Human Resource Management (HRM) is the term used to describe formal systems devised for the

management of people within an organization. The responsibilities of a human resource manager fall
into three major areas: staffing, employee compensation and benefits, and defining/designing work.
Essentially, the purpose of HRM is to maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the
effectiveness of its employees. This mandate is unlikely to change in any fundamental way, despite the
ever-increasing pace of change in the business world. The basic mission of human resources will always
be to acquire, develop, and retain talent; align the workforce with the business; and be an excellent
contributor to the business. Those three challenges will never change.

3.1 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: MEANING, OBJECTIVES, SCOPE

Before we define HRM, it seems pertinent to first define the term 'human resources'. In common
parlance, human resources mean the people. However, different management experts have defined
human resources differently.

For example, Michael J. Jucius has defined human resources as "a whole consisting of inter-related,
inter-dependent and interacting physiological, psychological, sociological and ethical components".

According to Leon C. Megginson "From the national point of view human resources are knowledge,
skills, creative abilities, talents, and attitudes obtained in the population: whereas from the view-point
of the individual enterprise, they represent the total the inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills
as exemplified in the talents and aptitude of its employees".

Sumantra Ghosal considers human resources as human capital. He classifies human capita into three
categories-intellectual capitals, social capital and emotional capital. Intellectual capital consists of
specialized knowledge, tacit knowledge and skills, cognitive complexity, and learning capacity.

Human resources management begins with the definition of the required quantities of people
possessing particular skills carry out specific tasks. Thereafter, job candidates must be found, recruited,
and selected. After hiring, the employees must train or retrained, negotiated with, counseled, evaluated,
directed, rewarded, transferred, promoted, and finally released or retired. In many of these relations,
managers deal directly with their associates. In some companies, however, employees are represented
by unions, meaning that managers bargain with representative associations. Such collective-bargaining
relationships are generally described as labor relations.

Labor relation is a field of study that can have different meanings depending on the context which it is
used.

Current practice shows wide variation in the range of responsibilities assigned to human resource or
industrial-relations departments. Personnel responsibilities typically include:

(1) organizing -devising and revising organizational structures of authority and functional responsibility
and facilitating two-way, reciprocal, vertical, and horizontal communication;

(2) planning - forecasting personnel requirements in terms of numbers and special qualifications,
scheduling inputs, and anticipating the need for appropriate managerial policies and programs;
 (3) staffing, or manning -analyzing jobs, developing job descriptions and specifications, appraising and
maintaining an inventory of available capabilities, recruiting, selecting, placing, transferring, demoting,
promoting, and thus assuring qualified manpower when and where it is needed;

(4) training and development - assisting team members in their continuing personal growth, from pre-
employment, preparatory job training to executive development programs;

(5) collective bargaining -negotiating agreements and following through in day-to-day administration;

(6) rewarding -providing financial and nonfinancial incentives for individual commitment and
contribution;

(7) general administration -developing appropriate styles and patterns of leadership throughout the
organization;

-
evaluating current performance and procedures In order to facilitate control and improve future
practice. Examples of specific tasks include monitoring grievance settlements, maintaining safety and
accident control programs, administering employee benefits and services, forecasting in re personnel
requirements, recommending changes organizational structures, supervising formal in-house