnel manager's job think of how you would deal with
the following examples of challenging employee situations:
- The firm's employees - especially the most qualified ones - can get
comparable, if not better jobs with other employers.
- When a firm faces a scarcity of supervisory and specialized personnel with
adequate experience and job capabilities, it has to train and develop its
own people. This can be time consuming and expensive.
- The cost of hiring and training employees at all levels is increasing, for
instance, several thousand dollars for a salesperson. A mistake in hiring or
in slow and inefficient methods of training can be costly.
- Personnel managers must comply with the law by employing, training and
promoting women and persons from minority groups. The problem in doing so is
that many of these employees have not had appropriate experience and
education in the past.
- Most employees, whether or not represented by labour unions, continue to
seek improvements in direct compensation, employee benefits, and working
conditions. All commitments must be based upon what the firm can afford,
comply with current practices of other employers, and be understood and
accepted by the employee. To do this, all employee policies and operating
procedures should be developed and negotiated with great care.
- Some employees may not perform satisfactorily simply because their firm
offers competitive compensation, benefits, and working conditions. In
addition to these financial or physical compensations, they want
responsibility, the opportunity to develop, and recognition of
accomplishment in their jobs.
- The law have established requirements for pension and other benefit plans. Complying with such changes
presents real challenges.
- Personnel management works to achieve practical solutions to such
problems. In large firms, it generally provides support to line management.
In this staff capacity, the personnel department has the responsibility to
develop and implement policies, procedures, and programs for recruitment,
selection, training, placement, safety, employee benefits and services,
compensation, labour relations, organization planning, and employee
development.
- Often, the owner-manager of a firm also has to be the personnel manager.
In such a case it is necessary to have an overview of current trends and
practices in personnel management.
All small businesses must staff their operations. This involves bringing new
people into the business and making sure they are productive additions to the
enterprise. Effective human resource management matches and develops the
abilities of job candidates and employees with the needs of the firm. A
responsive personnel system will assist you in this process and is a key
ingredient for growth.
Human resource management is a balancing act. At one extreme, you hire only
qualified people who are well suited to the firm's needs. At the other extreme,
you train and develop employees to meet the firm's needs. Most expanding small
businesses fall between the two extremes i.e., they hire the best people they
can find and afford, and they also recognize the need to train and develop both
current and new employees as the firm grows.
One function of personnel management deals with how to hire and train the
right people and addresses the characteristics of an effective personnel system,
such as:
- Assessing personnel needs.
- Recruiting personnel.
- Screening personnel.
- Selecting and hiring personnel.
- Orienting new employees to the business.
- Deciding compensation issues.
Another function addresses the training and development side of human
resource management. A third function deals with how the personnel system and
the training and development functions come together to build employee trust and
productivity. These three functions stress the importance of a good human
resource management climate and provide specific guidelines for creating such a
climate.
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