3.6.1 Setting human resource objectives
The value of setting human resource objectives
Human Resources = this refers to the organisations employees in general, or the department responsible for their management
Human Resource Management (HRM) = the actual management if the employees or department
Areas included in HRM:
- Health and safety
- Employees rights (trade unions)
- Hierarchy/promotion
- Recruitment and selection
- Legislation
- Appraisals
- Contracts
- Training
- Pay
- Consultations
- Motivation
Importance of setting human resource objectives:
- It gives employees something to work towards
- Improves efficiency
- Focus for decision making
- Improves coordination between departments
Internal and external influences on human resource objectives and decisions
Internal influences:
- Corporate objectives (e.g. an objective of cost minimisation results in the need for redundancies, delayering or other restructuring)
- Operational strategies (e.g. introduction of new IT or other systems and processes may require new staff training, fewer staff)
- Marketing strategies (e.g. new product development and entry into a new market may require changes to organisational structure and recruitment of a new sales team)
- Financial strategies (e.g. a decision to reduce costs by outsourcing training would result in changes to training programmes)
External influences:
- Market changes (e.g. a loss of market share to a competitor may require a change in divisional management or job losses to improve competitiveness)
- Economic changes (e.g. changes in the level of unemployment and the labour market will affect the supply of available people and their pay rates)
- Technological changes (e.g. the rapid growth of social networking may require changes to the way the business communicates with employees and customers)
- Social changes (e.g. the growing number of single-person households is increasing demand from employees for flexible working options)
- Political & legal changes (e.g. legislation on areas such as maximum working time and other employment rights impacts directly on workforce planning and remuneration)