“Human beings are the most important, potent, and critical resource of any organization and yet the least understood and worst managed.”
Human Resource is the most importantHuman beings are considered as the assets and resource in any organization. Yet, compared to other resources such as physical ones such as the land, equipments and cash, human beings are considered the most important. Just think in a shallow manner, it’s already perceived that all of the other resources would just be useless without the human manipulation in the organization. It is because human beings are the ones responsible for the strategic development of the organization with the use of the other existing resources.
Without human beings, would you still think the concept of organization exists?
“Human resource” is a broad term that refers to “human capital,” the people of an organization. It’s a strategic function that links between talented and engaged people and the organizational success. However the terms “human resources” and “human capital” face the rational controversy. One of the reasons is that these terms may be perceived to as insulting to people because they bring the impressions that people are mere commodities, like equipments and other organizational assets despite the assurances to the contrary.
Another important controversy is the broader philosophical issue with the usage of the phrase “human resources” which is best illustrated in labor mobility. It is said that governments in developing countries often regard developed nations that encourage immigration or “guest workers” as appropriating human capital that is rightfully part of the developing nation and is required to further growth as civilization.
In this matter, modern analysis emphasizes that human beings are not “commodities” or mere “resources”. It is viewed that a strong social consensus on political economy and a good social welfare system facilitates labor mobility and tends to make the entire economy more productive as labor can develop skills and experience in various ways, and move from one enterprise to another with little controversy or difficulty in adapting.
So what is Human Resource Development by the way? Human Resource Development is the framework for the expansion of human capital within an organization. It’s a combination of training and education, in a broad context of adequate health and employment policies, which ensures the continual improvement and growth of the individual, the organization and the national human resourcefulness. Human Resource Development is not a defined object, but a series of organized processes with specific aiming of objectives. (Nadler, 1984)
Human Resource is the most potentEvery individual in an organization has the ability to develop itself which is a potential in satisfying the organizational goals. The development of the individual will benefit both the individual and the organization. In the corporate vision, the Human Resource Development framework views employees as an asset to the enterprise whose value will be enhanced by the development, “its primary focus is on growth and employee development…it emphasizes developing individual potentials and skills”(Elwood, Olton, Trott 1996). Its objective is to foster human resourcefulness through enlightened and cohesive policies in education, training, health and employment at all levels (JES Lawrence 2000). Human Resource Development in this treatment can be in-room group training, tertiary or vocational courses or mentoring and coaching by the senior employees with the aim for a desired outcome that will develop the individual’s performance.
At the organizational level, a successful Human Resources Development program will prepare the individual to undertake a higher level of work, “organized learning over a given period of time, to provide the possibility of performance change” (Nadler 1984). In these settings, Human Resources Development is the framework that focuses on the organizations competencies at the first stage, training, and then developing the employee, through education, to satisfy the organizations long-term needs and the individuals’ career goals and employee value to their present and future employers. Human Resources Development can be defined simply as developing the most important section of any business its human resource by, “attaining or upgrading the skills and attitudes of employees at all levels in order to maximize the effectiveness of the enterprise” (Kelly 2001).The people within an organization are its human resource. Human Resources Development from a business perspective is not entirely focused on the individual’s growth and development, “development occurs to enhance the organization's value, not solely for individual improvement.
Human Resource is the most criticalOnly human beings have the capability to lead the organization. In nutshell, it is very absurd to think of other physical assets managing their own. Leadership, cohesion and loyalty played an important role in the organizational success. Although this view was increasingly challenged by more quantitatively rigorous and less soft management techniques in 1960s and beyond, Human Resource Development had gained a permanent role inn the organization. It’s very important o assess employee development needs and promotional potentials.
Another reason is that human beings are also decision-makers which affect the organization’s future. Their decisions will greatly influence the organization’s outcome. Wrong decisions may lead to the organization’s collapse while right decisions bring the organization’s success and growth.
Human Resource is hard to understandIt is a reality that every human individual is unique and always has differences with each other. And it’s very difficult to deal with differences.
For instance,, a certain employee complains that his boss is keep on demanding on the things he should do, to the level that the boss may seem to neglect the employee’s efforts and ideas. Boss’s sometimes have different ideas with the employees. It consequently results to misunderstanding between the senior employees and the employees themselves.
At the organizational level, Human Resource Management (HRM) has the objective to maximize the return on investment from the organization’s human capital and minimize the financial risks. It is the responsibility of the human resource managers to conduct these activities in an effective, legal, fair and consistent manner. It simply implies that managers in the organization is really expecting a lot from their employees as a mean in the success of the organization, be it on the return of the organization’s investment while minimizing the financial risks. There are times that employees can’t reach the expectations of their employers. Also employers can’t meet the demands of the employees. That is why they can’t be easily understood.
Human Resource is the worst to manageIt is also said that human beings are the most difficult to handle and to manage. They are the ones who can break or puzzle the heads of their senior employees or managers.
There are so many explanations that can answer the statement.
One, it is because of the individual differences. Also, it is because of the personal goals set by certain employees with the organizational goals. It is said that the greatest opponent of an individual is his self and defeating your own enemy also needs a great effort in part of for your self and the manager.
Two, there also individuals that are naturally stubborn, have behavioral abnormalities, inadequacies, have different life aspects that can affect his behavior and performance.
Lastly, human beings are not merely leveled to the other assets of the organization. Assets except people are easy to manage, even if we say, they are also difficult, still they can’t be compared to the level of difficulty in managing people.
The word “management” is a very crucial term especially when it pertains to human beings. It is because of the thought, “Human beings managing human themselves.” To elaborate, the Webster’s dictionary defines management as the act, art or manner of managing, controlling or conducting. It’s a skillful use of means to accomplish a purpose. “Individual development is a toll and means to an end, not the end goal itself” (Elwood F. Holton, James W. Trott Jr.)
Manage is sometimes referred to as control and to use which means that managers are to control the means (human) to accomplish a specific organizational goal. It’s very critical to note the phrase “person being controlled by another person”. It seems that you are like a puppet being controlled by a puppeteer for a certain movement you have to do so that you show (puppet show) would be successful.
Managers on the other hand, have also critical functions for the development of the organization. These are referred to as the Human Resource Management Key Functions which are the following: 1. Recruitment & Selection; 2. Training and Development (People or Organization); 3. Performance Evaluation and Management; 4. Promotions/Transfer; 5. Redundancy; 6. Industrial and Employee Relations; 7. Record keeping of all personal data. ; 8. Compensation, pensions, bonuses etc in liaison with Payroll ;9. Confidential advice to internal 'customers' in relation to problems at work; 10. Career development; 11. Competency Mapping; 12. Time motion study is related to HR Function; 13. Performance Appraisal
REFERENCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resources
1.) Telecommunications
