Key Human Resource Management Functions in Business
This paper examines the essential functions of human resource management and their growing strategic importance in modern organizations. It covers four interconnected HR roles: recruiting and hiring talented employees, onboarding new hires efficiently, conducting performance appraisals as a workforce control mechanism, and developing accurate job descriptions that underpin all other HR activities. The paper argues that in a knowledge-driven economy, where skilled workers are scarce and competition for talent is intense, the HR department's ability to find, develop, and guide employees is a primary driver of organizational success and competitive advantage.
- Introduction to Human Resource Management: HR's strategic functions and competitive value
- Recruiting and Hiring Talent: Competing for skilled workers in a knowledge economy
- Onboarding New Employees: Getting new hires productive quickly and thoroughly
- Performance Appraisals: Evaluating employees against targets and descriptions
- The Central Role of Job Descriptions: Job descriptions as the foundation of all HR functions
- Conclusion: HR as essential driver of organizational success
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper organizes HR functions logically, moving from hiring through onboarding, evaluation, and finally the foundational concept of the job description, creating a coherent cause-and-effect chain.
- Each function is connected back to a central theme—organizational performance and competitive advantage—giving the paper argumentative unity rather than reading as a simple list.
- The conclusion synthesizes the individual functions into a single memorable claim: "HR either finds great people or it makes them," demonstrating how to end with impact rather than mere summary.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates thematic anchoring: it introduces a unifying concept (HR as a source of competitive advantage) in the introduction, applies it to each function discussed, and restates it in the conclusion. This technique ensures that individual body paragraphs feel purposeful rather than disconnected, which is essential for short analytical essays.
Structure breakdown
The essay follows a standard five-paragraph-plus-conclusion structure. The introduction establishes the strategic framing of HR. Three body sections address recruiting, onboarding, and performance appraisals. A fourth body section identifies job descriptions as the connective tissue tying all prior functions together. The conclusion restates the strategic argument using concrete language. Citations from HBR, Entrepreneur, and trade media support each claim.
Introduction to Human Resource Management
Human resources departments play several important functions within a company. Key roles include the recruitment and retention of talent, administration of benefits, and adjudication of disputes. Increasingly, the human resources role is being viewed as strategic in nature and can even be a source of competitive advantage in the information economy (McGrath, 2008). This paper outlines some of these key HR roles and explains why they are important to excelling in the modern business environment.
Recruiting and Hiring Talent
The first role is the hiring and recruiting of employees. In today's business environment, knowledge is power. Workers are easy to find, but talented ones are scarce, and there is intense competition for quality workers. One of the most important roles for HR, therefore, is to bring good people into organizations, as doing so helps the organization remain competitive and innovative (McGrath, 2008).
References
Himelstein, C. (2014). Why onboarding has become a strategic priority. ERE Media. Retrieved December 3, 2016, from
Massad, M. (2005). Importance of a job description. Entrepreneur. Retrieved December 3, 2016, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/78506
McGrath, R. (2008). Connecting HR with competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved December 3, 2016, from https://hbr.org/2008/06/connecting-hr-with-competitive
Ray, L. (2016). How can HR become a competitive advantage for any organization? Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 3, 2016, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/can-hr-become-competitive-advantage-organization-50913.html
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