INTRODUCTION TO

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

What is Human Resource Management?

Human resource (HR) management

refers to the practices and policies one needs to carry
out to deal with the personnel aspects of the
management job
Human resource management (HRM) is the effective
management of people at work
The goal: make workers more satisfied and
productive
When an organization is concerned about people, its
total philosophy, culture, and orientation reflect it
Every manager must be concerned with people,
whether or not there is a human resources department

Scope of HRM

Importance of HRM
attract and retain talent
train people for challenging roles
develop skills and competencies
Good HR Practices help

promote team spirit

develop loyalty and commitment
increase productivity and profits
improve job satisfaction
enhance standard of living
generate employment opportunities

Image and Quality of

HR/Personnel Manager

Fairness and firmness

Tact and resourcefulness

Sympathy and consideration

Knowledge of labor and other terms

Broad social outlook

Others and Academic qualifications

Functions of HRM
P/HRM
Operative Functions

Managerial
functions:

Planning

Procurement

Development:

Job Analysis

Training

HR planning
Organizing

Recruitment
Selection
Placement

Directing

Induction
Internal
mobility

Controlling

Executive
development
Career
planning
Succession
planning
Human
resources
development
strategies

Motivation and
Compensation:

Maintenance:

Job design

Health

Job evaluation
Performance and
potential
appraisal
Compensation
administration
Incentives
benefits and
services

Emerging
Issues:

Grievances

Personnel
records

Discipline

Work scheduling
Motivation

Integration:

Personnel
audit

Safety

Teams and
teamwork

Welfare

Collective
bargaining

Social security

Participation

HR
accounting

Empowerment

HRIS

Trade unions

Job stress

Employers
associations
Industrial
relations

Personnel
research

Mentoring
International
HRM

HRM as a central subsystem in an

organization
Product
Subsystem

Finance
Subsystem

HR Subsystem
Procurement
Training
Compensation
Appraisal
Rewards

Technical
Subsystem

Marketing
Subsystem

A Brief History of HRM

HRM can be traced to England, where craftspeople

organized guilds
They used unity to improve working conditions
The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century laid the
basis for a new, complex industrial society
Changing work conditions, social patterns, and labor
created a gap between workers and owners
During the world wars era, scientific management,
welfare work, and industrial psychology merged

A Brief History of HRM

Frederick W. Taylor, the father of scientific

management, summarized scientific management as:
Science
Harmony
Cooperation
Maximum output
Industrial psychology, initiated in 1913, focused on:
The worker
Individual differences
The maximum well being of the worker

A Brief History of HRM

Personnel departments were created to deal with:

Drastic changes in technology
Organizational growth
The rise of unions
Government intervention
concerning working people
Around the 1920s, more organizations
noticed and acted on employee-management conflict

A Brief History of HRM

The Hawthorne studies (1924 to 1933):

Were to determine the effects of
illumination on workers and their output
Rather, it pointed out the importance of
social interaction on output and satisfaction

Until the 1960s, the personnel function was concerned

only with blue-collar employees
File clerk, house-keeper, social worker, firefighter, and
union trouble defuser

Evolution of the Personnel Function

Concept

What is it all about?

The Commodity
concept

Labour was regarded as a commodity to be bought and sold.

Wages were based on demand and supply. Government did
very little to protect workers.

The Factor of
Production concept

Labour is like any other factor of production, viz, money,

materials, land, etc. Workers are like machine tools.

The Goodwill concept

Welfare measures like safety, first aid, lunch room, rest room will
have a positive impact on workers productivity

The Paternalistic
concept/ Paternalism

Management must assume a fatherly and protective attitude

towards employees. Paternalism does not mean merely
providing benefits but it means satisfying various needs of the
employees as parents meet the requirements of the children.
Cont

Evolution of the Personnel Function

The Humanitarian
concept

To improve productivity, physical, social and psychological

needs of workers must be met. As Mayo and others stated,
money is less a factor in determining output, than group
standards, group incentives and security. The organization is a
social system that has both economic and social dimensions.

The Human Resource

concept

Employees are the most valuable assets of an organization.

There should be a conscious effort to realize organizational goals
by satisfying needs and aspirations of employees.

The Emerging concept Employees should be accepted as partners in the progress of a

company. They should have a feeling that the organization is
their own. To this end, managers must offer better quality of
working life and offer opportunities to people to exploit their
potential fully. The focus should be on Human Resource
Development.

Personnel Function in India;

Changing Scenario
Period

Emphasis

Status

Roles

1920 30

Welfare management
Paternalistic practices

Clerical

Welfare
administrator

1940 60

Expanding the role to cover

Labour, Welfare, Industrial
Relations and Personnel
Administration

Administrative

Appraiser
Advisor
Mediator
Legal advisor
Fire fighting

1970 80

Efficiency, effectiveness
dimensions added
Emphasis on human
values, aspirations,

Developmental

Change agent
Integrator
Trainer
Educator

1990s
onwards

Incremental productivity
gains through human
assets

Proactive,
growth-oriented

Developer
Counsellor
Coach
Mentor
Problem solver

Objectives of HRM

Objectives of the HRM Function

HRM contributions to organizational effectiveness:

Helping the organization reach its goals
Employing workforce skills and abilities efficiently
Increasing job satisfaction, self-actualization, and
quality of work life
Communicating HRM policies to all employees
Maintaining ethical policies and socially responsible
behavior
Managing change to the mutual advantage of
individuals, groups, the enterprise, and the public

Objectives of the HRM Function

Increasing employees job satisfaction and selfactualization

Employees must feel that the job is right for their
abilities and that they are being treated equitably
Satisfied employees are not automatically more
productive
However, unsatisfied employees tend to be absent
and quit more often and produce lower-quality work
Both satisfied and dissatisfied employees can perform
equally in quantitative terms

Objectives of the HRM Function

Quality of work life (QWL) is a general concept that

refers to several aspects of the job, including:
Management and supervisory style
Freedom and autonomy to make decisions on the job
Satisfactory physical surroundings
Job safety
Satisfactory working hours
Meaningful tasks
The job and work environment should be structured to
meet as many workers needs as possible

Objectives of the HRM Function

Communicating HRM policies to

all employees:
HRM policies, programs, and procedures must be
communicated fully and effectively
They must be represented to outsiders
Top-level managers must understand what HRM can
offer

Objectives of the HRM Function

Maintaining ethical policies and socially responsible

behavior:
HRM managers must show by example that HRM
activities are fair, truthful, and honorable
People must not be discriminated against
Their basic rights must be protected

These principles should apply to all activities in the

HRM area

Objectives of the HRM Function

Managing increased urgency and faster cycle times:

Firms are placing a growing emphasis on:
Increasing customer service
Developing new products and services
Training and educating technicians, managers,
and decision makers
Shorter cycle times mean less time to:
Train, educate, and assign managers
Recruit and select talented people
Improve the firms image
Learning provides a framework for decreasing
cycle time

HRMs Place in Management

The HR department must be a proactive, integral part

of management and strategic planning
Ascertain specific organizational needs for the
use of its competence
Evaluate the use and satisfaction among other
departments
Educate management and employees about the
availability and use of HRM services

HRM strategic plans must build on the firm's strengths