HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

                            TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.     INTRODUCTION – HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

2.     CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

3.     DEFINITION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

4.     NATURE OF HRM

5.     OBJECTIVES OF HRM

6.     FUNCTIONS OF HRM

7.     CHALLENGES OF HRM IN INDIAN ECONOMY

1. INTRODUCTION

One of the most important resources of an organization is human resource. Any organization, having non human resources in the form of machinery, raw material, money etc can only be of purpose and can only be utilized, if human resources are combined with it. Organizations get their work done through people only in the organizations. The coordination of human as well as non human resources helps in achieving organizational objectives.

In organizations, human resource is characterized as “people at work”. These people have different skills, capabilities and potentialities to grow and to grow and they are dynamic in nature. Any organization can survive and grow only if it has the right number of people with right qualifications desired. So, one can say it is both the qualitative and quantitative aspect of human resource that has to be seen at workplace and one cannot afford to ignore it. Keeping in view this dynamism and potentials of a person, it is required to manage them also so that they can get the right job according to their skills, i.e., matching a right job with the right person is the foremost and the most important aspect to survive as organization in the competitive world.

2. CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

One aspect of managing is to manage and get things done from people. In organizations, in order to achieve goals, employees have to be managed effectively in terms of their skills, aptitude, potentialities and talents. So HRM is a set of policies and programs designed to maximize both personal and organizational goals. Proper utilization of human resource skills and its retention is the main purpose of human resource management.

According to National Institute of Personnel Management of India, “personnel management is that part of management concerned with people at work and with their relationships within the organization. It seeks to bring men and women together who make an enterprise, enabling each to make his own best contribution to its success both as an individual member of a working group.”

3. DEFINITION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

1. 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.”
2. According to Graham, the purpose of HRM is to ensure that the employees of an organization are used in such a way that the employer obtains the greatest possible benefit from their abilities and the employees obtain both material and psychological rewards from their work.
3. Storey defines “HRM is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques.”

4. NATURE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The main objective for which organization is created can only be accomplished when there is an integration of the goals of both the individual as well as organizational objectives. Human resource in the organization is heterogeneous, dynamic and behaves differently and managing them in such a diverse culture is not a difficult task. The nature of human resource management is stated as follows:

  i.     Comprehensive Function: Human resource management is concerned with managing all types of people at work, i.e., workers, supervisors, managers, etc at all levels is middle, top and lower level of management.

 ii.     Pervasive Function: HRM is related with people in all organizations whether big, middle or small enterprises.

iii.     Action Oriented: Instead of keeping the records and procedures related to human resources, human resource management is related with action, i.e., what to do and focuses upon situations to problems.

iv.     Development Oriented: In human resource management, development of human resource is considered as important. Organizations take care by providing them with training to improve their skills so that they can give their best efforts in the organization. For this purpose, they are rotated in jobs to get exposure of different working environment, organization climate, etc related to that workplace and also to maximize their job satisfaction.

 v.     Interdisciplinary Function: HRM has come up with the disciplinary approach from various fields such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc. In all these areas, employee behavior and attitude are concerned. HRM has become speculated area nowadays. Human resources are considered as an important resource and managing them is done by professional and trained managers in this field.

vi.     Future Oriented: HRM is future oriented because organizations have to achieve organization goals in the future and for that purpose, it needs well motivated and dedicated employees who can take up assignments and projects and complete them on time; so managing human resource is considered to be one of the most important aspects of the organization for its survival and future growth.

vii.     Continuous Function: HRM is continuous and never ending process rather than one action performed once. It has to be continuously performed in the organization in order o get alertness and awareness of human relations from time to time.

5. OBJECTIVES OF HRM

The primary objective of HRM is to ensure the availability of competent and willing workforce for an organization. Beyond this, there are other objectives too specifically, HRM objectives are four fold: Societal, organization, functional and personal.

  i.     Personal Objectives:  In today’s world there is shortage of requisite talent. Employees are encouraged by competitive firms to change the jobs. HRM has the responsibility to acquire, develop, utilize, and maintain employees.

This would be possible only when the HRM helps employees to achieve their personal goals to get their commitment. Creating work-life balance for the employees is a personal objective.

 ii.     Functional Objectives: HRM performs so many functions for other departments. However, it must see that the facilitation should not cost more than the benefit rendered.

iii.     Organizational Objectives: HRM is a means to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. It serves other functional areas, so as to help them to attain efficiency in their operations and attainment of goals to attain efficiency.

Acquiring right man for the right job at right time in right quantity, developing through right kind of training, utilizing the selected workforce, and maintaining the workforces are the organizational objectives of HRM. Succession planning is an important issue to be taken up as a contemporary organizational objective.

iv.     Societal Objectives: HRM must see that the legal, ethical, and social environmental issues are properly attended to. Equal opportunity and equal pay for equal work are the legal issues not to be violated. To take care of farmers (whose land has been acquired for the factory) and tribal’s (who are displaced by industries and mining companies) are the ethical issues.

The results are clear when these issues are not taken care of. To help the society through generating employment opportunity, creating schools and dispensaries, helping women empowerment are the social responsibility issues.

6. FUNCTIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

           

  

The functions of human resource management are broadly classified into two categories stated as follows:

1. MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: The managerial functions of human resource management include planning, organizing, directing and controlling. The functions are stated as follows:

  i.     Planning: To plan is to determine a course of action to achieve desired goals of the organization. It is done through people. Planning involves forecasting and conducting research. Everything needs to be planned for an effective management; be it a home or workplace. Human resource planning involves a plan related to the requirement of human resource. Forecasting human resource for the organization is planning. Employees are required in terms of quality and quantity. If planning is done properly, then no chance left between present and future requirements of human resources.

Human resource planning fills the gap between where we are and where we want to reach. Planning is the means to manage the change and adapt the change. If no planning is done, then it might result in crisis for tomorrow.

 ii.     Organizing: Designing and developing an appropriate structure for the people to work and accomplish goals is organizing.

a)     It involves groping of activities and its allocation among individual and group members.

b)    Establishing authority responsibility relationships.

c)     Integrating activities to accomplish organizational goals.

If organization structure is defined properly when it is clear who is responsible to whom and everyone has defined authorities, then it is easier to achieve organizational goals.

iii.     Directing: Directing employees means to guide and motivate the employees to attain desired results. Directing is related with initiating and influencing action of subordinates. It is the manager who can tap the maximum potential of his employees through proper guidance and appropriate action. Such an act of manager also helps building good interpersonal relationships and friendly organizational climate in the organization.

iv.     Controlling: Control can only be exercised if there is proper planning. No planning is of any use if there is no control, i.e., if there is no check. It means checking, verifying and regulating to ensure that everything is moving accurately to plans that were taken up initially. In HRM, controlling involves auditing, training programs, analyzing performance of employees, evaluating absents and labor turnover.

2. OPERATIVE FUNCTIONS: Human resource managers perform operative functions related with specific activities of procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance. These functions are stated as follows:

  i.     Procurement Functions: The procurement function is related with getting right kind and right number of personnel in the organization. For doing this, first of all, the following steps may be followed:

a)     Job analysis (a detailed study of the job is done including job description and job specification)

b)    Based on detailed job study, requirements of human resource is determined for each and every department of the organization and an action plan is created for recruiting them.

c)     Once, human resource planning is done recruitment process starts. It is a searching process for the required human resource and making them apply for jobs in the organization.

d)    All those candidates who have applied for the jobs through recruitment process are judged according to their suitability at the right place in the organization and choosing the most appropriate people.

e)     Once suitable candidates are appointed and they join the organization, they are familiarized or oriented with the organization as a whole, about its climate, rules, policies and regulation and conduct required of them in the organization and maybe much more.

 ii.     Development Function: The development function is concerned with how to enhance the skills, aptitudes and values of employees in the organization. Development deals with the overall development of the employees from time to time by concentrating on overall growth of the employees. This function deals with the following activities to be performed for doing so:

a)     Observing and evaluating the performance of the employees on the job and also to know about their potentials for development.

b)    Training is one way to enhance their skills that leads to employee’s development. Trainings from time to time may be imparted to the employees as per the requirement to meet the specific need, thereby adding to their skills. Training is a need of the organization, required form time to time based on different demands arising such as job complexity, internal changes, technology, global competition, etc.

c)     A development function for executives may also be conducted. This is training for managers of the organization. Executive development is a systematic process of learning and growth by which managerial personnel gain and apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes and insights to manage the work in their organisations efficiently and effectively in an organised manner. The aim is to improve their behaviour and performance for their present jobs as well as to the next higher level jobs.

d)    Career Planning is deciding and opening career opportunities for employees in the organization. It is a process of developing human resources in the organization so that a right job can be matched with the right kills. This can be thought of by the organization.

iii.     Compensation Function: A proper wage and salary structure is designed in the organization to make payments to the employees for the job performed. A fair and equitable salary structure is must and doing this may involve the following activities:

a)     The first thing is to pay on the basis of the worth of the job, so an organization should conduct job evaluation i.e., to find the relative worth of the job.

b)    A suitable wage program offering higher packages to employees is designed to motivate employees to perform better in their jobs.

c)     Since compensation is a cost to the organization, it must be carefully designed in order to fulfill the needs of the individual employees plus benefits also in addition to the normal salary. Further it would also be a way to build a right kind of organization in the future.

d)    Compensation is a way of providing incentive after receiving a wage or a salary.

e)     Compensation is a way to satisfy employee in terms of their job and additional benefits in the form of insurance, medical claim, etc helps relieving employees from certain inherit fears.

f)      Employees gain a sense of social security also.

g)     Compensation also includes Bonus to be given to the employees as a set norm under the payment of Bonus Act, 1965.

iv.     Integration Function: To integrate is to integrate the objectives of the individual employees with the organizational objectives. It is only through this integration, the main objectives of the organization are achieved. There are various ways to integrate employees such as various financial and non financial incentives, proper grievance mechanism for redressing any problems etc of the employees with the organization, collective bargaining methods, workers participation in management, solving conflicts of various types at different levels in the organization, employee counseling, etc.

 v.     Maintenance Function: The maintenance function is concerned with thinking and developing various parameters relating to health and welfare of the employees. It may include various health benefits scheme, medical claim, and health insurance for its employees, etc. This function aims at maintaining the health of the employees physically as well as mentally. Social security method includes providing employees with provident fund, secured jobs, pension, gratuity, etc.

The functions of HRM as stated above may vary from organization to organization. It means that some organizations are smaller and some are big. Smaller organizations may use only procurement and compensation functions and only some part of development function and not necessary development of executives, etc. they may also not be having maintenance function. But this may not be so in case of big organizations. They may have all the functions starting from procurement till maintenance.

Human Resource Management should be linked with strategic goals and objectives in order to improve business performance and develop organizational cultures that foster innovation and flexibility. All the above futuristic visions coupled with strategic goals and objectives should be based on 3 H’s of Heart, Head and Hand i.e., we should feel by Heart, think by Head and implement by Hand.

CHALLENGES OF HRM IN INDIAN ECONOMY

  i.     Globalization: The growing internationalization of business has its impact on HRM in terms of problems of unfamiliar laws, languages, practices, competitions, attitudes, management styles, work ethics and more. HR managers have a challenge to deal with more functions, more heterogeneous functions and more involvement in employee’s personal life.

 ii.     Corporate Re-organizations: Reorganization relates to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, take over, internal restructuring of organizations. In these situations, it is difficult to imagine circumstances that pose a greater challenge for HRM than reorganizations itself. It is a challenge to manage employees’ anxiety, uncertainties, insecurities and fears during these dynamic trends.

iii.     New Organizational forms: The basic challenge to HRM comes from the changing character of competitions. The competition is not between individual firms but between constellations of firm. Major companies are operating through a complex web of strategic alliances, forgings with local suppliers etc. These relationships give birth to completely new forms of organizational structure, which highly depend upon a regular exchange of people and information. The challenge for HRM is to cope with the implications of these newly networked relations more and more, in place of more comfortable hierarchical relationships that existed within the organizations for ages in the past.

iv.     Changing Demographics of Workforce: Changes in workforce are largely reflected by dual career couples, large chunk of young blood between age old superannuating employees, working mothers, more educated and aware workers etc. These dynamic workforces have their own implications for HR managers and from HRM point of view is a true challenge to handle.

 v.     Changed employee expectations: With the changes in workforce demographics, employee expectations and attitudes have also transformed. Traditional allurements like job security, house, and remunerations are not much attractive today; rather employees are demanding empowerment and equality with management. Hence’ it is a challenge for HRM to redesign the profile of workers, and discover new methods of hiring, training, remunerating and motivating employees.

vi.     New Industrial Relations Approach: In today’s dynamic world, even unions have understood that strikes and militancy have lost their relevance and unions are greatly affected by it. The trade union membership has fallen drastically worldwide and the future of labor movement is in danger. The challenge before HRM is to adopt a proactive industrial relations approach which should enable HR specialist to look into challenges unfolding in the future and to be prepared no convert them into opportunities.

vii.     Renewed People Focus: The need of today’s world and business is the people’s approach. The structure, strategy, systems approach which worked in post war era is no more relevant in today’s economic environment which is characterized by over capacities and intense competition. The challenge of HR manager is to focus on people and make them justifiable and sustainable.

viii.     Managing the Managers’. Managers are unique tribe in any society, they believe they are class apart. They demand decision-making, bossism and operational freedom. However, in the post liberalization era, freedom given to managers is grossly misused to get rid of talented and hard working juniors. The challenge of HRM is how to manage this tribe? How to make them realize that the freedom given to them is to enable them to make quick decisions in the interest of the organization and not to resort to witch-hunting.

ix.     Weaker Society interests: Another challenge for HRM is to protect the interest of weaker sections of society. The dramatic increase of women workers, minorities and other backward communities in the workforce has resulted in the need for organizations to reexamine their policies, practices and values. In the name of global competition, productivity and quality the interests of the society around should not be sacrificed. It is a challenge of today’s HR managers to see that these weaker sections are neither denied their rightful jobs nor are discriminated against while in service.

 x.     Contribution to the success of organizations: The biggest challenge to an HR manager is to make all employees contribute to the success of the organization in an ethical and socially responsible way. Because society’s well being to a large extent depends on its organizations.

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Introduction of HRM ~ View here

An Introduction to Human Resource Management ~ View here

Nature Concepts and Functions of HRM ~ View here