Human resource management

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 What is HRM?
2 Academic theory
3 Careers
4 Professional organizations
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] What is HRM?

Human Resource Management (HRM) 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.^[1]

The terms 'human resource management' (HRM) and 'human resources' (HR) have largely replaced the term 'Personnel Management' as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations.^[2]

Human resource management (HRM) is both an academic theory and a business practice that addresses the theoretical and practical techniques of managing a workforce. Synonyms include personnel administration, personnel management, manpower management,^[3] and industrial management^[4], but these traditional expressions are becoming less common for the theoretical discipline. Sometimes even industrial relations and employee relations are confusingly listed as synonyms (e.g. Encyclopædia Britannica) although these normally refer to the relationship between management and workers and the behavior of workers in companies.

The theoretical discipline is based primarily on the assumption that employees are individuals with varying goals and needs, and as such should not be thought of as basic business resources, such as trucks and filing cabinets. The field takes a positive view of workers, assuming that virtually all wish to contribute to the enterprise productively, and that the main obstacles to their endeavors are lack of knowledge, insufficient training, and failures of process.

HRM is seen by practitioners in the field as a more innovative view of workplace management than the traditional approach. Its techniques force the managers of an enterprise to express their goals with specificity so that they can be understood and undertaken by the workforce, and to provide the resources needed for them to successfully accomplish their assignments. As such, HRM techniques, when properly practiced, are expressive of the goals and operating practices of the enterprise overall. ^[5]

Nowadays, the more traditional synonyms such as personnel management are often used in a more restricted sense to describe those activities that are necessary in the recruiting of a workforce, providing its members with payroll and benefits, and administrating their work-life needs. These activities can require regulatory knowledge and effort, and enterprises can benefit from the recruitment and development of personnel with these specific skills.

[edit] Academic theory

The goal of human resource management is to help an organization to meet strategic goals by attracting, and maintaining employees and also to manage them effectively. The basic premise of the academic theory of HRM is that humans are not machines, therefore we need to have an interdisciplinary examination of people in the workplace. Fields such as psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, industrial relations, sociology, and critical theories: postmodernism, post-structuralism play a major role. Many colleges and universities offer bachelor and master degrees in Human Resources Management.

[edit] Careers

The sort of careers available in HRM are varied. There are generalist HRM jobs such as human resource assistant. There are careers involved with employment, recruitment and placement and these are usually conducted by interviewers, EEO specialists or college recruiters. Training and development specialism is often conducted by trainers and orientation specialists. Compensation and benefits tasks are handled by compensation analysts, salary administrators, and benefits administrators.

[edit] Professional organizations

Professional organizations in HRM include the Society for Human Resource Management, the Institute for International Human Resources, the The Human Resource Planning Society, and localized organizations such as the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

[edit] References

^ A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th edition, Armstrong. M. (Kogan Page) London 2006 ISBN 0 -7494 - 4631 -5
^ A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th edition, Armstrong. M. (Kogan Page) London 2006 ISBN 0 -7494 - 4631 -5
^ Encyclopædia Britannica: "[Personnel administration] is also frequently called personnel management, industrial relations, employee relations, and manpower management."
^ Columbia Encyclopedia: "personnel management - see industrial management."
^ HRM is also seen by many to have a key role in risk reduction within organistions. [1]