Functions of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management is the planning, organising, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of human resources of an organisation for the purpose of contributing towards the organisation’s objectives.

Some of the functions of human resource management are as follows:-

A. Managerial Function –

1. Planning 2. Organizing 3. Directing 4. Controlling.

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B. Operative Functions –

1. Employment 2. Recruitment 3. Selection 4. Placement 5. Induction and Orientation 6. Human Resource Development 7. Management Development

8. Career Planning and Development 9. Organization Development 10. Compensation 11. Human Relations 12. Effectiveness of Human Resource Management.

Functions of Human Resource Management: Managerial and Operative Functions

Functions of Human Resource Management – 2 Important Functions: Managerial and Operative Functions of HRM

There are two categories of functions which the human resource manager is expected to perform. These include – (1) managerial, and (2) operative.

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The functions of HRM may be classified into two categories.

They are:

1. Managerial Functions and

2. Operative Functions.

Function # 1. Managerial Functions:

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There are four managerial functions which a human resource manager, has to perform.

It consists of-

i. Planning,

ii. Organizing,

iii. Directing, and

iv. Controlling.

i. Planning:

Planning means thinking in advance the future course of action. Determining the goals and objectives, policies and programmes, schedules and budgets. It is a predetermined course of action. In human resource planning, it means manpower planning. Determination of manpower requirement in an organization and then recruitment, selection, placement, training and development activities are performed.

All the above mentioned activities have to be well planned. The human resource manager has to decide in advance the goals and objectives of HRM deptt. formulating the personal policies and programmes, developing strategies regarding the procurement development, maintenance and utilisation of workforce, preparation of personnel budget. All this planning will be done in consideration of organization’s financial position and its strengths, weaknesses.

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ii. Organizing:

An organization is a means to carry out predetermined course of action. Desirable organization structures have to be adopted. HRM organization involves distribution or allocation of task, defining authorities, duties and responsibilities, fixing working relationship, integrating the activities towards the attainment of common objectives. It is through the organizational framework management can be able to direct, coordinate and control the efforts of the workforce.

iii. Directing:

The next function of HRM is directing. It involves issuing the orders and instructions regarding the work. Direction involves showing the right path towards the attainment of objectives. Moreover by employing proper tools and techniques of supervision, control, performance appraisal and set the periodical feedback of the performance of the employees.

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Direction also involves the motivating, commanding, leading and activating the people. The willing and effective cooperation of employees for the attainment of organizational goals is possible through motivation and command. The HRM has to Co-ordinate various managers at different levels as far as personnel functions are concerned.

If a HRM is successful in tapping maximum potential of the employees and utilized the same and develops the healthy human relationship, it means direction function is effectively performed.

iv. Controlling:

After direction function, controlling function has to be performed by the HRM. Controlling simply means to check, according to the planning, things happened or not. It involves checking, verifying and comparing of the actuals with the plans, identification of deviations if any, finding out reasons behind that and finally finding out the corrective measures on it.

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Auditing, training programmes, analysing labour turnover records, directing morale surveys, conducting separation interviews, minimizing absenteeism etc. are some of the means of controlling function of HRM.

Control technique involves six steps as follows:

(1) Setting up standards – in terms of quantity, quality and time.

(2) Measurement of actual performance.

(3) Comparison of actual performance with standards

(4) Identifying deviations

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(5) Analysing the causes behind the deviations, and

(6) Suggesting corrective measures / remedies.

Function # 2. Operative Functions:

Operative functions of Human resource management are specific activities of Personnel Management and they include employment, development, compensation and relations.

(i) Employment:

This operative function includes identifying the need, defining the job, specifying the job requirement by careful job analysis, recruiting required personnel, induce the selected personal to the job, give appropriate training to suit the necessity of the organization and internal mobility so as to achieve the goals of the organization.

Job Analysis includes the process of studying, collection of information relating to the operations of the job and responsibilities of the worker in carrying out the job. The personnel department has to collect the information/ data regarding the job, men, machine and materials concerned with the job. After collecting necessary information, it has to prepare job description, job specification and job requirement on one side and employee specification on the other side, so as to enable the department to select right person for the job on hand.

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(ii) Recruitment:

It is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for the job in the organization. This includes identifying the sources of prospective applicants, creation of new sources of prospective employees, stimulating the personnel to apply for the posts. Here the organization has to consider the prospective personnel available in the organization itself and promote them to the higher level, which will create regard in the minds of the employees and it acts as a means of motivation.

(iii) Selection:

It is the process of comparing the qualities such as qualification, skill, and job knowledge of the applicant and compares them with job specification to appraise the suitability of the candidate for the job. This function includes – Designing and developing the blank application forms, inviting application from prospective candidates, scrutinizing the application forms, preparing the list of prospective applicants, designing the appropriate testing and interviewing techniques, arranging interviews, conducting interviews and preparing the list of successful applicants, sending appointment letters.

(iv) Placement:

Once the selections are made, next thing is to place the selected candidates in respective posts, so that the appointment will match with job requirements. This includes watching the new employees for their performance and counselling the functional managers and foremen regarding the placement and in case of wrong selection, correcting the misplacements and tuning the attitude of new entrants to the objectives of the organization.

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(v) Induction and Orientation:

These are the techniques by which a new employee is rehabilitated in the changed surroundings and introduced to the practices, policies, purposes and people etc., of the organization. This includes- Acquaint the employee with the company’s philosophy, objectives, policies, career planning and development, opportunities, product, market share, social and community standing, company history and culture, etc. Introduce the employee to the people with whom he has to work such as peers, superiors and subordinates. Moulding the employee attitude by orienting him to the new working and social environment.

(vi) Human Resource Development:

The new employee is like a new tool purchased. Before using it, it should be sharpened and make necessary adjustments made, so as to enable the worker to use it comfortably to perform the desired function. So also as far as a new employee is concerned, it is the duty of Human Resource Department to improve, mould, change and develop the skills, knowledge, creative ability, aptitude, attitude, values and commitment etc. based on the present and future job and organizational requirements.

This function includes:

a. Performance Appraisal:

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Here the performance of the employee on the job is compared with their potential abilities to judge whether the employee is to be rewarded or not or to give further training to the employee. The organization must develop proper policies, procedures and techniques for appraising the performance and help functional managers in this work. Once the appraisal reports are received the department has to consolidate and review the reports and evaluate the effectiveness of various programs.

b. Training:

The new employee may have desired qualification and his performance in the interview may be exceptionally good. But he will not have knowledge of the job he has to perform in the organization. For example, consider a computer programmer. He may know various computer languages, but he lacks the knowledge of application part of the techniques he has learnt at his school.

He must be given training by the organization and make him to learn how he has to apply his theoretical and practical knowledge to the job on which he has placed. This includes identification of training needs of the individuals and the company, develops a suitable training program, help and advises the line managers in conducting the training program, imparting requisite job skills and knowledge to the employees and evaluating the effectiveness of the training programs.

(vii) Management Development:

This is the process of designing and conducting suitable executive development programs so as to develop the managerial and human relations skills of employees.

This includes- Designing and conducting the executive development programs, motivating executives, designing special development programs to elevate the employees by promotions and evaluating the effectiveness of the executive development programs.

(viii) Career Planning and Development:

It is the preparation of career plans of education, training the individual to acquire the job experience and implementing the plans. It includes internal and external mobility. Internal mobility includes vertical and horizontal movement of an employee within an organization. It consists of transfer, promotion and demotion. External mobility includes fresh recruitments and getting the personnel on lean.

(ix) Organization Development:

It is the procedure for increasing organizational performance through planned interventions. It is an organization wide planned effort to develop the performance of the organization. The aim of this is to change the attitudes, values, organization structure and managerial practices in an effort to improve organizational performance.

(x) Compensation:

Here the objective is to provide equitable and fair remuneration to the employee for the efforts he puts in doing the job. It includes job evaluation, wage and salary administration, incentives, fringe benefits and social security measures.

(xi) Human Relations:

This is the process of interaction among human beings. A human relation is an area of management practice in integrating people into work situation in a way that motivates them to work together to fulfill the objectives of the organization and achieve economic, psychological and social satisfaction.

(xii) Effectiveness of Human Resource Management:

It is to audit the effectiveness of various HRD (Human Resource Development) programs designed and implemented by means of organizational health and human resource accounting. Organizational health may be studied by evaluating employee’s contribution to achieve the organizational goals and employee job satisfaction. Human resource accounting refers to the measurement of the cost and value of human resource to the organization.

Functions of Human Resource Management – 2 Major Functions of HRM

A. Managerial Functions:

Whenever we talk of functions of management, we list out planning, organizing, coordinating, directing and controlling. So also in HRM we have human resource planning, organizing human resources, coordinating human resource, directing human resource and controlling the manpower.

(i) Planning:

Manpower planning and Human resource planning are synonymous. In the past, the phrase manpower planning was widely used, but the new emphasis is on human resource planning which is broader based. Human resource planning is “the process by which a management determines how an organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position.”

It is forecasting future manpower requirements, either in terms of mathematical projections of trends or in terms of judgmental estimates based on the future plans of the organization. It is making an inventory of present manpower resources and assessing the extent to which these resources are employed optimally. Manpower planning consists in projecting future manpower requirements and developing manpower plans for the implementation of the projections.

This plan cannot be rigid or static; it is amendable to modification, review and adjustments in accordance with the needs of the organization or changing circumstances. Human resource planning is important because any organization needs more personnel to look after its activities as it grows, to replace persons who have become old, to procure new persons in the place of persons who left the organization and to acquire new skills as desired in the path of expansion and growth.

Manpower planning is done at various levels such as at individual unit level, at industry level, at regional level, at state level, and at national level. The process of planning consists of- (a) Deciding goals or objectives, (b) Estimating future organizational structure and manpower requirements, (c) Auditing human resources, (d) Planning job requirements and job descriptions, and (e) Developing a human resource plan.

(ii) Organizing:

Every organization has certain objective or objectives. The manager has to strive hard to achieve this or these objectives. This can be done through well-organized manpower. For this he needs a structure of human relations to allocate the work and direct the people.

That is why it is said that organization is a structure and a process by which a co-operative group of human beings allocates its task among its members, identifies relationships and integrate its activities towards a common objective. An organization helps to establish human relationships (organizational) among the employees so as to enable them to contribute their positive efforts to fulfill the organizational goals.

(iii) Directing:

The function of directing follows immediately after planning and organizing. When a plan is to be executed, the manager has to give proper direction and guide the people towards the achievement of goal. This includes commanding, motivating, leading and activating the people to work as per the laid out plan.

Through the act of directing i.e. through motivation and command, manager has to try to tap maximum potentialities of the workmen without harming the individual feelings. Through proper leadership style and directing, manager must make the people to commit to their work in the process of achieving the organizational goals.

(iv) Controlling:

Once the plans are set and its execution starts, manager has to verify whether all works are being carried out as per plan or not. He and his staff must check the actual and compare with the plan and if they find any deviation, corrective measures are to be taken. The action and operation are adjusted to pre-determined plans and standards through control. Sometimes the deviations may show that something wrong in the original plan. In such cases, the plan is to be revised and accordingly the guidance is given.

B. Operative Functions of HRM:

1. Procurement:

This deals with requirement of manpower, their recruitment, selection and placement, etc.

2. Development:

After recruitment, the individuals need to be developed, for a particular skill for execution of respective jobs. This is carried out through training programmes to help them perform the desired jobs. Various training methods are used for this purpose. Formulation of a proper promotion policy on the basis of selection according to merit and performance appraisal is the basic functions of HRM.

3. Compensation:

Determination of proper and equitable compensation (remuneration) to personnel for their performance is important. This essential function of HRM has to be carried out meticulously. In this, management has to determine the monetary compensation for various jobs.

To frame a suitable compensation policy, management has to take into consideration various factors, viz., job evaluation, existing remuneration policy, incentive plans, bonus policy, etc. It also helps in building a suitable salary and wage structure.

4. Maintenance:

Management must keep the employees happy by understanding their needs. Motivation is one of the methods by which employees are inspired to work. Maintenance function ensures that employees’ needs are well taken care of by the management by providing benefits and services. These include facilities like health care and safety, canteen, recreation, group insurance, etc.

5. Separation:

Separation is going out of the organisation for various reasons by the personnel. For example, retirement, (superannuation), VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme), retrenchment, transfer, dismissal, death etc. In this management has to take action according to the specific cases of separations for their compensation and benefits entitled to them.

6. Personnel Planning:

In this function, various types of activities are evaluated; such as performance, morale survey of personnel, personnel policies, and their practical applications, personal audit and performance appraisal, etc.

7. Integration:

This function is mainly for making the employees understand that they are part and parcel of the enterprise and inculcate a feeling of belonging to the enterprise. HRM tries to integrate the management and the workers to have mutual respect for each other and bring in a new sense of industrial relations in the enterprise for economic progress and industrial harmony.

Functions of Human Resource Management – Top 4 Functions: Selection, Placement, Job Design, Compensation and Diversity Management

Function # 1. Selection and Placement:

New hires should be well acquainted with the technical as well as behavioural competencies needed for performing a particular job. Behavioural competencies may have a customer focus; ability to understand customer’s feelings and their view point or work management focus; i.e., ability to complete tasks efficiently or to know when to seek guidance.

Make the vision of the company clear to the new hires. In addition, make the organization’s culture clear by discussing the values that underpin the organization—describe your organization’s “heroes.”

For example- are the heroes of your company the people who go the extra mile to get customers to smile? Are they the people who toil through the night to develop new code? Are they the ones who can network and reach a company president to make the sale? By sharing such stories of company heroes with your potential hires, you’ll help reinforce what makes your company unique. This, in turn, will help the job candidates determine whether they’ll fit into your organization’s culture.

Function # 2. Job Design:

Job design refers to the process of putting together various elements to form a job, organizational and individual worker requirements as well as health, safety and ergonomics considerations. Training helps the employees to perform all parts of these jobs and give them the authority and accountability to do so.

Job enrichment helps the organization to retain the employees. Motorola, being a global company operates in many countries and the management imparts appropriate training to its employees. But operating in China presents a challenge in terms of finding and hiring skilled employees. In a survey conducted by American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, 37% of US owned enterprises operating in China said that recruiting skilled employees was their biggest operational problem.

The reason behind this failure is the fact that Chinese Universities do not turn out the candidates with the skill set as expected by the business corporate. Motorola has created its own training and development programs to bridge the gap. For e.g. Motorola’s China Accelerated Management Program is designed for local managers, whereas Motorola’s Management Foundation program is designed to help managers in areas like communication and problem solving.

Also it offers high tech MBA program in partnership with Arizona State University and Tsinghua University. Such programs are made to train the low skilled but highly motivated Chinese employees.

Function # 3. Compensation:

Compensation includes incentives, gain sharing, profit sharing and skill based pay reward for those employees who learn new skills and put those skills to work in the organization. Employees who have acquired more skills through training are more likely to grow on the job.

Such training enables them to make more valuable contribution to the company. Rewards need to be linked with performance, so that employees are naturally inclined to contribute in such a way that will gain rewards and in return will further the organization’s success.

Function # 4. Diversity Management:

Unity in diversity is a punch line for all successful business organizations. Teams whose members have complementary skills are often more successful because members can gain diversified skills and can learn from one another’s blind spots. Diversity helps company teams to come up with more creative solutions. Diversity management involves actively appreciating and using the differing perspectives that individuals bring to the work place.

As James Surowiecki shows in The Wisdom of Crowds, the more diverse the group in terms of expertise, gender, age, and background, the more ability the group has to avoid the problems of groupthink. Diversity helps company teams to come up with more creative and effective solutions. Teams whose members have complementary skills are often more successful because members can see one another’s blind spots. Members will be more inclined to make different kinds of mistakes, which means that they’ll be able to catch and correct those mistakes.

Management functions, as stated earlier, are common to all types of managers. Operative functions, on the other hand, are the specialised functions related to a particular field or functional area. Operative functions in the case of HRM arise out of the fact that a workforce must be procured, developed, compensated, integrated and maintained.

These functions may also be called service functions’ or ‘staff functions’, as the role of an HR manager is primarily advisory in nature. Operative functions of the HRM are discussed further.

i. Procurement of Personnel:

This is the first operative function of an HR manager. It is concerned with the obtaining of proper kind and right number of personnel at the right time and at the most economical rates so that the organisational goals could be easily accomplished. It deals especially with subjects such as HRP, job analysis, recruitment and selection, induction, and placement.

Hence, it involves –

(a) Anticipating manpower requirements in future. This can be possible by estimating future vacancies to be caused by future promotions, transfers, resignations, dismissals, retirements, deaths, technological change, organisation’s policies and programmes, government policies and so on;

(b) Adopting scientific methods and techniques in the process of recruitment and selection. An effective HR manager is supposed to locate sources of supply of potential candidates and attract them to apply in as large a number as possible. For this, he/she is required to be well informed to adopt appropriate techniques of advertisement and preparation of job analysis (job description and job specification).

In the process of selection, he/she is required to conduct an initial or a preliminary interview, prepare an application blank, check references, arrange for psychological tests, hold an employment interview, get the candidate approved by the supervisor or his/her immediate boss, get him/her physically examined and ultimately select the candidate(s);

(c) Inducting, that is, introducing or orienting, the new employee to the organisation. It may be done by telling the new employee something about the nature of the company and its products, specific employee services such as safety measures and welfare programmes, and introducing him/her to the important personnel of the organisation. Then the new employee may be handed over to his/her supervisor for further induction, in technical aspects; and

(d) Placing him/her at the right job.

ii. Development of Personnel:

Having obtained personnel, the next step is to develop them. Due to rapid changes in technology, the realignment of jobs and even growing complexities, training and development programmes are unavoidable; otherwise, the enterprise cannot compete with other organisations.

Development programmes involve workers training programmes, supervisory training programmes, executive development programmes, promotions and transfers, good communication and suggestion system and the like.

Obviously, the HR manager is required to assess the needs of training and development at different levels of workers, supervisors and managers; plan and prepare training and development programmes for different levels of personnel; provide training material, staff and other related things; conduct the training and development programmes followed by evaluation of results; and make suggestions. The HR manager is required to move very cautiously.

iii. Compensation:

The compensation function involves the payment of adequate and equitable remuneration to the employees for their contribution towards the accomplishment of the objectives of the enterprise. No doubt, non-financial incentives play their own role in boosting the morale of personnel, yet the importance of monetary compensation cannot be undermined – Wages are still a potent motivator.

The compensation function includes things such as job evaluation, wage policies, wage system, incentive and premium plans, bonus policy and so on. As monetary income plays an important role to fulfil the physiological and some of the psychological needs, it highly proves a morale booster.

iv. Integration:

Having procured, developed and adequately compensated the personnel, there comes the problem of integration of individual, societal and organisational interests. In the absence of adequate and reasonable reconciliation among these interests, it is difficult to achieve the desired objectives of the organisation.

Integration, thus, refers to prevention of conflicting interests so as to keep harmonious relations between both the elements in the enterprise, namely the capital and the labour. This function primarily emphasises on labour-management relations, free flow of communication, grievance handling, maintaining discipline in the industry and so on.

Thus, a personnel manager is required to prepare rules and code of conduct, administer disciplinary measures, use effectively the existing machinery for prevention and settlement of disputes and grievances, arrange for employee counselling, encourage collective bargaining and so on.

v. Maintenance of Personnel:

This last function of HRM is perhaps the most important function. It refers to sustaining and improving the conditions that have already been established. This, of course, means that all the functions referred to earlier should remain in continuance.

Still, this function involves the maintenance of physical conditions and positive attitudes of employees towards the enterprise. Obviously, the HR manager is required to arrange for proper health/medical services, namely providing medical treatment, periodical medical check-up of employees, taking preventive steps against infectious and epidemic diseases, educating the employees in health matters through talks, literature, documentary films and so on, and to arrange for adequate safety and security measures by seeing that the concerned personnel are imparted safety instruction and that the safety rules and instructions are properly and effectively enforced.

He/she is to ensure that statutory requirements with regard to safety measures that these are met out both in letter and spirit, periodical safety inspections by competent people are regularly conducted, and all possible preventive steps are taken. Similarly, the HR manager is to arrange for the security measures both for the personnel and the organisation, especially against fire, theft and sabotage.

In order to do this, he/she is required to arrange for security guards, alarms raising devices, fire-fighting equipment and adequate force of trained personnel in fire-fighting and framing of security rules and so on. The HR manager is also required to ensure reasonably good working conditions, undertake welfare measures by chalking out effective welfare plans having provision for indoor and outdoor games, cultural and social activities, recreational activities, picnics and so on.

The maintenance function also requires research on HR policy and practices to ensure betterment in future. The ultimate objective of all the functions both managerial and operative is to attain the objectives of the enterprise. The existence of HRM in an organisation can be justified only when along with procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of personnel, it also contributes substantially towards the accomplishment of the basic objectives of the enterprise on the one side and discharges its responsibility towards the community on the other side.

Functions of Human Resource Management – HR Function can be Divided into Two Parts

HRM is the planning, organising, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of human resources of an organisation for the purpose of contributing towards the organisation’s objectives.

The HR function can be divided into two parts, i.e.:

1. Managerial and

2. Operative functions

1. Managerial Functions:

a. Planning includes forecasting manpower requirements, employee turnover, planning for selection, training programme, performance appraisal, increment, promotion, etc.

b. Organising – Management involves getting things done through and with people. Organising involves finalising major activities that are necessary, grouping them into homogeneous units and allotting those activities to individuals or group of individuals and establishing interrelationship within the organisation.

Examples – Designing organisational structure, span of control, authority, hierarchical order, communication channel etc.

c. Directing includes issuing instructions to employees, developing communication network, interpretations of industrial laws and integration of employees.

Examples – Leadership, motivation, effective communication, Management by objectives (MBO) etc.

d. Controlling – Creating basic data for establishing performance standards, job analysis and performance appraisals are the methods used for effective control of employees.

2. Operative Functions:

a. Procurement of personnel – Acquiring human resource is an important function of human resource management. Quality and prestige of the organisation depends upon the employee of the organisation. It deals with determination of manpower requirements, recruitment, selection, placement and induction.

b. Development – With the help of acquired knowledge and skills, a person can improve his performance in the organisation. Also framing policies with regard to promotion, increment and performance appraisal are required for development of people in an organisation.

Examples – Training of labour, supervisors and managers, career development programmes etc.

c. Motivation and maintenance – An employee may be physically, mentally and technically fit but he may not be willing to work. Motivation depends upon factors such as one’s own needs, personality, personal policies, reward mechanism and career opportunities. The maintenance function is concerned with providing those conditions that are necessary to maintain employee commitment to the organisation, e.g., Health and safety measures, welfare facilities, etc.

d. Employee compensation means determination of adequate and equitable remuneration for employees for their contribution to the organisation goals. Payment of fair wages/salary is an important motivating factor for the employees. A suitable rewards and benefits system increase the morale of the employees and improvement in the performance. Productivity linked compensation is the order of the day. However, it is a challenging job to determine monetary compensation of employees.

e. Employee benefits – Many companies provide benefits such as pension scheme, contributory PF, reimbursement of medical expenses, educational assistance, health insurance, transport and canteen facilities, etc. to employees.

f. Record keeping is an important function of HR manager. HR manager collects and maintains information about employees and it assists the management in taking decisions on promotion, job rotation, performance incentive, etc.

g. Personnel research and audit – This area is concerned with detailed studies on organisation’s personnel programme such as recruitment, selection development and utilisation of human resources, data related to wages, grievances, labour turnover, absenteeism, surveys on employee morale, attitude and satisfaction.

h. Industrial relations include all activities of employer-employee relationship such as trade union, negotiation of contracts, collective bargaining, grievance handling, disciplinary action, arbitration, etc., all aimed at preventing conflict between the two participants.

Functions of Human Resource Management – Categories: Managerial and Operative Functions

Human resource management involves two categories of functions:

1. Managerial

2. Operative

1. Managerial Functions:

General management and personnel management are one and the same. Basic managerial functions — planning, organising, directing and controlling— are common to all managers including personnel or human resource managers and are performed by all of them.

Following are the managerial functions of human resource management:

a. Planning:

The planning functions of human resource department pertain to the steps taken in determining in advance personnel requirements, personnel programmes, policies etc. After determining how many and what type of people are required, a personnel manager has to devise ways and means to motivate them.

b. Organisation:

Under organisation, the human resource manager has to organise the operative functions by designing structure of relationship among jobs, personnel and physical factors in such a way so as to have maximum contribution towards organisational objectives. In this way a personnel manager performs following functions – (i) Preparation of task force; (ii) allocation of work to individuals; (iii) integration of the efforts of the task force; (iv) coordination of work of individual with that of the department.

c. Directing:

Directing is concerned with initiation of organised action and stimulating the people to work. The personnel manager directs the activities of people of the organisation to get its functions performed properly. A personnel manager guides and motivates the staff of the organisation to follow the path laid down in advance.

d. Controlling:

Controlling is concerned with the regulation of the activities in accordance with the plans. Controlling completes the managerial cycle and leads back to planning. Through direct observation, direct supervision, as well as reports, records and audit, personnel manager assures himself that the activities are being carried out in accordance with the plans. Controlling also helps the personnel manager to evaluate the performance of the human resource department in doing various operative functions.

2. Operative Functions:

Operative functions are these functions which are entrusted to the human resource department. Such functions are of the routine nature. These are concerned with procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of the personnel of the organisation.

Following are the important operative functions of personnel or human resource department:

a. Procurement of Personnel:

It is the first operative function of Human Resource Management. It is concerned with the number of persons necessary to accomplish organisational goals.

It includes following sub-functions:

i. Determination of man-power requirements;

ii. Job-analysis and job-grading;

iii. Determining the nature and sources of recruitment;

iv. Selection of employees;

v. Placement and induction.

b. Development and Training of Personnel:

After the placement of employees on various jobs the next function of the human resource management is to give them training and to develop them to get their work efficiently. The personnel department devises and runs the appropriate training programme for developing the necessary skills among the personnel.

c. Remuneration:

Another function of human resource management is concerned with the determination of wages and salaries policy and levels. The personal or human resource manager has to consider various factors while fixing the remuneration viz., basic needs, requirements of the jobs, legal provisions, financial capacity of the firm, wage-level of competitors, performance rating etc.

d. Integration or Human Relations:

The maintenance and promotion of harmonious relations between employees working in different departments and between the employees and management is a function of personnel or human resource department. The personnel department has to ensure a reasonable reconciliation of the interest of the personnel with that of organisation.

The personnel manager must provide an efficient system of communication. He should be in touch with the grievances of the people at work and try to remove them. In all circumstances, he should try to maintain proper discipline in the organisation.

e. Maintenance of Personnel:

Maintenance of personnel means to keep the workers engaged on the work with good health and with full loyalty to their jobs and to the organisation. This function involves provisions of better working conditions and labour welfare activities such as medical benefits, housing facilities, canteens, recreational facilities, rest rooms etc.

Functions of Human Resource Management – Managerial and Operative Functions

The functions of Human Resource management can be divided into two categories:

1. Managerial functions and

2. Operative functions.

Function # 1. Managerial Functions:

(i) Planning – It is the main function of management. It is concerned with manpower planning, studying labour turnover rate, forecasting future personnel requirement and planning for selection and training procedures, etc.

(ii) Organising – It is the process of establishing harmonious authority-responsibility relationships among the members of the organisation. The network of authority-responsibility is called the organisation structure. This structure serves as a framework within which people can work together for attainment of organisational goals.

(iii) Staffing – It is the process concerned with filling all the positions in the organisation with adequate and qualified personnel. It is the responsibility of the human resource department to recruit, select, train, place, compensate, maintain, promote, and retire the employees of the organisation at the appropriate time and in the most effective manner.

(iv) Direction – This is the function of guiding, motivating, supervising and leading people towards the attainment of planned targets of performance. Direction is concerned with the execution of plans, it involves issuing instructions to the workers, supervising people, motivating them and influencing employees’ behaviour.

(v) Controlling – Controlling means measurement of actual performance, comparing it with the set standards, finding deviations if any, and taking corrective actions. This process ensures that everything is moving according to the plans.

Function # 2. Operative Functions:

The managerial functions are common to all types of managers. On the other hand, operative functions are the specialised functions related to a specific field.

The operative functions of human resource management are:

(i) Procurement – It is concerned with obtaining the proper kind and right number of personnel at the right time and at the most economical rates. It deals specifically with the determination of manpower requirement, recruitment, selection, induction and placement.

(ii) Development – Various training and development programmes are to be provided to the employees to develop their skills and increase their productivity. This function also includes framing of promotion policy, determining the basis of promotion and making performance appraisals.

(iii) Compensation – Compensation means determination of adequate and equitable remuneration of personnel for their contribution to organisation objectives. The importance of monetary compensation cannot be underestimated even though non-financial incentives also play an important role in raising the morale of employees. The compensation function includes job evaluation, remuneration policy, incentive and premium plans, etc.

(iv) Integration – It deals with the integration of individuals, societal and organisational goals. This function mainly focuses on employee satisfaction, grievance handling, and maintenance of discipline and free flow of communication at all levels.

(v) Maintenance – This function deals with sustaining and improving of already established conditions. This function is concerned with the establishment of proper health, medical and safety measures. Arrangement and proper maintenance of health and safety standards are essential for providing working environment which is conducive to the organisation.

(vi) Good industrial relations – The human resource manager has to see that harmonious relations are maintained between the management and the workers. Good industrial relations are intended to reduce conflict, promote industrial peace, provide fair deal to workers and establish industrial democracy.

(vii) Record keeping – The personnel manager has to collect and maintain information concerned with the staff of the organisation. It is essential for every organisation as it assists in decision making such as in case of promotion.

(viii) Separation – Separation refers to the process by which the employees leave the organisation and return to the society. The final function of human resource management is to assist the employees in separating themselves from the organisation smoothly. This function deals not only with resignations and retirements, but also with retrenchment, lay-off, etc.

Functions of Human Resource Management – Planning, Organizing, Directing and Controlling

Whenever we talk of functions of management, we list out Planning, Organizing, Coordinating, Directing and Controlling. So, also in HRM we have human resource planning, organizing human resources, coordinating human resource, directing human resource and controlling the manpower.

(i) Planning:

Manpower Planning and Human resource planning are synonymous. In the past, the phrase manpower planning was widely used, but the new emphasis is on human resource planning which is broader based. Human resource planning is “the process by which a management determines how an organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position.

Through planning, a management strives to have the right number and the right kind of people at the right places, at the right time to do things, which result in both the organization and the individual receiving the maximum long- range benefit. It is forecasting future manpower requirements, either in terms of mathematical projections of trends or in terms of judgemental estimates based on the future plans of the organization.

It is making an inventory of present manpower resources and assessing the extent to which these resources are employed optimally. Manpower planning consists in projecting future manpower requirements and developing manpower plans for the implementation of the projections. This plan cannot be rigid or static; it is amendable to modification, review and adjustments in accordance with the needs of the organization or changing circumstances.

Human resource planning is important because any organization needs more personnel to look after its activities as it grows, to replace persons who have become old, to procure new persons in the place of persons who left the organization and to acquire new skills as desired in the path of expansion and growth.

Manpower planning is done at various levels such as at individual unit level, at industry level, at regional level at state level and at national level. The process of planning consists of (a) Deciding goals or objectives, (b) Estimating future organizational structure and manpower requirements, (c) Auditing human resources, (d) Planning job requirements and job descriptions, and (e) Developing a human resource plan.

(ii) Organizing:

(iii) Directing:

(iv) Controlling: