Should Businesses Have a Separate Human Resource Department?

It is surely that businesses should have a separate Human Resource Department (here in after referred to HRD). HRD plays an important role in an organization.

The central purpose of HRD is to recruit, train, and utilize a business's personnel in the most productive manner to assist the organization in the achievement of its objectives.

The HRD focuses on workforce planning, recruitment and selection of staff, training, developing, appraising staff, developing appropriate pay systems, measuring and monitoring staff performance and lastly involve all the managers in staff development.

HRD need to calculate the staffing needs of the business over future time periods. Workforce planning means thinking ahead and establishing the number and skills of the workforce required by the business in the future. There have two factors.

The first factor is the number if staff required in the future. It depends on productivity levels of staff. If productivity is forecast to increase, perhaps as a result of more efficient machinery, then fewer staff will be needed to produce the same level of output. It also depends on the predicted labour turnover and absenteeism rate. The measurement of these factors is considered later but their impact is clear. The higher the rate at which staff leave a business then the greater will be the firm's need to replacement staff.

The second factor is the skill of the staff required. The need for better qualified staff or for staff with different skills is a constant factor in the minds of Human Resources managers. The importance of there issues will depend upon the pace of technological change in the industry, for example production methods and the complexity of the machinery used. The need for flexible or multi-skilled staff as business try to avoid excessive specialization.

Moreover, organizations need to recruit and selecting staff for obtain the best workforce available if they are to meet their objectives and compete successfully. The recruitment process involves three steps. Step one is to establish the precise nature of the job vacancy and draw up a job description. This will provide a complete picture for the job and will include job title, details of the task to be performed, responsibilities, position in the hierarchy structure and working conditions. The job description allows and attracts the right people to apply.

Secondly, the HRD has to draw up a person specification. This is an analysis of the type of qualities and skills being looked for in suitable applicants. It is clearly based on the job description because these skills can only be assessed once the nature and complexity of the job have been identified.

Third, the HRD has to devise a job advertisement reflecting the requirements of the job and the personal qualities looked for. Once the applicants have been asked for interview, the HRD will start their selection process. Every single applicant has curriculum vitae(CV). The HRD will judge the applicant's character and previous work performance based on this document. The HRD will design a series of question to know applicant's experience. The HRD will even conduct a test such as aptitude test and psychometric test in the selection process.

Having spent a great deal of time and effort on recruiting and selecting the right staff the HRD must training, developing and appraising the staff. There are different types of training which is induction training, on-the-job training and off-the-job training. Development and appraisal of staff should be a continuous process. Development might take the form of new challenges and opportunities, additional training courses to learn new skills, promotion with additional delegated authority and chances for job enrichment.

Besides that, HRD also important to develop a appropriate pay systems. The HRD will be