What Is Human Resource

Management?
Beyond Hiring and Firing: What Is
Human Resource Management?
BY SUSAN M. HEATHFIELD Updated June 25, 2019

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an

organization that focuses on the recruitment of, management of, and
providing direction and guidance for the people who work in an
organization. As you can imagine, all of the processes and programs
that are touched by people are part of the HR kingdom. The workplace
processes that interact with customers and potential employees are
also components in the Human Resource (HR) world.

The HRM department members provide the knowledge, necessary

tools, training, administrative services, coaching, legal and
management advice, and talent management oversight that the rest of
the organization needs for successful operation.

Many HR departments are responsible for organization development

that generates the culture of the organization. They are charged with
oversight responsibilities to ensure that their organization
appropriately builds teams and inspires employee empowerment.

HR staff members are partially responsible for ensuring that the

organization has an overall mission, vision, and values that are shared
and provide an overarching reason for employees to want to work for
their organization. These elements are inspirational and help
employees feel as if they are part of something that is bigger than
themselves.

Additional activities sponsored by HR management can include

employee and community outreach. They are frequent mentors and
members of employee teams that address philanthropic giving,
employee engagement activities, and events that involve employee
families.

Human Resource Management and

Line Managers
HRM functions are also performed by line managers who are directly
responsible for the engagement, contribution, and productivity of their
reporting staff members. In a fully integrated talent management
system, the managers play a significant role in and take ownership
responsibility for the recruitment process. They are also responsible for
the ongoing development of and retention of superior employees.

Organizations also perform HRM functions and tasks by outsourcing

various components to outside suppliers and vendors. The tasks that
are most frequently outsourced are those that take HR time and
energy away from the HR activities that provide the most strategic
value to the company.

This outsourcing most frequently involves payroll functions, but

vendors and external consultants can help an organization with HRM in
many ways. Specifically, many HR departments outsource background
checking, benefits administration, training such as sexual harassment
training, temporary staffing, and the production of employee
handbooks, policy manuals, and affirmative action plans.

HRM's Changing Focus

HRM is the organizational function that deals with or provides
leadership and advice for dealing with all issues related to the people
in an organization. HRM, as such, deals with compensation, hiring,
performance management, organization development, safety,
wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication,
administration, and training.

HRM is also a strategic and comprehensive approach to managing

people and the workplace culture and environment. Effective HRM
enables employees to contribute effectively and productively to the
overall company direction and the accomplishment of the
organization's goals and objectives.

HRM is moving away from traditional personnel, administration, and

transactional roles, which are increasingly outsourced. The HRM
function is now expected to add value to the strategic utilization of
employees and to ensure that employee programs recommended and
implemented impact the business in positive measurable ways.

The New Expectations of HR

Gone are the days when HR staff received direction from the executive
team as to their priorities and needs. HR is now expected to sit at the
executive table and recommend processes, approaches, and business
solutions that improve the ability of the organization's people to
effectively contribute.

The new role of HRM involves strategic direction and HRM metrics and
measurements to demonstrate their value. Employees who work in
HRM must demonstrate their value by keeping their employer and
company safe from lawsuits and the resulting workplace chaos. They
must perform a balancing act to serve all of an organization's
stakeholders: customers, executives, owners, managers, employees,
and stockholders.

It is difficult to underestimate the importance of an effective, modern

HRM function within an organization. An employee who retired from
HRM twenty years ago would not recognize the competence and
capability of the best HRM organizations today. You can choose to
move your HRM function out of the dark days and into the light.
Organizations that do—are best served.

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-human-resource-
management-1918143

What is Human Resource?

Human resources is used to describe both the people who work for a
company or organization and the department responsible for managing
resources related to employees. The term human resources was first
coined in the 1960s when the value of labor relations began to garner
attention and when notions such as motivation, organizational
behavior, and selection assessments began to take shape.

Human resource management is a contemporary, umbrella term used

to describe the management and development of employees in an
organization. Also called personnel or talent management (although
these terms are a bit antiquated), human resource management
involves overseeing all things related to managing an organization’s
human capital.

Human resource management is therefore focused on a number of

major areas, including:

Recruiting and staffing

Compensation and benefits

Training and learning

Labor and employee relations

Organization development

Due to the many areas of human resource management, it is typical

for professionals in this field to possess specific expertise in one or
more areas. Just a few of the related career titles for HR professionals
include:

Training development specialist

HR manager

Benefits specialist

Human resource generalist

Employment services manager

Compensation and job analysis specialist

Training and development manager

Recruiter

Benefits counselor

Personnel analyst

A Closer Look at Human Resource

Management
Human resource management involves developing and administering
programs that are designed to increase the effectiveness of an
organization or business. It includes the entire spectrum of creating,
managing, and cultivating the employer-employee relationship.

For most organizations, agencies, and businesses, the human

resources department is responsible for:

Managing job recruitment, selection, and promotion

Developing and overseeing employee benefits and wellness programs

Developing, promoting, and enforcing personnel policies

Promoting employee career development and job training

Providing orientation programs for new hires

Providing guidance regarding disciplinary actions

Serving as a primary contact for work-site injuries or accidents

Human resource management is about:

Addressing current employee concerns: Unlike company managers who

oversee the day-to-day work of employees, HR departments deal with
employee concerns such as benefits, pay, employee investments,
pension plans, and training. Their work may also include settling
conflicts between employees or between employees and their
managers.

Acquiring new employees: The human resource management team

recruits potential employees, oversees the hiring process (background
checks, drug testing, etc.), and provides new employee orientation.

Managing the employee separation process: The HR management

team must complete a specific set of tasks if an employee quits, is
fired, or is laid off. Paperwork must be completed to ensure that the
process was completed legally. Severance pay may be offered or
negotiated, benefits must be settled, and access to company resources
must be severed via the collection of keys, badges, computers, or
sensitive materials from the employee.

Improving morale: Effective HR teams encourage company employees

to do their best, which contributes to the overall success of the
company. Their work often involves rewarding employees for good
performance and creating a positive work environment.

The Changing Shape of Human

Resource Management
Human resource management involves both strategic and
comprehensive approaches to managing people, as well as workplace
culture and environment.

The role of human resources professionals is to ensure that a

company’s most important asset—its human capital—is being nurtured
and supported through the creation and management of programs,
policies, and procedures, and by fostering a positive work environment
through effective employee-employer relations.

The concept behind human resource management is that employees

who are subject to effective human resource management are able to
more effectively and productively contribute to a company’s overall
direction, thereby ensuring that company goals and objectives are
accomplished.

Today’s human resource management team is responsible for much

more than traditional personnel or administrative tasks. Instead,
members of a human resource management team are more focused on
adding value to the strategic utilization of employees and ensuring
that employee programs are impacting the business in positive and
measurable ways.

An August 2014 Forbes article explored the shifting goal of today’s

human resource management teams. More specifically, the article
found that HR teams focused on things that don’t add true value to the
organization are often deemed reactive, uncreative, and lacking basic
business understanding. On the other hand, HR professionals who want
to be recognized as true business partners must see themselves as
business people who specialize in HR, not as HR people who advise a
business.

Todays’ human resources managers/business partners must

understand the workings of the business and be able to comfortably
speak the language of business leaders in order to have a measured
and proven impact on business objectives.

The Agenda of Today’s Human

Resource Management Team
Today’s HR management team must focus their efforts on five, critical
areas, according to the Forbes article:

Define and align organizational purpose: A company’s employees must

be able to clearly articulate why the company exists in order to achieve
a purpose-driven, sustainable, high-performing organization.
Employees must also understand how their efforts connect, or align,
with the organization’s purpose.

Recruit the best talent by creating, marketing, and selling an Employee

Value Proposition (EVP): False marketing and misconceptions about an
organization are some of the main reasons why the employer-
employee relationship fails. Therefore, companies must create, market,
and sell an EVP that is true and accurate as to not mislead potential
employees.

Focus on employee strengths: Companies must make every effort to

understand what candidates and employees do best and put them into
roles where they can play to their strengths as much as possible.

Create organizational alignment: Achievements must align with the

organization’s objectives so as to build a successful and sustainable
organization.

Accurately measure the same things: All internal departments and

employees must be measuring the same things as to achieve a
definitive organizational result and to ensure that everyone knows
exactly where the organization is at all times.

https://www.humanresourcesedu.org/what-is-human-resources/

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the term used to describe

formal systems devised for the management of people within an
organization. The responsibilities of a human resource manager fall
into three major areas: staffing, employee compensation and benefits,
and defining/designing work. Essentially, the purpose of HRM is to
maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the
effectiveness of its employees. This mandate is unlikely to change in
any fundamental way, despite the ever-increasing pace of change in
the business world. As Edward L. Gubman observed in the Journal of
Business Strategy, "the basic mission of human resources will always
be to acquire, develop, and retain talent; align the workforce with the
business; and be an excellent contributor to the business. Those three
challenges will never change."

Until fairly recently, an organization's human resources department

was often consigned to lower rungs of the corporate hierarchy, despite
the fact that its mandate is to replenish and nourish what is often
cited-;legitimately-;as an organization's greatest resource, it's work
force. But in recent years recognition of the importance of human
resources management to a company's overall health has grown
dramatically. This recognition of the importance of HRM extends to
small businesses, for while they do not generally have the same
volume of human resources requirements as do larger organizations,
they too face personnel management issues that can have a decisive
impact on business health. As Irving Burstiner commented in The Small
Business Handbook, "Hiring the right people-;and training them
well-;can often mean the difference between scratching out the barest
of livelihoods and steady business growth'¦. Personnel problems do not
discriminate between small and big business. You find them in all
businesses, regardless of size."

PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT
Business consultants note that modern human resource management is guided by several
overriding principles. Perhaps the paramount principle is a simple recognition that human
resources are the most important assets of an organization; a business cannot be successful
without effectively managing this resource. Another important principle, articulated by Michael
Armstrong in his book A Handbook of Human Resource Management, is that business success "is
most likely to be achieved if the personnel policies and procedures of the enterprise are closely
linked with, and make a major contribution to, the achievement of corporate objectives and
strategic plans." A third guiding principle, similar in scope, holds that it is the HR's responsibility
to find, secure, guide, and develop employees whose talents and desires are compatible with
the operating needs and future goals of the company. Other HRM factors that shape corporate
culture-;whether by encouraging integration and cooperation across the company, instituting
quantitative performance measurements, or taking some other action-;are also commonly cited
as key components in business success. HRM, summarized Armstrong, "is a strategic approach to
the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the organization's human
resources. It is devoted to shaping an appropriate corporate culture, and introducing programs
which reflect and support the core values of the enterprise and ensure its success."

POSITION AND STRUCTURE OF HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT
Human resource department responsibilities can be subdivided into three areas:
individual, organizational, and career. Individual management entails helping employees
identify their strengths and weaknesses; correct their shortcomings; and make their best
contribution to the enterprise. These duties are carried out through a variety of activities
such as performance reviews, training, and testing. Organizational development,
meanwhile, focuses on fostering a successful system that maximizes human (and other)
resources as part of larger business strategies. This important duty also includes the
creation and maintenance of a change program, which allows the organization to
respond to evolving outside and internal influences. Finally, there is the responsibility of
managing career development. This entails matching individuals with the most suitable
jobs and career paths within the organization.

https://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/human-resource-management.html

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management is the process of recruiting, selecting, inducting
employees, providing orientation, imparting training and development, appraising the
performance of employees, deciding compensation and providing benefits, motivating
employees, maintaining proper relations with employees and their trade unions,
ensuring employees safety, welfare and healthy measures in compliance with labour
laws of the land.
Human Resource Management involves management functions like planning, organizing,
directing and controlling

It involves procurement, development, maintenance of human resource

It helps to achieve individual, organizational and social objectives

Human Resource Management is a multidisciplinary subject. It includes the study of

management, psychology, communication, economics and sociology.

It involves team spirit and team work.

It is a continuous process.

Human resource management as a department in an organisation handles all aspects of

employees and has various functions like human resource planning, Conducting Job
analysis, recruitment and conducting job interviews, selection of human resources,
Orienting , training, compensating,Providing benefits and incentives, appraising,
retaining,Career planning, Quality of Work Life, Employee Discipline, black out Sexual
Harassments, human resource auditing, maintenance of industrial relationship, looking
after welfare of employees and safety issues , communicating with all employees at all
levels and maintaining awareness of and compliance with local, state and federal labor
laws.

The historical rule of thumb for Human Resource staffing requirements is one full-time
professional Human Resource person should be hired for every 100 employees. The
actual ratio for a business can vary depending upon factors such as the degree of HR
centralization, the geographic distribution of the employees served, the sophistication
level of the employees, and the relative complexity of the organization.
What is the importance of Human resource?
Behind production of every product or service there is an human mind, effort and man
hours (working hours). No product or service can be produced without help of human
being. Human being is fundamental resource for making or construction of anything.
Every organisation desire is to have skilled and competent people to make their
organisation competent and best.

Among the five Ms of management, i.e., men, money, machines, materials, and
methods, HRM deals about the first M, which is men. It is believed that in the five Ms,
"men" is not so easy to manage. "every man is different from other" and they are totally
different from the other Ms in the sense that men possess the power to manipulate the
other Ms. Whereas, the other Ms are either lifeless or abstract and as such, do not have
the power to think and decide what is good for them.

Why do we call it as Human Resource

Management?
Human: refers to the skilled workforce in an organization.

Resource: refers to limited availability or scarce.

Management: refers how to optimize and make best use of such limited or scarce
resource so as to meet the organization goals and objectives.

Therefore, human resource management is meant for proper utilisation of available

skilled workforce and also to make efficient use of existing human resource in the
organisation. The best example in present situation is, construction industry has been
facing serious shortage of skilled workforce. It is expected to triple in the next decade
from the present 30 per cent, will negatively impact the overall productivity of the
sector, warn industry experts.

Today many experts claim that machines and technology are replacing human resource
and minimizing their role or effort. However, machines and technology are built by the
humans only and they need to be operated or at least monitored by humans and this is
the reason why companies are always in hunt for talented, skilled and qualified
professionals for continuous development of the organization.

Therefore humans are crucial assets for any organisation, although today many tasks
have been handing over to the artificial intelligence but they lack judgement skills which
cannot be matched with human mind.

"The automation of factories has already decimated jobs in traditional manufacturing,

and the rise of artificial intelligence is likely to extend this job destruction deep into the
middle classes, with only the most caring, creative or supervisory roles remaining"
-British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking`

It is undisputed fact that humans are being replaced by artificial intelligence which are in
the form of robots. But all jobs cannot be handed over to Robots, to say in other words
robots have its own limitations and all roles cannot be handled by robots.Though British
theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking,Cambridge professor expressed about destruction
of middle-class jobs due to raise of artificial intelligence,he still felt that natural
intelligence or need for application of human mind is inevitable in certain roles.

Great Quotations on human resource

"You must treat your employees with respect and dignity because in the most
automated factory in the world, you need the power of human mind. That is what brings
in innovation. If you want high quality minds to work for you, then you must protect the
respect and dignity. " ---Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Ltd .

“Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human
mind is our fundamental resource.”

- John F. Kennedy (35th President of the United States).

Human Resource Management Definitions by

Authors
Many great scholars had defined human resource management in different ways and with
different words, but the core meaning of the human resource management deals with how to
manage people or employees in the organisation.

Edwin Flippo defines- Human Resource Management as “planning, organizing, directing,

controlling of procurement, development, compensation, integration , maintenance and
separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and social objectives
are achieved.”

The National Institute of Personal Management (NIPM) of India has defined human resources –
personal management as “that part of management which is concerned with people at work and
with their relationship within an enterprise. Its aim is to bring together and develop into an
effective organization of the men and women who make up enterprise and having regard for the
well – being of the individuals and of working groups, to enable them to make their best
contribution to its success”.

According to Decenzo and Robbins, “Human Resource Management is concerned with the
people dimension” in management. Since every organization is made up of people, acquiring
their services, developing their skills, motivating them to higher levels of performance and
ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization is essential to
achieve organsational objectives. This is true, regardless of the type of organization –
government, business, education, health or social action”.

Evolution of Human resource management

Human resource management is evolved form the Personnel management which was
erstwhile management system which used to manage employees. To know evolution of
personnel management one needs to see the history of centuries of research by great
psychologists on human human behaviour and their response at particular situations.
One among them was Elton Mayo who was a psychologists from the Australia, did many
experiments on human behaviour at different situations in 1924. He strongly believed in
work life balance for improving productivity of workers and did emphasis on human
relations influence the productivity of workers and finally he has been regarded as father
of Human resources management.

Going back to roots of evolution Personnel management , Robert Owen was regarded as
creator and originator for introducing reforms for workers in his own Lanark cotton mills.
He created a principle of 8 hours day work, 8 hours rest and 8 hours sleep. Owen
identified the importance of better working conditions at workplace and its impact on
the productivity and efficiency of the workers. Owen after implementation of better
working conditions at workplace, he observed change in the productivity of his workers
as their efficiency increased. He in those olden days implemented many social and
welfare practices for his workers and saw his workers got happy, motivated and worked
better. Therefore he was referred as father of Personnel management.

It's believed that the first personnel management department (later evolved as Human
resource management) began at the National Cash Register Co. in the early 1900s,
according to an Human Resource Magazine article. After several strikes and employee
lockouts, NCR leader John H. Patterson organized a personnel department to handle
grievances, discharges, and safety, as well as training for supervisors on new laws and
practices.

Historical Milestones In Hrm Development >>

The Historical Background Of Human Resource Management >>

Father of Personnel Management >>

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the world's largest HR department.
OPM provides Human Resource services for the federal governments workforce of
nearly 2.8 million workers. It's staff carry out the tasks to recruit, interview, and promote
employees; oversee merit pay, benefits and retirement programs; and ensure that all
employees and applicants are treated fairly and according to the law.

What is the purpose of Human resource

management?
The purpose of the Human resource management is to make the job and deal with the job
holder (employee). So as to perform a job in an organisation, one needs to be identified. In order
to identify right person for a particular job, notification should be issued which contains job
description ( duties and responsibilities) and specifications ( academic qualifications and physical
qualifications). So as to verify the correctness of the candidates invited, they should be tested by
the suitable selection methods for picking-up right person. Subsequently selected candidates
should be provided with the proper training for performing his duties & responsibilities
mentioned in the notification. Later, assessment of employees' performance should be done to
know whether employees are performing to the desired standards set by the management.
Accordingly employees should be rewarded or paid for the job they did in the organisation and
their safety in the job is the responsibility of Hr manager or safety officer who should instruct
safety measures for the employees and see that they are scrupulously followed. Healthy and
welfare measures are so-so important to keep employees happy and motivated which has direct
impact on their productivity. Doing so all, maintaining proper and healthy relationships between
employees and management avoids conflicts which will effect the overall performance of the
organisation. Most important thing is adherence and not to ignore employment and labour laws
which govern all the above said activities for a job. Contravenes of employment laws will cost to
the organisation and its branding. Hence the Human resource management is like a guardian
angel for the organisation to sail smoothly and long-live.

The ten "Cs" of human resources management are: cost effectiveness, competitive, coherence,
credibility, communication, creativity, competitive advantage, competence, change, and
commitment. The ten "Cs" framework was developed by Alan Price in his book "Human
Resource Management in a Business Context".

Why Is Human Resource Management Important to

All Managers?
Why are these concepts and techniques important to all managers? ' Perhaps it's easier to
answer this by listing some of the personnel mistakes you don't want to make while managing.
For example, you don't want to:
Hire the wrong person for the job.

Experience high turnover

Have your people not doing their best

Waste time with useless interviews

Have your company taken to court because of discriminatory actions

Have your company cited under federal occupational safety laws for unsafe practices

Have some employees think their salaries are unfair and inequitable relative to others in the
organization

Allow a lack of training to undermine your department's effectiveness

Commit any unfair labor practices

http://www.whatishumanresource.com/human-resource-management