Understanding the Human Resources Function
The History of Human Resources
In this first lesson, you'll journey through the history of human resources to understand the profession's evolution and significance. Understanding the history of HR provides a foundation for understanding current practices and anticipating changes. Historical examples will highlight the progression of human resources, showcasing past mistakes to avoid and illustrating the constant evolution of the field. By exploring this historical context, you'll better understand how to modify and remain competitive in the modern marketplace.
Respective Employee Rights
We'll discuss how employees and employers share a mutually beneficial relationship based on balancing responsibilities and rights. Employees are expected to perform their duties and adhere to workplace rules, while employers must provide a safe environment and comply with employment laws. This dynamic emphasizes the importance of mutual respect and adherence to decided standards. However, history shows many instances of this relationship being abused, leading to significant labor struggles. In this lesson, you'll explore the importance of employee rights, both legally mandated and morally expected, and how respecting these rights creates a workplace culture of fairness and mutual respect.
Laws Relating to Human Resources
Navigating the immense number of human resource laws in the United States can be overwhelming, especially with additional regulations at state and local levels and international laws. This lesson will give an overview of human resource laws and their impact on the workplace. While smaller employers might be exempt from some federal laws, similar state laws often apply. You'll learn to recognize the intent of these laws and how they might affect your organization. This lesson will provide insights into the practical application and importance of case law in guiding human resources practices. This knowledge will help you proactively create policies to prevent legal issues.
Human Resource Functions
In this lesson, you will gain an inclusive understanding of human resource management (HRM) and its role in enhancing an organization's performance. We'll define HRM and discuss its key contributions, such as improving productivity, fostering a positive work environment, and aligning the workforce with the organization's strategic goals. You will explore the primary responsibilities of human resource departments. Then, you will examine leadership's role in collaborating with human resource professionals and implementing HR policies and practices.
Recruiting and Retaining Employees
In this lesson, we will examine the details of developing a solid hiring process amid changing worker availability due to crises, location, industry demand, and demographic changes. The post-COVID-19 worker shortage highlighted the need for human resource professionals to improve recruitment and retention efforts, while events like September 11th and the Enron scandal led to job market declines. Matching applicant skills with job requirements is challenging. Trends like declining birth rates and retiring baby boomers suggest future worker shortages. We will explore effective sourcing and retention strategies incorporating both traditional and innovative recruitment methods that are sure to help you in your human resource career.
The Hiring and Selection Process
This lesson will focus on the hiring and selection process, highlighting the importance of finding and hiring top-quality candidates. We will discuss the necessity of a well-prepared application, crafting attention-grabbing ads, and communicating job expectations to attract top applicants. This process aims to identify the best candidate for the job. By the end of this lesson, you will be equipped with strategies to ensure your hiring decisions bring in the most qualified individuals.
Compensation Management
In this lesson, you will explore the key elements of compensation management and its importance in human resource strategy. The lesson will define the various factors influencing compensation management, like market competitiveness, budget, job value, and employee performance. You will learn about pay-related mandate laws, including minimum wage and overtime pay, ensuring fair compensation practices. We'll cover various pay strategies and how organizations use these strategies to motivate and retain employees. You will also learn the purpose of a wage survey to help organizations set competitive packages. Through this lesson, you will explore the complexities of designing effective compensation systems.
Administration of Employee Benefit Programs
In today's workplace, employee benefit packages range from basic amenities to extravagant perks. This lesson will explore strategies for implementing and managing these benefits, emphasizing the importance of effective communication to ensure employees are informed and can utilize their benefits. We will discuss the potential for outsourcing. By the end of this lesson, you will learn how to administer benefit programs successfully.
Employee Learning and Development
This lesson will introduce you to the foundational concepts of learning and development within organizational growth. First, you will distinguish between learning and development, and then explore adult learning principles. You will identify the steps in course design and compare common facilitation methods, such as lectures, workshops, e-learning, and blended learning. By the end of the lesson, you will have a greater insight into how to effectively design and facilitate learning programs.
Policy Making
This lesson will highlight the importance of employee handbooks as vital tools for guiding new employees. Comparable to a road map for travelers, a well-crated handbook clarifies organizational operations, expectations, and benefits. A company's handbook addresses questions like pay schedules and performance evaluations, helping new hires acclimate more quickly. We will explore the components of a practical employee handbook, the process of creating one, and how to avoid legal pitfalls. The lesson will provide insights into the creation and maintenance of employee handbooks.
Employee Communications
Communication is the key to a successful organization. It can influence employee morale, retention, and productivity. This lesson will explore the evolution of communication tools, from the telegraph to modern technologies. We will examine the components of an effective communications program and provide strategies for implementation and maintenance.
Human Resources: A Source of Quality
As we conclude this course, we will focus on applying human resource principles and predicting future trends. You have gained insights into various human resource functions, and this lesson will emphasize the importance of embracing solid habits and continuous improvement. This lesson will encourage you to reflect on your current practices, identify areas for improvement, and align new habits to maximize your contribution to the workplace.
Talent and Performance Management
Talent
Learn strategies and tactics to attract, retain and manage the best talent.
Recruiting
Take an in depth dive into the recruiting process. You will learn about interviewing techniques and practices for assessing both skill and cultural fit as well gain an understanding on how bias can influence the decision-making process.
Assessing Candidates
Finding talent that is the right cultural fit for the organization is essential. You will learn how mission, vision and values impact the success of the talent management function. In addition, you will learn about the process and techniques for assessing candidate fairly and introduced to some of the federal legislation that impacts this process.
Managing Talent
You will learn about managing talent once they join the team and retention. This lesson explores onboarding/orientation, mentoring/coaching, and learning/development and the role each one plays to keep employees engaged and delivering results.
Talent Management
In this lesson, you'll take a look at talent management from an organizational perspective. You will explore creative leadership and change management principles and how these can be leveraged to develop an integrated talent management function.
Employee Engagement
Improving employee engagement and performance is at the forefront of issues facing organizations today. In this lesson, you will explore how mentoring and coaching can improve performance. You will also review the performance management process and the impact of this process on employee engagement and retention.
Employee Performance
In this lesson, you'll look at the role performance plays in further developing talent. You will be able to distinguish between career management and career planning as part of the overall career development process. You will also explore the role of experiential learning as part career planning.
High Impact Learning Organizations
You will learn about HILO's (High Impact Learning Organizations) and what is a high impact learning culture. In addition, you will explore the use of analytics to develop metric in order to assess organizational results.
Feedback
You will explore the importance of providing clear, consistent and regular feedback to others and the role of feedback on performance. You will also explore coaching as an organizational competence and the impact coaching has on engagement and performance.
Teams
Explore the role high performing teams have on engagement and business outcomes. You will learn about the importance of teamwork, providing a safe environment for sharing ideas, and the importance of trust on achieving organizational goals.
Talent and Performance Management
You will explore strategies for managing talent and performance, the importance of alignment with organizational goals, budget considerations and negotiation techniques for achieving compromise that all sides can live with.
Talent Management Strategies
Strategy is the focus of this lesson. You will explore the role of leadership and the use of various tools that are essential in developing a talent management strategy that is aligned with organizational objectives and can be successfully implemented.
High Performance Organization
High-Performance Organizations
Learn the fundamental principles of a High-Performance Organization, designing a HPO, aligning an HPO with your company's strategy, and implementing an HPO.
Egalitarianism
Define the HPO principle of Egalitarianism and engagement and describe how you can empower your employees as well as how to create an empowered workforce.
Shared Information and Trust
You will learn about the HPO principle of Shared Information and Trust and the different ways to communicate your vision for an HPO. This lesson will also identify the characteristics that make a good leader and how communication and a collaborative environment can be used to create successful teams.
Trust and Integrity
In this lesson you will look at the principles of trust and integrity in an HPO and how shared information helps develop trust and integrity. You will also identify ways to break down barriers and encourage trust and define the role of the Psychological Contract.
Performance Management Process
Here you'll look at the three steps of the performance management process and the four basic elements necessary to establish effective standards for performance management and describe what an effective performance management process looks like. The lesson will also discuss how knowledge development supports an HPO.
Employee Motivation
Motivating your employees is critical to an organization's efforts to become a HPO. In this lesson you'll identify ways to motivate your employee's productivity, how clearly defined roles and expectations can help your employees in a HPO and how training and development can help your employees to be high performers. You'll also look at the benefits of the performance-reward linkage in developing a HPO.
Handling Disputes
You will learn the common causes of workplace disputes, the cost of workplace disputes, and the role of arbitration to handle disputes. You will also learn about a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) and examine how an HRIS can help develop and maintain an HPO.
Organization Culture
Define organization culture. Identify your organization's culture, the effects of culture on developing and maintaining a HPO. Discuss the statistics of a low performance culture. Explain how to design an organizational culture to implement a HPO and discuss the role of the mission statement in supporting a HPO.
Diversity
You will learn about diversity such as the definition of diversity, the benefits of diversity in a HPO, and how you can manage diversity-related conflicts in the workplace. You will also learn about the role of leadership in a diverse workplace.
Implementing a HPO
Explore how implementing a HPO can improve your company's bottom line and how motivating your employees can help your company be a HPO. The lesson will also talk about the role of communication and delegating authority in creating a HPO.
Participative Leadership
The focus of this lesson is participative leadership. You will learn ways to grow talent internally to become leaders for a HPO, the leadership role in an HPO, and define leadership and management styles that contribute to a HPO. The lesson will also talk about how corporate governance contributes to HPO.
Strategic Planning Process
This lesson will focus on the strategic planning process. It will cover an organization's strengths and weaknesses and how to implement and evaluate your strategic plan. You will also learn how to find the right strategy for your organization and explain how the strategic plan contributes to the implementation of a HPO.