Human Resource Management Roles Paper

Human Resource Management Roles Paper
Sharon M Flemming
HCS 341
April 25, 2011
Professor Diane Rodriguez

Human Resource Management Roles Paper
It has often been said that an employee is a company’s greatest resource, which may be the reason an entire department within an organization is devoted to just that, human resources. With the ever-changing economy and growth of the health care industry, many changes have taken place within the personnel department to reflect those changes. The newly evolving human resources department is the backbone of the organization, the infrastructure that determines the direction and success of the organization.
The Human Resources Department is responsible for more than just routine administrative processes, such as staffing, payroll, retirement, and record keeping. The restructuring of the Human Resources Department has added many new responsibilities to the already long list of tasks performed by members of the Human Resources Management Team.
The Human Resources Department of today is a multifunctional unit composed of diverse levels of administrative personnel such as the human resources director, human resources generalist, human resources assistant, and employees organized around providing a specific component of human resources services (Heathfield, 2011) whose primary purpose is focused on work design, staffing, performance appraisal, career planning, and compensation as well as workplace safety and health while meeting federal and state regulatory laws. According to McKay (2009),   the role of Human Resources Department is to ensure the necessary services, processes, and policies are in place to enable employees to perform at their best, be safe and satisfied with their work and be appropriately developed (Human Resources, para. 1).
There are many challenges facing the human resources management team. Environmental challenges are the forces external to the firm and may influence organizational performance but are...