Importance of Personnel Management in Solving Industrial Problems!
The significant developments followed by Industrial Revolution can be seen in terms of new industrial culture and renewed industrial relations and somewhat different way of solving the problems encountered by employees and blue-collar workers in industry.
Personnel management has assumed an interesting role in solving the industrial problems in a scientific and sophisticated manner and creating a smooth industrial society where output can be achieved at an increasing pace.
Labour had been an important and significant factor of production and without labour the other factors, viz., land, capital and management would remain unexploited and ineffective. As is well-known, the primary objective of every business and industrial organisation is to maximise profits for which it is necessary to direct, motivate, develop and manage people.
The importance of labour force has escalated with the advancement and application of technology. The labour force has escalated with the advancement and application of technology.
The labour force must be directed to optimally utilise the costly machinery and equipment being installed in organisations. As rightly pointed by Appley, “Management is the development of the people and not the direction of things… management and personnel administrations are one and the same thing.”
The human relations and human behaviour school of management has emphasised the role of people in work organisation. Personnel psychology, sociology and other related behavioral sciences have emphasised the importance of treating people in organisations so as to get desired results effectively.
Personnel management advocates the means and ways of treating the employees in order to get the things done through them and contribute to the success of the enterprise.
Personnel management function is exercised through personnel department in every organisation.
The personnel department helps the other departments to contribute towards organisational objectives. It is the personnel department which is entrusted with the responsibility of recruiting, selecting, placing and inducting the workers into their respective departments.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of every single department depends on the efficiency with which the personnel department functions.
If the personnel department selects right people and assign those to right departments at right times then all the departments in an organisation function effectively resulting in the success of the enterprises.
If the personnel department does not exercise caution in selecting and inducting right people on right jobs, not only the other departments fail to produce the desired output but it results in evaporation of organisation’s resources and ultimate bankruptcy and closure.
Recruitment and selection of people apart, the personnel department is also responsible for conducting various training programmes, seminars and development programmes to the employees in order to keep them abreast of the current developments in their respective fields.
For instance, in the present day computer revolution, almost all organisations are training their employees to operate computers, to write programmes and to utilise the available packages.
Under these programmes the employees will be asked to undergo training and develop their skill and knowledge for the benefit of organisation. It should be remembered that not only the blue-collar workers but also the senior and middle level executives will be subject to the development programmes.
Personnel department is also entrusted with the responsibility of evaluating the performance of employees in several departments within industrial enterprises. Employee performance appraisal is very important from the viewpoint of company’s development.
An organisation can know, through the performance appraisal, the efficiency of its employees and the potential of its assets, which may be helpful in chalking out future programmes of development and also maintaining present rate of development.