HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management

Introduction1

Discussion1

Changing from PM to HRM1

Technical Advancement2

Demographics and Diversity3

Legislations3

Human Resource Department (HRD) vs. Personnel Department (PD)3

Conclusion5

References6

Bibliography7

Human Resource Management

Introduction

Personnel Management and Human Resource Management (HRM) denote the same meaning. HRM is a contemporary term that appeared in the early phase of the year 1970 and acknowledged widely in 1989. Both expressions, however, turned to the similar processes; the personnel who actually work for the organization represent the organization's human capital. Even though, HRM did not exist till the year 1940, the activities carried out by the HR department were not all new; in actual fact, many of the human resource activities and practices have roots from the Personnel Management (PM) Discipline (Guest, 2011, p.3).

HRM department deals with a number of concerns relating to the workforce. These issues take account of: how to manage layoff, retain talented workforce that can give maximum productivity and optimal quality and etc. This paper explains, by referring to relevant sources, the reason why PM has changed to HRM and how the functions and roles of HR Department differ from Personnel Department.

Discussion

Changing from PM to HRM

In the last twenty years, the term 'Personnel' was used as a synonym to refer Human Resource Management. But currently, 'Human Resource' has replaced the outdated word 'Personnel'. This transition was needed because the role of workforce has evolved and changed into something of greater enormity. With the passage of time, personnel management became so much involved that it started to consider the whole life conditions of workforce. It broadened its horizon and integrated many new functions relating to human resource management. Personnel's evolution relates with staffing, career growth, retention, healthcare, job security, compensation plans, social development, and even family wellbeing. In some cases, it even considers workforce performance and credibility, and its impact on the organization (Petroni et.al, 2012, p. 147).

This insight, to some extent, developed the understanding that organizations considered necessary to address and deal personnel. Employers started to consider things from a more human oriented perception. Therefore, this led to generate a new understanding and implication that one would turn to human resource management in the existing dynamics of personnel administration (Jiang, et.al, 2012, p.1264). Human Resource can practically be defined as a practice through which firms assess their goals and targets, discover, and retain talented people to attain those goals and targets. There are many reasons that changed PM to HRM. Key reasons among those include:

Technical Advancement

Even though technology has revolutionised many features of businesses, it mainly impacts personnel administration and has incorporated many dimensions in the worker and managers relations. This setting has not only transformed the way organizations conducted their dealings decade before, but also modified the lifestyle of people living today. In order to get competitive edge, many firms faced this transformation and accepted it willingly (Guest, 2011, p. 7).

Impact of technical advancement on organizations helps to tap new markets that encourage more competition. This brings in competitive setting where few employers enjoy high profits while other gets low ...