Out Line the key features of HRM as an approach to managing people in the workplace. Compare and contrast the HRM approach with more traditional personnel management. Assess the advantages of the HRM approach for employers.

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Human resource management (HRM) seeks to maximize organizational performance through the adoption of best practice in the management of people. It can be view as an approach that considers people as the key resource. It subscribes to the notion that it is important to communicate well with employees, to involve them in what is going on and to foster their commitment and identification with the organization. In addition, a strategic approach to the acquisition, management and motivation of people is heavily emphasized. Human resource management (HRM) becomes much more popular than ever before, in fact, it is essentially replaces the terms ‘personnel management’ or ‘personnel administration-on’. Many people considered HRM as a revolution of personnel practice. In contrast, a number of commentators have argued that there is not any significant difference in the concepts of personnel management (PM) and HRM. In this essay, it is intended to outline the key features of Human Resources as an approach to managing people in the workplace and analyze the relationship between HRM and PM and also assess the advantages of the HRM approach for employers.

Historical development

The development of HRM is linked to growth of the factory production and the management problems of cooperation and control.

Industrial Revolution (early 19th century)

Refers to the early Industrial Revolution, which led to a growth in population and output. Earliest activity involved welfare work, as working conditions in factories were often appalling. By 1890s, an increasing number of employers were taking responsibility for the welfare of their employees. A number of Quaker employers, including Rowntree and Cadbury, began to emphasise welfare by appointing ‘industrial welfare’ workers and building model factory villages.

Personnel Administration (1930s)

Personnel support to management in the form of recruitment, time keeping, payment systems, basic training and record keeping. The specialist personnel role became firmly established within existing enterprises and sectors and also spread to the local authorities, the health service and nationalised industries.

Personnel management, the developing period (1940s and 1950s)

In which the whole range of personnel services was provided including craft, and supervisory training. Increasing organisational size was notable and activated certain changes in industrial relations practices.

There is a significant increase in the number of people involved in personnel work. An extension of previous period into the organisation and management development, systematic training and manpower planning.

Human Resource Management (1980s)

The concept of HRM emerged from the writings of American academics and was taken up during the entrepreneurial 1980s, when personnel specialists found themselves having to adjust to the enterprise culture and the market economy.

Human Resource Management (the 1990s)

The virtues of teamwork, empowerment and continuous development in the “learning organisation” were supported and the role of HR in total quality initiatives became more important. Changing work patterns introduced - part-time, temporary contracts, working from home, - leading to increased diversity in work practice. Can no longer rely on traditional recruitment practices and people management.

The New Millennium

Growth in the use of the Internet and a 24/7 society has led to more jobs in e-commerce (at the expense of traditional jobs in banking and shops).

HRM as ...

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Human Resource Management (the 1990s)

The New Millennium

Growth in the use of the Internet and a 24/7 society has led to more jobs in e-commerce (at the expense of traditional jobs in banking and shops).

HRM as a Concept

It was first appeared in the 1980s with growth of the term in 1990s. Difficult to find a definitive description of HRM – one approach has been to contrast HRM with personnel management. Maund (2001) believed HRM to be a philosophy, comprising a number of themes and concepts, which have developed from over a century of management theory and research in social science. Regarded as a philosophy governing how employees should be treated in the interests of the organisation.

Hard and Soft HRM

Hard HRM – Business needs dictate the employment, deployment and dispensation of employees in line with corporate demand, with little regard for the needs of those human resources.

Soft HRM – Competitive advantage can be gained through the workforce by recognising, nurturing and developing the potential of their human resource. Knowledge about the behavioural aspects of people at work is developed.

The Characteristics of HRM

The importance of adopting a strategic approach
Line managers play a predominant role
Organisational policies must be integrated and cohesive.
Needs to achieve a ‘fit’ between the business and HR strategy
Employees are seen as assets or human capital.
Human resources are seen as a source of competitive advantage

Seeking the commitment of employees to the organisation is of far greater value than forcing compliance to the demands of the organisation.

(Armstrong, 2001; Foot & Hook, 2002)

The Relationship between Personnel Management and Human Resource Management

“HRM is regarded by some personnel managers as just a set of initials or old wine in new bottles. It could indeed be no more and no less than another name for personnel management, but as usually perceived, at least it has the virtue of emphasizing the virtue of treating people as a key resource, the management of which is the direct concern of top management as part of the strategic planning processes of the enterprise. Although there is nothing new in the idea, insufficient attention has been paid to it in many organizations. The new bottle or label can help to overcome that deficiency.” (Armstrong, 2001)

Guest model

Guest (1987) presents four policy goals as testable propositions:

· Strategic integration – integration of HRM issues into strategic plans of the

Organization;

· High commitment – to pursue agreed goals and strong identification with the

Enterprise;

· High quality – managerial behavior that leads to investment in, and

Management of, high quality employees, which directly bears on the quality of

Outputs

· Flexibility – functional flexibility and an adaptable organization to manage

Innovation.

Similarities Between PM and HRM

The aims of personnel management are the effective recruitment, selection, rewarding, deployment, training, co-ordination, control and management of labour resources in organisations. In this way that not only will they achieve satisfaction and ‘give of their best ’ at work, but also, doing enable the employing organization to achieve its goals.

Therefore, there are similarities between personnel management in construction and ‘hard’ models of HRM, particularly in relation to manual workers.

· Both recognize that line managers are responsible for managing people

Personnel function provides the necessary advice and support services;

· Identical with regard to respect for the individual, balancing organizational

And individual needs and developing people both for personal and

organizational objectives;

· Both recognize their essential function of matching people to ever-changing

Business requirements;

· Same range of techniques is used e.g. selection, training, and management

Development, reward management;

· Personnel management and ‘soft’ version of HRM attach importance to the

Process of involvement, participation and communication.

3.3 Differences between PM and HRM

HRM aims to integrate all of the personnel functions into a cohesive strategy. There are a number of other key differences.

· PM is workforce-centered, directed mainly at the organization’s employee, finding and training them, arranging for them to be paid, explaining management’s expectations, justifying management’s actions; HRM is resource-centered, sees employees as resources, however, they are viewed as being fundamentally different from other resources - they cannot be managed in the same way. It is not only emphasizes the importance of employee development, but also focuses particularly on development of ‘the management team’

. · PM is, characteristically, a range of activities centering on the supply and development of labor to meet the immediate and short-term needs of the organization. The activities of recruitment, selection, rewards, development, etc. are, very largely, not integrated into a coherent strategy; On the other hand, HRM more emphasizes on ‘group psychological state’, and a shift away from individual-based psychological theories of ‘worker morale’. (Mahoney & Desktop 1986) It seeks to adopt a long-term view emphasizing the need for everyone in the organization to work towards a common goal.

· PM operates in organizations where there are traditional ways of working and there is not much involvement of the workforce in decision-making. It tends to specialize in most of the traditional activities mentioned; HRM emphasizes the importance of the involvement of everyone in teams or in quality circles. It trends to devolve many of these activities to line managers, concentrating instead on developing policies, planning, monitoring and evaluating.

· PM managers want a fair system for all and are keen to have rules and procedures to encourage this; HR managers tend to say that people have a right to proper treatment at work and efficient management will achieve this. HRM has more emphasis on planning, monitoring and control to ensure the right number of people (not necessarily employees), with the right skills in the right place at the right time.

Generally, HRM has been labeled a fundamentally new approach to personnel management with a number of distinctive features; for example, strategic integration, an emphasis on mutuality, and treating people as a resource to be invested in rather than as a cost. In this sense, HRM is essentially a business-orientated philosophy with an aim of achieving competitive advantage

Advantage of the HRM approach for employers

Human resource management has become an in-word in many companies, it becomes a necessary element for employers to ensure efficiency and success. It produces the results that will make the company more efficient and the workers happier at the same time. HRM is obliged to have identified the organization’s workforce’s current position and future needs, and to train for those needs that will be needed in the future. The goal is to develop and maintain a workforce aligned in qualifications and expertise with the organization’s strategic goals.

HRM reflects changes in philosophies and practices with respect to the management of people in organizations and there is a greater emphasis on strategic issues and on the way in which the human resource contributes to the achievement of cooperate objectives. The development of human resources to meet future challenges, and ensuring that people’s energies are sufficiently focused in order to add value to organizational inputs. HRM underlines the importance of flexibility and the ability to react and adapt quickly management, where the requirement of the quality of both the operations of the organization and the product or service trigger a need for high caliber staff to secure competitive advantage.

Although HRM unashamedly embrace a cost effective business approach, it values employee for a perfectly understandable reasons. Being concern with the well being of people is seen as a powerful way to motivate and inspire the work force. HRM takes a systems approach to the analysis and management of organization. It likes to see the different parts of the organization functioning effectively and together moving cooperatively towards meeting the overall goals of the enterprise. This is facilitated through the management of systems such as human resource planning, recruitment and selection, appraisal, training and development, and rewards. These systems must be integrated and “pull in the same direction”. In this way the HRM approach assists the organization to be more effective and profitable.

6. Conclusion

Through outlining the key features of HRM, comparing and contrasting with the similarities and differences between the two, assess the advantages of the HRM approach for employers, it can be concluded that, comparing with traditional personnel management, HRM is a development, which originated from personnel management and is a better way of people management.

Strategic integration and the promotion of employees’ commitment are key features of the HRM model that bring about a new role and scope for the personnel function in the organization. It is the vital to the ongoing success of an organization in today’s highly competitive market place. A strategic approach to HRM does everything to ensure that the right number of the right types of motivated, energized, and self-directed people with creative ideas and corporate commitment are there to manage the organizations business and in return the people are given adequate reward, agreeable job securities, continuously enlarging opportunities, and reinforcing employer-employee relationship.

Reference and bibliography

Human Resource Management a concise analysis, Eugene McKenna and Nick Beech P1- P13

Introducing Human Resource Management, Margaret Foot & Caroline Hook

Armstrong, M. (2001) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 8th edition, Cogan Page, London

Box all, P. (1993) The Significance of Human Resource Management: A Reconsideration of the Evidence, International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 4, no.3, Sep.

Guest,D.E. (1987) Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations, Journal of Management Studies

LAN Bardwell and Len Holden (2001) Human Resource Management, 3rd Edition

Torrington,D.P (1989) in Armstrong, M., (2000) The Name Has Changed But Has the Game Remained the Same Employee Relation Vol.22, No 6,2000,pp576-593l

http://www.bu.edu/library/guides/human.html#art

http://www.ecommerce.or.th/nceb2002/paper/46eBusiness_IS_business.pdf

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~bustcfj/bola/welfare/welfare.html http://www.academicdb.com/Business___Management/Human_Resource_Management/

http://www.gabbai.com/Management/HRM/British_HRM.pdf

Word count: 2139

Out Line the key features of HRM as an approach to managing people in the workplace. Compare and contrast the HRM approach with more traditional personnel management. Assess the advantages of the HRM approach for employers.

Historical development

The development of HRM is linked to growth of the factory production and the management problems of cooperation and control.

Personnel Administration (1930s)

This is a preview of the whole essay

The Characteristics of HRM

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