The role of HRM practices are to manage the people within a workplace to achieve the organization’s mission and reinforce the culture. When done effectively, HR managers can help recruit new professionals who have skills necessary to further the company’s goals as well as aid with the training and development of current employees to meet objectives.
A company is only as good as its employees, making HRM a crucial part of maintaining or improving the health of the business. Additionally, HR managers can monitor the state of the job market to help the organization stay competitive. This could include making sure compensation and benefits are fair, events are planned to keep employees from burning out and job roles are adapted based on the market.
How does HRM work?
Human resources management works through dedicated HR professionals, who are responsible for the day-to-day execution of HR-related functions. Typically, human resources will comprise an entire department within each organization.
HR departments across different organizations can vary in size, structure and nature of their individual positions. For smaller organizations, it is not uncommon to have a handful of HR generalists, who each perform a broad array of HR functions. Larger organizations may have more specialized roles, with individual employees dedicated to functions such as recruiting, immigration and visa handling, talent management, benefits, compensation and more. Though these HR positions are differentiated and specialized, job functions may still overlap with each other.
Amazon is an example of a large company with multiple types of specialized HR positions.
Objectives of human resource management
The objectives of HRM can be broken down into four broad categories:
Societal objectives: Measures put into place that responds to the ethical and social needs or challenges of the company and its employees. This includes legal issues such as equal opportunity and equal pay for equal work.
Organizational objectives: Actions taken that help to ensure the efficiency of the organization. This includes providing training, hiring the right number of employees for a given task or maintaining high employee retention rates.
Functional objectives: Guidelines used to keep HR functioning properly within the organization as a whole. This includes making sure that all of HR’s resources are being allocated to their full potential.
Personal objectives: Resources used to support the personal goals of each employee. This includes offering the opportunity for education or career development as well as maintaining employee satisfaction.
