HRM SECTION

Human resource management (HRM) is an approach to the management of people, based on four fundamental principles.

First, human resources are the most important assets an organisation has and their effective management is the key to its success.

Second, this success is most likely to be achieved if the personnel policies and procedures of the enterprise are closely linked with, and make a major contribution to,the achievement of corporate objectives and strategic plans.

Third, the corporate culture and the values, organisational climate and managerial behaviour that emanate from that culture will exert a major influence on the achievement of excellence. This culture must, therefore, be managed which means that organisational values may need to be changed or reinforced, and that continuous effort, starting from the top, will be required to get them accepted and acted upon.

Finally, HRM is concerned with integration - getting all the members of the organisation involved and working together with a sense of common purpose.

An HRM strategy pertains to the means as to how to implement the specific functions of HRM. An organisation’s HR function may possess recruitment and selection policies, disciplinary procedures, reward/recognition policies, an HR plan, or learning and development policies, however all of these functional areas of HRM need to be aligned and correlated, in order to correspond with the overall business strategy. An HRM strategy thus is an overall plan, concerning the implementation of specific HRM functional areas.

Accordingly, the HRM strategy would seek to facilitate how exactly to manage personnel in order to achieve the goal. Specific HRM functions, such as recruitment and selection, reward/recognition, an HR plan, or learning and development policies, would be tailored to achieve the corporate objectives. Close co-operation (at least in theory) between HR and the top/senior management, in the development of the corporate strategy.

An HRM strategy can be divided, in general, into two facets – the people strategy and the HR functional strategy. The people strategy pertains to the point listed in the first paragraph, namely the careful correlation of HRM policies/actions to attain the goals laid down in the corporate strategy. The HR functional strategy relates to the policies employed within the HR functional area itself, regarding the management of persons internal to it, to ensure its own departmental goals are met.