Management (Human Capital)

This subject is made up of Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations

Lecturer: N Reynecke
Office number 011 559 9096
Email address nickyr@uj.ac.za

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 Chapter 1
What is Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management (HRM) refers to the development and application of policies, systems, practices and
procedures that direct the thinking, attitudes and behaviour of people in the organisation towards performance to support
the vision and short and long term objectives of the organisation, while at the same time satisfying personal needs.

HRM is a broad field and consists of many focus areas as illustrated below

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 2

 Chapter 1
What is Human Resource Management
MEANING OF HRM: -
HRM is a management function that helps managers to recruit, select, train and develop members for an organization.
Obviously HRM is concerned with the people’s dimensions in organizations. HRM refers to set of programs, functions, and
activities designed and carried out

Definition 1 – Integration
“HRM is a series of integrated decisions that form the employment relationships; their quality contributes to the ability of
the organizations and the employees to achieve their objectives.”
Definition 2 – Influencing
“HRM is concerned with the people dimensions in management. Since every organization is made up of people, acquiring
their services, developing their skills, motivating them to higher levels of performance and ensuring that they continue to
maintain their commitment to the organization are essential to achieving organizational objectives. This is true, regardless
of the type of the organization – government, business, education, health, recreational, or social action.”
Definition 3 – Applicability
“HRM planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration,
maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and social objectives are
accomplished.”

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
The first focus area of HR is
Recruitment and Selection
(Talent planning & recruitment)

Talent planning
A HR strategy should ensure the following
• The right people in the right
positions
• The right mix of skills
• The right attitudes and behaviors
should be displayed by employees
• That the employees are developed
in the correct way/s

The following figure gives an indication of

the generic contributions that should be
present in a strategic HR planning process:

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 4

 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Workforce planning
Workforce planning is a process of detecting the size and competence of the workforce an organization needs to meet its
objectives, now and in the future. The potential benefits can be summarized as follows:

Employees
• reduced risk of (especially sudden)redundancy HR Departments
• Reduced stress due to overwork • Utilizing its expertise to the direct benefit of the business
• Career path planning • Gaining credibility professionally
• Smoothing recruitment efforts and reducing vacancy times
Managers
• Having adequate people to meet the demands of
the task at the right time
• Avoiding adverse effects on cost and revenues
• Better able to meet personnel targets
• Maintaining staff morale and productivity The steps in the workforce planning model include the following:
• Talent inventory
Senior management • Workforce planning
• Avoiding adverse effects on cost and revenue • The impact of good workforce planning
• Averting poor publicity
• Ensuring continuity of business

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Workforce planning

Although workforce planning is an HR activity, it is

critical for the entire organization’s success. The
following figure shows the internal and external
factors that influence workforce planning

Self study – Human resource management – Nel

& Werner (available in library and ebook online
@ UJ library)
3.4 Key areas of workforce planning
3.5 Steps in workforce planning

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Recruitment

Factors that influence recruitment

Internal factors
Involve the identification and analysis of the internal environment of the organisation and some of the factors
are:
• Organisational policy
• Organisational culture
• Pay and working condition

External factors
Involve the systematic identification and analysis of key trends in the external environment, and the monitoring of their
impact on HR planning. Some examples are:
• Government and trade union restrictions
• Labour market
• Image of the company

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Recruitment

Recruitment sources
In the rush to fill a position, organisations sometimes lose sight of the fact that it may not be necessary to find a replacement
or fill a new position at all. There may be other ways of dealing with the vacancy. It is important that other options are
considered before the decision is taken to proceed with recruitment (Hill et al., 2007 and Stone, 2011). Some of the general
options are as follows:
• Re-organise the work so that the remaining employees do the total amount of work in a section without replacing the
leaver use overtime if there is a short-term problem
• Mechanise the work if the time has arrived to introduce new equipment
• Stagger the hours if flexible working arrangements can get the job done
• Make the job part-time by introducing job-sharing
• Sub-contract the work if possible
• Use an agency to provide temporary personnel Increase worker productivity
• Update the equipment and tools Outsource, or hire consultants for short-term work Increase sales through website
ordering, without increasing the sales staff
• Benchmark those firms that successfully handle recruitment issues.
APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Nel, P. S., & Werner, A. (2014). Human Resource Management 9e. Oxford: Oxford University Press Southern Africa.

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)

Nel, P. S. and Amanda Werner. Human Resource Management 9E. vol. Ninth edition, Oxford University Press Southern Africa, 2014. EBSCOhost.

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Recruitment

Internal and External recruitment sources

The advantages and disadvantages of internal and external recruitment

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Recruitment
Summary of the main points in the recruitment process
Internal recruitment sources
• Existing employees
• Referrals from current employees
• Former employees
External recruitment sources
• Advertisements
• Employment agencies
• Tertiary institution recruiting
• Government agencies
• Flyers and direct mail
• Internship/ learnership programmes
Self study – Human resource management – Nel &
Werner (available in library and ebook online @ UJ
library)
• Recruitment policies
• Discriminating in recruiting
• Current and future trends in recruitment
• Workforce planning and recruitment
• Staffing decisions and their importance
• Staffing strategies 10
 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Selection

Selection is the process of trying to determine which individuals will best match particular jobs in the organisational context,
in terms of achieving its set objectives, taking into account individual differences, the requirements of the job, and the
organisation’s internal and external environments.

Factors that influence the

selection decision

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Selection
Factors in the external environment
• Legal consideration in selection
• The nature of the labour market

Factors in the internal environment

• The size of the organisation
• The type of organisation
• Speed of decision making
• Applicant pool
• Organisational structure
• Other HR factors impacting on
selection

These factors are shown in the figure

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Selection
Choice of selection methods
According to Macky (2012), “assessment validity, reliability and fairness are central to selection methods that HR managers
would choose to use in selecting an applicant for a position.” The choice of selection methods, however, depends on a number
of factors:
• The selection criteria, such as group selection methods and assessment centres
• The acceptability and appropriateness of the methods
• The abilities of the staff involved in the selection process
• The complexities of administration
• The cost of selection methods chosen, such as tests, and assessment centres are expensive; interviews are much
cheaper.

Organisations must also consider applicants’ reaction to selection methods for the following reasons:

• The attraction to the organisation is reduced if the selection is perceived as invasive

• Candidates with a negative experience can discourage other candidates from applying.
• An unpleasant selection experience can affect the candidate’s decision to accept the job organisations must be aware
of legislative practices that cover selection methods
• If candidates are not treated well during selection they may discourage any further interest in the employer and may
also stop using the organisation’s products and services.

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Selection
Applicant tracking systems (ATS)
Electronic aspects play an important role in all aspects of staffing in organisations and are tools to aid the selection
process. ATS, also called candidate management systems, are software applications designed to assist organisations to
assess and select candidates more effectively. Applicant tracking systems are very similar to customer relationship
management systems, but are designed for recruitment and selection tracking purposes. An ATS enables organisations
to post job vacancies on the company website or various job sites, aids in screening CVs and in posting interview
requests to shortlisted candidates by email.

Other features that these systems provide are individual application tracking, enabling the department to track
application history of candidates with the company, department-wise requisition tracking, automated ranking of
qualified CVs, customised information input forms, pre-screening questions that a candidate may be asked prior to
forwarding their applications and response tracking. These software programmes also possess multi-lingual capabilities.
It is estimated that all large corporations, and almost half of all mid-sized companies use some form of applicant tracking
system in their selection process.

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Selection
The selection process
Having formulated the matching strategy and
structures of the organisation, the next logical step
is staffing. This includes hiring different people,
transferring people from other branches or even
promotions. These people need to be selected to
have the right person in the right job at the right
time.

The selection process is a series of steps through

which applicants pass. These steps represent the
‘tools’, or methods of selection. The steps are
mainly a number of eliminators, because as
applicants drop out of the process at each step,
the applicant pool becomes smaller. A typical set of
steps is shown in the figure.

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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Selection
The selection process Self study – Human resource
management – Nel & Werner
Types of interviews: (available in library and ebook
The interaction that takes place during an interview can occur in several different online @ UJ library)
ways. The nature of the vacancy usually determines the type of interview that will • Initial screening
take place. There are generally four types of interview: • Application forms
• Structured (or situational) • Employment tests
• Behavioral • Interviews and competency
• Semi-structured interviewing
• Unstructured (or non-directive).

Blind hiring
The goal of blind hiring is to judge potential hires exclusively based on their
abilities. Meaning, all personal information about the candidate is not
considered. In this sense, resumes are a thing of the past. Names, previous
companies worked for, alma maters, and so forth are not weighted at all
before making a decision about a candidate. Opinions about job candidates
are solely based on their demonstrated work and skills.
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 Chapter 1 Recruitment and selection
Selection Making personnel decisions from a large number of
Methods of interviewing applicants can be difficult and costly
Interviewers can use different methods when
interviewing job applicants. These methods of Various criteria should be kept in mind when
interviewing are indicated in the following sections, evaluating an organisation’s selection system, such as
please read the discussion at home. the following:
• Stress interview • How difficult is it to administer?
• Case interview • How difficult is it to interpret the results?
• Group interviews • Is there any discriminating question to be
• Skype interview asked?
• Telephonic interview • Are the tests discriminating against anybody?
• presentation • How many job positions are covered in
• Panel interview testing for potential?
• Are interpersonal skills, problem solving, and
work ethic being tested for?
Self study – Human resource management – Nel & Werner
• How would results generated stand up in
(available in library and ebook online @ UJ library) court?
• Reference checks • Is the selection system cost effective?
• Medical checks • Is the selection system reliable and
• Record- keeping consistent?
• Selection metrics
• Selection and ethical considerations 17