Comparison between HRM and Personnel Management
where there are traditional ways of working and where there is not much involvement of the workforce in decision making; human resource management emphasises the importance of the involvement of everyone in teams or in quality circles
¨ personnel management tends to work in traditionally unionised organisations; human resource management tends to encourage single status agreements and de-emphasises the role of trade unions
¨ personnel management tends to use traditional pay systems; human resource management emphasises the need to manage performance and motivate people by the use of various payment systems which are integrated with the organisations' objectives
¨ the personnel management approach tends to reflect the status quo and resist change; human resource management tends to encourage change and increased flexibility in ways of working
¨ the personnel management approach tends to operate from a pluralistic point of view where different points of view are tolerated; the human resource management approach tends to operate from a unitary perspective emphasising the need for everyone in the organisation to work towards a common goal, so unions are not encouraged since they are not seen to be necessary
¨ personnel management's focus is therefore on getting the same conditions for groups; human resource managers focus on individual contracts, payment and reward systems
¨ personnel managers may sometimes need to help individuals with their problems; human resource managers feel individuals should be prepared to take responsibility for their own decisions and actions
¨ personnel management is concerned with the needs of the workforce and with ensuring a supply of employees who are happy and work well; human resource management is concerned with the demand for labour from management and has more emphasis on planning, monitoring and control to ensure the right number of people (not necessarily employees), with the right skills in the right place at the right time
¨ personnel managers want a system that is fair for all and are keen to have rules and procedures to encourage this; human resource managers tend to say that people have a right to proper treatment at work and efficient management will achieve this
¨ personnel management is a special activity because of the difficulties of working with people; human resource management says that managing people is much the same as managing any other resource
¨ personnel management tends to specialise in most of the activities mentioned earlier; human resource management tends to devolve many of these activities to line managers, concentrating instead on developing policies, planning, monitoring and evaluating.
There is obviously much to admire in the human resource management approach to the management of people, especially the emphasis on strategy, the links with values and mission, teamwork and the integration of all the activities into a framework which integrates these. However, some who call themselves personnel managers have also stressed the importance [next page]