Human Resources Management

The term ‘HR’ stands for Human Resources.The definition of Human Resource is something like this : Human Resource are the workforce or staff who occupy certain job to perform certain duties and responsibilities.

The term Personnel Management, was a traditional term, used in the past to regulate the administrative and managerial activities of an organization. With the due course of time , the term Personnel management became obsolete and substituted with the term Human Resource.Behind the production of every product or service there is human mind,effort and working hours . Whereas personnel management is about the maintenance of personnel and administrative systems. HR is pro active than Personnel Management primarily concerned with management of people within the organization focusing on policies and systems.

With the changing environment the term ‘Human Resources’ is substantial with the term ‘Human Resource Development’ to define a series of organised activities conducted within an organization. After a lot of analysis and debate, scholars reached at a point in 21st century where concept of Human Resource Management(HRM) is designed and introduced. Though they possesses similar characteristics they are different to each other. We must aware that HRM is strategic in nature I.e., being concerned with directly assisting an organization to gain sustained competitive advantage.Scope of HRM is wider as compared to HRD.HRM is a subset of entire management process of an organization. HRD is a subset of HRM.The concept of HRD is needed by any organisation that wants to be dynamic and growth oriented or to be succeed first in changing environment.

The objectives of HRM span right of the manpower needs and assessment to management and retention of the same. The scope of HRM is not just limited that manage and optimally exploit human intellect but also focuses management physical and emotional capital of employees.Considering the intercacies involved, the scope of HRM is widening with every passing day . In present day HRM is an essential function of both public and private sector of organization. Whatever an organization does, human beings are essential to its success. “Humans are an organization’s greatest asset. Any organization and endeavor that operates in the realm of commerce requires human beings. Accordingly, HRM becomes essential to all managers.HRM is essential to an organization because of the many different roles it plays. On one hand, human resources management helps to oversee the process of hiring and finding the best people who can make an organization be successful and establish new horizons for success. At the same time, human resources management is essential to ensuring that the workplace in which these individuals work is conducive to allowing these individuals to work at their best. As the modern work setting is becoming increasingly diverse, human resources management is committed to ensuring that this diversity in all forms is understood in the modern workplace. At the same time, human resources management is critical in seeing that people who work in an organization can engage in professional development and reflection that will make them more effective contributors to the organization’s strength. In these ways, human resources management is vital to any organization’s hopes for success and viability in the modern marketplace.

In recent decades, the organization has become more resource centric , it has become imperative to put “people first”. This has led to the development of the modern HRM function which is primarily concerned with ensuring the fulfillment of management objectives and at the same time ensuring that the needs of the resources are taken care of. In this way, HRM differs from personnel management not only in its broader scope but also in the way in which its mission is defined. HRM goes beyond the administrative tasks of personnel management and encompasses a broad vision of how management would like the resources to contribute to the success of the organization.It is from this motivation to be at the top of the pack that HRM becomes a valuable tool for management to ensure success.

In conclusion, the practice of HRM needs to be integrated with the overall strategy to ensure effective use of people and provide better returns to the organizations in terms of ROI (Return on Investment) for every penny spent on them. Unless the HRM practice is designed in this way, the firms stand to lose from not utilizing people fully. And this does not fare well for the success of the organization.It is rightly said by John Ruskin “The highest reward for work for a person’s toil is not what they get for it but what they become by it”

– Debleena Sinha