Human resource management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human resource management - Research Paper Example Employees are essential assets to any organization that strives to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and organizational success. As such, the recruitment and selection process is vital in ensuring the right employees are hired for the right jobs as a wrong recruitment can break the company. Before beginning the recruitment process the human resource department should ensure a human resource plan is in place to avoid overstaffing or understaffing. The manager needs to monitor progress and evaluate performance so as to recognize areas of weaknesses or strengths and put corrective measures such as training.From the job analysis a job description and job specification is developed which is essential for preparing a recruitment plan and selection strategy. The aim of this paper is to find a replacement for an employee who has been promoted to the next management level, evaluate his/her performance and determine pay and training needs. To achieve this, various activities will be pe rformed. First is to carry out a job analysis and develop a job description. Secondly, is to develop a recruitment plan. Thirdly, selection strategy will be selected. Fourth is to determine how performance will be evaluated and how pay will be determined. Lastly, the paper will address training and development issues for professional growth of the selected candidate. The position that needs to be filled is that of a senior account as replacement of the manager promoted to chief financial officer. As such, the person will work directly under financial officer’s supervision. Job Analysis This is an in-depth study of the tasks and behaviors related to the position and form the foundation of HRM (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). It entails gathering information about the job by establishing the duties, tasks and activities of the job. However, predetermined steps are used to gather the information so as to ensure it is reliable and valid. This is due to the fact that an incorrect job an alysis affects all the other human resource functions as they derive from it (Mullins, 2010). It means a wrong job description and job specification which translates to recruiting the people who do not match the job. The information required can be gathered through observation, interviews, questionnaires and even secondary sources such as O*NET. Observation involves a job analyst observing an employee performing the task and recording the tasks, activities equipments and materials used. Analysts can also interview persons in the same positions or develop a questionnaire for them to fill indicating their job duties, purpose of the job, tasks, equipments and materials, special health and safety concerns, physical setting and requirements for performance such as skills, education and experience, physical and mental demands (Bohlander & Snell, 2010 p. 153-154). O*NET o the other hand, has already job descriptions of 23500 occupations. The aim of conducting job analysis is to understand the job and establish essential duties and responsibilities and behaviors required for performing the job. The essential competencies are those portrayed by high performers in the same role (Searle, 2003). The first step is thus to understand the job and the second step is identifying performance behaviors as outlined above. These behaviors are then used to identify and choose essential competencies which are arranged in order of importance as shown in figure 1. Essential competencies are those performed most of the time and also required when job starts as opposed to learning on the job. The fourth step is to determine how