Consolidated Landscaping: Human Resource Department

Abstract

Human Resource Management (HRM) plays an imperative role in the development of any organization. HRM plays a pivotal role in the development of human capital and ensures that the workers are motivated, supervised, and controlled. In this report, the human resource department needs to be set up at Consolidated Landscaping Inc. Previously, the company did not have a human resource department, and issues regarding staffing, adhering to the labor rules, and other regulations regarding workers were not taken into consideration. In setting up the HRM department, the company needs to hire HRM officers and the HRM director. To select the best HRM staff, Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQs) were formulated. These will be used in the recruitment process. HRM officers should have passed the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification while the HRM director should have passed the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) exam.

Introduction

Human Resource Management (HRM) can be defined as the process through which employees working within an organization are managed so as to achieve the firm’s goals and vision. For an organization to achieve a competitive advantage, it is necessary that the human workforce is properly managed, motivated, supervised, and controlled. The main roles of HRM in any organization are work analysis, job design, identifying staffing needs, formulating the task to be done by different employees, motivating workers, recruiting new employees, reprimanding employees, determining salaries, appraising workers, dealing with labor unions, preparing reports and other numerous issues that concern employees within a given organization. It is one of the core departments within any organization (Heneman & Judge, 2009).

Consolidated Landscaping Inc (CLI) is the largest landscaping company in the United States and its operations have increased over the years. The company’s operations have almost doubled in size due to the development of a major resort and the increase in residential houses within its locality. The reports given by the CLI shows that the personnel functions of the company are not centralized and are handled by various management personnel. The company’s personnel have not specialized in human resource management and hence, they don’t maintain proper records, labor laws, and government regulations regarding employees are not followed. It is important that the company adheres to all the labor regulations and also maintains good working conditions for all the workers. In light of all these predicaments, it is necessary that the company develops a Human Resource (HR) department headed by the Human Resource Director. This department will manage and control the HRM activities within the company.

Background Information

HRM plays a very important role in the running of any organization. The success of any organization depends on the performance of key sectors such as HRM, finance, sales, and marketing among others. Human capital within a company plays a significant role in its advancement. The worker’s skills, training, experience, and intelligence are some of the competitive advantages for a given organization. Despite its importance, the functions of HRM have been overlooked by most of the companies and this affects its profitability and growth. In this case, the CLI Company has no HR department and this will affect the company’s performance in the long run. Due to the lack of an HR department, CLI Company is not adhering to the labor laws set by the government.

Importance of HR Department

HRM is one of the most important departments in the organization. The department is responsible for the development of human capital as well as motivating employees. The development of human capital entails: work analysis to determine human capital needs, HR planning, recruitment process, selection of the best employee, training, and developing these employees. In terms of behavioral change, the HR department ensures that employees are appraised, promoted, and motivated properly to improve their performance. HR department promotes the quality of products, profitability of the company, and ensures that customers are satisfied because the employees are properly motivated (Mathis & Jackson, 2010).

HR Responsibilities at CLI

The main responsibilities of the HR department are:

Administrative functions

The HR department carries out administrative tasks. The main tasks include hiring employees, responding to employees’ needs, and addressing their concerns. These are important because employees have many needs and issues.

Developing HR services

The HR department is responsible for creating a good working environment for all workers. In CLI, the work given to the workers is not standardized and the working conditions are not consistent with the OSHA rules and regulations. The HR department should attract and retain employees.

Address the company’s human resource issues

The HR department should analyze the company’s human resource needs so as to determine when to recruit new employees or terminate the employment of the inactive employees.

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to develop a human resource department for CLI Company. The report will first evaluate the need for this department, the number of HRM support positions required the qualifications and certification needs for all HR positions as well as give the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) for each of the HR positions. This report will be useful as it will outline the HR requirement for the company.

HR Support Positions

The main objective of CLI activity is to develop an HR department at the company. This can be done by evaluating their academic and professional qualifications as well as their experience in HRM.

Proposed HRM officers

Consolidated Landscaping, Inc has no Human Resource Department. Since the company is in the process of recruiting employees to form this department, it is important that all the HR functional areas are assigned an officer who will coordinate its functions (Boxall & Purcell, 2000). These officers will be under the human resource director. The following officers will be recruited:

1. Payroll officer: the officer will be in charge of keeping all the payment records of all the employees. This officer will be in charge of recording the employee’s salary, paying salaries in time, preparing the payroll for all employees, and addressing all payment issues raised by them.
2. Staff development and training officer; the officer will be in charge of the training needs of the employees in the organization. The officer will look into the training needs of various employees and the management personnel.
3. Recruitment officer: the officer will identify the staffing needs of the organizations and inform the HR manager. He will organize and schedule all recruitments within the organization.
4. Records officer: he will be in charge of maintaining the records of employees. All the particulars of a given employee will be documented and maintained by this officer. This is important so as to track the worker’s details such as sick leave, off days, and lateness.
5. Performance and appraisal: this officer will deal with evaluating the performance of employees so as to appraise them and also formulate methods of motivating these employees.
6. Human resources manager administrative assistant: this officer will assist the HR manager to discharge his duties. He will work together with the HR manager as he discharges his duties

Recruitment process

Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQs)

The BFOQ indicates the main selection tests and criteria that are required during the recruitment process. These tests differ from one company to another and are based on company preferences. For a test to qualify to be a BFOQ test, it must not discriminate against people on the basis of their gender, race, origin, religion, and nationality. The BFOQ requirements for the HR assistant positions are:

1. He/she must have completed a degree in Human Resource Management
2. The candidate must have at least three years of experience as a Human Resource officer
3. The candidate should have a good medical record
4. He/she must be of a sound mind
5. He/ she must not abuse drugs or alcohol
6. The candidate must disclose the union he is registered with
7. The candidate must not have been convicted of any crime related to abuse of his office

Qualifications for the HRM officers

The officers must have the following qualifications:

• They must have a degree in Human Resource Management
• The candidate must have at least three years of experience
• The candidate must have proper managerial skills
• The candidate must demonstrate his/her ability to organize workers
• Information technology skills are necessary
• The candidate must have good interpersonal skills
• Leadership skills are also required
• He/she must be able to analyze and interpret data

Certifications

It is important that the human resource officer be certified. For these officers, the main certification is Professional in Human Resources (PHR). This certification is important as it demonstrates that the officer has the knowledge and practical experience in the HRM field. One can only apply for the exam after two years of professional HRM experience. This is important as it will ensure that all the CLI workers will have the required experience in this field. It is important that all the officers employed have this qualification. Certification ensures that the officer employed has the following attributes:

• Has good tactical HRM knowledge
• Ensures that the HR officer is accountable
• Ensure that the officer has good professional skills
• Ensure that the officers can be able to implement new projects and change organizations towards excellence in human resource management
• Certification exams emphasize the main functional areas of HRM, hence all candidates who pass this exam have the adequate skills to run the HR department.

HR Director Position

The HR department at CLI will be headed by the human resource director. He will be in charge of all the activities within this organization. The main functions of the director will be:

• Head the department and ensure that all the officers under him are assigned their responsibilities
• Link his department with the other departments at CLI
• Ensure that all the HRM strategies are implemented
• Approve HRM strategies
• Develop plans and goals for his department
• Sign appointment letters for newly employed workers
• Carry out a job analysis in all the departments so that new employees can be employed
• Terminate unproductive workers

Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQs)

The main BFOQ requirements are

1. He/she must have completed a degree in Human Resource Management
2. The candidate must have at least three years of experience as a Human Resource Officer
3. He should have worked as an HRM manager for a period of five years
4. The candidate should have a good medical record
5. He/she must be of a sound mind
6. He must be a person of high integrity
7. He/ she must not be involved in drug abuse and alcoholism
8. The candidate must not have been convicted of any crime related to abuse of his office

Certifications

It is imperative that the HR director be certified. The director must have passed the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) exam. This is a requirement for all the staff members in HRM senior positions. The certification exam tests the candidate in six functional areas of HRM and this ensures that the person who is employed has the required skills and professional knowledge (HR Certification Institute, 2013).

Qualifications

The main qualifications of the human resources director are:

• He must hold a master’s degree in HRM. The professional may also have a four-year degree in HRM and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA)
• Certification; as a senior HR manager, it is a requirement that he/she must have passed SPHR from the Human Resource Certification Institute.
• Experience: a senior HR manager must have experience in the field.
• Competences: apart from education and experience, the director should have good analytical skills and be a good team player. He must also possess critical thinking skills, leadership skills, and be able to improve the department regularly.
• Interaction: as a senior manager, HR must be able to interact with other managers within the organization. Teamwork with other directors is important for the company to progress and gain competitive advantages.

References

Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2000). “Strategic human resource management: where have we come from and where should we be going?.” International Journal of Management Reviews, 2 (2),183-195.

Heneman. H. G., & Judge, A. (2009). Staffing Organizations (6th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.

HR Certification Institute. (2013). 2013 Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook. Duke Street, Alexandria: HR Certification Institute.

Mathis, R.L., & Jackson, H.J. (2010). Human Resource Management, 13th Edition. Connecticut, U.S: South-Western Cengage Learning.