Managing Human Capital

Name: Ionela-Beatrice Firan

1. List five factors contributing to the changing world of work.

The type of work people do and how they do it is changing at a constant rate. Mostly these
changes are driven by globalization, new technology and demands from society.
If I have to choose five factors contributing to the changing world of work I would start
with workplace flexibility. Many companies are offering it and more employees want it, both in
terms of when you work and where you work. For example, there is part-time work and those
working shorter hours and also, due to the evolution of technology employees that used to work
in an office can often take their work everywhere as we live in a digital era.
Another changing factor is the choice of many people to work for themselves, being selfemployed, as entrepreneurship is a notorious concept nowadays. Talking about Generation Y
workers, one of their characteristics is that unlike their grandparents and even parents, they
aren't likely to stay with one employer for their entire career, this means flexibility for
workers and more hard work from companies to retain young workers. For workers work-life
balance became a priority. Employees want time to develop their personal lives and interests
outside of work. They want from work not just a salary but also to be fulfilling.
On the other side there is long-term unemployment and it seems it is here to
stay. Long-term joblessness has become a fixture of our economy, so much so that some
workforce experts worry the class might become permanent.
Another important factor is the demographic change in the age pyramid. From the
increased life expectancy results that people are in the labor market for longer. This also means
that work organisation and workplace equipment must correspond to the requirements of older
people, calling for specific health and safety measures.
The increase use of information technology, productivity growth and the readjustment of
human and social values are just a few from the factors that are currently contributing to the
changes in the world of work in present.
2. Describe major activities of human resource management.
The human resources management (HRM) consists in a variety of activities from which you can
understand the important role that human resource department has.
Normally, the Human Resource Department is in charge with the following activities:
o Manpower Planning: in this part is done the planning for the future and finding out how
many employees will be needed taking into account some factors: the number of people
leaving the job, the projected growth in sales of the business, technological changes,
productivity level of the workers.

o Job analysis and Job description: HR Department is involved in designing the ob

analysis and job description. A job analysis is the process used to collect information
about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a
particular job. Job descriptions are written statements that describe the: duties,
responsibilities, most important contributions and outcomes needed from a position,
required qualifications of candidates, and reporting relationship and co-workers of a
particular job.
o Determining wages and salaries: these decisions may be taken in consultation with top
management and the Finance department.
o Recruitment and Selection
o Performance Appraisal: once the employees are recruited, the HR Department has to
review their performance on a regular basis through proper performance appraisals (the
process of obtaining, analyzing and recording information about the relative worth of an
employee).
o Training and Development
o Employee welfare, motivation and relations: HR Department conducts various
employee welfare activities which might include employees get together, annual staff
parties etc. HR department also reviews organizational policies and its impact on the
motivation of the employees. Employee relations are the HR discipline concerned with
strengthening the employer-employee relationship through measuring job satisfaction,
employee engagement and resolving workplace conflicts.
o Addressing employees grievances: link between the workers and the management.
o Implementing organizational policies.
o Dismissal and redundancy
o Safety: workplace safety is an important factor. In addition, HR safety and risk
specialists often work closely with HR benefits specialists to manage the company's
workers compensation issues.

3. Define Socialisation.

Socialisation is a process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, language, social skills,
and value to conform to the norms and roles required for integration into a group or community.
It is a combination of both self-imposed (because the individual wants to conform) and
externally-imposed rules, and the expectations of the others. In an organizational setting,
socialization refers to the process through which a new employee 'learns the ropes,' by becoming
sensitive to the formal and informal power structure and the explicit and implicit rules
of behavior. (www.businessdictionary.com).

Natural socialization occurs when infants and youngsters explore, play and discover the social
world around them. Planned socialization occurs when other people take actions designed to
teach or train others -- from infancy on.
Positive socialization is the type of social learning that is based on pleasurable and exciting
experiences. Negative socialization occurs when others use punishment, harsh criticisms or anger
to try to "teach us a lesson;" and often we come to dislike both negative socialization and the
people who impose it on us. There are all types of mixes of positive and negative socialization;
and the more positive social learning experiences we have, the happier we tend to be.