A human resources MBA can be the ticket to a lucrative career, especially if you choose your job and industry carefully. Even for the same position, annual average pay can vary by $25,000 or more, depending on company or organization and location.

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Choose one of these ten highest-paying human resources jobs to ensure a fulfilling career with good compensation. (Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Salary.com)

#10 – Employment, Recruitment, and Placement Manager

Median annual salary: $56,110

Employment, recruitment and placement managers oversee how and when a company hires employees. They direct their team on where to find talent, how to screen candidates and how to decide which candidates to pursue. Employment, recruitment, and placement managers must have good discernment skills and an eye for recognizing high-quality potential employees. They should have excellent interviewing skills and the ability to work closely with the hiring managers in different departments within the company. Most employment, recruitment and placement managers work under an HR manager or a director of human resources.

#9 – International Human Resources Associate

Average annual salary: $62,400

An international human resources associate plays a generalist role within a company’s human resources department, but with global responsibility. Such an associate may post jobs for staff, assist in recruiting efforts by screening candidates, review benefits and compensation packages and engage in other standard human resources activities. The difference between a human resources associate based at company headquarters and one who is international is that the latter must have a solid grasp of employment markets around the world—the cultural aspects, benefits and compensation, and how to best go about screening candidates. This is why they are paid more than national human resources associates. It also helps to be multilingual and live or have lived in the countries the associate is focusing on.

#8 – Executive Recruiter

Average annual salary: $78,785

Executive recruiters, sometimes called headhunters, look for individuals to fill senior executive job positions, generally at corporations or nonprofits. Executive recruiters need to know their industries well enough to be able to convince prospects, who are often employed at other companies, to come work for a competitor or a different corporation. Executive recruiters interview candidates for skill and cultural fit, presenting the perfect candidates to the corporation seeking to employ them. The executive search industry can be incredibly profitable for those who are successful at finding candidates to fill positions. They are often paid on retainer, paid in full when the candidate is presented to the company or paid a portion, up to percent, of a hired candidate’s first-year compensation.

#7 – Labor Relations Specialist

Median annual salary: $83,298

Labor relations specialists are the bridge between the corporations where they work and the labor unions that company employees participate in. Labor relations specialists must be experts in local, state and federal labor issues, so that they can devise contracts that adhere to the laws and politics of labor. A labor relations specialist also is a representative for the company in any legal action and sometimes public relations. The labor relations specialist must always keep a close eye on regulations, ensuring that his or her business is compliant at all times. Negotiating skills, the ability to read, write and interpret legal documents, and good communication abilities are a must.

#6 – Human Resources Consultant

Average annual salary: $87,000

Human resources consultants help corporate managers devise policies, employment structures, benefit issues, performance incentives, and anything else that corporations need help with. The consultant, usually a contractor, will come in as an independent expert who provides much-needed insight into a company’s human resources problems. An HR consultant analyzes a company’s human resources situation—its labor- and employee relations, the success of its employment system, how well benefits are panning out, and more—and recommends productive changes to that system. Oftentimes, HR consultants come from a background of in-house human resources work and have accumulated years of experience in their profession. Human resources consultants should be competent across the board of human resources skills.

#5 – Training and Development Manager

Median annual salary: $87,700

Training and development managers are in charge of all facets of employees’ training, education within the corporation, and career development. They organize orientation sessions for new employees, training sessions for all employees, personal development courses and any other in-person training that employees require to build their careers. Training and development managers are also in charge of composing any training collateral for staff, including manuals and books. People in this position must have excellent people skills, as they commonly hold meetings that require employee interest and motivation. Training and development managers should also have deep knowledge of the laws and compliance requirements within their workplace, so that they can keep employees up to date.

#4 – Compensation and Benefits Manager

Median annual salary: $94,291

Compensation and benefits managers are in charge of selecting and implementing the compensation and benefits programs for their corporations. Such managers use their grasp of corporate policy, insurance, and different benefits programs to pick the perfect programs for their company’s employees. They review and modify compensation and benefits programs, making sure such programs enable their business to attract and retain top talent. Compensation and benefits managers must have an excellent grasp of both pay and perks—how they work, how they must be allocated and matching what employees demand with the company’s budgetary constraints. A compensation and benefits manager generally has at least five years of experience in the field.

#3 – Human Resources Manager

Median annual salary: $96,130

A human resources manager is an HR generalist who oversees staffing, benefits, training, labor relations, compensation and all other components of a company’s human resources department. HR managers ensure that all procedures are compliant with both company policies and business laws. Human resources managers spearhead teams of recruiters and other specialists, create and facilitate projects, tackles problems and communicate with the director and executive level of a corporate management team. HR managers generally have at least five years of human resources experiences and come from a generalist background, or have the ability to competently juggle an array of human resources tasks.

#2 – Human Resources Director

Median annual salary: $142,860

A human resources director is in charge of all human resources activity in a company. That includes creating and implementing company-wide policies, recruitment and retention of employees, insurance, pensions, promotions, the termination of employees and benefits. HR directors also study the industry to devise a compensation system that both attracts talent and takes the employer’s cash flow into consideration. An HR director ensures the morale of existing employees by designing programs and benefits plans that keep employees motivated and working hard. In order to fit personnel activities within the company’s strategy, the human resources director must also ensure that all activities fit within the company’s budget. HR directors generally have around a decade of experience in the human resources field, and many get promoted into the position from an HR manager post.

#1 – Chief HR Officer/Vice President of Human Resources

Average annual salary: $214, 427

The Chief HR Officer is in charge of all of the human resources systems, policies and goals within a company. The CHRO oversees every aspect of the human resources department, from recruiting and hiring to training and development, as well as contracts, labor relations, benefits, services to employees, disputes, policy creation, and more. The CHRO, as part of the executive management team, reports to the CEO and is intimately involved with the strategic direction of the company. The Chief HR Officer should have one or two decades of experience in positions of increasing responsibility in corporate human resources, as well as well-honed decisionmaking and judgment skills.

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The world of work is full of surprises. The modern job market, for example, can take a candidate into areas where they undertake many unusual and unexpected activities. However, most of the time, present-day job seekers can at least count on being safe and not at risk from serious illness. Or can they? Throughout history, not everyone has been so lucky.

While the closest most of us get to occupational disease is a brush with carpal tunnel syndrome, we’ll soon see that there is a fascinating and disturbing assortment of illnesses and diseases that have made hay in the workplace – particularly in times past. Definitely not for the squeamish, what follows is a look through the murky world of work-related illness.

10. Chimney Sweep’s Carcinoma

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Chimney Sweeps’ carcinoma, also known as Soot wart, is a form of skin cancer affecting the scrotum. Its name derives from the fact that it was first noted occurring among chimney sweeps – young men in their late teens and early twenties who had worked with soot for most of their lives. The disease was first identified in 1775 by Sir Percivall Pott, an English surgeon, and one of the first scientists to theorize on the link between cancers and environmental hazards. The disease into which Pott researched proved fatal if it was not treated. Left unchecked, the warts developed into a scrotal cancer that would make the testicles balloon in size before invading the abdomen with deadly effect. The only treatment available to medics at the time was surgery – cutting out the diseased flesh – a terrifying prospect for the young sweeps. The true cause of the disease was not proven until 1922, when carcinogens were discovered in soot.

9. Phossy Jaw

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Phossy jaw, also known as phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, was most commonly seen among match workers in the 19th and early 20th centuries – famously, the “London matchgirls,” whose strike of 1888 brought the problem into the public eye. In those days, matches were made with white phosphorus, and prolonged exposure to the vapor of the substance caused deposits to form in the victims’ jawbones. Throbbing toothaches, extreme swelling of the gums and abscesses in the jawbone followed. The afflicted bones would also take on a green-white tinge, while severe brain damage also lay in wait for those already suffering. The only known treatment was to surgically remove the jawbones; if it were left unchecked, organ failure and death would result. The disease also caused tremendous pain and disfigurement, and the rotting bone tissue emitted a putrid-smelling discharge. Phossy jaw did not begin to decline until 1906, when the use of white phosphorus was officially banned.

8. Radium Jaw

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Radium jaw was a particularly unpleasant affliction that affected the so-called “Radium Girls” of the early 20th century. These workers were in the employment of the United States Radium Corporation, which enjoyed no small success with the production of its glow-in-the-dark radioactive paint. The paint, known by the trademark Undark, used radium as its chief ingredient. Unfortunately for the employees, they were told to lick the brushes they were using, the pointed tips of which were useful for painting fine details on clock faces or watches – but not so beneficial for the girls’ health. A painful swelling, bleeding and porosity of the jaws would follow, and ultimately, so too would death. Although radiation necrosis was initially denied by the company, the negative publicity created by the many cases of severe illness and death could not be ignored forever. Relatively simple worker safety laws were put in place and the outbreaks of radiation sickness eventually stopped altogether. The tragedy is that so many of these deaths were eminently preventable.

7. Byssinosis

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Also known by the somewhat poetic name “Monday fever” – as well as the not-so-poetic “brown lung disease” – byssinosis is primarily associated with textile workers, especially young girls working in factories or mills. It is thought that exposure to cotton dust in poorly ventilated environments leads to the disease and its accompanying symptoms – namely, tightness of the chest, coughing and breathing difficulties. Experts believe the cause to be endotoxins from certain bacteria growing on the cotton. In extreme cases, the disease results in scarring of the lungs and, ultimately, death. During the 1990s, there were 81 bysinosis-related deaths in the United States alone. Such figures would likely have been much higher around the time of the industrial revolution, when cotton and fabric production increased dramatically throughout the world.

6. Anthrax

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Anthrax, which often affects grazing animals, is caused by a type of bacteria, and most forms of this acute disease can be fatal to humans. Ingestion, inhalation and direct contact are all paths to infection and, for some workers, contracting the disease is a distinct possibility – particularly in countries where it is common. Many people who deal with dead animals or their skin and meat are exposed to anthrax spores, but most of the time the levels are not high enough for the full-blown disease to develop. However, when anthrax does develop fully, the results can be devastating. This was the case in April 1979, when the town of Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg) in the then-Soviet Union was exposed to an anthrax leak from a nearby bio-weapons facility. It is thought that the accident caused the infection of at least 94 people, 68 of whom died. An extensive cover-up operation was undertaken before Russian President Boris Yeltsin eventually admitted to the disaster in 1992.

5. Asbestosis

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Asbestosis is an inflammatory condition affecting the lungs that is directly caused by breathing in asbestos fibers. It often occurs among workers exposed to high levels of the dangerous mineral, or those dealing with it over an extended time period. The most obvious symptoms of asbestosis are shortness of breath and, in extreme cases, respiratory failure. Sufferers also face a greater risk of contracting lung cancer, not to mention mesothelioma (see entry 3). It can take several decades for the condition to manifest itself – but for people working in the mining, removal or manufacture of products containing asbestos, by then it may be too late. The disease is essentially characterized by scarring of the lung tissue by asbestos fibers, and at present there is no known curative treatment. In the worst cases, asbestosis can prove to be fatal.

4. Lead Poisoning

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Lead poisoning is a potentially deadly medical condition caused by high levels of the eponymous toxic heavy metal in the body. Symptoms range from anemia and headaches to seizures, coma and death. Unfortunately for workers, occupational exposure is the main reason lead poisoning affects adults. Moreover, it has been estimated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that, in the US alone, over 3 million people could be exposed to lead while at work. Such exposure might occur in a myriad of ways: factory workers producing products containing lead, lead miners, plumbers, glass manufacturers, welders, printers and those involved in many more industries are all at risk. Lead poisoning was one of the first known environmental hazards. The metal was discovered around 6500 BC and its harmful effects were noted by as early as the 2nd century BC. Yet it can still cause illness and death even today.

3. Mesothelioma

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Mesothelioma is a cancer that arises in the mesothelium, the protective membrane covering several of the body’s organs. The majority of people who fall victim have worked in occupations that expose them to asbestos and the inhalation of asbestos fibers. The disease, which can take between 20 and 50 years to appear, is identified by various symptoms, including chest pain, fatigue, neck or facial swelling, and in severe cases blood clots, jaundice and internal bleeding. The dangers of exposure to asbestos were identified in the early 20th century, but this did not prevent the ongoing risk of mesothelioma to workers around the world. In Western Australia, the deaths of over 500 people from the disease appear to be linked with asbestos mining that took place between 1945 and 1966. And in recent years – from 1980 to the late 1990s – the number of people dying from the disease went up from 2,000 a year to 3,000 in the US alone. Many buildings built before asbestos was banned may contain it, and renovators and builders should proceed with caution.

2. Coalworker’s Pneumoconiosis

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Coalworker’s pneumoconiosis (CWP), widely known as “black lung disease,” is another killer. Mentioned in the same breath both as silicosis (see entry 1) and Caplan’s syndrome (a lung condition caused by exposure to coal, asbestos or silica dust), CWP is brought about by long-term exposure to and inhalation of coal dust. It can lead to inflammation and in extreme cases the death of cells in living tissue (necrosis). Despite the fact that mining conditions have improved dramatically in recent times, 10,000 American miners have died from CWP in the last decade alone – an astonishing 7.5 percent of the country’s active underground coal miners. What’s more, rates of black lung disease are actually on the increase, nearly doubling over the past decade. In an effort to tackle the problem, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is currently offering miners a health evaluation every five years. Whether this measure is enough remains to be seen.

1. Silicosis

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Silicosis, also known as Potter’s rot, has the dubious distinction of being the most widespread occupational lung disease. It affects people the world over but is more prevalent among workers in developing countries. Directly caused by the breathing in of crystalline silica dust, it inflames and scars the lungs’ upper lobes. Alarmingly, from the early to mid-‘90s, each year, China recorded over 24,000 fatalities as a result of the disease – the telltale signs of which include coughing, fever and shortness of breath. Respiratory problems from the inhalation of dust have been acknowledged since at least Ancient Greek times, but of course, with industrialization, the problem only worsened. There is no known cure for silicosis; treatments instead focus on symptom-relief and reducing exposure to any lung irritants. The use of respirators has brought the mortality rate down in the United States, but silicosis remains an ever-present danger for others in the less developed world – from silver miners in Bolivia to denim sandblasters in Turkey.

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What is it that makes someone successful? What is it that makes someone happy with their work? In the following TED talks, some of the sharpest minds on Earth share their experiences with work, success and happiness.

Jason Fried: Why work doesn’t happen at work
Jason Fried, co-author of the best selling book Rework, explains in this talk why the modern notion of getting work done in an office building is worth challenging. He explains that some of the most productive minds almost never identify the office as the most important place to get work done, so why do so many businesses place so much emphasis on it?

Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance work
Author Nigel Marsh speaks on the problems associated with giving too much power to an employer. In his talk, he outlines the fundamental problems that come with losing family and personal time to excessive work, and gives valuable suggestions for balancing working productivity and personal life.

Tim Ferriss: Smash fear, learn anything
Tim Feriss shares his personal experiences and thoughts on the various ways that fear impedes learning. Author of The Four Hour Work Week and an in-depth blog, Tim explains the subtleties and nuances of going from a place of fear to a place of understanding.

Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work
Psychologist and CEO Shawn Achor entertains his audience with his unique take on happiness: work is not necessarily the root of it. He explains instead why happiness acts as a catalyst for productivity, effectively reversing the roles of work and emotion.

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation
In this eye-opening talk, Dan Pink uses his experience with law to make a case against the way that rewards are presented in the modern era. He explains that several studies have shown current reward systems to produce worse results in an unusual way.

Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success
Alian de Botton gives critical insight of how our perception of success and failure can distort our ability to relate to others, while simultaneously explaining the power of transcending the traditional habit of judging others by their profession.

Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? From mistakes
Teacher Diana Laufenberg shares wisdom from her years of experience. In this very easy-to-follow talk, she speaks on some of the key problems and misconceptions in the world of education and sheds light on how learning from mistakes is quite possibly one of the most valuable approaches to personal growth.

Elizabeth Gilbert: Your elusive creative genius
In this moving TED talk, best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert articulates the problems that creative minds face by assuming all of the responsibility of being a genius. She explains how many other cultures have lived in assumption that genius was something that resides outside of the body, rather than something that lives within the confines of one’s own mind.

Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions?
Dan Ariely, writer of Predictably Irrational, makes a strong argument against peoples’ common belief that they are rational. In his talk, he gets his evidence in a compelling way that helps to illustrate why he has come to believe that the average person’s decision-making process is not as rational as they might assume.

Richard St. John’s 8 secrets of success
In this short yet powerful talk, Richard St. John encapsulates the elements of success. Over his years of research, he has conducted various interviews and found that the factors of success are different than the traditionally-assumed factors like luck and book smarts.

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Are talent management systems worth it? The answer may be found in the overall recruiting process and the associated legal issues. Finding the right people for a specific position is not a simple function to perform since it is labor intensive and regulated by state and federal agencies.
To streamline the required procedures in this operation, small and large companies are utilizing various kinds of talent management systems. When a company implements a system with the best features, recruiters can capture accurate applicant information, save time and money, comply with state and federal regulations, increase applicant pool, reduce HR workload, improve cross organization support, identify trends and make better decisions. Listed below are four brief descriptions of its worth.

Captures Accurate Applicant Information

A talent management system is essential for companies that hire people on a regular basis because they provide the company with the tools needed to capture the required information. The data that the company captures usually includes the name of each candidate, position that they apply for, social security number, and other essential personal information. This information is used for numerous reasons including providing reports, analyzing data, and to responding to a diversity of requests. These requests may come from upper management, finance or from outside sources like various governmental agencies. Without these automated solutions, entire operations can be stopped to comply with one crucial request to avoid large penalties.

Talent Management Systems Improve Cross Organization Support

Today’s talent management systems are integrated with other databases. These systems create a seamless way of collecting essential information, while it also cuts down on the duplication efforts across the board. As a result, once the recruitment area has collected the personal information for an applicant, it is fed to others systems that need the data. This data may be used to hire the applicant into the company as a permanent employee or it may be used in a statistical report. Whatever the case, talent management systems can reduce the processing time in the recruitment area as well as on other sides of the house like benefits administration.

Strategic Planning and Decision Making Tool

The role that recruitment plays in any company is multi-faceted. From attracting the best talent in the industry to keeping whole operations functioning with the right human resources, recruiters are responsible for a wide diversity of things. One of which is ensuring the company saves money on human resources by developing a plan for the present as well as upcoming years. To accomplish these and other tasks, the recruiters must have accurate statistical data so that they can identify specific trends. For instance, these trends can determine how many full-time, part-time or seasonal employees are needed during peak times. With this information, the finance department can allocate a specific amount for these resources.

Comply With Governmental Regulations

The talent management systems are also used to ensure the company can comply with specific employment regulations. Based on the circumstances, EEO can request a detailed report of the company’s employment activities. These reports are used to make sure recruiters are providing all diverse groups an equal opportunity. When the company does not have diversity in their candidate pools, they can use the talent management systems to assists with identifying the areas of lack. After the areas have been identified, the recruiters can seek a remedy to the problem so that EEO will not charge the company with fines.

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Difference Between Recruitment and Selection

Every firm will at some point increase their workforce. It’s a normal thing that happens throughout the world. Someone might move up to a higher position or seek greener pastures elsewhere, leaving a hole in the company. The company’s decision, going forward, would be to fill up the available vacancy.

Recruitment and Selection are two terms that are often interchangeably used during the hiring process. But unfortunately, they both have a different meaning. In this post, we will look at the differences between the term “recruitment and selection.” You will have a better understanding of them both after reading this post.

What is Recruitment?

Before diving into how recruitment differs from selection, let’s look at the definition of the term ‘recruitment.’ First, understand that recruitment is a long process. It usually involves a series of activities, not just one.

Recruitment is defined as the process that involves finding or reaching out to job seekers and luring them to apply for the said vacancy. It starts from the analysis phase, where the employer uses the job recruitments which include paying attention to the qualification, responsibilities, skills, experience, among others to screen and identify the ideal candidate.

But then, this lengthy process always ends in joy, particularly for the lucky employee. After hours of question and answer, the final stage could be a presentation of the appointment letter to the ideal candidate.

Activities in the Recruitment Process

Another easy way to differentiate recruitment from selection is to consider the events the two processes involved. So below, let’s look at the activities that companies engage in during the recruitment process.

• Analyzing the job requirements.
• Advertising the job vacancy.
• Attracting interested applicants.
• Managing response from applicants.
• Scrutinizing applications from interested candidates.
• Shortlisting of candidates

However, bear in mind that the recruitment process is handled by the HR managers and done in two ways. It could either be internal or external.

Here is how the internal recruitment process takes place;

• Transfers
• Promotion
• Ex-employees
• Retired employees
• Contact or references.
• Retrenched employees

External recruitment process which implies recruitment through;

• Advertisement
• Employment exchanges
• Campus recruitment
• Internet recruitment
• From recruitment agencies

What is the Selection Process?

Every company is looking to hire the best candidate. So after receiving hundreds of application for a vacancy, only a few candidates are shortlisted for the job, either to undergo an interview or to start working. In most cases, companies perform interviews before hiring.

So does selection means? Selection is the process whereby a company selects or picks a certain number of applicants out of the hundreds of applicants they received for the said vacancy.

Therefore, to make this clear and straightforward to understand, selection literarily means placing the right candidate in a particular position. And it happens after a series of activities.

So, Here are Activities Involved in the Selection Process:

• Screening of applicants.
• Removing unqualified job applicants.
• Offering examination to test candidates such as intelligence tests, aptitude test, personality test, performance test and so on.
• Interview.
• Checking the job applicant’s references.
• Conduct of medical examination.

Unlike the recruitment process, the selection is quite long and stressful. The human resource managers, in this case, have to go through the application from each applicant to determine their suitability for the job. Factors such as age, qualification, background, experience, and so on are considered, then after that, candidates are made to write an examination in which those with higher scores will progress to the next stage.

Difference Between Recruitment and Selection

1. Recruitment, as the name implies, centers on finding candidates and making them apply for the said vacancy voluntarily. Selection, on the other hand, means picking up only the best candidate that matches the job requirements.

2. Recruitment aims to invite as many candidates as possible for the job, whether qualified or not. Selection, on the other hand, aims at targeting the eligible candidates. The unsuitable ones are therefore not considered.

3. Recruitment is a positive process while selection is a negative one. In other words, recruitment encourages any job seeker to apply while during the selection process, the hiring manager rejects unsuitable candidates.

4. Recruitment is quite simple, while the selection process is usually more complex. During recruitment, the recruiter or HR manager does not consign his or herself with scrutinizing candidates.

The only major concerning or role is to indicate that there is an opening in the company and encourage those interested in applying. But in the selection process, the HR manager wants to know every single detail of candidates who applied for the job.

That’s the reason selection is usually complicated. The human resource manager or recruiter checks the background, qualification, experience and other criteria before hiring.

5. Recruitment is quite inexpensive. In other words, companies do not spend much money during this process. But the reverse is the case for the selection process. In short, the selection process is more expensive, not only time-consuming and demanding.

6. Recruitment is very straightforward. And as a matter of fact, no contractual agreement is established between the employer and employee at this point. The employer does not even know the candidates too well at this stage and considers the position open until the selection process begins. But in the case of selection, a contractual agreement between the employer and employer is established.

7. The recruitment process is simple for both employers and applicants. Employees don’t have to cross many hurdles, while employers don’t waste too much time during this process. But the selection process is different. It’s also a complicated and challenging process for both employers and applicants. Applicants have to cross many hurdles to secure the position.

Conclusion

To achieve success, every company must hire the right employees. With the right employers fitted in their respective positions, the company can move faster and achieve its targeted goals. So, recruitment and selection are vital processes that companies can use to select the right candidates.

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What is Human Resource Planning?

When a company says that their workers are the essential factors in the growth and success of the business, you need to take such words seriously. Have all the financial resources to run a business, without the right employees; the company might not survive for long.

However, human resource planning is crucial. It is also one aspect that organizations should not take lightly. The performance and survival of the business depend largely on the human resources or employees that run the organization.

In this post, you will figure out the meaning of human resource planning, and the process it involves. Read on!

Understanding Human Resource Planning (HRP)

“Human resource planning is the strategy firms use to acquire, utilize, improve and preserve their workforce”. The sole aim is to fit job seekers or employees to the right position and also to use the available human resources at the company’s disposal optimally.

“Human resource planning deals with identifying the right talent that suits a position, at the right time and place. It also involves forecasting to know the company’s human resources demand and supply in the future”.

In addition to also fitting the right candidates in available positions, human resource planning also helps organizations to anticipate the job openings that a company may have due to several changes. These include retirement, transfer of workers, promotion, and termination of employee appointment.

So, through effective human resource planning, the organization will be better prepared for the emergencies above and hire the right people to fill in the void created by those who are no more with the company.

Human Resource Planning Process

With the definition of HRP, it is clear that the process is to ensure that human resources availability is the least of the problems a firm has to face. With issues of finding the right workforce out of the way, a company can focus on profit and expansion of the business.

HR Planning process simply involves the following four broad steps

1. Acknowledging the Objectives of Human Resource Planning

The first step is to know the reason or goal for conducting the human resource planning process in the first place.  With a clear objective, it will be easier to follow the process through to ensure that the ideal numbers of people are added to the company.

However, keep in mind that the objectives for carrying out the human resource planning process might not be the same across all departments. The thing is the human resources requirements in each department may vary; the same goes for the plan that will be enforced. The finance department, marketing, manufacturing, safety, etc. may have their separate requirements based on their modus operandi and roles.

2. Analyze Current HR Capacity

Once you are clear about the objectives of the human resource planning which is to ensure that every department has or won’t be short of staff, the next step should be to conduct an appraisal to know the talents or employees you have at your disposal.

The thing is you cannot start hiring when you don’t know the talents you already have. So this stage is very crucial in the human resource planning process. Also, your analysis can be in different areas. These include their proficiency, skills, and experiences among others, required for that particular role.

A skill inventory can also be developed to help analysis current human resource capacity of the firm. You can generate a questionnaire and ask your employees to evaluate themselves. Through that, you can obtain whatever information you want regarding your employees.

Again, it is also essential to estimate or forecast the future workforce needs of the company. That would enable the management to plan for the future and ensure that the company does not suffer a shortage of workforce at any point in time.

3. Forecast of the Human Resource Requirements

After finding out the current workforce available at the company’s disposal, the next step is to determine the future human resources needs of the company. Questions like will the company be interested in growing its current human resources in the future? Or will the company depend on the current employees but draw out training programs to improve their skills and know-how?

There is also a need to figure out if the employees the company required are available in the market. So, keep in mind that the demand and supply of employees are essential. Once you are able to assess and understand the company’s need in terms of workforce and the kind of talents required, then you can figure out whether to source them from within or outside the company.

4. Analysis of the Workforce Gap

After completing the demand and supply forecast, the next step to take is to determine or evaluate the workforce gap. Here if the supply is higher than the demand, then it’s evident that human resources are in excess. At this point, some of the employees have to be relieved of their duties through transfer, retirement, layoff or termination of their contracts.

On the other hand, if the supply is less than the demand, then more employees will be hired to fill the deficit.

5. Talent Development Action Plan

Assuming you have successfully determined the HR requirements of the company, the next line of action would be to develop and add the right talents to your workforce.

Here is what the talent development plan entails:

• Recruitment – The search for qualified candidates begins. At this point, firms can search social networks for candidates, post job vacancy on various platforms and task employees to recommend candidates.
• Selection – The hundreds of applications submitted to the company would be reduced. During the selection process, only qualified candidates are invited for an interview or asked to take the company’s assessment test.
• Hiring – The right candidate for the job is chosen, and the contract reached between the employer and employee newly hired.
• Training and Development – Training and development programs are arranged for the new employees to get them to top speed. Firms also encourage their new employees to improve their skills from time to time.

6. Review of the Process

Once the human resource planning process is complete, the next step would be to now evaluate the success the program has recorded thus far. Has it helped to better the company in terms of factors like employee retention, job satisfaction, profit, and productivity?

If the process was a success, then you can continue using the same plan. But if there were challenges and an adverse outcome, then you need to make changes right away.

Conclusion

Human resource planning is essential to any company. It helps companies to address employee deficit or challenges before such problems emerge. And with a good understanding of the process, firms can implement the right strategy to put the best workforce together.

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What is Human Resource Planning?

When a company says that their workers are the essential factors in the growth and success of the business, you need to take such words seriously. Have all the financial resources to run a business, without the right employees; the company might not survive for long.

However, human resource planning is crucial. It is also one aspect that organizations should not take lightly. The performance and survival of the business depend largely on the human resources or employees that run the organization.

In this post, you will figure out the meaning of human resource planning, and the process it involves. Read on!

Understanding Human Resource Planning (HRP)

“Human resource planning is the strategy firms use to acquire, utilize, improve and preserve their workforce”. The sole aim is to fit job seekers or employees to the right position and also to use the available human resources at the company’s disposal optimally.

“Human resource planning deals with identifying the right talent that suits a position, at the right time and place. It also involves forecasting to know the company’s human resources demand and supply in the future”.

In addition to also fitting the right candidates in available positions, human resource planning also helps organizations to anticipate the job openings that a company may have due to several changes. These include retirement, transfer of workers, promotion, and termination of employee appointment.

So, through effective human resource planning, the organization will be better prepared for the emergencies above and hire the right people to fill in the void created by those who are no more with the company.

Importance of Human Resource Planning

However, in order to highlight the importance of human resource planning, let’s outline its role on the following lines:

Future Personnel Needs

Planning is significant as it helps determine future personnel needs. Surplus or deficiency in staff strength is the result of the absence of or defective planning. All public sector enterprises find themselves overstaffed now as they never had any planning of their personnel requirements. They went on a hiring spree up to the late 1980s. Since then, recruitment and selection have been almost banned, but the ban came too late. The private sector is no exception.

As many as 76.5 percents of our organizations have surplus labor and the excess varies between 10 and 20 percent in as many as 47 percent of the units. The problem of excess staff has become so heavy that many units are resorting to ‘voluntary retirement schemes’ (VRS) to remove the excess staff. Such surplus labor (even shortage) would not have been there if there were human resource planning.

That the government undertakings have too many employees than they need it is too well known. But what is not widely known is the absence of succession planning in most public sector units. Absence of succession planning has resulted in a situation where many organizations function without chief executives. The anomaly of surplus labor, juxtaposed with the lack of top executives stems from the absence of or a defective human resource planning.

Part of Strategic Planning

HR management must become an integral part of the strategic management process. All activities of human resource management planning, hiring, training, remunerating and maintaining – must be merged with strategic management

HR planning can become part of strategic planning at two ends. At the beginning of strategic planning, human resource planning provides a set of inputs into the strategy formulation process in terms of deciding whether the types and numbers of people are available to pursue a given strategy. At the end of the strategic planning process, human resource planning is relevant in terms of implementation concerns. Once the strategy is set, executives need to make resource allocation decisions, including those pertaining to structure, processes and human resources.

In most successful companies there is virtually no distinction between strategic planning and HRP; the planning cycles are the same and HR issues are seen as inherent in the business management. HR managers are important facilitators of the strategic planning process and are viewed as important contributors to carve the organization’s future.

Creating Highly Talented Personnel

As stated earlier, jobs are becoming highly intellectual and incumbents are getting vastly professionalized. L&T, an engineering giant, has MBAs, engineers, and technicians who collectively constitute 70 percent of the total employee strength of 20,000. The HR manager must use his/her ingenuity to attract and retain qualified and skilled personnel.

These people are known for job hopping, thereby creating frequent shortages in the organization. Manpower planning helps prevent such shortages. Furthermore, technology changes will often upgrade some jobs and degrade others. Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) had a stronger technology to start with, which later developed into the crossbar telephone system.

This was later changed to electronic technology. Jobs created and people hired when old technologies were in use became extinct, obsolete and redundant. ITI became a public sector undertaking, could not retrench its workers and were subsequently retrained and redeployed to supervise the electronic system now in use. Jobs became highly technical necessitating hiring of engineers who had majored in electronics. So, ITI had no use of engineers with civil or mechanical engineering as a major.

Thus, ITI is in a tight spot so far as shop- floor workers are concerned, whose number is more than the demand for them. Even with regard to electronics engineers, the company is not in a comfortable position. With its existing compensation scheme, ITI is not in a position to attract talented people. This situation could have been avoided if ITI had done human resource planning.

Another facet of the high-talent personnel is management succession planning. Who will replace the retiring chief executive? From what pool of people will top executives be selected and how will these individuals be groomed for their increased responsibilities? HRP has an answer to these and other related questions.

International Strategies

International expansion strategies depend upon HRP. The department’s ability to fill key jobs with foreign nationals and the re-assignment of employees from within or across national borders is a major challenge facing international businesses. With the growing trend towards global operation, the need for human resource planning will grow, as well as the need to integrate human resource planning more closely into the organization’s strategic plans.

Human resource planning will grow increasingly important as the process of meeting staffing needs from foreign countries and the attendant cultural, language, and developmental considerations grow complex. Without effective human resource planning and subsequent attention to employee recruitment, selection, placement, development and career planning, the growing competition for foreign executives may lead to expensive and strategically-disruptive turnover among key decision makers.

Foundation for Personnel Functions

As stated earlier, human resource planning provides essential information for designing and implementing personnel functions, such as recruitment, selection, personnel movement (transfers, promotions, layoffs) and training and development.

Increasing Investments in Human Resources

Another compelling reason for human resource planning is the investment an organization makes in its human resources. Human assets, as opposed to physical assets, an increase in value. An employee who gradually develops his/her skills and abilities becomes a more valuable resource. Because an organization makes investments in its personnel either through direct training or job assignments, it is important that employees are used effectively throughout their careers.

The rupee value of a trained, flexible, motivated and productive workforce is difficult to determine, although attempts are being made to do so, as in HR accounting (HRA). An increasing number of executives are acknowledging that the quality of the workforce can be responsible for significant differences in short-run and long-run performances.

Resistance to Change and Move

There is a growing resistance among employees to change and move. There is also a growing emphasis on self-evaluation and on the evaluation of loyalty and dedication to the organization. All these changes are making it more difficult for the organization to assume that it can move its employees around anywhere and anytime it wants, thus increasing the importance and necessity of planning ahead.

Unite the Perspectives of Line and Staff Managers

Human resource planning helps unite the perspectives of both line as well as staff managers. Although human resource planning is initiated and executed by the corporate HR staff, it requires the input and cooperation of all managers within an organization. No one knows better the needs of a particular unit or department than an individual manager responsible for the area. Communication between HR staff and line managers is essential for the success of HR planning initiatives.

Other Benefits

Following are other potential benefits of human resource planning: 1. Upper management has a better view of the HR dimensions of business decision; 2. Personnel costs may be less because the management can anticipate imbalances before they become unmanageable and expensive; 3. More time is provided to locate talent; 4. Better opportunities exist to include women and minority groups in future growth plans; 5. Better planning of assignments to develop managers can be done; and 6. Major and successful demands on local labor markets can be made.

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How to Become a Project Management Professional – A Complete Guide for 2019

To be a professional in project management (PM) is a marvelous thought of starting a career. Hop onto any online PMP certification course to grasp the fundas and the concepts of project management. You’ll be more ready to take the responsibilities at the next level of firms. This will also spike the salary from the current situation.

The person can work in any environment or scenario. He can be a major part of the big companies of different industries either IT or non IT. If we consider the basic definition of a project from PMI perspective, i.e., “a timely hard work put to craft a new or unique product or the service,” is called project, the definition provides the widespread of the project management with a wink of an eye.

There are a lot of online courses. The PMP Certification exam will outlast you from the crew. This will not only enhance the key skills required for the one to be a PMP professional but also the dexterities of spiking probability of much-raised salaries on your desk. The certification will increase the scope of a career with a wide bracket of knowledge and skills growth.

The job opportunities are vast ranging from trends magazines to nuclear plants for a project management enthusiast. It has a wide scope in and out of the industry.

It never matters the location of the person working, whether he is doing his job from a company office or freelancing remotely from any geolocation, his work is extremely different but eventually connected to the managing projects accompanied by the Life Cycle, leading teams, making sure of the objectives and goals have been set, whether they are met on time or not, within the time constraints and certainly the reports to upper persons in management hierarchy.

In terms of salary talking, let’s see what does the ninth edition PMI’s project management salary survey has to say? It clearly amplifies the average salary of a PMP certified to 20 percent more than the non-certified. While working within the four walls of a firm the career of a Project Manager always keeps on rising, huge thanks to the board of directors of the business or firm, completely gained by managing projects.

How one can be Project Management Professional?

Some of the key points that a career seeker must be a PM leader:

Justify the PMP Education Plus Work Experience Needs

Prior to being a PMP, one must have an essential education completed for a qualification purpose and the work experience as a resume` essential. The PMI serves you two various options relying upon educational background and even the level of education.

This is the various educational and work-related requirements:

The ones who want to see themselves at high peaks must have completed a high school diploma along with at least 7500 hours of experience in market-leading and pointing projects.

The ones who have done their degree need 4500 hours spent with perspective to the project management work. The reason for this much fewer hours is that they have a plethora of formal education prior, so evenly is balanced the beam balance of education and work experience for these crafters.

It never matters what level of education does one possess, what matters is every PMP deserve must have completed his journey of 35 hours at least in project management preparation course affiliated by a recognized provider.

Grab Some PMP Prep Course

The course not only covers the count of 35 hours but also will aid you in clearing out the certification in the first attempt.

To have a real review of the desired course is somewhat a hectic task for a newbie on the internet. To search on the internet for a particular course in current time is like finding a needle from a haystack. Don’t settle down for the podcasts, or some entry level study guide.

The quality comes with hard labor and not just money. It’s the effort that one puts in one project or examination or work which fruits your preparation of the project. Once you choose the right initiative to start the right course, you’ll not only be glad to delve into but also be contended with the choice you made.

The above course won’t regret your choice!

Apply for the Examination

Prior to the application of an exam, one must prepare all his credentials in one form in advance. You’ll be prompted again and again for your education and experience. So to save every dime of your time, it’s a better approach to follow. Prepare the list of the contacts of all your workers and co-workers who’d been in the PMI to conduct random verifications.

Consider it as a reliable option if one addresses his experiences in such a way which are associated with the PMI standard like ordinary descriptions may be denied or require some rework/reprocessing. This will accelerate the things a bit faster and ensure yourself that your application is not at a halt for some silly reason or might get rejected at worst.

The moment your application is submitted, the approved email often takes less than ten days. The next is paying an emolument for the examination.

How Can You Pass the Exam?

The PMP certification test is held at one of the Prometric’s globally testing sites. The pattern is somewhat similar to other institute entry examinations of engineering or medical. You’ll have your one and the only weapon, i.e., calculator. You’ll be seeing 200 questions more than one answer type.

The status of the examination is displayed momentarily. The time you finish your exam, you’ll know whether you have the joy or need one more attempt. The certification is not that easy that you should take it lightly; it contains some real-life scenarios and some use cases which in turn are mind dwelling in that moment. Here you need to know every single thing about PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge), along with this you have to connect all the blank dots of your project management experience into one moment to be capable of answering all those queries.

Maintaining the Certification

So to maintain the integrity of the certification you will be prompted after every three years to uphold the PMI’s Continuous Certification Requirements in which you have to preserve the score of 60 PDUs (Professional Development Units) minimum. PDUs are credits which are associated with your particular activities which must be sanctioned by the PMI.

60 PDUs Consists of :

1. At least 35 to be from regular education ( 8 has to be from the technical skills, eight goes to leadership quality, and 8 to the strategy formation skills plus the business)

2. 25 PDUs at least are on edge to keep for either working as a project manager (8 to the maximum extent) or from the knowledge by crafting content, providing courses, et. al.  Don’t give much stress to your brain if CCR sounds a bit out of the course: the whole process is beautifully designed to which you won’t feel any pressure down the road.

Conclusion

On the whole, it won’t be wrong to say that PMP certification brings in a lot of opportunities in the lifetime of a person. He has way more chances than a particular IT professional. The reason is that the PMP person has a lot more knowledge of many aspects of the industry, then whether it is IT or non-IT field.

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Employee Training and Development: Reasons and Importance

Training and Development can have a massive impact on any firm. With the growth in tech and various industries emerging now and then and change in customer preference, developing a dynamic workforce would be crucial in any company’s quest to remain in business.

However, creating an employee training and development program can have huge benefits. In today’s highly competitive business environment and challenge in finding the right candidates for jobs, companies can even decide to equip already existing employers and move them to various sensitive positions to solve some of their recruitment problems.

But many companies do not see things this way. They believe the money spent on organizing training is too expensive and far outweighs the benefits. On the other hand, they also think that employees could miss out on work or projects deadline during the training exercise, which could cause some loss to the company.

But if you are looking forward to training your employees, keep in mind that there are numerous benefits you stand to gain.

Importance of Training and Development in the workplace.

1. Improve the Know-How of Employees

Many projects are delayed when assigned to employees who do not have the required skills to do them. Disagreement can also result when there is a weaker link in a team. And this often happens when one or two employees who are part of a team cannot complete the assigned task. Their actions might not only delay the entire squad but result in a failure that can cost the company a fortune.

However, these cases are usually resolved among some teams. Other team members can step in to render a helping hand. But companies can prevent this by offering training and development programs to all employees. With that, each one of them will be able to operate at the same level. Furthermore, there won’t be much need for constant supervision of the employees. Plus there is a high possibility that assigned tasks or projects will be completed accordingly.

2. Improves Employee Productivity

Giving employees access to the right training and development opportunities can enhance their productivity. They will have the right skills and knowledge to perform any task assigned. Plus they will also have sound knowledge of the safety precautions and handle assigned duties by following the industry stand

3. Build Employee Confidence.

Have you ever handled a project you know little or nothing about? It can reduce your confidence to zero. Many employees face this scenario daily. But with the ideal training and development program, they will not only perform to capacity but have high confidence in themselves.

The word “confidence” might not look serious. But bear in mind that when a person lacks confidence, frustration is bound to set in. Furthermore, the lack of confidence can cause employees to make silly mistakes which can result in significant loss or jeopardize the company’s reputation. So, training and development in the workplace are very critical. It can help to boost the confidence of your employees.

4. Increase the Company’s Chance of Becoming an Industry Leader

Regular training and development will not only benefit the employees. Yes, they will be able to perform their duties as needed, but the company will also gain more reputation and compete favorably in the industry.

Continuous training gives employees the opportunity to know, learn and understand the latest developments in the industry. And that could give your company an edge over others operating in the same industry.

5. Job Satisfaction

Many individuals like to be recognized for their little efforts. And employees are not an exception. The thing is when you give your employees access to training and development programs, they will feel more valued. It is a sign that you care about them.

Unlike employees who are allowed to seek training programs and sponsor themselves through it, employees are supported through training programs by the company they work for have better job satisfaction. They will feel more appreciated and challenged throughout their entire career working in that company. And this can also inspire them to give their best effort.

6. Ensures Consistency

Any company that wants to progress and become an industry leader must take the word “consistency” seriously. The staff and every single member of the company must ensure that the company’s policies, ethics, and modus operandi are followed carefully.

However, regular training of employees can make them consistent. They will all have a better understanding of the company’s policies, procedures, and standards. Once your staff understands your rules and have good examples of how the company wants things done, they can build on that.

7. Attract Talented Employees

Landing a job in a company that provides not only the needed tools and enabling environment but training is a dream for every job seeker. They understand such opportunities are rare given the approach many employers take these days.

But then, companies that are looking to attract the best talent in the industry can have their needs met by providing the needed internal training opportunities for their already existing employees. Any genuine job seeker that knows about these offerings will like to be part of the company.

8. Builds a Stream of Replacement Leaders

Anything can happen to employees within a company. An employee might decide to seek greener pastures elsewhere or might be unable to perform due to an ailment or other issues.

However, the void created by the outgoing employee can disrupt the said company. But when the employee in question holds a leadership position, the impact could be massive.

The good thing about training and development programs is that they help to prepare employees to step into higher responsibilities within a company. But then, choosing the right person to assume a leadership position is what counts. As you know, some employees might not have interest in heading a team or taking up higher positions.

However, during the training program, the management should endeavor to gather data of employees. These include behavior, past experiences, roles, skills, and other leadership qualities. By so doing, choosing the right candidate for a position won’t be much of a problem.

Conclusion

Training and development programs can help a company to move forward. They can also be one of the weapons management can use to motivate or inspire their employees to deliver their best performances.

So, if you are still skeptical about the benefits of training and development programs, this post should help change your mind. You will not only be doing your company a huge favor. Your employees will also benefit from it too.

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How to Improve Compliance in a Company

Many large organizations struggle with compliance management. Since these institutions are custodians of extensive non-publicly available personal identifying data, it is no wonder that criminals regularly target them.

With the ever-increasing sophistication of data breach techniques in today’s business technology environment, financial institutions need to be on guard and have robust security measures to prevent unauthorized data access. By continuously innovating and testing the compliance programs you can ensure top-of-the-line security at all times.

7 Steps to Improving Your Company’s Compliance Program

Financial institutions need to continually revise their data management and storage programs to ensure up-to-date security compliance. Regularly reviewing security protocols and implementing new measures to prevent sophisticated intrusions is critical to lowering the risk of data breaches in the organization.

To improve your security compliance, you must evaluate the current security status and perform risk analysis. Industry standards and regulatory requirements should inform your risk analysis and guide you in creating a robust compliance program.

Your original compliance program should be regularly evaluated and improved based on changing business requirements and emerging threats. It is essential to follow a cycle of continuous monitoring, evaluation, mitigation, and response to meet industry and government compliance requirements.

Follow the Steps Below to Improve Risk Compliance in Your Organization.

1. Conduct an Annual Risk Analysis

To begin, conduct an annual risk analysis to uncover the threats faced by your organization and their potential impacts. To determine your company’s risks, review the infrastructure, equipment, and storage location of your data. This means carrying out a comprehensive review of networks, devices, systems, storage equipment, etc. that collect, transmit, and store data.

Criminals usually target financial institutions to get access to non-public, personally identifiable information such as an individual’s social security number, credit card number, home addresses, and so on. Organizations that use networks and software with known vulnerabilities are usually an easy target of criminals.

Finally, determine the potential impact that data breaches can have on your organization. The consequence of breaches can be both financial and non-financial, such as loss of customer trust, regulatory fines, jail time, among others.

2. Update Compliance Policies at least Annually

Improving your compliance program requires constant documentation of processes and procedures. Through documentation, internal and external auditors can understand the company’s control processes and their alignment with cybersecurity regulations.

As the company grows and data requirement changes, the compliance policies should be updated to accommodate the changes.

3. Continuously Monitor Security Status for Accountability

Monitoring your networks, systems, and software consistently is critical to improving your compliance program. Cybercriminals are continually upping their penetration tactics. Therefore, financial organizations need to match up to the play with more sophisticated data security strategies.

Constantly monitoring and improving the existing infrastructure plays a pivotal role in ensuring the security of sensitive data.

4. Have Standby Response and Remediation Procedures

New data threats are emerging every day. To keep your organization safe, strategic steps for responding and remediating unexpected attacks should be in place. This means continuously monitoring your data environment for new threats and the measures to implement to mitigate the threats.

You should refine your organization’s threat response initiatives regularly to ensure they are in line and up to date with the industry’s best practices.

5. Evaluate Mitigation Strategies

Having robust mitigation controls will bolster your compliance program to withstand malicious activities from cybercriminals. With cyber threats always evolving, your mitigation controls should also change to counter them.

Regularly review your internal controls and align them with updated mitigation controls to ensure a robust compliance program. Updating the controls will ensure your cyber environment is impenetrable.

6. Document Program Improvement

Documentation helps you to keep track of the existing internal control measures. Through documentation, you can know whether the internal controls comply with regulatory requirements, when they were last revised, how internal and external auditors rated them, and the recommendations made on every assessment.

Documenting internal and external compliance measures will ensure your firm stays on top of regulatory and industry compliance requirements.

7. Update the Organization’s Risk Profile Regularly

Evaluating and updating your company’s risk profile will help to ensure your data environment is secure from malicious third parties. Your risk profile should be updated periodically, and anytime there is an intrusion or known emerging threats in the industry. Regular and random audits should also be carried out to determine the extent of your risk profile.

Improving Risk Compliance Using Automated Solutions

There are various software programs that you can use to improve your firm’s risk compliance program. The programs provide a “single source of truth,” allowing you to manage risk across multiple departments in real time. Some automated solutions can gauge your company’s risk compliance against industry standards and recommended regulatory requirements.

Through compliance management software, organization employees can log their compliance activities so that managers can know what everyone is doing. “To do” lists for compliance programs can also be made and completed activities tracked to give managers an overview of the status of the organization’s compliance efforts.

You can use workflow tagging on compliance monitoring software to evaluate productivity and determine improvements to be made in your compliance program. Moreover, with audit trails capability, managers can establish a document management program to provide specific guidelines regarding the remediation procedures to be done in case of data breaches.

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The Impact of Globalization on Economic Growth

Globalization has impacted many aspects of modern life. It has affected trade, jobs, technology, and law, name it. And there is a positive indication that it will be a growing force that will shape the global economy. Globalization also has some drawbacks, but then renowned economists have agreed that it’s a force that cannot be stopped, and offers enormous benefits to the world economy.

A look at how globalization has impacted trade, jobs, technology, and the law gives a better understanding with regards to the extent globalization has affected modern life.

What’s the Impact of Globalization on Wages, Jobs and the Cost of Living?

There is no denying that globalization has made foreign trade simpler than it used to be. In the past, importing or exporting goods to other countries was a difficult task. It was also a time-consuming and expensive process. Getting products to other countries took a long process because of the ties that existed between different regions.

But now a lot has changed. Globalized trade has taken a different form, moving away from the rigid and challenging process it involved in the past. However, the term globalized trade also implies engaging in import and export businesses with other countries.

There are also different reasons why many companies get involved in foreign trade in the first place. But the beauty of the whole process is that globalization has not only made the process a bit easier. It has also opened more opportunities for traders or countries with high interest to do business.

For example, companies that are into production of certain goods can source their raw materials required for production elsewhere, mainly when not available locally. They can import materials from other countries for production to continue and to meet the demands of their customers.

In addition to that Globalized trade also gives companies and entrepreneurs the privilege of creating a new market for their products. On the other hand, through comparative advantage, companies can relocate to other places that are far less expensive or cost effective with regards to the day to day running of the business.

The explanation above gives insight into the impact globalization has had in almost every facet of the global economy and modern life.

Now let’s take a close look at the impact it has had or having on trade and job.

• Comparative Advantage

No company would like to continue operating in a particular region when it can lower its production cost by moving elsewhere. And globalized trade has made this a reality, as companies can now take their businesses to any country they deem fit.

Now the term comparative advantage is simple to understand. It refers to the process whereby a country recognizes that it would cost more to produce a particular product, but less to acquire the same product from another country. So, instead of creating that specific product, the company can purchase it from the said country, and concentrate more effort on products they are good at and that is economically viable to produce.

A clear example is the cars we drive, particularly some that are made in the USA. You see, most of these cars travel from one place to another before production is complete. The point is a US-based car manufacturing company can have its plant in another country, particularly those that can provide cheap labor. Back in the USA, the company has skilled workers that handle the more technically demanding tasks. Then after that, the cars are shipped out to their plants in other countries, where the services of hundreds of unskilled workers are required to complete numerous aspects of the car manufacturing process.

This allows car manufacturing companies to produce a large number of their cars on a cheap. The NAFTA auto alley is a clear example of the above description where cars get shipped across the US border to Mexico. The company benefits from the labor-intense workforce Mexico has and at the same time the skilled-intense workforce available in the USA.

• Competitive Advantage

Lucrative global trade agreements have made it possible for companies to move their offices or plants to another environment, particularly where they can access the required raw materials, labor or run their businesses on a cheap.

For instance, most of the goods used in the United States of America, are manufactured overseas.  In short, many companies have relocated some of their departments to other countries to reduce cost and compete favorably in their respective industry. Harley Davidson Inc., a heavyweight motorcycle company in Wisconsin once announced that it would start manufacturing some of their products overseas, following a hike in EU tariff, considered to be retaliation to Donald Trump’s new trade policy.

• Create New Markets for Goods and Services

As a result of global trade, companies that have products to sell can consider sourcing for buyers in another country. As long as the product does satisfy the requirements of regulatory agencies in the said country and also does not violate the laws of the land, the company can take advantage of new markets to establish their presence there.

How Globalization has Impacted Technology?

Technological advancement has made life simpler in many aspects. Telecommunication has also improved a lot. Broadband penetration and speed have increased so much that doctors can even control scalpel-wielding robots hundreds of miles away.

People can now access different information, source products and order from any part of the world. Transportation infrastructure, on the other hand, has also improved tremendously. Plus it has become cheaper and faster to import or export products to other countries.

People can even request for products online from the comfort of their homes and have them shipped to their doorsteps.

How Globalization has Impacted the Law?

Compared to previous years, many countries have started to embrace free trade. But in the past years, trade barriers and hefty tariffs made foreign trade almost impossible.

Today, many governments have started to see reasons why businesses operating within and other their jurisdiction should be given a chance to operate freely. They have also seen that allowing companies to function without trade barriers or massive tariffs can lead to expansion of the business, which will affect the country’s economy positively, in the long run.

Compared to previous years, businesses now have the freedom to source products, raw materials, and labor from wherever they deem fit, particular as the global market permits.

EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON BUSINESS MANAGEMENT IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES.

Globalization has brought benefits in developed countries as well as negative effects. The positive effects include a number of factors which are education, trade, technology, competition, investments and capital flows, employment, culture, and organization structure.

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Globalization: The Concept, Causes, and Consequences

The world is a global village. This is a phrase you must have had thrown around during business discussions. Those who say this is most likely referring to how small the world has become due to globalization which has removed boundaries to trade and communication between people in different countries.

THE CONCEPT

“Globalization a process where people, companies, and governments from different nations interact and integrate through international trade and investments has effects on the environment, culture, political systems, economic development and on the human physical well-being in societies around the world”. Through the Internet, media, planes, international business and embassies we are now more connected to each other than ever before.

Due to globalization someone in China can easily communicate and sell their products to an individual in the US. The rise of globalization is largely attributed to major changes in the telecommunications and transportation industries. Globalization today allows for goods to be made and sold all over the world. Companies to establish and compete for customers in many countries for example fast food chains are opening outlets every day around the world. Also, companies can operate where production costs are the cheapest due to globalization. And it’s not only products globalization also makes it possible to get services from around the word e.g. via the internet a US-based company can hire an accountant in India to do its taxes.

Globalization is not only about trade there is also the cultural aspect to it. Through it, different cultures meet and people get to know and understand the various ways of life and accept them. Now that you know what globalization is let’s get into its impact.

CAUSES

There is no denying that globalization has made foreign trade simpler than it used to be. In the past, importing or exporting goods to other countries was a difficult task. It was also a time-consuming and expensive process. Getting products to other countries took a long process because of the ties that existed between different regions.

But now a lot has changed. Globalized trade has taken a different form, moving away from the rigid and challenging process it involved in the past. However, the term globalized trade also implies engaging in import and export businesses with other countries.

There are also different reasons why many companies get involved in foreign trade in the first place. But the beauty of the whole process is that globalization has not only made the process a bit easier. It has also opened more opportunities for traders or countries with high interest to do business.

For example, companies that are into production of certain goods can source their raw materials required for production elsewhere, mainly when not available locally. They can import materials from other countries for production to continue and to meet the demands of their customers.

In addition to that Globalized trade also gives companies and entrepreneurs the privilege of creating a new market for their products. On the other hand, through comparative advantage, companies can relocate to other places that are far less expensive or cost effective with regards to the day to day running of the business.

The explanation above gives insight into the impact globalization has had in almost every facet of the global economy and modern life.

CONSEQUENCES

Globalization has brought benefits in developed countries as well as negative effects. The positive effects include a number of factors which are education, trade, technology, competition, investments and capital flows, employment, culture, and organization structure.

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Goal Setting Theory of Motivation

Edwin Locke’s goal setting theory is among the most dominant theories of work motivation. Systematic and rigorous reviews and meta-analyses have found substantial support for the basic principles of the goal-setting theory. This theory emphasizes that all behavior is motivated, and motivation is a goal-directed process. So, the level of motivation depends on the kind of goals that are set and the way internal and external factors affecting the process between goal identification to goal achievement are managed.

Edwin Locke’s goal setting theory believes that a person who has found his goal will also find the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve it. Edwin Locke found that the conditions necessary for goal accomplishment change on the basis of feedback, goal commitment, ability, and task complexity.

The goals can be in term of:

In the case of organizations, multiple goals, easy or difficult goals, specific or general goals are more relevant. There are hardly any situations where employees work on a single goal or have no goals. Researches on goal setting and motivation have some interesting findings:

• The highest level of individual performance occurs when individuals are highly committed to difficult goals and when their efforts are supported by specific outcomes and process feedback.

• Consistently better performance requires specific and difficult goals rather than specific but easy goals, or general goals such as ‘do your best’, or no goals.

• Effective goal setting requires the following dimensions:
  1. Feedback: The performer should be informed about the progress towards the goal. Specific outcome feedback tells the individual what change is needed and specific process feedback that tells the individual how to change.
  2. Employee commitment to the goal: If performer committed to the goal believes ‘I can do this’ and has been involved in the goal-setting process, he would be more committed to the achievement of a goal.

• Too many goals should be avoided. Multiple goals create conflict within the individual and one goal may be sacrificed for meeting another goal. When a difficult task involves quantity and quality goals, people may tend to neglect the quality goal and maximize the quantity goal. When the rewards are valued highly, the tasks with a high probability of a positive outcome are chosen rather than the most desirable one.

• When tasks are complex, general – ‘do your best’ goals and not specific, difficult goals result in higher performance. Specific, difficult goals lead to a higher quantity of performance on a simpler version of the same task.

• When the goal is difficult, the provision of external evaluation may reduce intrinsic motivation when the goal is achieved.

• When the goal is difficult, individuals experience far greater total motivation – both extrinsic and intrinsic, compared to individuals who are assigned easy goals. The difference in total motivation accounts for the performance results.

Advantages of Goal Setting Theory

• Goal setting theory is a technique used to increase incentives for employees to complete work effectively.
• If the performer committed to the goal believes ‘I can do this’ and has been involved in the goal-setting process, he would be more committed to the achievement of a goal.

Limitations of Goal Setting Theory

• Multiple goals create conflict within the individual and one goal may be sacrificed for meeting another goal.
• When the rewards are valued highly, the tasks with a high probability of a positive outcome are chosen rather than the most desirable one.
• When a difficult task involves quantity and quality goals, people may tend to neglect the quality goal and maximize the quantity goal.
• It’s not necessary that goal-setting improves job satisfaction.

This understanding needs to be applied in the workplace so that through the motivated efforts of its employees, the organization gets the desired performance and the employees get personal satisfaction.

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The Role of Motivation in Organizational Behavior

Motivation and Organizational Theory

How are businesses successful? What lies at the core of an efficient and productive workforce? How do we ensure the work of a business is optimally performed? Why do employees do what they are asked to do?

These are pertinent questions that need answers to. Many people can and may give a single answer to all these questions. It may be a broad answer that it is efficient management. While the answer is good, the answer to questions such as these requires depth and specification. At a deeper level, one may answer supervision. While it may be hard to say it’s wrong, it’s not hard to advocate any equally compelling answer to these questions. The answer is motivation.

Motivation is incitement or inducement to act or move. It is the process of inducing the employees of an organization to act in a predetermined desired manner so as to achieve organizational goals. At the core of this concept, lies three important sub-concepts. They are Motive, Motivation, and Motivator.

Motive refers to the inner state of mind that initiates and controls behavior towards business goals. They directly correspond to the needs of individuals. Motivation is the process of stimulating action by understanding the needs of the employee and by utilizing their motives. The motivator is the technique used for motivation such as pay bonus, promotion among others.

 Importance of Motivation in an Organisation.

The process of motivation plays a very important role in any organization, profit or non-profit. The managerial process of direction is driven primarily by the process of motivation as it creates within the mind of an employee the desire to work in the direction determined by the manager. The following aspects may be considered under this head:

• Increases Productivity

Motivation as a process leads to an increase in the productivity of the employee. Motivation meets the needs of the employee and thereby creates the drive to work at the best of his abilities. A well-employed will be willing to put in more effort towards the betterment of the organization than another disheartened employee.

• Ensures Organisational Efficiency

Motivation plays an important role in changing the attitudes of the employees in the organization. Indifferent attitude is extinguished most efficiently by motivation. The presence of such favorable attitude allows the organization to thrive and be successful.

• Ensures Loyal Workforce

A well-motivated workforce is a loyal workforce. Motivated employees have high levels of morale and commitment towards the organization and its goals and objectives. Motivation thus reduces employee turnover and reduces the need for constant induction of new employees.

• Ensures a Reactive Workforce

Adapting to changing business environments is an important feature of any successful business. In order to react to changes easily and to continue smooth functioning, an organization requires extensive loyalty and commitment of its employees. This reduces resistance to the changes that the organization intends to make. This in effect makes the organization efficient in adapting to changing needs.

• Facilitates Direction

The direction is an important managerial function and forms one of its core functionality. Motivation as already mentioned is a vital part of the direction. The direction is a process that involves directing or initiating action according to a plan drawn up requires the employees to work wholeheartedly with commitment and loyalty. The process of direction is thus possible only when the employees proceed in the direction that the manager determines and this requires a motivated workforce.

 Conclusion

The role of motivation cannot be understated in an organization. It is a simple process that requires an understanding of the human mind and behavior. Such an understanding and proper action thereby stimulating the motives of an employee help in initiating and maintaining action and helps extensively in satisfying organizational objectives.

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