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HR vs PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT - OLD WINE?
Industrial Relations Personnel Management Specialist For considerable time the Personnel staff was dominated by lawyers or legally oriented individuals - who could deal with the much labour litigation faced by the Company more competently. Gradually, it was realized that the demand on this function was getting far more complex, and required many other specialist knowledge and competency, such as in Social Sciences, Industrial Psychology, etc. With such felt needs came the growth of many Management Education Institutes offering Courses and Training Programmes. This resulted in people with professional background in Personnel being available in fair number mostly from early sixties, and being inducted in the organizations, as in other functions. It was felt that such professional knowledge was necessary, to be a better PM, who needed to manage total Industrial Relations (IR), and also many other personnel and organizational related issues, and not just concentrate on legal issues and court cases. However, the main priority for the PM’s for considerable period remained providing assistance and support to the operations of the organization as a subsidiary, and not as a direct contributing team member - this persists in many places even today! Human Resources Management - A Business / Strategic Partner The management philosophy was undergoing changes, and it was realized that most people did not need to be driven only by supervision and fear, but generally performed better on their own, given the freedom of decision making, adequate skills training, broad guidance and knowledge of the plans - these factors motivated people to perform. This called for creation of a more positive and far greater level of interaction between the management and employee in a prevailing environment of trust and dependence, as well as in an open organization culture. The personnel function had to spearhead and contribute towards this kind of environment creation in the organization, and to provide the plans & developmental inputs to increase competency across the organization, as well as generate motivation.
Where is Your Organization in Evolution?
The pace of the development of such realization and corrective measures in different organizations has been as per their perceived or felt needs in light of their own plans and priorities - and therefore are at different stages for each organization. What is important is that the function must address to meet their own organizational goals - which, and the solutions, must vary from one Company to the other, as with progression of time. The model cannot, and should not, be the same for each. The role definition requirements are therefore, not the same in each organization. Many still continue to need IR Management as the main priority, with the other issues getting lesser attention - and as such PM and HRM would appear to be no different from each other in such organizations. However, others who have managed IR satisfactorily are able to do a great deal of visible activity in the employee development and motivational areas, culture building and organization development, etc., and therefore, may claim to be more HRM oriented, rather than Personnel.
One thing is sure; this function is certainly no old wine in a new bottle - whether one calls it Personnel, or Human Resource Management!
Human Resource Management (HRM) and/or Personnel Management (PM) has become a very vital part of the management process in the twenty-first century, and is getting significant attention in management discussions, or in the business strategy of most organizations as compared to the past, more so post liberalization. The importance of this function for the success of an organization is highlighted in glowing terms with emphasis on human resource development (HRD), knowledge management, empowerment, flat organization structure, motivated work groups etc. To some they sound as jargon, but to serious minded people they seem to make a lot of sense, even if there are differences of opinion. It also seems that even professional managers often differ in their understanding of the role differences between HRM & PM, if any at all. Many feel that it is the same old wine in a new bottle with a different label, or that HRM is only a more modern terminology!
It may be worthwhile to look at the development of this function of management in India over the past seven or eight decades to better understand the changing role and responsibility to what it is today - rather than the difference in the name with which to describe this important function in an organization.
Labour Mobilisation & Welfare
In the early part of the century, larger manufacturing organizations needed a Labour Officer (LO) for locating and selecting unskilled manpower to meet the needs of the industry, and generally to maintain the records of the employees. Their responsibilities gradually extended to looking after the increasing statutory requirements which had to be observed in accordance with the various labour laws and rules, that were being enacted one after the other to protect the rights of the workmen, as well as lay down rules for working conditions, safety and welfare measures etc. About the same time, the Government created the statutory position of Labour & Welfare Officer (LWO) in large organizations responsible to be ‘neutral’, and to specifically ensure the welfare of the workmen.
This changed job demands, and to provide a career progression for LO’s, as well as avoid conflict with the statutory LWO’s designation called for the LO’s to be redesignated as Personnel Officers or Managers (PO/PM), and the beginning of a separate Personnel Department or function was made, with enlarged responsibilities like Timekeeping, Security, Wage computation, Administration, etc. being allocated to them as well. Some larger organizations subdivided the Industrial Relations (IR) aspects, Welfare activities & Canteens, Administration, Training and Development activities, besides Personnel or Staff Department, as parts of the total man management system in the organizations.
It was realized by the top management that rather than a limited “service” function role that was required from the P.M’s in the past, a far greater contribution could be made by this function being a change agent as an “integrated management team member” in a far more professional manner to meet the organizational goals, rather than the limited functional objectives. These could be in the areas of strategic manpower planning, organization development, competency analysis and identified training and development of employees, organization culture and employee motivation & morale, team building, career planning, appraisal and incentive or reward system management, key employee retention, counseling, responsible labour & management attitude building, labour productivity improvement, environmental management etc., and not just the IR & welfare issues, recruitment and employee records. These demanded a far greater understanding and interaction with other functions in the organization, and not remain limited to the earlier functional boundaries. Lot more proactive function as a business manager with understanding the ultimate customer needs, rather than a reactive fire fighting supporting role, became increasingly necessary by this growing & changing function to enable achievement of organizational excellence in the highly challenging and competitive environment of the twenty-first century.
The people management does not, and cannot, remain static, and will continue in future to demand the changing management style, philosophy, actions and solutions, which are best suited and needed to meet the differing & changing organizational challenges of each.
ASHIT's MAIN WEBPAGE
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