10 Key Characteristics Every Company’s HRM Should Have

Human Resources are essential to a business and without them, the complete corporate management model would fall apart. Even with complete automation with the help of advanced software solutions and models, manpower is important to the smooth running of an organization and an essential part of the manpower is the HR team. A skilled human resource management team can make working fun for the employees and create a safe and productive work environment. But, how do you identify skilled HR managers? In the following article, we discuss the essential characteristics of HRM that your team must possess.

Whether you’re a business owner looking to build the best HRM team for your employees, or an HR manager looking to upskill yourself, the following article can help offer some clarity to help you prepare accordingly. Before you jump right into learning the essential characteristics of HRM, let us look at what an HRM is and the critical functionalities entailing the job profile. So, what are you waiting for? Jump right into the article and learn more about the important characteristics of human resource management teams.

The Concept Of HRM (Human Resource Management)

Since an organization would not exist and succeed without an HR management team in the long run, the history of HRM is as old and complex as the history of companies and businesses. Managers, business owners, and clients would undoubtedly agree that an HR management team is undoubtedly the most important asset of any business.

Human Resource Management entails numerous processes and philosophies ranging from team/business acquisition, development, roles and utilization, and employee welfare to ensure the business runs smoothly and can achieve both its short-term and long-term business goals without much hassle. The HR management team must also strive to better the different business processes to ensure the organization runs efficiently and effectively.

The concept of Human Resource Management can be divided into two parts – soft HRM and hard HRM. The hard concept of HRM revolves around managing employees and their roles to help businesses get ahead of their competition and grow to become the top company in the relevant industry. On the other hand, the soft concept of HRM treats employees as valued assets who can help businesses gain a competitive advancement through discipline, loyalty, dedication, and quality. In the soft version of HRM, the focus is completely on the employees and their needs.

In today’s day, an organization’s HRM does not strongly abide by the concepts and does not differentiate the approach taken. Instead, they follow a combination of both versions to ensure building a safe and efficient working environment. Although the job might seem easy, human resource management deals with human energy and capabilities, and the team’s decision can have either a negative or a positive impact on the organization’s employees. Since the art and science of human resource management are quite complex, you must hire employees showcasing the most important characteristics of HRM.

Your HR management team will look to the needs, performance, and responsibilities of all of your employees without discrimination to ensure the organization functions at its best. Since the team covers both management and non-management, they must be skilled in the different human resource management characteristics.

Moreover, human resource is a continuous and repetitive process as it is not simply related to employee welfare. In fact, a human resource management team is responsible for human resource planning, recruitment and selection of new employees, regular training, onboarding of employees, appraisals, and performance monitoring.

Some common tasks included in the complete human resource management process are divided into the following categories:-

• Acquisition – Includes HR planning, selection, recruitment, socialization, and employee placement
• Development – Includes L&D, training, and career development
• Utilization – Includes employee motivation, job design, reward management, and performance appraisal
• Maintenance – Includes labor relations, grievance handling, termination, employee discipline, and welfare

The 10 Key Characteristics Of HRM (Human Resource Management)

Now that you know about the different human resource concepts and approaches taken, let us discuss the 10 key characteristics of human resource management. These essential skills are a must and emphasis on these will help you build the perfect HR team. So, let’s get started!

Key Characteristic #1 – Communication

One of the most important soft skills for any employee and the top essential characteristic of human resource management, communication is a must for your HR team. It must be a strong suit of your HR manager as it can help them better translate the company’s needs and goals to the employees. Similarly, great communication skills also allow HR managers to understand employee needs and take action to solve them.

This is why your HR manager must have strong verbal and written communication skills to skilfully handle different company tasks and meet business standards. Some common soft skills that are a must for excellence in communication include – honesty and integrity, emotional intelligence skills, active listening skills, and more.

Some common HR duties and responsibilities that utilize this important characteristic of human resource management are:-

• Salary negotiation
• Explaining employee benefits and other packages
• Presentations on company tasks and business needs
• Smooth conflict resolution
• Employee handbook updation

Key Characteristic #2 – Organization

Another key characteristic an HR manager must possess is organizational skills. Without proper organizational skills, a person cannot be expected to manage employee needs and organize different business processes. It is always possible that an HR manager does not have a solution to a problem or employee grievance. However, they must be skilled enough to know where they can obtain the necessary information from.

Moreover, to ensure this does not arise in the future, HR managers are expected to document these incidents and organize their resources either online or offline. In either case, organizational skills are a must and one of the most important characteristics of HRM teams. After all, HRs also need to handle confidential information and personal employee information, and without proper organizational skills, they cannot be expected to perform their roles to the best of their abilities.

Key Characteristic #3 – Technically Sound

As mentioned, HR managers need to document incidents and resources that aid them in fulfilling their responsibilities and duties. We have come far from maintaining paper documents and files; instead, companies have mostly automated these business processes with human resource information systems. Nowadays, most HRs rely on digital spreadsheets, online databases, cloud-based software solutions, and visual planning applications to handle these tasks and jobs.

Being tech-savvy can help HRs tackle these tasks in little to no time, which helps speed up different business processes. A tech-savvy HR manager is also equipped and capable of efficiently creating engaging PowerPoint presentations and making better use of workplace tracking software solutions and analytics. If your HR management team is not technically skilled, we strongly recommend helping them with technical development programs.

Key Characteristic #4 – Flexibility

A well-defined team structure and efficient HR management team help an organization operate smoothly. However, situations change and employees might face problems that HRs need to handle without much effort. HR managers need to be all the more flexible as their job duties and responsibilities vary every day, and unforeseen issues might arise at any time.

For example, it is impossible to predict workplace injuries or a policy change by a vendor/benefit provider/partner company. This is why flexibility is one of the most important characteristics of HRM teams and vital to an organization’s workflow.

Key Characteristic #5 – Patience

Throughout an HR manager’s day, there are uncountable events of employee complaints and grievances ranging from baseless and unimportant ones to essential and complicated ones. Other than these complaints, HR managers might also face insurance complaints and grievances about/from benefit providers. This is why it is important for HRs to be calm and composed to ensure they do not get caught up with major concerns or trivial issues. After all, improper resolution can lead to a disruption in the workplace and hamper the organization’s efficiency.

Key Characteristic #6 – Negotiation

Since a key responsibility of an HR manager is to resolve employee issues, they need to be skilled in negotiation. Some common situations that entail negotiation, making it one of the most crucial characteristics of HRM include:-

• Employees looking for a raise or better benefits to match offers from other companies
• Salary discussion of an existing employee based on their qualifications, experience, and other conditions
• Conflicts between an employee and their team manager or another employee

Key Characteristic #7 – Ethics And Values

One of the most important characteristics of HRM is a strong sense of ethics and values to allow them to make decisions head-on. Moreover, they must be skilled enough to take actions that help preserve the company’s integrity along with other parties involved. It is a crucial characteristic especially when there is no fixed right or wrong answer to allow them to make tough decisions.

Key Characteristic #8 – Compassion

Although most companies offer great vacation and generous leave plans, employees are sometimes terrified of asking for leaves due to worries about hampering their careers and promotions. This is why HR managers must be compassionate and remember that employees are people who have lives outside the workplace.

Key Characteristic #9 – Commitment

In order to be a successful HR manager and perform their duties properly, they must genuinely care about the welfare of the employees and the success of the company. An apathetic HR manager would not be able to provide guidance and relevant resources to employees in time. Being committed to their job will ensure they complete their administrative duties to the best of their ability.

Key Characteristic #10 – Self-Discipline

Another important characteristic of human resource management is self-discipline as it ensures HRs can stay focused and organized even under challenges. A self-disciplined manager can help them maintain a high level of productivity and efficiency even under difficult working conditions.

Conclusion

Now that you know about the key characteristics of HRM teams, we hope you will be able to build an efficient and functional team in no time. It will undoubtedly help you take employee satisfaction to the next level and ultimately boost the productivity and efficiency of your organization.

Need help with recruiting the best HR managers for your organization? Worry not! Get in touch with us and take the burden off your shoulders to reduce the overall time required. Our years of experience in the industry make us your perfect recruitment partner and will help you get your business up and running in no time!

For More details about our What Is An Human Resource Information System (HRIS)?