CH 3 (P 22) Developing HR:Concept (Human Resource Development)

Concept of HRD

• A set of systematic and planned activities (of training and development, career development, Performance management and organizational development ) designed by an organization to provide its members with the opportunities to learn necessary skills to meet current and future job demands, to improve individual, group and , organizational effectiveness. 
• HRD is "organized learning activities arranged within an organization in order to improve performance and/or personal growth for the purpose of improving the job, the individual, and/or the organization". HRD includes the areas of training and development, career development, and organization development. 
• Ideally, well-developed and well-implemented HRD systems are integral to the company’s strategic plan and benefit both the employee and the company. Byrne, (1999)
•  HRD develops the key competencies that enable individuals in organizations to perform current and future jobs through planned learning activities. 
• Organizations use HRD to initiate and manage change. 
• HRD ensures a match between individual and organizational needs.

The Primary Functions of Human Resource Development

HRD can be a stand-alone function or a part of function within human resource department, human resource wheel. It is established when there are greater diversities in the workforce, more people involved in knowledge work, greater expectations in meaningful work and employee involvement, and shifts in nature between employees and organizations (Pat Mclagan). Related to human resource wheel, primary functions of human resource development have been identified as follow:

                           

Individual Development (Training and development): 

• Training involved providing the employees the knowledge and skills needed to do a particular task or job. Development involved preparing for future work responsibilities and increasing capacities of employees to perform their current jobs.
•  It can be said that training and development focuses on changing or improving the knowledge, skills, ability, and attitudes of the individual and to satisfy the current and future needs of the organization. The shape of training can be in the form of employee orientation, counseling, skills and technical training programs, or management training and development programs.
• It is a subsystem of an organization. It ensures that randomness is reduced or standardization is maintained and learning or behavioral change takes place in structured format.
• Nadler and Nadler (1989:4) training was defined as “learning provided by employers related to the present job” and development was defined as “learning for growth of the individual but not related to a specific present or future job”.

Organizational development (Change management): 

• Change management incorporates the organizational tools, process, skills, and principles that can be utilized to help individuals make successful personal transitions resulting in the realization and adoption of change.
• Change management aims to encourage organizations and individuals to deal effectively with the changes taking place in their work.
• Change to the organization is ultimately going to be impacting one or more of the following four parts of how the organization operates: Processes, Systems, Organization structure, and Job roles.
• Strong resistance to change is often rooted in deeply conditioned or historically reinforced feelings. Patience and tolerance are required to help people in these situations to see things differently.
• It comprises of micro and macro changes. Micro changes are directed at individuals; small groups, or teams, whereas macro changes are intended to improve the effectiveness of the organizations.

Career Planning / development:

• It involves two-distinct process, career plan and career management. Career planning involves activities performed by individuals with the assistance of counselors or others in order to assess their skills and abilities in establishing realistic career plan. Career management involves taking necessary steps to achieve that plan, and it mainly focus on what organizations can do to foster career development.  
• It ensures that staffs have clear direction and goals. So that they are more likely to be satisfied in their job and this could mean less staff turnover in business. Career planning is essential to retain the good staff the organization already have.
• When you organize or support career planning, you give staff a clear message that you support their employment advancement within your organization. By helping people to plan career choices that are realistic and suitable, you are offering them the opportunity for future satisfaction within your business and you significantly lower the risk of them leaving.

Performance Improvement (Performance Management)

• Performance improvement is the concept of measuring the output of a particular process or procedure, in department, groups, teams and individuals, then modifying the process or procedure to increase the output, increase efficiency, or increase the effectiveness of the process or procedure to ensure that goals are consistently being met.
• The term "Performance Management" is often used in two contexts:
• A way of maximizing performance of an individual, team or organization
• A process for dealing with under performing individuals (or teams)
• It informs the organization about their strengths and weaknesses of process and procedures or system used by individuals, groups, and teams. It advises them about how to increase their strengths and how to remove their weaknesses.

CH 2 (P 21): Case Study

CH 2 (P 20): Meeting HR Requirements: Questions to review

CH 2 (P 19)Meeting HR Requirements: Placement

Placement:

• Placement is the determination of the job to which an accepted candidate is to be assigned.
• It is important aspect of selection process of placing right man on the right job.
• Placement is the actual posting of an employee to a specific job it involves assigning a specific rank and responsibility to an employee.
• The placement decisions are taken by the line manager after matching the requirements of job with the qualifications of a candidate. (selection process feedback)
• Most organizations put new recruits on probation for a given period of time after which their services are confirmed.
• During this period, the performance of the probation is closely monitored.
• A worker should be place in a position where there is full used of strengths, and weaknesses become meaningless.

Classification Placement 

• Its objective is to bring match between individual and jobs. 
• It is used when jobs are sequential and pooled.
• Assessment classification model and employee placement is used to match characteristics of individual with those of job subgroups.
• Selected employees are place in a specific sub groups after there is a match between the characteristic of the individual with those of the subgroups.

Differential placement

•  If the new recruit fails to adjust himself to the job and turns out poor performance the organization may consider his name for placement elsewhere. Such second placement is called differential placement 
• Usually the employees’ supervisor in consultation with the higher levels of line management takes decisions regarding the future placement of each employee.

Placement is an important human resource activity. If neglected it may create employees adjustment problems leading to absenteeism, turnover accidents poor performance etc. He/ She may quit the organization in frustration complaining bitterly about everything.

CH 2 (P 18): Meeting HR Requirements: Orientation

Induction/ Orientation:

• Orientation or induction is the task of introducing the new employees to the organization and its policies, procedures and rules. A typical formal orientation program may last a day or less in most organizations. 
• Most orientation program includes two components: Broad, general property orientation and a specific job orientation.
• In the general property orientation, company history and culture is clarified, company policies and procedures that pertain to all employees are explained.
• In specific job orientation employees are familiarize with his/ her specific job responsibilities and the work environment. 
• It also covers more routine things a newcomer must learn such as the location of the rest rooms, break rooms, parking spaces cafeteria etc. 
• Lectures handbook, films, and group seminars, are also provided to new employees so that they can settle down quickly and resume the work.
• In some organizations all this is done informally by attaching new employees to their seniors who provide guidance on the above matters. 

CH 2 (P 17): Meeting HR Requirements: Selection

Selection:

• Selection is the process of choosing from those available individuals who are most likely to perform successfully in a job.
• Employee Selection is the process of putting right men on right job. It is a procedure of matching organizational requirements with the skills and qualifications of people.

Role of selection is important for organization success of two reasons:

• Work performance depends on selection of capable individuals
• Cost of wrong candidate selection is very high.

Selection process:

• Reception of application:
• Application Sorting: 
• Preliminary interview: appearance and fluency in speech, why they are applying for the job, Salary etc.
• Application blank (form): the choice of questions on the form should be such that they are valid predictors of employment success or failure.
• Psychological or selection test: 
• Interview:
• Background Investigation:
• Physical examination
• Final selection by interviewers:
• Induction
• Placement

Testing and selecting employee: Selection tests and tools

• Achievement test or Proficiency Test:  Helps to measure skills and knowledge of employee. The two test carried out are job knowledge test and work sample tests.
• Aptitude or Potential Ability test: Helps to measure the ability of the candidate to learn new job or skill, reason for a problem or situation and mechanical aptitude to comfortably perform on job. 
• Personality test: helps to know the value system, emotional reactions, and characteristics of candidate.
• Interest test: Designed to discover a person’s areas of interest and kind of challenges that motivates.
• Psychomotor or skills test: (Psychomotor skills are those skills that you have done so often that you don't think about how to do them while you are doing them) helps to measure person’s ability (skills) to do a specific job. Psychomotor skills are composed of the ability to learn how to balance the physical and mental attributes in order to achieve a certain goal.
• Graphology test: Help to understand individual’s energy, spontaneity, balance and control on the basis of handwriting.
• Polygraph test: Helps to ensure accuracy of information given by the applicant. It is a lie detector machine that measures a person’s heart rate, skin response and breathing rate.

Types of employment interview

• Informal interview: when situation is urgent, not planned and there is labour shortage in the market. 
• Formal interview: more formal office environment, with well structured question in systematic way.
• Planned interview: to achieve desired objective. When interviewing follows a definite course of action, it can proceed with a minimum waste of time.
• Patterned structured interview: Are planned interview conducted to understand the personality traits, motivation and interest level of the individual. It has nothing to do with job skills.
• Non- directive interview: A nondirective interview is more general. The interviewer asks broad questions that allow the interviewee a lot of latitude in answering.
• Depth and stress interview:  stress interview is where the employer uses a succession of interviewers whose mission is to intimidate the candidate and keep him/her off-balance. The purpose of this interview: to find out how the candidate handles stress and exhaustive analysis of the particular subject.
• The group interview (discussion): Done to discover the leadership potential and how their views are accepted by other members.
• Panel or board interview:  A group of interviewers interviews an applicant, suitable of managerial job applicants, due to cost associated with the interview.

Unit 2( P 16) Meeting HR Requirements:Recruitment

Recruitment

1. Recruitment is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies.
2. It is the process of finding qualified people and encouraging them to apply for work with the firm.
3. Recruitment of candidates is the function preceding the selection, which helps create a pool of prospective employees for the organization so that the management can select the right candidate for the right job from this pool.
4. The main objective of the recruitment process is to expedite the selection process.

Sources and Methods of Recruitment:
Internal sources and method:

1. Sources:
• Promotions:
• Transfers
• Former employees( rehire and recalls): temporary laid-off, retired employees, and people who left company for some reasons
• Previous applicants:
2. Methods
• Inter job posting:
• Employee referral programs:
• HR inventories:

External sources and Methods

1. Sources:
• Raiding:
• Headhunting:
• Casual Application:
• Candidates of present employees’ reference:
• Educational institute
• Employment agency
• Labour unions
• Job fair
2. Methods:
• Advertisement: TV, newspaper
• E-recruiting:  online skill assessment, conducting background checks, video conferencing interview etc.

Recruitment process:
Recruitment process involves a systematic procedure from sourcing the candidates to arranging and conducting the interviews. This process requires many resources and time. Steps to be involved in the process of recruitment process are:

1. Identify vacancy
2. Job description and person specification
3. Advertising the vacancies
4. Managing the response
5. Short-listing
6. Arranging interviews
7. Conducting interview and decision making