Personnel Management is clearly a management function

Personnel Management is clearly a management function

The personnel manager has to perform the managerial function such as planning, organizing, directing, motivation and controlling personnel working in his department. In addition to the usual managerial functions, he has also operative function in the personnel field covering the entire enterprise.

Functions of Personal Management

Managerial functions

1. Planning: Planning is deciding in advance what to do in future. In the context of personnel management, it is concerned with manpower planning, studying turnover rate, forecasting the future requirement of personnel and planning for selection and training procedures etc. 
2. Organizing: Organizing involves the establishment of interrelationship within organization. It provides a structure for the company for identifying the various subgroups heated by individuals in managerial jobs as well as operative jobs.
3. Directing: Directing includes instruction to workers developing communication network, interpreting various industrial laws and integrating workers.
4. Motivating: Motivating function involves motivation of employee through financial and non-financial incentives to increase productivity.
5. Controlling: Personnel department provides basis data for establishing standards, makes job analysis and performance appraisal etc.

Operative Functions

These are service or routine functions of personnel management. These are

1. Procurement of personnel: It covers human resource planning and forecasting and the process of recruitment, selection, placement and introduction of newly appointed employee. 
2. Development of personnel: Development of workers and managers demand systematic programmes for employee training and management development, programmes of performance appraisal, promotion, transfer, etc. are also included under this function. Development function yields synergic effect viz, 2+2=5.
3. Compensation of personnel: Equitable remuneration in the form of wages, salaries, bonuses assume great significance, as compensation is the main motivator because our wants are satisfied with money in the market for goods and services. Economic compensation involves varied and complex problems. It governs labour management relations.
4. Integration: Individual, social and organizational goals and interest are diverse and conflicting. They have to be reconciled and properly coordinated or integrated. Then only employees can offer their willing cooperation for united and joint enterprises. Democratic management reduces conflicts and assures effective morale and motivation.
5. Maintenance: It covers personnel activities relating to employee health and safety, favorable work environment, employee benefits and services, labor welfare work, worker participation on management etc.

Strategic Roles of Human Resource Management

Strategic Roles of Human Resource Management

Strategic human resource management is to ensure that human resource management is fully integrated into strategic planning, that HRM policies cohere both across policy areas and cross hierarchies and that HRM policies are accepted and used by line managers as part of their every day work. Strategic management is that set of managerial decisions and actions that determine the long-term performance of a corporation. It includes environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and evaluation and control.

Fred R. David has listed the following benefits that strategic HRM brings for an organization.

• Allows identification, prioritization and exploitation of opportunities.
• Provides an objective view of management problems.
• Represents a framework for improved coordination and control of activities.
• Minimizes the effects of adverse conditions and change.
• Allows major decisions to better support established objectives.
• Allows more effective allocation of time and resources of time and resources to identified opportunities.
• Allows fewer resources and lesser time to be devoted to correcting erroneous or adhoc decisions.
• Creates a framework for internal communication among personnel.
• Helps to integrate the behaviors of individuals into a total effort.
• Provides a basis for the classification of individual responsibilities.
• Give encouragement to forward thinking.
• Provides a co-operative, integrated and enthusiastic approach to tackling problems and opportunities.
• Encourages a favorable attitude towards change.
• Gives a degree of discipline and formality to the management of a business.

Strategic Role Played by 

Strategies are the long-term plan of every organization. Each and every business firm is moved with strategies to achieve their goals. Strategic human resource management is concerned with the development and implementations of people strategies which are integrated are integrated with organizational strategies to attain long-term goals. Generally, business manager have three strategic decisions

• Corporate strategy
• Business strategy
• Functional strategy

Strategy helps in balancing two sets of forces i.e. internal environment and external environment. However following factors are considered to be strategic role of HRM.

1. Development of quality management: It can be developed by assisting with the introduction of total quality management approaches through education and training processes and involving people in quality improvement programmes. 
2. Development of Reward policies: Using the reward management system to define performance expectations to reward people according to their contribution.
3. Development of Employee relation policies: Developing a cooperative climate of employee relations, which allows direct communication to employees but, where appropriate, recognized the role union play in a pluralist organization.
4. Development of cultural management policies: Influencing behavior and thereby, attitudes through researching, performance management, development and reward strategies, and helping to get the mission and values of the organization designed understood, accepted and acted upon.
5. Performance management strategy: Introducing system, which clarify objectives at all levels in the organization and measure performance against those objectives, in order to agree improvement and development plan.

Objectives of Human Resource Management (HRM)

Objectives of Human Resource Management (HRM)

The primary objective of any organization is to maximize profits and wealth attribution to the owners of the firm. The main objective of human resource management is to manage the workers and employees in an enterprise in the best manner. Following are the important objectives of human resource management in an organization:

1. To increase the welfare of human resource: personnel management is to increase the welfare of workers and employees engaged in an enterprise. Best working conditions should be provided and many other welfare programmes must be launched so that employees may get the facilities of health and recreation.

2. To establish harmonious relations between labour and capital: The objective of personnel management is to establish harmonious and friendly relations between labour and capital in the enterprise. The philosophy of modern management is that the contribution of labour is not less important than that of the capital. “Managers realize that they cannot make the best of capital without co-operation of the labour. Therefore, it stresses upon the development of trust and faith between employees and employers.

3. To arrange effective communication with employees: Another very important of personnel management/ Human Resource Management is to maintain effective communication with employees so that the orders and directions of management may be passed to the employees and the problems and grievances of workers may also be communicated to the management.

4. To develop the employees: The objective of human resource management is the development of employees working in an enterprise. Employees are provided the facilities of training and education so that the efficiency and ability of the employees may be increased.

5. Other objectives: Other objectives of human resource management/ personnel management are:

• To arrange for the sufficient number of efficient, capable and expressed employees in all the departments and at all the levels of management.
• To motivate the employees so that the productivity of enterprise may be increased
• To increase the moral of employee
• To provide the best working conditions to the employees so that they may complete their work in most efficient manner.
• To integrate HR policies with business plans and reinforce and an appropriate culture or as necessary, reshape an inappropriate culture.

HRM in System Prospective

HRM in System Prospective

Management is a system which involves interrelated activities necessary to achieve goals. Human resource management is a part of management which focuses on the workforce. It also involves a system consisting of input, processing, output and feedback. It is affected by both internal and external environment.

Human Resource Management System

1. Input: The input of human resource management includes those components necessary for organizational functioning to achieve a defined goal. The input factors of HRM include the following components:

• Organizational Plan
• Human Resource Plan
• Organizational Strategy
• Human Ability and Competency
• Labor Market and Technology
• Human Resource Inventory

As an input in a system, the workforce provides both administrative and technical support to the management to complete the assigned job at the proper time. Therefore, input component is most essential in human resource management system.

2. Processing: Processing involves all human resource functions necessary to convert input into output. The following are the components of human resource processing. 

1. Acquisition: It involves the employment of the right number and kind of workforce to the right job. It includes activities of manpower planning, recruitment, selection, placement and socialization of workforce. Manpower planning involves determination of current and future workforce requirement in the organization. Recruitment involves identifying the sources of workforce and stimulating them to apply for vacant posts. Selection is the process of making choice of the right workforce. Placement is the assignment of job on the basis of skill. In socialization, employee know about organizational culture, tradition and working environment. 
2. Development: It ensures the required competencies of the workforce to perform assigned task efficiently. On the basis of requirement of an organization, it is essential to develop working efficiency of employees. For this, the management needs to organize many efficiency development programs consisting of training, workshop, seminar, education etc. It also involves the programs necessary to develop competencies and conceptual ability among the managers.
3. Motivation: It is a psychological aspect and ensures the optimum utilization of human resource. It develops a sense of belonging among the workforce and encourages them to do the given job in accordance with their best ability. Employees work in the organization for the satisfaction of their needs. For this, the management needs to consider both extrinsic and intrinsic factors that satisfy and motivate them. Extrinsic factors include job design, working environment, supervision, financial incentives, promotion etc. Intrinsic factors include achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, growth etc.
4. Maintenance: It ensures retaining productive employees in the organization for a long time. It is possible only by maintain good relation with employees and providing better working environment in the organization. Therefore, it is essential to consider health, safety and comfort of employees. It helps to satisfy employees and makes them committed towards their job.

3. Output: The output component of human resource management includes goal achievement, quality of work life, productivity, commitment, efficiency, readiness for change etc. The effectiveness of human resource management is measured on the basis of its output. We can only say that the system developed in human resource

management is appropriate only when output is achieved effectively.

Human resource management is a continuous process and lasts till the existence of the organization. As such, it is essential to evaluate the feedback of the system. The implementation of HRM system is affected by environmental changes; therefore, if the present system is not effective for future performance, it is necessary to modify the system.