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Practitioner Interview, What does Human Resource entail
Practitioner Interview, What does Human Resource entail?
Human resource management involves various activities related to employee and their relationships. It aims at identifying talents within employees and excavates those talents for performing special jobs. Human resource professionals act responsibly to ensure that workers are paid well and in accordance to their service delivery. The work of the human resource professionals is done throughout the week to ensure perfection of their duties. This paper is a project based on interviewing a human resource professional. The interview looks at the basic Human Resource activities, typical duties performed by the professional, the professional’s personal‘s critical issues, the critical issues to be faced in the next decade, and any other interesting information.
Interview
Interviewer: What does Human Resource entail?
Interviewee: Human Resource covers a number of organizational issues related to human resources and the human resource department. The basic responsibilities involve creation of formulized selection of human resource activities, evaluation of the best activities, and designing a great payroll process (Mayhew 2013 ). The profession checks on the effectiveness and efficiency in managing human capital. This is done with adequate tracking of employee data. The employee data tracking involve employee history, workers’ skills, capabilities of employees, their accomplishments, and their salaries.
Interviewer: What typical activities do you perform as a Human resource Professional?
Interviewee: As the professional in charge of human resource department, I am obligated to looking into employee payroll in which I can guide adjustments according to service delivery, competences, and promotions. I am responsible of ensuring that time is observed accordingly and that employee attendance is in accordance with the organizational rules and regulations. I also review performance appraisal and take actions where necessary. In looking into employee payroll, I ensure that every employee gets what he or she deserves according to his or her skill level, level of education, and the value he or she has to the organization (Suttle 2013). In this case, I take part in determining the value of an employee to the organization and act responsibly in setting basis for offering promotions and salary increments.
Time and attendance are also considered when setting promotional grounds and reasons for increasing employee payments. Performance appraisal is done regularly in order to check on the marginal productivity of labor. The entire department of human resource management is responsible for ensuring that all activities under the department are done correctly. Correct initiation if changes within the organization originate from the HR department that is responsible for recruiting new employees and firing employees for various reasons. As a HR professional, I take part in all these and ensure that employee compensations and benefits are ultimate (Suttle 2013). The department has to ensure that a performance record is maintained and updated accordingly. Performance record served to give capabilities and difference in employee performances. Performance record goes hand in hand with other key development issues within the HR department such as employee self-service activities, scheduling and absence management. With proper scheduling of duties and operations, the HR department comes up with a good way of dealing with ways of managing all cases of absence.
Interviewer: What personal issues do term as critical to your life and your Human Resource Management career?
Interviewee: Like any other profession, Human Resource Management is faced with its own difficulties and success factors. I am a professional in the field but my work is constrained by various issues especially in the aspect of decision-making. Sometimes it becomes too difficult to determine which person to recruit for a certain post especially whenever several candidates apply for the job but have almost equal qualifications (Gutterman 2012). Sometimes I am forced to neglect a close friend applying for a job since he or she is not fully qualified for the position he or she is applying. The reason for this is to discourage nepotism or favoritism and any other aspects of discrimination in the work place.
In acting this way for the benefit of the organization, the organizational part of my life ends up affecting my personal life. Whenever I neglect my own friend who happens to be so close to my life, the result is personal differences and an aspect of hatred. People usually pressure my life so that I may find a position for them to work within the organization, which is against the Human Resource profession (Gutterman 2012). It also becomes too difficult to decide how best an employee could be promoted without appearing as if the promotion was based on personal motives rather than organizational benefits. This highly disrupts my personal life, personal relations, and my family life.
Interviewer: What are the critical issues to be faced in the next decade?
Interviewee: There are several problems projected to face the HR department within the next ten year. The first of all involve the changing structure of laws governing labor and employee relations/compensation. Increasing regulation in the labor market would make it difficult to employ as many workers as we have today (Suttle 2013). Employees are also forming labor unions and demanding higher pays, which may be a loss to our organization.
Interviewer: Is there any other interesting information you can point out?
Interviewee: Yes, there is a lot of information related to HRM to provide. HRM considers technology as a key aspect of organizational development. We expect that technological advancements would change greatly within the same time making it too difficult to compete under a labor intense system of organization (Suttle 2013). The organization will be faced with deciding to substitute labor for capital in order to evade the increasing labor law and expensive labor.
Bibliography
Gutterman, A. 2012, September 19. COUNSELING THE HR FUNCTION: SCOPE OF HR ACTIVITIES . Website: Retrieved February 22, 2013, from beyondthebar.westlegaledcenter.com: HYPERLINK “https://beyondthebar.westlegaledcenter.com/business-skills/becoming-a-business-” https://beyondthebar.westlegaledcenter.com/business-skills/becoming-a-business-counselor/counseling-the-hr-function-scope-of-hr-activities/
Mayhew, R. 2013, Operational HR Activities. Website: Retrieved February 22, 2013 , from ehow.com: http://www.ehow.com/info_8468023_operational-hr-activities.html
Suttle, R. 2013. Major Categories of HR Management Activities. Website: Retrieved February 22, 2013, from Demand Media: HYPERLINK “http://smallbusiness.chron.com/seven-major-categories-hr-” http://smallbusiness.chron.com/seven-major-categories-hr-management-activities-37354.html
The issue of racism in the United States has been a major and persistent problem in American society.
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The issue of racism in the United States has been a major and persistent problem in American society. Racism, according to sociologists, is defined as the unfair treatment if a person or group on the basis of race (Hoyt, 2012). Racism can either be overt or covert, and it can be expressed on different levels including from an individual’s level, and this can be evidenced when a person makes conscious or unconscious discriminatory practices against another person. However, racism is also evidenced at an institutional level where the rules and policies, as well as the practices in the organizations, tend to discriminate against individuals as well as groups (Gee, 2008). Institutions such as universities and colleges are among the leading organizations that have persisted in cases of racism both at the students’ level as well as from the instructional rules, policies, and practices.
Racists tend to perceive their race as being superior compared to that of others, and according to many, there does not exist such a thing as racial equality (DiAngelo, 2018). Racial supremacists tend to believe that their culture, color, mental, and physical abilities are superior to other races and therefore possess prejudiced believes that lead them to discriminate against other racial and ethnic groups. The racist perceptions are used to justify their discriminatory practices, and these racists tend to be insecure and afraid of certain uncertainties that tend to get over them. As a result, racism from both individuals and groups stems from ignorance rather than genuine hatred of the victims. Since the founding of the American nations, racism has been the fact of life of the American society as it is learned and passed to generations through socialization at an early age and continues to be reinforced by the individuals and institutions such as universities (Juang et al. 2018).
Covert racisms are one of the most common types of racism that are experienced in the United States, especially to the students of color (Thornhill, 2016). Over time, there have been numerous instances to which covert racism has been accorded to the students of color mostly by the institutions dominated by whites. For example, the white academic advisors may discourage black students from enrolling in challenging courses or even allow them to overload with more classes than they are able to handle. Another instance on which racism has been detected in the institutions is through the white student’s avoidance of the black students in areas of interactions such as classrooms, study groups, and even in the lecture halls.
Also, students of color are often left out of most student’s networks that include the course syllabus, sharing of notes, and old exams (Alemán & Gaytán, 2017). Other instances regard the professors in fear of a racist label may tend to hesitate or even lack to advice the students of color in matters regarding courses, for example, they may fail to offer proper advice regarding what subjects to take or drop when they are faced with problems which may result to their failure. When this happens, the students are left stranded since even seeking advice may prove unsuccessful as the professors may fail to guide them and thus left to survive on what they perceive as best; this results in them making the wrong choices and decisions leading to failure in their selected majors.
Institutional racism is also common, especially to the students of color, and this is mostly witnessed on white college universities (Harwood et al. 2018), and some of the prejudices the standardized tests on which colored students tend to score lowly compared to the white students. The prejudices tend to be weighed heavily during the process of admission, a decline in the amount of student aid, rising costs of the college tuition along with other financial cutbacks. Unfortunately, most of the black students tend to rely on financial assistance, and therefore, during the reduction of the financial aid to the students under the Reagan administration, a large proportion of the black students who were in dire need of financial assistance were neglected (Williams, 2019). The financial aid covered more than 60% of their college costs, and thus, a reduction meant that most of the black students could not sustain their lives in college.
Studies have been conducted to examine the racial attitudes on the white campuses, and results indicated that most of the white students do believe that they are living in a racially equal society and thus tend to resent that the black students, along with other minorities, are offered special treatment (Lo et al. 2017). As a result, they tend to dislike the minority groups being singled out for special programs and activities. There are white students who feel that in the process of correcting past discrimination, whites are being victimized by the efforts. As a result, minorities do enjoy unfair advantages. More than 80% of minority students do attend white-dominated institutions, and in these institutions, racism is more prevalent and tends to prohibit minority students from developing a sense of belonging. The minority students do experience culture shock and less socialization with white students, making them spend a lot of time isolated from the mainstream activities in the institution (McCoy, 2018).
Overall, the perception of racism in the United States, especially in the institutions of higher learning, has soared great heights as the students are aware of the existence of racism in schools. For example, there has been minimum support and assistance for the minority students in learning institutions such as lack of enough minority role models as well as lack of support services, making it difficult for the colored students to survive in white-dominated institutions.
References
Alemán, S. M., & Gaytán, S. (2017). ‘It doesn’t speak to me’: understanding student of color resistance to critical race pedagogy. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(2), 128-146.
DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism. Beacon Press.
Gee, G. C. (2008). A multilevel analysis of the relationship between institutional and individual racial discrimination and health status. American journal of public health, 98(Supplement_1), S48-S56.
Harwood, S. A., Mendenhall, R., Lee, S. S., Riopelle, C., & Huntt, M. B. (2018). Everyday racism in integrated spaces: Mapping the experiences of students of color at a diversifying predominantly white institution. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 108(5), 1245-1259.
Hoyt Jr, C. (2012). The pedagogy of the meaning of racism: Reconciling a discordant discourse. Social work, 57(3), 225-234.
Juang, L. P., Park, I., Kim, S. Y., Lee, R. M., Qin, D., Okazaki, S., … & Lau, A. (2018). Reactive and proactive ethnic–racial socialization practices of second-generation Asian American parents. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 9(1), 4.
Lo, C. C., McCallum, D. M., Hughes, M., Smith, G. P., & McKnight, U. (2017). Racial differences in college students’ assessments of campus race relations. Journal of College Student Development, 58(2), 247-263.
McCoy, S. Z. (2018). The intellectual war zone: An autoethnography of intellectual identity development despite oppressive institutional socialization. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 11(3), 325.
Thornhill, T. E. (2016). Resistance and assent: How racial socialization shapes Black students’ experience learning African American history in high school. Urban education, 51(9), 1126-1151.
Williams, S. L. (2019). In Defense of the “Forgotten Man”: The Sustained Legacy of the Southern Strategy on the Post-Reagan Era Presidency.
Practitioner corporate award
Practitioner corporate award
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Executive Summary
Procurement and supply are areas of great importance in any organization, and can affect the performance of the activities in that organization. Organizations buy materials and equipment from suppliers to enable the running of their businesses and the department of procurement and supply play a big role in ensuring that there is no shortage of the essential goods. This report will analyse the opportunities in supply and procurement that enable the organization to save on time and money, while increasing the efficiency of the business. The paper will also analyze the means to improve the supply profile and the reasons for enhancing collaboration and engagement of the stakeholders in procurement and supply. The department of procurement is very important as it ensures that there is no artificial shortage of commodities through policies and procedures. There report gives some recommendations that enable the effective running of the organization’s supply and procurement departments.
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The opportunities for the procurement and supply to create savings or efficiencies or other sources of added value
Procurement involves the acquisition of materials and equipment for an organization to enable smooth running of the business while supply is availing of the necessary products by an organization. The opportunities that can create savings and efficiency include
Automation of the procurement process
Many companies and business organizations use the traditional methods of procurement involving a lot of paper work and long procedures. There is a lot of time wastage and also wastage of other resources, such as money when using the traditional procurement methods. The modern technology can play a big role in the improvement of the procurement procedures by shortening the duration and reducing the amount of paper work. Digitizing the procurement procedures will go a long way in ensuring efficiency in the procurement process and save a lot of money. The use of technology such as the computer will assist to carry out procurement functions by advertising through tenders, binding, and offering tenders over the internet. Online transactions are very common nowadays through the use of the internet and the social media to enable many people to view the items on sale. The digital technology enables organizations to carry out their transactions without the necessity of travelling to the banks or other financial institutions to make payments. The digitization, therefore, saves on time, costs, and physical energy of both the buyer and the supplier. There is also the assurance of efficient services when procurement process is through the modern technology than the traditional paperwork methods. By business organizations such as the oil field company, they can save on time and cost when exporting the oil products to the other countries. Technology shortens all the tendering and binding process making it very efficient and convenient for both the seller and the buyer.
Use of facility management and professional services
For any business to prosper there must be proper management and use of professionals with procurement skills and experience. Mismanagement will lead to the loss of business assets, such as cash, especially in cases where there are disagreements leading to the cancellation of tenders. Mismanagement also causes inefficiencies leading to lack of trust by the clients and the interested parties. Delayed procurement procedures cause losses the business, which lowers the amount of savings for the company. The use of professional experts, who have the knowledge on procurement procedures, increases the efficiency of the business through good decision making and use of the modern technology in procurement.
Performance evaluation and rating
Evaluation is important as it enables the organization to know when it is making losses, especially through the use of lengthy procurement procedures. Through performance evaluation an organization can adopt better tendering processes to enhance their savings and increase the efficiency of the organization. Performance evaluation leads to a strong relationship between the suppliers and the buyers, they can solve any misunderstandings between them.
How to improve the profile of the supply function
The performance of any organization depends on the way it organizes its supply chain to save on cost and improve on the efficiency. The main factors to improve the supply function profile are
Differentiation of the supply function and corporate strategies
In any business organization, such as the oil company, it is wise for the management to unite all the leaders dealing with supply and management for effective decision making. The company must offer satisfying products to their customers and know their needs through the use of innovative means. Each department must know its roles and perform the role with complete commitment and strength. Corporate strategies should not overwrap with the supply functions to avoid confusion and duplication of the roles.
Modernization of the supply function
Modern technology plays a big role in the management of the supply chains for effective running of business organizations. The complex data analysis required in big organisations requires digitization and an experienced manager make data management more efficient. Decision-making is an important aspect of any business organization and requires qualified and committed staff to enable the company come up with excellent recommendations concerning the supply management.
Setting of performance standards
The performance indicators in any organization are very important since they keep the business and the stakeholders alert and ready to solve any problem. Some traditional performance standards involved the costs, the quality of service, and the capital investments. There are other means of rating the performance of the supply functions such as the market trends, new product’s launch, and the production cost in the market. The rating of any organization standards is very essential as it provides the basis for decision-making on the best practices to manage supplies and the organization’s assets.
Creation of collaboration with the stake-holders to increase early engagement in the procurement process
Collaboration of the stakeholders in any organization is very important to enable full engagement and participation in the procurement process. Collaboration creates unity and harmony, which creates an environment for excellent decision-making. Some of the ways to create collaboration are
Involvement
In any organization, such as the oil company it is advisable to involve every stake-holder in the management and decision-making to aid in the procurement process. Involving the organizational staff in the procurement exercise and its management brings about innovation through sharing of ideas. It is wise to engage the right people for the right job and ensure that all the stakeholders in an organization take an active role in the procurement activities to create unity. All employees, employers, managers, and the authorities must unite and carry out their duties without failure.
Communication
Communication is very essential in every department, more so n the procurement department. Good communication reduces misunderstandings and ensures harmonious coordination of the activities taking place regarding the procurement process. Breakdown of communication leads to disagreements causing delay to the procurement exercise. The delay will lead to massive loss if important items run out of supply in the organization since it will affect its daily activities.
Responsibilities
The management of any organization should ensure that the stakeholders do their work effectively and offer advice on what each of them should do in the business or company. Responsibility of the stakeholders is necessary to enable everybody to do the assigned duties effectively to reduce delays. Irresponsible stakeholders must face disciplinary action to avoid having many challenges in the organization.
The need for organizational policies and procedures to implement effective procurement and supply
Policies and procedures are very important in an organization as they enable the stakeholders and the senior managers to work without any major conflicts. The procedures enable the stakeholders to know their responsibilities and the time to perform different functions related to procurement. The policy guidelines help the procurement and the supply managers and officers to work together without any conflict of interest. For an organization to carry out its procurement and supply functions there must be some procedures and rules to govern and direct on the responsibilities of every stakeholder.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Procurement and supply is an important department in any organization and proper management is very crucial for effective running of the organization. There are various opportunities to create savings and effectiveness in procurement as discussed in the report. The organizations need to improve their supply functions and enhance the collaboration of their stakeholders in running the company’s activities. This report recommends that the all organizations should adopt the means that promote the efficiency of the procurement and the supply exercise for maximum savings and effectiveness. Organizations must also have policies and procedures to improve supply and procurement and more research on the procurement exercise is vital to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.