Introduction of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management

Businesses and their development have undergone a dynamic evolution over the past three decades, along with this, the number of challenges facing growing businesses has also increased rapidly. The rapid change in important areas of the market, technology, composition of the workforce and attitude or expectation of people has forced the organization to review its different functional areas, which in turn, helps to modify and improve the type and style management, to facilitate the process of achieving goals.

Human Resource Management

Man, money, material, machineries are the pillars of any organization. In other words, they are the resources, whose effective combination and usage determines the success or failure of an organization. However, the “people work” or “man power” or “human resource” is the principal component with the most prominent role in the success of the organization. And hence, proper steps should be taken for the development and improvement of these resources.

An organization is made up of people with formally assigned roles who work together to achieve the organization's goals and who do so by managing the efforts of the people in the organization. Most experts agree that management involves five functions: planning, organizing, staffing, leadership, and control. Altogether, these functions represent the management process.

Evolution of Human Resource Management in India:

References about personnel management systems and practices can be found in the ancient Indian text Arthashastra, which included the job description of a supervisor and performance-linked pay for goldsmiths. Ancient India was famous for craftsmanship and the society itself was organized according to occupations. The high-quality and unique Indian goods, made by traditional craftsmen, were shipped to Europe and other continents, even as early as 17th century. Even before that, India had trade relations with the Arab countries and South East Asia. Employer-Employee Relationship during that era might have been guided by Master-Servant Relationship.

Formal industrial organizations emerged in India only after 1850. In the industrial sector, conditions of labor and work can best be described as awful and bad. Enquiry commissions set up the Government and individual committees studied the situation and their recommendations led to the formation of labor and social security legislations. The Royal Commission on Labor (1929-1931) was set up to examine the situation and it recommended appointment of labor officers and other changes. These changes led to bringing in a degree of standardization, and those were the early steps introduce personnel management. Formation of Trade unions-with close links with political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi (Textile Labor Association in Ahmedabad founded in 1920)-also influenced the way industrial workers were managed. The focus was to make adequate number of employees available in the industry, disciplining the “rural” and “less-educated workers”, implementing various legislations, and settling disputes.

At the same time there were progressive employer who were concerned about well being of its employees

After India won independence in 1947, considerable changes happened within the personnel management approach of organizations. The post- independence periods encouraged economic system because the growth model. Industrial organizations were broadly classified as public sector (including the executive arm of government) and also the private sector. Public-sector organizations or PSUs were the most important employers and received huge investments. The Constitution of India had the target of achieving socialistic society and various constitutional provisions supported protection to socio-economic class. Numerous legislations were introduced to shield workers, notably the introduction of office of the welfare officer in large factories.

Along with industrialization, the trade union movement also grew in India. The rapid growth of trade unions also catalyzed the development of personnel systems. The workers became more aware about their rights and it was increasingly difficult to exploit them. In the 1970’s & 80’s, typical Human Resource Management functions in organization included:

1. Personnel & Administration

2. Industrial Relations and

3. Labor welfare

The prescribed and assumed role was “crisis-driven” or “issue-driven”. A high level of union activism also led to situation where the decision frameworks took a legalistic turn, with focus to be on the right side of the law.

Hence, it could be said that up to the mid-80’s, Human Resource Management in Indian organizations grew through various phases under the influence of the following factors:

1. Philanthropic viewpoint (be concerned about the well being of workers)

2. Legislations

3. Government policies

4. Trade unions

5. Influenced by emerging trends/concepts in management

6. Changes in the economy

By then, most organizations, businesses and non-businesses had established separate departments to handle the personnel function, with senior level managers heading it.

“Human Resource Management is the process of recruiting, selecting, inducting employees, providing orientation, imparting training and development, appraising the performance of employees, deciding compensation and providing benefits, motivating employees, maintaining proper relations with employees and their trade unions, ensuring employees safety, welfare and healthy measures in compliance with labor laws of the land.”

Among the five Ms of management, i.e., men, money, machines, materials, and methods, HRM deals about the first M, which is men. It is believed that in the five Ms, "men" is not so easy to manage. Every man is different from other and they are totally different from the other Ms in the sense that men possess the power to manipulate the other Ms. Whereas, the other Ms are either lifeless or abstract and as such, do not have the power to think and decide what is good for them.

Challenges of Human Resource Management in India:

It is a challenging time for HR functions in Indian organizations. While the population has crossed the billion marks and the country is economically progressing, organizations in the formal sectors face grave challenges in people management. The high economic growth and the consequent demand for employable people have made HR professionals sit up and take notice. While the importance of Human Resource Management is undisputedly recognized, the ability of HR function to cope with the demands of a high-performing organization has been questioned. The “High Performance Workforce Study 2007” conducted by Accenture notes that Indian organizations have traditionally ignored considering people as distinct competitive advantage and are finding people management as the second important challenge faced by Indian CEOs. Another study among Indian CEOs identified the following people management challenges before them, which reads like the list for any western country CEO.

1. Creating a high-performance culture.

2. Retaining talent.

3. Recruiting.

4. Moving from a patriarchic, hierarchical management to a more   team-based, informal organizational culture.

5. Linking training with performance.

6. Compensating knowledge workers.

7. Building interpersonal relationships/managing conflicts.

8. Going global.

Why Do We Call It As Human Resource Management?

Human: refers to the skilled workforce in an organization.

Resource: refers to limited availability or scarce.

Management: refers how to optimize and make best use of such limited or scarce resource so as to meet the organization goals and objectives.

Therefore, Human Resource Management is supposed for correct utilisation of accessible skilled workforce and also to form efficient use of existing human resource within the organisation. The simplest example in present situation is housing industry has been facing serious shortage of skilled workforce. It's expected to triple within the next decade from the current 30 per cent, will negatively impact the general productivity of the world, warn industry experts.
Today many experts claim that machines and technology are replacing human resource and minimizing their role or effort. However, machines and technology are built by the humans only and that they must be operated or a minimum of monitored by humans and this is often the rationale why companies are always in hunt for talented, skilled and qualified professionals for continuous development of the organization.

In this way people are significant resources for any association, albeit today numerous undertakings have been giving over to the man-made brainpower yet they need judgment aptitudes which can't be coordinated with human psyche.

It is an indisputable reality that people are being replaced by artificial intelligence that is like robots. However, all jobs cannot be handed over to robots, as we know that robots have their own limits and all jobs cannot be handled by robots.

Nature of Human Resource Management:

1. Common Force: Human Resource Management is omnipresent in nature. It is present in all companies. Permeates all levels of management of an organization. All managers, in fact, are human resource managers.

2. Action oriented: Human Resource Management focuses on action rather than record keeping, written procedures or rules.

3. Individual Oriented: Human Resource Management tries to help employees to develop their full potential. It encourages them to give their best to the organization.

4. People-oriented: Human Resource Management is about people at work, both as individuals and in groups. Try to put people on assigned jobs to produce great results.

5. Future-oriented: Effective Human Resource Management prepares people for current and future challenges, especially for working in an environment characterized by dramatic changes.

6. Development-oriented: Human Resource Management intends to develop the full potential of employees. The reward structure is tailored to the needs of the employees. Training is offered to sharpen and improve your skills. Every effort is made to fully utilize your talents in the service of the organization's goals.

7. Integration mechanism: Human Resource Management tries to build and maintain cordial relationships between people who work at different levels of the organization.

8. Comprehensive role: Human Resource Management deals with any organizational decision that has an impact on the workforce or potential workforce. The term "workforce" means people who work at various levels, including workers, supervisors, middle and senior managers.

9. Interdisciplinary function: Human Resource Management is a multidisciplinary activity, which uses knowledge and inputs extracted from psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, etc.

10. Continuous process: Human Resource Management requires a constant state of alertness or awareness of human relationships and their importance in daily operations.

Reference: Rao, V S P, (2010). “Human Resource Management Text and Cases”, 3^rd ed., Excel Books, New Delhi.