Meaning:-HRM is a process of making the efficient and effective use of human resources so that the set

goals are achieved. Human resource management (HRM) is the practice of recruiting, hiring, deploying
and managing an organization's employees. HRM is often referred to simply as human resources
(HR).Human resources are the valuable assets of the corporate bodies. They are their strength. To face the
new challenges on the fronts of knowledge, technology and changing trends in global economy needs
effective human resource management.

Human Resource Management: Nature

Human Resource Management is a process of bringing people and organizations together so that the goals
of each are met. The various features of HRM include:

 It is pervasive in nature as it is present in all enterprises.

 Its focus is on results rather than on rules.

 It tries to help employees develop their potential fully.

 It encourages employees to give their best to the organization.

 It is all about people at work, both as individuals and groups.

 It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to produce good results.

 It helps an organization meet its goals in the future by providing for competent and well-
motivated employees.

 It tries to build and maintain cordial relations between people working at various levels in the
organization.

 It is a multi-disciplinary activity, utilizing knowledge and inputs drawn from psychology,

economics, etc.

 SCOPE:

The scope of HRM is, indeed, very vast and wide. It includes all activities starting from manpower
planning till employee leaves the organisation. Accordingly, the scope of HRM consists of acquisition,
development, maintenance/retention, and control of human resources in the organisation.

1. The Labour or Personnel Aspect:

This is concerned with manpower planning, recruitment, selection, placement, transfer, promotion,
training and development, lay-off and retrenchment, remuneration, incentives, productivity, etc.

2. Welfare Aspect:
It deals with working conditions, and amenities such as canteen, creches, rest and lunch rooms, housing,
transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety, recreation facilities, etc.

3. Industrial Relations Aspects:

This covers union-management relations, joint consultation, collective bargaining, grievance and
disciplinary actions, settlement of disputes, etc.

Functions:
The functions performed by managers are common to all organizations. For the convenience of study, the
function performed by the resource management can broadly be classified into two categories, viz.

(1) Managerial functions, and

(2) Operative functions

These are discussed in turn.

(1) Managerial Functions:

Planning:

Planning is a predetermined course of actions. It is a process of determining the organisational goals and
formulation of policies and programmes for achieving them. Thus planning is future oriented concerned
with clearly charting out the desired direction of business activities in future. Forecasting is one of the
important elements in the planning process. Other functions of managers depend on planning function.

Organising:

Organising is a process by which the structure and allocation of jobs are determined. Thus organising
involves giving each subordinate a specific task establishing departments, delegating authority to
subordinates, establishing channels of authority and communication, coordinating the work of
subordinates, and so on.

Staffing:

It is a process by which managers select, train, promote and retire their subordinates This involves
deciding what type of people should be hired, recruiting prospective employees, selecting employees,
setting performance standard, compensating employees, evaluating performance, counseling employees,
training and developing employees.

Directing/Leading:

Directing is the process of activating group efforts to achieve the desired goals. It includes activities like
getting subordinates to get the job done, maintaining morale motivating subordinates etc. for achieving
the goals of the organisation.

Controlling:

It is the process of setting standards for performance, checking to see how actual performance compares
with these set standards, and taking corrective actions as needed.
(2) Operative Functions:
The operative, also called, service functions are those which are relevant to specific department. These
functions vary from department to department depending on the nature of the department Viewed from
this standpoint, the operative functions of HRM relate to ensuring right people for right jobs at right
times. These functions include procurement, development, compensation, and maintenance functions of
HRM.

A brief description of these follows:

Procurement:

It involves procuring the right kind of people in appropriate number to be placed in the organisation. It
consists of activities such as manpower planning, recruitment, selection placement and induction or
orientation of new employees.

Development:

This function involves activities meant to improve the knowledge, skills aptitudes and values of
employees so as to enable them to perform their jobs in a better manner in future. These functions may
comprise training to employees, executive training to develop managers, organisation development to
strike a better fit between organisational climate/culture and employees.

Compensation:

Compensation function involves determination of wages and salaries matching with contribution made by
employees to organisational goals. In other words, this function ensures equitable and fair remuneration
for employees in the organisation. It consists of activities such as job evaluation, wage and salary
administration, bonus, incentives, etc.

Maintenance:

It is concerned with protecting and promoting employees while at work. For this purpose virus benefits
such as housing, medical, educational, transport facilities, etc. are provided to the employees. Several
social security measures such as provident fund, pension, gratuity, group insurance, etc. are also arranged.

It is important to note that the managerial and operative functions of HRM are performed in conjunction
with each other in an organisation, be large or small organisations. Having discussed the scope and
functions of HRM, now it seems pertinent to delineate the HRM scenario in India.

Significance of HRM can be seen in three contexts: organisational, social and professional.

Organisation Significance:

HRM is of vital importance to the individual organisation as a means for achieving their objectives.

It contributes to the achievement of organisational objectives in the following ways:

1. Good human resource practice can help in attracting and retaining the best people in the organisation.

2. Developing the necessary skills and right attitudes among the employees through training,
development, performance appraisal, etc.

3. Securing willing cooperation of employees through motivation, participation, grievance handling, etc.

4. Effective utilisation of available human resources.

5. Ensuring that enterprise will have in future a team of competent and dedicated employees.

Social Significance:

Social significance of HRM lies in the need satisfaction of personnel in the organisation. Since these
personnel are drawn from the society, their effectiveness contributes to the welfare of the society. Society,
as a whole, is the major beneficiary of good human resource practice.

i. Employment opportunities multiply.

ii. Eliminating waste of human resources through conservation of physical and mental health.

Professional Significance:

Professional significance of HRM lies in developing people and providing healthy environment for
effective utilisation of their capabilities.

This can be done by:

1. Developing people on continuous basis to meet challenge of their job.

2. Promoting team-work and team-spirit among employees.

3. Offering excellent growth opportunities to people who have the potential to rise

Evolution of HRM:-

In fact, the seed of HRM were sown during the industrial revolution 1850s in Western Europe and USA.
The wind gradually reached to India as well in the beginning of twentieth century. Since then to the
present era, the development of HRM may be classified as follows:

Trade Union Movement Era:

The conditions of workers in the aftermath of factory system as an outcome of industrial revolution were
very pathetic. The First World War further worsened their conditions. This was the period when state
intervention to protect the worker s interest was felt necessary. The Royal Commission of Labour in India
(1911) under the chairmanship of J H, Whitley recommended the abolision of the ‘jobber’ system and the
appointment of labour officers in industrial enterprise to perform the recruitment function as well as to
settle the worker’s grievances. Also, workers started forming their associations which was subsequently
known as ‘trade unions’ to improve their lots. Trade Union Act, 1926 was passed in India.The basic
philosophy underlying trade unionism was to safeguard the worker’s interest and to sort out of their
problems such as use of child labour, long hours of work and poor working conditions. These unions used
strikes, slowdowns walkouts picketing, boycotts, and sabotage as weapons for the acceptance of their
problems. These activities of trade unions gave rises to personnel practices such as collective bargaining,
grievance handling system, arbitration, disciplinary practices, employee benefit programmes, installation
of rational and defensible wage structures .

Social Responsibility Era:

In the starting decade of 20th century, some factory owners/employers started showing humanistic
approach towards the workers. Robert Owen, a British industrialist towards workers. He viewed that the
principal social and economic environments influence the physical mental and psychological
development of workers. Therefore, in order to improve the productivity, it is necessary to improve,
conditions of employees by removing them from an adverse environment or by changing the environment
with the provisions of more satisfactory living and working conditions. The philosophy underlying in
Owen’s paternistic approach was that worker’ is just like a child and owner is just like a father. Therefore,
the owner should take care of a worker just like a father takes care of his child. Accordingly, Owen
himself implemented this philosophy in his cotton mill at Scotland by introducing facilities such as
shower baths and toilets in the factory premises, model villages for workers, raising minimum wage of
employment of child labour to 11 years and reducing working hours from 12 to 10 hours. Owen also
appealed to other industrialists to introduce the similar facilities in their factories. However, some critics
view that, in the event of increasing trade unionism in factories, factory owners adopted these facilities to
control over the labour problems and unrest. According to them, adoption of such practices was a
compulsion for factory owners rather than their paternistic philosophy.

Scientific Management Era:

The concept of scientific management was introduced by Fredrick Winslow Taylor’ in the USA early in
the 20th century as an alternative to the prevailing system of management by initiative and incentive.

Human Relations Era:

By 1920, it was felt that earlier approaches to human resource management were incomplete as these did
not recognize workers as human beings having their feelings, attitudes and needs. It was between 1925
and 1935; many experts expressed their opinions towards the human aspects of organisational activities.
A psychologist namely Hugo Munsterberg in his book “Psychology and Industrial Efficiency” suggested
the use of psychology in selection, placement, testing and training of employees in an organisation. Elton
Mayo and his associates conducted a series of experiments from 1924 to 1932 at the Hawthorne plant of
the Western Electric company in the USA.

Behavioural Science Era:

We have just seen that human relations era assumes that a happy worker is a productive worker. As a
corollary to this, the behavioural science era assumes human behavior as a means to achieve efficiency in
performance. Behavioural approach to HRM is based on the findings of intensive research carried out by
behavioural scientists belonging to the disciplines of sociology, social psychology, anthropology and
management experts. The major contributions made by the behavioral scientists are in the areas of
motivation, leadership, communication, organisational change and development, organisational culture,
and individual and group dynamics On the whole, behavioural science approach of HRM was concerned
with the social and psychological aspects of human behaviour in organisations.

How Can HR Become a Competitive Advantage for Any Organization?

Relying on your human resource department to recruit the best employees, design appropriate and
effective training programs and institute successful retention programs can give your company a
competitive advantage. While competitors struggle with maintaining an experienced and motivated
workforce, your company can focus more on productivity and increased sales when your HR department
plays an integral role in your workforce development. Human resources can ultimately help locate, hire,
train and maintain a finely tuned and productive workforce.

Hire Professionals with Experience

Human resource professionals vary in the kinds of skills and experience they bring to a job. Many are
administrators proficient at processing payroll and executing benefits programs, but have little more
leadership status than your clerical workers. You can upgrade your HR department to include recruitment
specialists who also understand your company’s strategic roles and can play an integral part in shaping
your business success. Executive-level human resource professionals can help design job descriptions and
training programs, advise you on where to find the best candidates, and participate in defining salary
levels that will result in the best new hires.

Give HR Leadership Positions

The human resource department often is given job descriptions and told to fill the positions. Salaries are
predetermined and the HR staff has little or no input into the hiring process. To tap into the HR
professional’s insights, you should bring your human resource manager into the hiring process more
completely. Allow HR to play a role in determining appropriate recruitment pay and tactics, let you know
how much it takes to recruit top talent, and how company policies can be amended to recruit the best.

Let HR Determine Training Programs

With an HR department that participates in defining and implementing company goals, you can rely on
your human resources team to consider the company’s profitability with each decision they make. In
addition to defining employee jobs and required qualifications, an actively participatory HR department
can monitor employee activity levels, morale and customer service success to design and implement
appropriate training programs with line supervisors and executive management teams.

Provide HR Tools to Monitor Employee Performance

The human resource department can build programs to track those employees who stand out. When your
human resource professionals are involved in designing and providing employee reviews, they can help
you spot talent and advise you on how you can best groom employees for promotions. They can provide
designated employees with specific training and help you devise opportunities for growth, serving as your
eyes and ears for seeking out the best candidates that will push your company into a competitive
advantage.
 BASIS FOR
HRM SHRM
COMPARISON

Meaning Human resource SHRM is a managerial

management (HRM)
implies the governance of
manpower of the
organization in a thorough
and structured manner.
function which implies
framing of HR strategies in
such a way to direct
employees efforts towards
the goals of organization.

Nature Reactive Proactive

Responsibility lies Staff specialist Line manager

with

Approach Fragmented Integrated

Scope Concerned with employee Concerned with internal and

relations external relations

Time horizon Short term Long term

Basic factor Capital and products People and knowledge

Change Follows change Initiates change

Accountability Cost center Investment center

Control Stringent control over It exhibits leniency.

employees

REFERENCES:

https://th.jobsdb.com/en-th/articles/human-resource-management-nature-scope-objectives-function-
1/

https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-hrm-and-shrm.html