Nature and Meaning of Personnel Ad

Meaning and Nature of Personnel Administration

and Function and Challenges

Michael D. GrafiaPA 206


Personnel function is crucial in any administrative organization. That the constant change in management environment the socio-economic and political environment has it effect on personnel administration and the work environment in an organization.

Introduction


With the proliferation of activities under ‘development’ and ‘welfare’ programs, the employees are now expected to be more competent and efficient, effective and sympathetic.

Introduction (cont’d)


People involvement in administrative activities is increasingly due to the constant demands on administration and the role of personnel administration is also changing.

Introduction (cont’d)

Learning Objectives:

• Define and Distinguish Public Personnel Administration from Personnel Administration.

• Gain knowledge on some important concepts / functions and challenges of Personnel / Public Personnel Administration.

• functions affects in the attainment of Personal and Organizational Goals.


- is the totality of concern with human resources of an organization. This concern consist of the act of selecting new employees and utilizing the earlier employed to gain the maximum of quality and quantity in output and services from the working force.

Personnel Administration -


- It refers to the entire spectrum of an organization’s interaction with its human resources from recruitment activity to retirement process.

Personnel Administration – (cont’d)


- It involves personnel planning and forecasting, appraising human performance, selection and staffing, training and development and maintenance and improvement of performance and productivity.



- It includes all activities and functions, relating to policy formulation, social change and modernization, administrative reforms and public relations in an organization.



Effective utilization of human resources. Desirable working relations among all members of the organization. Maximum Development. Meeting the organization’s social and

legal responsibilities.

Thus Personnel Administration aims at:


- is a branch of human resource management that is concerned with the acquisition, development, utilization and compensation of a public organization’s workforce.

Public Personnel Administration -


1. “Public”

- refers to regional and local governmental agencies as well as non-profit ones.

2. “Personnel”

- refers to human resources who work in the public sector and provide public services to society.

The term "public personnel administration" includes three key words:


3. “Administration”

- refers to the management of human resources in public organizations in an effective and efficient way that helps the organization reach its goals and objectives.

The term "public personnel administration" includes three key words: (cont’d.)


1. Planning

- includes preparing staffing plans and budgets, deciding how employees will be used, and setting pay rates.

2. Acquisition

- refers to selecting and recruiting employees.

Four Main Functions of Public Personnel Administration


3. Development

- which involves employee training and advancement programs, as well as performance evaluations.

4. Sanctions

- deals with employer-employee relationships, and may include workplace safety and handling grievances.

Four Main Functions of Public Personnel Administration (contd.)


1. Responsiveness

2. Rights of the Individual

3. Efficiency

4. Social Equity

Public personnel administrators often carry their work within the context of four core, often contradictory, societal values.


- relates to the importance of considering political loyalty in addition to education and experience when making employee staffing decisions.

Responsiveness, or political loyalty -


-In fact, the main difference between public and private personnel administration is the political context and the intervention of politicians and their supporters in decisions affecting public employees.

Responsiveness, or political loyalty –(cont’d)


- Efficiency, on the other hand, is the practice of basing appointments on ability and performance, rather than politics.

Efficiency, or the ability to perform the job.


- The individual rights of employees are often preserved by national and regional laws, such as the Constitution; Merit Systems; and Collective Bargaining Systems, if applicable.

The Rights of the Individual -


- Social equity guarantees that groups that can not compete fairly are given preferences in job selection and promotion decisions.

Social Equity, or leveling the playing field -

Purposes Of Shared ValuesShared

OrganizationalValues

Guide Managers’Decisions and

Actions

InfluenceMarketing Efforts

Build Team Spirit

Shape Employee Behavior

- An organization’s values are reflected in the decisions - An organization’s values are reflected in the decisions and actions of its employees.and actions of its employees.


Line Functions - activities directly related to the primary objective of an organization.

Staff Functions – are those, which facilitate and assist the performance of line work.

Personnel are required to perform‘line’ and ‘staff’ functions.

Functions and Challenges

1. Manpower Planning -

2. Recruitment -

3. Training -

4. Promotion -

5. Salary Structuring -

6. Employees’ Welfare -

Some of the important functions for personnel are:


- is engaged with the assessment of requirement in an organization in terms of personnel needed for a job, definition.

Manpower Planning -


The objectives of manpower planning:

1. To ensure optimum use of human resources currently

employed.

2. To assess or forecast future skills requirement if the organization’s overall objectives are to be achieved.

Manpower Planning – (cont’d)



3. To provide control measures to ensure that necessary resources

are available as and when required.

4. To determine recruitment level.




5. To anticipate the weaknesses of organizational procedures and avoid unnecessary dismissals.

6. To determine the training levels.




7. To provide a basis for management.

8. To assess future accommodation requirements.



- is the process of searching for prospective workers and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization. It is a positive functions which aims at increasing the selection ratio that is the number of applicants per job opening.

Recruitment -


The objectives of recruitment:

1. It aims increasing the selection ratio.

2. It matches the personnel characteristics of potential employees with the job requirements.

3. Recruitment can be made through internal and external sources.

Recruitment – (cont’d.)


Some methods:

1. Use of attractive recruitment literature and publicity.

2. Use of scientific test for determining abilities of the

candidates.

3. Tapping capable candidates from with the organization.



Some methods:

4. Placement program me which assigns the right man to right job.

5. Follow-up probationary program me as an integral part of the recruitment process.



Internal and External Sources:• Internal Sources – refer to the present

working force of an organization.

- In the event of a vacancy, someone already on the payroll is promoted, transferred or sometimes demoted.



Internal and External Sources:

- Filling a vacancy from internal sources has the advantages of increasing the general level of moral of existing employees and of providing to the organization more reliable information about the candidate’s suitability.




• External Sources – refer to the methods adopted by the organization

through a thorough assessment of their qualifications, skills and potential.




- Some of the methods of determining qualifications are the personal judgment of the appointing officer, certificates of ability, character and education, record of previous experience (educational and professional) and examinations.



- is a well articulated effort to provide for increased competence in the service, by imparting professional knowledge, broader vision, and correct patterns of behavior, habits and aptitudes.

Training -


- It should be a continuous process in response to a continuously felt need. Training helps the entrant by inculcating occupational skill and knowledge, by making the employees familiar with objectives of the organization and potential contribution in the furtherance of department’s or organization’s goals.

Training – (cont’d.)


-Training adjusts the employees with the constant changes in the goals and techniques of organizations.

- The deficiencies of the new appointees may be corrected by imparting them necessary trainings.



Formal and Informal Trainings – • Informal Training – is training by doing

the work and learning from mistakes.

- The ultimate success of informal training depends upon the experience and seniority of the senior officer and higher Interest in the new entrant.



Formal and Informal Trainings –

• Formal Training – is to inculcate administrative skills of the personnel through a well-defined courses.



The basic aims of training:

1. To inculcate fresh knowledge among employees upgrading their skills familiarizing the inducts to the organization, its environment, work conditions, rules, norms and goals.




2. Attuning the employees to the new needs of the organization.

3. Broadening the views and outlook of employees.




4. Maintaining the morale of the employees development of novel attitudes.

5. Reducing waste, accidents, turnover and absenteeism.



The word ‘promote’ is derived from the Latin expression “promovere” it means ‘to move forward’.

Promotion – means advancement of an employee to a job better than the present one in terms of greater responsibilities, more prestige or status, greater skill and increase in pay.

Promotion -


Normally promotions are department that is, vacancy in a department is usually filled from among the employees of that department even though older or more experienced officials may be waiting their chance for promotion in another department.

Promotion – (cont’d.)


Interdepartmental promotions occur when there is (1) no suitable candidate within the department to fill a particular post and (2) when a new department is created or an old one is expanded.



Two principles used in system promotion:

• Principle of Seniority• Principle of Merit



Principle of Seniority –

The principle of seniority is an age-old principle. Employees attach great importance to the length of service.



According to H. Finer –

“It is automatic and avoids the need for making individual distinctions between one person and another, of placing the young over the old, of measuring the responsibility for the result of promotion.”



This give rise to two basic questions:• Is the employee with the longest service

necessarily the most competent?• If employees automatically qualify for the

higher jobs by being senior, will new employees be motivated to give good performance?



Yet, seniority cannot be rejected altogether by using the internal method promotion; the administration can keep the morale of employees high and also encourage a competitive spirit for better performance.



Principle of Merit –• In order to determine the merit of

employees, a scientific system of “performance appraisal” needs to be develop.

• It should be of regular and continuous nature and should evaluate the quality, quantity and styles of performance.



Principle of Merit –• It should include also an appraisal of the

growth potential of an employee.• Thus promotion has to be based on just

and fair norms as it is a powerful means in the hands of the organization to reward its faithful worker.

• It is a powerful means to lead the employees toward the desired goals.



Development of a sound salary-system is an important function of personnel administration. Salary has to be structured in such as way that the employees of the organization feel adequately rewarded and resources available to the organization are optimally utilized.

Salary Restructuring -


Following are the requirements for the development of a sound pay system.

1. The pay structure should be simple and rational.

2. The pay of a post should be related to the duties and responsibilities attached to the post.

Salary Restructuring – (cont’d)



3. It should take into consideration the qualification and experience prescribed.

4. It should be comprehensive and adequate to enable the employees to have a feeling of the total emoluments and to maintain a certain standard of living.




5. It should take into account the comparable salaries paid in alternative occupations.



Although there can be both monetary and non-monetary forms of compensation prevalent in an organization, yet it is the former which is the most basic element by which individuals are attracted to an organization, persuaded to remain there and induced to engage in a behavior that is beneficial to the organization.



Welfare of employees is one of the most important functions of personnel administration, a good personnel system always gives topmost priority to the well-being of employees.

Employees’ welfare -


A sound personnel policy, proper recruitment and promotion techniques, conducive training methods can create a certain physical and mental condition of the employees so necessary for good performance.

Employees’ welfare – (cont’d.)


Employees’ benefits program me's create and stimulate morale which contributes to the creation and maintenance of favorable attitude towards work and work environment.



Maintenance of discipline and following a code of conduct in the organization also helps in creating conducive work environment in the organization that is important for employees’ welfare.



Strict disciplinary actions are very essential as they increase the efficiency of work, raise the morale of employees and keep the inefficient out of the organization.



A proper retirement scheme is also very essential for employee’s welfare.



The primary aim of all these benefits is to provide necessary means of livelihood and freedom from certain worries to the employees in their old age.

A carefully devised retirement plan must always form a part of planning package of an organization.



Addressing employees’ grievances is yet another very important aspect of employees’ welfare program me's. It has to generate the will to work among employees.



Inculcation of morale, of that spirit and the state of mind which expresses itself in loyalty, enthusiasm, cooperation, pride in the service and devotion to duty, is the end of the personnel system.



Employees must have a sense of security, achievement and belongingness in the organization.

(a) motivation of employees and building up their morale

(b) fringe benefits

(c) health and safety program me’s




(d) maintenance of discipline

(e) Social welfare and security services

(f) Proper retirement schemes




(g) Proper redressal machinery in the organization has to provide to its employees effective leadership.


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