What is Human Resource Management (HRM)? A Comprehensive Guide
Table of Contents
- jaro education
- 30, March 2024
- 2:00 pm
Overview
Human Resource Management (HRM) is defined as the process of managing employees in an organisation, empowering them to contribute to the success of the organisation. Commonly known as HR, it is an essential department for all types of businesses, regardless of the size. Human Resource Management aims to maximise the employees’ efficiency and always protect the company from any issues and challenges that may affect the organisation and its employees. So, let’s dive into the world of Human Resource Management (HRM) and understand its importance in the professional world.
*community.nasscom.in
What is Human Resource Management (HRM)?
Often referred to as Human Resources (HR), Human Resource Management involves a process of recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing employees to achieve the goal of the company. Its main objective is to maximise the efficiency of the employees, ensuring they are motivated, enthusiastic, supported and aligned with the company’s goals and culture. Besides, HRM also includes developing policies to ensure the safety of the employees. Since the HR Department is the main focus in any organisation, every company relies on HRM to run the business efficiently. Furthermore, HRM manages various functions like planning, organising and training & development.Â
What is Human Resources (HR)?
Often referred to as HR, Human Resources is a department within an organisation that is involved in all employee-related activities, such as recruiting, hiring, firing, training & development and compensation & benefits. Being a standalone department within an organisation, Human Resources has multiple types of positions that handle different work and responsibilities. They include:
- Recruiter
- HR Assistant
- HR Business Partner
- HR Manager
- Recruitment Manager
- Talent Management Specialist or Manager
- Talent Acquisition Specialist or Manager
- HR Analytics Specialist or Manager
- Compensation Specialist or Manager
Role of Human Resources
Serving as a company’s personal department, HRM creates a balance between the employees and employers. Ideally, it formulates ways to increase the organisation’s efficiency through its employees. Some of the important roles of Human Resources are recruitment, training, retention, motivation, leave policies, labour law compliances, salary structure, compensation & benefits, evaluating employee performance and handling workplace issues. Additionally, there are different HR segments, which involve:
Talent Acquisition
This function handles sourcing of candidates and onboarding them to the company, ensuring an unbiased recruitment process.
Talent Management
Responsible for the career progression of the employees, this function works closely with the training and development team to identify the potential employee basis internal assessment.
HR Operations
This function takes care of performance management, payroll management, exit management and HR compliance.
Employee Engagement
This role involves nurturing employee relations by conducting many activities periodically, be it a festive celebration, monthly celebration or an annual event, as per the requirements to keep the employees’ morale high.Â
*peergrowth.net
Importance of Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management plays a crucial role in nourishing an organisation’s resources in a significant way. It provides many benefits to an organisation, which include:
Developing an Engaged Workforce
Human Resources helps employees engage, motivate and grow, with professional development and mentorships.
Enhancing Collaboration and Improving Communication
An HR professional’s skills have a huge impact on companies. The HR team helps solve issues of employees with conflict resolution training. In addition to this, HR training helps managers improve communication with their employees more efficiently.
Boosting Employee Morale
When it comes to employee engagement, boosting employee morale is one of the most important factors. To improve morale, the HR team can introduce some policies, such as coffee talks, free lunches or breakfast, a flexible working environment, an employee rewards program and weekly or monthly outings.
Navigating Conflict Effectively
The HR department can offer equal opportunities, like conducting workshops, to supervisors and employees for dealing with conflict.Â
Supporting Employees
From providing mentorship to offering training, the HR team makes employees supported at each level. Since their main role is to ensure all employees work well, HR professionals get in touch with each employee and make sure that they feel valued.
Functions of Human Resource Management
The Human Resource Department is an important asset that helps an organisation achieve goals. From creating job descriptions to providing training, Human Resource Management functions at each level of an employee’s journey in an organisation. Depending on the organisation, the Human Resource Department may address one or several functions of HRM. Some of the key functions are outlined below:
Talent Management
One of the most popular functions of Human Resources, Talent management is a process of getting the right talent onboard and helping them grow professionally. The HR team provides onboarding after they select the qualified and skilled candidate for any position. The HR department also conducts training to ensure that employees stay updated with up-to-date trends and tools.
Company Culture
To create a positive company culture, the Human Resources Department works as a bridge between management and employees. The HR team is able to develop company culture and maintain a high level of engagement among employees. For instance, they may establish weekly activities, encourage work-life balance by discussing concerns or create a company sports team for social connection.Â
Compensation and Benefits
Another one of the most important HR functions, compensation and benefits allow the HR manager to create an attractive offer as per the candidate’s experience. Here, compensation refers to the annual salary of an employee, while benefits vary from company to company. Benefits may include paid holidays, referral bonuses, sign-on bonuses, education benefits and parental leave.
Development and Training
This function identifies to provide training to any current employee and develop their career path. For instance, the HR Department conducts training sessions and seminars on different topics, such as reporting sexual harassment, emerging technology, performance evaluation and analysing skill gaps.  Â
Risk Management
Another important function of Human Resources is recognising and resolving risk factors before they become reality. The HR team plays a crucial role in taking care of risk management. Here are some examples that will show how the HR department mitigates the risk:Â
- Investing in the matter of allegations of sexism, harassment, etc.
- Tracking, updating and protecting employee records.
- Implementing procedures to maintain or increase diversity
Legal Compliance
HR compliance is a function which ensures that an organisation follows the labour laws of the state, city, country or the world. The HR team makes sure that the hiring process, organisation rules and other factors all comply with the applicable laws.
What are the Objectives of Human Resource Management?
Human Resource Management can be categorised into four objectives. Let’s look at these:
Societal Objectives
Human Resource Management includes developing programs to respond to the employees’ psychological, ethical, economic and social needs or challenges. These programs comprise equal opportunity programs, community relation programs and compensation & benefits programs. It is an important objective that helps an organisation become more supportable.
Organisational Objectives
These actions ensure providing the right training, hiring the correct number of employees with the right skills for a given task and maintaining the retention rates. These objectives aim to provide a positive workplace culture aligning the employees’ efforts with the organisation’s goals for its success.
Functional Objectives
These measures ensure Human Resources are functioning well within the organisation. They make sure all HR resources are assigned to their full potential.
Personal Objectives
Personal objectives are the measures used to support each employee’s personal goals along with the organisational goals. For this, employees receive proper training and feedback on their performance, helping them identify the improvement areas and fix them.Â
Apart from these, some additional specific objectives of Human Resource Management are:
- Providing and maintaining creative employees
- Ensuring employees have been provided with the proper training
- Creating and maintaining a positive workflow environment so that employees can contribute to the organisation’s goals.
- Maintaining legal and ethical policies in the organisation
- Introducing the organisation’s policies, rules and regulations to the employees
What is HRIS (Human Resource Information System)?
A software application, HRIS stands for Human Resource Information System that manages and processes employee-related information and HR policies. Referred to as a basic interactive system of keeping employee records, HRIS includes procedures such as talent acquisition, recruitment and current employee data management. HRIS is based on two fundamental pillars for managing employees and policies, ensuring overall organisational success. These pillars are Organisational Structure and Employee Data Management.Â
Two Pillars of HRIS
1. Organisational Structure
In the case of organisational structure, HRIS comprises roles, functions and reporting hierarchies. The system provides responsibilities and a way for operational functionality and consistency. With the right HRIS, it’s possible to hire the right employees with good skills in the right place to achieve strategic goals.
2. Employee Data Management
Similar to CRM (Customer Relationship Management), HRIS provides a complete view of each employee’s details, such as name, address and hiring details. With the right information, you can easily connect with your employees, helping them develop the right career paths and take their job performance to the next level. Â
Careers in Human Resource Management (HRM)
There are various different careers in Human Resource Management. You are required to have at least a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources to apply for any position. Additionally, many certifications are available online that help you get the best position in the HRM field.Â
HR professionals play a crucial role in all organisations for managing employee-employer relations and ensuring an organisation’s success. Thus, they should have some specific skills that are required across all organisations. They are:
Communication Skills
It is a crucial skill for HR professionals to require strong verbal and written communication skills to interact with different people and business partners.
Strategic Thinking
Another key skill for an HR professional is strategic thinking which allows them to inquire into situations and implement the correct solution.
Leadership Skills
HR leadership skills are important for the company’s growth. HR leaders can motivate employees to fulfil their potential. They work actively to reach strategic goals by providing advanced leadership techniques. Â
Performance Management
It is the process that maintains and improves job performance by providing continuous feedback and conducting training and counselling.Â
Command of HR Technology
It is the process that maintains and improves job performance by providing continuous feedback and conducting training and counselling.Â
Training and Development Skills
This is one of the most important skills in Human Resources as it offers plenty of opportunities for employees to learn new skills and improve their talents which will benefit the company as well as employees. HR professionals provide training sessions associated with the company’s goals.Â
Some of the training sessions conducted by HR are listed below:
- Behavioural Training
- Leadership Training
- Competency Training
- Effective Communication Management
- Posh Training
The Bottom Line
The backbone of an organisation, Human Resource Management makes sure the organisation gets the best talent, keeps the employees satisfied and ensures organisational growth. Referring to the process of hiring, HRM aims to improve an organisation’s workforce by using strategic initiatives. Over and above, it manages the orientation programs to familiarise new employees with the organisation’s policies and goals. Overall, HR management ensures the smooth functioning of an organisation.Â
The key objective of an HR professional is to build a relationship between the employee and the organisation. Moreover, the HR department ensures the organisation has a motivated and engaged workforce, creating an appealing environment.Â
Aspiring to become a great HR Manager? Then, you must enhance your skills in Human Resources by taking up a highly-valued HRM course like the Executive Development Program in HR Analytics by XLRI Jamshedpur through Jaro Education. This program prepares HR professionals to understand descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics. Moreover, this course will help them use analytics tools to understand data and people management and discover suitable solutions to real-life people’s challenges.Â
Frequently Asked Questions
Trending Blogs
