What is Human Resource Management

[Noor E Alam]

The term human resource management (HRM) has relatively adopted in business organizations in place of personnel management. HRM can be defined as" the management of activities under taken to attract, develop, motivate, and maintain high performing workforce with in the organization"  HRM involves following characteristics. First, it focuses on horizontal authority and reduced hierarchy. The second characteristic is that the role of human resource professionals is to support and facilitate line managers who have the direct responsibility of managing personnel. Thirdly, HRM is proactive and fused with corporate level planning. The fourth characteristic is that employees are seen as subjects who have potential to develop and grow. The purpose of HRM is to specify employee's potential and develop it in line with the needs of the organization.

Finally, HRM holds the view that the management and non-management have a common interest in the success of the organization (Krulis cited in Goss, 1994).The development of HRM in the 1980s is reflective of an increased realization of the importance of human element in organizations. Goss (1994) stated that the evolution of HRM could be linked to socio-economic factors such as changes in international competition, restructuring of industrial sectors and organizations, and changes in the concept of managerial. According to Goss (1994), during the1970s and the early 1980s the US and the UK industries became incompetent at international markets because of increasing domination of Japanese manufacturers.

Therefore, Western managers began to analyze the Japanese industry and concluded that Japanese organizations value people as the key asset of business. In short, this conclusion opened the way for the development of HRM.

Source:- Internet