The basis functions of human resource management

Human resource activities concerns to all issues about rights, obligations and responsibilities of employees, which is the aim of high effect for both organization and

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staffs. In the reality, these activities is extremely diverse, abundant and different according to the characteristics in organizational structure, technology, human resources, finance, development levels of the organization. Nonetheless, the main human resource activities can be divided into three categories based on the functions that are: attracting, training and developing.

2.1.3.1 Functional group of attracting human resource

Functional group of attracting human resource focuses on the assurance about sufficient number of employees with suitable qualification for the enterprise’s tasks. To select the right people for the right tasks, firstly the company must be based on producing and business plan and actual situation of employing staffs in that one in order to figure out which tasks need more people. This group includes: job analysis, human resource plan, recruitment and work environment integration

2.1.3.2 Functional group of training and developing

This group concentrates on improving the staffs’ capacity, assuring that they own the necessary techniques and levels to complete well-job, and providing good conditions for staffs to have maximum development of individual capacity. Beside training new ones, it is required to re-train the old when the producing and business demand changed or the technical process and technology is innovated.

Training: is a systematic process for accumulating and enhancing knowledge and practical techniques that help staffs implement a good job. That is a process of learning, which supports the labors to master more about their works, and learning activity in order to improve labors’ capacity and techniques for a more effective working task.

Developing: is learning activities which are out of the framework of labors, in order to open to the new jobs based on the future direction of the organization

• Roles of training and developing

• Directly support staffs to work better.

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• Update new knowledge and techniques for staffs.

• Avoid out-of-date management.

• Guide the new jobs for new staffs.

• Prepare for the team of manager staffs and the nearest specialization

• Satisfy the developing demand of staffs.

2.1.3.3 Functional group of maintaining human resource

This group focuses on maintaining and using effectively human resource in the organization. This includes two smaller functions: stimulating and motivating staffs, and maintaining to develop good work relationships in the enterprise.

- Stimulating and motivating function: focuses on encouraging and motivating labors so that they can be energetic, enthusiastic and responsible to complete tasks with high quality. Enterprises give staffs extremely challengeable tasks, allow the staffs to get assessment from leaders about completion level and the meaning of successful completion, pay the salary equally and promptly reward the initiatives of individual, etc.

- Labor relation function: relates to activities to complete the working environment and working relation such as: signing contracts, resolving complaints, disputing labors, employee relations, improving working environment, health, insurance and occupational safety.

The operation applied to maintain effect of team working in businesses is diverse, including activities such as work achievement assessment, remuneration, and labor relations.

a) Work achievement assessment

Work achievement assessment is used with vary purposes:

• Providing feedback to the employee's level of performance of their work in comparison with the standard model and other individuals.

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• Stimulating, motivating employees through the terms of assessment, recognition and support.

• Providing information as the basis for issues of training, salary, reward, employees transfer, improved organizational structure.

• Developing an understanding on the company through conversations about opportunities and career planning…

• Enhancing good relations between superiors and subordinates b) Remuneration

The structure of labor income

Income of employees from their work includes the following: basic salary, allowances, bonuses, and other kinds of benefits.

- Basis salary: is the salary is defined on the foundation of all the basic needs about biology, sociology, the complexity and the consumption level of labors in the average condition by career and work.

- Allowances: is the money paid for labors except for basis salary. It supplements the basic salary and additional offset for employees working in unstable or unfavorable conditions that have not been taken into account of basis salary. Allowances include responsibility allowances, toxic and dangerous allowances, etc. But in fact there are some other allowances, such as travelling, etc.

- Reward is a kind of stimulus material that provides positive effect on employees in striving to make a better job.

• Reward for productivity and quality

• Reward for initiatives

• Reward for saving.

• Reward according to operation results.

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• Reward for ensuring working days.

- Benefits: The types of benefits that workers receive are very diverse and depend on many different factors such as government regulations, financial viability of the business, etc. Benefits express enterprise’s concern on lives of workers, create a stimulating effect on employee loyalty and close to it. Benefits of an enterprise include:

• Social insurance, health insurance

• Pension

• Vacations

• Holidays

• Subsidies for lunch of enterprise

• Allowance for employees having many children and disadvantaged circumstances

• Gifts of company for employees on the holidays, etc.

Aims of salary system

Enterprises tend to have 4 basis aims:

• Attracting candidates

• Maintaining good employees

• Stimulating, motivating employees

• Satisfying law’s requirements

• Payroll forms

Generally, there are 3 ways of payroll, which is mainly applied in enterprises.

• Payment based on time

• Payment based on employees

• Payment based on working result

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Payment based on working result is the most stimulated one to staffs in one enterprise and showed in 3 levels

Individual stimulus: includes payroll forms based on productions, standard working times and commission

Group stimulus (task system of group paying) Business result stimulus of enterprise

Non-financial treatment

Not only wages but also benefits that are viewed as fiscal stimulus can motivate the staffs. Today, when the society is more and more developed, non-financial treatment is equally essential in order to meet the higher demand such as needs of society, needs to be respected and needs to self-express according to Maslow’s opinion.

Stimulating non-financial treatment is divided into two kinds: work itself and work scenes.

Work itself must have exciting tasks, jobs requiring striving. Work has to be along with responsibilities and employees working to have chances to be recognized by superiors all of achievements in the past can complete tasks and get chances of promotion.

Work scenes: employees want to work in one environment with appropriate policy, colleagues with owning same character, suitable position, comfort working edition, flexible working hours accrued working weeks. Moreover, they also want to share the tasks, etc.

c) Employment relationship

Union

Labors join into union because of 2 basic reasons: economy and reducing some unfair treatment from leaders.

In Viet Nam, union holds 3 basic tasks: to protect the interests of the workers, to

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attend to manage enterprise, to educate and motivate employees.

Collective labor agreement

Collective bargaining agreement is a written agreement between a collective labor and the employer about working conditions, rights and obligations of both parties in the employment relationship. Collective agreement is a social advancement, recognizing the rights of employees, through their representatives which is the union to collectively determine the working conditions, particularly useful conditions to employees in the comparison with those prescribed by law

In the organization, enterprise having union, leaders have to deal with the representatives all about the most important issues relating to labors’ rights such as salary, bonus, working hours, working conditions and social insurance.

Labor dispute

Labor disputes often arise from conflicts needing to be resolved in range of labor relations. In Vietnam, labor disputes can occur among individual workers or among collective workers with employers about benefits related to employment, wages, income and other labor’s conditions.

2.2 Literature review on job satisfaction