351Summary of Chapters

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Summary of Chapters:

Chapter: 01

introduction to human resource

management

Chapter 1 presents an overview of human resource management. The topicdiscusses the importance of managing human resources in an organization,roles of human resource department, human resource management functions,and the current issues and challenges. The topic also presents thecompulsory legal framework that affects human resource managementpractices in Malaysia such as, the Employment Act 1955, the IndustrialRelations Act 1967, and the Trade Unions Act 1959.

In the event of uncertain economic situation, in addition to the shift fromindustrial community to informative community, the importance of humanresource capital in an organization is becoming more distinct. Therefore,

organizations need to update their human resource management strategy toensure the effectiveness of their business. An effective human resourcemanagement is able to merge its diverse and different human resource toachieve the general target of the organization, at the same time tackle thechallenges and issues of human resource management efficiently andeffectively.

Overall, it is clear that the legal system does influence industrial relationsformed between employers and employees. Industrial Relations Acts thathave been discussed in this chapter should be able to give you a

comprehensive picture on the importance of having a systematic andorganized human resource management system. This can ensure aharmonious working relationship between employees and employers. Inaddition, this can help an organization reach competitive advantage in thelocal as well as the global market.


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Chapter 2

HR Planning and Recruitment

Chapter 2 discusses the human resource planning process and activitiesinvolved in the recruitment. The topic explains how an organization tracks themovement of its employees into, within and outside of the organization. Thetopic also explains how an organization selects qualified candidates to join theorganization.

In planning an organizations future, the top management and strategic

planner must realize that strategic planning decisions will effect humanresource planning, and vice versa. Human resource planning can be reactiveand proactive towards an organizations human resource needs. Humanresource planning is a systematic process involving forecasting process ofhuman resource needs, implementation of human resource supply analysis,and balancing between existing supplies to the actual needs of humanresource. In implementing recruitment functions, the management finds thatinternal recruitment gives a lot of advantages to the organization and alsoemployees.

Through internal recruitment, management is able to reimburse all

expenditures invested in employees during employee training anddevelopment. For the employees, it is seen as an encouragement to furtherimprove themselves in the company. However, internal recruitment can causeemployee cloning. External recruitment has to be carried out when there areno internal candidates eligible to fill a vacancy. Recruiting employee outside ofthe organization can help an organization acquire new ideas. The recruitmentsources used by an organization usually depends on the types of jobs and thelabor market. The selection process is supposed to give reliable and validinformation on an applicant. Among the methods used to get information onan applicant is through an interview. The interview method can be usedtogether with application form, biographical information blanks, references,

background check, cognitive test and job sample test.

A job test is more objective than an interview and is able to give a widerbehavior sample. Each type of test has a specific purpose, such as the workknowledge and work sample tests which are designed to determine whether aperson requires training or not. A variety of methods can be used in theinterview process. An interview can be performed structurally or non-structurally, as well as through one on one basis or with a panel.Finally, in the process of deciding whether a candidate will be offered a post,factors that are taken into account are what the candidate can do, and whathe or she will be able to do.


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Chapter 3

Evaluating Performance and DevelopingEmployees

Chapter 3 explains the functions of performance appraisal and humanresource development. In particular, the topic explains the essential steps inevaluating employee performance, the information sources accessible, themethods available, and the common errors made by appraisers. Basictheories and principles of learning and training, the roles and the process oftraining and development are also explained in the topic. Finally, the careerdevelopment activities are introduced. The explanation focuses on the career

development phases, the process of designing career developmentprogrammes, and the relationship between the choice of career and apersons personality which isbased on Hollands personality model.

Performance evaluation is a critical activity in human resource managementas it is important in increasing organizations competitiveness. In short,performance evaluation is a process to evaluate work performance at aparticular duration, in order to determine that the level of achievement isbased on the organizations strategic objectives. What is important here is thatthe developed performance evaluation system is able to motivate employeesto improve their performance thus increasing organizations productivity. Bythis, an effective performance evaluation system is able to ensure that allparties, be it management or employees, are able to be benefited from it. Atthe same time this will help to strengthen the position of and ease humanresource management. Furthermore, it helps to achieve objectives andorganizational goals.

Training and development is a function of human resource that should beimplemented so that an employee is equipped with the knowledge, skills and

abilities required to help realize the objectives of the organization. Staffcompetition and ongoing changes demand an organization to reactaccordingly. Therefore, an organization needs employees who are capable,knowledgeable, and skillful and are able to give the organization a competitiveedge.

There are four phases in a training process that need to be addressednamely, the needs analysis, design, implementation and evaluation. Everystep is closely inter-related, and the outcome of each step will form the inputfor the next step. Therefore, all phases in a training process should be given

special attention. Career and jobs are two different concepts. Career can be


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referred to all the jobs held by an individual throughout his working life. In anorganization, the efforts

carried out by the human resource manager to help an employee achieve hisjob objectives, is known as career development.

In the process of designing a career development programme, three mainphases i.e the evaluation phase, the direction phase and the developmentphase, will be followed. The evaluation phase involves self-assessmentactivities and evaluation on the part of the organization. The direction phaseinvolves defining the kind of career desired by the employee, and the steps tobe taken so that the career objectives will become a reality. The developmentprocess on the other hand, involves activities for developing and improving

the skills as preparation for getting job opportunities in future. Lastly, John L.Holland, a career counseling expert, believes that the achievement of everyindividual depends on his personality and his job environment. Therefore,each of us has at least one of these six personalities: realistic, investigative,sociable, conventional, enterprising and artistic.


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Chapter 4

Compensation and Incentives

Topic 4 describes the vital organizations tools to motivate and sustain theEmployees performance. The discussion focuses on the importance ofproviding compensation, benefits and incentives to the employees, the typesof compensation, benefits and incentives, the advantages of incentiveprogrammers, and the characteristics of an effective benefits and incentiveplan.

Compensation administration is a critical activity in managing human resourceand has to be more focused on giving consistent rewards to encourageemployee behavior consolidation. This will then increase employeeperformance and employee loyalty so that they will remain in the company fora long time. Therefore, the compensation administration strategy has to beflexible to ensure a rapid response towards change and compensationadministration trends in the labor market. Basically, the purpose ofcompensation administration is to gain high returns from the investment madeby the organization for its employees, in the form of salary. The rewardsoffered have to ensure organization as well as employees benefited from it.An effective compensation administration system impact is when employees

practice a work culture that emphasizes on contribution compared to paymentacceptance for being present in the workplace.

Incentive plan and benefits management nowadays are extremelychallenging, complex and requires thorough planning to ensure theeffectiveness of both types of rewards. A human resource manager especiallyneeds to ensure that both incentives and benefits are designed andimplemented well in order to achieve both rewards original goals.


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Chapter 5

Workplace Well-Being

Topic 5 discusses the important components of workplace well-being: (i) goodrelationships between employers and employees, and (ii) safe and healthywork environments. The discussion focuses on the employees and employersrights, and issues related to employees work discipline. Apart from that, thetopic elaborates the issues of misconducts that occurred outside of theorganization and the techniques used to solve the issues. Disciplinary andtrade unions matters, alternative conflict resolution procedures, and theprocedure for termination of contract due to misconduct are also discussed in

the topic. The topic ends with the discussion on occupational safety andhealth.

It is the responsibility of all employees to know their rights in order for them toknow certain things that should not be done by the management andorganization that they are working with. In Malaysia, the employees rights arepresented in various codes such as the Employment Act 1955, OccupationalSafety and Health Act 1994 and etc. However, the employer does also havethe right in electing workers, promoting and to discipline them, as well as hasthe right to terminate form their respective post. .

Other than the rights of employees and managers, discipline is also anotherimportant issue in an organization. Unfortunately, it is not the most favoriteaspect that is being focused by the employers even though is crucial tomotivate employees to follow the existing performance pace. We havediscussed the aspects of industrial relations and trade unions. Thus, weshould have understood what is industrial relationship and trade unions, whyemployees should join trade union and the roles.

Finally, the safety and health problems in workplace are everybodysproblems. Therefore, everyone has to be responsible to ensure that theworkplace is safe and free from any illness. The various aspects of safety andhealth such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, recognizing afew safety and health towards danger and issues related to it have beendiscussed in this topic. It is hoped that the discussions can open up our mindregarding the importance of working in safe workplace without any risks tothreaten our health.


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Chapter 6

JOB EVALUATION

Job evaluation is the process of determining the appropriate Career Groupand Role to which a position is assigned. The job evaluation process has foursteps:

1. Selecting the Occupational Family: The first step is to determine theappropriate Occupational Family by reviewing the vocational characteristics(the nature and type of work performed) outlined in the Employee Work

Profile.

2. Comparing and Selecting the Career Group: The second step is tocompare the Concept of Work capsule that describes the array of workperformed in the various Career Group Descriptions to theEmployee Work Profile in order to determine the appropriate Career Group.

3. Comparing and Selecting a Role within a Career Group: The third stepis to evaluate and compare the Work Description (position objective; purpose

of position; knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies; education,experience, certification and licensure; core responsibilities and specialassignments) outlined in the Employee Work Profile to the various RoleDescriptions and the factor matrices to determine the appropriate Role.

4. Comparing to other positions within a Role to ensure consistency:The final step is to confirm the assignment of the position to the Role bychecking to make sure that it is consistent with other positions assigned to thesame Role.

ALTERNATIVE JOB EVALUATION MODELSThe Compensation Management System allows agencies to develop a varietyof other job and employee-based evaluation alternatives within the context ofthe broader job structure (Career Groups and Roles) that may moreeffectively meet their organizational needs and assist in providing criteria formovement within a Role and pay band. Examples of job evaluationalternatives may include skill or competency based systems or rankstructures. All alternative evaluation methods must be reviewed and approvedby DHRM prior to implementation (see Appendices F and G, Competency-

Based and Skill-Based Systems).


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Chapter 7

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

The Commonwealths Performance Management Program is anIntegral part of the Compensation Management System. Therefore, thisComponent shares the same overall goals, which are as follows:

To attract qualified employees.To retain qualified employees.To motivate employees by rewarding sustained performance.To support management in the realization of organization

objectives.

The Performance Management Program has been designed to encouragecareer development to enhance the Commonwealths workforce and tofinancially reward employees performance. The Commonwealths annualperformance cycle is October 25th to October 24th of the following year withthe applicable pay out of performance increases effective November 25th.Employee performance will be a key determinant in how pay will beadministered not only in the Performance Management Program but also withthe Commonwealths Pay Practices.

The Commonwealths performance management philosophy is to rewardemployees for their work contributions in a fair and equitable manner.The performance management philosophy was developed based on thefollowing underlying principles:

To identify individual and/or team objectives and measures linked to the

agencys mission and strategic objectives.

To promote employee and career development through creating anenvironment of learning and quality improvement through training,

coaching, counseling and mentoring.

To provide open and honest periodic evaluations of employees

performance.

To administer financial rewards based on distinctions in performance

with the highest level of award directed to Extraordinary Contributor

and a lesser amount directed to Contributor.


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351Summary of Chapters