Human resource management

HR is a product of the human relations movement of the early 20th century when researchers began documenting ways of creating business value through the strategic management of the workforce.

[6] It was initially dominated by transactional work, such as payroll and benefits administration, but due to globalization, company consolidation, technological advances, and further research, HR as of 2015[update] focuses on strategic initiatives like mergers and acquisitions, talent management, succession planning, industrial and labor relations, and diversity and inclusion.

In the current[update] global work environment, most companies focus on lowering employee turnover and on retaining the talent and knowledge held by their workforce.

They expressed the thought that well-being of employees led to perfect work; without healthy workers, the organization would not survive.

[8][need quotation to verify] HR emerged as a specific field in the early 20th century, influenced by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856–1915).

By the time there was enough theoretical evidence to make a business case for strategic workforce management, changes in the business landscape—à la Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) and John Rockefeller (1839–1937)—and in public policy—à la Sidney (1859–1947) and Beatrice Webb (1858–1943), Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal of 1933 to 1939—had transformed employer-employee relationships, and the HRM discipline became formalized as "industrial and labor relations".

[15] Likewise in the United States, the world's first institution of higher education dedicated to workplace studies—the School of Industrial and Labor Relations—formed at Cornell University in 1945.

[17] In the Soviet Union, Stalin's use of patronage exercised through the "HR Department" equivalent in the Bolshevik Party, its Orgburo, demonstrated the effectiveness and influence of human-resource policies and practices,[18][19] and Stalin himself acknowledged the importance of the human resource,[20] exemplified in his mass deployment of it, as in the five-year plans and in the Gulag system.

The U.S. television series The Office, HR representative Toby Flenderson is sometimes portrayed as a nag because he constantly reminds coworkers of company policies and government regulations.

[25] Long-running American comic strip Dilbert frequently portrays sadistic HR policies through the character Catbert, the "evil director of human resources".

Dave Ulrich lists the function of human resources as:[27] At the macro level, HR is in charge of overseeing organizational leadership and culture.

To train practitioners for the profession, institutions of higher education, professional associations, and companies have established programs of study dedicated explicitly to the duties of the function.

HR is also a field of research study that is popular within the fields of management and industrial/organizational psychology.One of the important goal of HRM is establishing with the notion of unitarism (seeing a company as a cohesive whole, in which both employers and employees should work together for a common good) and securing a long-term partnership of employees and employers with common interests.

Utilizing technology makes information more accessible within organizations, eliminates time doing administrative tasks, allows businesses to function globally, and cuts costs.

Human Resource professionals were not able to post a job in more than one location and did not have access to millions of people, causing the lead time of new hires to be drawn out and tiresome.

[38] HR professionals generally handle large amounts of paperwork on a daily basis, ranging from department transfer requests to confidential employee tax forms.

It allows management's to provide necessary training for job success and monitor progress of their employees through virtual classrooms and computerized testing, predict the risk of employee turnover through data analysis, help HR to formulate relevant talent retention and incentive strategies, improve the personal development of the company,[41] and maintain metrics that aid in performance management.

[37] Virtual management also allows HR departments to quickly complete necessary paperwork for large numbers of new employees and maintain contact with them throughout their entire professional cycle within the organization.

This arrangement eliminates the need for an organization to directly engage in HRM matters, allowing it to focus on other priorities.

Their services include developing recruitment plans, compensation frameworks, training programs, and performance management systems, all aligned with specific HR practices and the organization's goals and culture.

By acting as consultants, they provide targeted solutions that help businesses optimize their workforce and achieve organizational objectives in complex and evolving market conditions.

He or she typically reports directly to the chief executive officer and works with the Board of Directors on CEO succession.

The Society for Human Resource Management, which is based in the United States, is the largest professional association dedicated to HR,[42] with over 285,000 members in 165 countries.

[47] WorldatWork focuses on "total rewards" (i.e., compensation, benefits, work life, performance, recognition, and career development), offering several certifications and training programs dealing with remuneration and work–life balance.

In general, schools of human resources management offer education and research in the HRM field from diplomas to doctorate-level opportunities.

Various universities all over the world have taken up the responsibility of training human-resource managers and equipping them with interpersonal and intrapersonal skills so as to relate better at their places of work.

As Human resource management field is continuously evolving due to technology advances of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is essential for universities and colleges to offer courses which are future oriented.