Week 5 Midterm Exam
PAD 530-005016: Public Personnel Management

Define and discuss human resource, which is a vital part of the public personnel management system, indicating its significance, impact, and limitations with regard to its contribution to the American economy in particular and society, in general.
The human resource department is among the most important departments in any corporation. Human Resources is defined as the department responsible for personnel sourcing and hiring, applicant tracking, skills development and tracking, benefits administration and compliance with associated government regulations. Human Resources has evolved over the past twenty years. It used to be that these workers stayed behind the scenes to ensure personnel records were in order and employee benefits were being properly administered, but the job stopped there. Today’s Human Resource department goes way beyond small administrative tasks. They handle everything from the full recruiting process to employee motivation to performance appraisal to security concerns and disaster preparation to union relations, to the collective bargaining process and grievance management. A person working in HR must also know how to deal with employee discipline and the termination process. It's up to them to make sure all employees are comfortable with their surroundings and working under acceptable, if not above average, conditions.

The Human Resource department will continue to face limitations as time goes on. In order to remain vital to corporations, they will need to be able to adapt to our technology-driven, economically-challenged times. Many employers are now looking into outsourcing many of the administrative functions and redefining the human resource role.
As our workforce becomes more dynamic and employees are less limited in their roles and not bound by job descriptions, the