Personal Administration Essay

Personnel administration, better known as human resources (HR) management, is the coordination and regulation of employees in a company. It involves organizing, recruiting, hiring, training, and assessing workers. Conflict resolution and legal compliance also are important aspects. With a good HR team doing their jobs well, a company will often be ultimately more efficient and competitive, generating additional revenue. Organization In most businesses, a well-organized workforce translates to greater efficiency, productivity, and revenue. The first goal of personnel administration, therefore, is to organize all employees in such a way that allows them to cooperate and complete tasks in the best way possible. Examples of issues in this area include how many departments are necessary, how many individuals should be in each department, what the manager to employee ratio should be, and what alternate chains of command should be used when managers cannot be contacted. Organization also deals with how to assign individuals to specific projects, as well as keeping the employees healthy and safe in the work environment. Recruitment and Hiring Once those in a company’s personnel administration team know how to organize workers and their projects, they begin to recruit and hire employees actively. They post notices about positions available, organize or take part in events such as job fairs, and conduct initial interviews to find the most qualified and experienced candidates. They then pass on information about the final candidates to department managers, who often conduct the last interviews and make the call about whom to hire. Training Employees who are new to a company do not always know the business’ policies and procedures, even if they have incredible experience and skill sets. Training is almost always necessary to remedy this. Members of the HR department may develop the training events and documentation needed to get employees working efficiently. They also put together and oversee additional training, such as that needed to advance to a different position in the company. In some instances, they partner with various educational  institutions to develop programs that will allow employees to get certifications or degrees related to the industry. Assessment Most companies want to know that their employees are performing at a certain level. They also want to know that the workers are following policies and procedures well. One duty of the personnel administration team, therefore, is to develop techniques and tools that managers can use for assessment purposes. A common example is a standardized form for an employee performance review. HR workers use the data collected through these items to analyze the activity within the company and to make decisions such as whether to increase pay. Conflict Resolution An advantage of using people over machines is that individuals can be innovative and display logical thought processes based on experience, but people do not always get along as they strive to do this. The HR department is responsible for resolving conflicts that may arise in the company, especially those between different levels of management. They also work to resolve conflicts that are not interpersonal, such as a new employee feeling out of place in his work environment. Keeping detailed records related to these activities is a must, as some conflicts eventually lead to disciplinary action or termination that, if not properly executed, can lead to lawsuits. Personnel management workers generally have an easier time resolving conflicts when they have a solid framework of clear policies and procedures to fall back on. The policies and procedures let the personnel department employees remain objective as they try to find viable solutions. They also ensure that any solutions proposed are in line with company objectives. The HR team works closely with members of management to put together policy and procedure documentation for this reason. Legal Compliance Members of the HR team look at policies and regulations not just for their company, but for their jurisdiction. They ensure that employees fill out the proper tax forms, for example, and any other government required paperwork. This task is challenging because new legislation is passed regularly, requiring the personnel administration workers to adjust the activities and documentation within the business. It is critical because failure to comply  with even one regulation can put the reputation and operation of the company at risk. Personnel Administration The scope of personnel administration is quite wide. It includes all activities which help the management in getting the work done by the labour force in the best manner possible to accomplish the organizational objectives. The main objective in any organization is the optimum utilization of available resources. Personnel administration is primarily concerned with the organization of men; therefore, the main objective may be summarized as to utilize the available human resources in a a way so as to get the work done effectively to the maximum satisfaction of the individual worker to seek their cooperation in accomplishing the general goals of the organization. The objectives of personnel administration can be classified into General objectives and specific objectives. General objectives 1. Maximum individual development – the employer should always be careful in developing the personality of each individual. If an act of the employer can adversely affect the personality of the individual, he should avoid it. Employer should establish and support such human values that may have social recognition and importance. They should always be regarded as partners and given due importance. The objective of Personnel administration as a bridge between the management and the employees is to keep the management apprised of positive accomplishments and warning signals in the personnel practices. If the human assets of an organization are being misused in the process of profit maximization, it is definitely a short term achievement, because in the long run, the adverse effects felt by the work force will translate into lesser profits for the organization. 2. Desirable working relationship between employer and employee – it is the major objective of personnel administration to achieve a desirable working relationship between the employer and the employees so that they may cooperate with the management. Both of them must rely on each other. The personnel administrator should get it realized to the top management that personnel should be given fair and equitable treatment and on the other hand, convey to the workers that they  should cooperate in achieving the goals of the management. The basic responsibility for the personnel lies with the supervisors although the administrator supplies tools such as policy, record keeping, control and advice. His objective is therefore to ensure that the line supervisor is aware of his personnel responsibilities and carries them out responsibly. Simultaneously he should also ensure ethical conduct amongst all personnel and on the part of each supervisor towards each employee for whom he is res ponsible. 3. Specialized services – The administrator provides the tools such as record keeping, policy making, controlling and advising. Although not directly responsible for the personnel, who lie with the line supervisor, he may examine causes for non-efficiency or non-effectiveness, suggest remedial measure, perform research into proposed personnel procedures, handle negotiations with a government agency, etc. The basic objective here is to provide assistance to the line supervisor whilst simultaneously ensuring that the line supervisor meets his responsibilities to the personnel. 4. Molding of human resources – Human beings is the most important resource and the only active factor which engages all other factors of production. Therefore, the administrator should emphasize the effective utilization of human resources as compared to physical resources so that production and productivity is optimized. Other factors of production will be ineffective without effective molding of human resources. Specific objectives 1. Selection of the right type and number of persons 2. Proper orientation and introduction of new employees to their jobs 3. Organisation of suitable training facilities 4. Provision of better working conditions and facilities. 5. Provision of sound, fair and effective wage and salary administration and incentives. 6. Good industrial relations with representative trade unions 7. Personnel research Duties of Personnel Staff In a dynamic working environment, the boundaries of any role cannot be clearly defined. However, the duties of Personnel staff may be described as under:- 1. As a Service Provider – providing information on market statistics of personnel availability, pay rates, etc. Interpret the complex  laws and legislations. Employment and placement programs, employee compensation programs, training and development programs, labour relations could be stated to be the duty as a service provider. It must be noted that there will often be an overlap between the different roles that a Personnel staff may assume 2. As a facilitator – advises the supervisors on employee problems, facilitates training and development, and when performance appraisals are done. One of the responsibilities of Personnel staff is also to ensure that other managers who undertake such activities are well equipped to do so. 3. as a consultant – to help the supervisors resolve problems due to lack of motiv ation, lack of training, grievances, etc. 4. As an auditor – to ensure that all members of the management perform their respective roles, to determine whether personnel policies and procedures are being administered uniformly by supervisors.