resources management consists of all the activities involved in acquiring, maintaining, and developing an organization’s human resources.
Each
of the three phases of HRM—acquiring, maintaining, and developing human resources—consists of a number of related activities.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Acquisition includes five separate activities. Human resources planning —determining the firm’s future human resource needs Job analysis —determining the exact nature of positions to be filled Recruiting —attracting people to apply for positions in the firm Selection—choosing and hiring the most qualified applicants Orientation—acquainting new employees with the firm
Maintaining human resources consists primarily of encouraging employees to remain with the firm and to work effectively. Typical activities emphasize employee relations, compensation, and benefits to reward employee effort.
The development phase of HRM is concerned with improving employees’ skills and expanding their capabilities. There are two important activities in this phase. 1. Training and development —teaching employees new skills, new jobs, and more effective ways of doing their present jobs 2. Performance appraisal —assessing employees’ current and potential performance levels
In general, human resources management is a shared responsibility of line managers and staff HRM specialists. 1. In very small organizations, the owner handles all or most HRM activities. 2. As the firm grows, a human resources manager is hired to take over most of the staff responsibilities. 3. As growth continues, additional staff positions are added as needed.
4. In large firms, HRM activities tend to be very highly specialized. a. Human resources planning and job analysis are usually done by staff specialists, with input from line managers. b. Recruiting and selection are generally handled by staff experts, although line managers are involved in the actual hiring decisions. c.