HR in a Nutshell: Making Good Managers Great!

HR management, or human resource management, is all about people, because it is people who determine the success of any organization. It's crucial when managing staff to use proven processes to hire, interview, orient, train, coach, discipline, and evaluate performance. Good HR management process makes a manager's job easier, more efficient, and it minimizes errors...all good things!

Understanding, and applying, human resource management processes requires specific knowledge. This knowledge isn't particularly complicated, but it is highly specific in terms of structure and application. Thus, HR is like any discipline where we wish to excel -- study builds knowledge, and then practice turns knowledge into skills. No one is born a great manager.

This book, based on a college-level management course, covers every important HR management area in 16 concise, understandable chapters:

• job analysis (this is HUGE but many managers haven't done it)
• writing job descriptions (also huge for 11 reasons that can benefit every manager)
• recruitment and selection (doing this right is crucial)
• interviewing
• training
• orientation
• performance evaluation
• staff discipline
• coaching and team building
• staff motivational strategies
• termination

You acquire the knowledge you need quickly and without having to wade through 700 pages of a traditional academic text.

Enhanced eBook: You also get links to more than 20 PowerPoint slideshows and instructional videos, so the knowlege acquisition process suits different learning styles.

This human resource management book is written as a unique short course to benefit:

• business owners who manage staff
• managers, and aspiring managers, who wish to boost career advancement potential by gaining additional human resources knowledge
• post-secondary management program students (vital information and short!)
• anyone interested in an HR career who wants to quickly learn what's involved
• researchers needing succinct human resources information
• staff working for anyone who reads the book and who applies its premises

Every business or organization that employs more than five people should have a human resource management program in place. This isn't to say that small employers need a full-fledged HR department, rather that at least one person on staff should be educated and trained to plan and implement HR processes such as those described in this book.

Further, even though one person may assume responsibility for HR oversight, every manager who supervises any number of people should be required to study and understand time-proven human resources strategies and tactics in the interest of good employee morale and high productivity.