Meaning & Concept of Human Resource Management

Meaning & Concept of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management is the process of recruitment, selection of employee, providing proper orientation and induction, providing proper training and the developing skills, assessment of employee (performance of appraisal), providing proper compensation and benefits, motivating, maintaining proper relations with labour and with trade unions, maintaining employee’s safety, welfare and health by complying with labour laws of concern state or country.

Why name human resource management?

Human:                refer to the skilled workforce in the organisation.

Resource:            refer to limited availability or scarce.

Management:    refer to maximise or proper utilisation and make best use of limited and a scarce

                                resource.

Altogether, human resource management is the process of proper and maximise utilisation of available limited skilled workforce. The core purpose of the human resource management is to make efficient use of existing human resource in the organisation. The Best example at present situation is, construction industry has been facing serious shortage of skilled workforce. It is expected to triple in the next decade from the present 30 per cent, will negatively impact the overall productivity of the sector, warn industry experts.
Every organisations' desire is to have skilled and competent people to make their organisation more effective than their competitors. Humans are very important assets for the organisation rather than land and buildings, without employees (humans) no activity in the organisation can be done. Machines are meant to produce more goods with good quality but they should get operated by the human only. 

HRM is more elaborated by -Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Ltd >> "you must treat your employees with respect and dignity because in the most automated factory in the world, you need the power of human mind. That is what brings in innovation. If you want high quality minds to work for you, then you must protect the respect and dignity. "

Definitions of HRM

 Many great scholars had defined human resource management in different ways and with different words, but the core meaning of the human resource management deals with how to manage people or employees in the organisation.

Edwin Flippo defines- HRM as “planning, organizing, directing, controlling of procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and social objectives are achieved.” 

The National Institute of Personal Management (NIPM) of India has defined human resources – personal management as “that part of management which is concerned with people at work and with their relationship within an enterprise. Its aim is to bring together and develop into an effective organization of the men and women who make up enterprise and having regard for the well – being of the individuals and of working groups, to enable them to make their best contribution to its success”.

According to Decenzo and Robbins, “HRM is concerned with the people dimension in management. Since every organization is made up of people, acquiring their services, developing their skills, motivating them to higher levels of performance and ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization is essential to achieve organsational objectives. This is true, regardless of the type of organization – government, business, education, health or social action”.

OBJECTIVES OF HRM

Societal objective - To be socially responsible to the needs and challenges of society while minimizing the negative impact of such demands upon the organization. The failure of organizations to use their resources for society's benefit may result in restrictions. For example, societies may pass laws that limit human resource decisions. 

Organizational objective - To recognizes that HRM exists to contribute to organizational effectiveness. HRM is not an end in itself; it is only a means to assist the organization with its primary objectives. Simply stated, the department exists to serve the rest of the organization.

Functional objective - To maintain the department's contribution at a level appropriate to the organisation's needs. Resources are wasted when HRM is more or less sophisticated than the organisation demands. A department's level of service must be appropriate for the organisation it serves. 

Personal objective - To assist employees in achieving their personal goals, at least insofar as these goals enhance the individual's contribution to the organisation. Personal objectives of employees must be met if workers are to be maintained, retained and motivated. Otherwise, employee performance and satisfaction may decline, and employees may leave the organisation.

Advantages/benefits/Significance/importance/need of HRM

Human Resource Management becomes significant for business organization due to the following reasons.

• Objective: - Human Resource Management helps a company to achieve its objective from time to time by creating a positive attitude among workers. Reducing wastage and making maximum use of resources etc. 
• Facilitates professional growth: - Due to proper Human Resource policies employees are trained well and this makes them ready for future promotions. Their talent can be utilized not only in the company in which they are currently working but also in other companies which the employees may join in the future.
• Better relations between union and management: - Healthy Human Resource Management practices can help the organization to maintain co-ordinal relationship with the unions. Union members start realizing that the company is also interested in the workers and will not go against them therefore chances of going on strike are greatly reduced.
• Helps an individual to work in a team/group: - Effective Human Resource practices teach individuals team work and adjustment. The individuals are now very comfortable while working in team thus team work improves.
• Identifies person for the future: - Since employees are constantly trained, they are ready to meet the job requirements. The company is also able to identify potential employees who can be promoted in the future for the top level jobs. Thus one of the advantages of HRM is preparing people for the future.
• Allocating the jobs to the right person: - If proper recruitment and selection methods are followed, the company will be able to select the right people for the right job. When this happens the number of people leaving the job will reduce as the will be satisfied with their job leading to decrease in labour turnover.

Functions of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management (HRM) is all about balancing the organization’s people and processes to best achieve the goals and the strategies of the organization, as well as the goals and the needs of employees. The main role an HR manager has to fulfill is integrating business operations and strategies across a wide array of culture, products, and ideas, while effectively delegating work among human resource specialists and line management.

Apart from being concerned with local issues of employees, HR must also consider these five basic functions and effects of workforce diversity, legal restriction, performance management, training and professional development of the organization.

1. Recruitment

A great deal of attention and resources is required to attract, hire and retain an experienced, committed and well-motivated workforce. This is perhaps one of the most basic HR functions. There are several elements to this task such as developing a job description, advertising the job postings, screening applicants, conducting interviews, making offers and negotiating salaries and benefits. Companies that value their people put a serious amount of investment in recruiting and staffing services. As the right set of talented employees can not only raise the companies profile but also help it achieve profitability and keep it running effectively and successfully.

2. Training and Development

The HR department is responsible for providing on-the-job as well as refresher training for all employees (newly hired and existing) alike. This is the second most important function and lack of training opportunities only increases frustration levels among employees. So, training systems must be streamlined across all locations in order to make communication and sharing of resources a convenient task. Measurement and monitoring is another vital aspect of training in order to foster adoption of their new skills.

3. Professional Development

Effective HR departments allow and encourage the employees with opportunities for growth,leadership training and education, which in turn contribute to the success of the company. Sponsoring for career advancement seminars, training, corporate social responsibilities and trade shows will make employees feel important and cared for by the team and organization.

4. Benefits and Compensation

A company is more likely to be successful, if it adapts new ways of providing benefits to employees. Some non-traditional benefits that can attract and retain new skilled employees are:

• Flexible working hours or workdays,
• Extended vacation time,
• Paternity leave or childcare
• Medical/dental insurance,
• Corporate gym membership discounts
• Continuing education/skills development
• Award & recognition programs

5. Ensuring Legal Compliance

Compliance with labor, tax and employment laws is a vital part of safeguarding the organization’s continued existence. HR has to be aware of all the mandate laws and policies regarding employment practices, working conditions, tax allowances, required working hours, overtime, break times, minimum wage, and discrimination policies as noncompliance can affect productivity and ultimately, profitability of the company.

Scope of HRM

The scope of Human Resource Management refers to all the activities that come under the banner of Human Resource Management. These activities are as follows –

 

• Human resources planning: - Human resource planning or Human Resource Planning refers to a process by which the company to identify the number of jobs vacant, whether the company has excess staff or shortage of staff and to deal with this excess or shortage. 

• Job analysis design: - Another important area of Human Resource Management is job analysis. Job analysis gives a detailed explanation about each and every job in the company. 

• Recruitment and selection: - Based on information collected from job analysis the company prepares advertisements and publishes them in the newspapers. This is recruitment. A number of applications are received after the advertisement is published, interviews are conducted and the right employee is selected thus recruitment and selection are yet another important area of Human Resource Management. 

• Orientation and induction: - Once the employees have been selected an induction or orientation program is conducted. This is another important area of Human Resource Management. The employees are informed about the background of the company, explain about the organizational culture and values and work ethics and introduce to the other employees. 

• Training and development: - Every employee goes under training program which helps him to put up a better performance on the job. Training program is also conducted for existing staff that have a lot of experience. This is called refresher training. Training and development is one area where the company spends a huge amount. 

• Performance appraisal: - Once the employee has put in around 1 year of service, performance appraisal is conducted that is the Human Resource department checks the performance of the employee. Based on these appraisal future promotions, incentives, increments in salary are decided. 

• Compensation planning and remuneration: - There are various rules regarding compensation and other benefits. It is the job of the Human Resource department to look into remuneration and compensation planning. 

• Motivation, welfare, health and safety: - Motivation becomes important to sustain the number of employees in the company. It is the job of the Human Resource department to look into the different methods of motivation. Apart from this certain health and safety regulations have to be followed for the benefits of the employees. This is also handled by the HR department. 

• Industrial relations: - Another important area of Human Resource Management is maintaining co-ordinal relations with the union members. This will help the organization to prevent strikes lockouts and ensure smooth working in the company.