Human Resource Management : Introduction
Human Resource or the manpower of a company, plays a key role in the organization’s development with their skills and creativity. Human Resource Management (HRM) earlier known as personal management or labour welfare and industrial relations, is a highly competitive and sought after profession in the field of management. It involves recruiting personnel and their training, salary administration and handling union management relations. Every industry, business and trade needs Human Resource Development Managers or HR managers for the successful administration and maintenance of their work force. They focus on all the activities an organization implements and assist employees in all areas, including boosting their morale and giving training and coaching to maximize their abilities.
Human resource management (HRM) is a profession that deals with all levels of employees in the management or organisation. Now-a-days employees are considered as valuable corporate assets, as well-trained, skilled and highly motivated staff are required for the growth of an organisation/ company. This has made HRM a vital administrative function in both commercial as well as non profit making establishments. It is the duty of the HR or Personal Manager to select such appropriate employees to improve the productivity of the company. The major tasks performed by a human resource professional include developing job profiles, screening and interviewing candidates, administering and coordinating tests, conducting background checks of prospective employees and their training. In fact, Human resource management is all about the management of work and people in an organization.
Human resource management courses, initially started as a part of specialisation of Social work programme, was later separated from it and introduced as a separate course. It is a career that needs professional as well as personal skills. HRM cannot be fully taught in the class rooms i.e it cannot be imbibed from the textbook knowledge alone.
Gaining experience and exposure is very important in this field, as it requires a lot of personal experience to handle the major resource of business administration.
Earlier a career in human resource management was considered as a male dominated field but with the passage of time it has become woman friendly and now more and more females are getting into this profession.
Eligibility & Course Areas
The basic qualification required for a job opportunity in the HR department of an organisation is a Masters degree in Human Resource Management. The courses exclusively meant for Human Resource Management are :
Master of Human Resource Management (MHRM)
Master of Human Resource and Organizational Development (MHROD)
Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (PGDHRM)
Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Development (PGDHRD)
The eligibility criteria for applying to these courses are graduation in any discipline. The masters programme will be of 2 years duration and PG Diploma programmes will be of 1 year duration. Basically admission to these programmes will be based on aptitude test, GD and interview. The selection procedure may vary depending on the institutes. Most institutes admit students on the basis of marks scored in exams like GAT.
Many MBA courses offer Human Resource Management as a specialization to the major course. In MBA, the specialization will be offered in the 2nd year. Compared to MBA, MHRM is an exclusive 2 year programme on Human resources.
Personal skills
Good interpersonal communication and interaction is the major skill required for this profession, as HRM are the mediators between employers and employees. HR jobs need complete involvement, lots of patience, flexibility and ability to get on with all types of people. Leadership quality and time management skills will be counted for this career. As an HR has to work as a team player, they should possess good organizational skills, should be able to coordinate all the individuals as a team and make them work together. Other essential skills needed for the HR professional is a flair for seeing a problem from all sides, a good memory for names and faces, lack of prejudice, detachment and an understanding of people, the ability to gain their confidence and respect and a persuasive and a congenial personality.
Job Prospects & Career Options
Human resource/ personal management graduates have a lot of potential as every industry/ organisation need these professional for maintaining their labour force. Starting from merely collecting employee details to maintaining the human resource information (HRI) systems, HR managers job has now extended to that of a recruiter manager, compensation manager, employer relation manager, strategic manager and much more. They are placed by industries in HR departments, HR planning/ recruitment, HR auditing etc and are involved in all aspects of people management to improve the morale of the employees.
Graduates in Human Resource management may be recruited by companies through campus interview. They will be trained by HR Managers in the HR department and are redeployed in different locations. HR managers can seek employment in corporate houses, multinational companies, banking and financial institutions and public and private sector industries.
HR is a profession that can be learned on the field by interacting with people. One can excel in the field only with experience. So after graduation rather than looking for the perfect opportunity, try get into an organisation and learn the ropes on the job. Initially salary shouldn't be your main criteria. One can climb the ladder of HR after gaining experience and exposure.
Some of the major duties performed by the human resource managers are recruitment, training and development, job appraisal, promotion, keeping an eye on the idleness of employees, maintaining good employer and employee relations, maintaining all personal records and implement career development programmes.
- Recruitment: Recruitment is the major function of an HR of the company, as he has to find the apt person matching for their organization’s profile. HR has to screen and shortlist the qualified candidates from various sources such as recruitment agencies, advertisements published etc.
- Training and Induction: It is the job of an HR to introduce the new employee to the organization and vise versa, giving him the education and training about the company’s policies.
- Personal management and development: The HR should understand an employee and his skills for the job and help him to develop those skills. For that he should be capable of evaluate the employees individually.
- Job appraisal: It is the duty of the HR to evaluate the performance of the employee as part of their career development. Usually the salary increment, promotion etc are decided on the basis of this appraisal. It will also help to understand the training that the employee further needs for improvement in his field.
- Payroll: The HR should maintain the financial records of salaries and its related such as basic wages, deductions etc. They also take care of employee benefits and its records.
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