Effective Human Resource Management and Psychology

Image Credit: http://www.franklin.edu/blog/masters-in-human-resource-management-should-i-do-it/

The world of commerce is a dynamic and engaging field.  It encompasses the fields of management, marketing, finance, information technology, operations/production and more.  It is important to note that in any organization, be it profit or not-for-profit, people are at its core.  These people could be the organization’s employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, just to name a few.  Since business organizations need people, this also poses the realization that in running a business, there is always the need for effective human resource management.

Image Credit: http://education.kilroy.net/fields-of-study/business/human-resource-management

One of the activities involved in human resource management is selecting the best candidates from a pool of applicants.  Human resource management also involves wages and salaries administration, labor relations, employee training and development, and many others.  Normally, companies would post advertisements of job vacancies in newspapers and in their websites. In the field of human resource management, organizations will be in need of employees who are ideally a good fit to the business.  Taking into consideration their educational attainment, background, and experience, applicants or ideal candidates offer their valuable time and skills in helping the organization achieve its vision and mission in exchange for just and equitable compensation package.   Now, how do you find the people who would best fit your organization?  This is where a sufficient knowledge of psychology will come in handy.

In some companies, it has become a standard practice to administer a battery of exams to applicants to gauge their skills, particularly in language and mathematics.  Psychologists term this as cognitive skills.  After which, the applicants are then given personality tests.  One classic example of which is the 16PF which stands for 16 Personality Factors.  This test will reveal the personality types of an organization’s applicants.  Thus, human resource managers will be able to identify which applicant is best suited to which job.  For example, marketing professionals who are engaged in direct selling will be most likely to be extroverted than data analysts.  Stereotypical as it may sound, extroverted individuals are energized when they are surrounded by people while introverted individuals tend to be more effective and more energized when they are not surrounded by a lot of people.  Another test called the MBTI or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is another test that basically serves the same purpose.  In human resource management, career counselling is another field that requires sufficient and functional knowledge of psychology.  In high-stress or high-pressure jobs, it is important to safeguard the mental and emotional well-being of one’s employees.  In such occupations, employees may manifest various issues such as anxiety and depression.  Given the nature of their high stress occupation, having employees suffer from such issues is potentially detrimental to the company’s productivity and organizational culture.  This may result to absenteeism, frequent and habitual tardiness, and low self-esteem.  Thus, it is also important to help employees cope with the stress and demands of the job by allowing to decompress and look after themselves.   Again, sufficient knowledge of psychology to help one’s employees and workers is of great importance.

Having people at the heart of one’s business is a complicated and daunting responsibility.  Organizations are composed of people and the economy is run by individuals coming from different backgrounds.  So what is the common thread that will help organizations, societies and managers achieve their goals?  It is a good understanding of one’s people.  And such can not be achieved without learning and digesting psychology.

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This is an invited post by Dr Frederick Halcon, an established researcher and academic from the Philippines. Below is his bio-data:

Dr. Frederick A. Halcon is a Contractual Lecturer at Far Eastern University Manila.  He was the former Dean of the School of Business of iACADEMY in Makati City, Philippines.  He was also a Lecturer of the Raffles College of Higher Education in Singapore and has taught at Assumption College, St. Scholastica's College, De La Salle University, and Adamson University in the Philippines.  His research interests include social responsibility, business education, operations research, and environmental economics.  He specializes in the case study as a research method.  In his spare time, he loves listening to music, watching movies and travelling all over Southeast Asia.

See his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfahalcon7.  He is contactable via jfahalcon7@yahoo.com.