THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

KENYA
INTRODUCTION

Local government is defined as an administrative specialization that focuses on hiring and

developing employees to become more valuable to the company. It is sometimes considered
to be a sub-category of human resources that only focuses on administration.

Local government Areas of Interest

Managing personnel concentrates on certain administrative human resource categories. It

includes job analyses, strategic personnel planning, performance appraisals and benefit
coordination. It also involves recruitment, screening and new employee orientation and
training. Lastly, it involves wages, dispute resolution and other record keeping duties.

Personnel Duties Defined

Personnel managers will be in charge of various job analyses. This will involve evaluating
job positions to ensure that the wage rate is adequate. It will also involve collective
assessments of all positions that are used to determine the company’s current and future labor
needs. One of the biggest responsibilities of a personnel manager will be to recruit the right
employees. However, this is an ongoing, complex process that will require the personnel
manager to intimately understand every position and corresponding duties.

Posting job ads, reviewing resumes, conducting interviews and making a final decision with
management is a very time consuming process. However, it must be carefully performed in
order to avoid hiring the wrong person. HR experts estimate that it can cost between two to
five thousand dollars to re-hire and train a new employee for an open position. Finally,
personnel managers must ensure compliance with applicable state and federal employment
laws and occupational health and safety regulations. As the industry becomes more manual
labor driven, the health and safety rules become stricter and more specific.

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NEED OF THE STUDY
A personnel manager will direct and coordinate select human resources activities, such
as benefits, training, hiring, compensation, labor relations and employee services. They will
analyze salary data and reports to determine competitive compensation rates. They will write
policies designed to guide department managers regarding compensation, employee benefits
and equal employment opportunities. Personnel managers will act as legal counsel to ensure
that company policies comply with state and federal laws.
They must develop and maintain a human resources system that meets the company’s
information needs. Thus, personnel managers must oversee the maintenance of required
records. They must also maintain benefit records such as insurance, retirement and workers’
compensation plans. This will include personnel activities regarding hires, promotions and
transfers. Personnel managers must ensure that adequate labor relation policies and
procedures are in place. Thus, they must continually monitor changing laws, legislation
movements, arbitration decisions and collective bargaining contracts. Personnel managers
must continually deliver presentations to management and executives regarding current and
future human resources policies and practices.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The biggest difference between personnel and human resource management is that the latter
is a comprehensive, modern approach to managing people and organizations. Personnel
managers have a limited job scope and thus primarily perform record-keeping duties and
functions designed to maintain proper employment conditions. On the other hand, human
resource management integrates personnel functions, as well as various activities designed to
enhance employee and organizational efficiency and productivity. Thus, HR managers are
often in charge of running safety programs, publicly representing the company and ensuring
legal compliance with applicable state and federal laws.

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Objective of the study
Men, material and money are regarded as the three important factors of production. Human
beings constitute the organisation at all levels and are regarded as the only dynamic factor of
production. A business unit comes into existence with certain well defined objectives. An
effort is made by the management to co-ordinate human and material resources in such a way
that the objectives of the business are achieved.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

It is not very difficult to handle material resources like plant, machinery, stock etc., but
without the efficient use of human resources, management can never accomplish objectives
of the business. Even in those industries where latest technology has been introduced, human
beings are still regarded as a dominant factor for increasing the profitability.

It the words of Rensis Likert, “All activities of any enterprise are initiated and determined by
the persons who make up that institution. Plants, offices, computers, automated equipments
and all else that a modern firm uses are unproductive except for human effort and direction.
Of all the tasks of management, managing the human component is the central and most
important task, because all else depends on how well it is done.”

In order to get the best results from the people, management must be aware of as to what the
employees expect from a business enterprise. The needs of human beings may be classified
as physical, social and egoistic.

Physical needs refer to basic necessities of life without which an individual can’t live such as
food, shelter and clothing. Social needs, on the other hand, refer to an environment on the job
where he is recognised as an individual. His morale increases if the individual is identified
with a small group or a team.