Chapter One

Concepts of Human resource management

Contents of Chapter One
 Meaning/definitions of Human Resource management
 Scope/ Activities of Human Resource management(HRM)
 Features/ Characteristics of Human Resource
management(HRM)
 Objectives of Human Resource management(HRM)
 Significances of Human Resource management(HRM)
Meaning-Definitions of Human Resource management(HRM)
HRM is all about
Managing the BEST resources of an organization
Getting maximum efforts of employees
Getting maximum contributions of employees
Matching employees personal goals with organizational goals
Scope/ activities of Human Resource Management(HRM)
HRM Involves
Conducting basic activities like employees recruitment, selections,
orientations, evaluations, training, compensations, counseling, transfers,
transfer, job analysis, job descriptions, labor relations, safety and health
management, career planning, etc…

Features/ Characteristics of Human Resource management(HRM)

 Comprehensive Functions(HRM is all about managing people and job at
the work places)
 People oriented(HRM Focuses on managing complex human behaviors)
 Action oriented9HRM Focuses on finding and then solving problems
faced by employees and the organization)
 Future oriented(HRM Specifies about demand for and supply of
employees in the future)
 Challenging function(HRM responds to complex human bevaiour)
 Continues function(HRM Is a non stop managerial activity)
 Science as well as art(HRM science because it specifies standard times
for every job, it is an art because it deals with managing complex
human bevaiour)
Importance’s of Human Resource Management
 Organizational importance
 Professional importance
 Social importance
 National importance
Organizational importance
HRM Focuses on properly utilizing employees knowledge and efforts and
then attain organizational targets
Professional importance
HRM enables employees to effectively utilize their knowledge
Social importance
HRM Yields employment opportunities to local communities
National Significances
HRM plays a crucial role in enhancing economic growth and development of
a nation
Objectives of HRM
Organizational objectives
Attaining targets of an organization
Serving customers
Running day to day organizational jobs
Employees objectives
Generating adequate income, security, confidence, quality of work life,,
employment opportunities

Social objectives
Creation of employment opportunities
Legal objectives
Meeting legal obligations, including affirmative actions set by the
government
CHAPTER TWO
Emerging trends in Human Resource Management
Telecommuting
Is a case where an employee just stays at home, far away from the
organization, and then perform jobs of an organization
-Advantages include
 Provide elements of flexibility to an employee
 Good for disabled employees
 Reduces time, and transporation expenses
 Reduces boredom, turn over, abseentism , living expenses, spaces for
offices
 Maximizes employees retention rates, etc…
Relocation of work force
-migration of employees from the towns to rural or smaller towns
Reasons include
 Presences of lower
 Crimes
 Living expenses
 Transportation costs
Part time-Contingent employees
Employees working on part time basis like computer specialists, technical
writers are commonly obsereved now adays
Reasons include
Economic uncertainities, turbulences
Fluctuating workloads, etc…
Global competitions-Global sourcing of labour
Describes cases of recruiting and then selecting employees around the globe
Virtual team
Describes the case when/ where employees of a given organization, while
residing in different –unrelated areas are to carry out jobs of an organization
in a collaborative manner
Makes use of e mail, fax, telephone, etc…
Human resource outsourcing
Is a case when a given local weak company, whose management is is waek
and is having incompetent employees, is to outsource employees and is to
be administered by another BEST-ANGEL company
Involves transfer / sharing of knowledge, management, information,
experiences, technology, job know how , etc…
Reasons include the need to get
 Better efficiencies
 Reduce operational expenses
 Provide better services
 Maximize operational revenues
Open Book Management
Explains the scenarios of practicing / sharing of financial and performance
related results with key stake holders of an organization, including
employees
Yields senses of motivations, and belongingness among existing employees
Total Quality Management(TQM)
Is a recent management philosophy which focuses not only incorporating
elements of quality in the output but also in the outputs
Enables an organization to offer error free services
Reduces mistakes that employees might commit at the work places
Business process re engineering(BPR)
 Is another recent management philosophy which is aimed at
supporting employees jobs with the latest technology
 Has the advantages of
 Offering faster services to the customers
 Better customer satisfactions
 Good image for the employees and for the organization as well
Human resource management in Multinational Firms
Multinational companies are those having one head office-head quarter but
having many more branches through out the world
-are known to undertake complex human resource management activities
specifically
 Ethnocentric Perspectives of HRM
Is a case when a local employee working with in the multinational firm’s
original home country say Ethiopia is to be recruited, selected and then to
serve in the host country
Polycentric Perspectives of HRM
Explains Is a case when the multinational firm recruits and then selects/
employees from the host country it does business
Geocentric Perspectives of HRM
Express the situation when the multinational firm recruits and then selects/
employees from any where i.e any country around the world
Chapter Three
Job Analysis and Human Resource Planning
Job Analysis specifics issues of
Job specifications and
Job descriptions
Job Specifications
 Describe the employee/ job holder
 Explains about the GPA, educational background, power, authority,
responsibility, accountability, experience, health, job experiences, age,
,etc… of an employee
Job Description
 Specifies the job
 Express about the time, budget, conditions to work, expected benefits,
procedures, etc… of the job
Job Analysis Information
Job analysis information can be collected through
Interview, observation , group discussion, questionnaire,
Human Resource Planning(HRP)
HRP
Expresses –predicts about
Demand for employees
Supply of employees
Importance of HRP
 Improvements of labour productivity
 Recruitment of qualified man power
 Adjustment with changes in technology
 Reducing labour turnover
 Control over recruitment and training costs
 Treating employees like corporate assets
Factors Affecting HRP
 Budget
 Managerial willingness
 Locations of the organization
 Nature of the job
  Type and quality of information as to the nature of the job to be done
 Types and strategy of the organization
 Environmental uncertainties
 Brain drain
Meaning of Employees Recruitment
Employees recruitment is all about
Inviting candidates to apply for vacant positions in the organization
Attracting pool of candidates/ applicants to an organization
Generating job applicants
Features of Employees Recruitment
It
 Is a non stop-contnuos activity
 Is a positive function as it invites applicants to apply for vacant
positions in the organization
 Is used to locate sources of applicants
 Is pervasive
 Is a complex job

Purpose and Importance of Employees Recruitment

The general purpose of recruitment is to provide a pool of potentially qualified job candidates.
Specifically the purposes are to:
1. Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost
2. Helps to increase the success rate of selection processes by reducing the number of
visibly under qualified or overqualified job applicants.
3. Helps to reduce the probability that job applicants, once recruited and selected, will leave
the organization only after a short period of time.
4. Meeting the organization’s social and legal obligation regarding compensation of its
work force.
5. Begin identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate
candidates
6. Increase organizational and individual effectiveness in short term and long term.
7. Evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources for all types of job
applicants.
 Factors Governing Employees Recruitment

Given its key role and external visibility, recruitment is naturally subjected to influence of
several factors. This includes external as well as internal factors.

External Factors

 Supply and demand

 Unemployment rate
 Labor market
 Political and legal consideration
 Sons of soil
 Image
Internal Factors
 Recruitment policy
 HRP
 Size of the firm
 Cost
 Growth and expansion

Sources and Methods of Employees Recruitment

Methods of Internal Employees Recruitment

Internal recruitment methods can be closed internal recruitment or open internal recruitment
systems.

Closed internal recruitment system

In this system employees are un aware of job openings and therefore don’t have the opportunity
to formally apply. Most informal closed system is based on managerial nominations, where in
employees are simply nominated by managers where there is a job opening.
Disadvantages of closed internal recruitment system
 Nominations may be based on favoritism towards specific individuals or biases versus
various protected group.
 Unintentionally, highly qualified candidates will be over looked.
 Open internal recruitment system -Job posting and bidding

Job posting and bidding is an open internal method of recruitment in which notices of available
jobs are posted in central locations through out the organization and employees are given a
specified length of time to apply for the available jobs. Other methods used in publicizing jobs
include memos to supervisors and listing in employee publications. Normally the job notices
specifies the job title, rate of pay, and necessary qualifications. The usual procedure is for all
applicants to be sent to the human resource department for an initial review. The next step is an
interview by the prospective manager .Then a decision is made based on qualifications,
performance, length of service, and other pertinent criteria.

Internal sources have the following advantages

 Morale and motivation of employees improved when they are assured that they will be
preferred in filling up vacancies at higher levels. A sense of security is created among
employees.
 Suitability of existing employees can be judged better as record of their qualifications and
performance is already available in the organization. Chances of proper selection is higher
 It promotes loyalty and commitment among employees due to sense of job security and
opportunities for advancement.
 Present employees are already familiar with the organization and its polices. Therefore, time
and cost of orientation and training are low
 The time and cost of recruitment are reduced, as there is little need for advertising
vacancies, or arranging rigorous tests and interviews.
 Relations with trade unions remain good because union prefer recruitment particularly
through promotion.
 Filling of a higher-level job through promotion within the organization helps to retain
talented and ambitious employees. Labor turn over is reduced.
 It improves return on investment of human resource.

Internal source, how ever, suffer from some demerits:

First, it may lead to inbreeding.

Second, if promotion is based on seniority, really capable persons may be left out.
Third, the choice of selection is restricted. More talented outsiders may not be employed.
Mobility of labor is restricted.
Chances of favoritism are higher and the limited talent of inside restricts growth of business.
Finally, this source of recruitment is not available to a newly established enterprise.
External sources
Depending on the qualifications desired, employees may be attracted from a number of out side
sources.
External sources of recruitment lie outside the organization. These are;
 High school and vocational schools
 Colleges and Universities
 Competitors and other firms
 The unemployed

Methods of External Employees Recruitment

By examining recruitment sources, a firm determines the location of potential job
applicants .What comes next is to attract these applicants by specific recruitment methods. The
basic external recruitment methods are as follows:
 News paper advertisements
 Television and Radio advertisements
 Campus recruiting
 Walk ins/unsolicited applications

 Employee referrals

An external source offers the following advantage:

 People having the requisite/necessary skill, education and training can be obtained.
 as recruitment is done from a wider market, best selection can be made irrespective of
caste, sex, or religion
 Expertise and experience from other organization can be obtained.
 This source of recruitment never “dries up”. It is available to even new enterprises.
  It helps to bring new blood and new ideas into the organization, their orientation and
training is necessary
External sources, however, suffer from the following disadvantages;
- It is more expensive and time-consuming to recruit people from outside. Detailed
screening is necessary as very little is known about the candidates
- The employees being un familiar with the organization, their orientation and training
may not be necessary
- If higher levels are filled from the external source, motivation and loyalties of
existing staff are affected.

The Meaning of Employees Selection

Definition -1
Selection is the process by which an organization chooses from a list of applicants the person or
persons who best meet the selection criteria for the position available, considering current
environmental conditions.

Definition-2
Selection is the process of matching the qualification of applicants with job requirement.
Selection divides all applicants into the categories- suitable and unsuitable, selection may be
described as a process of rejection because generally more candidates are turned away than the
hired.

The Significant of Employee Employees Selection

Effective selection is highly important for an organization’s future success because;

Selection is more powerful ways of improving productivity. Selecting qualified and competent
employees improves the benefits an organization reaps.

 Selection decision is a long lasting decision. Once the decision is made reversing it is very difficult
.If an organization hires poor performers, it can not be successful long, even if it has a perfect plan
and good control systems. In today’s business what makes the difference is kind of human
 resource you have, not technology or financial resource.

 Selection affects other HR functions. If less qualified people are selected, then it will be necessary
to budget funds for training them.
Environmental Factors Affecting the Selection Process.

 Legal considerations
 Speed of Decision Making
 Organizational hierarchy

Applicant pool (labor market)

 Probationary period

Employees Selection Criteria

Categories of criteria

 Formal education

 Experience and past performance

 Personality characteristics and personality type

Employees Selection Process

o Completing and screening of the application form
o Preliminary interview
o Employment test
o Second or follow up or diagnostic interview
o Reference cheek
o Physical (medical examination
 Employees Orientation

Definition and Meaning

Orientation is a process for introducing new employees to the organization, its mission, its
activities and programs as well as her/his job. An employee handbook is often used in an
orientation session.

The orientation process is similar to what sociologists called socialization.

Socialization occurs when a new employee learns the norms, values, work procedures and
patterns of behavior and dress that are expected in the organization

The handbook serves as a ready reference to the material covered during the orientation session.
The orientation of new employees can provide a great refresher or learning opportunity for their
colleagues, who can be asked to present information or guide the newcomer.

3.3.2 The Purpose of Orientation

 To make the new employee feel welcome

 To reduce the anxiety and hazing of the employee on the first day
 To socialize the employee to the values, standards and desirable behaviors of the
organization
 To help the new employee be successful in his/her job
 To enable the new employee to quickly become productive
 To reduce start up costs of new employees
 To develop realistic job expectations, positive attitudes towards the employer and job
satisfaction
 To start building the relationship between the employee and the supervisor
3.3.3 Guidelines
Instead of a quick and information-overloaded orientation program, a more systematic and
guided procedure is appropriate. The following are a few guidelines for such a program:

 Orientation should begin with the most relevant and immediate kinds of information and
proceed to the more general policies of the organization. It should occur at a pace that the
new employees is conformable with
 The most significant part of orientation is the human side: giving new employees
knowledge of what supervisors and coworkers are like, telling them how long it should
take to reach standards of effective work and encouraging them to seek help and advise
when needed.
 New employees should be “sponsored” or directed in the immediate environment by an
experienced worker or supervisor who can respond to questions and keep in close touch
during the early induction period.
 New employees should be gradually introduced to the people with whom they will work,
rather than given a superficial introduction to all of them on the first day. The object
should be to help them know their coworkers and supervisors.
 New employees should be allowed sufficient time to get their feet on the ground before
job demands on them are increased.