Karishma Daswani » General Human Resource Management

Role of HR to combat Swine Flu

KD — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:44:09 +0000

Its just been a few days since we’ve started hearing about the outbreak of swine flu, a modern day disease not heard of before and mainly having been confined to pigs. Though it is still limited to certain parts of the world like Mexico, USA, UK while Asia-Pacific being safe as of now organizations all over the world should gear themselves to help in preventing the spread further. This can be done in many ways with the help of the HR dept. by means like-

First & foremost educating the company staff about the how, what, why of the disease to prevent spread of rumours & advise all to seek medical help at the earliest incase any similiar symptoms are detected.
Already cancelling or postponing official trips to swine flu affected countries
Identifying employees who have a wide range of skills to fulfil a variety of functions incase the headcount has to be cut down due to a massive outbreak
Skeleton staff level strategies should be planned well in advance
Work from home options ahould be maximised to avoid employees getting in contact with each other.
The Service sector industry should specifically concentrate on self service options for its customers or possibly have more online transactions as compared to face-to-face ones
Videoconferencing or teleconferencing should be used to allow meetings to still take place

So, basically Human Resources should be used by means of a contingency plan which allows maximum contact in every possible way except face-to-face; a lot being made possible by use of technology

HRM-a core function Vs HRM-a support function

KD — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:55:07 +0000

In the recent past esp. in the last 5 years there has been an increase in the popularity of Human Resource Management as an important part of an organization’s functioning. It has been identified as being at par or even more important than technology, finance etc in helping an organization achieve competitive advantage. Infact it has been seen as the single major factor differentiating between successful & unsuccessful organizations.

This change of opinion & practice has further been facilitated with the use of technology esp. the internet & is most evident in the Service sector where workers are the primary source of contact with with customers either over the phone or face-to-face. Not only that the manufacturing industry too considers the management of its human resources a critial component to ensure quality & reliability in its production process by means of discretionary behavior, hence the ‘art-y’ behaviour. ( U could refer to previous posts in the same section for explanation on this 1 !)

Me being an HR person myself & partial to the field am quite happy with the transition of opinion of HRM from a support function to a core function & think it was this changing opinion and highlighting that it got along with the various ways of implementation all unique to every organization & occupational group that got me interested & reading more about it, consult people about it and then go in for a specialisation in it

Hard HRM Vs Soft HRM

KD — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:20:01 +0000

There is no 1 single way of implementing Human Resource Management. This underlying concept allows HRM to be viewed as a particular style of managment which can be measured & defined or even compared against an ideal model bringing us to the Hard & Soft approach of HRM.

The Hard approach to HRM emphasizes on an employee as a “commodity” or a “resource” -being as much a resource as is land,capital etc. & only to be treated better incase of a short supply or incase of playing a central role in achieving the organization’s goals. Methods of implementation can vary depending on a calculative & quantitative approach in a rational manner.Thus its a way of regarding people as human capital whose development returns more gains.

The Soft approach to HRM emphasises on an employee being “resourceful” (as against being just a “resource” ) & a major source of competitive advantage by use of human relations- which involves enhancing performance by using motivation, communication & leadership to increase loyalty & commitment. The soft ‘model’ considers increased satisfaction as the only way to go about in the management as against the various calculated methods that can be used in the hard ‘model’

HRD Vs HRM

KD — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:27:09 +0000

Another thing that i came across while searching for the appropriate UK university for a degree in HR was that there was an option of taking the Human Resource Development -HRD path or Human Resource Management - HRM path. Although i did have an idea about the basic difference between the two there was still a lot to be learnt in terms of the actual theoritical knowledge which is provided in the curriculum of any University.

Majority of the courses provided few common modules (or subjects, as they are called in UK) present in both HRM & HRD while the remaining modules could be chosen as against a provided set each different for the two courses.

Now what exactly is HRD.

HRD or Human Resource Development deals with the particular intent of increasing the capabilities & potential of employees by providing continuous learning & development opportunities . This learning is provided by appropriate training to enhance skills & knowledge to a level of carrying out work efficiently. The performance is then monitored & subject to continuous improvement so that growth is maximised for promotion.

Well this is as simply & as concisely as I could put it For its difference with HRM you could check out the previous post in the same section which gives both the art & science view of HR with an MA & MSc

Feel free to post any questions in case of any doubts & i’ll answer back with what experience i had as a student

MA HRM Vs MSc HRM

KD — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:11:56 +0000

Now that i begin this new section on Human Resources it reminds me of the days when i was researching on UK Universities offering HR courses. what was surprising was that some Unis offered an MA degree in HR while others an MSc degree in HR.

I was intrigued by the fact how some academicians thought managing & developing people was an art while others considered it a science…both sides rightly so according to me!

Thinking about the ‘art-y’ side of HRM ..the “art-y-sans” ( pun intended !!) consider discretionary behaviour of employees as the major cause of enhanced performance – of course after basic staffing requirements have been met - thereby promoting the belief that organizations that can combine people & processes together by means of intangible assets like motivation, social interactions & a healthy culture will always be uniquely competent over their counterparts & competitiors. This positive experience automatically extends to enhanced commitment & job satisfaction if HR policies are mutually reinforcing ….and the organization gains all-round as all are “happy happy”

Coming to the point of view of the “scientists” (pun intended again! which by now should be pretty obvious – they believe that there should be a ‘fit’ or integration between the business strategy & the HR strategy both being mutually supporting. What should be seen as a means of generating commitment in the employees is the importance placed on treating them as a source of competitive advantage, which is enhanced by means of learning & development opportunities and thereby generating commitment towards the organizations mission & values.

I personally think what is apt is a mix of the two approaches -art & science, incase of people – or sometimes either 1 as per the needs of a situation in an organization.

Well thats all for the 1st ‘Human Resource’ blog. you’ll be hearing a lot more from me on this topic & many more. Comments, suggestions,ideas and all possible thoughts are highly welcome.

Till then- have a gr8 day!