Introduction to Human Resource Management

Human resources may be defined as the total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes of an organization's workforce, as well as the values, attitudes, approaches and beliefs of the individuals involved in the affairs of the organization. It is the sum total or aggregate of inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills represented by the talents and aptitudes of the persons employed in the organization. The human resources are multidimensional in nature.

From the national point of view, human resources may be defined as the knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes obtained in the population; whereas from the viewpoint of the individual enterprise, they represent the total of the inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills as exemplified in the talents and aptitudes of its employees. Human resources are the most valuable and unique assets of an organization. The successful management of an organization's human resources is an exciting, dynamic and challenging task, especially at a time when the world has become a global village and economies are in a state of flux.The scarcity of talented resources and the growing expectations of the modern day worker have further increased the complexity of the human resource function. Even though specific human resource functions/activities are the responsibility of the human resource department, the actual management of human resources is the responsibility of all the managers in an organization. It is therefore necessary for all managers to understand and give due importance to the different human resource policies and activities in the organization.

Human Resource Management outlines the importance of HRM and its different functions in an organization.It examines the various HR processes that are concerned with attracting, managing, motivating and developing employees for the benefit of the organization. * Human Resource Management: Defined Human Resource Management has come to be recognized as an inherent part of management, which is concerned with the human resources of an organization. Its objective is the maintenance of better human relations in the organization by the development, application and evaluation of policies, procedures and programmes relating to human resources to optimize their contribution towards the realization of organizational objectives.

In other words, HRM is concerned with getting better results with the collaboration of people. It is an integral but distinctive part of management, concerned with people at work and their relationships within the enterprise. HRM helps in attaining maximum individual development, desirable working relationship between employees and employers, employees and employees, and effective modelling of human resources as contrasted with physical resources. It is the recruitment, selection, development, utilization, compensation and motivation of human resources by the organization. * Evolution of Hrm:The early part of the century saw a concern for improved efficiency through careful design of work. During the middle part of the century emphasis shifted to the employee's productivity.

Recent decades have focused on increased concern for the quality of working life, total quality management and worker's participation in management. These three phases may be termed as welfare, development and empowerment. * Nature of HRm: Human Resource Management is a process of bringing people and organizations together so that the goals of each are met. The various features of HRM include:* It tries to help employees develop their potential fully. It encourages employees to give their best to the organization. * It is all about people at work, both as individuals and groups.

* It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to produce good results. It helps an organization meet its goals in the future by providing for competent and well motivated employees. * It tries to build and maintain cordial relations between people working at various levels in the organization. * It is a multidisciplinary activity, utilizing knowledge and inputs drawn from psychology, economics, etc. * Scope of hrm: The scope of HRM is very wide: * Personnel aspect:This is concerned with manpower planning, recruitment, selection, placement, transfer, promotion, training and development, layoff and retrenchment, remuneration, incentives, productivity etc. * Welfare aspect: It deals with working conditions and amenities such as canteens, creches, rest and lunch rooms, housing, transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety, recreation facilities, etc.

* Industrial relations aspect: This covers union-management relations, joint consultation, collective bargaining, grievance and disciplinary procedures, settlement of disputes, etc. * Objectives of Human Resource Management:The following are the main objectives of the personnel management or the Human Resource Management. * To help the organization reach its goals. * To ensure effective utilization and maximum development of human resources. * To ensure respect for human beings.

To identify and satisfy the needs of individuals. * To ensure reconciliation of individual goals with those of the organization. * To achieve and maintain high morale among employees. * To provide the organization with well-trained and well-motivated employees.* To increase to the fullest the employee's job satisfaction and self-actualization. To develop and maintain a quality of work life.

* To be ethically and socially responsive to the needs of society. * To develop overall personality of each employee in its multidimensional aspect. * Functions of Human Resource Management: In order to achieve the above objectives, Human Resource Management undertakes the functions which are classified into two categories * Managerial functions * Operative functions * Managerial functions: The managerial functions of a personnel manager have an impact on the operative functions as well. They are enumerated below : * Planning:This involves formulating the future course of action.

Planning includes determining in advance the personnel programs and changes required that would contribute to the achievement of organizational goals. * Organising: It involves establishing an intentional structure of roles for people in an organization. Structural considerations such as the chain of command, division of labour, and assignment of responsibility are party of the organizing function. The organizing function establishes relationships among employees so that they can contribute collectively towards the attainment of an organisation's goals.Staffing: This is the process of obtaining and maintaining capable and competent personnel in various positions at all levels.

It broadly encompasses manpower planning, recruitment, placement, induction and orientation, transfer, career progression, promotion and separation. * Directing: It involves directing all the available resources towards the common organizational goals. Thus, direction is a vital management function, which ensures maximum employee contribution and also helps in establishing sound industrial and human relations. It also involves coordination between different departments.

Controlling: It involves the measurement of performance against goals and plans, identifies deviations and by placing the process back on track, helps in the accomplishment of plans. * Operative functions: These can be classified into four broad areas, employment, development, compensation and employee relations. * Employment: It involves procuring and employing individuals with suitable knowledge, skills, experience and aptitude necessary to perform various jobs. It includes functions such as job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, selection, placement and induction.

Job analysis involves preparing job description, job specification, job requirements and employee specification and providing the guides, plans and basis for job design and redesign.* Human resource planning involves forecasting the human resource requirements of an organization and the future supply of human resources. It also involves assessing the possibility of developing the human resources to match the requirements. * Recruitment is the process of seeking and attracting prospective candidates against a vacancy in an organization. Selection is the process of identifying and establishing the credentials of a candidate for a job to ensure success. * Placement is decided based on the needs of the organization.

* Introducing a new employee to the organization, its business, the organization culture, its values and beliefs, practices and procedures is termed as induction. * Training and development: This process aims to train and develop employees to improve and update their knowledge and skills, so as to help them perform their jobs better. The process also includes developing the attitudes, beliefs and values of the employees to match the organizational needs.This comprises of performance appraisal, training, management / executive development, career planning and development. * Performance appraisal is the process of evaluating the performance of an employee on the job and developing a plan for improvement.

* Training is the systematic development of the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to perform a job. * Development is the concept of developing the employees in an organization to meet future changes and challenges * Career planning and development refers to identifying one's career goals and formulating plans of reaching them.It attempts to harmonize an individual’s career aspirations with organizational needs. * Compensation: It is governed by the principle of rewarding an employee extrinsically during and after the course of his job for his contributions to the organization adequately, equitably and in a fair manner. It encompasses salaries, incentives, bonus and fringe benefits. This function comprises of Job evaluation, wage and salary administration, incentives, bonus and fringe benefits.

* Job evaluation is the systematic determination of the value of each job in relation to other jobs in the organization. The process of formulating and operating a suitable wage and salary program is known as wage and salary administration.* Incentives are the rewards an employee earns in addition to regular salary based on his performance or of the collective performance. * Bonus is primarily a share in the surpluses and is often directly related to the organization performance. * Fringe benefits are monetary and non-monetary benefits including disablement benefits, housing facilities, canteen facilities, conveyance facilities, educational facilities, recreational facilities, medical and welfare facilities, post retirement benefits, etc.