In today's organizations, people-centric approaches are crucial for boosting performance and reducing attrition rates. The Human Resource Management (HRM) department links the organization and its employees, fostering growth for both. This makes HRM a promising career choice.
HRM assists with personnel matters, including recruitment, hiring, and management. The department forms work policies, determines salaries, and manages benefits. Function of HRM include job analysis, human resource planning, conducting interviews, training, payroll management, appraisals, dispute resolution, employee counseling, career planning, benefit management, and workplace safety. These tasks underscore HRM's role in promoting employee and organizational growth. Certification courses can help HR professionals gain skills in motivating and managing employees.
This article will explore HRM functions and their impact on organizational success.
HRM functions collectively create a motivated, skilled, and efficient workforce, driving the organization toward its objectives.
What is the objective behind the functions of HRM? The objective is to provide a seamless experience to employees associated with the organization. Here is a quick look at the objectives of HRM functions.
HRM's main function includes job analysis and design. Job design involves describing duties, responsibilities, and operations to employees, ensuring they fit the role. This begins with creating a checklist from top-performing employees’ duties. Job analysis identifies day-to-day functions essential for the organization's growth and recruitment process.
HR planning is important in HRM. It involves training and distributing resources effectively to help the organization reach its potential. This function of HRM requires knowing the number and type of employees needed, setting goals, and understanding each department's specific needs to avoid understaffing or overstaffing.
Hiring is a core function of HRM. It starts with spotting qualified candidates who align with the organization's goals. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive screening and multiple interview rounds to ensure the candidate's fit. Post-selection, the HRM handles job offers and familiarizes new employees with organizational goals.
HRM's role extends beyond hiring. Training procedures help new hires settle and understand growth opportunities, boosting their efficiency and productivity. This step ensures employees gain company-specific knowledge, aiding in their tasks and contributing to organizational and personal growth.
HRM designs compensation packages balancing fair employee remuneration and organizational finances. They establish clear rules for salaries, appraisals, and benefits, ensuring these elements motivate employees and boost productivity without harming the company's financial health.
Effective performance management ensures employees meet organizational goals and maintain job satisfaction. HRM designs job descriptions, selects suitable employees, provides training, boosts performance, offers real-time feedback, conducts performance reviews, and handles appraisals and exit reviews.
Learning and development are continuous function of HRM. HR managers analyze skill gaps and design training programs to empower employees, enhancing their performance. Re-skilling and up-skilling programs help employees advance, increasing satisfaction and experience.
It is usually divided into two parts about relationships in employment. If you pick up any credible book on HRM, be it function of human resource management pdf or something else, you will see that they are labor relations and managerial relations. Labor relations a way that defines the relationship of a company with its workforce. On the other hand, managerial relations deal with the connections within the various processes that exist within an organization. The HRM department handles all the aspects related to the processes.
Why is it essential to maintain a harmonious relationship between the employees and the organization? First, it is important to ensure that the employees collectively work toward the company's overall goal. Hence, it is the job of HR to spot the communication gaps between two employees or an employee and the organization. It is risky to keep those events unattended as that may lead to conflict and chaos within the organization. Also, the HRM needs to create policies that are fair and transparent.
Encouraging the employees to engage and communicate is an essential part of any organization. Increased communication and engagement are the ways to ensure employee satisfaction. It is the responsibility of the HRM department to create an environment that helps the employees get motivated and more committed to working towards a common goal besides personal career development. This is done through regular communication and events that can help the employees to engage. This process is also required for the overall development of the organization.
An employee working at an organization doesn’t just require proper remuneration. They also need an environment that takes care of the different health and safety regulations that are prescribed by the authorities. It is the responsibility of the human resources personnel to ensure that the rules and regulations are mandatorily followed. This also includes conducting regular sessions to inform the employees about their part in ensuring safety and health regulations within the organization. This is a way to create a workspace where employees feel safe to work.
Everyone talks about keeping their personal and professional lives separate. However, if an employee faces an issue in their personal life, it will interfere with their workflow too. Hence, there is a need for a space where the employees can discuss how to approach their work while dealing with personal issues. The HRM department is responsible for providing that space to help the employees in need. This has become increasingly important following the pandemic. The department can also help the employees know more about the insurance policies in place or leaves they can take in their time of need.
It is one of the core functions of the human resources department. Under this function, the department plans, monitors, and manages the growth of employees from within the organization. This is carried out to track promising employees who can contribute more to the organization. With the help of the data collected by the HRM department, employees get the chance to succeed in their careers as the organization considers it profitable to invest in their development.
In the factories and manufacturing units, Unions exist. Hence, the HRM department plays an important role in acting as a liaison between the Union of an organization and its management. The department's responsibility is to create a balanced workspace that takes care of the employees' welfare and the organization's profit.
Here are the three categories of HRM function:
| Types of HRM Functions | ||
| Managerial Function | Advisory Functions | Operative Functions |
| Planning | Advising Top Management | Employment |
| Organizing | Advising Department Heads | Compensation |
| Directing | Training and development | |
| Controlling | Working conditions and Welfare | |
| Performance Appraisal | ||
| Personal Record | ||
| Separation | ||
| Industrial Relations | ||
There are certain managerial function of HRM. These functions help an HR manager maintain a proper balance within the organization, which helps with its smooth operation. An HR manager performs some of the most basic yet crucial managerial functions. They have to get involved in planning. Furthermore, they also have to be part of the organization or implementation of the plan. This function type can be divided into four major parts. They're planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. This article will take a detailed look at each sub-sect of HRM's managerial function.
Managerial Functions
1. Planning
A manager's job is to plan and manage subordinates who can efficiently and effortlessly implement the plan. It is essential to plan to identify and determine the organization's goals. One of such human resources functions contributes to personnel growth and the company's development. Here is a quick look at the tasks required under this function. They are:
There are three steps in which an HR manager can complete this function efficiently. The first part is to have a clear idea of the job market conditions and the strategic viewpoints of the organization. The next step is identifying the organization's shortage or excess personnel. Lastly, the final step is to methodically work towards eliminating the shortage.
2. Organizing
After planning, this is an essential task that the HR managers need to handle. An HR manager's job is to develop plans and establish objectives. Furthermore, they must also find the proper ways to reach their goals. Here are some of the things that an organization structure includes:
3. Directing
Once the planning part is concluded, the next step is implementation. The smooth and effective implementation process depends on a very important aspect - the motivation of the employees. It is, therefore, the job of the HRM to encourage people to work towards the achievement of goals willingly. This is a skill that one can develop after receiving proper training.
Some ways promote encouragement within the employees. Here is a quick look:
4. Controlling
This is an aspect in which the HRM ensures the regulation of activities under the plans. In this step, the observation and comparison of results take place. That is an essential step in ensuring standards and correcting any deviations that may have occurred. In addition, this process helps the HRM to evaluate and control the performance of the personnel department. This step includes performance appraisal, personal audit, and examination of personal records.
It is one of the essential functions of human resource management. This function involves advising on important matters involving human resources. Through this function, an HR manager ensures the smooth running of the company. However, to whom HRM shares the advice? Take a quick look:
Advisory Functions
1. Advise top Management
A trained personnel manager assists top management when formulating procedures, policies, and programs related to the organization's human resources. An HR manager also suggests maintaining good human relations while ensuring high employee morale.
2. Advise departmental heads
This is another responsibility of an HR manager. They also advise department heads on aspects of job analysis and design, manpower planning, selection and recruitment, training, placement, and performance appraisal.
Under operative functions, the HRM deals with duties designed specifically for the department. The HR managers deal with different aspects like employment, compensation, development, and maintenance of personnel. Let's take a detailed look at the operative functions of HRM.
Functions of Operative Functions
1. Employment
This step involves finding candidates who can turn into employees and is a perfect fit for the organization. It also involves recruiting someone with a proper skill set and understanding the number of persons needed to fulfill the organization's goal. Some of the steps involved in this sub-sect of operative functions are recruitment, selection, and personnel placement.
2. Compensation
As the name suggests, this is a step involved with determining the remuneration amount for an employee in exchange for their contribution to the organizational goals. As an aspiring HR manager, it is essential to remember that the remuneration can be monetary or non-monetary rewards. Certain factors influence the remuneration of an employee. They are:
3. Development
This function can be described as a follow-up of the employment function. Under this, the HR manager is responsible for training the new employees properly. They have to teach each employee properly to ensure their skill sets are utilized appropriately. It is also a process that lays the foundation for developing an employee in a way that can help them climb the ladder within the organization.
To ensure the growth of the employees, HR managers are required to create proper training programs to help solve the purpose. It is important to mention that the HR managers are responsible for training not just the new employees but the old ones too. Wondering how managers come up with effective programs? They have to learn it, and the KnowledgeHut certification course can help.
4. Working conditions and Welfare
The function of the HR department doesn't end with just hiring someone and training them. There is much more to that situation; it involves creating a workspace where employees feel comfortable and motivated to work. An HR manager's job is to ensure appropriate workplace conditions. They need to ensure that the workspace is safe and healthy for employees. As an HR manager, one has to provide all the services related to the employees' physical, mental, and social welfare. Some of the aspects are:
5. Motivation
Keeping employees motivated is among the key functions of the human resource department. It has been seen that employees often hold back from relating to the overall organizational goal because they don't feel motivated enough. The HRM department's responsibility is to create such an environment where the employees feel adequately motivated to give their best.
6. Personal Record
An employee's journey is documented right from the day they joined. It is the HRM department's responsibility to maintain the personnel records. The records contain information on their appointment, training, appraisal, promotion, transfer, achievement, and other things related to the organization. Other than these, the department also maintains records to ensure that employees follow the organization's policies properly.
7. Separation
When an employee decides to leave a company or retire, it is the job of the HRM department to handle the separation of that person from the organization. Also, the personnel manager is the one who handles the retirement benefits for employees who are retiring from the office.
8. Industrial Relations
No one can work alone. It is also true for an organization that has to stay in touch with several other bodies to ensure its smooth working. A human resource manager is responsible for maintaining relationships with other industries. As an HR manager, one can help in several things, like collective bargaining, settlement of disputes, and joint consultation. Furthermore, their job is to maintain an efficient relationship with the labor union or other concerned bodies.
One of the main functions of human resource management is to comply with various industry regulations. So naturally, managing all the processes manually is nothing less than a Herculean task and is time-consuming. That is why, with the help of advanced technologies, innovators came up with a range of tools that introduce automation in the working process of an HR manager. As a result, these tools help save both effort and time.
There are also numerous other benefits of opting for HR function tools that benefit organizations. The advantages include the following:
So, what are the top five tools you should explore as an HR aspirant? Let’s take a look:
Human resource is a field that is power-packed and dynamic. Major function of HRM are in place to ensure employee satisfaction and organizational growth. An HR professional has several duties and responsibilities while liaising between the employees and the government. It won't be wrong to say that this life-changing role will take your career to new heights.
An HR manager must maintain the records of the employees working with the organization, from their appointment letters to their achievements, promotions, etc. An HR manager documents the entire journey of an employee within the organization.
HR functions are important to retain an organization's human resources and motivate them to work in a way that can help achieve the overall goal.
The advisory function requires an HR manager to advise top management and respective departments about the employee-related programs or policies they form.
Under the separation function, an HR manager is responsible for ensuring that the process of an employee leaving the organization is completed smoothly. The manager is also responsible for initiating the retirement plan for a retired employee.
