Human Resources

The job market in Human Resources is a fast growing career with many profitable opportunities. In the next 5 to 15 years, according to career analysts, the number of human resources jobs is expected to increase in the future. As a human resource student, I chose this topic because it will help provide not only me but also my other colleagues the important ideas and information we need to know in our chosen field. Some people may inquire if they could land a job in human resource without having a degree.

Actually people don’t need to have a degree to have a job in human resource but the lack of it will limit you from being promoted in a much higher paying position in the Human Resources office. A degree is becoming essential. Human Resources leaders need degrees. If you are considering a career in Human Resources, or trying to advance your current career, a Bachelors degree, and even a Masters degree, will assist you to achieve your goals and dreams. Degrees have become more important in most fields, but nowhere has the shift occurred quite as dramatically as in HR.

As organizational expectations of the potential contributions of an HR professional have increased, the need for the HR leader to possess both experience and a degree has increased, too. Therefore, it is to our great advantage that we have chosen a career path in Human Resource because now we do not have to worry anymore of finding a good paying job in the future. We are already one-step ahead from those without a degree. In this very competitive world, we all agree that the more education you have, the better chance for you to get an excellent job prospects and a successful career.

For now, a human resource student must be prepared to develop a deep understanding of the business their future employer is engaged in to succeed in a career in Human Resources. In this topic, we will be able to see the different problems that are inevitable but can be solved by solution already tested by expert career analysts and human resource managers. Human resource is the key to a successful business in a company. They play a very crucial in selecting skilled workers.

They are also the human capital that provides the income and productivity of a certain company. To ensure that they hire good employees businesses rely on effective human resource to be able to respond to conflicts between workers and the management. They prefer the term “management of human capital” to the old Human Resources roles such as personnel management and HR. Thus, human resource managers are very careful in selecting the best alternative fit in our fast changing world (Yeung and Sullivan 51).

For an organization to achieve success, it has to strategize its system of staffing. Staffing, as it is known in Human Resources Management profession, is composed of three elements: recruitment, selection, and employment. In other words, the positioning of workers or staff should be so arranged as to achieve the overall aims of the company. As one noted American engineer said, “Management has to be scientific.” It means that it has to see the nature of any given situation, finding out what is to be done, and applying the necessary tools and methods to meet the demands and thus accomplishing the task effectively (Sison, 1991).

Because the employment of people who have the right skills and expertise to the different areas of production is crucial to the efficiency of the company’s overall work, it is very important that the organization looks at all of the staffing components (recruitment, selection, employment) from the standpoint of the job applicants. This way, the company will be able to see with the prospective employee eye to eye as to the character of the whole operation. Applicants will know what kind of positions are there to be filled, and why are these posts needed. At the outset, right understanding of things must be secured between parties so that potential future frustrations can be prevented.

Recruitment, selection, and employment presuppose the main objective of excellent staffing. It is to “acquire quality human resources that possess the ability and competence to accomplish successfully the duties and responsibilities required of them within the company.” Good staffing also has within its framework the objective of growing with the company. In the end, it has secured for all the good that everyone is looking for. Human resources will not be as bad as it sounds to some, for the company itself is truly the first to become the means to meet needs for all.  It indeed is a “win-win” situation.

Reference:

Sison, Perfecto. 1991 Personnel And Human Resources Management, Published by Rex Book Store, C.M. Recto Avenue, Manila Philippines.

Analyse two potential benefits of Out and About plc’s current ‘soft’ Human Resource Management strategy. Human Resource Management Strategy is the process of making the best use of an Organisation’s employees in order to achieve its human resource objectives. A soft HRM strategy recognises that the workforce are a valuable asset to the business and are crucial to achieve the organisation’s objectives. Soft HRM has many benefits to Out and About plc- it’s main benefit is to improve staff motivation.

Out and About plc has shown this in many ways. Firstly, all staff are on permanent contracts providing them with greater security. This allows for the workers to provide a greater level of commitment to Out and About plc as it is their major career. This greater level of commitment will in turn produce greater labour productivity as workers who feel loyal and dedicated to a company will have a much more enthusiastic and hardworking approach as opposed to a worker who does not feel greatly involved and concerned of the companies on goings.

Furthermore, permanent staff are more likely to commit to training in order to acquire skills that can boost their career- which will again benefit the company. However, it is important to consider whether or not permanent contracts should be used for ALL staff as some groups of staff will most likely not be required at all times. Working in shifts could increase labour productivity as workers are more likely to be ‘fresh’ and more focused on a job in comparison to a member of staff who is to ‘go through the motions’ on a daily basis.

Also, permanent contracts for all staff would be a lot more costly than using temporary staff. Out and About plc will need to decide which staff require permanent contracts and which do not to see any benefits financially. Secondly, the company’s current statistics show that the average staff age is 45 and that the labour turnover is 5 percent (which is well below the industry average of 18 percent). This could indicate that staff are loyal and enjoy working for the business. Therefore it is good to question why a change needs to be implemented when staff are clearly happy.

Also a labour turnover of 5 percent is not something which Out and About plc needs to worry about, however it is important to realise that changing the HRM dramatically (form soft to hard) could also affect the labour turnover dramatically. Q2) What do you consider to be the most important influence on Lisa’s marketing plan? Justify your view. A marketing plan consists of setting marketing objectives and deciding upon the strategy needed to achieve them. There are many influences on Lisa’s marketing plan. Firstly, I believe that the operational issues such as location of shops and the availability of suppliers will be of great importance.

The passage states that: ‘As well as selling leading brands such as Salomon, Quiksilver and O’Neill, Out and About plc will also sell a range of ‘own label’ clothing. ’ This means that the ’25 new out of town stores’ will be heavily reliant on these other brands. Therefore, it is vital to gain information and research on the suppliers and how reliable they are. If this research is not done efficiently, Out and About plc could find that they have low levels of stock which could result in unsatisfied customers and the chance of a bad reputation.

Furthermore, the location of the shop is vital as it interlinks with the first problem of suppliers. If the shop is far from the supplier – it will be more difficult and take longer to deliver items which will cause great inefficiency. Another reason that the location of shops will be important is because the market in itself is fairly niche therefore the shops will need to be placed in fairly busy areas – like town centres as if they were on quiet desolate places they will see very little business.

Secondly, it is key to note that competitors such as supermarkets – Argos and JJB have already affected Out and About plc current market – ‘profits have declined by 15 percent. ’ Building your way up in a relatively niche market is extremely difficult, especially with well known large stores such as JJB competing. Therefore it will be important to ensure that, Out and About plc maintain competitive prices and high quality products.

The competition needs to be closely reviewed – for example, if Argos sells a camping jacket for cheap – Out and About plc will have to emphasise that the slight price difference is due to quality and design. Lisa will have to heavily promote what makes, Out and About plc different to Argos and JJB – and why consumers should choose them over a reputable brand. The above has only discussed (in my opinion) the two major points of the influencing factors of Lisa’s marketing plan however, there are many more. A key influence would be the reaction of the new target market.

If the target market are to decide that the cheaper alternatives are more suited towards them Out and About plc will have failed to create a successful business. I believe this factor is most logical as Out and About plc are almost trying to change a previously known ‘cheap’ business to a higher upmarket business. However, this means they won’t be appealing to the same consumers – this consumer market is much smaller than the aforementioned. We can also question whether or not sufficient market research been carried out upon which to base their strategy?

Art is contemporarily defined as the product or process of deliberately arranging symbolic elements in a way that influences and affects the senses, emotions, and/or intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression. The renaissance is the rebirth of classicism; classicism comes from the ancient Greece and Rome; they portray art to captivate perfection, harmony and order. Italian High Renaissance artists achieved ideal of harmony and balance comparable with the works of ancient Greece or Rome.

Renaissance Classicism was a form of art that removed the extraneous detail and showed the world as it was. Forms, colours and proportions, light and shade effects, spatial harmony, composition, perspective, anatomy – all are handled with total control and a level of accomplishment for which there are no real precedents. Up until the middle ages, the role and status of artists in society were similar to other skilled, manual workers. They were usually employed to work on specific commissions. Most artists worked anonymously.

Any prestige associated with an artwork reflected more for or about, rather than on the artists. Until the 18th Century artists learnt their ‘trade’ as apprentices in the workshops of established artists. In retrospect this was the time period of sexual discrimination; men were still seen as highly regarded over the typical status of women. So only men could be certified and had the opportune to be an artist. During the renaissance there was a new emphasis on art as an intellectual activity, not just a manual skill.

This altered the role of the artist; the renaissance artists played an active role in the intellectual life of the period, many of them wrote treaties on subjects such as perspective and painting. Their achievements as individuals were now recognised, and often celebrated. Some artists, such as Michelangelo Buonarroti, were seen as having almost divine creative powers. This established artists as geniuses. Artists were portrayed as artist heroes- the artists creative powers were a revelation of god’s creative powers on earth.

The artist as a romantic genius was a development of the renaissance artist as a hero. That the superlative artist gained superlative social positions; they were proclaimed as men of genius, their powers of creation exalted as never before. Concept of the artist as a genius was appropriate to an age obsessed with the potential of man and the style of talents personality. In the late 18th Century a German philosopher Immanuel Kant put forward the idea that artists are geniuses who are born rather then taught. Michelangelo Buonarroti; a renaissance Italian Male (born 1475-1664) was perceived as a born genius.

His role as an artist was established as an high renaissance male who was multidiscipline and a mulit-skilled painter, sculpture, poet and scientist of anatomy; he was highly regarded as a ‘god like’ figure. His tumultuous career, with its perpetual struggles and its passionate commitment to art, was to become the master pattern for the romantic genius. Michelangelo’s artistic skills were perceived to originate from birth nevertheless he practised as a trained apprentice at the age of 13 in the workshop of the established art master Domenico Ghirlandaio in Florence.

Though as an early artist he was regarded by his father as he proclaimed that “Artists are no better than shoe-makers. The neoplatonic thought that was current amongst all seemed to underlie not only his poetry but much of his paintings and sculptures as he expressed “sculpture is the painting as the sun is to the moon. ” Michelangelo’s reputation was established by the sale of a ‘sleeping Cupid’ as a genius antique. In its exquisite finish, its flawless classism, and it evocation of the human activity in the divine and the divine in the human, the pieta is indeed a consummation of fifteenth century art.

The perfection of the two figured is informed both by an expert knowledge of anatomy and by the Neoplatonic theory; that the beauty of the body is an expression of its spirit. Michelangelo was commissioned in 1501 by the new republican government to carve a colossal ‘David’, symbol of resistance and independence. Later in 1508 Michelangelo was summoned by Pope Julius II, to the Sistine chapel ceiling; this was Michelangelo’s most celebrated work.

Panels portraying key stories from Genesis are surrounded by a framework with additional scenes and figured for a 4 year period. The ceiling endured Michelangelo’s deep religious faith, expressed through a profound reverence for the classical Antiquity. A modern art was nationally acclaimed and recognized. Modern Artists were perceived as an Avant Guarde that challenged the main stream, traditional art. It was focused on the artist brain. Modernism reflecting the industrial revolution; was the era of mass production and consumption. One development vident in the modern era, spurred by technological growth in this century, has augmented the artist role in society; the commercialization of art through the expansion of entertainment, communications, and indoctrination media. In this modern time period society did not establish the role of artist, the artist decided for themselves what role they would play in their art. Andy Warhol disrupted the common views of the role each artist should play in their art. Andy Warhol was a modern American male (born in 1928-87); He is a pop artist whose role as artist as a celebrity.

His practise involves commercial artist advertisement and illustor. His portraits developed from Polaroid photographs. In Warhol’s art, there is absolutely no sign of the artist’s hand or that this piece was even made by an artist. An unknowing viewer might suspect that it belongs in a grocery store rather than not a gallery or a museum. Since he uses different techniques than traditional artists, at times he may never touch the piece at all and it still will be credited to him. This corresponds to what was once expected from the artist. Skill is no longer involved; it is much more about content, conceptual appearance, and processes.

He is infatuated by food, sex, death and fame; this fatuation led to consumer product, nudity and celebrity icons such as Jackie Kennedy, Elvis Privily and Marilyn. Warhol had a specific, obvious style; He used repetition and simplification. Popular culture has a huge influence on his art. His art caused controversy in society. His art challenged the modernist idea of originality of the artist. Critics originally ridiculed Pop Art; “A range of distasteful, stupid, vulgar, assertive and ugly manifestations of the worst kind of our society. (Solomon) Another critic Norbert Lynton quoted “pop art seems on the whole leave aside the basic questions and values of art. ” The public responded t it favourably. American society, the post WWII and the cold war hugely influenced his art. Warhol would conditionally say Conflicting statements that shocked and corrupted society; “I want everyone to think alike. I think everybody should be a machine,” &“Once you see pop art, you can’t see America in the same way. ” Andy Warhol picked his subjects off supermarket shelves and from the front pages of the tabloids. He would then mass-produce the image, repeating them by silkscreen duplication.

The well-known images pushed art out of the museum and into mainstream. Warhol’s “100 can of Campbell’s Soup” created in 1962; was cans assembled in a line. The serial images of consumer items in a hard-edged graphic style, Warhol wanted a machinelike art without social comment or emotion. From 1963-68 Warhol made more than sixty films which reached new depths of banality. One silent film, “Sleep” runs six hours, capturing every non-nuance of a man sleeping; “I like boring things” Warhol stated. A natural self-promoter, Andy Warhol made himself into a media sensation; he conflicted the original role of the artist.

A Post-modern artist has adapted from a modern Avant Guarde to the role of a deconstructor of previous roles. The Post-modern time period accepts both genders as artist. With the vast technological development art has new expressive forms; 2D, 3D and 4D. Their role is to convey messages to society that otherwise would go unheard, or perhaps cannot be said. Andy Goldsworthy is a British male born in 1956, Goldsworthy is a post-modern /contemporary artist; He is a trained artist who studied at Bradford College (1974-1975). He is an intuitive, solitary, environmental sculpture and land artist.

His art practise involves natural installations that is documented using film and photography that is viewed by the public through published books of his art. Goldsworthy uses natural materials from his property in Britain and the scour river. This material consists of rocks, ice, twigs, leaves, clay, stone, water and flowers. His conceptual practise relies on the earth; “I need the earth but it doesn’t need me. ” The ‘Dumfriesshire clay wall’ was created in June 1999; this was a filmed process that captured the decay. Goldsworthy ideology was focused on the cycle of collapse and rebirth; “I like to push things to the point of collapse.

Goldsworthy has a deep conceptual meaning and symbolism in each of his artworks. He was influenced by nature, weather and seasonal change. “Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. ” Goldsworthy’s “Storm King Wall” is a wall commissioned with builders to be 1. 8m high stretching across a forester, weaving through trees. The wall was built with stability to outlast seasonal change. One of his works “The rowan leaves and hole” is autumn leaves organised in corresponding order of colour that spirals to make a black hole.

Goldsworthy symbolises hole as death. Andy Goldsworthy challenges traditional ideas; the process instead of the art is the most important thing. Goldsworthy provokes at the role of the traditional artist. Examining the historical art we draw a conclusion about the nature of a society, and even this period of time, contemporary artists still say a lot about society and the mainstream way of thinking. The role of the artist has established as a manual worker, to an Avant Guarde that has adopted, manipulated and changed overtime. Artists are the mouthpiece of their culture.

There is almost no place that you can go where technology hasn’t been used. Technology affects our daily lives in everything that we do; it saves time, creates a world of endless learning, and makes traveling to halfway around the world effortless. Technology greatly reduces the time it takes to perform lives everyday tasks.

Daily chores such as mowing the grass or doing the dishes have been reduced from hours to twenty minutes with the invention of the automatic dishwasher and gas powered lawn mower. New technologies have even eliminated the time it takes to read books when you can download the audio book to listen for your iPod. In the work place machines have eliminated many of the hand labors of molding parts and assembling products creating a great surplus of extra hours to finish other works and increasing production. Due to technology, human life has become very easy, efficient, fast and accurate.

The machines have taken the place of human beings, every single task which was done by human, is now being done by machines. Now the following questions arise. * What are the basic technologies taking place of human resources? * Do these replacements effecting our traditions, civilizations, religious values and infect each and every profession of our lives? * To what extent these replacements are dangerous? * How much benefits they are getting from these replacements? These are some things which need to be cleared in my topic, because it is affecting people relating to every profession of life.

They can be technical and non-technical. Technology is taking human place in every single profession of life, because of its efficiency, accuracy, smartness and fastness in every field of life. The rate of this replacement is very high because, with the huge pressure of growing population of world, technology is giving better and easy path to humans to deal with this fast era. The technology has changed the people life style. Machines have taken place of the human resources. Human beings are getting advantage of this change.

They are using telephone, mobile phones, television, fax, printer, emails, internet, newspapers, and many other things which have changed the entire life of human beings. We can connect to any one in any corner of the world sitting in any other corner of the world using this technology. We can convey our messages in thousands of miles away within a few seconds. Through internet, we can do video calling, as we are sitting before the person actually present in any other corner of the world. We can send our documents to the international companies, using printer, scanner, email, and internet.

Today machines are working to calculate the things and doing the task actually that were assigned to human beings in national and international companies previously, and they are doing it accurately, faster and efficiently than man. Heavy machinery, working in factories is also giving a huge output in a little time. The technology is creating the things for recreation and fun. Video games are being generated day by day with new taste and theme, taking in concern the interest of the players. The people of different parts of world are connected by the current and fastest mode of travelling.

This is also generating sense of tourism and visiting the far of places, by providing the easy, fastest and convenient mode of travelling and residence. As I have mentioned above that the technology is affecting the people relating to any profession of life, some people are familiar with the terms relating to technology. They have jobs relating to technology. We have some people, who are using technology but actually, they don`t have any concerns with its basics. On the other side we have people they don`t have any touch with the technical life and technical terms.

They are not losing any thing as well. They have their other affairs of life. They are getting advantage from them and living their lives well. Technology is not giving them any disadvantage. As we know that a mirror has two sides, one is bright and on is dark. Technology has advantages, but it also has some disadvantages. Due to this replacement, many people have become unemployed. Machines are working instead of human beings. The task, which was done by ten or twenty people, is now done by a single machine, so those ten or twenty people became unemployed at any work place.

As ADLAI E. STEVENSON said “Technology, while adding daily to our physical ease, throws daily another loop of fine wire around our souls. It contributes hugely to our mobility, which we must not confuse with freedom. The extensions of our senses, which we find so fascinating, are not adding to the discrimination of our minds, since we need increasingly to take the reading of a needle on a dial to discover whether we think something is good or bad, or right or wrong. ” (ADLAIE. STEVENSON, “My Faith in Democratic Capitalism,” in Fortune magazine, October 1955)

It is reducing the cultural and traditional values. People`s life style has totally changed. Modern technology and the people`s way of living is defeating their interests for the older values. In this fast era, it has become more difficult even to manage a short time for these values and hence, they are decreasing with this gradual change in live style and replacements. Some religious saints and scholars are against this huge replacement. They think that these replacements are taking people away from the religious thoughts and motivations.

The factories are working and giving efficient outputs, but on the other hand they have many disadvantages. They are creating pollution. The trees are being cut off to put new factories. The air is being polluted with poisoned gasses and materials. The waste chemicals are being thrown to water resources without any purification of neutralization. The refrigerators, air conditions and cans are ejecting the gasses, which are destroying the ozone layer, and hence increasing the temperature of the earth.

So in short on one hand technology has gifted us the marvelous wonders, made our life so easy and given the time saving worksheets but on the other hand it is reducing our religious, cultural, and traditional values. Taking an overall view of both sides of the picture, I have come to the conclusion that in this fast era, the world is directed towards technology. To live a better life, technology has become an important part of our lives and hence, I am in favour of this replacement.

References

1. ADLAIE. STEVENSON http://www. physics. udel. edu/~watson/scen103/quotes. html October 1955

The Reluctant Receptionist Why was it important to be specific when describing job duties? The importance of being specific when describing job duties is very important. Having a well effectively developed employee job description is a communication tool between the employee and employer and it can determine the success between the employee and employer. Having a poorly written job description can add confusion to the workplace, also a lack of communication from the company. People working for the company may feel as if they do not know what is, to be expected of them.

In this scenario not being accurate of the written job description created a problem because it was not written but it became a verbal description and it had nothing to do with what Virginia applied for. Virginia was not hired to be a receptionist, but was to relieve the receptionist for an hour a day. Virginia felt that this company did not take her seriously and felt unappreciated. Even though she has a college degree, and the job she applied for was an HR assistant not a fill in receptionist.

The importance of job descriptions Employee job descriptions are written statements that describe the duties, responsibilities, and the qualifications of a particular job. Employee job descriptions are based on information obtained through a job analysis, understanding the skills required to accomplish the task that is needed, and the needs of the company. Having a well written job description can cover legal basis as well, if employment issue’s should arise: it will define the ongoing job responsibilities for the employee.

It will also identify the required knowledge , skills and abilities needed to be successful. What can be done in the future to prevent these problems, what are the job duties of an HR Assistant? In order from preventing this happening in the future is to be more detailed into what is expected of the job being performed. When writing a job description consider the task, duties, and responsibilities and define each one if needed. Job Description for Human Resource Assistant

Human Resources Assistants are generally assigned to help Human Resource directors and managers keep track of employee information. This information could include an employee’s name, address, job title, compensation, tax withholding information and benefits, such as retirement and insurance plans. Human Resource assistants also help with documentation concerning grievances, terminations, absences and performance reports. Duties of an Human Resource Assistant Human resources assistants may be required to complete a wide variety of duties.

Common tasks include answering questions, opening mail, receiving and transferring phone calls, giving directions, creating and distributing documents and providing customer service. Assistants may be required to use either traditional paper filing systems in their work, or more commonly, a computer data entry system. Other functions human resources assistants may fulfill include setting appointments, arranging meetings, maintaining calendars, copying files, entering data into computer systems and tracking payments or other financial information.

Assistants may also be required to write reports for their managers, compile spreadsheets and prepare presentations. Because they work with the public, human resource assistants must be able to present themselves well and have good communication skills. Assistants must also be aware of privacy concerns and the importance of keeping information confidential. References: Education Portal http://education-portal. com/articles/Human_Resources_Assistant_Job_Description_Duties_and_Requirements. html Career Builder http://www. careerbuilder. com/? cbRecursionCnt=1

During the first three decades of the 20th century, there were many great leaders in the area of Industrial and Organizational Psychology whose contributions have been largely documented in historical records. Leaders are not born they are made, and true leader leads by example. Sometimes people influence the way we live our lives. This could be a pastor, teacher, friend or manager. In any event, leaders must take the extra step and reach out to others.

In order to be effective, a leader must be able to initiate and develop his or her alliances in the quest for achieving common goals and objectives (Bills, 1925). Thus, leaders have the ability to influence, guide, direct and control the behavior of others while leading with dignity and respect. Dr. Bills’ studies, exemplified characteristics of true leadership. She became a legendary figure in a scientific research to understand and resolve personnel issues within organizations (Koppes, 2007). In one case study, Dr. Marion A.

Bills illustrated important duties for managerial position and how essential they are to the success of the organization. MARGINAL UTILITY ANALYSIS AND HRM VALUE Marginal utility is an economic concept that is used in determining the additional satisfaction that one obtains as he consumes additional amount of a particular commodity (Samuelson and Nordhaus, 2001). As applied to the management of human resources, it may be equivalent to the additional product that an employee can contribute to the attainment of organizational goals and objectives.

The additional product that an employee can contribute to the company or the additional value that it could provide will be the basis of determining the compensation or the pay that must be given to him. The concept of marginal utility may then be used by a human resource manager in wage and salary administration particularly in determining the salary for a new worker. The management must determine what the new employee is capable of contributing to the value of the company by analyzing his qualifications as to knowledge, skills, and abilities.

The salary that would be given must at least be equal to the marginal product to ensure that hiring the employee would add value to the firm. If the salary that would be paid is higher than his marginal product (may be equivalent to marginal utility), hiring him would not do good for the company or would not add to its value. REFERENCE: Samuelson, Paul A. and Nordhaus, William D. (2001). Economics. McGraw- Hill Companies, Inc.