preview

Human Resource Management Essay

Better Essays

In this assignment I intend to outline the development of Personnel Management (PM) and Human resource management (HRM). Briefly describing their development and the role they play in a work place today. I will then discuss the role HRM played in changing the approaches adopted by management to employment, before finally hypothesising about the future direction of HRM.
PM can be traced all the way back to the late 18th century and the industrial revolution in England. However for the purpose of this assignment my analysis will begin much later after the Second World War (WW2). WW2 created a massive demand for labour and in particular personal specialists. It was in late 1946 that these specialists created the Institute of Personnel …show more content…

These changes took place for a number of reasons. The economy in general was changing and there was a shift from manufacturing to service and the focus moved to customers both internally and externally. Huge technological strides were made during this period which allowed business to change with it. There was also a change in attitude towards employees so, family friendly policies were introduced and employers tried to help employees achieve a work life balance.
HRM started to become an integral part of business, where PM had been reactive HRM became proactive and was involved in decision making. They are also involved with management up to board level and contribute to the bottom line of the business (profit). HRM is now responsible for the hard S’s: strategic planning, structure, systems and service internal/external. HRM still includes the soft S’s and these are now much less involved because HRM is about planning ahead and making provisions for retirements, temporary cover for busy periods and other foreseeable and unforeseeable problems ahead. HRM staff now work closely with unions, with a close relationship both parties are now far better at avoiding union action and problems can generally be sorted quickly with little fuss.
There is still a great debate between academics as to whether HRM is a whole new concept or just a repackaging of PM. Some experts, for example Legge 1995 and Storey 1989; 1995 suggest that the message itself is not the

Get Access