HRM comprises of issues regarding people management and their development starting from "traditional selection, training, compensation and performance to the alignment of HRM functions and activities" with strategic objectives. It is an acknowledged fact that it is the people who constitute the human capital and who are responsible for all that happens and systems, tools and techniques are becoming more and more sophisticated and useful. But, ultimately it is the people who are going to use them by providing the right inputs and make decisions based on the information available. (Module 8: Human Resource Management) As the Director of Human Resources my ranking of the 6 HR functions from the list arranged in order of importance are (I) Human Resource Planning (II) Recruitment (III) Training (IV) Performance Appraisal (V) Employee Benefits and Compensation (VI) Equal Employment Opportunity. (I) Human Resource Planning-

An all-inclusive Human Resource Planning Strategy contributes a significant part towards the attainment of an organization's complete strategic goals and it shows that the human resources activity completely realizes and supports the course in which the organization is progressing. An extensive HR strategy will also sustain other particular strategic goals carried out by the marketing, financial, operational and technology departments. The quintessence of HR strategy must have the aim to include the 'people element' of what an organization is expecting to achieve in the medium to long-term period.

HR Planning is placed at No.1 due to the critical importance to our Deptt's achievement of goals and objectives comprised of (i) having the appropriate personnel matching the appropriate job (ii) having the correct blend of skills (iii) the workforce exhibit the proper attitudes and behaviors, and (iv) the personnel are developed in the proper manner. No single approach is present for developing a Human Resources Strategy. The particular approach will differ from a particular organization to another. Nevertheless, an excellent approach towards an HR Strategic Management System comprises of achievement of the following goals and objectives of the Department (i) Setting the strategic course (ii) Taking the initiative to design the Human Resource Management System (iii) Planning out the complete workforce (iv) Producing the necessary human resources (v) Investing in human resources and performance-oriented programs (vi) Evaluating and supporting organizational competence and performance. (A Guide to Strategic Human Resources Planning)

(II) Recruitment:

Recruitment is the central sphere of HRM, but these are recurrently talked about in a prescriptive manner. Recruitment is placed at No.2 because of the critical importance to our Dept's goals and objectives comprised of (i) selection of the best candidate for the job (ii) for selection of the best person or psychometric model has attained the status of convention in economies of free markets. However, various models of resourcing have come to be developed with an increased concern for personality and attitude compared to only competence. The recruits may be selected who will be capable of fitting in within the culture of the corporation and who will be happy to build a career within our organization thereby imbibing the objectives of our organization. (Recruitment)

Recruitment is a significant component of effective HRM. It cannot be talked about regarding the manner in which recruitment and selection happens without questioning why certain procedures are followed instead of others. Inside the HRM model, they are not just procedures to fill-up the vacancies. However, recruitment and joblessness can be seen as important 'push' and 'pull' levers for organizational variation. The importance of recruitment is also crucial for our Dept's goals as it allows management to find out and in a gradual manner change the behavioral features and competences of the staff. The approach for working in team has shifted on people having an inclination for working with others as against to the individualistic 'stars' chosen by the companies while recruiting during the 1980s. This is crucial as attention has shifted from rigid list of competencies and capabilities to competencies that are international and there is an increased attention for personal flexibility and adaptability. (Recruitment and Selection)

We at our Dept will go for e-recruitment or online recruitment through our web portal as this makes the process if tracking candidates and new business opportunities simpler, speedier at low cost and more efficiently. We will be using the 'x-ray' and 'peeling back' technique which are gradually reinventing the role of the conventional recruiter. X-raying is a technique used by some simple search commands in major search engines while peeling back entails deleting the last part of the web address till the last forward slash (/) which shows the information stored in that folder. (E-recruitment is revolutionizing the recruitment industry)

(III)...

Training is placed at No.3 because of the critical importance to our Dept.'s goals and objectives comprised of accomplishment of the long-term goals of our Dept such as (i) promoting growth & development (ii) providing opportunities for the workforce to accept higher challenges (iii) to assist employees in contributing to the attainment of our Dept's goal and vision (iv) to create self-confidence of the employee and commitment (v) to generate quantifiable change in performance. (vi) to bring about the necessary changes which is able to provide a solution for a range of problems. The various benefits of training are (i) enhancing the performance of the workforce (ii) improving the team skills necessary and knowledge to accomplish the allotted jobs, duties & tasks. (iii) motivating employees to achieve increased standards (iv) increasing total efficiency (v) enhancing customer service, resulting in customer satisfaction (vi) readying the employees for promotional opportunities (vii) lowering employee turnover, that reduces downtime. (viii) improving the morale of the employees, their motivation and ingenuity. (ix) facilitating the managers to attain goals and objectives of the unit. (x) Handing over employees the tools required to examine interpersonal and situational factors which build hindrances to attaining higher performance. (Supervisor's Guide: Training & Development)
(IV) Performance Appraisal (PA):

Winston and Creamer in 1997 described "Performance Appraisal as an organizational system having deliberate processes for determining staff accomplishments to enhance effectiveness of the staff." (Performance Appraisal) P.A. is placed at No.4 because of the critical importance to our Dept's goals and objectives comprised of accomplishment of the long-term goals of our Dept such as (i) the process of assessing & recording performance of staff for the rationale of making judgments regarding staff which lead to decisions. (ii) PA being a system of highly interactive processes that involve personnel at all levels in differing intensities in deciding job expectations, writing job descriptions, choosing appropriate appraisal criteria, building assessment tools and procedures, and collecting, analyzing and reporting the otcomes. The various benefits that will accrue to our Dept are (i) increasing motivation to function efficiently (ii) enhance the self-esteem of staff (iii) gain new insight into the personnel and supervisors (iv) elucidate and define job activities and responsibilities (v) build important communications among appraisal participants. (Performance Appraisal)

(V) Employee Benefits and Compensation:

Employee benefits normally are "retirement plans, health life insurance plans, life insurance, disability insurance, vacation, employee stock option." (Employee Benefit and Compensation) Benefits are gradually becoming expensive for businesses to extend to the employees, therefore the range and options of benefits are also changing at a fast pace quickly to include for instance flexible benefit plans. Compensation includes subjects in terms of wage and salary programs and structures for instance salary ranges for job descriptions, programs which are based on merit, bonus and commission. (Employee Benefit and Compensation)

Employee Benefits and Compensation is placed at No.5 because of the critical importance to our Dept's goals and objectives comprised of accomplishment of the long-term goals of our Dept such as (i) Benefits are forms of value apart from payment which are provided to the employee as a reciprocal measure for their contribution to the organization for the job they have done. (ii) Benefits like the above are tangible. Apart from tangible benefits, our Dept also ensures that some intangible benefits are also extended like appreciation from a boss, likelihood of promotion. Fringe benefits are also tangible benefits but at times it has implications for both types of benefits like tangible as well as intangible. (iii) For our Dept's long-term goals benefits are both company paid as well as employee-paid. Whereas the company normally pays for the majority categories of benefits like holiday pay, vacation pay, some of the benefits are frequently partly by the employees due to the costs of medical insurance. (Employee Benefits)

(VI) Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO):

EEO is an important HRM strategy for the fulfillment of corporate goals and ease individual performance needing managers to completely utilize the capabilities of their workforce to build their capabilities. EEO is placed at No.6 because of the critical importance to our Deptt.'s goals and objectives comprised of (i) Collective responsibility of our Dept for making progress in its EEO program in a mature setting. (ii) It focuses on the results for Target Groups and comprises of…