LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Developing the basic ability to assist HR departments in fulfilling human resource

functions, particularly related to recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, and training.

• Developing skills to conduct job analysis that could form the basis of selection instruments
as well as performance appraisal system.

• Developing multi-cultural understanding of HRM and sensitivity towards diversity.

UNIT 1
• Introduction to Human Resource Management (HRM): Strategic and traditional HRM;
HRM and HRD, Issues in HRM
UNIT 2
• Person-Organization Fit: Job analysis; Recruitment and Selection; Performance
Appraisal
UNIT 3
• Human Resource Development: Training (Identification of training needs; Techniques of
training; Evaluation of training); Organizational Development (any one model and
techniques)
UNIT 4
• International human resource management (IHRM): The Context of Globalization;
Understanding Cultural differences (Hofstede); Policies and Practices in the
Multinational Enterprise; Expatriate Failure
REFERENCES

• Dessler, G., &Varkkey, B. (2011). Human Resource Management (12th Edition). New Delhi,
India: Pearson Education.

• Briscoe, D. R., Schuler, R. S. & Claus, L. (2009). International Human Resource Management:
Policies and Practices for Multinational Enterprises. (3rd Edition). New York: Routledge.

• DeCenzo, D.A. & Robbins, S.P. (2006). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. (8th
Edition). New York: Wiley.
 What Is Human Resource Management?

An organization consists of people with formally assigned roles who work together to
achieve the organizations goals.

A manager is the person responsible for accomplishing the organizations goals, who does so
by managing the efforts of the organizations people.

Most experts agree that managing involves five functions:

• Planning,
• Organizing,
• Staffing,
• Leading,
• Controlling.
 What Is Human Resource Management?

* Planning.
• Establishing goals and standards; developing rules and procedures; developing plans and
forecasting.
* Organizing.
• Giving each subordinate a specific task; establishing departments; delegating authority
to subordinates; establishing channels of authority and communication; coordinating
subordinates work.
* Staffing.
• Determining what type of people you should hire;
• Recruiting prospective employees;
• Selecting employees; training and developing employees; setting performance
standards; evaluating performance; counseling employees; compensating employees.
 What Is Human Resource Management?

* Leading.
• Getting others to get the job done; maintaining morale; motivating subordinates.

* Controlling.
• Setting standards such as sales quotas, quality standards, or production levels; checking
to see how actual performance compares with these standards; taking corrective action,
as needed.
 What Is Human Resource Management?

Human resource management

• Is the process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating employees, and of

attending to their labor relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns.
• The main objective of human resource management is to procure the right people for the
right job in an organization.
• Apart from that, it aims at developing and maintaining a competent workforce managing
them simultaneously in a way that organizational goals are achieved.
 What Is Human Resource Management?

Goals of Human Resource Management includes:

• * Conducting job analyses (determining the nature of each employee s job)

• * Planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates
• * Selecting job candidates
• * Orienting and training new employees
• * Managing wages and salaries (compensating employees)
• * Providing incentives and benefits
• * Appraising performance
• * Communicating (interviewing, counseling, disciplining)
• * Training and developing managers
• * Building employee commitment
The HRM Functions
 The HRM Functions

Core Functions of HR Management:

Planning

• Planning involves determining the organization’s goals and objectives and creating a
strategic plan to achieve them.
• For HR, this means procurement of the right personnel for the right jobs.
• But first they need to evaluate and keep track of the number of people employed, number
of vacancies, whether the company is facing shortage or has excess staff and selecting
candidates with the right qualifications required to fill those vacant positions.
 The HRM Functions

Core Functions of HR Management:

Job analysis

• Job analysis is what provides the basis for staff recruitment, training, and development.
• It involves identifying the inherent job requirement, meaning what the job role demands
of the candidate.
• Mapping out profiles with details of the skills required responsibilities and duties of the
candidate helps in the recruitment and selection process.
• Additionally, it also helps identify the necessary training that needs to be provided to
candidates to help them upskill as well as thrive in the role.
 The HRM Functions

Core Functions of HR Management:

Job Evaluation
• Every organization has different hierarchical level roles with distinct, complex
responsibilities associated with each of them.
• The roles are graded and ranked based on their nature and level of complexity and
appropriate pay is determined and fixed as seen suitable for the particular role.

Recruitment and Selection

• To recruit the right candidates, you need to explore diverse sources.
• The employer brand identity also plays a key role in the recruitment process as most
candidates base their decision on brand identity.
• Because a strong brand speaks volumes about its reputation and can attract top tier
candidates much easily and procure a better-quality workforce.
 The HRM Functions

Core Functions of HR Management:

Recruitment and Selection

• Once you have a list of potential candidates with the desired educational qualifications
and the right skills, you need to start the selection process.
• This involves rigorous screening of profiles of the potential candidates list.
• The screening procedure can include reviewing of application letters, background checks,
reference checks, a screening test with a set of questions to assess the candidate’s skills
relevant to the job, and other assessments as required by the hiring manager.
 The HRM Functions

Key Functions of the Human Resource Management

Orientation and Placement

• Post the recruitment and selection process, the HRM is to organize an
induction/orientation program.
• During this process, the candidate is required to fill out certain paperwork that could
include personal information, previous employment information as well as confirming
their status about taking up the position in your company.
• In the orientation program, the candidate is made aware of the values, goals, and
objectives of the organization.
Placement
• involves the settling of the candidate into their designated role at the organization. They
are assigned tasks, duties and responsibilities that encompass the job role.
• The newly appointed employees are briefed about the departmental goals and what is
expected of the employee to help achieve those goals.
 The HRM Functions

Key Functions of the Human Resource Management

Training and development

• Every candidate, even the best of the lot, requires a certain degree of training to perform
their best at their roles.
• Once the candidate is placed in their respective job roles, in order to ensure job efficiency,
you must identify their strengths and weaknesses and provide them with the required
training necessary.
• The changing technological landscape demands everyone to be at their intellectual best if
they are hoping to excel at their work.
• Training and development programs can help upskill candidates with new skills to keep up
with the dynamic needs of the job.
 The HRM Functions

Key Functions of the Human Resource Management

Performance Appraisal
• Employee performance appraisals are crucial for determining the candidate’s performance
at their job roles.
• The evaluation of their performance gives the management insights into whether they
meet the standard level or need extra training to improve their performance.
• Performance appraisal also helps in determining their eligibility for promotions or pay
hikes.

Employee compensation and benefits

• One of the biggest motivators for every employee is attractive compensations and
benefits. Providing candidates with bonuses and fair compensation for a job well done.
• The objective here is to incentivize the employees to perform their duties at an optimum
level to derive the best results. HRM determines the salaries and wages to be paid as well
as rewards to better performing employees.
 The HRM Functions

Key Functions of the Human Resource Management

Motivation, Employee welfare, health, and safety

• As a department dedicated to overlooking the welfare of employees, the HRM of an
organization must focus on providing a safer, cleaner, healthier environment by
eliminating any workplace hazards.
• Implementation of flexible working hours, encouraging employees to take paid time off
are some ways to motivate their morale to become more productive.
Industrial Relations
• As mentioned under Employee workplace relations in our previous segment, the HRM
should play a proactive role in resolving disputes and addressing grievances as and when
needed.
• It is absolutely critical for the HR department to strike a balance between the employees
and the management to achieve a high level of employee satisfaction as well as
workplace efficiency.
 What Is Human Resource Management?

Structure of the HR Department

HRM department usually includes four distinct areas:
(1) employment, (2) training and development, (3) compensation/benefits, and (4) employee relations
 What Is strategic Human Resource Management?

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a process of managing human resources

that links the workforce with the core strategies, objectives, and goals of an organization.

It focuses on the following aspects of HR operations:

• Ensuring practices that foster flexibility and give a competitive advantage to the
organization
• Building a cultural fit for the organization
• Ensuring superior business performance
 What Is strategic Human Resource Management?

In this strategic framework, the focus shifts from merely filling positions to strategically
acquiring and developing talent that can serve as catalysts for organizational advancement.
• The process entails forecasting future workforce needs, identifying skill gaps, and
implementing initiatives to bridge these gaps.

It extends further to the realm of talent development and succession planning, ensuring a
pipeline of capable leaders who can navigate the company through changing times.
 What Is strategic Human Resource Management?

Since it is essentially a contemporary approach to human resource management, the HR

department has to play a key role in making SHRM successful.

HR managers need to gain a deeper understanding of SHRM in order to be an active partners in

creating company policies and implementing them.

Strategic HR management can be integrated into various functions including hiring, training,
and rewarding the workforce for their performance.

The SHRM approach finds ways for the HR personnel to make a positive and direct
contribution to the company’s growth.

There has to be a strategic plan related to every employee’s development and retention in
sync with the long-term business goals.
 Why Strategic Human Resources Is Important

How does SHRM work?

You will need to create a strategic HR planning process following these steps.

• Cultivate an in-depth understanding of the organization’s objectives

• Assess the capabilities of the HR team
• Analyse the existing HR strength in view of your objectives
• Assess the HR needs for the business as it grows
• Find out what technology or resources employees need to perform well
• Check for effectiveness and take corrective actions wherever needed
What is human resource development?
 What is human resource development?

“a process for developing and unleashing human expertise through training and
development and organization development for the purpose of improving performance.”

Learning is at the core of all HRD efforts

Jacobs and Park define workplace learning as

• “the process used by individuals when engaged in training programs, education and
development courses, or some type of experiential learning activity for the purpose of
acquiring the competence necessary to meet current and future work requirements.”
 What is human resource development?

Human resource development (HRD) can be defined as

• A set of systematic and planned activities designed by an organization to provide its
members with the opportunities to learn necessary skills to meet current and future job
demands.
HRD seeks to develop people’s
• “Knowledge, expertise, productivity, and satisfaction, whether for personal or
group/team gain, or for the benefit of an organization, community, nation, or, ultimately,
the whole of humanity.”
HRD activities
• Should begin when an employee joins an organization and continue throughout his or
her career, regardless of whether that employee is an executive or a worker on an
assembly line.
HRD programs
• Must respond to job changes and integrate the long-term plans and strategies of the
organization to ensure the efficient and effective use of resources.
 What is human resource development?

McLagan identified three primary HRD functions:

• (1) training and development,
• (2) organization development, and
• (3) career development.

Training and Development (T&D)

• Training and development (often abbreviated as T&D) focuses on changing or

improving the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of individuals.
• Training typically involves providing employees the knowledge and skills needed to do
a particular task
 What is human resource development?

Training and development (T&D)

• Focuses on changing or improving the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of individuals.

• T&D activities begin when a new employee enters the organization, usually in the form
of employee orientation and skills training.

Training

• Involves providing employees the knowledge and skills needed to do a particular task or
job, though attitude change may also be attempted (e.g., In sexual harassment training).

Developmental activities,

• Have a longer-term focus on preparing for future work responsibilities while also
increasing the capacities of employees to perform their current jobs.
 What is human resource development?

Training and development (T&D)

• Once new employees have become proficient in their jobs, HRD activities should focus
more on developmental activities—specifically,
• Coaching
• Counseling.

In the coaching process,

• Individuals are encouraged to accept responsibility for their actions,

• to address any work-related problems, and
• to achieve and sustain superior levels of performance.
• Coaching involves treating employees as partners in achieving both personal and
organizational goals.
 What is human resource development?

Training and Development (T&D)

Counseling techniques
• are used to help employees deal with personal problems that may interfere with the
achievement of these goals.
• Counseling programs may address such issues as substance abuse, stress management,
smoking cessation, or fitness, nutrition, and weight control.
HRD professionals are also responsible for coordinating management training and
development programs to ensure that managers and supervisors have the knowledge and
skills necessary to be effective in their positions.
• These programs may include supervisory training, job rotation, seminars, or college and
university courses.
 What is human resource development?

Organization development

• The process of enhancing the effectiveness of an organization and the well-being of its
members through planned interventions that apply behavioral science concepts.
• OD emphasizes both macro and micro organizational changes: macro changes are
intended to ultimately improve the effectiveness of the organization as a whole, whereas
micro changes are directed at individuals, small groups, and teams.

For example,

• Changes in organizational structure

• Making more use of technology in day to day operations
 What is human resource development?

Career Development
• Career development is “an ongoing process by which individuals progress through a series
of stages, each of which is characterized by a relatively unique set of issues, themes, and
tasks.”
Career development involves two distinct processes:
• career planning and career management.

Career planning involves

• activities performed by an individual, often with the assistance of counselors and others, to
assess his or her skills and abilities in order to establish a realistic career plan.
Career management involves
• taking the necessary steps to achieve that plan, and generally focuses more on what an
organization can do to foster employee career development.
Issues/challenges in human resource
management
 Issues in human resource management

1. Workforce diversity

• A heterogeneous mix of males and females, whites and people of color, homosexuals and
straights, many ethnic and religious groups, the disabled, and the elderly.
• Challenge is to make organizations more accommodating to diverse groups of people by
addressing different lifestyles, family needs, and work styles.
• Develop awareness through training, books, videos, and articles.
• Use outside speakers and consultants, as well as internal resources, to determine how to
motivate and maximize the skills of a diverse workforce.
• Workforce diversity requires employers to be more sensitive to the differences that each
group brings to the work setting avoid any practice or action that can be interpreted as
being sexist, racist, or offensive to any particular group and, of course, must not illegally
discriminate against any employee.
 Issues in human resource management
2. Labor Supply

Shortage of Skilled Labor

• In times of labor shortage, good wages and benefits aren’t always enough to hire and
retain skilled employees.
• Human resource managers need sophisticated recruitment and retention strategies and
need to understand human behavior.
• In tight labor markets, managers who don’t understand human behavior and fail to treat
their employees properly, risk having no one to manage
 Issues in human resource management
2. Labor Supply

Lay Off Employees During Shortages

• Downsizing: An activity in an organization aimed at creating greater efficiency by

eliminating certain jobs.
• When organizations become overstaffed, they will likely cut jobs. At the same time, they
are likely to increase staff if doing so adds value to the organization. A better term for this
organizational action, then, might be rightsizing.
• Rightsizing promotes greater use of outside firms for providing necessary products and
services—called outsourcing— in an effort to remain flexible and responsive to the ever-
changing work environment
 Issues in human resource management
2. Labor Supply

Balance labor supply

• Organizations can save money and increase their flexibility by converting many jobs into
temporary or part-time positions, giving rise to what is commonly referred to as the
contingent workforce

Contingent workforce

• The part-time, temporary, and contract workers used by organizations to fill peak staffing
needs or perform work not done by core employees
 Issues in human resource management
2. Labor Supply

Part-Time Employees
• Part-time employees are those who work fewer than 40 hours a week.
• For example, the bank staff that expects its heaviest clientele between 10 A.M. and 2
P.M. may bring in part-time tellers for those four hours

Temporary Employees
• Temporary employees, such as part-timers, are generally employed during peak
production periods.

Contract Workers
• Contract workers, subcontractors, and consultants (who may be referred to as
freelancers) are contracted by organizations to work on specific projects
 Issues in human resource management
3. Continuous Improvement Programs

HRM must prepare individuals for the change.

• This requires clear and extensive communication of why the change will occur, what is
expected, and its effects on employees.
• Improvement efforts may change work patterns, operations, and even reporting
relationships.
• Because change and fear are often associated, employees may create barriers to change.
• HRM must be ready to help affected employees overcome their resistance.
 Issues in human resource management
3. Continuous Improvement Programs

1. Intense focus on the customer.

• The customer includes not only outsiders who buy the organization’s products or services
but also internal customers (such as shipping or accounts payable personnel) who interact
with and serve others in the organization.

2. Concern for continuous improvement.

• Continuous improvement is a commitment to never being satisfied. “Very good” is not
good enough. Quality can always be improved.

3. Improvement in the quality of everything the organization does.

• Continuous improvement uses a broad definition of quality. It relates not only to the final
product but also to how the organization handles deliveries, how rapidly it responds to
complaints, how politely the phones are answered, and the like.
 Issues in human resource management
3. Continuous Improvement Programs

4. Accurate measurement.

• Continuous improvement uses statistical techniques to measure every critical variable in

the organization’s operations.
• These are compared against standards, or benchmarks, to identify problems, trace them to
their roots, and eliminate their causes.

5. Empowerment of employees.

• Continuous improvement involves the people on the line in the improvement process.
• Teams are widely used in continuous improvement programs as empowerment vehicles for
finding and solving problems.
 Issues in human resource management

4. Employee involvement
• Many companies today require their employees to do more, faster, and better, with less.
• By and large for today’s workers to be successful, a few necessary employee involvement
concepts appear to be accepted.
• These are delegation, participative management, work teams, goal setting, and employer
training—the empowering of employees

5. Recession
• In 2001 (dot com bubble) and again in 2008 (housing bubble), most developed countries
suffered an economic recession.
• Layoffs top the list of difficult HR tasks, but they are not the only ones.
• Morale suffers as employees that survive layoffs feel fear and resentment.
• Retraining becomes necessary as retained workers assume increased responsibilities.
 Issues in human resource management

6. Offshoring

• The process of moving jobs to another country for economic reasons. Instead, many
manufacturing jobs are lost to more efficient production methods such as robotics and
computerized tooling
• Employers see offshoring as a necessity in order to compete in a global economy and
find necessary skills, lower labor costs, and reduced costs of distribution.
• Jobs frequently offshored include services that can be delivered electronically such as
an overseas radiologist reading
• X-rays e-mailed in the middle of the night or an accountant in India doing work to help a
busy C.P.A. Firm in the united states during tax season
 Issues in human resource management

7. Mergers and acquisitions

• Merger: Joining ownership of two organizations.

• Acquisition: The transfer of ownership and control of one organization to another.

Mergers are a common way for businesses to enter new or global markets, acquire new
technology, or gain a financial advantage by achieving economies of scale.
• Many mergers, possibly as many as three out of four, fail to achieve their objectives for
financial or strategic gain.
• Many of the reasons for those failures can be traced to the lack of attention to the human
resource function in the merger process.

For example,

• Hewlett Packard merged with Compaq, customers were lost as employees became more
focused on keeping their jobs rather than serving their customers
 Issues in human resource management

8. Ethics

• Ethics commonly refers to a set of rules or principles that define right and wrong conduct
• Codes of ethics are an increasingly popular tool for attempting to reduce that ambiguity.
• A code of ethics is a formal document that states an organization’s primary values and the
ethical rules it expects managers and operative employees to follow.
• Their effectiveness depends heavily on whether management supports them, ingrains
them into the corporate culture, and how individuals who break the codes are treated.
 Issues in human resource management

9. Globalization and Competition Trends

• Globalization refers to the tendency of firms to extend their sales, ownership, and/or
manufacturing to new markets abroad. Examples surround us. Toyota produces the Camry
in Kentucky, while Dell produces PCs in China.
• Free trade areas agreements that reduce tariffs and barriers among trading partners
further encourage international trade.
• NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) and the EU (European Union) are
examples globalization means more competition, and more competition means more
pressure to be world-class to lower costs, to make employees more productive, and to do
things better and less expensively.
• For consumers it means lower prices and higher quality on products from computers to
cars, but for workers it means the prospect of working harder, and perhaps less secure jobs.
 Issues in human resource management

10. Technological Trends

• Everyone knows that technology changed almost everything we do. We use smartphones
and iPads to communicate with the office, and to plan trips, manage money, and look for
local eateries.
• An effective solution is to communicate all such technological changes with your employees
while providing all the necessary training to make them familiar with it.
• We also increasingly use technology for many human resource management type
applications, such as looking for jobs.

Facebook recruiting is one example.

• According to Facebook s Facebook recruiting site, employers start the process by installing
the Careers Tab on their Facebook page.
• Once installed, companies have a seamless way to recruit and promote job listings from
directly within Facebook.
 Issues in human resource management

11. Implement A Data-Driven Environment To Support Work-Life Balances

One significant challenge is striking a balance between organizational goals and employee well-
being.

Leaders should prioritize open communication, actively seek feedback from employees and foster
a culture of trust.

Implementing data-driven decision-making and promoting a growth mindset can help align
individual goals with organizational objectives, ultimately achieving a harmonious and productive
work environment.
 Issues in human resource management

12. Development of Leadership

Leadership development is among the most common human resource management

challenges faced by companies at present.

Most companies overlook the need of putting the effort in training and grooming employees
to help them develop their leadership potential as well as necessary career skills, which
affects the work environment negatively.

The solution is to provide training opportunities to talented employees on a regular basis to

help them reach their real potential
 Issues in human resource management

13. Compliance with Ever-changing Laws and Regulations

Ever-changing laws and regulations constitute another very common human resource
management challenge, especially since many companies find it difficult to keep themselves up
to date with such laws.

Non-compliance of laws can lead to your company’s entanglement in lawsuits or even lead to a
shutdown.

Therefore, it is extremely important to be aware of all the changes in laws that can affect your
business or company and also familiarizing your employees with such laws, be it employee
regulations or general workplace laws.
 What Is Human Resource Management?

THE TRENDS
SHAPING HUMAN
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT