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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT
All in all, the HR function is still to a large degree administrative and common to all
organisations. To varying degrees, most organisations have formalised selection, evaluation, and
payroll processes. Efficient and effective management of the "Human Capital" Pool (HCP) has become
an increasingly imperative and complex activity to all HR professionals.
The HR function consists
of tracking innumerable data points on each employee, from personal histories, data, skills,
capabilities, experiences to payroll records. To reduce the manual workload of these administrative
activities, organisations began to electronically automate many of these processes by introducing
innovative HRMS/HCM technology. Due to complexity in programming, capabilities and limited
technical resources, HR executives rely on internal or external IT professionals to develop
and maintain their Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS).
Before the "client-server" architecture evolved in the late 1980s, every single HR
automation process came largely in
form of mainframe computers that could handle large amounts of data transactions. In
consequence of the high capital investment necessary to purchase or program
proprietary software, these internally developed HRMS were limited to medium to
large organisations being able to afford internal IT capabilities. The advent of client-server
HRMS authorised HR executives for the first time to take responsibility and ownership of
their systems. These client-server HRMS are characteristically developed around four
principal areas of HR functionalities: 1) "payroll", 2) time and labour management 3)
benefits administration and 4) HR management
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
For implementation to be effective, the chief executive needs a very good sense of his or her own organisation’s readiness and capacity to respond to these challenges. This suggests a clear need for support by senior level ‘champions’ and much greater involvement of people with organisational development expertise.
During recent years ‘Organisation Development’ (OD) has re-emerged as a highly significant concept in the strategic management of change since it provides a holistic approach to help councils focus on and deliver the cultural and organisational change needed for all types of continuous improvement.
The traditional view of ‘Organisation Development’ tended to focus on top-down activities to improve organisation's ‘systems’ and 'processes’. ‘Organisation Development’ needs to take account of both internal and external factors rather considering individual components in isolation.
Many activities contribute to an appropriate ‘climate’ for sustained OD:
- Identification of key priorities and organisational purpose
- Identification of key obstacles and how these might be overcome
- Identification of key people management and development implications as the organisation
develops
- Management of performance
- Promotion of learning, development and the sharing of knowledge
- Promotion of creativity and innovation
- Ensuring staff, elected members and the wider community understand why the organisation must
develop and how they can contribute
- Development of mechanisms for giving/receiving feedback and sharing ideas at all levels
within the organisation and with stakeholders
- Establishment of processes for consultation/planning and evaluation
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