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 labor 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, and also bar mandatory retirement at age 65. 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, labor 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.
