what is human resource management essay

what is human resource management essay

The Importance and Evolution of Human Resource Management

1. Introduction to Human Resource Management

For decades, human resource management or personnel management deals with the process of managing employees and continuously facilitating the human resource to the organization, which is their employees. These terms refer to the discipline specifically directed to the individuals employed within the organization. There is obviously a long-standing literature in management that deals with the management of human resources in the organizational context.

The field of human resource management (HRM) has evolved over the last sixty years. The term HRM or human resource management has superseded personnel management, which evolved from the term “poorisesortio”. HRM is a rapidly growing academic field and is a unique field with many foundations from other disciplines. HRM is relatively young and derives its lineage from Industrial Relations, Industrial Psychology, Human Resource Management, and Personnel Management.

2. Key Functions and Responsibilities of HRM

Now, we have organizations that are run by professional human resources employees, sometimes titled Vice President of Human Resources. For such an arrangement to work, the professionals must work to enable and promote the business. In this role, the professionals stand as allies, advocates, or agents who attempt to control when a student is in training. The HR department or person is there to provide services for the other parts of the organization – basically, they do not play a major role in the strategic planning process because they are not a participant in the decision. In this role, the professional is on the outside for the most part, working as a specialist facilitator and mediator. This position can work, but to be most effective, the HR professional needs knowledge of the basic business details. They need to understand the bottom line of the organization. Furthermore, this role tends to diminish if not respond to changes with the concerns and requests from key clients – mainly the other departments.

Since a lot of the employment statistics are maintained by the government, there is little data historically about how the responsibilities and functions have changed over time. However, some data has emerged over the years that project and show the importance of HRM functions, how they are employed, and most of all, the future skill demands on HR professionals. These new responsibilities reflect a new understanding that strategic human resource management decisions require simultaneously complex organizational restructuring and management – critical balancing. The new HRM professionals are concerned with company strategy and business knowledge to a much greater extent than personnel.

The HRM function of today is quite complex and broad. HRM has a range of functions and responsibilities, including: recruitment and selection, developing employment policies in organizations, organization design, compensation, performance appraisal, training and personnel management, safety and health. These functions and responsibilities have changed and evolved with the demand of the marketplace – driven in all three sectors – private, public, and not-for-profit – by rapid technological and social change, coupled with changes in the balance of power between organizations and their employees. These functions and responsibilities have evolved from people attempting to manage the work of other people in exchange for a wage or salary to what we see today with the full delivery of HR products and services that allow the organization to achieve its goals while seeking employee satisfaction and development.

3. Evolution of HRM Practices

Recruitment and selection procedures, evolved over many years with the aim of improving the quality of the workforce, were not often evaluated for a variety of political reasons; but, when they were evaluated, the criteria for the evaluations were often colored by convenience, rather than concern for the consequences of such policies and practices. When affirmative action began to emerge as a potent force, personnel researchers suddenly found themselves under political siege, and found (to their consternation) that ethnic-group membership can become an obsession akin to workers not paid. Workers from firms bound into a community of shared belief and mutual concern that transcend ethnic differences, and from the shape of management’s suddenly earnest solicitude. But, regardless of the measure of the difference between old kind of uniform-management and new-kinds-called-for management, it is quite certain that the movement to manage people on principles rather than personality is afoot. Much interesting innovation has already occurred; and in this book, we shall take a look at some examples, analyze our own data bearing on some of these issues, and suggest some directions for further research.

HRM research over the past twenty-five years has grown into one of the most exciting rather recently. The earlier personnel administration had its auditing, accounting, and record-keeping functions emphasized, largely on account of threats from hostile legal action and the demands for protection from an increasingly assertive labor union. These defensive tactics did not win much support among top management, however, whose primary purpose and perspective were primarily in terms of assuring the supply of personnel needed for the continued effectiveness of the enterprise. There were many fusty jokes about the interest in people when that interest was measured by lavatory and lunchroom facilities. The punch line to many jokes about the personnel department and its role in industry was the lament that whenever difficult or important decision had to be made, line management proved its courage and determination by changing the specifications of the water cooler.

4. Challenges and Future Trends in HRM

Indeed, HRM professionals should focus on two concerns: first, the position of HRM in the organization. It should be the strategic HRM development as the operational linkage between HRM and the business objectives. Organizations are seeking to specifically link the HRM functions in order to achieve business strategies. HR departments are expected to take on the role of helping workforces develop a strategic edge while at the same time applying corporate policies and values. Second, this orientation requires an innovative HRM management process to enhance motivation, creativity, and thoughtfulness. Receipt processes will have to ensure that the organization no longer wastes the skills and talents of its employees.

In the rapidly changing business environment, “the only constant is change.” An organization’s HR function plays a vital role in helping a company respond to these and other challenges. Moreover, a number of challenges should be considered in the future of HRM development. In part, HR departments will have to define roles for the challenges of these closely linked factors.