1.1 Introduction
Human capital management is a branch of management concerned with the recruitment of development, control and welfare of the staff of the organization. It has to do with the promotion or dismissal of staff. The focus of this research is on the contributions of human capital management towards the achievement of organizational goals. The point therefore in what value does this branch of management play to help the organization achieve its sets objective.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Human resources management focuses on the total utilization of scare resources such as man, machine, money, materials etc. in order to achieve predetermined organizational objectives. In the course of utilizing resources, a manager is involved in the basic function of planning, organizing and controlling.
The most important mission of a manager is to develop a healthy relationship with his employees, to create a family like feeling with the Corporation, a feeling that employees and managers share the same conditions. Those companies that have managed to create an equal condition among all workers.
According to Personnel policy of Unilever Plc, Aba, people are very important if the organization is to run smoothly and achieve it’s objectives. This is why the company has it’s slogan as “people are our greatest assets. Your progress as an employee is therefore titled up very much with the company’s progress therefore, advancement can only come to you if the company is successful, and the company’s success depends on the devotion to duty, honesty, loyalty and efficiency of it’s entire workers. According to Stoner and Free man (1992: 374), human resources management is the management function that is responsible for the recruitment, placement, training and development of organization members.
Some people argue that with or without human capital management the business organization can still achieve the business objectives. According to Okorie (1992) who wrote in the business firms of February 9, 1992” such practices as human capital management studies seems to be merely academic exercise as good interpersonal relationship in organizational is imbued by nature and should be acquired by training. He went further to the example by saying that “such successful business as Omouka inter-business, the makers of rocket nails, sprang up and have been sustained by school nor read any personal management.
Akpakwu (2013) regards human capital management as the proper utilization of the people in an organizational goal. To this extent, it involves understanding the nature of people in an organization, their needs and aspiration and evolving the necessary strategies to accomplish these needs and aspirations. It also involves identifying the objectives of the organization.
Armstrong in Akpakwu (2003) sees human capital management as the process of obtaining, organizing and motivating the human resources needed in by an organization. He advocated for the creation of a very conductive and cordial environment in order to satisfy the needs of the workers and achieve organizational goals.
Therefore, in Abia State, Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Human Resource Management in the Achievement of Organizational Goals and Objectives.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
It was not until the Hawthorne experiment that the important of human resources was discovered. Yet human resources management has continued to occupy very little of the managers attention and time, and that is why most organization are yet to back-up their frequency espoused belief that “people are most important assets. It is recognized that the reason why most of our of our organization cannot compete effectively in the market is due to ineffective management of human and non-human resources available to them.
Unilever Nigeria Plc, PZ industries Ltd etc are nothing without their human resources, when all the workers of the above establishment go on strike, the importance of human resources become clearer.
The intention of the research work is therefore to examine the contributions of effective humans resources management in the achievement of the organizational goals and objectives.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The goals and objectives of any organization cannot be attained without adequate human resources who will mobilize other factors to yield the desired goal. They organization is expected to tender efficiency and effective serviced and it cannot attain these goals without managing it’s human resources effectively.
The purpose of this research is to unveil the need for human resources management in the achievement of organizational goals and objectives with particular reference to Unilever Nigeria Plc and PZ Industries Ltd both in Aba.
However, the specific objectives of this research are:
- To look into acquisition of human resources in the organization
- To identify the extent to which human resources are developed in the organization
- To identify how the workers are motivated and to recommend better motivation methods where necessary.
- To find out the role-played by communication in human resources management.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- How is human resources planning carried out in the organization?
- What are the procedures and the basis of recruitment and selection of new employees in the organization?
- Is there any need for socializing or orientating the new employee with the culture of the organization?
- What are the type of training and development strategies used in Unilever Nigeria Plc and PZ industries Ltd?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant impact on human capital management in the contribute to the achievement of organization’s goals
- H1: There is significant impact on human capital management in the contribute to the achievement of organization’s goals
Hypothesis Two
- H0: Human capital management does not positively change workers attitude to work
- H1: Human capital management positively change workers attitude to work
1.7 Significance of Study
This has to do with importance and usefulness of the study as well as its impact on the different segment of the Nigerian society. Thus, the researcher believes that the study will be useful in the following ways.
- To The Government: The researcher belief the study will help the government to utilize it’s resources effectively by adhering strictly to the recommendations that will be raised in this study.
- To The Business Organization: To provide the future manpower needs of the organization in terms of skill experience and abilities.
- To The Academic: This research work will help the staff of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede to know what is to be done, why is done, where it is done and how it is done.
- To The Researcher: The study would help to equip the researcher to face and handle practical challenges of human resources later in life.
1.8 Scope of the Study
The scope of this work covers both the Unilever Nigeria Plc and the Peterson Zochonis (PZ) industries Ltd, Aba. The target population of this research are the staff, managers, supervisors and clerk from both companies.
Apart from the review of related literature where general consideration will be given to the topic, the actual field of study is based purely on the management of human resources in the organizations named above.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Human Capital Management: This is concern with the formal system for management of people within the organization with greater emphasis is place on planning, controlling, organizing, coordinating and others.
Management: This is the complementation of all the component of the organization control in one place in order to bring about efficiency and effectiveness in the organizational aims and objectives and does the process of determining the appropriate organizational structure.
Organization: This is a group of people that work together with aims and objectives to achieve organizational goals.
Efficiency: This is the ratio of actual outputs to actual inputs.
Recruitment: Recruitment is seeking out prospective employees and encouraging them to submit application for employment.
Employees: This is a person who agrees to render his services to the employer, obey his orders and subjects himself to his control and direction.
Employer: This is person that offers labour to the employee.
Resources: This input needed to conduct a successful business program.
Manpower Planning: This is the personnel functions that seek to anticipate growth and ensure that the rightful number and types of staff are retained to developed or recruit.
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