How will future changes affect Human Resource Management

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How will future changes affect Human Resource Management

Introduction

Human Resource Management (HRM) has become more important to society in the past twenty years, going through many changes already. But how will it adapt in the future.  What are the predictions for the future and how will HRM cope?  The forthcoming document analyses the history of HRM, predicts what will happen in the future of employment and the changes that HRM will have to consider to be able to keep functioning.

The History of HRM

According to Winning (Online), Personnel Management has been around since the early 1920’s but mainly just to support employees and also keep them away from being part of unions as it wasn’t in the company’s interest to encourage unions then.  It was the 1960’s where Personnel Management started to get recognised slightly more, at this time it was still being called Personnel Management.  This changed in mid 1980’s when Personnel Management started to be seen as something that is actually important to a company.  The image of Personnel Management got given a face-lift and was now referred to as Human Resource Management or HRM.  The reasons for this being that the powers of the trade unions were decaying slowly.  Staff functions also began to change with more technology being introduced, which introduced the start of HRM (Mullins, 1999)

Personnel Management was recognised on a low level before the introduction of HRM, but still had a part to play in the negotiations of machinery in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

The introduction of HRM brought around many questions about the similarities and differences between HRM and personnel management.  The main differences are stated that Personnel Management is an employee centred activity including more opinions than facts, and that HRM is a resource centred activity with more planning, monitoring and control.  

Functions of HRM

The HRM department varies from organisation to organisation.  But there are some specific tasks that need to be completed by every organisation.  Some organisations are just too small to have a separate HRM department, but they still need to complete these specific tasks by whichever means.

All organisations have to recruit employees by going through the recruitment and selection process.  Larger organisations will have specific guidelines by which they follow to complete this process; some smaller companies may not have these guidelines, but they still have to abide by the law.

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Any staff that are employed need to be trained in their job with compliance to any laws relating to the role.  Larger companies will offer a development plan to run along side the training, but even smaller companies need to train staff.  The HRM function in the company adheres to any legislation set by the Government.  

All organisations must have a motivation and reward scheme or the employee turnover will be high as everyone has needs, whether it is basic or social needs.    

Employee records need to be maintained in accordance ...

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