HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

International and Comparative Human Resource Management

International and Comparative Human Resource Management

Introduction

In times gone by in bureaucratic organizational setting personnel management was the term used to indicate a constricted range of activities. Human Resource Management and personnel management more or less are the same things because they refer to the same set of management activities. In simple words these two terms complement each other and also emphasize on the various approaches that an organization uses to manage its human resource. Human resource management is very much an essential strategic management undertaking as compared to personnel management. The literature on HRM gives varieties of interpretations which makes defining HRM a bit complicated. But for the sake of Human Resource Management as Legge described it can be defined as human resource management approaches are resource centred approaches which mainly focus on the management needs and requirements of the human resources to be effectively met and deployed (1995, p. 75).

There is no hard and fast definition of this term but the changes in the organizational structures over the time has forced the concept of personnel management to change as well now it is referred to as the function of management or discreet department. So if this new evolved concept is followed it can be said that HRM highlights a close association with the organizational strategy. As compared to this view the traditional personnel management was a function that only hired or fired employees. But the human resource has now evolved to take into consideration more activities and operations than merely hrining and firing.

The Activities of Human Resource Management

As a field of management human resource management faces a lot of controversies and many competing theories and models. But surprisingly there is much less controversy on the contents that are included in the field of HRM. All the researchers agree on the fact that HRM contains a specific set of core activities and that there are standard general practises with each of these activities contain and must be followed to carry out these activities. These activities are as follows:

Human resource planning

training and development

recruitment and selection

job analysis

pay management

performance management and appraisal

career development

employee relations

The main job of HRM is to establish a link between the human resources and the organizational strategy and the HRM models do the job. Effective strategy implementation takes place when the people responsible for implementing it and making it work are motivated enough to do the job. Another challenging aspect of HRM is the culture of the organization. The element of challenge comes in when HRM department is tasked with implementing cultural change programs so that it is in line with a specific strategy. Simple remedy for this problem is training, communication and participation.

International Human Resource Management (IHRM)

In recent years a new body of practise and knowledge has emerged known as International Human Resource Management. Due to the internationalization of business large companies have shifted their production and marketing outside of their country if origin and this ...