MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by studying and analysing various aspects of Human Resource Management and Personnel Management. Initially, the paper discusses and distinguishes between Human Resource Management and Personnel Management. It then describes the various tasks, activities and roles carried out by the Human Resource practitioner. Lastly, the paper explains the responsibilities and role of line managers in Human Resource practices.

Personnel Management and Human Resource Management

Personnel Management is the branch of management concerned with administering the employment relationship and with achieving effective use of the human resources available to the organization. The rationale for employing personnel managers is that specialized knowledge of aspects of 'people management' - recruitment and selection, training, performance appraisal, welfare, payment systems, labour law, industrial relations - will lead to better managerial and organizational performance. High standards of management in these areas will reduce certain potential costs such as those arising from absenteeism, labour turnover and industrial disputes. Personnel management typically involves routine administration of employment matters, for example maintenance of personnel records, provision of specialized advice on personnel issues to other managers, creation of procedures (for example disciplinary procedures) to guide and control the activities of these managers and, in some cases, conduct of collective bargaining with trade unions. Often people management is largely undertaken by others, such as line managers; the objective of personnel managers is usually to ensure that these managers act consistently and equitably the full range of personnel activities, be they undertaken by personnel managers or others, is known as the personnel function (Snell & Bohlander, 2012, pp. 22-36). In the United Kingdom personnel management developed out of the industrial welfare movement earlier in the twentieth century. These origins, coupled with the emphasis in personnel management on fairness (in part for good business reasons), lead some managers to view personnel managers with suspicion. They are sometimes seen as 'soft' on the workers and as not 'proper' managers. In part this may also be due to resentment at the interference of personnel managers in what they view as their area of decision-making. These attitudes are reflected in status insecurity amongst some personnel managers; they feel that they stand midway between workers and management, and are not properly part of either (Weber, 1994, pp. 212-219).

One development that has raised the status of personnel management in the United Kingdom in recent years is the emergence of human resource management. Some argue that HRM is nothing new; it is simply personnel management with a new title, adopted by personnel managers to advance their interests. Others argue that human resource management does possess distinctive characteristics. These include greater sophistication in the use of personnel techniques (for example wider adoption of psychological tests in employee selection); a concern with resource maximization (exemplified in an emphasis on training and management development) rather than the traditional one of cost minimization; and a closer integration of personnel management activity with business ...