Personnel Management N4 Module1

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT N4

Personnel management is concerned with the hiring and development of employees so that they can perform their duties better in an organisation. Its tasks include conducting job analyses, planning personnel needs, and recruitment of staff, employee orientation and training, managing wages and salaries, performance appraisal, resolving conflicts, and ensuring effective communication with employees at all levels.

ENTERPRISE FUNCTIONS
To achieve its goals and objectives an organisation undertakes activities that are grouped into functions represented by departments. A typical orgarnisation may have the following departments

•  General management – made up of all people who plan, lead and control all people in an orgarnisation so as to achieve its objectives
• Human resource – supplies and manages the manpower needs as planned by general management, including dismissal, salaries and training
•  Finance – Ensures there is money to run operations and ensures the organisation invests its resources and assets to generate profit.
• Production– Its tasked with the production of goods and services by planning, designing, manufacturing, and ensuring control and quality of the product. 
• Sales and Marketing– Tasked with establishing customer needs, and develop product designs and making the product available in the market as needed by the consumer.
• Administration– is serves to provide collection and storage of information,organizing documentation and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives
• Public relations– tasked with creating a positive image for the enterprise, to its partners and create goodwill for its products and services

All the above departments work together so that the organisation can achieve its goals and objectives.

MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES AND DECISION MAKING
There are three levels of management typically found in an organisation, each level has its responsibilities. These are  low-level management

• Middle-level management
• Top-level management.

Top level management
Made up of the executives such as the board of directors, senior managers and is sometimes called senior management. Its responsible for 

•  formulating and overseeing the strategic and long-term planning deciding on policy and strategic plans
• developing the mission statement and vision of enterprise
• Setting the objectives and overall goals of the enterprise

Middle level management
General managers, branch managers, and department managers are all examples of middle-level managers. They are accountable to the top management for their department’s function. Middle-level managers devote more time to organizational and directional functions than top-level
managers. Their roles can be emphasized as:

•  Executing organizational plans in conformance with the company’s policies and the objectives of the top management;
•  Implement policies of top management in their departments
• Report to the top-level management.
• directing lower managers to set departmental objectives
• Inspiring employees toward better performance

MANAGEMENT TASKS
Managers have four basic management tasks, and another additional six general management tasks.

Planning

This is the most important of all management tasks and it plays a part in every other management task. It involves thinking and making decisions regarding what is to be done when it should be done, how it should be done, and who should do it

Planning phases
Planning consists of two main phases:
First phase
Consists of decision-making, choosing the most appropriate alternative and setting goals (long term) and objectives (short term).

• Long-term goals may be in regard to production techniques, research and development, new technology, staff development e.t.c
• Short term objectives may refer to day-to-day planning such as staff orientation, stock control, staff travel e.t.c

Second phase
It deals with the drafting of realistic and feasible plans stating what is to be done, the resources needed and the objectives and goals to be achieved.

Advantages of planning

•  It enables the enterprise to plan and seize opportunities and counter the disruptions of the external environment
• It allows the organisation to execute or implement its operations in an orderly and logical manner.
• It brings workers together as a team to plan and motivate each other to achieve the set goals and objectives
  Planning brings about the effective use of resources such as labour and money, resulting in lower costs of production
  Planning helps to set standards that can be easily controlled and supervised.

Requirements for successful planning

•  Clear goals and objectives must be set
• The planned activities must be logical and simple for all to understand
• The agreed plan should be in writing
• The plan should be adaptive to changing internal and external environment
• There should be acceptance of the plan by all
• The plan should be specific
• Its goals and objectives must be achievable
• Good plan should indicate procedures to be followed when implementing it
• It should be formulated after a considerable review of all the available alternatives

Organising

Organising is the function of management which involves planning and allocation of a combination of human, physical and financial resources throughout the organisation to be able to define the role, positions, the jobs related and the co-ordination between authority and responsibility. It involves

• Setting up departments
• Establishing channels of communication
• Outlining job descriptions
• Clarifying relationships between jobs

Steps involved in the organising process

• Start by listing all the tasks to be performed
• Breaking tasks into activities
• Group together related tasks
• Identifying relationships between jobs to establish areas of responsibility

Directing
The directing function is concerned with leadership, communication, motivation and supervision so that the employees perform their activities in the most efficient manner possible, in order to achieve the set goals.

Leading
Involves directing using instructions and guiding (using communication, motivation, influencing, supervision) the subordinates to perform tasks to help them achieve the set objectives.

Controlling
The function of control consists of those activities that are undertaken to ensure that the activities of the organisation do not deviate from the set goals and objectives. The control function involves establishing standards for work performance, measuring performance and comparing it to these set standards and taking corrective actions as and when needed, to correct any deviations. The control function aims to

•  Establish the previous standards of performance
• Continuously improve performance standards
• Ensure minimal loss of resources (manpower and materials)
• Control and regulate of authority (avoid abuse of authority)

The controlling function involves:

• Establishment of standards of performance.
• Measurement of actual performance.
• Measuring actual performance with the pre-determined standard and finding out the deviations.
• Taking corrective action.

Requirements for effective control

• Goals and objectives must be measurable to determine progress
• Control must be ongoing
• Deadlines must be included in activities
• Control must always be positive
• Control must be undertaken on activities not people

Additional management tasks
Decision making
Decision-making is a process to choose the best solution among many alternatives. This managerial function is a collaboration between planning and controlling.

The decision-making process

• Identify a problem or opportunity by breaking it into sub parts
• Gather information and analyse it
• Write down the problem
• Develop options
• Evaluate alternatives and consider consequences, advantages, and disadvantages of each
• Select a preferred alternative
• Determine the possible results of the decision
• Act and implement the decision

Communication

The most basic functions of communication in an organization are to inform, persuade, and motivate employees.

Rules for effective communication in the management process

• Always strive to communicate in the language of the receiver
• Repeat the communication where necessary
• Use simple, specific, and clear instructions and explanations
• Allow for two-way communication where questions can be asked
• Listen attentively to the feedback message from the receiver
• Build and maintain a climate of trust
• Give instructions verbally and in writing Motivation

The manager should ensure that the employees are motivated to carry out his instructions willingly, the manager relies on communication and it’s feedback to understand the needs of the employee

Coordination
Co-ordination is the unification, integration, and synchronization of the efforts of the enterprise’s workforce, teams, and departments to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals

Requirements for effective coordination

• Objectives and policies must be clear and well-defined
• Delegation of authority should be established
• Effective channels of Communication must be established
• Promotion of participation by subordinates in the decision-making process

Delegation

This is the assignment of duties, responsibilities, and any authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities.

Discipline
The manager uses this function to guide employees to behave in a manner that conforms to the organization, values, beliefs, and work procedures.

Informal discipline procedure
This is done in an unstructured setting; It could be a discussion in a manager’s office about the employee’s absenteeism,

Formal discipline
Formal disciplinary procedures are dome in a structured setting; it includes all levels from the first interview to the final hearing and subsequent decision.