Business at work — страница 8

activities Marketing department Research and development department The human resource function. Personnel management considers the tasks involved in managing people – recruitment, selection and so forth – as separate elements. It does not take into account how these elements can combine to achieve organisational objectives. The personnel management approach makes decisions relating to recruitment, training and pay systems independently, without considering the impact the individual decisions have on each other aspects of management and the achievement of corporate objectives. Human resources management (HRM) elevates the effective use of a business’s labour force to an issue to be considered by senior managers as an essential element of the organisation’s strategy. This

approach has raised the profile (and salaries) of those employed in human resource management. The human resources function engages in a number of activities to ensure employees are utilised affectively. These activities are carried out with the aim of contributing to the achievement of the business’s objectives. Workforce plan sets out likely future needs for labour and how these needs might be met. Achieving the workforce plan involves the human resource function in a number of day-to-day activities. recruiting employees – both internally and externally training new and existing employees paying salaries dealing with disciplinary matters and grievances overseeing industrial relations, by seeking to avoid disputes and maintain harmonious relations and constant production

developing and monitoring an employee appraisal system designed to assess performance, set targets for achievement and identify any training needs Figure 1.5: Developing a human resources plan Corporate objectives Supply of labour existing workforce skills shown through skills audit changes in productivity and working week Demand of labour numbers of workers needed skills required location of employees Human resources plan This may require the use of one or more of the following: recruitment training redundancy and redeployment The marketing function. The marketing department carries out a wide range of functions on behalf of the business. Essentially marketing is communications. The marketing department communicates with a number of groups inside and outside the business as it

carries out its tasks. Marketing activities: keeping customers satisfied discovering the needs of customers and advising the production function accordingly carrying the responsibility for ensuring the effective distribution of products to wholesalers and retailers liasing with marketing agencies to provide the necessary expertise (small firms) if the firm is an export, the marketing department may have contact with government agencies. Marketing provides the organisation with information about its customers and its markets. Effective marketing can offer businesses a number of benefits: early warning of changes in consumer tastes and fashions through regular market research knowledge about competitors and information regarding competitors’ product the means to present the

company in a positive light through public relations activities allowing the firm to improve the quality of its products by coordinating and analysing customer complaints providing a catalyst for growth by forging relationships with distributors, retailers and customers in new markets supplying consumers with the products they want and giving high levels of customer satisfaction, which might permit a business to charge higher prices thereby increasing its profitability. The administration function. The scope of the administration department varies enormously between organisations. In a small business the administration function might incorporate a number of the functions like finance , personnel and marketing. However, larger organisations are more likely to operate a specialist

administration department. A typical administration department has a number of functions: Administration department carries out organisation’s IT system. Clerical and support service. Information processing, data processing, filing and reception services can be provided to all areas of the organisation. Security and maintenance. These services are essential to the smooth running of the business and to the effective operation of other business functions such as production in particular. In some businesses, the administration function takes responsibility for important public relations activities such as customer services. The research and development function. The nature of research and development (R&D) varies enormously between businesses. Traditionally, the term research