Summary
Essentials of Human Resource Management is a business-oriented book written by Shaun Tyson in 1982 and reproduced six times, with the latest edition being created in 2014. It details how the HR field is changing drastically within a short period. Tyson discusses the way organizations have responded to the HR issue following the 2009 recession, claiming they developed novel methods to succeed in an increasingly competitive and shrinking global marketplace (Tyson, 2016). He also mentions that some businesses such as Google revolutionized the way companies viewed employees. These individuals now focus on such topics as marketing, business strategy, corporate social responsibility, and information systems to achieve their functional interdependence.
Shaun illustrates a propensity for effective Human Resource management as they distinctly offer strategic explanations on how human resource policies are developed and integrated into companies to meet varying obstacles. The book also illustrates the significant analysis of various policy areas. In this regard, the extensive text provides an introduction to studies in organizational behavior (Tyson, 2016). It also integrates important aspects in employee relations and offers an over-arching explanation of employment laws. It is essential to consider how Human resource managers can gain information on different parts of the job.
The book illustrates how HR managers can address international competitiveness challenges via organizational agility (Tyson, 2016). Shaun describes agility and collaboration as essential aspects of any human resource department. He defines them as important components of modern organizations, stating that they have aided various major organizations improve their business processes and developing competitive advantages in their differing industries. A few companies mentioned include Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook (Tyson, 2016). Agility is deemed the capacity for an organization to evolve and adapt strategic, individual, and organizational agility. It requires an organization to promote employees’ retention and engagement to align with its objectives and goals (Tyson, 2016). In essence, Tyson focuses on three aspects of organizational agility, the capacity to easily and quickly determine an issue that requires attention, the capacity to reduce the time needed to come up with and implement a suitable response, and integrating design thinking and analytics to design, predict, and target programs that illustrate the highest chances of eliciting success (Tyson, 2016).
Additionally, Shaun’s book also deals with creating policies for use in talent management, employee engagement, and total rewards. In this instance, the company focuses on recruitment and identifying top talent (Tyson, 2016). This is one of the main aspects of HR. However, discovering and maintaining talent in a workforce is vital to move ahead. It is also necessary to maximize contemporary employees’ skills in terms of responsiveness and readiness for HR managers to encourage and engage employees to maximize and foster their skills (Tyson, 2016). In this manner, the HR department focuses on developing a learning culture for its employees, allowing for increased incremental changes within its business. An employee is desirable and adds primary value to an organization’s HR department. This also allows the company to maximize on career optimization.
The organization can respond accurately to employee ambitions and aspirations, allowing them to expand their skills exponentially (Tyson, 2016). For instance, Shaun mentions that organizations can make use of the rapidly growing Artificial Intelligence capacity and fast-growing internet integration in operations. According to the book, this skill could enable organizations to determine appropriate skills required within every component of the business and come up with agile optimization programs intended to boost career development.
Finally, Shaun defines the importance of leveraging analytics and data in operations. He explains this process as vital because it allows HR officials to develop insightful decisions within their departments for the organization’s growth (Tyson, 2016). According to the author, such technology reduces the risk of using guesswork for some of an organization’s decisions. He claims that the butterfly effect could result in unintended adverse consequences for an organization; therefore, the use of data and analytics would prevent such issues.
Central Issues
Shaun addresses an innate part of businesses and life through their book. One of the main aspects mentioned in the text involves the behavioral base of human resource management. The first issue in this analysis involves individual differences. In this instance, the author focuses on the varying nature of every individual. As such, each person is an independent component the organization could use to maximize its returns as they behave differently.
Shaun states that HR managers should understand people’s differences as they heavily influence their thoughts, feelings, and behavior (Tyson, 2016). These individual variations can be separated into two components: capacity differences and personality variations. The former component is mainly predicated on an individual’s capacity to perform their roles when compared with others in the same area of expertise. Some factors that affect this aspect include an individual’s experience, intelligence, and understanding of the company mechanics. In contrast, personality differences are innate and relate to one’s overall being, upbringing, and perception towards the company and life.
Furthermore, the paper addresses the strategic role in Human Relations, dealing with planning and strategy. HRP involves a continuous process of developing systematic plans before an organization can achieve optimal use of its highest value asset, a team involving quality employees. This aspect of HRM enables an organization to develop the best form of connection between employees and work. It also prevents an organization from experiencing surpluses or shortages in human labor. The HRP process involves four significant steps: forecasting labor demands, analyzing the current labor supply, supporting organizational goals, and balancing the expected labor demand with an organization’s supply (Tyson, 2016). Shaun illustrates the need for HRP, positing it as a vital investment any business can make to remain profitable and productive.
On the other hand, human resource strategy involves the development of a company’s overall plan to manage its human capital in a way that it aligns with its business activities. In this manner, the HR strategy provides a specific direction for varying HR areas, including performance appraisal, hiring, compensation, and development. An HR strategy allows a business to develop a long-term plan for its practices within the organization. It involves various characteristics, such as its implementation time as it exceeds a year (Tyson, 2016). The strategy also necessitates an analysis of the organization’s external and internal environment. It also determines the direction and character of HRM activities. Shaun also dictates that senior HR managers should play a role when developing the strategy and revise it annually.
Finally, it is crucial to consider the industrial relations portrayed in Tyson’s book, illustrating a vital component of these organizations. Trade unions play a significant part in many organizations as their employees are unionized. These unions have varying relationships with the members’ companies. Nonetheless, they have various key components that are evident in every institution. For instance, these relationships involve a collective bargaining agreement that individuals cannot go against without suffering legal consequences (Tyson, 2016). However, individuals should discern that despite the development of collective bargaining agreements, they have individual contracts with the business entities. A human resource manager should have good skills in this area to avoid issues such as walkouts and strikes. They should ensure the organization adheres to these deals while also preventing the trade unions from imposing illogical and unproductive deals for the company.
Validity of the Author’s Evidence
Shaun Tyson posits valid arguments in HR. While the author initially presented his outlook in 1986, the continual development of HR into modern days does not indicate any significant variation from these views. In this regard, Tyson has a good point when referring to the tenets of HR. Individuals are a company’s most valuable asset. Organizations should take care to provide them with an environment where they can work without feeling unnecessary pressure. It is important to consider every individual understands the organization’s objectives and goals.
HR professionals should align these processes to allow the employees to align their personal goals with the organization’s professional objectives. I also agree with the strategic management component of human resource management. Companies need a straightforward plan for their employees to follow. Lack of such a goal would result in individuals failing to discern their role within the organization. It is also essential to consider the importance of developing a proper strategic objective, especially for multinational organizations. HR plays a central role in propagating the development of strategic goals as it deals with the human capital aspect of the business. In this manner, the HR department has to deal with both employee needs while ensuring the company’s goals remain the main objective.
The book is helpful to a Human Relations professional due to its inclusion of varying aspects of the HR field. These individuals operate in an area that involves human capital. As earlier stated, individuals have personal and capacity differences; the human relations professional should learn to balance these aspects to situate every employee optimally within the business. Tyson’s book provides these individuals with insight into this area.
Reaction
Essentials of Human Resource Management is an exciting and important book in the business field as it provides an easy to understand the way of providing information on the topic. Human Resources is growing in importance and will likely elicit a lot of interest in the future as more companies follow the Google way of conducting business that focuses on developing its human labor aspect. It is essential to consider that while there are many books on human resource management, they involve complex language. I liked Shaun’s book because of the easy way he describes concepts. He systematically moves through the book, starting by explaining the behavioral aspects of the works. He also mentions every part of human resource management, focusing on individuals, groups, and organizations, allowing the reader to discern every aspect of the field. The book would help young HR officials better understand the field and does not posit any contradictions that would warrant extensive study as it uses conventional tools to discuss the department’s requirements.
In conclusion, organization’s human resource management is an important part of any business as it involves the development of human capital. Shaun Tyson helps budding human resource managers understand these concepts. Therefore, the book critique helped provide various tenets within the industry taught within the HR book.
Reference
Tyson, S. (2016). Essentials of Human Resource Management (6th ed.). Routledge.