Personnel management - The renewed emphasis on the importance of human resources in the 1980s and 90s drew attention to the way in which people management was organized. Specifically, this meant a critical review of the functions of personnel management.
Personnel management has been a recognized function in the USA since NCR opened a personnel office in the 1890s. In other countries the function arrived more slowly and came through a variety of routes. This excerpt from Human Resource Management in a Business Context looks at Personnel management from a historical perspective.
Further notes: Traditional Personnel Functions
• Recruitment - advertising for new employees and liaising with employment agencies.
• Selection - determining the best candidates from those who apply, arranging interviews, tests, references.
• Promotion - running similar selection procedures to determine progression within the organization.
• Pay - a minor or major role in pay negotiation, determination and administration.
• Performance assessment - co-ordinating staff appraisal and counselling systems to evaluate individual employee performance.
• Grading structures - as a basis for pay or development, comparing the relative difficulty and importance of functions.
• Training and development - co-ordinating or delivering programmes to fit people for the roles required by the organisation now and in the future.
• Welfare - providing or liaising with specialists in a staff care or counselling role for people with personal or domestic problems affecting their work.
• Communication - providing internal information service, perhaps in the form of staff newspapers or magazines, handouts, booklets, videos.
• Employee Relations - handling disputes, grievances and industrial action, often dealing with unions or staff representatives.
• Dismissal - on an individual basis as a result of failure to meet requirements or as part of a redundancy, downsizing or closure exercise, perhaps involving large numbers of people.
• Personnel administration - record-keeping and monitoring of legislative requirements related to equal opportunities and possibly pensions and tax.
Personnel Management
Personnel management has been a recognised function in the USA since NCR opened a personnel office in the 1890s. American personnel managers worked within a unitarist tradition, identifying closely with the objectives of their organization (key concept 1.3). It was natural for HRM to emerge comparatively smoothly from this perspective.
In other countries, notably Australia, South Africa and the UK, the personnel management function arrived more slowly and came from a number of routes. Moreover, its orientation was not entirely managerial. In Britain its origins can be traced to the 'welfare officers' employed by Quaker-owned companies such as Cadburys.
When Booker T. Washington speeches the Atlanta Compromise, it is still a big step to talk about equality and social problems of the white and black races, even though it is after the Civil War. However, it is necessary to agitate to reach complete liberty and social change ultimately, which address Washington to have an oblique approach to express the purpose of the speech. He announces his intention of the black race, simultaneously, he wants to make the Southern white men feel relief and relaxed about talking about it. It supports the reason he speaks meek and polite all the time, not to offend the white audience. He insists that the importance of having a business is greater than getting a social equal for African-Americans, which makes
Washington Is being remembered for the address of “Atlanta Exposition” In this particular speech, Booker T called on the Whites to provide Industrial, agricultural education and job for the Negroes. In return the African Americans will stop the demanding for civil rights and social equality. The message he passed to the Negroes was that social equality and politics were not really important as the immediate goals than independence and respectability of the economy. Washington had this belief that if blacks gained a foothold of the economy, and also proved how useful they can be to the Whites, then they will achieve social equality and civil rights because it will eventually be given to them in the long run. African Americans were urged and encouraged to work as skilled artisans, farmers, manual laborers, and domestics servants to show the Whites that all African Americans were not “liars and chicken thieves”.
Noe, Raymond A., et al. Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010. Print.
Dessler, G. (2011). Managing Human Resources Today. A Framework for Human Resource Management (6 ed., p. 2). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Of the many truly inspirational speeches given by African Americans, Booker T. Washington’s The Atlanta Exposition Address is one of the few that intends to achieve compromise. In his speech, Washington is trying to persuade an audience composed significantly of white men to support African Americans by granting them jobs and presenting them with opportunities. His goal is to convince his white audience that African Americans will be supplied with jobs lower than those of white men, allowing white men always to be on top. Booker T. Washington’s The Atlanta Exposition Address adopts a tone of acquiescence and compromise to persuade a predominantly white audience to accept his terms.
Washington 's programme naturally takes an economic cast” (Du Bois). Du Bois believed that Washington’s theory was a gospel of Work and Money that ultimately overshadowed the higher aims of life” Later he makes another statement so powerful that should have made all African Americans want to stand up and fight for a better social status and rights for both the South and North. He goes on stating “The growing spirit of kindliness and reconciliation between the North and South after the frightful differences of a generation ago ought to be a source of deep congratulation to all, and especially to those whose mistreatment caused the war; but if that reconciliation is to be marked by the industrial slavery and civic death of those same black men, with permanent legislation into a position of inferiority, then those black men, if they are really men, are called upon by every consideration of patriotism and loyalty to oppose such a course by all civilized methods, even though such opposition involves disagreement with Mr. Booker T. Washington.” (Du
The importance of Human Resource management is associated with the beginning of mankind. As the knowledge of survival had begun including safety, health, hunting and gathering, tribal leaders passed on the knowledge to their youth. However more advanced HRM functions were developed as early as 1000 B.C and 2000 B.C. Since the modern management theory took over, the working environment was transformed into a more friendly and safe work place. The workers were termed as most valuable resources. While some companies took the human side of employment seriously, there were others who did not find it mandatory. Hence they faced huge labor unions and factory shut downs (Henning, 2001).
The journal article, “What does sport mean to you? Fun and other preferences for adolescents’ sport participation” claims that fun, social aspects, masculinity, and identity are the main reasons youth participate in sports (Skille and Østera˚ s, 360). Oftentimes, athletes forget they are on the same team, and they start to form cliques or groups based around who has the best bench press or 40 meter dash time. As a result, teammates start to compete with each other instead of working towards the same goal. For instance, one coaching journal article claims that “moral reasoning” in youth is determined through “collective norms” or group behaviors that the coach has a hand in influencing (Shields, LaVoi, Bredemeier, Power, 748-749). A proper coaching environment should therefore revolve around a fun, supportive, and collective environment where success is encouraged through the full support of the team. This support can further be developed through proper positive mindfulness and code of conduct guidelines set forth by the coach; for instance, hazing should be discouraged and proper communication and helpfulness among teammates should be
youth sports [were] the one haven for good sportsmanship," says Darrell Burnett, a clinical child psychologist and youth sports psychologist. "Not anymore. It's not just a game anymore." With technology (etc) distracting our children with violence and so on, we cannot afford to ruin what sports may do for them. With sports being just one of the few things left that can contribute to success in life, education, and health, parents need not to put any sort of unnecessary pressure on their kids at such a young age, or any age for that matter, ever.
Byars, L. L. (1997). Human Resource Management. Chicago, IL: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Mills, D. Q. (1994).
...es dealing with team building, activities that will help in diagnosing, feedbacks, activities for process consultation etc (Robbins, 2010).
Children who participate in sports are developing rapidly in sports skills, sportsmanship, and psychologically, but does this come from organized sports are just nature’s process. Children develop emotional and social benefits from participating in sports. Children experience character and leadership development through peer relations leading to an increase in self-esteem and a decrease in anxiety levels. Children will get opportunities to experience positive and negative emotions throughout their practice and games trials. It is important for the coach to understand the “psychology of youth sports and physical activity participation” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011 p.516).
An organizational human resources department utilizes the hiring and firing process to meet the organization’s personnel needs. Organizational human resource departments are charged with the oversight of an organizations administration department. The practice of hiring and firing people is a process employer’s conducts on a daily basis. This process has to be done in a proper manner and not in haste. The implication that can occur from the improper hiring and firing process could and can have a positive or negative impact on an organization. Therefore, employers must carefully evaluate their decision to hire/fire individuals and its impact on the organizations’ workplace environment and others employees. Human Resource Management is important for an effective organization. In today’s organization, HRM is valuable to the organization because of increase legal complexities and its known for improvement in productivity. However, management should realize that poor human resource management could result in an outburst of hiring process followed by firing or layoffs. According to (Satterlee 2013, p. 194), “Hiring the best candidate who is also a good fit for the organization is crucial for the success of an organization, because a poor hiring decision will have repercussions across the entire organization”. Satterlee made a valid point because poor hiring could have an impact on the bottom line performance of the firm. In other words, HRM is the contributing factor to the success of the organization including motivating and maintain the staffs. The purpose to the motivation is to ensure that all employees grow to a full potential. According to (Sims 2006, p. 5), “HRM efforts are planned, systematic approaches to increasing organizati...
Students gain many important characteristics while playing sports. Sports offer students a chance to grow as an individual and build character. In his journal article, “Does sport affect character development in athlete”, author George sage said, “A popular saying in England is that ‘the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton’ (a private boarding school). This quote suggested that Arthur Wellington, the victorious British general at the Battle of Waterloo, had acquired skills and values while playing sports at Eton that prepared him to defeat Napoleon.” As a former student athlete and current coach, I agree with what Sage says as the things that I learned as a student athlete have impacted my personality and work ethic in life. Of the many characteristics a student can pick up, the most valuable ones are discipline, work ethic, confidence and moral behavior.
Personnel management encompasses a deep interest in the well-being of an organization’s personnel as well as their execution of tasks assigned to them. Its main aim is ensuring that employees have a sense of satisfaction. Personnel management tasks include training, selection and hiring, motivation, rewards, compensation among others. Personnel managers, in collaboration with other sections in the organization are mainly involved in execution of these tasks (Ingram, 2008, p.160).