Human Resource Management (HRM) is a collective term for all

the formal systems created to help in managing employees and

other stakeholders within a company. Human resource
management is tasked with three main functions, namely, the
recruitment and compensation of employees, and designating
work.

Ideally, the role of HRM is to find the best way to increase the
productivity of an organization through its employees. Despite the
ever-increasing rate of change in the corporate world, the HRM
role is not likely to change in a significant way.

Main Functions of Human Resource Management

1. Employee Recruitment

Recruitment is the process of identifying talent gaps in a company

and finding the right people to fill the roles. There are four stages
in the employee recruitment process:

 Job analysis – This involves defining the various aspects of

a job through job description and specification. Through job
description, the HRM department identifies the tasks
required for a specific job while the latter defines the
requirements an individual needs to fulfill that job.
 Sourcing – This encompasses the different techniques a
company employs to attract potential candidates to fill a
given position. This can be achieved through internal and
external advertisements.
 Screening and selection – This is the process of
evaluating the candidates who apply for the job. The
evaluation is performed to determine the skills,
qualifications, competency, and job-related experience that
potential candidates bring to the table.
 Selection of the right candidates – Once the best
candidate has been selected, the next process that follows is
onboarding. This is simply helping the new recruits become
productive members of the company.

2. Employee Orientation
Another core function of human resource management is
employee orientation. Also known as onboarding, it is the process
of teaching new recruits the necessary skills, knowledge, and
behaviors so that they can transition to the new company
effectively.

Employee orientation is a broad process conducted by the HR

department, and it’s done through different methods, including
lectures, meetings, videos, mentoring, and team-building
exercises. The main objective of the orientation is to provide new
recruits with adequate information regarding the company’s
targets, rules, policies, and activities.

3. Employee Development

Employee development refers to all the efforts for improving

personal, team, and organizational effectiveness. One aspect the
human resource department tackles is talent development. This
involves aligning the employees’ skills with the company’s needs.
In addition to hiring, training, and orienting employees, HRM
should also improve their career opportunities.

Essentially, it is more economical to improve a company’s current

workforce than to hire new employees in the future. So, employee
development is a trade-off through which human resource
management saves money by avoiding the potential costs of
hiring new employees.

Principles of Human Resource Management

The HR department has transformed significantly from the task-

oriented nature of administration it used to be in the 1980s. It is
now viewed as a strategy-focused extension of every firm. The HR
department thrives on specific principles, as highlighted below:

1. Commitment

One aspect that the HR department tries to deal with is job

security. To guarantee job security, many employees know that
they need to show commitment to the company and their job
duties. The HR management comes in to put measures in place
that ensure that staffing levels correspond to the company’s
needs and that, in the process, assure employees of their long-
term positions within the organization. The firm demonstrates its
long-term commitment to the workers by providing regular
training, performance evaluations, and goal-setting activities.

2. Competence

Competence is one of the core principles that supports a

company’s growth and development. It is also an aspect that
affects employees’ job satisfaction and how the company benefits
society. The success of a firm depends on the competency of its
employees. The HRM department tries to sustain workforce
competency by providing training opportunities. It also schedules
orientation programs, which provide avenues to enlighten new
employees on a company’s mission and objectives.

Training and orientation are essential in improving employees’

skills, knowledge, and competency. The benefit of having a
competent workforce is that it leads to the production of safe and
reliable products and services that consumers can rely on. In the
absence of a high level of competence, a company will be
susceptible to lawsuits and legal claims resulting from the
products and services that it renders.

 Current HR Supply: Assessment of the current human resource availability

in the organization is the foremost step in HR Planning. It includes a
comprehensive study of the human resource strength of the organization in
terms of numbers, skills, talents, competencies, qualifications, experience,
 age, tenures, performance ratings, designations, grades, compensations,
benefits, etc. At this stage, the consultants may conduct extensive interviews
with the managers to understand the critical HR issues they face and
workforce capabilities they consider basic or crucial for various business
processes.

 Future HR Demand: Analysis of the future workforce requirements of the

business is the second step in HR Planning. All the known HR variables
like attrition, lay-offs, foreseeable vacancies, retirements,
promotions, pre-set transfers, etc. are taken into consideration while
determining future HR demand. Further, certain unknown workforce variables
like competitive factors, resignations, abrupt transfers or dismissals are also
included in the scope of analysis.

 Demand Forecast: Next step is to match the current supply with the future
demand of HR, and create a demand forecast. Here, it is also essential to
understand the business strategy and objectives in the long run so that the
workforce demand forecast is such that it is aligned to the organizational
goals.

 HR Sourcing Strategy and Implementation: After reviewing the gaps in

the HR supply and demand, the HR Consulting Firm develops plans to meet
these gaps as per the demand forecast created by them. This may include
conducting communication programs with employees, relocation, talent
acquisition, recruitment and outsourcing, talent management, training and
coaching, and revision of policies. The plans are, then, implemented taking
into confidence the mangers so as to make the process of execution smooth
and efficient. Here, it is important to note that all the regulatory and legal
compliances are being followed by the consultants to prevent any untoward
situation coming from the employees.

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