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Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour
Rationale
Human Resource Management (HRM) is both an academic theory and a business practice. It is based on the notion that employees are firstly human, and secondly should NOT be treated as a basic business resource. HRM is also seen as an understanding of the human aspect of a company and its strategic importance. HRM is seen as moving on from a simple "personnel" approach (or was supposed to) because it is preventative of potential problems, and secondly it should be a major aspect of the company philosophy, in which all managers and employees are champions of HRM-based policies and philosophy.
A workflow is a
reliably repeatable pattern of activity enabled by a systematic
organization of resources ,
defined roles and mass , energy and information flows,
into a work process that can be documented and
learned. Workflows are always designed to achieve processing
intents of some sort, such as physical transformation, service provision,
or information
processing .
Workflows are closely related to other concepts used to
describe organizational structure, such as silos ,
functions, teams, projects, policies and hierarchies. Workflows
may be viewed as one primitive building block of organizations.
The relationships among these concepts are described later
in this entry.
The term is used in computer programming to capture and
develop human to machine interaction. Workflow software aims
to provide end users with an easier way to orchestrate or
describe complex processing of data in a visual form, much
like flow
charts but without the need to understand computers
or programming.
Equal
opportunity is
a descriptive term for an approach intended to
provide a certain social
environment in which people are not excluded
from the activities of society, such as education , employment ,
or health
care , on the basis of immutable traits.
Equal opportunity practices include measures
taken by organizations to ensure fairness in
the employment process.
In
job advertisements and descriptions, the fact that
the employer is an equal opportunity employer is
sometimes indicated by the abbreviations EOE or MFDV
which stands for Male, Female, Disabled, Veteran.
Recruitment refers
to the process of sourcing, screening, and selecting people
for a job or
vacancy within an organization .
Though individuals can undertake individual components of
the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations
generally retain professional
recruiters.
Termination
of Employment refers
to the end of an employee 's
duration with an employer .
Depending on the case, the decision may be made by the employee,
the employer, or mutually agreed upon by both.
Performance measurement is the process
of assessing progress toward achieving predetermined goals. Performance
management is building on that process, adding
the relevant communication and action on the progress achieved
against these predetermined goals. [1]
In network
performance management , (a) a set of
functions that evaluate and report the behavior of telecommunications
equipment and the effectiveness of the network or network
element and (b) a set of various subfunctions, such
as gathering statistical information ,
maintaining and examining historical logs, determining system performance under
natural and artificial conditions, and altering system
modes of operation . [2]
In organizational
development (OD), performance can
be thought of as Actual Results vs Desired Results. Any
discrepancy, where Actual is less than Desired, could
constitute the performance improvement zone. Performance
management and improvement can be thought of as a cycle:
Performance planning where goals and objectives
are established
Performance coaching where a manager intervenes
to give feedback and adjust performance
Performance
appraisal where individual performance is
formally documented and feedback delivered
A performance
problem is any gap between Desired Results and Actual
Results. Performance
improvement is any effort targeted at closing the gap
between Actual Results and Desired Results.
Application
Performance Management (APM) refers to the discipline within systems
management that focuses on monitoring and managing the performance and
availability of software applications. APM can be defined as workflow and
related IT tools deployed to detect, diagnose, remedy and report on application
performance issues to ensure that application performance meets or exceeds
end-users' and businesses' expectations.
Business
performance management (BPM) is a set of processes that help businesses
discover efficient use of their business units, financial, human and material
resources.
Operational
performance management (OPM) focus is on creating methodical and predictable
ways to improve business results, or performance, across organizations.
Simply put, performance management helps organizations achieve their strategic
goals. Rather than discarding the data accessibility previous systems fostered,
performance management harnesses it to help ensure that an organization's data
works in service to organizational goals to provide information that is actually
useful in achieving them. and focus on the Operational Networking Processes
between that performance level. The main purpose of performance management
is to link individual objectives and organisational objectives and bring about
that individuals obey important worth for enterprise. Additionally, performance
management tries to develop skills of people to achieve their capability to
satisfy their ambitiousness and also increase profit of a firm.
In some organizations the term Learning & Development is
used instead of Training and
Development in order to emphasise the importance of learning
for the individual and the organization. In other organizations,
the term Human Resource Development is used.
An Incentive
Program is a formal scheme
used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior
by a specific audience during a defined period of time.
A trade union or labor union is
an organization of workers. The trade union, through its
leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union
members ( rank
and file members) and negotiates labour contracts with
employers. This may include the negotiation of wages, work
rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing
and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and
policies. The agreements negotiated by the union leaders
are binding on the rank and file members and the employer
and in some cases on other non-member workers.
Most
unions claim a right of exclusivity. The union has the
authority to determine who may be a member of the union
and who may not. Most unions assert a right to mandate that
only its members, and no others, may be permitted to work
at certain jobs . Furthermore, the union contract is exclusive
with regard to the employer, an employer is generally not
permitted to seek out the services of another labor union
or hire another competing labor union even if he or she is
dissatisfied with the performance of the current labor union.
These organizations may comprise individual workers , professionals , past
workers , or the unemployed .
The most common, but by no means only, purpose of these
organizations is "maintaining or improving the conditions
of their employment " [1]
Over the last three hundred years, many trade unions have
developed into a number of forms, influenced by differing
political and economic regimes. The immediate objectives
and activities of trade unions vary, but may include:
Provision of benefits to members: Early
trade unions, like Friendly
Societies , often provided a range of benefits to insure
members against unemployment ,
ill health, old age and funeral expenses. In many developed
countries, these functions have been assumed by the state;
however, the provision of professional training, legal
advice and representation for members is still an important
benefit of trade union membership.
Collective
bargaining : Where trade unions are able
to operate openly and are recognized by employers,
they may negotiate with employers over wages and
working conditions.
Political activity: Trade unions may
promote legislation favorable to the interests of their
members or workers as a whole. To this end they may pursue
campaigns, undertake lobbying, or financially support individual
candidates or parties (such as the Labour
Party in Britain) for public office
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Resources
Human Resource Management - Further Explorations and
Connections
This
section contains a selection of "meta" sites,
i.e. sites which reference other sites relevant to
the broad subject of human resource management. Many
of these sites are run by enthusiastic individuals
in both academic institutions and commercial companies.
Unfortunately, they do not have the durability of
large sites such as those provided by government,
so the updates may not be as frequent and, on occasion,
the urls may change.
This is a regularly updated large site which hosts annotated
lists of links to human resource management information
available on the Web. The list is split into sub-categories
and short descriptions of the content are available.
In particular, the section which refers to HRM mailing
list which accesses discussion groups, is well worth
browsing through. The author of the guide is Ray Lye
and it is hosted by Nottingham Business School.
Human Resource Professionals' Gateway to the Internet
has been set up for the sole purpose of providing annotated
links to other HRM sites on the Web. The site is a useful
gateway, worthy of exploration by anyone interested in
human resource issues.
Designed from a Dutch perspective, but with a European
and world-wide horizon, this is the information system
of the Sociological Institute of the University of Amsterdam.
This is a multi-purpose site for sociologists that offers
a gateway to a wide variety of sociological resources
and publications.
This site is provided by Cornell University's School
of Industrial Labor Relations and Human Resource Executive
magazine. The index provides a gateway to workplace information
including human resources issues, labour relations, benefits,
training, technology, staffing, recruiting, leadership,
and motivation.
