HRM ACTIVITIES

The following are the key activities of HRM.

Human resource planning: This is the critical job of HR function. Dale Yoder defines Human resource planning as “the process by which an Organization ensures that it has the right number of people, the right kind of people, at the right place and at the right time doing work in the Organization”. To take hypothetical example, suppose the objective of marketing is to increase the total sales by 20%, and once this objective has been established, the HR Manager must determine precisely how can this objective be translated into human resources. A logical starting point is to review the present or current job descriptions. Then determine skills necessary to meet the set objectives. Finally they should translate the needed skills and abilities into types and number of employees. The HR function collects data related to vacancies due to retirement or resignation or retrenchment as well as additional human resource requirement for executing development plans of all functions.

Recruitment and selection: It involves design of policies and procedures for fair recruitment and selection of human resource required by the Organization time to time in order to contribute to the fulfillment of the Organization’s corporate strategy. Identifying the credible sources of employment and adopting effective selection process to identify suitable persons by taking into consideration Organizational goals, job demands, social conditions and desired behaviour.

Training and development: The objective of training and development is to develop key competencies in individuals to perform current or future jobs. It involves identification for training needs, selection and execution of training methods and facilitation of skill development and behaviour shaping.

Provision of fair treatment: HR function designs policies and procedures for the entire Organization to ensure fair treatment of employees at work. These policies are communicated to all the employees.

Organization/Job Design: Defining how tasks, authority, and systems will be organized and integrated across Organizational units and in individual jobs, is the responsibility of HR department.

Employee counselling: One of the important activities of HRM is to develop appropriate system for employment counselling either through in-house or by external consultants.

Encouraging involvement: Employee involvement is extremely important in creating participative culture within the Organization. Employees need to be encouraged to participate in decision-making, in designing policies and procedures in line with the strategic plan of the Organization.

Information Systems: HR information base will be developed through HR research and information system to provide access to internal departments and also Organizational clients.

Payment and reward of employees: HRM involves designing of appropriate payment and reward systems for all employees. These systems should be acceptable to all employees. They need revision from time to time. The payment and reward systems should be competitive. The Organization collects comparative data from other Organizations and work for developing better systems. HRM also deals with individual problems or complaints about payment and reward systems.

Employee welfare: Establishment appropriate systems for employee welfare in accordance with the objectives of the Organization and monitoring the cost and effectiveness of such provision are an important HRM activity.

Health and safety: HRM involves in designing and implementing the Organization’s health and safety policy, and monitors the effectiveness of the policy. It also involves in promoting health and safety and encourages the involvement of all employees throughout the Organization.

Union/Labor Relations: HRM recognizes Unions, facilitates elections and provides supporting services to promote healthy union and Organizational relationship.

Assessing performance of employees: HRM involves in the design and implementation of techniques to assess performance of employees effectively. The employees are trained, informed and involved in performance management techniques. Maintenance of performance records and monitoring the effectiveness of the performance assessment procedures are the responsibilities of HR department.

Disciplining individuals: Design of disciplinary procedure, monitoring the effectiveness of the procedure, advising line managers on disciplinary problems, organizing training for line managers and employees on disciplinary issues, and maintaining records of disciplinary action taken against employees are the important HR activities.

Dealing with grievances: Employee grievances are common in many Organizations. Design of grievance procedure and communicating, training people in grievance handling, implementation of grievance procedure and monitoring the effectiveness of the grievance procedure are activities that HRM takes care of.

Dismissal: HRM also involves development of procedures for dismissal to ensure that they comply with legislation and reviewing the same, providing advice and guidance on fair dismissal procedure, and training people who are involved in the dismissal process.

HRM IN RETAILING

It is really interesting that in Retail scenario Human Resource Management (HRM) is highly volatile and truly vulnerable. The reason is in any other scenario of manufacturing (of garments for e.g.,) or other industries the end user or consumer in particular and customer in general are not physically present with the people in the arena of action. In fact who are they or where are or how are they is not known to the people in the scenario.

Whereas in the Retail scenario the end user or consumer in particular & customer in general are present in front or with the people in the arena of action every minute of the work. In fact work in Retail scenario starts with and ends with the End user or Consumer or Customer. For this reason Human Resource Management (HRM) is highly volatile and truly vulnerable in this context.

The Retail Firms/Companies are service Organizations. The business performance of the Organization largely depends upon the human resources. Employee’s performance at the back end and at the front end operations are criteria for the success of the Organizations. Human Resource Management (HRM) therefore is the critical managerial function that affects every other function of the Organization.

The job of retail employees particularly at from end operations is critical and demand high level of involvement and commitment in job performance. They need to perform different roles while performing the job often simultaneously. The employee roles include:

• Service designer: The final package of the retail service will be decided by the employee on spot after assessing customer’s specific needs, desires and expectations. This means proper training of the retail personnel is required in need analysis of the customer.

• Performer: An employee of a Retail Organization is the performer of services. He/ She has to interact with uncontrollable elements (attending consumer complaints and grievances) and deliver quality performance, by influencing the customers to get involved in the process.

• Technician: The sales personnel should have the technical knowledge of various products offered for sale. In most cases in Retail, the manufacturers themselves take responsibility on the product training or in large multi-brand retail stores, the Companies appoint their own trained technical salesman.

• Associate: Employees of the Retail Organization and manufacturers, service consumers together. The expected role of an employee is to associate with the consumer and produce quality service. Further, some services may need group involvement. For example selling of Microwave, where the salesman makes effort to sell the best product, a trained technician will go to the customer’s home to offer a full demonstration of the products capability and application. Then it may be necessary for a service employee to associate with the group members for performing the service.

• Friend: A Retail employee has to play the role of a friend with consumers as well as co-employees in a team. Co-employees and customers look for help, cooperation, guidance and support from others on various issues. Every employee of the Retail Organization should respond to such needs positively.

• Empathizer: Empathy is the key quality parameter in retail services. The consumers feel comfortable and perceive better quality when contact employees are empathetic. Retail employees should have the patience and inclination to be empathetic towards customers.

• Assurer: Retail employees’ words and actions should reflect assurance to customers. As services are intangible, variable and perishable, customers seek assurance in every service process. For the consumer, contact employees are the representatives of the Retail Company. This is why a contact employee needs to perform the role of an assurer.

• Salesman: The performance of a retail employee builds a positive image for the Retail Company. The customers of the Store are likely to become consumers of other services offered by the Company. Contact employees will have an opportunity to interact closely and intimately with customers. Therefore, their role in influencing and persuading the customers to buy other services of the Company is vital.

• Marketing intelligence: One of the most prominent sources of marketing intelligence is contact employees. They are the right personnel to assess response of the customers on Company policies and quality specifications. The feedback from contact employees proves to be very valuable.

• Researcher: Innovation is the key to success in service business particularly in retailing. Employees of the retail companies are innovators in many respects. As an innovation they should be able to create a need or necessity in the end user or Consumer.

As variability is the key character of services, continuous improvements, whether minor or major, provide a competitive edge in the market. Employees, with their continuous involvement in work and interactive experience with varied customers, with a distinctive knowledge base, are capable of bringing innovation in work. There is a lot of scope to exploit the creativity of employees in retail business.

The performance in retail jobs also tests the emotional balance of the employees. The tolerance for errors in performance will be very less. The errors of the employee affect seriously the customer confidence on the retail outlet. Therefore, the function of human resources management is vital in displaying the performance strength of the Organization.

Introduction - HRM

Human Resource is the most complex and vulnerable among all the resources under the creation of nature. We can get best material, best machinery, and best method in the world but it is very difficult to get best Human Resource to run or use the other resources in an efficient and effective way. In this context of day to day complication, it becomes all the more important to manage the Human Resources. Human Resources have one unique feature; it is the only resource among all which appreciate with time if sufficient care is taken to impart skill and knowledge. Human Resources become an asset in the long run. It gives life to the structure and system of an Organization. In this unit, you will learn the definition, core elements and objectives of HRM, HRM in Retailing and HRM activities. You will further learn the roles of HR Manager and challenges of HRM in modern management.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

HRM refers to people management in such a way that they are committed, integrated and contributing to the objectives of the Organization. It also makes sure that they stay with the Organization for fairly a long time (low attrition rate) though not wedded to the Organization. Let us see the process of defining HRM that leads us to two different definitions. The first definition of HRM is that it is the process of managing people in Organizations in a structured and thorough manner. This covers the fields of staffing (hiring people), retention of people, pay and perks setting and management, performance management, change management and taking care of exits from the Company to round off the activities. This is the traditional definition of HRM which leads some experts to define it as a modern version of the Personnel Management function.

The second definition of HRM encompasses the management of people in Organizations from a macro perspective i.e. managing people in the form of a collective relationship between management and employees. This approach focuses on the objectives and outcomes of the HRM function. What this means is that the HR function in contemporary Organizations is concerned with the notions of people enabling, people development and a focus on making the “employment relationship” fulfilling for both the management and employees. Changes are happening at a faster pace rather exponentially in the business influencing the environment within the Organization. The human resources of an Organization should be capable of adopting and/or adapting to the changes quickly. This necessitates the Organizations to ensure that they have the right people capable of facing the business challenges effectively.

Management of these resources therefore is an integral part of business success. The efficient and effective management of human resources results in;

● High productivity - increased profits – growth - increased market value

● Enhanced company image - customer satisfaction

● Healthy organizational climate and culture - effective communication

● Competitiveness and development orientation

Objectives of HRM

HRM objectives can be broadly categorized into four types as presented below.

• Organizational Objectives: The primary objective of HRM is to build the Organization with quality and committed human resource and ensure the achievement of Organizational objectives. In retail individual performances are very critical to the Store environment.

• Functional Objectives: HRM should ensure that the right person is assigned to the right job at the right time. It should facilitate quality performance by way of providing appropriate human resource policy framework. In retail proper induction programme ensures this objective.

• Personal Objectives: HRM aims to assist employees in achieving their personal goals because these goals enhance the individual’s contribution towards the achievement of Organizational goals through proper training and product knowledge. This is necessary to maintain, retain and motivate the employees in the Organization which will ultimately enhance employee performance and satisfaction.

• Societal Objectives: Organizations need to be ethically and socially responsible to the needs and challenges of the society. The HRM of an Organization should work for satisfying such societal objectives while minimizing the negative impact of such measures upon the Organization.

Elements of HRM

It is necessary to identify the core elements of HRM in order to understand the activities of HRM clearly. The five core elements are:

• People: Organizations mean people who staff and manage Organizations. Organizational performances depend upon the performance of people in the Organization. Specific to retail the people management are more complicated in view of long hours of working ( Though effectively its is 8 Hours, In retail people are expected to be in the store for 10 to 11 hours with 2.5 hours of breaks in between).

• Management: HRM involves application of management functions and principles for acquisitioning, developing, maintaining and remunerating employees in Organizations.

• Integration and Consistency: Decisions related to people must be integrated and consistent, in order to achieve Organizational effectiveness in the long run.

• Influence: Decisions must influence the effectiveness of Organization in providing quality products and services to customers and in achieving Organizational goals.

• Applicability: HRM principles are applicable to business as well as non business Organizations like education, health, recreation, etc.