Small-
medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) have important strategic factors that must be
present to gain and retain a competitive edge. The most important factor is specialized
people with the skills to develop innovative solutions that provide competitive
advantages and increase the organization’s survival rate. SMEs account for 4.3% of the total land and
generate 29.4% of employment (Rivas, Cano & Mendoza, 2010). These figures represent not only high
productivity and the backbone of national activity, being the main providers of
large companies.
What is
the commonality among these SMEs? The commonality is human capital. More
specifically, organizational growth of SMEs, in large part is attributed to investing
in human capital through utilization of HR analytics/metrics, training and
development, performance management, etc. SMEs realize factors, i.e., training
and development, recruitment and retention systems, performance management
systems, progressive discipline systems are essential to achieving organizational
growth.
Padilla
and Juarez (2006) suggest human capital consists of primarily knowledge and
skills acquired through formal and informal education in the education system
and in the home. Human capital also is inclusive of training, experience and
mobility of the labor force. Developing human capital is inclusive of all
organization levels. Training and development all employees are
essential to achieving organization growth. Managers must be knowledgeable and
experienced in HR practices and procedures while managing employees and building
human capital. Some tools that are essential to effectively growing human
capital are:
* Effective human resource management (HRM)
policies and procedures
* HR analytic/metrics
* Effective job descriptions
* Progressive discipline systems
* Performance management systems
Are you utilizing these tools to increase
your organization’s human capital?
April D. Halliburton, President
All-4-HR & Business Solutionswebsite - http://www.all4hrbiz.net
email - aprilh@all4hrbiz.net
