Comparison between HRM and Personnel Management
The term "human resource management" has come into popular usage in recent years. It is widely accepted in the workplace, and sums up the current state of play with regard to the management of people with the current emphasis on links to business strategy and on the fact that human resources are as important as any other resource and need to be managed carefully. One of the main underlying themes in the philosophy of HRM is that human resource needs must be taken into account in getting everyone to meet organisational objectives, and that this will be to the advantage of everyone concerned. Hence people are important whether they are full- or part- time employees, permanent or temporary, or contract workers who are actually employed by another company. Increasingly, all the people who contribute in some way to the work of the organisation will expect and demand some influence, and personnel management techniques in appraisal, training and job evaluation can be applied only with the consent and support of employees.
Many of the traditional aspects of people management are now increasingly devolved to line managers, so that in many modern organisations the human resource department exists to initiate such involvement and discussion of human resource issues and to define policies and strategies so that everyone can contribute to the organisation's overall effectiveness.
Human resource management versus personnel management
You will have noticed that so far we have referred to both human resource management and personnel management. Many books and articles have been written about the differences and similarities between these terms, and many erudite arguments have been made. We do not intend to discuss these in detail, but at this stage we need to clarify our use of the two terms and our views on the extent of the similarities and differences.
We have shown that both terms can be applied to a wide range of activities. Any difference must therefore be in the approach adopted, rather than in the actual activities that are undertaken. We have identified the following trends in the way the terms are used:
¨ the personnel approach tends to be tactical in its approach to activities; the focus of human resource management approach is more strategic
¨ the personnel approach tends to be short-term and responsive to others' demands; the HRM approach is to think of the long term and initiate policies on major new initiatives
¨ the personnel approach tends to be a rather piecemeal way of tackling issues; the HRM approach to the same issues is to place them within a clearly defined, integrated framework which has been worked out to benefit the organisation and to which the HRM manager and other staff have contributed
¨ personnel management tends to rely on traditional forms of communication; HRM tends to use a variety of communication channels
¨ personnel management tends to operate in organisations where [next page]