Human Resource (HR) Management: An Essential Element of Organizational Success - Essay Sample

Introduction

Human resource (HR) management is the managing of human skill to make sure they are aligned with the goals and purpose of the organization (Goswami, 2018). Some of the roles the human resource departments undertake include labor relation, compensation, and benefits, safety and health, development and planning as well as recruitment and selection among others. Zafar (2013) who had examined the importance of HR argues that the field seeks to find a solution to an organization's labor demand and employee performance for optimum performance of an organization (107). They achieve this by offering training programs, employee satisfaction, evaluating talents and skills as well as handling the organization's changes. They act as a bridge between the employees and the management. This essay seeks to reflect on the human resource course we have covered so far.

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The topics we have so far include human resource Management, Strategy and Planning, Equal Employment Opportunities and Workforce and Jobs. The HR management topic looked at the importance, characteristics and basic roles of the HR. Management also encompasses overseeing an organization's intellectual property, human capital, financial as well as physical assets (Mathis, 2016). The productivity of HR measures the level of output in relation to the cost of the workers. HR productivity can be increased by restructuring the organization, redesigning work, outsourcing qualified operation as well as better employee compensation and training (Boxall et al., 2007). The topic-classified HR function into administrative, operational and strategic. The challenges faced by HR include a changing workforce, globalization, competition, and technology. The Strategy and Planning topic looked at the strategic planning process for the organization and formulation. Organizational strategy can be achieved by hiring good employees, placing them in the right jobs, properly training them, and rewarding them properly. The planning aspect of HR involves analyzing and identifying the need and availability of labor to meet an organization's strategy. The topic also delved into environmental scanning, SWOT analysis, succession planning, forecasting, and HR Metrics. The Equal Employment Opportunity looked at discrimination, regulation and enforcement, retaliation and laws governing employment (Mathis, 2016). Pay inequality was also discussed in the topic and how it can be reduced. Some of the employment conflict issues addresses include glass ceiling, romance at work, nepotism, sexual harassment and disability based bias among others. The Workforce and Jobs looked at the labor force participation. The types of employees include full-time, part-time, independent and temporary employees. The analysis of the workforce also examined the Disability Act in relation to employees. Moreover, it examines the job description and the components associated with it.

The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) was the most interesting class. The interesting bit arises from the fact that it covered a current issue common in the workforce, discrimination. It addressed racial and gender discrimination. These issues make one of the focused topics in the American HR field. The topic was effective in addressing the gender gap that exists in the workforce as well as the laws such as the Equal Pay Act that advocates for gender pay equity. It, however, failed to address racial discrimination in the workforce. Kochhar and Cillufo (2018) have documented on the wage gap disparity along social lines noting that Asian adults earned $51288, compared to $47958 for whites, $31082 for blacks and $30400 for Hispanics. The lesson also addressed the issue of sexual orientation. With increasing cases of transgender advocating to be recognized in the workplace, it is interesting to learn how the HR will handle such cases. The topic on Work Force and Jobs left a gap in its failure to address the new concept of gigs. I am curious how HR will evolve as workers move away from the traditional work model and into the Gig economy. Moreover, the employment acts are also at limbo on the correct definition of the "employee" pertaining to gig jobs and arrangement associated with it (Michel, 2018). The gig economy is associated with technology-related jobs and has been embraced by Uber (Michel, 2018). The most surprising element I learned about HR is the role it plays in fighting discrimination in the workplace. Two unanticipated issues covered by EEO are workplace romance and genetic bias regulation. This two amount to bias and are subject to regulation by legislation.

What I have learned so far will be essential in my future HR career. So far I have learned of the human resource management in relation to other factors involved such as legislation and the workforce. From HR strategic planning will be vital in helping address issue in HR as well as changes required to improve workplace performance. Moreover, the course has placed the employee at the heart of HR management. From this course, I would create an exceptional employee by training employees and placing them on the right job or department. Moreover, I would workplace bias and discrimination issues openly in adherence to the federal legislation related to HR. In implementing HR metric, I would use data-driven decision making. This will be critical in building a collaborative and harmonious team. Moreover, Meister (2018) advice future HR managers to keep up with technology and the evolving work environment.

References

Boxall, P. F., Purcell, J., & Wright, P. M. (2007). The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press on Demand.

Goswami, A. (2018). Human Resource Management and Its Importance for Today's Organizations. Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, 15(3), 128-135. doi:10.29070/15/57308

Kochhar, R., & Cillufo, A. (2018, July 12). Racial and ethnic income inequality in America: 5 key findings. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/12/key-findings-on-the-rise-in-income-inequality-within-americas-racial-and-ethnic-groups/

Mathis, R. L., Jackson, J. H., Valentine, S. R., & Meglich, P. (2016). Human Resource Management (15th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Meister, J. (2018, September 26). The Future Of Work: Three New HR Roles In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2018/09/24/the-future-of-work-three-new-hr-roles-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/#3a310c8d4cd9

Michel, L. (2018, July 12). Uber and the labor market: Uber drivers? compensation, wages, and the scale of Uber and the gig economy. Retrieved from https://www.epi.org/publication/uber-and-the-labor-market-uber-drivers-compensation-wages-and-the-scale-of-uber-and-the-gig-economy/

Zafar, H. (2013). Human resource information systems: Information security concerns for organizations. Human Resource Management Review, 23(1), 105-113. doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2012.06.010