One of the major reasons for the changing role of human resources is diversity.

The labor force continues to grow more diverse. Companies that understand the strengths and weaknesses of people of different ages, races, and gender benefit in the short and long term. But the responsibility for recruiting a diverse work force and placing people where they most benefit the company and themselves falls on human resource managers and workers.

I’ve written several posts that relate to the changing role of human resources and diversity. This post organizes and links to those posts to aid human resource personnel in helping their companies develop a more diverse and better positioned work force.

Changing Role Of Human Resources Importance Of Market Segmentation

This post on Employee & Service Marketing & HRM Need Market Segmentation discusses the importance of market segmentation for human resource managers.

It concentrates on improving their employee & service marketing along with human resources. But it focuses on how market segmentation can help human resource workers to place and work with people so that they are happy and successful. Then they contribute to a positive image of the company and aid its marketing.

So using market segmentation to better understand diverse employees can help with recruiting, retention, and marketing.

Changing Role Of Human Resources
Race, Age And Gender Diversity

Although this post on diversity, age and gender statistics is written for business owners, it is relevant to human resource personnel who want to better understand, hire and place diverse employees.

Again it uses market segmentation to help better understand people who differ by race, age and gender.

Race includes race, national origin and cultural differences. Not only is it illegal to discriminate by race, but not hiring and supporting personnel who differ by race often harms a company’s marketing and business success.

The same is true of age and gender. Utilizing the differences in people by age and gender helps a company to compete better in today’s competitive environment.

Changing Role Of Human Resources
Race

This post concentrates on market segmentation by race and notes the importance of understanding differences between and within race market segments.

Although it concentrates on how race influences marketing, it also notes five myths that can damage human resource departments and keep them from building diverse personnel.

It links to target market profiles for African, Arab, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans. These profiles provide psychographic characteristics for each race that add to human resource managers’ abilities to hire across races.

Changing Role Of Human Resources
Age

Market Segmentation by Age

This post introduces market segmentation by age. It provides short descriptions of four generations and a list of life stages based on age market segments. It helps human resources personnel to better understand differences in people by age.

Knowing such differences can greatly enhance human resources personnel to effectively recruit and hire people in the generation and life stage that best matches the needs of a job.

Changing Role Of Human Resources
Gender

Gender is an important market segment and when used in market segmentation reveals differences in the way that men and women respond to different appeals.

Men and women differ by learned socialized differences and by born physiological differences. In addition, women are different from one another as are men.

This post tells a story about my great grandmother to illustrate how stereotypes of a gender can hinder diversity.

Changing Role Of Human Resources
Conclusion

This page provides a good conclusion on the changing role of human resources and diversity. It relates market segmentation specifically to human resource managers and notes benefits of using market segmentation to better recruit and hire diverse people.

All companies must embrace diversity in order to be successful in today’s competitive environment.

It’s up to human resources personnel to assure that diverse people can make the contributions that their companies need.

If you need more help with managing employees, see Employee Performance Review: Tips, Templates & Tactics. It includes  an e-manual and 8 bonus training MP3s to teach managers how to conduct performance appraisals.

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Posted 5-27-09:
The Changing Role Of Human Resources = Diversity

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 6:24 am and is filed under Employees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.