PERSPECTIVES IN
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
 Meaning
 In simple sense, human resource management means
employing people, developing their resources, utilizing,
maintaining and compensating their services in tune with
the job and organizational requirements.

 In the words of Edwin B.Flippo, “Personnel management

(HRM) is the planning, organizing, directing and
controlling of the procurement, development,
compensation, integration, maintenance and separation
of human resources to the end that individual,
organizational and societal objectives are accomplished”.
 
 Nature of HRM

HRM is inherent in the process of management.

 
It is a pervasive function – It is performed by all managers at

various levels in the organization.

 
HRM is basic to all functional areas.

   
It is people centered – It is concerned with all categories of

personnel such as Blue collar and while collar workers, Managerial

and non-managerial personnel, Professionals (such as Chartered
Accountants, Company Secretary, Lawyers, etc.) and non-
professional personnel.
 
 Nature of HRM
 HRM deals with various personnel activities
or functions.
 
 It is a continuous process.
 
 It is based on human relations – It is
concerned with the motivation of human
resources in the organization.
 
 
 Scope of HRM
 

The Welfare Aspect: It is concerned with working

conditions and amenities such as canteens, crèches,
housing, schools and recreation.
 
The Personnel Aspect: It is concerned with recruitment,

placement of employees, training and development,

remuneration, promotion, incentives etc.

The Industrial Relations Aspect: It is concerned with trade

union negotiation, settlement of industrial disputes, joint
consultation and collective bargaining.
 
 
 Qualities of a HR Manager

 The HR manager should have human approach to

human problems – sympathetic attitude towards the
workforce.
 
 He should be alert mentally and at no time, he
should be caught unaware.
 
 He should be competent to take quick decisions.

 He should have honesty and integrity in dealing with

the employees.
 
 Qualities of a HR Manager

 He should have patience and should not lose temper

easily.

 He should not depend upon his formal authority too much.

 
 He should be a good leader so as to guide the subordinates towards
organizational goals.

 He should have a sense of social responsibility so as to help his

employees discharge their social obligations to the various segments
of society.
 
 He should be a good communicator and should be courteous in
dealing with workers, trade union leaders and members of the press.
 
 Functions of HRM

 FLIPPO’S CLASSIFICATION OF FUNCTIONS

1. Management Functions
 
a. Planning b. Organising
 
c. Directing d. Controlling
 
2. Operative Functions
 
a. Procurement b. Development
 
c. Compensation d. Integration
 
e. Maintenance f. Separation
 Management Functions
 

 Planning: For the Personnel Manager, planning

means the determination in advance of a personnel
programme that will contribute to goals
established for the enterprise.

 Organising: An organization is a means to an end.

Once it has been determined that certain personnel
functions contribute towards the firm’s objectives,
the personnel manager must form an organization
by designing the structure of relationships among
jobs, personnel and physical factors. 
 Management Functions
 

 Directing: When we have a plan and an organization to execute

that plan, it might appear that the next logical function would
be that of operation, doing the job. But, it has been found that
a “Starter” function is becoming increasingly necessary. In his
definition, this function was labeled “direction” or “motivation”.
A considerable number of difficulties are involved in getting
people to go to work willingly and effectively.

 Controlling: Controlling means the observation of action and

its comparison with plans and the correction of any deviations
that may occur. Control is the managerial function concerned
with regulating activities in accordance with the personnel
plan, which in turn was formulated on the basis of organization
goals.
 Operative Functions
 

 Procurement: It is concerned with obtaining the

proper kind and number of personnel necessary to
accomplish organization goals. It deals with the
determination of human resource requirements and
their recruitment, selection and placement.
 
 Development: After personnel have been hired,
they must be to some degree developed.
Development means the increase of skills through
training, that is necessary for proper job
performance.
 
 Operative Functions
 Compensation: This function is defined as the adequate
and equitable economic remuneration of personnel for
their contributions to organizational objectives.

 Integration: It is concerned with the attempt to effect a

reasonable reconciliation of individual, societal, and
organizational interests. It rests upon a foundation of
belief that significant overlapping of interests do exist
in our society. Consequently, we must deal with the
feelings and attitudes of personnel in conjunction with
the principles and policies of organizations, such as
grievances, disciplinary action, and labour unions.
 
 Operative Functions
 Maintenance: It is concerned with the perpetuation of willing
and able work force. The maintenance of willingness is
heavily affected by communication with employees. The
physical condition of the employees’ health and safety should
be maintained.

 Separation: If the first function of personnel management is

to secure the employee, it is logical that the last should be
the separation and return of that person to society. The
organization is responsible for meeting certain requirements
of due process in separation as well as assuring that the
returned citizen is in as good shape as possible.
 It is concerned with such types of separations as retirement,
layoff, discharge and dismissal.
 
 
 Changing Environment of HRM
 Business environment is changing and so is
HR environment.

 The changing environment of HRM includes

work force diversity, economic and
technological changes, globalization,
organizational restructuring, changing
nature of work and so on.
 1. Work force Diversity
 Diversity includes such factors as race, sex, age,
values and cultural norms. Increasing number of
woman in the work force has necessitated the
implementation of more flexible work scheduling,
child care facilities, maternity leave etc.,

 Also, as the work force ages, employers have to

meet higher costs of health care and pension
contributions.

 Further, creating unanimity from a diverse work

force has also become a challenge for HR managers.
2. Economic and Technological Changes
 The dimensions of globalization have certain implications for HRM.
Modern organizations have become the technology – driven
organizations.

 For example, manufacturing technology has changed to

automation and robotization. This will eliminate many blue – collar
jobs, replacing them with fever but more highly skilled jobs.

 The explosive growth of information technology linked to the

internet has ushered in many changes throughout the organization.

 For instance, now employees do not need to be present at work

place. Instead, they can work from their own places of residences
through the net. This has given genesis to a new breed of
organizations, called ‘virtual organizations’.
 3. Globalization
 Globalization increases competition in the international
business. Firms that formerly competed only with domestic
firms, now have to compete with foreign firms /
competitors. Thus, the world has become a global market.

 Globalization encourages the entry of multinational

corporations. The MNCs are characterized of their cultural
diversities, intensified competition, variations in business
practices and soon.

 Given these conditions, from tapping the global labour

force to formulating selection, training and compensation
policies for expatriate employees are posing major
challenges for HRM.
 4. Organizational Restructuring
 Organizational restructuring is used to make an
organization more competitive. From this point of
view, mergers and acquisitions of firms have
become common forms of restructuring to ensure
organizational competitiveness.

 Downsizing is yet another form of restructuring.

Whatever be the form of restructuring, jobs are
redesigned and people are affected.

 One of the challenges that HRM faces with

organizational restructuring is dealing with the
human consequences of change.
 5. Changing Nature of work
 Technology changes like introduction of fax machines, information
technology and personal computers have allowed companies to relocate
operations to locations with lower wages. There is also a trend towards
increased use of temporary or part – time workers in organizations.

 One of the most significant changes in the nature of work is that it has
changed from manual to knowledge work. In the words of Peter Drucker,
the typical business organization will be knowledge based and
information – based.

 As a result, the organizations give more emphasis on their human capital

i.e., the knowledge, education, training, skills and expertise of employees.

 This growing emphasis on human capital has changed the nature of

economy as service – oriented economy. Companies are now relying more
on employee’s creativity and skills. As such, the HR environment has
changed.
 Changing Role of HRM

 The HR environment is changing and so is

the role of HRM, to adapt the changing
trends.

 New HR practices have emerged to

successfully respond to the changes.

 Some of the important HR practices are

discussed below :
 1. Flatter Organizations
 The old pyramidal shape of organizations is
converted into flat organizations reducing
the 10-12 levels to 5-7 levels.

 One main feature of flat organization is that

there are more people to report to the
managers who will be less able to meddle in
the work of their subordinates.
 2. Employee Empowerment
 Gone are days when managers were exercising formal
power over employees to get work done from them. The
changes in attitude and awareness of employees over the
period have rendered this mode of managing employees as
obsolete.

 Under the changed conditions when employee has

become, what is popularly termed as a ‘knowledge
worker’, the employees need to be provided with greater
autonomy through information sharing and provision of
control over factors that affect performance.

 Granting sanction to the employees to make decisions in

their work matters is called ‘employee empowerment’.
 3. Team Work
 The concept of division of labour i.e., specialized function
introduced by Adam Smith remained in practice for a long
period till the 20th century. But, given the process – oriented
work nature of modern organisations, single – function
concept has ceased to its relevance.

 Modern organizations and MNCs rely more on multi –

function of workers so that they can perform more than one
task. As such, a worker’s contribution to organization
becomes more as a member of the team.

 The managerial implications are that these workers need to

be managed accordingly as a team, not as individuals in
isolation. In other words, managers need to follow a holistic
approach of management for managing such workers.
 4. Ethical Management
 Ethics means doing just or right. In this sense, ethics deals
with what “ought” to be done. Ethical issues pose
fundamental questions about fairness, justice, truthfulness
and social responsibility.

 Concerns have been raised about the ethical standards

used by managers and employees, particularly those in
business organizations.

 The most common unethical incidents exhibited by

employees have been cheating on expense account, paying
or accepting bribes and kickbacks, forging signature, lying
to supervisors, alcohol or drug abuse and falsification of
records.
 4. Ethical Management …..Continued
 The real problem of HR managers is how to deal with
these ethical dimensions? Researchers have suggested
some guidelines that can help HR managers respond to
the ethical elements :

 (i) Does the behaviour or result achieved comply with all

applicable laws, regulations and government codes?

 (ii) Does the behaviour or result achieved comply with

all organisational standards of ethical behaviour?

 (iii) Does the behaviour or result achieved comply with

professional standards of ethical behaviour?