Hello Friends,

Successful companies value people more than capital or technology. And the HR manager plays a crucial role. Check out if you fit the profile

From the ranks of the egghead scientists to hard-nosed management gurus, today everyone seems to agree that the most vital resource fuelling a company or even nations as a whole is not money but the quality of human resources they boast of.

Little wonder then that handling personnel relations or human relations (HR) within large companies has emerged as a major profession in recent times.

Personnel first

Personnel officers are important members of every company’s management team. Their primary task is the optimum use and development of available skills and talent within the organisation.

Personal/ human resources are one of the five crucial functional areas in management. The scope for HR personnel is virtually unlimited since it attempts to ensure the smooth running of operations in all sectors of the industry; also government departments and agencies, and NGOs.

A sure-shot indicator of the arrival of personnel management is the flourishing consultancies in this area.

THE WORK

The personnel department is there to ensure the most effective use of the organisation’s human resources—its people.

Traditionally, the personnel department handles three major tasks: salary administration, recruitment and training. Linked to these, it concerns itself with staff welfare, industrial relations and laying down the ground rules in the organisation.

HR managers need to be constantly in touch with the latest trends in HRD. The challenge is to keep the workforce—from the karamchari to the chairman—in a state of heightened performance.

TASKS

The range of the tasks performed by the HR department generally depends on the size of the organisation. But some of the general tasks are:

Recruitment, training and management development:

This includes devising, monitoring and applying selection procedures and assessment methods for the staff, identifying individual potential and on that basis, planning the employee’s training needs and other forms of skill enhancement through training programs, refresher courses, etc.

Broadly, the intention is to reconcile the employee’s needs and aims with that of the company’s need for staff with specific skills. Since the knowledge economy demands constant upgrading of the knowledge base, this aspect has acquired an unprecedented importance.

Change management:

Change is a constant and the frequency with which it afflicts today’s enterprise is very high. The responsibility to etherise the change falls on the personnel department. In tandem with the systems analysts, designers and othat you will get a head start in a top-notch company, but promotions will depend on how well you perform on the job. So, resting on your laurels won’t do.

Offshoots

Management consultancy is the in-thing. Be your own master, give free rein to your visions and rake in the green-backs as well.

Future prospects

Any organisation worth its salt is making a beeline to have a HR department in place. The need for qualified personnel is growing rapidly and jackpots should be dime a dozen.

Related careers

Health and safety inspectors
Management trainers
Retail distribution
Public relations
Labour law experts

Training

To be a big shot HR person you need to be from a top institute, and the best are: The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Calicut  & XLRI (Xavier’s Labour Relations Institute), Jamshedpur

Regards,

Reva