Human Resources Fundamentals

• Administrative HR
- Suppose you were starting a brand new organization. You probably wouldn't have an HR Department because your organization is just getting underway. Nevertheless, as you begin to grow, you and the managers you hire will need to be concerned about five broad areas that involve people, staffing, retention, development, adjustment and managing change. Together, these five broad areas constitute human resource management or the HRM system, and much of it is administrative.
The first area is staffing, which begins by identifying the work to be done and the kinds of personal characteristics necessary to do the work. Determining the numbers of people and the mix of skills that you'll need to do the work, and then recruiting, selecting and eventually promoting qualified candidates. Retention of your new employees is more likely when you do three things well: Reward employees for performing their jobs effectively, ensure harmonious working relations between employees and their managers and maintain a safe, healthy work environment.
Development focuses on preserving and enhancing your employees' competence in their jobs by improving their knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics. HR specialists call these competencies. Adjustment is concerned with compliance with federal and state laws, as well as with your organization's policies, for example, through discipline, and business strategies such as cost leadership. Finally, managing change is an ongoing process.
Its objective is to enhance your new organization's ability to anticipate and respond to developments in the environment, political, economic, social and technical, and to enable employees at all levels to cope with those changes. To some, these activities are the special responsibilities of the HR Department, but they also lie within the core of every