Human resources; the people behind the people

A company is only as good as its workers. If people come to work each day eager to see
each other, to do their very best on the job, to serve their customers, and to help their firm
compete, then it’s very likely that company will be a success. The best companies value their
employees just as much as their customers—without workers, there would be no goods or
services to offer customers. Firms like Children’s
Creative Learning Centers (CCLC) understand
this, and do their best to hire top-quality employees
and support them while they provide top-quality
child care to customers. Achieving this level of job
satisfaction and dedication among employees is the
goal of human resource management, which
attracts, develops, and retains the employees who
can perform the activities necessary to accomplish
organizational objectives.
Not every firm is large enough to have an
entire human resources department. But whoever
performs this function generally does the following:
plan for staffing needs, recruit and hire workers,
provide for training and evaluate performance,
determine compensation and benefits, and oversee
employee separation. In accomplishing these five
tasks, shown in Figure 8.1, human resource
managers achieve their objectives of
human resource
management function of
attracting, developing, and
retaining employees who
can perform the activities
necessary to accomplish
organizational objectives.
The best companies value their employees just as much as their customers. Firms
like Children’s Creative Learning Centers (CCLC) understand this, and do their best
to hire top-quality employees and support them while they provide top-quality child
care to customers.
Blend/Getty Images, Inc.
Chapter 8 Human Resource Management: From Recruitment to Labor Relations 255

providing qualified, well-trained employees for the
organization;
maximizing employee effectiveness in the organization; and
satisfying individual employee needs through monetary
compensation, benefits, opportunities to advance, and job
satisfaction.
Human resource plans must be based on an organization’s
overall competitive strategies. In conjunction with other managers,
human resource managers predict how many employees
a firm or department will need, and what skills those workers
should bring to the job—along with what skills they might
learn on the job. Human resource managers are often consulted
when a firm is considering reducing costs by laying off
workers, or increasing costs by hiring new ones.