Human resource management is crucial to the success of contemporary organizations. It has increasingly become a critical competitive strategy for companies as the field rapidly evolves. Contemporary organizations are investing on people because they are vital in gaining a competitive edge especially in a market where the consumers are becoming concerned with how fast they receive feedback and the experiences they get from an organization. Organizations are investing in HRM practices such as human resource development as well as the selection and recruitment. They are spending large sums of money to ensure that HRM meets the current and future needs of the organizations. Google has been credited for changing HRM practices and their application in firms. The company is considered as among the best organizations to work for and reports among the best recruitment and selection strategies. In the modern organizations, HRM practices are integrated with the strategic goals of the company and are essential towards the achievement of strategic goals (Armstrong, 2006). This essay seeks to analyze the scope, purpose, and functions of HRM relating to workplace planning and resourcing, assess how the functions help meet business objectives, evaluate and asses the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches of recruitment and use examples to explain the strengths and weakness. The essay will also use Google as an example to explain the benefit of HRM practices to both the employee and employers, effectiveness of HRM in ensuring and enhancing profitability as well as different HRM practices and their application at Google.
Scope, Purpose, and Functions of HRM
Scope
The scope of HRM is wide and encompasses various activities. This is because HRM is in charge of all operations from when a worker joins a company to when he is fired, leaves or retires. Relating to workplace planning and resourcing, the scope of HR are planning and recruitment and selection. The primary objective of HR is to ensure that the organization has the right kind of people with the right skills at the right time. It prepares an inventory of human resources and assesses the current and future needs of the organization and the availability of personnel to meet these needs. It forecasts the demand and supply of human capital and develops both long-term and short-term strategies to meet needs and wants with regards to human capital. Resourcing entails the activities of selection and recruitment (Storey, 2007). This is matching individual’s skills and expectations to the available opportunities within the organization.
Purpose
The primary purpose of HRM is to maximize the productivity of the organization by utilizing the employees. It views employees as business assets and also as internal customers. The main purpose of HR planning is to outline the needs of the organization through maintaining human capital inventory while resourcing seeks to ensure that the organization gets the right people to meet the needs of the organization.
Functions
Human resource management plays a key role in helping organizations meet the dynamic challenges in the increasingly competitive market. The increase in staff numbers, diversification, and demographic profiles have prompted for the reconfiguration of HRM roles within organizations in a bid to ensure that the functions are responsive to the needs of the organization and can play a proactive role in the reshaping organizational goals. Among the key functions of human resource are managerial, operative and advisory. Managerial functions require the human resource manager to perform the four functions of management which are planning, organizing, directing and controlling. Operative functions are those allocated solely to the HRM department. This functions may include compensation, performance appraisal, hiring, firing, welfare, personnel records, motivation among others. Lastly, advisory functions refer to advising the senior management and departmental heads with regards to human resource.
HRM Functions in Providing Skills and Talent to Meet Organizational Objectives
HRM plays a crucial role towards the achievement of organizational goals through the functions of HR planning, human resource development, performance management, compensation and reward systems and recruitment and staffing. These functions are under the operative tasks which are allocated to the human resource development. Through the functions of planning, the human resource can identify the needs and wants of an organization. While identifying the needs, the human resource manager also identifies the skills and talents needed to meet these needs. The needs identified are usually based on the organization’s objective and must be able to help the organization realize its objectives. After the identification of the needs and objectives, an organization may seek to meet these needs through utilizing the existing personnel or may bring in new personnel. An organization that seeks to employ its existing personnel to meet the identified needs and wants will utilize human resource development. This entails the training and development of employees to equip them with the necessary skills that are crucial to help the organization meet its objectives.
Along with HR planning and human resource development, recruitment and selection can be used by the organization to meet the skills and talent needed by the organization. Strategic recruitment and selection analyze person-organization fit. Therefore, the process aims at selecting the applicant that fits within the organization as opposed to one who fits the job. Strategic recruitment and selection integrate the process of recruitment and selection with the strategic goal of the organization allowing for appropriate specification (Bagga and Srivastava, 2014). Therefore, the objectives of the applicant and those of the organizations must align to ensure effectiveness.
Compensation and reward systems may also be used to help the organization attract and retain the needed skills and talent to accomplish organizational goals. Strategic compensation and reward systems need to be adopted to help the business align its policies on compensation with the organization’s objective. When employees are compensated for their effort, they are motivated to work towards the achievement of organizational goals.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Different Selection and Recruitment Approaches
Recruitments and selection are key functions of human resource that bring on board key skills and talents needed. Recruitment refers to the attempt to locate and entice potential applicants to apply for job openings that have been advertised. Selection, on the other hand, refers to the various steps involved in the screening of applicants to choose the most suited for the advertised positions. Two approaches to recruitment and selection are internal and external recruitment processes. Internal recruitment refers to filling employment opportunities from within the organization. The main source of internal recruitment are the permanent employees, contractual employees, interns, trainees and retired employees. The organization advertises job positions internally and give these employees a chance to apply. Some of the advertised positions allow the current employees to rise the ranks and allow contractual employees to apply for permanent positions.
The internal recruitment process has key strengths that make it preferable to some organizations. One key strength of this recruitment process is it allows for succession planning. It is usually easier to fill a vacant position from the current pool of subordinate. This because it allows for mentoring of the position aspirants. Internal recruitment also means that the organization does not have to spend too much time and resources on training the employee on key organizational skills. This is because the applicants are all conversant with the operation of the organization. However, internal recruitment may deny the organization an opportunity to get innovative people from outside (Catano, 2009). An internal employee may be accustomed to the status quo and, therefore, do not bring anything new to the organization.
External recruitment is a recruitment approach where the organization advertises vacant positions and invites applicants to apply for the positions. The advertisements may use various channels such as the organization’s website, job sites, television and print media. There are various types of external recruitment such as graduate trainee programs or where an organization can profile a potential candidate while still in school and develop them till they join their organization as well as the creation of pools of potential candidates. The key strength of the external approach is that it brings in new blood which may lead to innovation. However, one key weakness is that the organization has to spend time and resources to train the new employees. They may also take a relatively long time before they find their fit into the organization.
Critical Evaluation
Quick decisions are among the key strength of internal recruitment processes. There are usually guidelines that guide the recruitment and selection among the existing employees. This includes procedures for promotion. Therefore, in the case of promotion, the organization has clear guidelines on succession which makes filling out of the position to be fast. Internal recruitment process also increases job effectiveness. This is because most of the positions are usually an upgrade for the employee. Therefore, these employees work hard as they consider these positions a reward. Some of positions to other departments as work shift programs also increases effectiveness. For example, an employee who gets promoted to a junior partner in a law firm will work hard to bring in more clients because they feel that they have to prove that they deserved the promotion.
The weakness of the internal recruitment process are that the employees do not bring anything new to the organization. Therefore, the status quo remains and everything runs as normal. Innovation is key towards the success of an organization. The current market is dynamic and, therefore, requires that the organization is also dynamic in its approach. For example, when an individual who has worked in the production department for more than ten years is promoted to a senior position, the employee is likely to continue with the same style as that of the predecessor as the employee is used to the system. However, the system might need some changes to eliminate any wastes and the adoption of new technology.
External recruitment has several strengths that if well-utilized offer numerous benefits to the organization. One key strength of the approach is that it allows the organization to get the skills and talent needed that cannot be found in the pool of current employees. For example, Nestlé’s approach to the talent puddle has helped the company identify talent and skills that can be used in the organization (Annual Survey Report, 2007). The company keeps a record of these individuals and call upon them when a position that matches their skills opens up. However, these approach has key weaknesses that may be disadvantageous. An example is the means with which Nestle will keep these applicants engaged and still interested as it does not offer them a position right away. This may include the use of resources which do not offer any direct benefit to the organization.
Benefits of HRM Practices
HRM practices offer significant benefits to both the employees and the employers. The practices enhance employee productivity for the benefit of employers. Employers also provide a conducive environment such as motivation through reward systems. Proper implementation of HRM practices increases organizations repo and strengthens organizational knowledge, promotes employee motivation, career growth and development as well as long-term planning. Through HRM practices such as training and development, the employee is able to grow their skills and competencies. This gives them an opportunity to advance their career. This is especially important because it helps employee attain their needs of self-actualization according to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The practices of training and development are also beneficial to the employer as they help exploit the competencies of employees towards the achievement of organizational goals. This is because the skills and talents developed are utilized to meet organizational needs.
HRM practices such as rewards and compensation are key motivators. The workers feel appreciated and rewarded for their effort. Employee compensation and reward systems are also beneficial to employees. This is based on various theories such as the reinforcement theory. According to the theory, when an employee is rewarded for good performance, they are likely to repeat the same action and continue to promote performance (Petri and Govern, 2012). Compensation and rewards, therefore, reinforce good behavior in employees and promotes good organizational performance. According to Ahmad, Zaman, and Shah (2015), good HRM practices are key towards enhancing employees’ commitment to the organization. This commitment is crucial because it reduces the level of employee turnover.
Effective HRM Practices in Raising Organizational Profits
In contemporary organizations, the advance towards profitability will necessitate labor efficiency and effectiveness. Human capital has become a pillar towards successful business operation as it has the capability to differentiate between companies offering the same products (Ghiyasvand, Teimouri, and Ansari, 2013). Therefore, effective HRM practices are key to profitability. Examples of such practices include the performance management systems (PMS). The key function of PMS is to align employees’ performance with the organizational objectives. In doing so, the organization ensures that the employees’ efforts are directed towards making profits. PMS systems also help in setting of key performance levels for the employees based on their capabilities and the organizational needs. This may include the setting of desired sales levels to enhance profitability. Effective compensation and reward systems may be exploited to increase profitability. When a business offers bonuses to the employees, they increase their performance levels beyond the bare minimum and consequently, increase profitability levels. Other HRM practices such as welfare management through offering health benefits and sick leave are also instrumental towards profitability. This is because healthy employees is more productive than unhealthy one who have to miss work days. It also reduces the number of absenteeism due to bad health. The increase in productivity leads to increased sales which result in increased profits.
HR Practices at Google
Google is a world leader in the technology industry. The company is renowned for its effective human resource management practices that focus on innovation. Like other companies, Google uses the conventional HRM practices. The only difference is the company’s ability to deviate from the conventional way of managing the human resource. The company utilizes recruitment and selection, performance management, compensation and reward, human resource development and job analysis. The recruitment and selection process seeks to attract suitable candidates to the organization. Google advertises the vacant positions on their website and other job searching site (Thomas and Karodia, 2014). The applicants then go through a rigorous process where the best applicants are chosen to work in the organization. Compensation and reward systems are the strategies used by the company to retain its staff members. Google offers lucrative compensation packages that help them retain experienced personnel. The company also offers free meals and has cafeterias in the workplace. It also emphasizes on play and has a unique workplace setting aside from the traditional office setting that limits the employee to work from a chair and a desk in an office. The company has two job analysis techniques. The worker-oriented and work oriented analysis. Its practices have helped set the company aside from the rest with regards to human resource management.
Critical Evaluation of HRM Practices
Google HRM practices support its growth and expansion. The company has been successful at attracting the right caliber of talent needed to support the innovation-oriented company. Google has managed to leverage itself from competition and offers attractive packages’ that allows the company to retain and attract highly skilled and experienced personnel. The organization has the stock option program among its reward system which has seen its employee accumulate wealth. This has been a key motivating factor for the employees to work towards organizational success (Thomas, and Karodia, 2014). The organizational culture is what sets the company aside. Its peoples’ programs geared are towards meeting the organizational need. Organizational culture is a set of unique beliefs and practices that affect the workplace environment (Cascio, 2018). Google has a high innovation culture that is based on rewards and recognition. The company has pay for performers program that rewards innovation and high performance. This has been critical towards the success of the organization’s human resource practices.
Conclusion
Summing up, human resource practices are key towards the success of an organization. These practices are essential as they help organizations maintain a competitive edge and also increase profits. This is because HRM practices are mutually beneficial to both the employee and the employer. HRM also serves various functions such as managerial because human resource managers are part of the organizational management, operative functions which are the key functions of the HR department and advisory as they are experts who advice senior management and line managers. HRM practices include recruitment and selection, compensation and reward, training and development, performance management systems and job analysis. There are two approaches to recruitment and selection namely; internal and external approach. Google is among the world organizations with the best HRM practices. The company has introduced a unique culture of innovation and one that encourages play at work. This has helped it leverage itself as a key competitor as it can attract and retain the most experienced pool of workers in the market.
References
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