Human Resource Management Concepts and Applications

Introduction

Human resource management is a practice that is aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of employees in firms. In fact, these are concepts that have been explained during the classes throughout the course. However, the mere theoretical part cannot be expected to be effective. Thus, there is a great need for the students to insure that they thoroughly understand the real life. The reason is that it is impossible to treat people fairly and effectively while possessing solely theoretical knowledge. Hereby, there is a need to learn and study one’s behavior and apply the concepts in real-life experiences.

Lessons Learnt

Throughout the course, there were numerous concepts that have been discussed with regards to human resource management practices, and it would take a lot of time to completely analyze them. For this reason, this essay gives a summary of these practices and concepts to insure that most of the major factors have been considered. The first point concerns job satisfaction. In the book, the example of Thompson who was a worker in General Electric Company has been used. As it was explained in the text, he enjoyed working in his office during the weekends. He even believed that there were three days in every 24 hours. Apparently, this meant that he viewed his job as a means of deriving satisfaction from whatever he did. In the real world, there is a considerable number of people who work just for money. However, this concept proves that human resource managers should insure that they employ people with passion for the job. Otherwise, employees will perform at expected or lower levels. On the contrary, job satisfaction can encourage employees to increase their productivity above the expected levels (Dessler, 2002).

The other vital concept relates to culture. According to Cascio (2012), culture refers to the characteristics of a certain group of people (p. 127). In other words, this is behavior that seems to be generally acceptable to this specific group of people. At the workplace, culture is an important factor. Apparently, one can use rules and regulations in order to determine how employees conduct themselves at the workplace. However, this is less effective than the creation of a culture. The reason is that after the implementation of rules, the manager becomes a watchdog. As a result, the employees feel that they are being watched and that there is no freedom to circumvent the rules in a positive way. Moreover, when employees operate within the acceptable culture, they act as watchdogs for each other. It means that they correct and educate each other on the do’s and don’ts at the workplace. Furthermore, it also gives them room to initiate positive changes that can be used to increase efficiency in any organization.

The last concept concerns rewards. In fact, this is the provision of bonuses for employees that have surpasses the rest of the staff. Talking about rewards, they may be financial or non-financial. Apparently, the payment of salaries is an ideal example of a reward to employees. However, material rewards are not the main type of bonuses that the management gives to their employees as a means of encouragement. The reason is that all employees normally receive their salaries. Consequently, non-financial rewards are the major area of concern. Cascio (2012) states that these are rewards that raise self-esteem of an employee (p. 422). Thus, once an employee receives a reward as a result of exemplary work, they tend to gain more encouragement and self-belief, which increases their efficiency and effectiveness. Hereby, this is a point that most Human Resource Managers should take into account and implement. Talking about salaries, a Human Resource Manager should insure that they are paid on time. As a result, this reduces small inconveniences in the schedules of the employees. Therefore, it increases the feeling of comfort of the employees in the organization. For this reason, salaries are also a form of reward that should not be overlooked (Dessler, 2002).

Learning Integration

The above-mentioned concepts are extremely appealing to the eyes of any person. However, the mere fascination that occurs with immediate effect is not enough to initiate real implementations. For this reason, there is a need to analyze the ways in which all these concepts can be integrated in the workplace. Thus, it is obvious that the first change should take place in the mind of Human Resource Managers. The reason behind this is that the requirements imposed by the concepts contradict the approach of most Human Resource Mangers. In fact, most of these managers give much priority to the costs of these activities. As a result, this reduces their ability to encourage their employees in the ways that have been mentioned. Therefore, the integration of all these concepts should be based on the knowledge that there should be insignificant limitations as to the resources that are to be spent for the encouragement of employees. However, these resources do not only refer to money, but they should include time, attention, as well as other intangible resources.

The other factor in the integration of these concepts is the creation of a favorable working environment. Over the years, people have viewed the workplace as a place that unconditionally imposes automatic demands on them. Consequently, this makes the employees view the workplace as a place of bondage. With the concepts discussed above, this is a scenario that should be avoided at the workplace. Otherwise, some of the concepts will work, while others will not. As a result, the necessary integration needed for the improvement of efficiency may be absolutely impossible. Apparently, this basically outlines the huge role that Human Resource Managers face in changing the employees’ views on the workplace. The fact is that this change should first occur in the mind of the Human Resource Manager. Afterward, he can transmit the thoughts and beliefs to the employees of that particular organization (Martin, 2010).

Application to Practice

The application of these theories at the workplace is an essential requirement for the management. The reason is that it creates and illustrates the connection between theoretical analysis and the actual implementation of knowledge in real life. In order to provide clear comparisons, it is crucial to analyze parts that correspond to the three concepts discussed. The first point concerns the provision of job satisfaction for the employees who serve the specific organization. The first way in which a Human Resource Manager can insure this is by employing people who have passion for the allocated job. Thus, this can be done by conducting thorough interviews and vetting during recruitment. Consequently, the company employs not only the best people for the job but those who are willing to learn and adjust their activities to changes that are bound to occur in the future. The other way in which this can be insured is by avoiding underemployment. With regards to this phenomenon, it is a situation when an employee performs the job that does not correspond to the qualifications that the employee has. Apparently, the process of appointing employees to perform a particular task shows that the organization acknowledges their level of knowledge and training. In return, their self-esteem increases, boosting their efficiency and effectiveness.

The second point relates to the creation of a culture in an organization. In the real world, this can prove to be a hurdle for most Human Resource Managers. However, there are ways through which mangers can succeed in their business by the creation of the culture at the workplace. The first step is the initiation of the desired culture among the senior staff members. In most cases, the junior members tend to adapt to the culture that the senior members support. Apparently, this is favorable since coping with a few senior members is easier compared to handling all the employees of a certain organization. The other favorable way that can be used is education of recruits on the expectations placed on them with regards to the culture of the organization. Hereby, all new employees will develop in the desired culture of the organization, thereby bringing benefits to a Human Resource Manager.

Rewards can be one of the most difficult tasks for Human Resource Managers. Starting with the acquisition of resources to be used in rewarding, the HR manager may face a huge task. In a working environment, the first thing would be the proposal to avail enough resources aimed at employee motivation. After achieving this, the Human Resource Manager should devise standard ways to evaluate employee performance in order to insure that they are not placed, judged and treated using different scales. Afterward, the time during which the rewards will be provided should be announced to all employees. In such a way, this prevents any thoughts that there is no fairness in the allocation of the rewards to employees. When these steps are followed appropriately, rewarding can prove to be a huge investment, considering the output that the HR managers would obtain (Martin, 2010).

The information given above is valuable in enhancing the effectiveness of an individual as a leader. The reason is that these concepts are unique in their explanations, which means that they offer a new approach towards issues with regard to human resource management. The other important fact is that they cover the dynamics that may be involved during the process. The reason behind this is that there might be numerous changes in human behavior; thus, there is the need to be dynamic in their treatment. Thus, it will be crucial to the Human Resource Manager to be able to change their behavior towards employees. The best way to do this is to take into account the above concepts and strive to apply them on a daily basis. Consequently, it will be easier to master them as opposed to mere reading without the actual application. Moreover, this will help to understand the most useful methods. In addition, the freedom that the concepts demand of the workers should be integrated in the behavioral change, which can be one of the best ways to treat humans.

Conclusion

The essay above is not only a description of the human resource management concepts but also a demonstration of their application in real-life situations. The above analysis shows that the theories can be well applied in most real-life situations. The concepts can be used to increase effectiveness and productivity in both profit and non-profit organizations in the world. Therefore, it is correct to conclude that it is a global analysis of the ways in which human resource management should be conducted in any organization.

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