The effective strategic management of human capital is the differentiator of every successful organization. This HRM-635: acquiring, developing, and leveraging human capital course examines talent management, workforce diversity, succession planning, employee development and motivation, and performance matrix. Additionally, it also addresses human resource competencies identified by the Society of HR Management (SHRM). Using the strong strategic HR acumen provided by this course, students will be well-prepared for positions as senior human resources specialists or as general managers. Do you need help with your HRM-635: acquiring, developing, and leveraging human capital assignment? Get help from our expert writers right here.
Table of Contents
What is human capital?
Human Capital is the amount or measure of the skills, education, capacity, and attributes of labor that influence their productive capacity and earning potential. In other words, human capital can be defined as the knowledge, skills, competencies, and other attributes embodied in individuals or groups of individuals acquired during their life and used to produce goods, services, or ideas in market circumstances.
Individual human capital refers to the skills and abilities of individual workers whereas human capital of the economy refers to the aggregate human capital of an economy, which will be determined by national educational standards.
How to measure human capital.
If you need to measure human capital for statistical purposes, you can use monetary terms as the potential future earnings of the working-age population. However, this will only capture part of the human capital.
Factors that determine human capital
- Skills and qualifications
- Education levels
- Work experience
- Social skills – communication
- Intelligence
- Emotional intelligence
- Judgment
- Personality – hard-working, harmonious in an office
- Habits and personality traits
- Ability to innovate new working practices/products.
- Fame and brand image of an individual. e.g. celebrities paid to endorse a product.
- Geography – Social peer pressure of the local environment can affect expectations and attitudes.
How to acquire human capital.
1. Specialization and division of labor.
Specialization enables healthcare providers to concentrate on specific tasks and increased the specialization of skills. However, specialization can also lead to boring, repetitive jobs and limited skill development of employees in healthcare organizations.
2. Education.
Basic education to improve literacy and numeracy has an important effect on human capital.
3. Vocational training.
Direct training for skills related to healthcare jobs such as nursing. A skilled profession like nursing requires particular vocational training.
4. Creating an environment of creativity.
Providing education and an environment that allows children and young people to think and be creative can increase human capital in a way that ‘rote learning’ and an impressive accumulation of facts may not. This may help to reduce the pressure of the shortage of healthcare providers in healthcare facilities around the world.
5. Infrastructure.
The infrastructure of an economy has an effect on human capital. Infrastructure such as good transport networks, communication, availability of mobile phones, and the internet is vital for the development of human capital in developing economies.
6. Competitiveness.
An environment that inspires self-employment and the creation of business enables greater use of potential human capital in an economy. On the other hand, an economy conquered by state monopolies is likely to restrain individual creativity and entrepreneurs which will negatively impact human capital.
Benefits of human capital.
Structural unemployment.
People whose human capital is inappropriate for modern employers, often struggle to find jobs.
Quality of employment.
High-skilled and creative workers have increased opportunities for self-employment or good employment contracts.
Economic growth and productivity.
Better educated, innovative, and creative staff can help increase labor productivity and economic growth. Moreover, long-term economic growth depends more on improvements in human capital.
Human capital flight.
Globalization has adverse effects on developing economies that lose their best human capital.
Limited raw materials.
Economic growth in countries with limited natural resources relies on high-skilled, innovative human capital to add value to raw materials in the manufacturing process.
