Blog_Banner_Asset
    Homebreadcumb forward arrow iconBlogbreadcumb forward arrow iconHuman Resourcebreadcumb forward arrow iconWhat is Human Resource Management? Overview, Functions, Career Options

What is Human Resource Management? Overview, Functions, Career Options

Last updated:
1st Mar, 2023
Views
Read Time
9 Mins
share image icon
In this article
Chevron in toc
View All
What is Human Resource Management? Overview, Functions, Career Options

What is Human Resource Management?

Human Resource Management, popularly known as HRM, is an organisational function that deals with people residing in that organisation. It consists of strategies and approaches to managing culture and workplace ethics to create a better employee environment. In addition, it successfully allows employees to provide input towards practical actions and reap more significant benefits.

Members in the department focus on knowledge, mandatory requirements, coaching, and talent management to have suitable employees in the organisation. It is, however, not limited to only communication and recruitment but supports a range of activities such as performance management, safety, employee motivation and policy administration.

Enrol for the HRM Course from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career.

What is the role of HR?

The role of HR professionals includes scouting, screening, training and retaining employees using various methods. 

Some of the roles of HR are listed below- 

  1. Talent management
  2. Conflict management
  3. Compliance and workplace benefits 
  4. Employee benefits 

What are the functions of HRM?

The functions of human resource management can be divided into three dimensions.

Managerial Functions

The following functions fall under the segment of managerial functioning. 

  • Human Resource Planning: The plan comprises deciding on the number and employee divisions to lead to the fulfilment of the determined motives of the organisation. This requires extensive research, information, and analysis to identify and understand future human resource necessities. 
  • Organising: This function mentions tasks, analyses relationships, and understands common goals. Collective contribution can only succeed with the human resource management team’s proper organising skills.
  • Directing: Direction and motivation help motivate employees from all sections to understand their potential.
  • Controlling: This function mainly deals with the verification and comparisons after the performance of the prescribed roles. 

Operative Functions

These dimensions are as follows:

  • Recruitment and Selection: These functions help find the ideal candidates suitable for the organisation. 
  • Job Analysis: Describing a job’s nature, such as the demanded skills and programs desired to achieve goals.
  • Appraisal of Performance: An unnoticed yet pivotal function, it helps track employee performance acceptance rates. 
  • Development and Training: These are training sessions provided by the HRM team to upskill employees, applicable for both newcomers and existing employees. 
  • Wage and Salary Divisions: The payment according to the divisions is also managed by the HRM. The compensations include salaries, fringe benefits and bonuses.
  • The welfare of Employees: The benefits and services desired by employees are also looked up to by HRM.
  • Labour Relations: Interaction with trade unions is vital as differences of opinion can discover several problems within a company.
  • Personnel Research and Record: Personnel research primarily deals with salaries or leadership distinctions. The personnel record involves recording and maintaining documents such as application forms and employment details.

Advisory Functions

An HRM team is allowed to address the following divisions:

  • Top Management Advisory: The HRM group can advise the top management to formulate programs, policies and procedures.
  • Departmental Heads Advisory: Job design, workforce, planning, and performance appraisal are specific categories where the Departmental heads require HRM opinions.

Preparing for an upcoming HR interview? Arm yourself with knowledge by exploring our comprehensive guide on HR interview questions and answers and stand out as a well-prepared candidate.

Risk Management

  • It helps in identifying the potential employee-related risks
  • It involves employee behaviour and ineffective management styles 
  • HR team helps to identify and try ways to mitigate the depreciating scenarios and their outcomes proactively
  • There are a few ways of risk management; some of those are-
  • Risk Avoidance
  • Risk reduction
  • Risk Transfer
  • Risk Reduction
  • Risk Retention 

Training administration

  • The training administrator helps in training and support
  • They indulge in identifying the needs and invest time in the training of employees
  • They schedule forecasts indulge in budget analysis, and contract administration
  • They help in training and management to identify the lack of skills existing in the employees
  • Create training plans and schedule them 
  • Maintain training records for the employees
  • Prepare educational material and roll them out 

Job Design

  • It is the process of establishing employees’ roles
  • They coordinate and optimise the processes to create value that helps in maximising the performance
  • They are helpful in explaining the tasks and activities

Job Analysis

  • The HRM analyse the job roles for example, qualifications, skills, knowledge, etc.
  • It helps in gathering jobs, analysis, content and employee requirements
  • Job analysis is helpful in the placement of jobs 

Performance Management

  • It is an ongoing process
  • The process involves communication between the manager and the employee
  • The performance management cycle includes Planning, Monitoring, Reviewing and Rewarding

Benefits of Performance Management –

  • Employee Incentive Programs
  • Development Strategies
  • Constructive feedback 
  • Achieved company-wide goals
  • Boosts employee productivity
  • Enhance incentive programs

Compensation and benefits

  • HR motivates the workforce to stay motivated on the job
  • They research the market salary and offer competitive salary 
  • They encourage the employees by providing interesting incentives and benefits 

Managerial and labour relations 

  • Managerial and labour relations identify the relationship between employers and the employees
  • The taken decisions and conversations affect both the employers and the employees
  • Usually the topic of conversation remains wages, hours of work, the privacy of information, security and grievance management

What is human resource planning?

It refers to planning to achieve optimum growth and productivity. Human resource planning involves the mitigation of labour shortages or surpluses. There are various steps involved in the human resource planning process. Some of those are-

  1. Labour supply 
  2. Labour demand prediction
  3. Forecasting attrition 

Human resource planning is an effective process to help the organisation to keep skilled employees in organization. The planning also involves the mitigation of labour shortage and the acquisition of labour.

The organisation can easily meet the short-term and long-term employment needs of the organisation.  The company reaches its business goals and strategically achieves them for business growth.

Human Resource Planning also looks into retaining good employees and acquiring talent.  Staying competitive is another benefit of human resource planning.

How is HRM evolving in India?

With a demographic uniqueness in a country like India, everybody has an idea of what is HR management. Certain hypotheses suggest that regardless of having the same growth in population by 2030, India will have a larger workforce than China, meaning India will require far more jobs than today. A dominant perspective is the understanding of globalisation in specific domains such as technological advancements, business management, and its behaviours. The 1990s brought in the notions of a corporate sector and the emergence of HRM practices in the Indian subcontinent.

Hence, the competitive sector proves how a competitive service sector brought in a demographic shift in the educational forum, demanding more jobs and more HRM practices. Currently, a 5% rise has been demarcated in October, according to TimesJobs RecruitX. As a result, it is regarded as one of the top three professions in India, proving its successful evolution in the country.

What are the eligibility criteria and required skills for HRM in India?

HRM is taught in India across several institutions at a postgraduate level. One must complete an undergraduate degree to pursue the HRM degree, i.e. 10+3+2 pattern with a 50% above aggregate. For SCs/STs/ OBCs, 45% aggregate and above is the basis for applying to universities. An entrance examination is conducted to scrutinise the aptitude and suitability of candidates.

Management skills and attributes: 

  • An interactive, friendly and outgoing personality deems fit as the profession deals with handling people from several segments.
  • Team management is a necessary factor as the person has to act as a source of inspiration.
  • Event planning is vital because an HR professional also looks up to coordination between people from other organisations.
  • Understand and organise benefit programs for all employees.
  • Act as a consulting figure when it comes to discussions with various management employees. For instance, an HR professional’s viewpoints are essential when it comes to a case of sexual harassment in the workplace.
  • Managing staff problems, such as mediating issues between two employees.
  • Have interviewing and recruitment skills as the present and future of the company depend on the HRM teams. 

Explore our Popular Human Resource Courses

Career Options After Studying HRM in India:

If you consider HRM as a study option, here is the list of career options you can consider.

  • Human Resources Assistant: The central role of a human resources assistant is to support the decisions of HR managers and several executives with administrative duties. They also have to perform functions such as writing, recruitment, scheduling interviews and signing contracts. 
  • Recruitment Coordinator: A recruitment coordinator mainly focuses on searching for qualified candidates for suitable positions in the organisations. Applications, databases, and site jobs are a few dimensions to finding candidates.
  • HR Coordinator: Administrative duties are checked by an HR coordinator. Employee records and resumes are adequately scanned to understand suitability by an HR coordinator. They need to stay updated with the trends and requirements of the company to suit their demands. 
  • Human Resources Generalist: The HR generalist handles internal and external resources. Staff training, employee relations and recruitment processes are areas that a generalist looks up. They also monitor budgets and payrolls ideal for every segment of employees. 
  • Employee Relations Manager: Their leading role is to handle issues between employees and the organisation to maintain a harmonious work environment. Counselling and investigation of situations, such as solving workplace conflicts, are something an employee relations manager handles.
  • HR manager: One of the most popular professions, HR managers recruit people ideal for the company. Screening of candidates, shortlisting, interviewing, and training arrangements are all performed under an HR manager.
  • Labour Relations specialist: The role mainly involves negotiations and bargains with the union on behalf of the organisation. Preparation of labour proposals and implementation of labour programs are also a part of the profession. 
  • Director of Human Resources: Director of HR is mainly responsible for checking the entire organisation’s performance. They go through budgets and plans to meet the required business goals and understand compliance with the help of legal procedures. 
  • Recruiter: As the name suggests, the ideal candidates for a company come up due to a recruiter’s efforts. They mainly conduct the interviews and screening of candidates.

Read our popular HRM articles

Hence, learning human resource management can open up many avenues.

Summing Up:

Understanding what HR management is and which courses are ideal for correctly understanding the subject requires a set of tips and advice to decide on a career option. upGrad’s Professional Certificate Program in HR Analytics and Management is the best course on HRM you can find online. 

Program Highlights include: 

  • Certification from IIM Kozhikode
  • Being a part of famous industrial projects
  • A Unique Curriculum
  • Offline Networking Events

The benefits you will get from this program are:

  • How and why does HRM function in specific manners to provide advantages to the organisations
  • Understanding data analytics to manage decisions
  • How to make crucial business decisions
  • Get a grip on the latest HRM systems 

With interesting modules and learnings from the best professors of IIM Kozhikode, this course will surely help you reach the zenith.

Visit upGrad today to enrol for seats!

Profile

upGrad

Blog Author
We are an online education platform providing industry-relevant programs for professionals, designed and delivered in collaboration with world-class faculty and businesses. Merging the latest technology, pedagogy and services, we deliver an immersive learning experience for the digital world – anytime, anywhere.
Get Free Consultation

Select Coursecaret down icon
Selectcaret down icon
By clicking 'Submit' you Agree to  
UpGrad's Terms & Conditions

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1What is HRM policy?

HRM policy can be defined as rules and regulations to establish a relationship between the employees and the organisational forces. These guidelines provide clarity between all the segments present in an organisation.

2What are the methods of recruiting employees by HRM?

Direct methods, indirect methods and third-party methods are necessary for recruiting employees HRM.

3 What are the different objectives supported by HRM?

The several objectives of HRM are: Social objectives Organisational objectives Functional objectives Personal objectives

4Who are the top recruiters for HRM?

The top recruiters for HRM include - Infosys, HCL, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Airtel, Eicher, Tech Mahindra, Samsung , ORACLE

5What is the salary procured by HRM professionals?

The average salary procured by HRM professionals is 5 lakhs per annum.

6What is the process involved in Human Resource Management?

The process involved in Human Resource Management includes- Identifying the employment requirements - Forecasting the employee requirements, Balancing between the employees and the employers, Developing strategies to support employment needs

Explore Free Courses

Suggested Blogs

How to become an HR Specialist in 2024?
6036
Introduction Are you someone who loves working with people on a day-to-day basis? Do you enjoy the process of being alongside people and making sure
Read More

by upGrad

22 Aug 2023

Job Analysis in Human Resource Management: Definition, Steps, Process
34597
Introduction   Job analysis in Human Resource Management (HRM) is very crucial. It involves systematically gathering and analyzing information about
Read More

by upGrad

27 Jun 2023

What is Herzberg Two Factor Theory? How to use to boost productivity?
6016
Employees are one of the significant foundations of the company. The company’s growth depends mainly on the performance of the employees. It bec
Read More

by upGrad

26 Jun 2023

Human Resource Management Process: Meaning, Importance, Steps and Tools
6539
Human resource planning (HRP) is the widely chosen path by many companies that aid in preventing workforce hurdles. This assists in the optimal utiliz
Read More

by upGrad

24 Jun 2023

What is Training & Development in HRM? Methods, Types with Examples
14645
Introduction Growth in many other areas will result from investing in your personnel. Cash flow, output, and product quality are all included in this
Read More

by upGrad

24 Jun 2023

What is Human Capital Management? Meaning, Importance, Tools, How to Choose
5978
What is Human Capital Management? Let’s understand human capital managemen meaning. To achieve organizational competency for workforce acquisition, m
Read More

by upGrad

24 Jun 2023

What is Strategic Human Resource Management? Types, Functions, Examples
12942
Do you know what is strategic human resource management? Unlock the power of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) with our comprehensive blog. D
Read More

by Keerthi Shivakumar

17 Jun 2023

Top HR and Payroll Software for Companies in 2024
5444
As Human Resources are leveraging better means to rationalise pay for all, HRM payroll software is receiving massive attention. With a growth rate of
Read More

by upGrad

12 Apr 2023

Top Time Management Techniques: Functionality, Pros, Cons, What it fixes
5316
Whether in professional or personal endeavours, time management has a vital role to play in boosting your overall productivity. Time management techni
Read More

by upGrad

03 Apr 2023

Schedule 1:1 free counsellingTalk to Career Expert
icon
footer sticky close icon