Sunday, October 11, 2009

Assignment 10(HRM) personnel and HRM definition critics

Look for various definitions of personnel management and human resource management and their authors and sources (minimum of 5). Critique each.

Personnel management

The part of management that is concerned with people and their relationships at work. Personnel management is the responsibility of all those who manage people, as well as a description of the work of specialists. Personnel managers advise on, formulate, and implement personnel policies such as recruitment, conditions of employment, performance appraisal, training, industrial relations, and health and safety. There are various models of personnel management, of which human resource management is the most recent.

Sources: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/Personnel+Management.html

Within organizations that employ people, this is the function with policy responsibility for the selection and recruitment of staff, training, performance assessment, career development, disciplinary proceedings, pre-retirement advisory work, equal opportunities policies, pay bargaining, and industrial relations. In small organizations these functions may be combined with other management responsibilities; in large organizations a substantial separate department may be involved in setting policy, its implementation, and in keeping up to date with developments in labour law. In recent years the newer alternative term 'human resource management' has come into use, reflecting the increased importance of this function in labour-intensive service-sector industries.

Sources: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Definition_of_personnel_management


Human Resource management

“The Human Resources Management (HRM) function includes a variety of activities, and key among them is deciding what staffing needs you have and whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues, and ensuring your personnel and management practices conform to various regulations. Activities also include managing your approach to employee benefits and compensation, employee records and personnel policies. Usually small businesses (for-profit or nonprofit) have to carry out these activities themselves because they can't yet afford part- or full-time help. However, they should always ensure that employees have -- and are aware of -- personnel policies which conform to current regulations. These policies are often in the form of employee manuals, which all employees have.
Note that some people distinguish a difference between HRM (a major management activity) and HRD (Human Resource Development, a profession). Those people might include HRM in HRD, explaining that HRD includes the broader range of activities to develop personnel inside of organizations, e.g., career development, training, organization development, etc.
There is a long-standing argument about where HR-related functions should be organized into large organizations, eg, "should HR be in the Organization Development department or the other way around?"
The HRM function and HRD profession have undergone tremendous change over the past 20-30 years. Many years ago, large organizations looked to the "Personnel Department," mostly to manage the paperwork around hiring and paying people. More recently, organizations consider the "HR Department" as playing a major role in staffing, training and helping to manage people so that people and the organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner.
Recently, the phrase "talent management" is being used to refer the activities to attract, develop and retain employees. Some people and organizations use the phrase to refer
especially to talented and/or high-potential employees. The phrase often is used interchangeably with the field of Human Resource Management -- although as the field of talent management matures, it's very likely there will be an increasing number of people who will strongly disagree about the interchange of these fields. For now, this Library uses the phrases interchangeably.”

By: Carter McNamara

Sources: http://managementhelp.org/hr_mgmnt/hr_mgmnt.htm

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers.
Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

Sources: http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryh/f/hr_management.htm

"Human resource management is responsible for how people are treated in organizations. It is responsible for bringing people into the organization, helping them perform their work, compensating them for their labors, and solving problems that arise" (Cherrington, 1995, p. 5). There are seven management functions of a human resources (HR) department that will be specifically addressed: staffing, performance appraisals, compensation and benefits, training and development, employee and labor relations, safety and health, and human resource research.

Sources: http://www.answers.com/topic/human-resource-management

By reading their definitions about the human resource management and the personal management that can be shown above you can create a critic to its definition. By looking to its definition you barely say that they came up with almost the same definitions and all of their definition was right. They define it smoothly and clearly that the readers can easily understand its meaning.

Assignment 9(HRM) HRM roles

Interview a personnel/human resource manager on his concept on the nature, scope and role of human resource management. Do you agree with him? Explain. Is his concept similar to that of the management of his organization? If not, ask him how the differences are settled.

Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. The terms "human resource management" and "human resources" (HR) have largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations. In simple sense, HRM means employing people, developing their resources, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement.
The Human Resources Management (HRM) function includes a variety of activities, and key among them is deciding what staffing needs you have and whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues, and ensuring your personnel and management practices conform to various regulations. Activities also include managing your approach to employee benefits and compensation, employee records and personnel policies. Usually small businesses (for-profit or nonprofit) have to carry out these activities themselves because they can't yet afford part- or full-time help. However, they should always ensure that employees have -- and are aware of -- personnel policies which conform to current regulations. These policies are often in the form of employee manuals, which all employees have.
Note that some people distinguish a difference between HRM (a major management activity) and HRD (Human Resource Development, a profession). Those people might include HRM in HRD, explaining that HRD includes the broader range of activities to develop personnel inside of organizations, including, eg, career development, training, organization development, etc.
There is a long-standing argument about where HR-related functions should be organized into large organizations, eg, "should HR be in the Organization Development department or the other way around?"
The HRM function and HRD profession have undergone tremendous change over the past 20-30 years. Many years ago, large organizations looked to the "Personnel Department," mostly to manage the paperwork around hiring and paying people. More recently, organizations consider the "HR Department" as playing a major role in staffing, training and helping to manage people so that people and the organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner.

Role of HRM:
• Strategic business partner
• Change management
• Employee champion
• Administration
The goal of human resource management is to help an organization to meet strategic goals by attracting, and maintaining employees and also to manage them effectively. The key word here perhaps is "fit", i.e. a HRM approach seeks to ensure a fit between the management of an organization's employees, and the overall strategic direction of the company.The basic premise of the academic theory of HRM is that humans are not machines, therefore we need to have an interdisciplinary examination of people in the workplace. Fields such as psychology, industrial engineering, industrial, Legal/Paralegal Studies and organizational psychology, industrial relations, sociology, and critical theories: postmodernism, post-structuralism play a major role. Many colleges and universities offer bachelor and master degrees in Human Resources Management.
Some industry commentators call the Human Resources function the last bastion of bureaucracy. Traditionally, the role of the Human Resource professional in many organizations has been to serve as the systematizing, policing arm of executive management.
In this role, the HR professional served executive agendas well, but was frequently viewed as a road block by much of the rest of the organization. While some need for this role occasionally remains — you wouldn’t want every manager putting his own spin on a sexual harassment policy, as an example — much of the HR role is transforming itself.
The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of his or her changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptive, resilient, quick to change direction and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered necessary by line managers, is a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate and a change mentor.
In today’s organizations, to guarantee their viability and ability to contribute, HR managers need to think of themselves as strategic partners. In this role, the HR person contributes to the development of and the accomplishment of the organization-wide business plan and objectives.
The HR business objectives are established to support the attainment of the overall strategic business plan and objectives. The tactical HR representative is deeply knowledgeable about the design of work systems in which people succeed and contribute. This strategic partnership impacts HR services such as the design of work positions; hiring; reward, recognition and strategic pay; performance development and appraisal systems; career and succession planning; and employee development.
As an employee sponsor or advocate, the HR manager plays an integral role in organizational success via his knowledge about and advocacy of people. This advocacy includes expertise in how to create a work environment in which people will choose to be motivated, contributing, and happy.
Fostering effective methods of goal setting, communication and empowerment through responsibility, builds employee ownership of the organization. The HR professional helps establish the organizational culture and climate in which people have the competency, concern and commitment to serve customers well.
In this role, the HR manager provides employee development opportunities, employee assistance programs, gainsharing and profit-sharing strategies, organization development interventions, due process approaches to problem solving and regularly scheduled communication opportunities.
The constant evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization results in the need for the HR professional to frequently champion change. Both knowledge about and the ability to execute successful change strategies make the HR professional exceptionally valued. Knowing how to link change to the strategic needs of the organization will minimize employee dissatisfaction and resistance to change.
The HR professional contributes to the organization by constantly assessing the effectiveness of the HR function. He also sponsors change in other departments and in work practices. To promote the overall success of his organization, he champions the identification of the organizational mission, vision, values, goals and action plans. Finally, he helps determine the measures that will tell his organization how well it is succeeding in all of this.
…I am convinced by the HR manager about the roles and the functions of the human resource management in an organization. In fact he is very professional in elaborating all of those things. Therefore I very much agree.

Reference: http://humanresources.about.com/od/hrbasicsfaq/a/hr_role.htm
http://managementhelp.org/hr_mgmnt/hr_mgmnt.htm

Assignment 8(HRM) SONA HR related

“Towards that vision, we made key reforms. Our economic plan centers on putting people first. Higit sa lahat, ang layunin ng ating patakaran ay tulungan ang masisipag na karaniwang Pilipino. New tax revenues were put in place to help pay for better healthcare, more roads, and a strong education system. Housing policies were designed to lift up our poorer citizens so they can live and raise a family with dignity. Ang ating mga puhunan sa agrikultura ay naglalayong kilalanin ang ating mga magsasaka bilang backbone ng ating bansa, at bigyan sila ng mga modernong kagamitan to feed our nation and feed their own family.”
“In the last four years tourism almost doubled. It is now a $5 billion industry.”
“Our reforms gave us the resources to protect our people, our financial system and our economy from the worst of shocks that the best in the west failed to anticipate.”
“Nakinabang ang sandaan libo sa emergency employment ng ating economic resiliency plan. Kasama natin ngayon ang isa sa kanila, si Gigi Gabiola. Dating household service worker sa Dubai, ngayon siya ay nagtatrabaho sa DOLE.”
“Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating ibenta ang bigas NFA sa P18.25 per kilo kahit tumaas ang presyo sa labas mula P17.50 hanggang P30 dahil sa kakulangan ng supply sa mundo. Habang, sa unang pagkakataon, nagawa nating itaas ang pamimili ng palay sa mga magsasaka, P17 mula sa P11.”..
“The market grows economies. A free market, not a free-for-all.”
“Nagtayo tayo ng 95,000 na silid-aralan, nagdagdag ng 60,000 na guro, naglaan ng P1.5 billion para sa teacher training, especially for 100,000 English teachers.”.
Sa hirap at ginhawa, pinapatatag ang ating bansa ng ating overseas Filipinos. Iyong padala nilang $16 billion noong isang taon ay record. Itong taon, mas mataas pa.
“Kaya nagsisikap tayong lumikha dito sa atin ng mga trabahong maganda ang sahod, so that overseas work will just be a career choice, not the only option for a hard-working Filipino.
Meanwhile, we should make their sacrifices worthwhile. Dapat gumawa tayo ng mas epektibong proteksyon at pagpapalawak ng halaga ng kanilang pinagsikapang suweldo. That means stronger consumer protection for Overseas Filipino Workers investing in property and products back home. Para sa kanila, pinapakilos natin ang Investors Protection Task Force.
Hindi ako nag-aatubiling bisitahin ang ating taong bayan at kanilang mga host sa buong mundo – mula Hapon…hanggang Brazil, mula Europa at Middle East hanggang sa American Midwest, nakikinig sa kanilang mga problema at pangangailangan, inaalam kung paano sila matutulungan ng ating pamahalaan—-by working out better policies on migrant labor, or by saving lives and restoring liberty.
Pagpunta ko sa Saudi, pinatawad ni Haring Abdullah ang pitong daang OFW na nasa preso. Pinuno nila ang isang buong eroplano at umuwi kasama ko.
Mula sa ating State Visit sa Espanya, it has become our biggest European donor. At si Haring Juan Carlos ay nakikipag-usap sa ibang mga bansa para sa ating mga namomoblemang OFW. Ganoon din si Sheikh Khalifa, ang Prime Minister ng Bahrain.
Pagpunta ko sa Kuwait, Emir Al-Sabah commuted death sentences. We thank all our leaders, our world leaders, for showing compassion to our overseas foreign workers. Salamat.
Our vigorous international engagement has helped bring in foreign investment. Net foreign direct investments multiplied 15 times during our administration. Kasama ng ating mga Together with our OFWs, they more than doubled our foreign exchange reserves. Pinalakas ang ating piso at naiwasan ang lubhang pagtaas ng presyo. They upgraded our credit because while the reserves of our peers have shrunk this past year, ours reserves grew by $3 billion.
Our international engagement has also corrected historical injustice. The day we visited Washington, Senator Daniel Inouye successfully sponsored benefits for our veterans as part of America’s stimulus package.
I have accepted the invitation of President Obama to be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet him at the White House, later this week.
That he sought us out testifies to our strong and deep ties.
High on our agenda will be peace and security issues. Terrorism: how to meet it, how to end it, how to address its roots in injustice or prejudice—and first and always how to protect lives.
We will discuss nuclear non-proliferation. The Philippines will chair the review of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation Treaty in New York in May 2010. The success of the talks will be a major diplomatic achievement for us.
There is a range of other issues we will discuss, including the global challenge of climate change, especially the threat to countries with long coastlines. And there is the global recession, its worse impact on poor people, and the options that can spare them from the worst.
In 2008 up to the first quarter of 2009 we stood among only a few economies in Asia-Pacific that did not shrink. Compare this to 2001, when some of my current critics were driven out by people power. Asia was surging but our country was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Since then, our economy posted uninterrupted growth for 33 quarters; more than doubled its size from $76 billion to $186 billion. The average GDP growth from 2001 to the first quarter of 2009 is the highest in 43 years.
Bumaba ang bilang ng mga nagsasabing mahirap sila sa 47% mula 59%. Maski lumaki ang ating populasyon, nabawasan ng dalawang milyon ang bilang ng mahihirap. GNP per capita rose from a Third World $967 to $2,000. Lumikha tayo ng walong milyong trabaho, an average of a million a year, much, much more than at any other time.
In sum: 1. We have a strong economy and a strong fiscal position to withstand global shocks.
2. We built new modern infrastructure and completed unfinished ones.
3. The economy is more fair to the poor than ever before.
4. We are building a sound base for the next generation.
5. International authorities have taken notice that we are safer from environmental degradation and man-made disasters.
As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible; to extend immediate and effective relief when it is not. The mapping of flood- and landslide-prone areas is almost complete. Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved, with weather tracking facilities in Subic, Tagaytay, Mactan, Mindanao, Pampanga.
We have worked on flood control infrastructure like those for Pinatubo, Agno, Laoag, and Abucay, which will pump the run off waters from Quezon City and Tondo flooding Sampaloc. This will help relieve hundreds of hectares in this old city of its age old woe.
Patuloy naman iyong sa Camanava, dagdag sa Pinatubo, Iloilo, Pasig-Marikina, Bicol River Basin, at mga river basin ng Mindanao.
The victims of typhoon Frank in Panay should receive their long-overdue assistance package. I ask Congress to pass the SNITS Law.
Namana natin ang pinakamatagal na rebelyon ng Komunista sa buong mundo.
Si Leah de la Cruz isa sa labindalawang libong rebel returnee. Sixteen pa lang siya nang sumali sa NPA. Naging kasapi sa regional White Area Committee, napromote sa Leyte Party Committee Secretary. Nahuli noong 2006. She is now involved in an LGU-supported handicraft livelihood training of former rebels. We love you, Leah!
There is now a good prospect for peace talks with both the Communist Party of the Philippines and the MILF, with whom we are now on ceasefire.
We inherited an age-old conflict in Mindanao, exacerbated by a politically popular but near-sighted policy of massive retaliation. This only provoked the other side to continue the war.
In these two internal conflicts, ang tanong ay hindi, “Sino ang mananalo?” kundi, bakit pa ba kailangang mag-laban ang kapwa Pilipino tungkol sa mga isyu na alam naman nating lahat na di malulutas sa dahas, at mareresolba lang sa paraang demokratiko?
There is nothing more that I would wish for than peace in Mindanao. It will be a blessing for all its people, Muslim, Christian and lumads. It will show other religiously divided communities that there can be common ground on which to live together in peace, harmony and cooperation that respects each other’s religious beliefs.
At sa lahat ng dako ng bansa, kailangan nating protektahan ang ating mga mamamayan kontra sa krimen’ — in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their communities. How shall crime be fought? With the five pillars of justice, including crime fighters. We call on Congress to fund more policemen on the streets.
Real government is about looking beyond the vested to the national interest, setting up the necessary conditions to enable the next, more enabled and more empowered generation to achieve a country as prosperous, a people as content, as ours deserve to be.
The noisiest critics of constitutional reform tirelessly and shamelessly attempted Cha-Cha when they thought they could take advantage of a shift in the form of government. Now that they feel they cannot benefit from it, they oppose it.
As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address the highest exercise of democracy, voting!
In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.
At the end of this speech I shall step down from this stage, but not from the Presidency. My term does not end until next year. Until then, I will fight for the ordinary Filipino. The nation comes first. There is much to do as head of state—to the very last day.
A year is a long time. Patuloy ang pamumuhunan sa tinatawag na three E’s ng ekonomiya, environment at edukasyon. There are many perils that we must still guard against.
A man-made calamity is already upon us, global in scale. As I said earlier, so far we have been spared its worst effects but we cannot be complacent. We only know that we have generated more resources on which to draw, and thereby created options we could take. Thank God we did not let our critics stop us.
As the campaign unfolds and the candidates take to the airwaves, I ask them to talk more about how they will build up the nation rather than tear down their opponents. Give the electorate real choices and not just sweet talk.
Meanwhile, I will keep a steady hand on the tiller, keeping the ship of state away from the shallows some prefer, and steering it straight on the course we set in 2001.
Ang ating taong bayan ay masipag at maka-Diyos. These qualities are epitomized in someone like Manny Pacquiao….Manny trained tirelessly, by the book, with iron discipline, with the certain knowledge that he had to fight himself, his weaknesses first, before he could beat his opponent. That was the way to clinch his victories and his ultimate title: ang pinakadakilang boksingero sa kasaysayan. Mabuhay ka, Manny!
However much a President wishes it, a national problem cannot be knocked out with a single punch. She must work with the problem as much as against it, turn it into a solution if she can.
There isn’t a day I do not work at my job or a waking moment when I do not think through a work-related problem. Even my critics cannot begrudge the long hours I put in. Our people deserve-a-government that works just as hard as they do.
A President must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime.
Everything right can be undone by even a single wrong. Every step forward must be taken in the teeth of political pressures and economic constraints that could push you two steps back-if-you flinch and falter. I have not flinched, I have not faltered. Hindi ako umaatras sa hamon.
And I have never done any of the things that have scared my worst critics so much. They are frightened by their own shadows.
In the face of attempted coups, I issued emergency proclamations just in case. But I was able to resolve these military crises with the ordinary powers of my office. My critics call it dictatorship. I call it determination. We know it as strong government.
But I never declared martial law, though they are running scared as if I did. In truth, what they are really afraid of is their weakness in the face of this self-imagined threat.
I say to them: do not tell us what we all know, that democracy can be threatened. Tell us what you will do when it is attacked.
I know what to do:
As I have shown, I will defend democracy with arms when it is threatened by violence; with firmness when it is weakened by division; with law and order when it is subverted by anarchy; and always, I will try to sustain it by wise policies of economic progress, so that a democracy means not just an empty liberty but a full life for all.
I never expressed the desire to extend myself beyond my term. Many of those who accuse me of it tried to cling like nails to their posts.
I am accused of misgovernance. Many of those who accuse me of it left me the problem of their misgovernance to solve. And we did it.
I am falsely accused, without proof, of using my position for personal profit. Many who accuse me have lifestyles and spending habits that make them walking proofs of that crime.
We can read their frustrations. They had the chance to serve this good country and they blew it by serving themselves.
Those who live in glass houses should cast no stones. Those who should be in jail should not threaten it, especially if they have been there.
Our administration, with the highest average rate of growth, recording multiple increases in investments, with the largest job creation in history, and which gets a credit upgrade at the height of a world recession, must be doing something right, even if some of those cocooned in corporate privilege refuse to recognize it.
Governance, however, is not about looking back and getting even. It is about looking forward and giving more—to the people who gave us the greatest, hardest gift of all: the care of a country.
From Bonifacio at Balintawak to Cory Aquino at EDSA and up to today, we have struggled to bring power to the people, and this country to the eminence it deserves.”
Reference: http://tonyocruz.com/?p=2148
Those some of the thing discussed or said by the president that is related to the Human Resource Management. Being a president, you are managing a very huge group of people and a very good example of Human Resource Management. Therefore some of things above said by the president can be relate to HR. those things can improve our quality of life by helping first ourselves before other people. Manage people properly can improve our quality of life.

Assignment 7(HRM) Human Resource

Smartest Employees Most Difficult to Manage
Christopher Rice
Technical professionals are highly skilled individuals representing a wide variety of functional disciplines and industries. Some are clustered in specialized teams and secluded research and development labs, and others are woven into the fabric of the workforce. They include programmers, software developers, engineers, scientists, analysts, mathematicians, statisticians, etc.
These expert employees, who are so essential to your organization's innovation and competitiveness, are also demanding, sometimes rebellious, intellectually agile and often insular and uncommunicative with those outside their circle — the brightest minds can be your organization's biggest headache.
So-So Managers

The bosses of these difficult-to-manage employees are often not great managers. They are apt to be technical professionals themselves, rising through the ranks because of their specific expertise, not their people skills. They tend to err toward two extremes: telling their people exactly how to do things or spending so much time on their own projects that they don't "get around to" their leadership duties until there's a crisis.
Being Nice is Not Enough

In BlessingWhite's recent survey of 898 executives in charge of technical professionals, the leaders rated themselves as most competent in soft skills such as "building trust with my team" (78 percent) and "building collaborative relationships throughout my organization" (66 percent).
At the same time, the greatest shortcoming these leaders share appears to be coaching and developing their teams. Although 83 percent rated this leadership action as critical, fewer than half (46 percent) think they do it well.
The implication here: They're good at being nice but not so good at helping their people acquire skills or apply their expertise in challenging and innovative assignments. This finding is particularly disturbing because technical professionals place high value on personal development and crave exciting work.
Advanced Maneuvers Required

The individuals who design bridges, discover vaccines and create tomorrow's killer applications might not speak the same technical language, but they do share a combination and intensity of similar characteristics. It takes deft leadership, not supervision, to unleash and align their energy and talents to deliver what your organization requires. Four tactics, in particular, are most effective in leading these talented employees.
• Understand what makes technical professionals tick. This expert slice of the workforce exhibits a high need for achievement, autonomy, collegial support and sharing, keeping current, professional identification and participation in the mission and goals. Leaders who understand these characteristics can apply their leadership skills more strategically. For example:
o Setting and supporting goals without impinging on team members' desire for autonomy.
o Delegating responsibility in a way that involves team members in the decision-making process and connects the work with a larger organizational goal.
o Creating a work environment that fosters creativity, camaraderie and individual achievements while focusing efforts on team goals and organizational priorities.
• Be leaders of people, not managers of projects. Leaders of technical professionals must learn to rely on their team members — not their own know-how and project management savvy — to deliver results. That requires:
o Delegating and coaching to leverage team members' unique skill sets.
o Overcoming the inclination to micromanage.
o Investing in conversations, setting goals, explaining "the why" behind "the what," handling resistance and giving performance feedback. Otherwise, team members won't have the information or motivation they need to take initiative.
• Be just enough of an expert to lead, not do. The majority of individuals who lead technical professionals owe their successes to their exceptional know-how. They relish the role of expert. Because their current job is about delivering results through others, they need to figure out how much knowledge is "just enough" to be able to lead a team of experts. BlessingWhite's findings suggest they struggle with finding that balance. They need to prioritize equipping their team members with the latest knowledge and skills, and they need to be more selective about their own development.
• Increase their influence outside of their team or department. BlessingWhite research indicates leaders of technical professionals understand they need to be less insular, that they need to build collaborative relationships and communicate effectively at all levels of the organization. Most also see room for improvement. They need to:
o Be able to translate their team's core capabilities, ideas and accomplishments for nontechnical colleagues.
o "Influence up" to secure resources or promote innovative ideas.
o Broaden their understanding of their organization's business so they can be more valued partners in product strategy, delivery and support.
A New Type of Expert

Your organization no doubt looks to your highly technical workforce to keep your business humming or deliver the innovation needed to stay ahead of a crowded pack of competitors. Yet, the challenges leaders of technical professionals face are substantial.
They often hold player/coach positions and must juggle the competing priorities that come with those roles. Interpersonal skills tend to not be their strong suit, and their team members exhibit a complex combination of needs that make them among the most difficult to manage in today's workforce.
To succeed, leaders of technical professionals must move out of their comfort zones and redefine themselves as expert leaders. They also need to move beyond Leadership 101 to apply their knowledge and skills strategically to make the most of their team members' valuable qualities and skills.

Reference: http://www.talentmgt.com/performance_management/2007/September/427/

… “Human beings are the most important, potent and critical, resource of any organization, and yet the least understood and the worst managed of its resources” Human resources are the most important assets a modern organization has because only human beings can make, transfer and exercise knowledge. And also only human being s can create the holistic values by planning all the other resources as a whole. So, human beings are the key roles organization, organization should pay more efforts on HRD. Moreover, organizations should conform to the new environment of the strategic plans. And the strategic plans of HRD must relate with the organization's mission and objectives. All in all, people are an organization's most precious resource, so, organization must attach importance to HRD. my understanding about this is base to the idea given to by our instructor in MIS and HRM. The question is, why human is difficult to manage but the most important resources of an organization. In a very short explanation of our instructor I came up with a very short conclusion. Human are the most important, potent and critical, resource of the organization because of the ff:
Main resource of the organization
Human being is the main resources of the organization or the heart of a society. In short there were no organizations if there were no human involve.
Brain of an organization
A natural capability or ability of a human is to think. Human’s powerful key to success is knowledge or the ability to think. In an organization, there should be information moving inside of it. Human are the most capable tool or resource to produce information because of their ability to think.
Dangerous resource of an organization
Everything created in an organization was created through human being and it could be terminated by their own hand. They have almost all of the ability, such as the ability to create information, produce information and etc, that also can cause an opposite events.

Assignment 6(HRM) 21st Century Corporation

What do you think will the 21st -century corporations look like?

In the 1980s many organizations gained competitive advantage through downsizing and financial restructuring. The 1990s confront us with the need to get back to basics. Large organizations are searching for a competitive advantage by being faster than their competitors in satisfying customer needs. These competitive organizations are capable of ongoing adaptation to environmental demands. In this article the authors speculate on the way these self-renewing organizations are organized, the managerial processes that enable them to capitalize on speed, and the characteristics of the leaders who manage them.

As we envision what the corporation of the 21st century should look like in order to thrive in a global and dynamic economy, it’s critical for universities and policy makers to have a comprehensive understanding about the new realities inside corporations. Creating or running a company with significant employee ownership is not simple, but has been demonstrated to be a successful model with benefits to all—employees, shareholders, and customers. Business schools play a critical role in helping individuals as well as organizations understand the components of employee
ownership, defining the possibilities of implementing ownership-based practices, and most importantly training today’s business leaders and our next generation leaders to strengthen the commitment both of employees and employers to the health and success of the 21st century Corporation. New and faster technology, redefined values, and shifting customer demands are changing the way businesses operate in the twenty-first century. Human resources and business leaders are faced with the challenge of redefining their strategies on leadership, talent, and diversity, while evaluating their operational effectiveness.

The Human Resources organization in most companies is changing dramatically, which usually translates into smaller, more centralized, with more technology-enabled services and systems. Few companies are exactly where they want to be, but in many firms, HR looks quite different in size and delivery model than it did just a few years ago. And it appears certain that it will look even more different in just a couple of years. There was much discussion in the 1990s about the demise of HR, and about the need to become more strategic. Although I agree with the push to align the HR business with company goals and strategy, what many companies have also done is cleanup the operational side of the HR business. They have improved the efficiency and effectiveness of myriad services and products, and have strengthened their credibility as a viable contributor to the bottom line. The continuing development and use of Web and self-service information technology is bringing the Human Resources function into the 21st century. The structure and role of the HR organization has been slowly moving, in most Fortune 500 companies, toward a more management-oriented and business strategy-driven function. The HR organization in many Fortune 500 companies has used proven information technology for many years, with IVR (interactive voice response), and ACD (automated call distribution) being good examples. But in most cases, the technology was used in isolated parts of the HR function such as benefits administration and program/policy descriptions, and thus had limited impact on the overall organization. More recently, HR has begun to employ ERPs (enterprise resource programs, such as PeopleSoft and SAP), browserbased portals with text, data, and simplified point-and-click use, and outsourced service applications, which now enables the HR organization to transform how it works and supports the entire enterprise. The year 2000 became the unintended impetus that helped many HR organizations move away from outmoded legacy mainframe systems and initiated the gradual use of more advanced information technologies. The continued pressure on cost reduction and process improvement has forced many HR organizations to take big steps into manager and employee self-service, and to move rapidly into Web-based HR portals. (It has been estimated that an employee transaction through the Web costs about one-tenth of an IVR telephone call, and one-one hundredth of a manual transaction through a personnel administrator.) These portals are bringing together both internal systems and external “outsourced” systems for easy use by the manager and the employee. In addition, the portal permits the inexpensive provision of other employee services such as discount travel, child care, financial services, legal advice, wellness resources, etc., making it a more attractive 24/7 stop for the average employee and their families. Full integration of various HR applications has not yet occurred, but the potential is becoming a reality. But more importantly, the portal permits world-wide use of Web-based applications such as strategy deployment efforts, knowledge management, project management, global mass communications, and distance learning for virtually the entire workforce. These systems now have a more direct tie to work teams and projects, as people collaborate from common networks and systems. The use of this information technology has enabled the HR organization to concentrate resources and to form centralized areas of HR expertise. Most organizations are still in some part of a transition from the traditional local HR “generalist” model to a “virtual” organization with 24/7 access. I expect there will always be some level of human intervention and personal touch service to the workforce through the HR organization. But information technology continues to play a larger role in HR service delivery, and has become both an enabler and a driver for a more effective and efficient HR organization. The question as to how fast this happens in a particular enterprise appears to be largely driven by a company’s vision, mission and values.

http://www.orcworldwide.com/readroom/Schaeffer-0310-11.pdf

Assignment 5(HRM) Downsizing

Visit and identify a company website that has undergone HR downsizing. Identify the cause of downsizing and describe its processes.

Downsizing is an extremely relevant issue to organizations today in that it has become the most prevalent dilemma in recent years. The current tendency of organizations to restructure and ultimately to downsize has a major negative impact on the organizations themselves, on their surviving and terminated employees, on the government, and on society as a whole. In fact, it is everyone's problem, and it seems to have become more the rule than the exception that it used to be in the not too distant past. The current adverse economic climate has been persistent and long-lasting. As a result, many organizations that were operating inefficiently have been driven out of business, and most of those that have survived were forced to restructure in order to streamline their operations and achieve operating cost savings that would ensure their continued competitiveness both on the local and global markets. More often than not, this meant downsizing the organization and, in many cases, the downsizing was conducted in multiple phases or on an on-going basis. The direct result on the organization was a marked drop in employee morale and productivity which prevented organizations from realizing their strategic objectives.

What is Downsizing?

 A downsizing strategy reduces the scale (size) and scope of a business to improve its financial performance (Robbins & Pearce, 1992).

 A reduction of the workforce is one of only several possible ways of improving profitability or reducing costs.


Why do Firms Downsize?

 Reduce costs

 Reduce layers of management to increase decision making speed and get closer to the customer

 Sharpen focus on core competencies of the firm, and outsource peripheral activities

 Generate positive reactions from shareholders in order to improve valuation of stock price

 Increase productivity



Downsizing effects:

 Mixed effects on firm performance: some short-term costs savings, but long-term profitability & valuation not strongly affected.

 Firm’s reputation as a good employer suffers. Example: Apple Computer’s reputation as good employer declined after several layoffs in 1990s.

 Downsizing forces re-thinking of Employment Strategy. Lifelong employment policies not credible after a downsizing. Example: IBM abandoned lifelong policy after several layoffs in early 1990s.

 Employee motivation disrupted: increase in political behaviors, anger, fear - which is likely to negatively impact quality of customer service

 Violation of psychological contract, leads to cynicism, lowered work commitment, fewer random acts of “good will”

 “Survivors” experience more stress due to longer work hours with re-designed jobs, and increased uncertainty regarding future downsizings

 Many senior employees leave due to application of early retirement incentives: result is loss of institutional memory.

 The use of voluntary workforce reductions (buyouts) results in the most marketable employees leaving (“stars”) -- difficult to control since all employees must be legally eligible to qualify.

 Early retirements & voluntary reductions often result in too many people quitting, and some are hired back as consultants at higher cost to firm.


Downsizing Works Best When:

 Changes in Strategy, Organization structure and Culture accompany job cuts of downsizing

 Weak business units and plant closures are used as basis of reductions, rather than across the board cuts affecting all units (including healthy ones).


Critical Thinking Questions:

 1. Which is a better criterion to use as the basis for downsizing employees: seniority or performance? State your reason.

 2. Should employers give future notice to downsized employees, or tell them on the day they are expected to leave the firm?

 3. Separation pay is voluntary. What benefits do firms get when they give separation pay to employees in a downsizing?

 4. Is there a set of “best practices” to let an employee know she/he has been downsized?

 5. Under what circumstances might a company’s managers prefer to use layoffs instead of early retirements or voluntary severance plans as a way to downsize the workforce?



Some Local Companies Undergone Downsizing:

It is said that the only thing that is constant in this world is change. This particular maxim is clearly manifested in the ever-changing business organizations we have today. While some companies choose to be conservative and follow the same boring traditional procedures, many of the companies that emerge as leaders in business industries choose to reengineer itself and adapt to global trends scenarios.

Hammer and Champy, as cited by Rafael Rodriquez and Jasmin Acuña in the article entitled “Reengineering: A Path to Change”, talk about two companies, namely Hallmark and Ford Motors that undergone the reengineering process. For Hallmark, before a greeting card is perfected it has to pass through several segments of the company. Any revisions, no matter how small it seems, create a huge delay for the company’s processes. The management, after recognizing the problem, then decided to put up independent teams that will be focus in the creation of a new greeting card. In Management Accounting, they refer to such teams as a Responsibility Center. The reengineering procedure that was adapted by the Hallmark’s management worked perfectly as reflected by a more efficient and cost-effective means of production. The same reengineering procedure was also adapted in the For Motors Company thereby increasing its efficiency.

San Miguel Corporation, a local example of a company that has reengineered itself was pictured by Rodriguez and Acuña as an entity that was able to down size the number of its employees by adapting its own reengineering procedures. An example that was given would be that of a particular bottling department in San Miguel that was able to downsize its employees from 300 to only 24 upon the acquisition of new equipments that would speed up its operation and the adoption of new procedures. Another example that was given was the implementation of a “pull system” in San Miguel where many functions that require many employees before is now single handedly operated by only one salesman whom the company provided a lap top with a data base management software and a van to take orders from independent customers. Such procedure reduced the need for warehouses and redundant employees since the software was able to create an optimized route for the delivery of the ordered goods.

Edgar Schein on the other hand, talks about six procedures to achieve organizational effectiveness. They are 1) sensing the external and internal environment, 2) Importing information, 3) changing processes and procedures, 4) stabilizing internal change, 5) exporting products and services and 6) getting feedbacks. Following Schein’s procedures, a company would be able to adapt to global trends.

Colgate-Palmolive in terms of restructuring itself was able to promote a lower hierarchy structure for its employee. Ms. Annette Santiago, the HR head of SMART is also proud to say that they were able to do the same since a lower hierarchy structure promotes openness to its employees. A lower hierarchy also promotes transparency since the gap between management and employees are bridged and the employees can easily open up questions pertaining to the company.

The IBM Sales Executive for the Asia-Pacific Region announce the bold move IBM is about to under take by instituting a new procedure in database storage, this is in line with their own reengineering schemes. Thus, most companies now are open to change, those that are not maybe gone by now or maybe inexistent by tomorrow.

References:

http://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=2096
http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=KWWM2XgGdwLVmQpy03yLMrknyG7Y0hSkgydPPJMnkN0JqNMXTh1L!-2050619229!766828861?docId=5001676706
http://www.authorstream.com/presentation/edwinlee-111819-downsizing-hr-business-finance-ppt-powerpoint/

Assignment 4(HRM) Achievement in Future

On assignment 2: "Think of the future and develop a Job Description for a job you would like to hold." and in assignment 3: "Using the internet, examine five(5) different on-line job services and write a brief evaluation of the services and which do you like best and why." this is the question to be applied to those two tasks "how can the university help you achieve what you want to be in the future?"

...In assignment 2, thinking for my future and the job I would like be in the future cause me a headache because there is a lot of job need to be develop and that I want to become in the future. As I know, technology is evolving, through that evolution; there are also a lot of jobs existing. Thinking of it, I came up to decide what kind of job I wanted to be in the future and I named it “Software Developer”, as to the description itself it is comprehensible. I came up with that decision because I think I have a little knowledge on how to develop software. And in assignment 3, while gathering information from the internet of what are some of the online jobs can be found or exist. I have known some 5 online jobs, and among those 5 I choose Online Computer programmer… I chose that online job because I can relate on that job. First, I already have knowledge of what kind of job is that, the degree of the course you need to comply and the skills you need to do the job. Internet is world widely used by different people that is why online jobs are also developed. In combination of the to tasks, it creates a question “How can the University Help me achieve what I want to be in the future.” The two assignments help me come up what job I want to be in the future, as detail, I chooses online computer programmer which has the connection to software developer. As far as I know, making or developing software needs computer programs, you need to create multiple programs in order to build a software. The University of Southeastern Philippines, my beloved alma mater, has role on helping me achieve those jobs. I did come up with those future jobs because of the learning and knowledge that I get from the University. Because I am an Information Technology student of the University of Southeastern Philippines, and being an IT I can say that I belong to the world of technology, and the University can help me become a professional IT and achieve those dreams through giving us the best education we need and lead us into a brighter generation.