Human Capital Management Course Reflection
Over decades, human resource management has been evolving and new trends emerging and showcasing human capital’s significance in driving a competitive edge. Initially, I thought the human capital management only focuses on the roles and functions of human resources, such as recruiting, maintaining employee-related data and organization, and time management. However, through the introduction, I have learned that the human capital management is a component that transforms the conventional administrative roles of human resource departments like compensation, payroll, training, recruitment, and performance managing into opportunities that foster business engagement, value, and productivity. I now understand that the human capital management course is not designed for human resource practitioners. It’s tailored to specifically teach for anticipating and future general managers who strive or intend to manage his/her development and that of others, manage careers, and people.
At first, I used to perceive that human capital management deals purely with managing human resources in the organization. I now understand that human capital management means that individuals can drive changes in organizational performance. The human capital management course was well laid out in the syllabus and had clear expectations from the class. The key takeaway from this topic is that how and individual manages and develops others is the main source of the organization’s competitive advantages and for the individuals within the team. As a future manager, I have now learned how to align human resources with business models, comprehend the impacts of micro and macro environments, and establish compensation and staffing systems to attract, motivate and retain top talents. Manage changes during critical moments, comprehend employee relations, and utilize human resource skills to foster corporate decision making.
Initially, I used to dwell on concepts and theories on the importance of human resources and its application. At the course of the semester, the recommended texts were practical, demonstrated, and explained the importance and application of human resource management. Today, I have learned and mastered the personnel and organization administration. Through the Office of Personnel Management policies, I have understood that the office plays a critical role in managing federal government civil services, coordinating new government employees’ recruitment, and managing their retirement programs and health insurance.
Pursuing human capital management has been of great significance not only in my studies but also in shaping my future. At the start of the course, I did not know how to develop effective business strategies for hiring and maintaining talents and well the crucial role ethics, culture, and diversity play in shaping organizational environment effectiveness. Today, I know and understand how to develop business strategies to attract, develop, and retain employees and enhance their competitive edge. The course has introduced me to the concept of developing human capital strategy and enabled me to learn how to design my organization culture, values, and ethics, hiring the right talents, building effective teams(The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 2020). I have also learned more about employee performance management, offer relevant professional development, and structuring compensation programs.
The course had different modules, and each module, I learned what was related to my career. For instance, the culture and values module enabled me to develop organizations’ culture and values. Other modules include talent development, optimizing performance, and recruiting and hiring. Before the introduction of the course, I was not capable of identifying key performance indicators. As the course progressed, I learned how to design the employee performance appraisal system for the organization and how the job would be evaluated. Through the lectures and the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM), I have learned how to design the performance appraisal system. The steps include designer selection, providing design guidance, assessment of the organization, defining the objective of performance appraisal system, designing, implementation, and evaluation(The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 2020). When evaluating performance, I have also looked for results, behaviors, or quantify the work.
Before enrolling in human capital management, I perceived that with modern technological advancement, personnel management in private and public sectors is efficient and lacks major challenges. However, through personnel management briefs, I was able to identify the main challenges affecting the management of personnel in the public sector. I now understand that personnel management’s main challenges include high employee turnover rates, discrimination and conflicts, and training and development issues. I also learned that a couple of factors such as poor communication, stress, lack of equitable resource sharing, lack of effective development and training programs, poor organizational environment, and retention strategies contribute to such challenges witnessed in the 21st century(Abdullah Al Mamun&NazmulHasan, 2017).
One other aspect I did knew about the human capital management course was the content and organization. I thought we were just in the class to learn new ways of managing human capital. But as the course progresses, I realized that we all learn in different ways, and as a result, the lecturer incorporated various ways to learn—one of the methods applied as case studies. An example was a collective bargaining case study focused on the city management, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and the unions. Through the case, I learned various methods of negotiation and resolving conflicts. Workshops were also a significant method employed. The exercises were designed to apply the concepts and practices of human capital management. Through workshops, I know the challenges experienced in managing personnel in the public sector, designing a performance appraisal system, and how diversity, culture, and ethics contribute to the effectiveness of the organizational environment. Methods that were also effective in delivering and clarifying course content were interactions with the instructor and class discussions.
In general, the human capital management course was informative, developed, and instilled critical thinking and competencies I require to manage people effectively. It was beneficial to learn the design of the performance appraisal system and formulate strategies to ensure efficiency in the workplace. I now understand that the human resource department should plan for the future by identifying the present and future needs and training the workforce to face the challenges.
References
Abdullah Al Mamun, C., &NazmulHasan, M. (2017). Factors affecting employee turnover and
sound retention strategies in business organization: A conceptual view. Problems and
Perspectives in Management, 15(1), 63-
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management. (2020). Designing performance appraisal systems:
Aligning appraisals and organizational realities. U.S. Office of Personnel
Management. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/performance-
management/reference-materials/more-topics/designing-performance-appraisal-
systems-aligning-appraisals-and-organizational-realities/
U.S. Office of Personnel Management.(2020). Diversity & inclusion.
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/diversity-and-inclusion/