What is Human Resource Management

I.          What is Human Resource Management and Why it is Important – The Management process involves the following functions: planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.  The “people” or personnel aspects of management jobs involve conducting job analyses; planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates; selecting job candidates; orienting and training new employees; managing wages and salaries; providing incentives and benefits; appraising performance; communicating; training and developing managers; building employee commitment; being knowledgeable about equal opportunity, affirmative action, and employee health and safety; and handling grievances and labor relations.

A.    What Is Human Resource Management? The management process includes several functions: planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. Human resource management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating employees, and attending to their labor relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns.

B.    Why Is HR Management Important to All Managers?  Managers don’t want to make personnel mistakes, such as hiring the wrong person, having their company taken to court because of discriminatory actions, or committing unfair labor practices. HRM can improve profits and performance by hiring the right people and motivating them appropriately. It is also possible you may spend some time as an HR Manager, so being familiar with this material is important.

C.    Line and Staff Aspects of HRM – Although most firms have a human resource department with its own manager, all managers tend to get involved in activities like recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and training.

D.    Line Managers’ HR Duties – Most line managers are responsible for line functions, coordinative functions, and some staff functions.

E.    Human Resource Manager’s Duties – Human Resource Managers also have line, coordinative, and staff functions. However, they exert line authority only within the HR department. They have implied authority with line managers due to the fact that they have the ear of top management on many important issues contributing to organizational health.

F.    New Approaches to Organizing HR – Employers are experimenting with offering human resource services in new ways.  For example, some employers organize their HR services around the following four groups:  transactional, corporate, embedded, and centers of expertise.

G.    Cooperative Line and Staff HR Management: An Example – In recruiting and hiring, it’s generally the line manager’s responsibility to specify the qualifications employees need to fill specific positions.  Then the HR staff takes over.  They develop sources of qualified applicants and conduct initial screening interviews.  They administer appropriate tests, then refer the best applicants to the supervisor (line manager), who interviews and selects the ones he/she wants.