What is Human Resources Management about
Human resource management (HRM) is an approach to personnel management, based on four fundamental principles.
• First, human resources are the most important assets that an organization has and its effective management is the key to its success.
• Second, that success is more likely to be achieved if personnel policies and procedures are closely linked and make a significant contribution to achieving corporate strategic plans and objectives.
• Third, the corporate culture and values, the organizational climate, and the managerial behavior that emanate from such a culture will exert a primary influence on the achievement of excellence. Therefore, that culture has to be managed, which means that organizational values may have to change or be reinforced through a continuous effort, starting from the top, to get those values accepted and observed in practice.
• Fourth, HRM is a matter of integration: getting all members of the organization to participate and work together, with a sense of common purpose.
HRM application
HRM is a strategic approach to the achievement, motivation, development and management of the human resources of the organization. It is designed to shape a corporate culture and introduce programs that reflect and support the core values of the company and ensure its success. HRM is proactive, rather than reactive; that is, you are always looking ahead to what you need to do, and then you do it, rather than waiting to be told what to do - about recruiting, remuneration, or staff training, or with regard to addressing employee issues. Employee relations as soon as they arise.
The concepts of pioneers, behavioral scientists, and organizational development specialists are embedded in the values underlying the programs and will influence the techniques used in the programs.
Among these techniques will be many that are familiar to personnel managers, such as planning, selection, performance appraisal, salary management, training, and workforce managerial development.
Roots of HRM
HRM has its roots in the pioneering work of Peter Drucker and Douglas McGregor in the 1950s. In The Practice of Management (Heinemann, 1955), Drucker virtually invented management by objectives (APO). He said that: "Effective management has to direct the vision and effort of all managers towards a common goal." This goal-oriented concept of missionary leadership is central to HRM.
Douglas McGregor advocated management based on integration and self-control, partly as a form of APO, but primarily as a strategy for people management, which affects the entire company.
He believed that a management philosophy had to be grounded in attitudes and convictions regarding people and the role of management in achieving integration.