The Role of Human Resource Management

Key Takeaways

• The process of human resource management consists of all the actions that an organization takes to attract, develop, and retain quality employees.
• To ensure that the organization is properly staffed, managers engage in strategic human resource planning – the process of developing a plan for satisfying the organization's human resource needs.
• Managers organize information about a given job by performing a job analysis, which they use to prepare two documents: a job description listing the duties and responsibilities of a position and a job specification, which lists the qualifications – skills, knowledge, and abilities – needed to perform the job.
• After analyzing the jobs that must be performed, the HR manager forecasts future hiring needs and begins the recruiting process to identify suitable candidates and encourage them to apply.
• In recruiting and hiring, managers must comply with antidiscrimination laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
• Discrimination occurs when a person is treated unfairly on the basis of a characteristic unrelated to ability, such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability.
• Once a pool of suitable candidates has been identified, managers begin the selection process, reviewing information provided by candidates on employment applications and administering tests to assess candidates' skills and knowledge.
• Candidates who pass this stage may be granted an interview and, perhaps, offered a job.