Human resource management encompasses all functions and activities aimed at maximising the effectiveness of the workforce and the enterprise. In addition, HR management manages human capital in a way that gives the company a competitive advantage and optimises business performance through appropriate management of human resources.
In other words, HR management is the process of recruiting, training and rewarding employees and developing targeted policies for them and targeted strategies for retaining them.
The main activities of HR management are seven and they are as follows:
- Human resource planning: it involves assessing the company’s current workforce, predicting whether more staff will be needed in the future, and developing plans for hiring or retrenching staff in the company
- Recruitment: it is the process of finding people who are qualified for various positions
- Selection: It is the process of screening, interviewing and identifying candidates who are best suited for specific positions
- Orientation: it helps new employees to familiarise themselves with the new work environment, meet their new colleagues and learn and understand the rules and regulations of the company and all the benefits that the company has to offer
- Training and development: it is the process of developing various programmes to improve the skills of the employees and help them to improve their performance by setting the evaluation criteria and the rewards to motivate the employees and improve the effectiveness.
- Compensation: it determines the salary and the possible benefits granted to the employees.
- Employee career tracking: This collects information on the career of employees to determine their promotion, transfer or departure.
Human resource management generally focuses on creating a positive and productive workplace and enabling the company’s employees to work more effectively and productively and to achieve the company’s overall goals.
Let us use an example of a tool to effectively plan work and motivate teams and individuals to achieve all the goals.
This tool is the SMART Objectives:
SMART objectives can generally be used by managers to develop an effective work plan for teams and individuals by setting specific, clear and realistic goals to be achieved within a specific time frame and to monitor progress and achievement of goals and identify areas for improvement and potential opportunities.
SMART is an acronym where each letter refers to a different characteristic that the goals should have:
Specific: Set specific rather than general goals that answer the questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why?
Measurable: Set quantifiable targets to monitor their progress, improvement and success.
Achievable: Set challenging but achievable goals: neither too easy nor too difficult.
Relevant: Set goals that are meaningful, important and relevant to the overall mission and other goals.
Time-bound: Set specific start and end dates for achieving the goal that will ensure its success: neither too soon nor too far in the future.
