The 41 Concepts You Need to Know about Human Resource Management

1.      Recruitment :

Recruitment involves identifying the prospective candidates and inducing them to apply for the job. The process of recruitment starts with identifying the number and type of vacancies available in the organization.

There are two sources of man power namely.

i)       Internal

ii)      External

Internal sources are from within the organization while external source are outside the organization.

 

2.      Selection :

To select is to choose the best or the most suitable candidate. Since many people apply for the job, selection becomes difficult the organization is interested in selecting the best, the most appropriate person for the job.

Many organisations have laid down their own procedures for selection. The importance of various skills depend upon the type of job. For example, for a teaching post communication skills would be given more weightage, while incase of selection for the post of police office physical strength along with mental alertness and presence of mind become crucial.

 

3.      HRM :

          Human resource management includes everything from planning the human resource; recruiting and developing them through continuous training. It may also involve retrenching the workers if management feels it essential to achieve objectives. Managing human resource is quite complex in India as their exist lot of disparities due to differences in cultures, educational background, income levels etc. It may also be called as personnel management, manpower management etc.

 

4.      Personnel Management :

          “Personnel management is the planning, organising, directing, and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational, and societal objectives are accomplished”.

 

5.      Human Resource Planning :

Geisler defines manpower planning as, “Manpower planning is the process (including forecasting, developing, implementing and controlling) by which a firm ensures that it has a right number of people and right kind of people, at the right place, at the right time, doing things for which they are economically most useful.”

 

6.      Training :- Training is the act or process of teaching or learning skill, discipline etc. while development is a stage of growth or advancement.

Even a professionally qualified person may have to be provided training in order to enable him to upgrade his skill and to perform the work in an efficient manner.

Training can be defined as “a planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skill, behaviour through learning, experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities.”

 

7.      Performance Appraisal :-

          Performance appraisal involves evaluation of employee’s performance at the work place. It is necessary to evaluate employee’s performance continuously. It enables the organization to find out whose performance is upto the mark and who are under performing.

The extent to which the training should be provided, the attributes present in the employees, the standard to be fixed in future etc. can be decided after performance appraisal. Performance appraisal facilitates promotion, transfer and even fixation of employee’s salary.

 

8.      Participative Management :

          Participative management is based on the concept that a worker invests his labour and ties his fate to his place of work and therefore he has a right to be associated in the process of decision making and influencing various aspects of company policy. The champions of industrial democracy argue that a worker is not a slave. Like any other citizen he has opinion of his own which should be taken into account when decisions are made and policies are formulated. Participation actually suggests mental and emotional involvement and not only physical presence. Workers participate collectively as a group through their representatives. Participative management is based on four pillars. These are:

(a)     communication

(b)     consultation

(c)     codetermination and

(d)     self-management.

Participative management can be introduced at four different levels viz., shopfloor, plant, department and corporate levels.

 

9.      CAREER PLANNING :

Every employee has a desire to grow and scale new heights in his workplace continuously. If there are enough opportunities, he can pursue his career goals and exploit his potential fully. He feels highly motivated when the organization shows him a clear path as to how he can meet his personal ambitions while trying to realize the corporate goals.

Career planning seek to meet the following objectives :

1.      To attract competent persons and to retain them in the organization.

2.      To provide suitable promotional opportunities.

3.      To enable the employees to develop and make them ready to meet the future challenges.

4.      To increase the utilization of managerial reserves within the organisation.

5.      To correct employee placement.

6.      To reduce dissatisfaction and turnover.

7.      To improve motivation and morale.

 

10.    Industrial Relations :

          Industrial Relation is a relation between employer and employees, employees and employees and employees and trade unions. and the “process by which people and their organisations interact at the place of work to establish the terms and conditions of employment.”

The significance of industrial relations can be summarized below :

1.      It establishes industrial democracy.

2.      It contributes to economic growth and development.

3.      It improves morale of the work force.

4.      It ensures optimum use of scare resources.

5.      It discourages unfair practices on the part of both management and unions.

6.      It prompts enactment of sound labour legislation.

7.      It facilitates change.

 

11.    Trade Union :

          According to Edwin. B. Flippo, ” A labour union or trade union is an organisation of workers formed to promote, protect and improve, through collective action, the social, economic and political interest of its members.”

Trade unions exist because an individual worker has very little power to influence decisions that are made about his or her job. By joining together with other workers, there is more chance of having a voice and influence.

Trade union are formal organisation of wage earner. They bring unity and understanding among workers. They are not against employee or the society at large. They are essentially for avoiding the employee of workers and also for promoting their welfare.

12.    Personnel Manual :

Every organisation has its well prepared personnel policies. Such polices deal with different aspects such as employee benefit, employee benefit, employee relations, employee discipline, policy of the company & so on. A document / booklet which contains the details of personnel policies of an organisation is called personnel policy manual.

Reputed companies publish personnel policy manuals for the convenience of their manager, supervisor & employee. The personnel policy manual is written primarily for the information & guidance of manager. They are supposed to know the personnel policies and take administrative decision on relating to policies such as recruitment, promotions, transfer, salary etc.

 

13.    Assessment Centre :

          Assessment centre was started as a method to hire executives. Now it is used in order to evaluate supervisory staff also. As the name indicates, it has control location where managers come together to discuss job-related exercises to be evaluated by trained observers. The evaluation stretches from 1 to 3 days to present fairly good assessment of managers’ performance on job-related exercises. Assesses are asked to participate in work groups without leaders, role playing, in-basket exercises and computer simulations.

 

14.    Downsizing :

          In any business organization, there should be adequate staff (employees) as per the need. Excess employees or inadequate employees are undesirable as both the situations are harmful. The term downsizing is used to indicate reduction of excess manpower by suitable measures. Thus, downsizing means reducing the number of employees and adjusting the manpower as per need so that the problem of excess manpower will be solved smoothly/peacefully.

For reduction of excess manpower suitable downsizing plan will be necessary. Where there is surplus work force, trimming of labour force will be necessary. The trimming or downsizing plan prepared for this purpose will indicate :

(1)     Who is to be made redundant and where and when,

(2)     Plans for re-training where this has not been covered in the re-development plan,

(3)     Steps to be taken to help redundant employees find new jobs,

(4)     Policy for declaring redundancies and making redundancy payments, and

(5)     Programme for consulting with unions or staff associations and informing those affected.

 

15.    Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) :-

          Under the Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), employees are offered the company’s shares at a concessional price. When the market price f the shares increases, the employees earn substantial capital gains (difference between purchase price and the current market price). Stock options are regarded as performance based incentives. ESOPs are becoming popular particularly in Information Technology (IT) firms. ESOP scheme is implemented with proper planning and gives financial benefit to employees even when they leave their jobs in the company.

          Merits / Benefits of ESOPs :

(1)     This scheme enables a company to retain efficient / capable employees with the company.

(2)     It links compensation package closely to employee performance.

(3)     This scheme encourages the employees to work efficiently and to show better performance.

(4)     It develops a sense of ownership and responsibility among the employees.

 

16.    Job Analysis :- It is necessary to analyse the job properly in order to identify the manpower needs properly. Job analysis enables the organization to find out the peculiarities of the job, the qualities and qualifications of the candidates that are necessary to fulfill the job requirements properly and so on.

Job analysis would also give an idea whether extra training should be provided to the new recruits.

 

17.    Job Description :- Job description gives details of the job to be performed. It includes,

i)       The title of the job.

ii)      The working conditions of the job.

iii)     The qualifications required to perform the job.

iv)     The location of the job.

v)      The duties and responsibilities of the job.

vi)     The relation of the job with other jobs.

 

18.    Job Specification :- Job specification is the summary of the specific personal characteristics of the individuals that are needed to perform the job effectively. It includes,

i)       The educational qualifications of the applicant.

ii)      The experience required.

iii)     Possession of special skills. For example, a journalist should have command over the language.

 

19.    Induction :- Induction means orientation. When a new person is recruited in the organization it is essential to orient him about the organization. This is necessary to acquaint the new recruit with the work culture, policies and practices of the organization. In short, induction involves familiarising the new recruit with the work environment.

Following are the objectives of induction :

• To make the newcomer aware of the work culture
• To explain the organisation’s expectation from the new comer
• To avoid wastage of resources
• To ensure continuity in the operations.

20.    Fringe Benefits :

          Fringe Benefits refer to the extra benefits provided to employees in addition to the normal compensation paid in form of wage or salary. Fringe benefits are compensations made to an employee beyond the regular benefit of being paid for their work. Some fringe benefits are fairly standard, such as offering a few days of sick time or paid vacation time.

 

21.    Wages & Salaries :

          Wages and salaries and remuneration paid for the services of employees. Wages are paid by the employer for the services of a worker who is engaged by the hour, day, week or fortnight. Salary is paid to employees who are employed on monthly basis. Salary is also a payment for employee’s services but it is expressed as a weekly, monthly or annual payment.

Wage payment is important to workers as their life, standard of living and social status dependent on the amount of wage payment. Employees demand higher wages/salaries while employer prefers to pay lower wages / salaries as higher wages raise the production cost and reduce profit margin. Low wages are not necessarily economical. Employer should pay fair wages to his employees. This creates efficient, satisfied and co-operative labour force. In addition, industrial disputes, strikes, etc. are avoided / minimized.

 

22.    Profit Sharing :

          “Profit-sharing is a method of industrial remuneration under which an employer undertakes to pay to his employees, a share in the net profits of the enterprise in addition to their regular wages”.⁴

          Objectives of Profit-sharing :

(1)     To supplement the regular earning of the workers,

(2)     To create a sense of partnership among the workers and the management,

(3)     To enable the workers to participate in the prosperity of their company,

(4)     To develop cordial industrial relations and to improve employee morale.

(5)     To introduce incentive wage plan.

(6)     To raise productive efficiency by reducing costs and increasing output.

 

23.    Empowered Teams :

          When authority is delegated to the employees its called empowering. In this sense, empowerment takes place when employees enjoy power and they experience a sense of ownership and control over their jobs. Employees, when empowered, understand that the job belongs to them. As they are competent to speak on the job, they feel responsible. This happens to motivate them and they go out of the way to work more and contribute significantly. They set their own goals and inspect their own work. Employees become quality conscious and contribute to quality improvement in products and services. Information is shared at every level leading to improved performance.

24.    Success of Planning :

          Succession planning is the process of ensuring that qualified persons are available to assume key managerial positions, whenever these fall vacant due to untimely deaths, premature firing, resignations and retirements. The aim is to ensure a smooth transition and operating efficiency. Studies reveal that executives hired from outside are more expensive than those chosen through succession planning.

A succession of persons to fill key positions over time is essential for the survival and success of an organisation. The purpose of succession planning is to identify and develop people to replace current incumbents in key positions to cases of resignations, retirement, promotions, growth, expansion and creation of new positions. Succession can be from within on from outside the organisation.

 

25.    Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) :

The Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) is the latest mantra of many a corporate and Public sector units. The company may decide to declare a VRS based on their HR plan and suitability. For common salaries individual this becomes a major decision. The company as per their human resource policy declares VRS or the Voluntary Retirement Scheme.

VRS is a scheme whereby the employee is offered to voluntarily retire from his services before his retirement date. Subject to certain conditions the company offers VRS to its employees. It is the golden route to cut the excess flab. The most human technique to retrench the employees in the company today is voluntary retirement skill. It is the golden hand shake for the employees and the only option today for the companies is to downsize their head count. The scheme which is formally permitted by the department of public enterprises and which provides the lucrative way for the employees to terminate their services and accept VRS.

 

26.    Human resources Information system (HRIS) :

HRIS or Human resources Information system helps HR managers perform HR functions in a more effective and systematic way using technology. It is system used to acquire, store, manipulate, and analyze, retrieve, and distribute pertinent information regarding an organisation’s human resources. A human resource information system (HRIS) is a system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve and distribute pertinent information about an organization’s human resources. The HRIS system is usually a part of organization’s larger management information system (MIS) which would include accounting, production and marketing functions, to name just a few. Human resource and line managers require good human resource information to facilitate decision – making.

 

27.    Job Rotation :

          It involves shifting the employee from one job to another. A person gets first hand information of various job responsibilities. So he is in a position to perform various jobs. Job rotation also ensures that the work does not become monotonous. Furthermore since most people can perform various jobs, dependence on a particular employee reduces. Continuity in production in ensured. However it may not lead to specialization.

28.    Quality circles :

          Quality Circles (QCs) consist of a small number of employees who come together on voluntary basis with one item on the agenda i.e. to improve quality or to raise productivity or to avoid wastages etc. this form of participation is voluntary. As a practice, meetings are held once a week lasting for about an hour. Members of quality circle are given free hand to solve problems relating to quality, if they fail they can request management to depute an expert to sort out the problem. These circles have proved to be highly successful because problems are solved by the members themselves through two-way communication and brainstorming sessions. As employees are involved in decision making, their chances of promotion get improved. Managements have to take suggestions of quality circles seriously and study them effectively and promptly.

 

29.    Job Evaluation :

          Job evaluation is the process of analyzing and assessing the various jobs systematically in order to ascertain their relative worth in the organization. For example job of a clerk or a manager. Job evaluation helps in determining salary differentials.

 

30.    Promotion :

A promotion is the advancement of an employee’s rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. Promotion may be an employee’s reward for good performance i.e. positive appraisal. Before a company promotes an employees to a particular position it ensures that the person is able to handle the added responsibilities by screening the employee with interviews and tests and giving them training or on-the-job experience. A promotion can involve advancement in terms of designation, salary and benefits, and in some organisations the type of job activities may change a great deal.

 

31.    Incentives :

In addition to regular wages, monetary and non-monetary incentives are offered to workers. The purpose is to motivate workers to take more interest in the work, give more production and raise the profitability of business unit. Such incentives are offered by the management. There are individual incentive plans (Halsay plan, Rowan plan, etc.) and group incentive plans (profit sharing). Worker are interested in such intensives as they get additional money. Which can be used for raising the standard of living. Such incentives may be monetary (bonus payment, special allowances, full pay leave, leave encashment etc.) or non-monetary (liberal welfare facilities, sports and recreation facilities, scholarships to children of workers, medical aid, etc.). Companies earning huge profits can offer liberal incentives to employees. This creates efficient / satisfied labour force of the company.

Important incentives offered to Indian workers are as noted below :

(1)     Provident fund and gratuity benefits.

(2)     Annual attendance reward.

(3)     Provision of pay with leave, medical allowance, benefit of group insurance and welfare facilities.

(4)     Travel grant for tours / visit to native place.

(5)     Encashment of leave.

(6)     Housing and transport facilities.

 

32.    Application Blank :

          Application blank is most commonly used to collect information from the applicants. The information sought and information provided will facilitate the selection process. The information sought in application blanks may vary according to the position and the organization.

Mostly application blanks seek the following types of information.

(i)      Personal Data,

(ii)     Marital Data,

(iii)    Educational Data,

(iv)    Physical Data,

(v)     Employment Data,

(vi)    Extra-curricular Data &

(vii)   References.

When an applicant submits his application blank, he provides a brief bio-data about himself to the organization. It facilitates comparison among the applicants. It serves as a basis to initiate a dialogue in the interview.

 

33.    Job Enlargement :

          Job enlargement means expanding the scope of the job by aggregating two or more jobs into a single one. In involves expanding the number of tasks / duties assigned to a given job. Naturally, it is opposite to work simplification. The purpose of job enlargement is to bring about some sense of wholeness in the job. Job enlargement reduces monotony and boredom by providing the employee a ore complete or whole job to perform. It helps to increase interest in work and efficiency. Job enlargement involves assigning more tasks of similar nature. This is also called horizontal job leading and is possible in the case of manual, technical and clerical job holders. In horizontal job loading, employees at the lowest level do not only routine jobs, employees in the middle level perform directing and controlling jobs and top executives do only planning and organizing jobs.

 

34.    Job Design :

          A job is a piece of work to be done, while a design is a preliminary plan or sketch. Thus job design is a plan or sketch of the job to be done. It can include,

i)       Scope of job.

ii)      The duties and responsibilities of a person performing the job.

iii)     The time required to complete the job.

iv)     The number of people involved and the relationship between the people who would perform the job.

 

35.    Manpower Inventory Analysis :

Manpower inventory analysis provides information about the present and potential manpower of the organization. It is necessary to have data about manpower available with the organization so that,

i)       It will enable timely and quick replacement.

ii)      It will ensure proper placement.

iii)     It will lead to optimum utilization of resources.

 

36.    Interview :

An interview is an oral examination of an applicant. Interview gives the management a chance to observe the candidate directly and verify the claims made by him. Along with written test, interview provides one more opportunity to find out whether the candidate would be appropriate for the job.

 

37.    Placement :

Placement involves assigning a specific job to each of the selected candidate. Right placement is essential in order to maximize productivity of each employee. Before placing the candidate on a specific job it is essential to properly undertake job analysis in order to understand the qualifications and skill required to perform the job effectively.

 

38.    360⁰ Appraisal :

          360-degree appraisal is nothing but appraisal done by every one. It can be the senior, juniors, customers, creditors and so on. Generally an organization would like to know the performance of its employees from different social groups with whom the employees interact. A questionnaire might be prepared for everyone which may contain questions pertaining to the skills of the concerned employee, his decision making ability, co-operativeness, communication skills etc.

 

39.    Job transfer :

          Transfer is the movement of an employee from one job to another without involving any substantial change in this duties, responsibilities, required skill status and compensation. Here ‘substantially, the equal’ means that the general nature of duties an responsibilities remains the same though there may a change in their specific nature. It may also involves change in pay. Transfer is the horizontal dynamism of employees from one place of work to another. According to Date Yoder “A transfer involves the shifting of an employee form any job to another without special reference to changing responsibility or compensations.”

40.    Human Resource Development:

 Human resource management is concerned with the development and implementation of people strategies, which are integrated with corporate strategies, and ensures that the culture, values and structure of the organisations, and the quality, motivation and commitment of its members contribute fully to the achievement of its goals.

HRM is concerned with carrying out the same functional activities traditionally performed by the personnel function, such as HR planning, job analysis, recruitment and selection, employee relations, performance management, employee appraisals, compensation management, training and development etc. But, the HRM approach performs these functions in a qualitatively distinct way, when compared with Personnel Management.

 

41.    Pink Slip :

It is an American term that refers to being fired or laid from one’s job. This means person is removed from his job. It is as good as discharged, dismissed, dropped or terminated removed from his service. In the USA, Companies used to dismiss employees by distributing notices printed on pink slip of paper. These are notices printed on pink paper informing employees that their services are no longer required.