PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS IN EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS IN EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION

Introduction

Personnel Management according to Bratton and Gold (2003) is “a strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasizes that leveraging people’s capabilities is critical in achieving competitive advantage”. The Personnel of an organization is a composition of men and women, young and old who engage in the production of goods and services of the organization.

 

The Personnel are seen as the bedrock of an organization, as the organization is overwhelmingly dependent on human capacity for the supply of physical labour, technical and professional skills, which are germane for effective and efficient planning and implementation of development policies, programmes, projects, and daily activities.

 

There is no doubt, therefore, that the ability of any organization or society to achieve its goals depends to a large extent on the caliber, organization, motivation and general administration of its Personnel. As such, Personnel/manpower administration is a critical factor in the achievement of organizational objectives. Very instructively, Personnel administration relates to the overall organization planning process by which the organization tries to ensure that it has the right number of persons and the right kind of people, at the right time and at the right place performing functions, which are economically useful and which satisfy the needs of the organization and provide satisfaction for the individual involved.

 

More importantly, the work environment is absolutely dependent on human factor. Human input is a precondition for proper operation and services. Take for instance, the office computers, plants, automated equipment, office gadgetries, electronic machines, and every other relevant facility found in a modern firm is unproductive except if human effort and direction is carefully applied.

 

Unlike traditional personnel management which is said to be reactive, short-term and focused on employees at the lower end of the organizational hierarchy, HRM proactively seeks to establish practices and policies which are synergistic across all policy areas in an organization (Pomoni, 2010). The HRM approach requires that personnel practices and policies be responsive and adaptive to the needs of the organization. Guest (2001) states that Personnel Management considers employees as valued strategic resources and not merely a cost to the organization.

 

Personnel Management can therefore, be used by organizations to acquire and develop this valuable capital. A number of studies have actually demonstrated that Personnel Management practices, either individually or as a system, are associated with higher levels of performance (Dimba, K’Obonyo 2009, and Abdulkadir, 2012).

CONCEPT OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

According to Budhwar (2000), there are different HR Practices for the organization to adopt. HR practices contribute to the organization’s bottom line, areas such as recruitment, selection, training, development and performance appraisal which should be consistent, integrated and strategically focused. Firms need to build long-term commitment to retain their work force. The researcher has taken following combination of Personnel Practices in the study:

1. Recruitment and Selection
2. Training and Development
3. Compensation and Benefits
4. Promotion and Transfers
5. Welfare activities

 

1. Recruitment and Selection- It is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organization. Some organizations like public sector adopt centralized recruitment whereas other organizations resort to decentralized system. Recruitment entails finding qualified candidates to consider for employment or to fill existing vacancies in an organization. It aims at attracting job applicants to apply for job opportunities in an organization. The duties and responsibilities of the job, the qualities which the job seeker should posses are all specified. Recruitment could be external or internal depending on the situation on ground (Schuler and Jackson, 2007). There can be different sources of recruitment namely internal sources like vacancies, transfers, promotions, retired and retrenched employees, dependants and relatives of deceased and disabled employees or it can be external sources like education and training institutions, search engines, employment exchanges etc. Recruitment technically precedes selection.

 

Selection is the process of choosing the most suitable persons out of all applicants. It is the process of matching the qualifications of applicants with job requirements. According to Budhwar and Debrah (2001), selection involves Test, Interview and Medical examination of the candidates. Referrals of candidates are also checked for predicting their behavior and performance.

 

1. Training and Development- Training is the process of increasing the knowledge and skills for doing a particular job. The purpose of training is basically to bridge the gap between job requirements and present competence of an employee. Training is aimed at improving the behavior and performance of persons. There are different types of training programmes like Orientation training, Job training, Safety training, Promotional training, Refresher training, Remedial training etc.

 

Executive development is a systematic process of learning and growth by which managerial personnel gain and apply knowledge, skills, attitutes and insights to manage the work in their organizations efficiently and effectively. It is necessary for the managerial personnel so as to cope up with the size and complexity of organization, technological changes. It is also necessary to recognize their social and public responsibilities (Budhwar and Khatri, 2001).

 

iii. Compensation- Wage, Salaries and other forms of employee’s compensation constitute a very large component of operating costs. No organization can expect to attract and retain qualified and motivated employees unless it pays them fair compensation. Employee compensation can be classified into two categories- Basic or Primary compensation and Supplementary compensation. Basic pay refers pay in the form of wages and salaries. It is fixed and non-incentive payment. Supplementary compensation consists of incentive and variable payments, based on either individual output or output of group as a whole (Christensen, 2002).

 

1. Performance Appraisal: Job performance must be put on check so that it meets desired result or target. Exceptional performance should be recognized and rewarded while disciplinary actions are taken with respect to below standard performance. Appraisal ensures that the most qualified persons rise to the organization’s top level and stops those with lesser qualification from moving above their capacity level. It assists in determining appointment and recommendation for further employment training and development. It is also imperative to note that appraisal is usually different from one organization to another because, what is practicable and suitable in one organization may be quite impracticable and inappropriate in another

 

1. Promotions and Transfers

Promotion refers to advancement of an employee to a higher post carrying greater responsibilities, higher status and better salary. Promotion can be made on different criteria’s like seniority, merit etc. They help to recognize an employee’s performance and commitment. It also helps to boost the morale and also help to develop a competitive spirit among employees for acquiring knowledge and skills. Transfers refer to a horizontal or lateral movement of an employee from one job to another in the same organization without any significant change in status and pay. There are different purposes of transfers like to meet both organizational and employee needs, to make employee more versatile, to adjust workforce, to provide relief etc.

 

1. Welfare Schemes- It means anything done for intellectual physical, moral and economic betterment of employees by employers, Govt. or other agencies. These welfare services may be classified into Intramural and Extramural. In Intramural services are provided within establishment and in Extramural services are provided outside the establishment. They help to increase employee’s productivity, morale, industrial relation, goodwill etc.

 

Employee’s operational performance depends on four intervening factors: Competence, Teamwork, Organizational Commitment and Customer Orientation. Individual performance and organizational effectiveness cannot be achieved without organizational commitment, i.e. readiness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization (Sisson and Storey, 2000). The purpose of performance appraisal includes:

1. Making Reward Decision: Equitable distribution of rewards, pay promotion or what ever that needs some kind of Appraisal. If the assessment is made annually, it can be used to direct rewards to those deserving them.
2. Assessment of unsatisfactory performance: This can be part of the process whereby unsatisfactory performance is documented and used as evidence of disciplinary proceedings.

iii. Motivating Staff: This is made possible through feedback assessment and facilitating fairness in reward. Also, setting target that improves on previous performance is a further motivating device.

1. Successful Planning and identifying potential: By identifying poor and performers, the firm can focus on succession planning and resources on in improving their performance. An accurate appraisal is a light for training and development.

vii. Maintaining Work Atmosphere: The performance of an individual in an organization is largely driven by the work atmosphere or work culture that prevails at the workplace. A good environment can bring out the best in an employee. A congenial atmosphere gives the employees job satisfaction as well. A good work environment is one of the benefits employees can get from human resource management.

 

viii. Managing Disputes: There are several issues on which disputes may arise between the employees and the managers in an organization. In such a scenario, it is the human resource department which acts as a consultant and mediator to sort out the issues in an effective manner.

 

1. Developing Public Relations: The responsibility of establishing good public relations lies with the human resource management to a great extent. They organize business meetings, seminars and various official gatherings on behalf of the company in order to establish relationships with other business sectors. Sometimes, the human resource department plays an active role in preparing the business and marketing plans for the organization too.

 

Conclusion

Personnel management is based upon the recognition that organizations can be more effective if their personnel are managed with human resource policies and practices that deliver a better output or performance.

 

Furthermore, the processes and people within an organization are managed in such a way as to foster the aims of the business strategy and create an integrated approach to managing the various personnel management functions, such as selection, training and reward so that they complement each other”.