Qualities and skill of a human resource manager

In manufacturing industry

1 Benefits evaluation and administration-Managing and controlling the increasing costs of employees benefit while balancing the needs of the employees has become a very sensitive issue, especially with respect to health insurance. There are basic questions to answer, such as whether to offer multiple benefit options, how funding for the plans should be split between employer and employee contributions, and how much of the benefit plan administration should be handled internally.

2 Recruitment/talent acquisitions - Declining interest in the manufacturing sector among the younger generations is partly due to the perception that manufacturing is not as cutting edge as other industries. The need to balance a permanent “core” full-time work force with temporary workers required to meet seasonal or periodic spikes in demand also makes manufacturing jobs look less secure to young people.

3 Training and development -The degree to which employees are “engaged” (that is truly committed to an organization’s success vs. “doing a job has a direct impact on profitability. HR leaders need to effectively manage all areas of training and development whether by mentoring, contracting for off-the-shelf programs and study courses, hiring outside consultants, or leveraging train-the-trainer programs offered by suppliers.

In information technology industry

1  From developing brand building to developing target specific packages, the Human Resources team plays a key role in attracting and building loyalty among the target customers.

2  From providing requirement and training services, HR functions have grown to encompass brand perception today, observes Mridula Chowdhary, MD, Skill-Pro Ltd, a company that used to specialise in hiring in the technology space.

3 Today, the HR plays an increasingly important role when it comes to company positioning developing value proposition and in creating an emotional connection with all external stakeholders, states Chowdhary. “Especially with the realization that clients tend to believe what the company has already implemented as against the hype that is built around the offerings.

In education industry

To optimize staff deployment, a systemic balance must be achieved. Key to realizing it is a thorough knowledge of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the human resource pool, of short- and medium-term staffing requirements, and of the supply and demand for needed skills on the open job market. Balancing available human resources with institutional goals requires constant internal and external adjustments by means of: internal promotion voluntary or mandatory re-assignment reduction of the number of career staff through early retirement schemes based on incentive measures and making use of short- or fixed-term contract staff.

In the Education Sector, there are a number of tools - simulation models being the most powerful - that make possible the forecasting of teaching and non-teaching staffing requirements.

 As a contribution to the EFA programme, UNESCO has contributed to national capacity-building in the development and use of models that simulataneous education policies .

Management by objectives in the case of Education Sector staff is a complex matter in the developing countries.

Among the many obstacles are: the notoriously unreliable data base; the plethora of constantly-changing education options and teaching specializations; the lack of specificity in the job descriptions/responsibilities of non-teaching staff;  the few real career or even promotion and re-assignment possibilities; Serious regional imbalances with some districts having far too few annual budgeting, a practice that renders management by objectives an all but impossible undertaking. There is not a country that is not struggling to overcome these problems. The large number of staff employed by the Education Sector are responsible for its being in the vanguard of these efforts. The following deserve mention here:

decentralization of management responsibilities and staff; preparation

of programming and budgeting guidelines and manuals for all professional staff;

strengthening of programme planning, management and monitoring skills at all levels;

upgrading HRM skills with particular reference to management by objectives; and the introduction of new budgeting methods such as zero-based budgeting and performance-based assessment.

In retail industry

Human Resource Managements role in the company’s success increases each day. In this article I will discuss the reasons for the increasing impact of the HRM and will also talk about HRM in the retail industry. Human Resource Management is a vital function in organizations. It is becoming more important than ever. Line managers are getting involved in HRM, and human resource managers are becoming members of the management team. Also, everyone in the organization can make a contribution to the management of people and the success of the organization at the same time. Staffs are a major resource in any business. This is particularly true in retail industry, which has a very large amount of employees and which provides a range of services to its customers. The retail human resource environment has its special features: a large number of inexperienced workers, long hours, highly visible employees, many part-time workers, and variations in customer demand. Those features also create difficulties to retailers.

First of all, a large number of inexperienced workers and part-time staffs in a retail business may lead high employee turnover, poor performance, lateness and absenteeism. This is due to several seasons. One is that inexperienced workers can apply retail positions, such as checkout clerks, wrappers, stock clerks and some types of sales personnel, which doesn't require high education, training and skill. The other one is that employees who work in retailing companies likely live near the retailing stores. In addition, part-time staffs are very easy to quit their jobs.

Secondly, long working hours may result that retailers need to two shifts of employees. As the trend of longer store hours (evening and weekend), retailers need to consider employ staff for evening and weekend use.

Thirdly, high visible employees mean that retailers have to monitor employees very closely. As consumers nowadays play a very important role in retail industry and employees are highly visible to the consumers, retailers must select and train employees carefully, especially care about their manners and appearance. As retailers in India weather the economic challenges and prepare for competition from new players, it is evident that sharpening their talent portfolio will be critical to succeed. The key task for HR is to help shape a highly skilled, engaged and productive workforce and to discover newer sources of effective talent. In an industry that is characterized by enormous flux, change seems to be the only constant. HR’s challenging role, then, is to pre-empt industry trends, identify future business needs and create a pool of future-ready talent.

Nihar also listed down what he saw as critical success factors for an HR

professional in the retail industry. These included the following:

• Strong customer service orientation

• Effective communication skills

• Fast decision making capabilities

• Ability to collaborate and operate within a team, interpersonal skills

• Strong result orientation

• Meticulous planning

• Analytical and problem-solving abilities

• Flexibility and ability to deal with ambiguity

• Creativity and innovation

In tourism industry

Recruitment and selection- Recruiting and selecting staff with the correct attitude and behavioral attitudes. A range of assessments in the selection process should be utilized to evaluate to work values, personality, interpersonal skills,.

Rewarding quality- A overall quality goals. Need to for a much more creative system of rewards employees for attaining and in particular the need for payment systems that reward employees for attaining quality goals. Job security- Promises of job security are seen as an essential component of any overall quality goals.

Employee involvement and employee relations- By seeking greater involvement from employees the emphasis is on offering autonomy, creativity, co operation and self control in work process.