HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Analysis of the fifth chapter of Human Resource Management, by Milkovich and Bourdreau

Analysis of the fifth chapter of Human Resource Management, by Milkovich and Bourdreau

Introduction

Many forces affect businesses and how they operate today. These range from globalization to increased competition, to changing age and competency profile of the current workforce. As an enabler for the knowledge economy, information technology can also be considered a driving force. While these forces may affect companies in varying degrees over time, some organizational realities remain unchanged. Management will always want to leave a healthy organization for the next generation, and this may entail investing in and maximizing various assets. The increasing recognition of “human capital” as an asset with a significant impact on sustained competitive advantage is driving the transformation of various companies' HR function. This paper would review fifth chapter of the book Human Resource Management, written by Milkovich and Bourdreau, and will analyze the chapter in accordance with the current HR best practices.

Functions of HR

The fifth chapter describes some of the main functions of HR in detail. Besides just hiring and other traditional roles, HR team also makes sure that employees are motivated enough to deliver the desired quality of work within provided deadline. This chapter clarifies that HR managers create an obvious understanding of the ability they have at their disposal or whether they need to recruit from outside (Milkovich, & Boudreau, 1997). An example is where an organization is forecasting for their supply and demand of people when setting up the company to attain the goals or objectives. This is accomplished through HR Planning.

After analyzing the chapter, it can be said that the traditional job of the HR personnel is practical in nature and has rotated around particular tasks such as recruiting, HR planning, performance review, job analysis, compensation, ...