Overview of Human Resource Management

Overview of Human Resource Management

Introduction

• People are considered assets, emphasizing the importance of human talent and employees.
• Human Resource Management (HRM) facilitates the effective utilization of employees to achieve organizational and individual goals.
• Every manager should be concerned with people, whether or not an official HRM department exists.

Terms

• Various terms describe the people-focused unit, including personnel, human resource management, industrial relations, and employee development.
• Employees now demand more from their jobs, responding positively to management that offers greater control over their lives.
• HRM includes activities such as:
  • Equal employment opportunity (EEO) compliance
  • Job analysis
  • Human resource planning
  • Recruitment, selection, motivation, and retention
  • Performance evaluation and compensation
  • Training and development
  • Labor relations
  • Safety, health, and wellness

Descriptions of HRM Unit

• Action-Oriented:
  • Focuses on action rather than record-keeping, procedures, or rules.
  • Partners with operating and business managers.
• People-Oriented:
  • Treats each employee as an individual.
  • Offers services and programs to meet individual needs.
  • Example: McDonald’s has a vice president of individuality.
• Globally Oriented:
  • Practiced worldwide, including in India, Poland, China, and Ethiopia.
  • Organizations treat people with fairness, respect, and sensitivity.
• Future-Oriented:
  • Helps the organization achieve its future objectives.
  • Incorporates human resources into long-term strategic plans.
• Strategically Oriented:
  • Supports the organization’s business strategy.
  • Example: Hiring employees with specific language, cultural, and international business skills for expansion into China and India.

Brief History of Human Resource Management

• Origins in England with craftspeople organizing into unions to improve work conditions.
• The Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century significantly altered working conditions, social patterns, and the division of labor.
• Scientific management and welfare work emerged in the 19th century, merging with industrial psychology during the world wars.
• Scientific Management:
  • Dealt with inefficiencies through work methods, time and motion study, and specialization.
  • Frederick W. Taylor, the father of scientific management, studied worker efficiency at Midvale Steel Works.
  • Taylor's principles:
    • Science, not rules of thumb
    • Harmony, not discord
    • Cooperation, not individualism
    • Maximum output, not restricted output
• Human Relations Movement:
  • Elton Mayo and Fritz Roelthisberger incorporated human factors into work.
  • Studies at Western Electric's Hawthorne facility (1924-1933) showed the importance of social interaction and work groups on output and satisfaction.

Strategic Importance of HRM

• HRM plays a crucial role in clarifying and solving human resource problems when strategies are integrated within the organization.
• It is oriented toward action, the individual, worldwide interdependence, and the future.
• Essential for organizational effectiveness.
• Strategic HRM differs significantly from traditional HRM.

Strategic HRM vs. Traditional HRM

HRM Strategies

• HRM strategies must reflect the organization’s strategy regarding people, profit, and overall effectiveness.
• The human resource manager is expected to improve employee skills and firm profitability.
• HRM is increasingly viewed as a “profit center” rather than a “cost center.”

Key Concepts for Strategic HRM

• Analyzing and solving problems from a profit-oriented perspective.
• Assessing costs and benefits of HRM issues such as productivity, salaries, benefits, recruitment, training, absenteeism, overseas relocation, layoffs, meetings, and attitude surveys.
• Using planning models with realistic, challenging, specific, and meaningful goals.
• Preparing reports on HRM solutions to problems.
• Training the human resource staff and emphasizing the strategic importance of HRM and contributing to firm profits.

Importance of HRM Contribution

• Human resource specialists must demonstrate their contribution to the firm’s goals and mission.
• Actions, language, and performance of HRM must be measured, communicated, and evaluated.
• HRM and other functions must collaborate for organizational effectiveness.
• Managers in other functions must be knowledgeable and involved for HRM success.
• Managers play a key role in setting the direction, tone, and effectiveness of employee-firm relationships.
• Managerial participation is strategically vital to avoid human resource problems.

Objectives of the HRM Function

• Helping the organization reach its goals.
• Employing the skills and abilities of the workforce efficiently.
• Providing well-trained and motivated employees.
• Increasing employee job satisfaction and self-actualization to the fullest.
• Developing and maintaining a desirable quality of work life.
• Communicating HRM policies to all employees.
• Helping maintain ethical policies and socially responsible behavior.
• Managing change to the mutual advantage of individuals, groups, the enterprise, and the public.
• Managing increased urgency and faster cycle time.