HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management



Human Resource Management

Introduction

Human resource management (HRM), or human resource development, entails planning, implementing, and managing recruitment, as well as selection, training, career, and organizational development initiatives within an organization. The goal of HRM is to maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees while simultaneously improving the work life of employees and treating employees as valuable resources. Consequently, HRM encompasses efforts to promote personal development, employee satisfaction, and compliance with employment-related laws.

To achieve equilibrium between employer and employee goals and needs, HRM departments focus on these three general functions or activities: planning, implementation, and evaluation. The planning function refers to the development of human resource policies and regulations. Human resource managers attempt to determine future HRM activities and plan for the implementation of HRM procedures to help companies realize their goals.

Implementation of HRM plans involves four primary activities: acquisition, development, compensation, and maintenance. Acquisition entails the hiring of workers most likely to help a company attain its goals. The development function encompasses the training of workers to perform their tasks in accordance with company strategy. This activity also involves company efforts to control and change employee behavior via reviews, appraisals, incentives, and discipline. Compensation covers the payment of employees for their services. Maintenance requires structuring labor relations—the interaction between a company's management and its unionized employees—and ensuring compliance with federal and state employment laws. Finally, the evaluation function includes the assessment of a company's HRM policies to determine whether they are effective.

The Focus of Hrm

Businesses and organizations rely on three major resources: physical resources, such as materials and equipment; financial resources, including cash, credit, and debt; and human resources or workers. In its broadest sense, HRM refers to the management of all decisions within an organization that are related to people. In practice, however, HRM is a tool used to try to make optimum use of human resources, to foster individual development, and to comply with government mandates. Larger organizations typically have an HRM department and its primary objective is making company goals compatible with employee goals insofar as possible. Hence, for a company to attain its goals, it must have employees who will help it attain them.

Towards this end, R. Wayne Pace, writing in Human Resource Development, identifies seven underlying assumptions that provide a foundation and direction for HRM. First is the acknowledgment of individual worth, suggesting that companies recognize and value individual contributions. Second is that employees are resources who can learn new skills and ideas and can be trained to occupy new positions in the organization. Third is that quality of work life is a legitimate concern, and that employees have a right to safe, clean, and pleasant surroundings. A fourth assumption is the need for continuous learning; talents and skills must be continually refined in the long-term interests of the organization.

The Role, Position, and Structure of HRM Departments

In Personnel Management, Paul S. Greenlaw and John P. Kohl describe three distinct, interrelated fields of interest addressed by ...