Human Resource Management definitions as explained by different scholars. An organization requires management of many inputs like man, money, material etc. HRM (Human Resource Management) concerns with managing men or people.
Getting people in the firm, obtaining their commitment, constantly motivating them is most crucial for the success of a firm.
Human resource management may broadly be defined as planning, organising, leading, directing, co-ordinating and controlling human resources activities of an organisation, which contribute to realising the defined objectives of the organisation by making use of its human resources in the most fruitful manner with major emphasis on human development and welfare.
Human Resources Management (HRM) is concerned with the human beings in the management of an organization. S
ince every organization is made up of people, obtaining their services, developing their skill, motivating them to high level of performance and ensuring that they continue to put in best of their efforts and commitment to the organization are quite essential for achieving the organizational objectives.
In this article we will discuss about the various definitions of human resource management given by institution, management thinkers, authors, philosophers and experts.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – By Institutions, Management Thinkers, Authors, Philosophers and Experts
Definitions of Human Resource Management – Important Definitions and their Core Points
“Human resource management” may broadly be defined as planning, organising, leading, directing, co-ordinating and controlling human resources activities of an organisation, which contribute to realising the defined objectives of the organisation by making use of its human resources in the most fruitful manner with major emphasis on human development and welfare.
Planning for human resource management implies forecasting and determining human resources of the organisation, establishing norms, procedures and rules and working out schemes for human resource development.
Organising and co-ordinating involve setting up of an organisational structure for human resource management, assigning duties and responsibilities to the functionaries involved, establishing co-ordination amongst different functionaries and departments and defining the status of joint bodies.
Leading and directing aim at establishing channels through which directions from above will flow and communicated downwards, the manner of giving direction, developing leadership to get a job done and providing guidelines to the subordinates.
Controlling in human resource management aims at setting standards of performance of various human resource functionaries, evaluating their performance, working out incentives for improved performance and correcting faulty performance.
The major emphasis has, however, been on staffing, skill-development and training, compensation, performance appraisal and incentives, welfare amenities and employee relations. They hold that human resource management is “the process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating employees, of attending to their labour relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns.”
1. It is the people who staff and manage organisations.
2. HRM involves the application of management functions and principles.
3. Decisions related to employees must be integrated.
4. Decisions made must influence the effectiveness of organisation, which results in betterment of product/services rendered.
5. HRM applies equally to Business and Non-business organisation.
Definitions of Human Resources Management – By Institutions and Eminent Management Thinkers
According to U. K. Institute of Personnel Management – “HRM is an integral but distinctive part of management, concerned with people at work and their relationship within the enterprise, seeking to bring together into effective organisation, the men and women who staff the enterprise, enabling each to make his/her own best contribution to its success, both as an individual and as a member of working group. It seeks to improve relationships within the enterprise that are conducive both to effective work and human satisfaction”.
In the words of David A. Decenzo and Stephen P. Robbins, “HRM is concerned with the people’s 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 are essential to achieving organizational objectives. This is true, regardless of the type of organization – government, business, education, health, recreation or social action”.
Human Resources Management (HRM) is concerned with the human beings in the management of an organization. Since every organization is made up of people, obtaining their services, developing their skill, motivating them to high level of performance and ensuring that they continue to put in best of their efforts and commitment to the organization are quite essential for achieving the organizational objectives.
This is true irrespective of the type of their organization, whether government, private, business, education, health, recreation or any social activity. Securing good, hard-working, sincere and honest people and keeping them well-contented are critical to the success of every organization, whether profit or non-profit, public or private.
Those orgnisations which are able to acquire, develop, stimulate and keep outstanding workers will be both effective in achieving their goals and efficient in utilizing their valuable resources economically. Such organizations are always able to succeed and survive any emergency or crisis.
But those organizations, which are ineffective or inefficient, utterly fail and risk themselves to hazards of stagnating and going out of business. Survival and success of an organization require efficient and competent managers and workers coordinating their efforts towards the ultimate goal of the organization. While successful co-ordination cannot guarantee success, organizations which are not successful in getting such co-ordination from managers and workers will fail ultimately.
If we have to consider human resource management more specifically, we have to consider it from four points of view which may be regarded as its functions viz. acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance. In less academic terms, these functions may be described as getting people, preparing them activating them and keeping them together.
The acquisition function is concerned with estimating demands and supplies of labour force as well as recruiting, selecting and socializing employees.
The development function is concerned with three dimensions of labour-force. The first dimension is the employee training leading to skill development and changing attitudes of the employees. The second dimension is the management development concerned primarily with the acquisition of knowledge and the enhancement of the executives’ conceptual abilities. The third dimension is the career development of employees.
The third function is the motivation of the employees. Motivation is a psychological technique of inspiring the personnel to do their work efficiently and effectively and co-operate with the management for the accomplishment of the common objectives. It deals exclusively with the human beings of the organization.
Finally, there is the maintenance function which is concerned with the provision of such working conditions as are necessary for the employees in order to maintain commitment to the organization.
In simple terms, human resources management means employing people, developing their resources, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirements in order to contribute to the goals of the organization, individual, and the society.
Further, HRM can also be defined as managing (planning, organizing, directing, and controlling) the functions of employing, developing and compensating human resources resulting in the creation and development of human relations with a view to contributing proportionately to the organizational, individual and social goals.
Thus, HRM refers to a set of programmes, functions and activities designed and carried out with a view to maximizing both employee and organizational effectiveness.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – By Popular Management Thinkers: Edwin B. Flippo, French, C. H. Northcoat, George Milkorich and J. W. Boudreaux
Edwin B. Flippo:
Personnel or Human Resource Management is “the planning, organising, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, composition, integration and maintenance of people for the purpose of contributing to organisational, individual and societal goals”. Thus, this definition points out that personnel management is concerned with the planning, organising, directing and controlling the personnel functions of the organisation.
French:
“Personnel management is the recruitment, selection, development, utilisation of and accommodation to human resources by organisations”. Thus, French considers personnel management as concerned with the proper utilisation of human resources in the organisation.
C. H. Northcoat:
“Personnel management is an extension of general management, that of promoting and stimulating every employee to make his fullest contribution to the purposes of the business”. Thus, Northcoat considers personnel management as a part of the general managerial function and assigns it the work of promoting employees to contribute their maximum for achieving enterprise objectives.
George Milkorich and J. W. Boudreaux:
According to George Milkorich and J. W. Boudreaux, HRM is “a series of integrated decisions, that form the employment relationship – their quality contributes to the ability of the organizations and the employees to achieve their objective”.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – Concept and Definition of Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management (HRM) or Personnel Management is concerned with the management of people at work. People at work are the essential ingredient in every organization. The way in which people are recruited, developed and utilized by management largely determines whether the organization will achieve its objectives. Therefore, the human resources available to management in the organization, need to be properly coordinated and utilized.
It is through the combined efforts of the people that monetary and material resources are utilized for organizational objectives. Without human efforts, organizations cannot accomplish their objectives. Consequently, organizing human effort and motivating human resources is of utmost importance everywhere. It is universally recognized that the effectiveness with which human resources are coordinated and utilised is directly responsible for the success of any organization.
In fact, the importance of managing human resources is considered so great that some have defined management as synonymous with HRM/personnel management. For instance, Lawrence Appley describes the manager’s job as “human relations job that functions through several major activities” and that “human relations is …………….. the beginning and the end of the management job”.
It is no wonder then, that management is constantly concerned with the organization’s human resources – with the way in which these resources are developed and utilized, with the assumptions made about them, with the formulation of personnel policy, with the methods and procedures used in dealing with the work force.
“From the national point of view, the knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes obtained in the population; whereas from the viewpoint of individual enterprise, they represent the total of the inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills as exemplified in the talents and aptitudes of its employees”.
Michael Jucius calls these resources, “human factors” which refer to “a whole consisting of inter-related, inter-dependent and interacting physiological, psychological, sociological and ethical components.”
Thus, human resources are multi-dimensional in nature. “People at work” constituting the human resource in an organization comprise all individuals engaged in any of the organizational activities, regardless of levels, age, or socio-cultural backgrounds. All these individuals differ from one another in an almost infinite number of aspects including aspects of their intelligence, personality, and physical make up.
Every individual working in the organization has his own set of complex needs, values, and intentions. Each individual is unique with his own physical and psychological traits. Each one differs from the other in his behaviour, habits, needs, drives, goals, past experience, future expectations and so on.
No two human beings are similar in mental abilities, traditions, sentiments, action tendencies and performance. They differ widely also as members of groups and are subject to many and varied influences. Family relationships, religious influences, racial or caste backgrounds, educational accomplishments, the application of technological innovations, and many other environmental influences affect the individual as he works.
This fact of individual differences is something of which we are all so well aware that we generally tend to take it for granted. However, the practice of personnel management is influenced by this diversity of human characteristics.
The people employed at work provide a particular set of abilities, specialized knowledge, motives, and physical skills and they differ in those characteristics that are related to the attainment of organizational goals. Moreover, human resource management is also concerned with how these various types of individuals may be changed – at what cost, under what specific circumstances, and in how short a period of time.
People at work are responsive; they feel, think and act. Therefore, they cannot be operated like a machine. People are moved primarily by sentiments and emotions including the primary desire to gain acceptance and even affection from fellow human beings.
Moved by emotions, aspirations, ambitions, desires, prejudices, suspicions, frustrations, irritations, likes and dislikes, hopes and fears etc., people form beliefs of their environment-whether rational or not-and they react to it in terms of these beliefs. Therefore, management is responsible for a tactful handling of the human element.
It is interesting to look at the word management and divide it into “MANAGE MENT-T”.
If the word “tactfully” is substituted for “T”, the word “management” would read “MANAGE MEN TACTFULLY”.
Thus, the word itself indicates the most important aspect of management that is managing human beings in a tactful manner. This particular aspect of tactfully managing the human resource is considered so vital that Dale Yoder says, “Managing people is the heart and essence of being a manager.”
Thus, human resource management is essentially concerned with any activity relating to human element or human relations in the organization.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – With Aspects and Activities of Human Resource Management
Human resource management is concerned with the management of people at work. HRM refers to the philosophy, policies, procedures and practices related to the management of people within the organisation.
“Human resource management is that part of management which is concerned with people at work and with their relationship within an enterprise. It aims to bring together and develop into an effective organization for the men and women who make up an enterprise and having regard for the wellbeing of the individuals and of working groups, to enable them to make their best contribution to its success”. —Institute of Personnel Management
HRM is a process that consists of four functions – acquiring, developing, motivating and retaining human resources. The acquisition function starts with planning and ends with staffing. The development function has three dimensions – employee training, management and career development.
Aspects of HRM are:
1. Labor/personal aspect- Concerned with recruitment, placement, remuneration, promotion, incentive etc.
2. Welfare aspect- Concerned with working conditions, such as canteen, creches, housing schools, recreation, housekeeping and personal problems of workers.
3. Industrial relation aspect- Concerned with Trade Union negotiations, settlement of I.D., and collective bargaining etc.
Major Activities under HRM:
1. MPP/HRP
2. Acquisition of HR (Recruitment and Selection)
3. Motivation
4. T and D (Training and development)
5. Compensation and benefits
6. Managing performance
7. Labor relations
8. Employee records
Definitions of Human Resource Management
An organization cannot exist without human resources. People are the essential part in all the organization to perform all kinds of activities. All organizational resources are important for achieving the objectives and therefore, their effective utilization is necessary.
Various resources like men, money, material and machinery are collected, coordinated and utilized only with the help of people. Human Resource Management became deeply imbued with the concern for introducing steps to bring above changes in the work, so that a right atmosphere could be created for achieving a best performance.
It includes:
Welfare Concept → Paternalistic Concept → Maintenance Concept → Conflict Concept → Cultural Concept → Performance Concept
It can be defined as an art and science of optimum utilization of human beings who are engaged at work in any organization for managing an organization effectively. It must be treated as a system.
A system is basically a complex unit as a whole which is composed of various parts and subparts in a systematic manner according to the plan. Organization is a system which operates in its environment, which includes – economic, legal, political, technological, social and cultural environment.
One thing also plays an important role that people who are recruited, selected and utilized as a proper human resource need the help of managers so that proper organizational goals can be achieved. Maintaining good human resource is a manager’s responsibility.
Providing a proper channel networking and proper feedback can be done with the help of managers only. Providing human satisfaction from the work they have done and relationship is the manager’s responsibility.
Organizations are made of people and function through people. Without people, organizations cannot exist. The resources of men, money, materials and machinery are collected, coordinated and utilized through people. These resources by themselves cannot fulfill the objectives of an organization.
They need to be united in to a team. It is through the combined efforts of people that material and monetary resources are effectively utilized for the attainment of common objectives. Without united human efforts, no organization can achieve its goals.
All the activities of an organization are initiated and completed by the persons who make up the organization. Therefore, people are the most significant resource of an organization. This resource is called human resource and is the most important factor of production.
Human resources is one of the most valuable and unique assets of an organization. According to the Leon C. Muggings, the term human resources refers to “The total knowledge, skills creative abilities, talents and aptitudes of an organization’s work force, as well as the values, attitudes and beliefs of the individuals involved”.
Management, as a process involves planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling activities that facilitates the achievement of an organization’s objectives. All these activities are accomplished through efficient utilization of physical and financial resources by the company’s human resources.
“Personnel/ Human Resource Management are the function performed in organizations that facilitates the most effective use of people (employees) to achieve organizational and individual goals”.
Personnel management contains the management process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling. This proper process is applied in achieving the functions of personnel administration like procuring, developing, maintaining and utilizing human beings.
It needs the firm’s requirements for an effective workforce. It is concerned with employees and employer relationship as well as the expectations of the society as a whole.
Human resource management is concerned with the development and application of policies in the following manner:
(i) Manpower planning, recruitment, selection, placement, induction, termination,
(ii) Education, training, and development,
(iii) Terms and conditions of employment and various standards of remuneration.
(iv) Working conditions for employees,
(v) Proper wages and working conditions and procedures for the settlement of disputes.
Therefore, it can be said that personnel management is concerned, with the human and social changes in the internal organizations and various methods of working and of economic and social changes in the community which affects the organizational system.
Every organizations is composed of people and utilizing their services, developing their skills, motivating them to enhance their levels of performance and ensuring that they remain committed to the organization and essential for the accomplishment of organizational objectives.
This is true for all types of organizations, government, business, education, health, recreation or social action. Acquiring and retaining good human resources is an essential pre-condition of the success of every organization. Organizations that can do this will be both effective. Inefficient or ineffective organizations face the danger of stagnating or going out of businesses.
Competent managers and workers are essentials for the coordination of efforts towards the ultimate objectives which ensure the survival of the organization. Though such coordination alone cannot guarantee success, the lack of it can lead to failure.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – As Given by Armstrong
Armstrong has defined human resource management as follows:
“Human resource management is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued assets — the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business.”
Thus, human resource management involves employment and utilization of human resources with a view that the organization has right people, at right time, and at right place.
Organization is the backbone of management because without an efficient organization no management can perform its functions smoothly. In the process of management, this organization occupies second position which tries to combine various activities in a business to accomplish predetermined goals. It is the structural frame work of duties and responsibilities required of personnel in performing various functions with a view to achieve business goals.
It coordinates different activities for running the business enterprise efficiently to achieve its common goals. Therefore, organizations are made up of human being and it function through them. In one word, without people one cannot imagine an organization. This organization coordinates all the inputs i.e., money, material, machinery and men to get its common goal. Out of these inputs men are very important because this input does not depreciate with the passage of time like other inputs which depreciates with the passage of time.
This resource is called human resource, out of all organizational resources which are mentioned above, man remains the most important factors in production process. Success or failure of an organization mainly depends on the quality of its manpower and its performance. Machines, materials, money and methods all these are useless, unless these are used by competent employees and managed by efficient management. This human resource is having different meaning from the different viewpoints.
For instance, from national point of view this human resource refers as the knowledge, skill, creative abilities, talent and aptitudes obtained in the population. But from the organizational point of view this human resource refers to the people at work. It means they are the sum total of the inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills as exemplified in the talents and aptitudes of its employees.
Thus, to look after this input of organization one branch has been developed from management which is called Human Resource Management. Thus, this management is greatly concerned with the problem of developing an adequate talent for manning various positions in the organization.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – By Famous Management Authors: Fisher, Dessler and S.P Robbins
Various authors have defined human resource management variously.
Some of the definitions are given below:
According to Fisher, “Human resource management involves all management decisions and practices that directly affect or influence the people, or human resources, who work for the organization.”
S.P. Robbins defined human resource management from peoples perspective. According to him, human resource management 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 high levels of performance, and ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization are essential to achieving organizational objectives.”
This applies to all types of organizations whether government, business, education, health, recreation or social action. Getting and retaining good people is critical to the success of every organization, whether profit or nonprofit, public or private.
The organizations that are able to acquire, develop, stimulate and keep outstanding workers will be both effective and efficient. The ineffective and inefficient organizations risk the hazards of stagnating or going out of business. Survival of an organization requires competent managers and workers coordinating their efforts toward an ultimate goal.
According to this view, human resource management is the systematic planning, development and control of a network of interrelated process affecting and involving all members of an organization.
To effectively manage these processes, human resources systems are planned, developed, and implemented through the combined efforts of all managers and human resources specialists- and frequently all employees-in an organization. Overall, the systems are intended to achieve organization- wide goals and contribute to organizational effectiveness and productivity.
Human resource management is seen as a process consisting of four functions of acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of human resources.
The acquisition function begins with planning, estimation of demand and supplies of labor, the recruitment, selection and socialization of employees.
The development function consists of three dimensions of employee training, management development and career development. The development is a continual effort to match long-term individual and organizational needs.
The motivation function recognizes that individuals are unique and that motivation techniques must reflect the needs of each individual. The motivation reviews alienation, job satisfaction, performance appraisal, behavioral and structural techniques for stimulating employees performance, the importance of linking rewards to performance, compensation and benefits administration, and how to handle problem employees.
The maintenance function strives to stimulate performance and is concerned with providing those working conditions that employees consider essential to maintain their commitment to the organization.
According to Dessler, Human resource management refers to the practices and policies needed to carry out the people or personnel aspects of management job.
These include:
i. Conducting job analyses
ii. Planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates
iii. Selecting job candidates
iv. Orienting and training new employees
v. Managing Wages and Salaries
vi. Providing incentives and benefits
vii. Appraising performance
viii. Communicating
ix. Training and developing
x. Building employee commitment.
These definitions point out to the facts that an organization can become foremost in the world if it manages its human resources appropriately.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – Quotable Definitions of Human Resource Management
Among the factors of production, human resource is the important factor. This is because all physical resources i.e., Land, machinery, material, money and energy ultimately depends on how the human factors is put to good use on various operations. In other words, it is the human asset, the centre of all resources which converts the various resources into the productive resource. Human resource adds to value, while all other resources add to the cost.
Thus, a distinct and specialized area of management takes care of this valuable asset i.e., workers which is popularly known as Human Resource Management. This management is that field of management which has to do with the planning, organizing and controlling various operative activities of procuring, developing, maintaining and utilizing a labour force in order that the objectives and interests for which a company is established are attained as effectively and economically as possible and the objectives and interests of labour itself are served to the highest degree.
Many Management experts have defied this Human Resource Management in different ways.
Some of the quotable definitions are mentioned below:
“Human Resource Management is that part of management concerned with people at work and with their relationships within the organization. It seeks to bring together men and women who make up an enterprise, enabling each to make his own best contribution to its success both as an individual and as a member of a working group.” National Institute of Personnel Management of India.
“Human Resource Management is that branch of management which is responsible on a staff basis for concentrations on those aspects of relationship of management to employees and employees to employees and with the development of the individual and the group. The objective is to attain maximum individual development, desirable working relationship between employers and employees and employers and employees and effective moulding of human resources as contrasted with physical resources”. W. G. Scott, Clothier, R. C and Spriegel W. R.
“Human Resource Management may be defined as the field of management which has to do with planning, organizing and controlling the functions of procuring, developing, maintaining and utilizing a labour force, such that the – (a) objectives for which the company is established are attained economically and effectively; (b) objectives of all levels of human resources are served to the highest possible degree and (c) objectives of society are duly coincided and served”. Michael J. Jucius
Human resource management is defined in terms of its proactive approach to managing people in the organisation.
For example, Karen Legge has specified three elements of HRM as follows:
1. Human resource policies should be integrated with strategic business planning and used to reinforce appropriate (or change an inappropriate) culture.
2. Human resources are valuable and a source of competitive advantage.
3. Human resources can be tapped most effectively by mutually consistent policies which promote commitment and foster a willingness in employees to act flexibly in the interests of the adaptive organization’s pursuit of excellence.
John Storey has specified four elements of HRM as follows:
1. A set of beliefs and assumptions.
2. A strategic thrust embodying decisions about people management.
3. The central involvement of line management.
4. Dependence upon a set of levers to determine the employment relationships.
Thus, from the above definitions one can conclude that, Human Resource Management is concerned with the human relationships within an organization. Its objectives is the maintenance of those relationships and as a basis which, by consideration of the wellbeing of the individual, enables those engaged in the undertaking to make their best personal contribution to the effective working of that enterprise.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – With Three Cs of Human Resource Management
According to Invancevich (2008), Human Resource Management (HRM) is concerned with the most effective use of people to achieve organizational and individual goals. It is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued assets—the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its goals.
HRM can also be described as a set of interrelated policies with an ideological and philosophical underpinning, concerned with the employment, development and reward of people in organizations and the conduct of relationships between the management and the employees. HRM is a strategic approach to the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the organization’s human resources.
It can be said that although all the line managers and team leaders play a pivotal role in managing an organization, the HR specialists play a vital role in shaping the overall strategy of an organization as well as acting as “Internal Consultants” for the organization. Today’s HR professionals constantly need to nurture an empowering culture so as ensure effective retention of human resources in their organizations. This philosophy is nurtured well in an organization like ICICI Prudential India.
On the other hand for an organization like TCS, the company’s success depends to a great extent on its ability to recruit, train and retain high quality IT professionals. TCS places emphasis on the human resources function in the organization, investing a substantial percentage of its annual revenues in training.
For any organization, irrespective of the industry type, in order to achieve organizational effectiveness, it is essential for HR managers to strictly emphasize upon these three Cs, namely:
1. Commitment – It is the psychological contract and the sense of belongingness of the human resources to the organization and its management.
2. Culture – The second and one of the most important components of organizational success and development is the culture of the organization. Culture has been recognized as the vital sustaining force and background contributing to organizational growth and development.
3. Competencies – Organizations need to depend strictly upon the competencies of their human capital rather than depending on individual knowledge, skills and abilities.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – Provided by Different Authors and Management Thinkers
Human Resource Management (HRM) may be defined as a set of policies, practices and programmes designed to maximise both personal and organisational goals. It is the process of building people and organisations together so that the objectives of each are achieved. It is known by different names, e.g., personnel management, manpower management, and personnel administration, staff management, etc.
Human resource management is not something which can be turned over to a human resource department. It is a responsibility of each and every manager. It has emerged as a distinct discipline. It seeks to accomplish societal, organisational and individual goals.
In the HRM, different thinkers gives their views in various ways, which is explain in the following:
i. According to Mazarrese, HRM involves with compensation benefit, staffing, HR forecasting, succession planning, management and executive development, performances management, employee relations, organisation development, total quality management, needs analysis, instructional design and development training programme evaluation, Return On Investment, (ROI) impact studies to name a few.
ii. From Keeney -HRM is the conceptual, which describe all the transformative changes in the management of employee relations.
iii. In the opinion of Blunt, HRM is the discipline, which concerned with the human side of the enterprise was largely regarded as covering moribund house-keeping operational activities. Thus, there was no status and influence of the discipline.
iv. From Guest, HRM concern with the personnel management, which based on scientific management or welfare management.
v. According to Tracey, “……………………. The organisation function that focuses on the effective management, direction, and utilisation of people, both the people, who manage produce and market and sell the products and services of an organisation and those who support organisational activities. It deals with the human elements in the organisation, people as individuals and groups, their recruitment, selection, assignment, motivation, empowerment, compensation, utilisation, services, training, development, promotion, termination and retirement.”
vi. According to Alan Price, in his book, “Human Resource Management in a Business context,” HRM has become the dominant approach to people management and it basically related to the human behaviour in the work place. It also deals with, various activities and functions just like-human resource planning, recruitment, training, compensation packages, moral boosting, discipline and conflict resolution, etc.
vii. According to Patrick Gunningle, in his work, “Human Resource management in Ireland,” HRM emphasis on modern trends such as employee attraction and retention, job design, employee motivation, reward system and employee relations.
viii. David Ulrich, in his work, “Human Resource champions” states that, organisational effectiveness is the management of human resources.
ix. Snell and Bohlander- HRM is the process of managing human talent to achieve an organization’s objectives.
x. Raymond A Noe et al- Policies, practices and systems that influence employees’ behaviour, attitudes and performance.
xi. Gary Dessler- HRM refers to the practices and policies that help in managing job, specifically, acquiring, training, appraising, rewarding and providing, a safe, ethical and fair environment for the company’s employees.
xii. Bratton and Cold- HRM is a body of knowledge and a set of policies and practices that shape the nature of work and regulate the employment relationship.
xiii. John Bernardin- HRM concerns the personnel policies and managerial practices and systems that influence the workforce.
xiv. John M. lvancevich- HRM is the function performed in organizations that facilitates the most effective use of people (employees) to achieve organisational and individual goals.
In a nutshell, HRM may be defined as a process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the functions of recruitment, selection, training, development, compensation, maintenance and separation of people in an organization keeping in view the goals of the organization/individuals, emerging trends, ethics and fair treatment and financial impact.
From the above definitions, there are some most important aspects of HRM, which emerge could be started as:
i. There is an explicit link between managing human resource and success of administrative or management strategy.
ii. Sector strategies cannot be appreciated in isolation, but only as parts on the integral whole.
iii. Senior line managers are required to assume more responsibility with regard to managing human resource.
iv. There is a stress on inter-personal relations as a determinant of performance.
Human Resource Management plays a significance role in a management, regulatory and policy planning functions. It also related in advising, implementing and organizing change. Human resource management is the art and science of managing people in an organisation.
It is basically related with compensation benefit, staffing, HR forecasting, succession planning, management and executive development, performance management, employee relation, organisation development, total quality management and development training programme evaluation. According to Simon— Management is the art and science of “getting things done.” According to Fayol—Management function is universal in public and private organisations.
This term ‘Human Resource Management’ signifies the increase in the interest of the society and organisations for the problems the people must deal with. Employees demand more from their jobs and respond favorably to the managerial activities that are aimed at increasing the quality of the professional life and of life, in general.
Human resource management differs from the other domains of general management, because not only does it need to serve the employee but it also should act in the interest of the employees as human beings, therefore, the entire society.
There are several other important reasons for the emergence of HR as a field of strategic importance. Organisations with strong human resource practices create more satisfied employees, who in turn, work harder to satisfy customers. This translates into giving the organisation a competitive advantage — simply put HR can affect an organisations bottom line.
Good HR practices help organisations attract, nurture and retain talent. The workforce is more stable — fewer people leave the organisation, employee satisfaction is high and they feel empowered in their work. Research supports the notion that good human resource management improves customer satisfaction, largely through customers’ interactions with employees.
This can be seen in the following ways:
a. Employees tend to treat customers the same way they believe managers treat them.
b. Employees who feel the organisation values them and treats them with respect, reproduce these good attitudes and behaviors in their interactions with customers.
c. Employees who feel management doesn’t care about them, are less likely to be positive and helpful to customers.
d. Research show organisations where employees who have better skills, are well paid, and feel their jobs are secure have higher individual performance, which translates into desirable improvements like growth in sales.
Human resource management is about managing people. It is a process of binding people and organisations together so that the objective of each are achieved. It may be defined as the art of procuring, developing and maintaining competent workforce to achieve the goals of an organisation in an effective and efficient way. It is all about people at work, both as individuals and in groups. It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to get good results.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – With Strategic Domain of Human Resource Management
According to some analysts the human resource management is just an upgraded version of the personnel management system, but mostly it challenges the traditional outlook of deploying responsibilities on a particular person for managing human resource in the organisation. The basic objectives that human resource management often addresses to, are organizational integration, employee commitment, flexibility of work and of course quality.
In short, human resource management system is more dynamic that the traditional concepts. The issues are related to the evolution of the concept of Human resource management and the modern strategic implications that are related to the new and evolved management style. The organizations being more focused now often do tend to change their management structure for more effective outcomes for their organization.
As a matter of fact such measures are taken to boost the employee morals and also to increase the flow of communication into the systems. The organizations now are becoming more specific about the nature and quality of work done and they are now focusing more on the outcomes.
As a result of this many companies are totally changing their management structure to improve productivity. Introduction of line managers into the system is one such policy.
“Human resource management is a series of integrated decisions that form the employment relationship; their quality contributes to the ability of the organizations and the employees to achieve their objectives.” —George T. Milkovich and John W. Boudreau
Strategic Domain of Human Resource Management:
Strategic human resource management is that approach which essentially helps the organization in making certain decisions based on the intentions and plans that the company had regarding the employment relationship, recruitments and also training and development.
In this present competitive environment it is important that the organization realizes the value of its each and every resource including the human resource and uses it optimally to get the best possible effect.
It is a concept by which the companies can meet the basic needs of the employees while making them attain the organizational goal. That means the company has to evaluate their human resource and find out their individual strengths and weaknesses and capitalize on them to make them work to get some positive results for the firm. It is more concerned about the contribution of the human resource strategies towards the effective running of the organization.
Most of the primary surveys which have been conducted in this field compared the financial performance of the firm with the human resource activities that they indulge into. In this way they directly wanted to relate the financial performances of the individual companies with relevance to the spending they have made in the human resource departments.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – With Reasons for Necessity of Human Resource Management
Human Resources Management is the term increasingly used to refer to the philosophy, policies, procedures, and practices related to the management of people within an organization. In recent years, increased attention has been devoted to how organizations manage human resources.
This attention comes from the realization that an organization’s employees enable an organization to achieve its goals, and the management of these resources is critical to an organization’s success. It is widely recognized that unlike other resources, human resources is a more important factor in production. Investment in developing people as a resource is productive. The capable people make an organisation successful. It is human resource management which gets the people in the organisation and enables them to acquire the much needed capability and motivate them to achieve the organisational goals.
Thus, human resource is the people equipped with required skills to make the organisation successful. For example, Infosys Technologies has become one of the most successful companies globally because of its treating employees as a valuable asset, generating commitment and involvement of employees in the decision-making process.
Human resources are the most important assets of a company. If they are put to good use, they deliver value to customers.
Thus, HRM is necessary for the following three reasons:
i. Offer Excellent Ideas and Constructive Suggestions:
They offer excellent ideas from time to time. They know ground realities better because they deal with customers on a daily basis. They can give us helpful suggestions to bring incremental changes in products.
ii. Deliver Satisfaction to Customers:
If they are treated well, they are willing to go that extra mile and bring in additional customers as well. In a way they are capable of enlargement—i.e., capable of producing an output that is greater than the sum of parts. One plus one could be ten or even hundred.
iii. Give Competitive Edge:
They can bring name and fame to a company. In fact they can take a company to commanding heights. Through their efforts they can bring terrific competitive advantage to a company. The real challenge before managers is to put them on the job and make them work diligently.
To get the best out of people, you need to treat them well. You need to take care of their concerns. And you need to move closer to their hearts. You need to bridge the gap between employee expectations and organizational requirements. When managers are able to strike a fine balance between the two, they are able to get even ordinary people deliver extra-ordinary results.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – According to Experts
Human resource management seeks to improve the productive contributions of people. It converts human talent into a competitive advantage. (The word human’ refers to people working in an organisation; the word resource’ indicates limited availability or scarcity and the word ‘management’ refers to proper utilization of limited resources).
The principal focus is on talent acquisition and talent retention. You hire people. Give them the jobs that they are capable of delivering results. Inspire them to do well. Treat them with respect. Recognize and reward their contributions. And turn them into super-heroes of the corporate world.
The success mantra in HRM is quite simple. You need to tune everything in sync with organisational needs and employee expectations. Once this is done, rest is history. Precisely stated, HRM is the art of procuring, developing and maintaining a competent workforce to achieve the goals of an organization in an effective and efficient manner.
What the Experts Say?
Raymond A Noe, et al (2010) – HRM refers to the policies, practices and systems that influence employees’ behavior, attitudes and performance.
De Cenzo and Robbins (2012) – HRM is the people component of management. HR helps line managers with staffing (getting people) training and development (preparing people) motivation (stimulating them to put forth their greatest efforts); and maintenance (keeping good employees).
There are various objectives of management such as profit maximization, consumer satisfaction, growth of organization etc., which can only be achieved through the effective utilization of human resources.
Efficient and motivated human resources also ensure optimum utilization of technological, financial, physical and all other resources. Thus the success and failure in achieving organizational objectives depends upon the proper co-ordination of human efforts with other resources.
All the physical resources such as plant, offices, computers, automated equipment etc., would be unproductive without human effort and direction. Thus one of the most important tasks of management is managing human resources in the organization as all the other factors are dependent on it.
Although all other physical resources are also important for the success of the organization, but the performance of the organization depends ultimately on the quality of its manpower, the opportunities they get to develop and utilize their skills and the manner in which they are managed and supervised in their work.
Staffing has assumed greater importance in the recent years due to advancement of technology, increase in size of business, complexity of human behaviour etc. The main purpose of staffing is to put right man on right job.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – By Famous Management Authors: Megginson, Invancevich and Gluck
Human resource management means employing people, developing their resources, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirements with a view to contribute to the goals of the organizations, individual and the society.
Leon C. Megginson – “Human resources are the total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes of an organizations workforce, as well as the value, attitude and beliefs of the individuals involved.”
Ivancevich and Gluck – “Human resource management is the function performed in organizations that facilitates the most effective use of employees to achieve organizational and individual goals.”
The policies and practices involved in carrying out the ‘people’ or human resource aspects of a management position, including recruiting, screening, training, rewarding, and appraising.
Personnel means persons employed. Hence Personnel Management views the man as economic man who works for money or salary. Human resource management treats the people as human beings having economic, social and psychological needs. “HRM is a series of integrated decisions that form the employment relationships; their quality contributes to the ability of the organizations and the employees to achieve their objectives.”
“HRM is concerned with the people dimensions 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 are essential to achieving organizational objectives. This is true, regardless of the type of the organization – government, business, education, health, recreational, or social action.”
The importance of human resource management is recognised by managers are explained below:
(i) Human beings enable the organisation to accept environmental challenges.
(ii) They predict environmental changes and enable the organisation to adapt to these changes.
(iii) They are an important input that help organisation accomplish its goals; by converting the inert inputs into productive outputs.
(iv) They provide quality management to the organisations and enable them to compete in the market.
The focus of HRM, therefore, is growth and development of the organisation along with its work force.
Definitions of Human Resource Management – Defined by Various Authors: Jucius, Byars and Rue
Michael J. Jucius – Human Resource Management as “the field of management which has to do with planning, organizing, directing and controlling the functions of procuring, developing, maintaining and utilizing a labour force, such that the- (a) Objectives for which company is established are attained economically and effectively. (b) Objectives of all levels of personnel are served to the highest possible degree and (c) Objectives of society are duly considered and served.”
Traditionally what was known as personnel management is now replaced with human resource management (HRM) today. Initially, in small organisations all the managerial functions of planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling (for all the functional areas of management) were performed by the managers but with increase in size of the organisations, the manager could not look after all the functional areas of management. Personnel specialists or senior managers were appointed to look into matters related to personnel policies and separate departments called personnel departments were created.
Leon C. Megginson defines human resources as “From the national point of view human resources are knowledge, skills, creative abilities talents, and attitudes obtained in the population, whereas from the view point of enterprise, they represent the total of the inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills as exemplified in the talents and aptitudes of its employees.”
The way an organisation utilizes its resources determines the success of an organisation further, it depends upon the quality of people of the organisation. As such in the long run only those organisations success which have people of quality with them. An organisation can survive and grow only if it has the right people available at the right time deployed at right jobs. Good human resource management practices can make available right people at the right time and at the right jobs.
Human resource management may be interpreted as the art of procuring, developing and maintaining competent workforce to seek organisational goals efficiently by bringing people and organisations together so that their goals are met. It is that part of the management process that is concerned with the management of human resources in an organisation.
It tries to secure the best that is present in the people by winning their whole hearted cooperation. Primarily, all the managers get things done through the efforts made by others but this requires effective HRM. Therefore, managers at every level must concern themselves with HRM.
Byars and Rue, opines, “HRM encompasses those activities that are designed to provide for and coordinate the human resources of an organisation.”