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Tag Archive: Project-Management

Managing Human Based Resources

Managing Human Based Resources

Managing an organization on its way to success has its own challenges, like dealing with economic factors that may or may not stand as obstacles. Ordinarily, one will claim that this is a Human Resource affair. However, some successful organizations have employed more workable techniques to succeed. This is the human resources of today.

The Traditional Role of Human Resources

Most people in an organization will identify the Human Resources Department to anything systematic, policy-related or administrative. Some automatically think that a Human Resources Program will proceed with psychology or endeavor to inculcate any of the three mentioned above.

This traditional method puts emphasis on leadership, cohesiveness and loyalty in an organization. It emphasized on collectivism.

There is nothing completely bad in such traditional view. However, it was criticized for focusing too much on the economic factors of an organization.

This had been confronted further by different aspects and needs. Thus, the field of human resources was also shaped as it adapted to the social or political environment.

Transitional Phase

Times are changing now. The traditional perception must be taken out of the picture. The modern trend now in Human Resources Management is to be more strategic, consultative and interactive.

Human Resources of the 21st Century

It is definitely a desirable change. However, this may not come easily to those who have gotten used to the ‘old school.’

The social climate of the organization is now addressed, rather than being limited to the economic factors. This time the behavior of the individual is given as much importance as the economic structures.

This time around, Human Resources Department pushes even more the firm into performance as each member now is driven by the attention given.

What Should One Expect in the Human Resources Department Now?

1. The department must show that it contributes to fulfilling all the goals of the whole organization. It is not anymore limited to the department.

2. It should provide also bases and dimensions to measure the success of the human resources initiative and the processes applied.

3. All the members of the organization are to be treated and recognized as clients.

4. Finally, it will not hurt to also change the perception of the people with regard to the role of the Human Resources Department.

It is undeniable. It is necessary to further educate people and provide support to this practice.

What Are the Current Initiatives to Fulfill the Goal?

• Human Resources Outsourcing

Normally, people approach the Human Resources Department to consult on matters to regulate relations among members. However, this consultation could also be utilized to break away from the old shell.

Providing services to the other departments of an organization will make the HR Department a more dynamic entity. It could help in determining some processes to realize the vision of a particular department.

• Human Resources Education

The academe can make a big difference in changing the perception.

Improving and developing the literature and the present theories will be helpful in addressing the concerns and the needs of any organization. This is in light of the constantly changing society that concerns the human resources experts and people.

Further studies in the Human Resources can help shape and improve the theories. However, pursuing a career in the Human Resources is expected to contribute to the developments in practice and implementation.

There are initiatives also to spread the knowledge within the organization, down to the most ordinary members. The best way to empower them is to give out Human Resources software that provides an orientation and comprehensive discussion of organizational policies.

• Human Resources and the Law

There are Human Resources laws provided nowadays. This fact is beneficial to most people in the workplace. It establishes the foundations that must be present in any firm or organization. It also sets limits the extent of what human resources will cover, so as not to deprive any person of any basic right or privilege.

There are even some who now implement a Human Resources Program that allows active participation of the employees. They are made part of decision making and the HR Department is tasked to come up with methods and venues to make this endeavor feasible.

Leadership is undeniably important in any organization. It grounds the responsibility and accountability on a single source. However, for any whole to work, its parts must be recognized. That is why the developments in the field of Human Resources are very much welcomed. Human Resources Management must focus on its real strength, on its real resources, the human resources.

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Workflows exist in some form at every company, in every industry. Traditionally, the term has been used to describe transactional processes.  Credit card information, for example, is submitted on a website.  The information is then sent to banks for approval and to a billing system for invoicing, which results in a message being sent to the shipping system for delivery. These types of transaction workflows, primarily relaying data between systems based on a static set of rules, require very little human intervention. They are typically automated using business process management (BPM) software or custom coded applications.

Human-based workflows on the other hand are usually manually managed and tracked. Meetings, phone calls, paper trails, spreadsheets, emails and desktop applications are typically utilized by business professionals as a means to keep the flow of information orderly. In most cases, a lack of efficiency is unavoidable.  Using many different tools and methods to track workflows simultaneously leads to chaos.  Visibility of a project’s status, and more importantly, what is causing its hindrance becomes increasingly ambiguous.

Many human-based business workflows involve intellectual property or process innovations that give companies an edge over competitors. In a small vertical industry successfully managing workflows can make or break a company. Because of the diversity of workflows and the ways in which they are managed, it is difficult to find off-the-shelf project management software that is flexible enough to adapt to any company’s set of unique workflows and management style.  For this reason, many companies feel trapped, worried that the only option is to develop a custom solution.  Developing custom project management software, however, is a costly and lengthy process.

Only Interneer Intellect solves this problem, through catering to the human-based business workflow market. It enables the business user to capture workflows using simple drag-and-drop capabilities. It also incorporates many features that automate and streamline the business process: it is web-based, facilitating real-time collaboration; automatically creates databases; automates workflows; and allows easy reporting, document management and project tracking with multi-user support.

As project management technology evolves, the benefits of automating workflows to gain efficiency, visibility and cut costs becomes increasingly apparent. With the advent of tools like Interneer Intellect this can be accomplished rapidly, easily and inexpensively.

March 22, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Read more >

Trying Not To Get Above Your Business

Trying Not To Get Above Your Business

Young men after they get through their business training, or apprenticeship, instead of pursuing their avocation and rising in their business, will often lie about doing nothing. They say; “I have learned my business, but I am not going to be a hireling; what is the object of learning my trade or profession, unless I establish myself?'”

“Have you capital to start with?”

“No, but I am going to have it.”

“How are you going to get it?”

“I will tell you confidentially; I have a wealthy old aunt, and she will die pretty soon; but if she does not, I expect to find some rich old man who will lend me a few thousands to give me a start. If I only get the money to start with I will do well.”

There is no greater mistake than when a young man believes he will succeed with borrowed money. Why? Because every man’s experience coincides with that of Mr. Astor, who said, “it was more difficult for him to accumulate his first thousand dollars, than all the succeeding millions that made up his colossal fortune.” Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience. Give a boy twenty thousand dollars and put him in business, and the chances are that he will lose every dollar of it before he is a year older. Like buying a ticket in the lottery; and drawing a prize, it is “easy come, easy go.”

He does not know the value of it; nothing is worth anything, unless it costs effort. Without self-denial and economy; patience and perseverance, and commencing with capital which you have not earned, you are not sure to succeed in accumulating. Young men, instead of “waiting for dead men’s shoes,” should be up and doing, for there is no class of persons who are so unaccommodating in regard to dying as these rich old people, and it is fortunate for the expectant heirs that it is so.

Nine out of ten of the rich men of our country to-day, started out in life as poor boys, with determined wills, industry, perseverance, economy and good habits. They went on gradually, made their own money and saved it; and this is the best way to acquire a fortune. Stephen Girard started life as a poor cabin boy, and died worth nine million dollars. A.T.

Stewart was a poor Irish boy; and he paid taxes on a million and a half dollars of income, per year. John Jacob Astor was a poor farmer boy, and died worth twenty millions. Cornelius Vanderbilt began life rowing a boat from Staten Island to New York; he presented our government with a steamship worth a million of dollars, and died worth fifty million.
“There is no royal road to learning,” says the proverb, and I may say it is equally true, “there is no royal road to wealth.” But I think there is a royal road to both. The road to learning is a royal one; the road that enables the student to expand his intellect and add every day to his stock of knowledge, until, in the pleasant process of intellectual growth, he is able to solve the most profound problems, to count the stars, to analyze every atom of the globe, and to measure the firmament this is a regal highway, and it is the only road worth traveling.

So in regard to wealth. Go on in confidence, study the rules, and above all things, study human nature; for “the proper study of mankind is man,” and you will find that while expanding the intellect and the muscles, your enlarged experience will enable you every day to accumulate more and more principal, which will increase itself by interest and otherwise, until you arrive at a state of independence. You will find, as a general thing, that the poor boys get rich and the rich boys get poor. For instance, a rich man at his decease, leaves a large estate to his family. His eldest sons, who have helped him earn his
fortune, know by experience the value of money; and they take their inheritance and add to it. The separate portions of the young children are placed at interest, and the little fellows are patted on the head, and told a dozen times a day, “you are rich; you will never have to work, you can always have whatever you wish, for you were born with a golden spoon in your mouth.”

The young heir soon finds out what that means; he has the finest dresses and playthings; he is crammed with sugar candies and almost “killed with kindness,” and he passes from school to school, petted and flattered. He becomes arrogant and self-conceited, abuses his teachers, and carries everything with a high hand. He knows nothing of the real value of money, having never earned any; but he knows all about the “golden spoon” business.
At college, he invites his poor fellow-students to his room, where he “wines and dines” them. He is cajoled and caressed, and called a glorious good follow, because he is so lavish of his money. He gives his game suppers, drives his fast horses, invites his chums to fetes and parties, determined to
have lots of “good times.” He spends the night in frolics and debauchery, and leads off his companions with the familiar song, “we won’t go home till morning.” He gets them to join him in pulling down signs, taking gates from their hinges and throwing them into back yards and horse-ponds. If the police arrest them, he knocks them down, is taken to the lockup, and joyfully foots the bills.

“Ah! my boys,” he cries, “what is the use of being rich, if you can’t enjoy yourself?”

He might more truly say, “if you can’t make a fool of yourself;” but he is “fast,” hates slow things, and doesn’t “see it.” Young men loaded down with other people’s money are almost sure to lose all they inherit, and they acquire all sorts of bad habits which, in the majority of cases, ruin them in health, purse and character. In this country, one generation follows another, and the poor of to-day are rich in the next generation, or the third. Their experience leads them on, and they become rich, and they leave vast riches to their young children. These children, having been reared in luxury, are inexperienced and get poor; and after long experience another generation comes on and gathers up riches again in turn. And thus “history repeats itself,” and happy is he who by listening to the experience of others avoids the rocks and shoals on which so many have been wrecked.

“In England, the business makes the man.” If a man in that country is a mechanic or working-man, he is not recognized as a gentleman. On the occasion of my first appearance before Queen Victoria, the Duke of Wellington asked me what sphere in life General Tom Thumb’s parents were in.

“His father is a carpenter,” I replied.

“Oh! I had heard he was a gentleman,” was the response of His Grace.

In this Republican country, the man makes the business. No matter whether he is a blacksmith, a shoemaker, a farmer, banker or lawyer, so long as his business is legitimate, he may be a gentleman. So any “legitimate” business is a double blessing it helps the man engaged in it, and also helps others. The Farmer supports his own family, but he also benefits the merchant or mechanic who needs the products of his farm. The tailor not only makes a living by his trade, but he also benefits the farmer, the clergyman and others who cannot make their own clothing. But all these classes often may be gentlemen.

The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same occupation.

The college-student who was about graduating, said to an old lawyer:

“I have not yet decided which profession I will follow. Is your profession full?”

“The basement is much crowded, but there is plenty of room up-stairs,” was the witty and truthful reply.

No profession, trade, or calling, is overcrowded in the upper story. Wherever you find the most honest and intelligent merchant or banker, or the best lawyer, the best doctor, the best clergyman, the best shoemaker, carpenter, or anything else, that man is most sought for, and has always enough to do. As a nation, Americans are too superficial– they are striving to get rich quickly, and do not generally do their business as substantially and thoroughly as they should, but whoever excels all others in his own line, if his habits are good and his integrity undoubted, cannot fail to secure abundant patronage, and the wealth that naturally follows. Let your motto then always be “Excelsior,” for by living up to it there is no such word as fail.

 

February 6, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Read more >