According to Wendell French, “Human resource management is the systematic control of a network of interrelated process affecting and involving all members of an organization.”
Human resource is defined as the total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitude of persons working in an organization.
It is the sum total of inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skill represented by the talents and aptitude of the persons employed in an organization.
Human resource management is concerned with the management of people at work. It is concerned with human beings in an organization. It refers to the systematic approach to the problem of selecting, training, motivating and retaining personnel in any organization.
Learn about the Meaning of HRM
Meaning of HRM by Eminent Professors
Prof. Cynthia D. Fisher, Lyle F. Schoenfeldt and James B. Shaw state that, “HRM involves all management decisions and practices that directly affect or influence the people or human resources who work for the organisation. In recent years, increasing attention has been devoted to how the organisations manage human resources. It is important to examine as to how organisation’s employees enable an organisation to achieve its goals”.
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According to Prof. Wendell L. French, University of Washington, “HRM is the term increasingly used for the philosophy, policies, procedures and practices related to the management of people working in an organisation”.
He further makes clear that the usual way to describe human resources as it is practiced today is in process system view and the significance of the process-system view is that it – (i) takes in account the interdependence of all aspects of human resources management; and (ii) recognises the relationship between human resources activities and organisational goals.
According to the process-system view, human resource management is the systematic planning, development and a network of inter-related processes affecting and involving all members of an organisation. These processes include human resources planning, job and work design, staffing, training and development, performance appraisal and review, compensation and reward, employee protection and representation, organisation improvement.
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Prof. K. Aswathappa makes it clear that, “Human Resources Management is a management function that helps managers’ recruit, select, train and develop members for an organisation. Obviously, HRM is concerned with people’s dimension in organisation”.
According to Prof. George T. Milkovich and Prof. John W. Boudreau, “Human Resource Management is a series of decisions that affect the relationship between employees and employers; it affects many aspects and is intended to influence the effectiveness and abilities of employees and employers to achieve their objectives.
Prof. C. B. Mamoria and Prof. S. V. Gankar have stated a very simple and easily understandable definition of HRM which is as follows – “Human Resource Management is concerned with the people who work in the organisation to achieve the objectives of the organisation. It concerns with the acquisition of appropriate human resources, developing their skills and competencies, motivating them for best performance and ensuring their continued commitment to the organisation to achieve its objectives”.
According to them, this definition applies to all types of organisations – industry, business, government, education, health or social welfare of the people.
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According to Prof. Gary Dessler of the Florida International University, all managers have to perform certain basic functions viz., planning, organising, staffing, leading, controlling etc. These functions, in fact, represent the management process. In his opinion, “Human Resource Management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising and compensating employees and attending to their labour relations, health and safety and fairness concerns.”
Prof. Gary Dessler has pointed out certain important aspects of human resource management. Of course, there are many other aspects or topics which have also now become the part of the study of ‘Human Resource Management’.
Ivancevich and Glueck stated that, “Human Resource Management is the function performed in organisations that facilitates the most effective use of people (employees) to achieve organisational and individual goals”.
According to Dale Yoder, “The management of human resources is viewed as a system in which participants seek to attain both individual and group goals”.
According to David Decenzo and Stephen Robbins, “Human Resource Management is concerned with the people dimension in management. Since every organisation is made up of people, acquiring their services, developing their skills, motivating them to high level of performance and ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organisation are essential to achieve organisational objectives. This is true, regardless of the type of organisation, government, business, education, health, recreation or social action”.
According to Michael VP, “Human Resource Management is that part of management process which develops and manages the human elements of enterprise considering the resourcefulness of the people employed in organisation in terms of total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents, aptitudes and potentialities for actuating effectively”.
Prof. L. M. Prasad focuses attention on the employment and utilisation of human resources with a view that the organisation has the right people, at the right time and also at right place. According to him, “HRM is concerned with competing for and competing on human resources. Competing for human resources involves recruitment and employing right personnel and competing on human resources involves developing, training and integrating personnel to achieve competitive advantages”.
Prof. Guest has developed four propositions-strategic integration, high commitment, high quality and flexibility – which he believes can be tested and can be used for creating more effective organisation.
These propositions are defined by him as under:
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i. Strategic integration is defined as the ability of organisations to integrate HRM issues into their strategic plans, to ensure that the various aspects of HRM cohere and for line managers to incorporate an HRM perspective into their decision-making.
ii. High commitment is defined as being concerned with both behavioural commitment to pursue agreed goals and attitudinal commitment reflected in a strong identification with the enterprise.
iii. High quality refers to all aspects of managerial behaviour, including management of employees and investment in high-quality employees, which in turn will bear directly on the quality of the goods and services provided.
iv. Flexibility is seen as being primarily concerned with what is sometimes called functional flexibility but also with an adaptable organisational structure with the capacity to manage innovation.
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The scope of Human Resource Management is quite large and increasing. It includes human resource or manpower planning, the selection and recruitment, development of all the employees, performance appraisal and review, compensation and rewards, employee protection and representation, organisational development, maintenance of cordial industrial relations, etc.
Human Resource Management is thus the management of employees with a human approach. Employees should be treated with respect and mutuality of interests of the management and the employees is to be ensured. Management and employees must work together for the success of the organisation.
Meaning of HRM – Short Note
Human resource is defined as the total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitude of persons working in an organization. It is the sum total of inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skill represented by the talents and aptitude of the persons employed in an organization.
Human resource management is concerned with the management of people at work. It is concerned with human beings in an organization. It refers to the systematic approach to the problem of selecting, training, motivating and retaining personnel in any organization.
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According to Wendell French, “Human resource management is the systematic control of a network of interrelated process affecting and involving all members of an organization.”
Decenzo and Robbins have defined Human resource management as a “process consisting of four functions – acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of human resources. In less academic term we might describe these four factors as getting people, preparing them, activating them and keeping them.”
According to National Institute of Personnel Management of India, “Human resource management is that part of management concerned with people at work and with their relationship within the organization. It seeks to bring together men and women who make up an enterprise, enabling each to make their own best contribution to its success both as an individual and as a member of a working group.” Thus, human resource management is the process of managing the people of an organization with a human approach. It is that part of management process which develops and manages the human elements of an enterprise.
Meaning of HRM (with Definition)
‘Human Resource Management’ focused on human resources and their importance for an organisation. The organisation performs a variety of functions according to their concerned business. Management uses available resources most effectively and efficiently and these are men, machines, money and materials. These words are starting with letter M so these are called 4M’s.
All the above-mentioned resources are important for attainment of objectives. Without these the task cannot be performed Out of these, human resource is the most important resource because through the combined efforts of men, other resources are utilized for accomplishment of the goals. Without human being other resources will be unproductive. Hence, human resource is the most importance resource that is to be managed properly.
Human resource is the most important component of an organisation. Human resource has been defined from national point of view, as the total of knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes obtained in the population. Whereas from an individual enterprise point of view, they represent the total of inherent abilities, acquired knowledge, skills and aptitudes contained in employees of the enterprise.
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The human resource is given increasing significance in modern organisation Ram Kumar B. (2008). The role of human resource in encouraging economic progress has been acknowledged in many studies. Human resource has been identified not only as a major growth determinant and a channel to ease poverty but it is also very important in building or improving the quality of human beings in general.
Human resource is the live resource and the most important resource of the organisation. In the present time, there is dire need to manage it very effectively because it affects the performance of individual and organisation. It is the responsibility of HRM to manage it strategically to achieve the objectives in present global business environment.
Modern authors prefer to use the term of ‘Human Resource Management’ in place of the term ‘Staffing’. This is because of the fact that. The staffing function of management revolves around the personnel or human resources of the enterprise. Efficient management of human resources is a key to attain objectives of the enterprise.
According to Gary Dessler, “Human resource management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating employees, and attending to their labour relations, health, safety and fairness concerns.” Mikovich and Boudreau have defined human resource management as a series of integrated decisions that form the employment relationship; their quality contributing to the ability of the organisation and the employees to achieve their objectives. Human resource management is basically concerned with creating good relationships in the organisation and development of people for contributing to the organisational objectives.
Human Resource Management (HRM) is that part of management process which develops and manages the human element of the enterprise considering their resourcefulness in terms of total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents, aptitudes and potentialities for effectively contributing to the organisational objectives.
Definitions of Human Resource Management:
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According to Flippo, “Human Resource Management is the planning, organising, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and reproduction of human resources to the end that individual, organisational and societal objectives are accomplished.”
According to National Institute of Personnel Management of India, “Human Resource Management is that part of management concerned with people at work and with their relationships within the organisation. It seeks to bring together men and women who make up an enterprise, enabling each to make his own best contribution to its success both as an individual and as a member of a working group.”
According to DESSLER, “Human Resource Management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising and compensating employees and attending to their labour relations, health, and safety and fairness concerns.”
Meaning of HRM As Defined by Scholars
Different scholars have frequently used various terms regarding human resource management, viz., labour management, labour administration, labour management relations, employee-employer relations, industrial relations, personnel administration, personnel management, human capital management, human asset management, human resource management and so on.
Though these terms can be differentiated widely, the basic nature of distinction lies in the scope or coverage and evolutionary stage. In simple sense, human resource management means employing people, developing their resources, utilising, maintaining and compensating their services in term with the job and organisational requirements.
Institute of Personnel Management, U.K. as defined and subsequently adopted by Indian Institute of Personnel Management is as below- “Personnel Management is a responsibility of all those who manage people as well as being a description of the work of those who are employed as specialists. It is that part of management which is concerned with people at work and with their relationships within an enterprise. It applies not only to industry and commerce but to all fields of employment”.
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The definition given above can be summarised as below:
1. Personnel Management is a responsibility of all line managers in an organisation, viz., general manager, production manager, marketing manager, finance manager, etc., and it is a staff function, i.e., it is the function of personnel manager who is appointed as a specialist. Thus, all managers in the organisations are vitally concerned with personnel management as they must achieve organisational goals through other peoples’ efforts.
2. Personnel Management is a part of management. This part is concerned with the people and their relationship within an organisation.
3. This applies to all organisations in the universe, i.e., economic, social, political, religious, etc.
HRM can be defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation’s most valued assets – the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.
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Hard and Soft Varieties of HRM:
Hard HRM – The hard approach to HRM emphasises that people are important resources through which organisations achieve competitive advantage. These resources have therefore to be acquired, developed and deployed in ways that will benefit the organisation. The focus is on the quantitative, calculative and business strategic aspects of managing human resources is as ‘rational’ a way as for any other economic factor. It regards people as human capital from which a return can be obtained by investing judiciously in their development.
Soft HRM – The soft model of HRM traces its roots to the human relations school, and emphasises communication, motivation, and leadership. The soft approach HRM stresses the need to gain the commitment the ‘hearts and minds’ – of employees through involvement, communication and other methods of developing a high commitment, high- trust organisation.
One of the first explicit statements of the HRM concept was made by Fombrun et al (1984), part of the Michigan school. They held that HR systems and the organisation structure should be managed in a way that is congruent with organisational strategy, and hence, it is favoured by ‘matching model’. They further explained that there is a human resource cycle which consists of four generic processes or functions that are performed in all organisations.
These are:
i. Selection – matching available human resource to jobs
ii. Appraisal – assessing performance
iii. Rewards – the reward system is one of the most underutilized and mishandled managerial tools for driving organisational performance. It must reward short as well as long-term achievements, bearing in mind that business must perform in the present to succeed in the future.
iv. Development – developing high quality employees.
Human Resource Management encompasses those activities designed to provide for and co-ordinate the human resources of an organisation. The human resources of an organisation represent its largest investment. In fact, government report shows that approximately 73.0 per cent of national income is used to compensate employees.
In addition to wages and salaries, organisations often make other sizeable investment in their human resource. Recruiting, hiring and training represent some of the more obvious examples. Human resource management is a modern term for what has traditionally been referred to as personnel administration or personnel management.
The meaning of Human and Person can be abbreviated as below:
HUMAN –
H = Head with the human beings
U = Urges of higher nature
M = Memory (comparatively being lasting)
A = Analytical Mind
N = Norms (Social, Economic, Political and Organisational)
PERSON –
P = Peculiarities of Labour – Perishability of Colour
E = Emotional
R = Relating (Through McGregor)
S = Sensitive, Superstitious, Supportive (group formation), Suggestive.
O = Objectives (Individual’s and group’s)
N = Norms (Social, Economic, Political, Organisational, Cultural and Historical).
The form “Management” has a wide concept, and it is pivotal to know what management is before detailed discussion on Human Resource Management (HRM). Management has been defined by Mary Parker Follett as, “The art of getting things done through people”. But it is felt that management is much more than what is said in this definition.
Management is further defined as “That field of human behaviour which manages them, organise, staff, direct and control human, physical and financial resources in an organised effort, in order to achieve desired individual and group objectives with optimum efficiency and effectiveness”.
The term, human resources are quite popular in India with the introduction of ‘Ministry of Human Resource Development’ in the Union Cabinet. But most people may not know what exactly the term ‘Human Resources’ means.
According to Leon C. Megginson, the term human resources can be thought of as, “The total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes and beliefs of the individuals involved”. The term human resource can also be explained in the sense that it is resource fix any natural resource. It does mean that the management can get and use the skill, knowledge, ability, etc. Through the development of skills, tapping and utilising them again and again.
Thus, it is a long term perspective, whereas personnel are a short term perspective. Human resources are also regarded as human factor, human asset, human capital and the like. The terms labour and manpower had been used widely denoting mostly the physical abilities and capacities of employees. The term personnel had been used widely in the recent past to denote persons employed in any services. Thus, this term denotes the employee as a whole but it does not clearly denote various components of human resources like skill, knowledge, values etc.
Meaning of HRM As A Branch of Management
Human Resource Management, as a branch of management, is comparatively of recent origin. Though Human Resource Management activities have probably been performed since ancient times and human resource has always been a key source as a formal discipline, its roots are traceable to the period immediately following the Industrial Revolution. It can be said that the pioneering work of the masters of management like Peter Drucker, Douglas McGregor, etc., laid the formal foundation of Human Resource Management.
Human resource is the greatest asset to any organisation and all efforts are required to be made to develop the available human resource. An organisation must either have or develop an ability to effectively manage and develop its human resources. The concept of HRD has been gaining prominence and focus in management during the last three decades.
An employee in HRM is treated not merely as a worker or an economic resource but is considered as a social and psychological resource. HRM is thus the management of employees’ knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes and aptitudes, talents and creative abilities. They are very often used for mutual benefits of the organisation wherein they themselves work. They are treated as a profit centre and hence, their all-sided development is desired.
From this point of view, HRM is a strategic management function which involves procurement of suitable human resources, training and development of their competencies, proper motivation and creation of vigour in them so that they become the part of the management team for the success and growth of the organisation.
Human Resource Management is an evolving science which is concerned with the management of human resources.
The term ‘Human Resources’ can be thought of as the total knowledge, creative skills and abilities, talents, aptitudes and attitudes of an organisation’s total workforce i.e. people at work as well as the values and beliefs of the individuals involved.
Human resources consist of inter-dependent, inter-related and interacting psychological, physiological, sociological and ethical components.
An organisation possesses various resources in the form of materials, machines, space, money, etc. These resources are required to be used in the most efficient manner for the success of an organisation. Use of these resources is done by employees working in the organisation. They may use the resources fully or partially. However, if the available resources are not used fully and properly, there will be wastage. As a result, sufficient returns will not be available to the owners.
Human resources are the most vital assets of an organisation. It is the human resources who make other resources moving. They perform various functions like production, research, finance, marketing, and so on by carrying out the relevant activities.
From the management’s point of view, human resource is important because for engaging and maintaining the human resource, it has to spend money.
Performance of an organisation depends upon the quality of the employee efforts. To engage the best employees, the management must be ready to pay competitive remunerations and provide satisfactory working conditions along with various amenities. Such expenditure varies from 20% to 50% of the total cost incurred. Since such a large proportion of the cost is related to the human resource employed, all decisions relating to it has to be taken in a careful manner.
Efforts are required to be made for the use of this valuable resource in a proper way. If the productivity of the employees is increased through training and development programmes, the labour cost can be reduced.
Further, while managing the human resources, attention should be given to team building. Employees work in groups and establish relationships with other members of the group. These relations can be formal or informal but they satisfy the social needs of the employees. Therefore, management should encourage such relationships and use them for creating team spirit which helps in increasing productivity of the employees.
Management’s aim should be to get the best from the employees and for this purpose; handling of the employees should be done in an effective way. Success of the organisations, to a great extent, also depends upon the attitude of the management towards the employees.
Success in today’s competitive business environment is increasingly a result of effective human resource management. Structure and technology can be duplicated. But the factor that can set apart an organisation is its human resource. Hence, human resource must be managed effectively.
Meaning of HRM – According to Flippo
On the whole, Human Resource Management concerned with planning, organising, directing, controlling, selection, recruitment, placement, training and so on. Its basic aim is to create knowledgeable workers and provide some facilities to them, like-medical aid, housing, social security, educational facilities, etc.
For Flippo, Human Resource Management is “the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and reproduction of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and societal objectives are accomplished”.
According to National Institute of Personnel Management of India, Human resource management is basically concerned with people at work and with their relationship within the organisation. It seeks to bring together both men and women. In the opinion of Jucius, human resource management is that part of management which basically consists with planning, organizing and controlling a labour force.
i. According to Milkovick and Boudrean, “a series of integrated decisions that govern employer-employee relations. Their quality contributes to the ability of organisations and employees to achieve their objectives.”
ii. For Decenzo and Robbins,”……. concerned with the people dimension to management Since every organisation comprises people, acquiring their services, developing their skills, motivating them to higher levels of performance and ensuring that they continue at the same level of commitment to the organisation are essential to achieving organisational goal. This is true, regardless of the types of organisation, viz; government, business, education, health, recreation, or social action.”
iii. Flippo, “…….. The planning, organisation directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, and maintenance of human resource to the end those individual, organisational, and social objectives are accomplished.”
iv. David Ulrich, in his work, Human Resource champions, states that, organisational effectiveness is the management of human resources.
Meaning of HRM in Today’s Scenario
During the last few years, lot of technological changes have taken place in the business environment. However, human resource still remains the most important factor contributing to the success of an organisation. Human resource is the most productive, most versatile asset and human resource can yield an output far greater than the input. Development of human resource is an essential requirement of any organisation if it wants to succeed in the fast changing business environment. Human resource function is concerned with the relationship of management and the employees.
It is that part of the management process which is concerned with the effective utilisation of employees in an organisation. It is seen that most of the problems in organisational settings are human and social and organisations that provide a quality work life for their employees tend to perform more efficiently and profitably. Top management is paying increased attention to human resources that need to be closely integrated with planning and implementation of company plans.
Out of the six “Ms” in management, i.e., men, money, materials, machine, market and methods, the most important “M” stands for men, the manpower working in the organisation. While the value of assets depreciates, the value of trained employees increases over a period of time. An organisation that is able to acquire, develop, stimulate and manage their human resources will be successful in the long run.
The management process includes planning, organising, leading and controlling activities to accomplish organisational objectives. Good management involves getting the co-operation of employees in the organisation. Winning the co-operation of employees is one of the major problems faced by the management. Human Resource Management (HRM) is a management function like marketing, finance and production and it deals with people’s dimension in an organisation.
HRM is concerned with involvement of all the members of the organisation and working together for a common purpose. HRM is an important function and applies to all types of enterprises such as small, big, commercial, non-commercial, private or public enterprises.
Human resource management is concerned with acquiring competent people, developing their skills and motivating them to high levels of performance and ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organisation. Any organisation that wants to survive and grow in a fast changing environment needs HRM.
HRM deals with human resources i.e. people working in the organisation. Human resource refers to the knowledge, skills, abilities and talents of employee in an organisation. It also includes values, beliefs and attitude of individual employees. Human capital is the collective value of the knowledge, skills, abilities’ and life experiences of employees in an organisation.
It is concerned with employees, both as individuals and as a group. Human resources imply that people are considered as resources rather than problems. HRM focuses on people. People are seen as having skills, potential, and ability to grow, change; and develop in an organisation. The quality of human resources can be enhanced by education, training and development.
Management is the process of getting effective results through and with people. HRM means managing people in the organisation. HRM involves planning, organising, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation and integration of human resources of an organisation for achievement of objectives.
Machines, materials, money, market and methods have to be managed by competent employees in an organisation. HRM is responsible for hiring competent people and ensuring all the employees work together with a shared purpose. All managers are responsible for human resource development.
Human resource management is concerned with the philosophies, policies, procedures and practices related to employees in the organisation.
Human resource management is important for two reasons i.e., (a) People are required for formulating business strategies and objectives, production of goods and services, allocation of resources and marketing the products and (b) Human resource is a major expense in dong business. Depending upon the nature of the industry, wages and benefits vary from 20 to 50% of operating expenses.
HRM As Defined by Eminent Scholars
According to Michael Armstrong, “HRM is a strategic approach to the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the human resources. It is developed to shaping an appropriate corporate culture and introducing programmes which reflect and support the core values of the enterprise and ensure its success”.
According to the Wendell L. French, “the human resource management refers to the philosophy, policies, procedures and practice related to the management of people within the organisation”.
Edwin Flippo has defined Personnel Management as, “the planning, organising, directing, and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organisational and societal objectives are accomplished”.
According to David A. DeCenzo and Stephen P. Robbins, HRM as a process consists of four functions as given below-
a. Acquisition includes estimating demand and supply of labour, recruitment, selection and socialisation of employees.
b. Development has three dimensions, i.e., training, development and career development.
c. Motivation should consider needs of each individual and includes both financial and non- financial benefits.
d. Maintenance function is concerned with providing working conditions that employees believe are necessary to maintain their commitment to the organisation.
Human Resource/Personnel management may be defined as the art of procuring, developing and maintaining competent workforce to achieve organisational goals efficiently.
There are various definitions in this connection let us pickup important definitions:
According to Dale Yodev, “Personnel management effectively describes the processes of planning and directing the application, development and utilisation of human resources in employment.”
Professor Michael J. Jucius defines, ‘Personnel Management’ is “the field of management which has to do with planning, organising and controlling various operative functions of procuring, developing, maintaining and utilising a labour force, such that the (a) objectives for which the company is established are attained economically and effectively; (b) object we of all levels of personnel are sewed to the highest possible degree; and (c) objectives of the community are duly considered and sewed.”
In the words of Edwin B. Flippo, “The personnel function is concerned with the procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of the personnel of an organisation for the purpose of contributing towards the accomplishment of that organisation’s major goals or objectives. Therefore, personnel management is planning, organising, directing and controlling of performance of those operative functions.”
Prof. E.F.L. Brech defined the term ‘Personnel Management’ in the following words — “Personnel Management is that part of management progress which is primarily concerned with the human constitution of an organisation.”