Human Resource Management Overview

Human Resource Management Overview

"Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization" (Heathfield 2011). The human resource department of an organization is responsible for the hiring of new employees and management as well as setting out training agendas for employees. Human resource management also deals with issues such as compensation, hiring performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training (Heathfield 2011).

The New HRM

Human resource management used to be all about administrative work, dealing strictly with personnel and transactional duties. These roles are now outsourced by most organizations to payroll companies and other sources. The new human resource management teams are dedicated to adding value to the company. Strategic planning, metrics and measurements are a big part of HRM in this new era. The HRM department is responsible for adding value to the organization (Heathfield 2011).

"Strategic human resource management is the process by which managers design the components of an HRM system to be consistent with each other, with other elements of organizational architecture, and with the organization's strategy and goals. The objective of strategic HRM is the development of an HRM system that enhances an organization's efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers" (Stages 2003).

Four Stages of Strategic HRM

There are four stages to strategic human resource management; situational analysis/environmental scanning, forecasting demand for human resources, analyzing the supply of human resources, and developing action plans to close any gap between human resource demand and supply.

The first part of strategic HRM is when strategic planning actually becomes a part of HRM. The strategic plan has to be in line with environmental circumstances that may arise. The HR department must be responsible for identifying and anticipating any threats and opportunities. The second stage is all about forecasting the need for new employees and what type of employees will be needed. Employee demand should also be tied into the strategic plan of the organization. Forecasting techniques include; expert estimate method, a group of experts provides the organization with demand estimates based on prior experience, intuition, and subjective assessments of available economic and labor force indicators (Stages 2003).

The third phase of strategic HRM planning is analyzing number and types of employees when it comes to skill level and necessary training for the new and old employees. At this stage the HR department builds a skills inventory which is a list of employee's names, characteristics, and skills.