Miss

Human Resources/Personnel

E1/A2

In the last century there has been much debate over the roles of personnel and human resources. It is argued that they are different from each other. However it has been discovered that the differences are much less than the similarities and that the differences are in fact a matter of opinion.

The main argument for employees being given the title 'Human Resources Manager' over 'Personnel Manager' is to augment their ego. They feel the change of title enhances their status.

Another reason for the change from personnel to human resources is to avoid phrases like manpower, which are related to personnel and are claimed to be sexist.

The Institute of Personnel Management states, 'The profession of personnel management has as its principal aim the task of ensuring the optimum use of human resources to the mutual benefit of the enterprise, each person and community at large.'

Human Resources are the department that deals with and looks after the employees as a resource of the business. This is important, as the resources are the core of the business and without these resources the business would not exist.

"Human Resources Management emphasises that people are an organisations key resource due to their flexibility, creativity and commitment" (Letts A-Level Business Studies)

People are part of business resources and are important assets, which should be valued. It is the job of the human resources department to ensure that employees are content and looked after.

A human resource manager must motivate their staff. To do this the human resource manager must be genuinely interested in the employees. They must find out what interests them, their aspirations and their ambitions. Once a human resource manager has done this and found out this information they can identify ways of fulfilling them.

An American theorist Abraham Maslow developed a theory, which guide's a human resource manager in the ways to motivate their staff. The diagram below shows Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs'.

Physiological - needs such as food, shelter, warmth, clothes and survival. The money they are paid with satisfies this.

Safety - Job Security, Stability and Security in their Workplace

Social/Love and Belonging - making friends, teamwork, contact and communication.

Self Esteem - feeling valued, job status, positive feedback, promotion and respect.

Self-Actualisation - develop full potential, self-fulfilment, developing new skills and facing new challenges.

Human resource managers must understand the two ways in which the concept of the hierarchy of needs works.

Firstly until a lower need is satisfied higher needs cannot be motivated. For example if an employee feels insecure in their job there is no use in trying to motivate through social/ love and belonging.

Secondly once a need is satisfied the employee cannot be motivated further by that same need. The human resource manager must then find ways of motivating the staff by the next highest need.

The Human Resources Department has many responsibilities and functions to perform. The main functions of the human resources department can be grouped as the following:

Human Resource Planning

The staffs within a business like AMA are a very valuable asset. It is therefore essential that a business ensures that they have the appropriate staff and amount of staff to meet their needs. AMA has prepared a strategic plan of their business to ensure that they can see what may happen to the business and the people within it in the long term. This preparation as well as looking at AMA's current needs helps to increase the competitiveness of the business.

Effective planning involves both internal staffing and the external labour market. This will help to identify trends and possible affects of these trends in the future.

When analysing the external market they should look at their catchment area, how trends will affect it whether the trends are local, national or international, and costs.

When the human resource department is analysing the internal staffing they should look at their labour turnover, absenteeism rate and the productivity of the workforce.

Recruitment and Selection

There are a number of steps involved in the recruitment and selection of staff. They are:

 Finding out why the business needs to recruit staff

 Look at all of the alternatives to recruitment

 Performing a job analysis and then drawing up a job description and person specification.

 Advertising the post internally, externally or both.

 Deciding upon the recruitment method to take.

 Application Method

 Short listing.

 Interviewing

 Aptitude tests

 Selecting the most suitable applicant

Throughout this process the company must ensure that they adhere to the legislation involved when recruiting. There are many laws including:

 The equal pay act 1980

 Sex Discrimination Act 1975

 Race Relations Act 1976

 Disability Discrimination Act 1995

This process is very important, as it is essential that the correct person be selected for the job. This will avoid having to repeat this process in near future. This will save the company money, as it is an expensive process having to recruit staff and it takes a lot of time. Employees are a very important resource of the company and it is therefore essential that right for the job.

The next function of the human resources