HRM Revision Guide

1. Functions of HRM
HRM functions can be classified in three categories.
Managerial Functions:
 Human Resource Planning
 Organising
 Directing
 Controlling
Operative Functions:
 Recruitment and Selection
 Job analysis and Design
 Performance Appraisal
 Training and Development
 Wages and Salary Administration
Advisory Functions:
 Adivised to the Top Management
 Advised to the Department Heads

2. Importance of human resources can be discussed at four levels:

Corporate
HRM can help an enterprise in the following ways:
o Attracting talent through effective HRP
o Developing necessary skills & attitude with training
o Securing cooperation through motivation
o Retaining talent through the right policies
o Ensuring a team of competent & dedicated employees

Professional
HRM helps improve quality of work life and contributes to growth in the following ways:
o Opportunities for personal development
o Motivating work environment
o Proper allocation of work
o Healthy relationships between individuals & groups
o Promoting team-work & team spirit
o Encourage to work with diligence & commitment
Social
Society benefits from good HRM in many ways:
o Good employment opportunities
o Development of human capital
o Generation of income & consumption
o Better lifestyles
o Lead to productivity gain to society
o Enables managers to reduce cost & save scarce resources
National
o Drivers of development of a country
o Deliver economic growth

3. Future Challenges of HR Managers.

o Retaining and Rewarding Talented Candidates:

it is going to become even worse to recognize and reward the real performers as the market
competitiveness is growing and that needs more collaborated efforts to establish loyalty
among employees.
o  Developing Future Leaders:
With growing options for top performing candidates, employers are in a great jitty over how will
they build the future pillars of the organization. The rising employee turnover rate is
giving recruiters really a tough time with implementing practices to enhance employee
engagement and make them stay for long in the organization.
o Attracting Top Talent to Organization:
During any job interview, a candidate’s job is to sell himself to the recruiters. Similarly, the
recruiters also need to sell themselves before the candidate. It is now more important as the talent
shortage is making every organization strive to bring in the best talent and become the most
preferred choice among available options.
o Flexible Work Arrangements:
The coming generation of employees emphasizes on working in flexible set-ups and the major
concern must be kept on giving results and not on working in a traditional 9 to 6 set-up. This
does not disrupts the company decorum or discipline, it will just allow individuals to work the
way they want and exhibit better productivity. 
o Clear & Transparent Work Culture & Open Leadership:
Employees demand it greatly, but are seen rarely! That’s a fact! Maximum organizations fail to
establish a culture of clear and transparent work communication or open leadership that
somewhere affects the employee morale and his dedication to work. 37% have indicated that if
communication barriers are removed, then the organization can attract more candidates.
o Better Compensations:
Undoubtedly, money matters! If you have a start performer, you need to take good care of the
compensation you offer. These days employers are largely playing on this factor with awarding
employees lucrative reward packages and attracting more talent towards them. Thus, recruiters
need to fold up their sleeves to attract the real talent to themselves to stay ahead of their
counterparts.

4. Functions of HR managers.
o HR Planning
o Recruitment and selection
o Welfare
o Leave records
o Training and Development
o Performance Appraisal
5. HR Planning

The process by which a management determines how an organization should make from
its current manpower position to its desired manpower position.
OR
“The process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number of people
and the right kind of people at the right place at the right time, doing things for which
they are economically most useful”. Thomas H. Patten

Objectives:
The main objective of having human resource planning is to have an accurate number of
employees required, with matching skill requirements to accomplish organizational goals.
In other words, the objectives of human resource planning are to:
o Ensure adequate supply of manpower as and when required.
o Ensure proper use of existing human resources in the organisation.
o Forecast future requirements of human resources with different levels of skills.
o Assess surplus or shortage, if any, of human resources available over a specified
period of time.
o Anticipate the impact of technology on jobs and requirements for human
resources.
o Control the human resources already deployed in the organisation.
o Provide lead time available to select and train the required additional human
resource over a specified time period
6. Reasons for current interest in HR planning
o Despite growing unemployment, there has been shortage of human resources with
required skills, qualification and capabilities to carry on works. Hence the need
for human resource planning.
o Large numbers of employees, who retire, die, leave organisations, or become
incapacitated because of physical or mental ailments, need to be replaced by the
new employees. Human resource planning ensures smooth supply of workers
without interruption.
o Human resource planning is also essential in the face of marked rise in workforce
turnover which is unavoidable and even beneficial. Voluntary quits, discharges,
marriages, promotions and seasonal fluctuations in business are the examples of
factors leading to workforce turnover in organisations. These cause constant ebb
and flow in the work force in many organisations.
o Technological changes and globalisation usher in change in the method of
products and distribution of production and services and in management
techniques. These changes may also require a change in the skills of employees,
 as well as change in the number of employees required. It is human resource
planning that enables organisations to cope with such changes.
o Human resource planning is also needed in order to meet the needs of expansion
and diversification programmes of an organisation.
o The need for human resource planning is also felt in order to identify areas of
surplus personnel or areas in which there is shortage of personnel. Then, in case
of surplus personnel, it can be redeployed in other areas of organisation.
Conversely, in case of shortage of personnel, it can be made good by downsizing
the work force..
7. Meaning and Importance of job description.

A Job Description (JD) is a list of job’s duties

o responsibilities
o reporting relationships
o working conditions
o supervisory responsibilities

Importance of a job description

o Job descriptions assist in making sure your staff duties align with your company
vision
o They allow you to make informed hiring decisions by developing recruiting
strategies that clearly outline to applicants their role and responsibilities
o When conducting interviews, job descriptions should form the foundation for the
development of interview questions
o Job descriptions can also be used to determine areas in need of training and
development when expectations or requirements are not being met
o Having clear job descriptions also allows for a basis on which to develop
compensation plans that ensure jobs are being compensated in ways that reflect
their levels of responsibility and qualification in the organization
o Finally, when used as a means to communicate expectations, job descriptions can
also be used as a basis for performance management. For the employee, having a
clear job description allows them to understand the responsibilities and duties that
are required and expected of them

8. Job Contents

o The job title ( eg Accountant clerk, Computer programmer)

o The Duties Involved (eg: Filling, word processing)
o Responsibilities (Staff the job holder with in charge of ;)
o Accountability (The person who will be in charge of the jobholder )

9. Meaning of Recruitment.
The process of identifying and hiring the best qualified candidate (from within or outside the
organization) for a job vacancy in a most timely and cost effective manner.

10. Merits and demerits of External source of recruitment.

11. Define Performance appraisal?

An annual review of an employee's overall contributions to the company by his/her
manager.

12. Objectives of performance appraisal.

o To maintain records in order to determine compensation packages, wage
structure, salaries raises, etc.
o To identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to place right men/women
on right job
o To maintain and assess the potential present in a person for further growth and
development
o To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related
status
o It serves as a basis for influencing working habits of the employees.
o To review and retain the promotional and other training programmes

13. Roles of performance appraisal in an organization.

o To recognize and manage staff performance
 o To planning and decision making
o To Improve staff retention

14. Training and development.

Importance of Training & Development
o Helps remove performance deficiencies in employees
o Greater stability, flexibility and capacity for growth in an organization
o Accidents, scraps and damages to machinery can be avoided
o Serves as effective source of recruitment
o It is an investment in HR with a promise of better returns in future
o Reduces dissatisfaction, absenteeism, complaints and turnover of employees

15. Purposes of training.

Individual level
o Diagnosis of present problems and future challenges
o Improve individual performance or fix up performance deficiency
o Improve skills or knowledge or any other problem
o To anticipate future skill-needs and prepare employee to handle more challenging
tasks
o To prepare for possible job transfers
Group level
o To face any change in organization strategy at group levels
o When new products and services are launched
o To avoid scraps and accident rates

16. Safety Matters in Job environment.

o Fire Life safety precautions

o First aid
o Security Cameras installed.
o Implementing policies to ensure the safety and security of employees
o Maintaining confidentiality of employees.

17. Personal factor that contributes stress.

o Unhappy about job
o Heavy workload or too much responsibility
o Working long hours
o Work place bullying
o Insecure about your chance for advancement.
o Family issues
o Procrastinating work
o Taking unnecessary breaks
o Lack of punctuality to work
o Failure prioritize
o Gossiping
o Wasting Time
o Unhealthy relationship with co workers