Human Resource Management

Sean R. Valentine, Patricia Meglich .

A comprehensive and practical guide for all managers on the essential concepts and techniques of modern human resource management to drive organizational performance, productivity, and profitability.

Human Resource Management, 16th Edition, is the definitive guide for students and practicing managers seeking to master the 'people' side of their jobs. In today's business landscape, HR is no longer just for the HR department; it's a critical responsibility for every manager. This book provides a complete, practical, and highly readable introduction to all aspects of modern HRM, from strategic planning and employment law to recruitment, training, compensation, and employee engagement. It emphasizes a strategic approach, showing managers how to align their HR activities with company goals to produce the specific employee behaviors and skills needed for success. Packed with real-world examples, practical tools, and insights into current trends like the gig economy and data analytics, this book equips managers with the skills to avoid common personnel mistakes, build a motivated and engaged workforce, and measurably improve performance and profitability.

The model it argues

This model outlines how an organization's human resource management policies and practices, when strategically aligned with its overall business strategy, produce specific employee competencies and behaviors. These competencies and behaviors, in turn, drive the achievement of the organization's strategic goals, such as improved performance, productivity, and profitability. Employee engagement acts as a key mediating variable in this process.

Key ideas

Strategic HR Planning: Formulating and executing human resource policies and practices that produce the employee competencies and behaviors the company needs to achieve its strategic aims. It is the process of aligning HR strategy with business strategy.
Talent Acquisition Practices: The comprehensive set of activities involved in workforce planning, sourcing, recruiting, selecting, and onboarding employees to meet organizational needs.
Learning and Development: A lifelong series of activities that enhance the knowledge, skills, abilities, competencies, and performance of the workforce to meet current and future organizational and individual needs.
Performance Management System: The continuous process of identifying, measuring, and developing the performance of individuals and teams and aligning their performance with the organization's goals.
Total Rewards System: All forms of pay or rewards going to employees and arising from their employment, encompassing compensation and benefits as well as personal and professional growth opportunities and a motivating work environment.
Positive Employee Relations Practices: The managerial activity that involves establishing and maintaining the positive employee–employer relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, morale, and discipline, and to maintaining a cohesive work environment.
Required Employee Competencies: The demonstrable personal characteristics, knowledge, skills, and behaviors that an employee doing a job must exhibit to perform that job well and contribute to the achievement of the company's strategic aims.
Employee Engagement: Being psychologically involved in, connected to, and committed to getting one’s jobs done. Engaged employees 'experience a high level of connectivity with their work tasks,' and therefore work hard to accomplish their task-related goals.