Essay Sample on Importance of Personnel and Finance Actions

Introduction

The personnel department is essential in an organization as it helps in managing and motivating the workforce. Competent personnel is necessary for the achievement of both personal and organizational objectives. Such a workforce is arrived at through actions of training and development whereby the earlier is done with the aim of fulfilling the needs of the company while the latter is undertaken for meeting personal needs of the employees. An organization also needs to manage its finance through different finance actions. If the funds are not managed effectively, the organization is doomed to fail as it will not be able to pay for different costs including operational expenses. It is for this reason that any organizations should carry out different personnel and finance actions to help in the attainment of organizational objectives as well as personal development.

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Personnel actions involve planning, organizing, compensating as well as integration and motivating employees with the aim of achieving personal, organizational and societal goals (Cole and Gerald). The personnel department of the U.S army ensures that employees hired have the required skills. Before placement, the human resource manager carries out a job description and job specification analysis to make sure that employees are placed in the areas that they are competent in. Job analysis also helps the personnel manager to determine the scope of training that will be offered to employees. The salary to be paid is also established through job analysis as soldiers with complex tasks are paid more than the rest. In the army, the chain of command is essential in the, so the personnel manager carries out job analysis to avoid overlapping of responsibility and responsibility. The action also helps in determining the amount of compensation that will be offered to soldiers. The finance action that deals with payment of soldiers depend on personnel actions such as performance appraisal.

Performance appraisal is an action in assessing the performance of each employee systematically with the objective of comprehending their abilities to develop effective training and development programs (Latham and Gary 1). The process helps in determining the wage structure, compensation packages, and salary increments. If soldiers are not well compensated, they will be demotivated in carrying out their duties. The personnel manager therefore as to keep this in mind when carrying out performance appraisal to determine the amount of salary that each soldier will be paid. If a soldier is paid a salary that cannot sustain him/her the family, then it is likely that he/she will be stressed due to financial hardship. This means that even if employees don't perform according to the institution's expectation, they should be paid a reasonable salary so that they can be able to carry out their duties effectively. This personnel action should, therefore, be carried out with a lot of caution so that it can serve its purpose without negatively affecting the lives of soldiers. The personnel managers sometimes biased which makes the process unfit for use in making decisions regarding employees as no fairness will be portrayed.

One of the mistake that human managers commit is the horn effect. This means that the manager rates a particular employee either positively or negatively depending on one factor of the job (Latham and Gary 2). A manager may rate a soldier poorly because he has had several cases of lateness. This affects the overall performance of the employee because of one trait that has been overlooked and will influence decisions such as promotions and salary increments. The manager may also portray a halo effect whereby the employee is evaluated entirely on the basis of one positive such as reporting to work early. All the other traits will not be considered in the process so the employee will be favored for promotion and compensation benefits although he/she may be unsuitable for the benefits.

The third bias that negatively or positively affects the employees as a result of performance appraisal is the primacy effect. The appraisal evaluates the performance of an employee on the basis of one noticeable trait (Latham and Gary 2). The attribute depended on may not be adequate for assessing the overall performance and may work either at the advantage or disadvantage of the employee. The process also faces the challenge excess lenience or stiffness. The evaluator undertakes the task on the basis of his/her values, standards, physical and mental orientation. If the rater believes in the strict assessment, he/she will rate the candidates stiffly, but if the rater appraises following basis guideline, he/she will rate almost or all employees highly. This tendency renders the process ineffective because the ability of employees will not be determined which means that they will not receive training and development programs necessary for skills improvement.

In the army, positions are significant for soldiers whereas the personnel manager may exhibit central tendency when conducting performance appraisal. This means that all the staff will be rated as average employees which means that no one will be promoted (Latham and Gary 2). The manager uses this approach in order to be in harmony with the staff as no one will complain that they were unjustly appraised. This approach, however, is ineffective as it demotivated the staff because they will find no reason to work hard as no benefits will be accrued either in the form of promotion or compensation benefits.

The financial activities of the organization deal with payment of employees and determination of compensation plans (Gitman, Lawrence, Roger, and Jack). If soldiers are not well compensated, they will be distressed which will affect the performance. Distress leads to loss of concentration and terrible mistakes which is catastrophic especially in the arm which has the responsibility of maintaining the security of the country. It is therefore essential for the institution to not only pay the soldiers a reasonable salary but also offer training programs in financial wellbeing. This is because employees may find it difficult to talk to someone and seek advice even if they are in a financial mess. The personnel department can make use of the Employee Assistance Program which will help those in debt or are in a difficult financial position. The institution also can help the employees by applying the living wage whereby the salary each employee is paid matches the cost of living.

Conclusion

In conclusion, personnel and finance actions are essential for the wellbeing of individual's employees as well as the achievement of organizational objectives. If carried out effectively the personnel functions can be beneficial, but if there is bias, they will affect the employees' performance. If the financial actions do not take care of the financial wellbeing of the staff, they will experience stress which is catastrophic to the organization as they will not be productive. The army can, therefore, help the staff by making use of the employee assistance program. The most effective strategy, however, is to pay the living wage so that they can be able to cater for the cost of living.

Works Cited

Cole, Gerald A. Personnel and human resource management. Cengage Learning EMEA, 2002.

Gitman, Lawrence J., Roger Juchau, and Jack Flanagan. Principles of managerial finance. Pearson Higher Education AU, 2015.

Latham, Gary P. "Performance appraisal/performance management." Wiley Encyclopedia of Management (2015): 1-2.