1.3 Skills Needed in HRM
A successful HR manager has an array of skills to deal with a variety of situations. Keys to a successful career in HRM include understanding specific job areas such as managing the employee HRIS database, understanding employment laws, and knowing how to write and develop a strategic plan that aligns with the business.
However, it simply isn’t enough to have knowledge of the technical requirements of HR, it takes multiple ancillary skills to manage people.
The need for organization makes sense, given that you are managing people’s pay, benefits, and careers. Having organized files – both paper and electronic – and good time-management skills are crucial for success in any job, but especially if you take on a role in HR.
People skills are important in any type of management role and perhaps might be the most important skill for achieving success at any job. Being able to manage a variety of personalities, deal with conflict, and coach others are all in the realm of people management. The ability to communicate goes along with people skills. The ability to communicate good news (hiring a new employee), bad news (layoffs), and everything in between, such as changes to policy, makes for an excellent manager and human resource management (HRM) professional.
Remember to support your technical knowledge with good business practices and strong people skills.
Ethics
Ethics and a sense of fairness are also necessary for human resources. Ethics is a concept that examines the moral rights and wrongs of a certain situation. Ethical dilemmas often occur during the selection process as job applicants are tested with various selection tools. Hiring decisions can create ethical dilemmas that test the HR professional’s code of ethics.
HR managers are required to work with highly confidential information, such as personal data and salary information, so a sense of ethics when managing this information is essential. Some HR managers also negotiate employee and union contracts and manage conflict. Similarly, a sense of ethics when managing this information – and potential conflicts – is essential. In conclusion, HR managers have the task of ensuring compliance with ethics standards within the organization.
“8. Human Resources” from Management of the Enterprise by Ontario Tech University OER Lab is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, except where otherwise noted.—Modifications: Used sections Skills needed for HRM, edited.
