Human Resource Management Definitions

There are numerous definitions and models of HRM but none that is universally agreed.

David Guest, professor in organisational psychology and HRM at King’s College London, states that:

We still lack a coherent theoretical basis for classifying HRM policy and practice, a problem that becomes more apparent when we start to look at the empirical research.

(Guest, 1997, p. 266)

A distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using a range of cultural, structural and personnel techniques.

(Storey, 1995, p. 5)

Concerned with the employment, development and reward of people in organisations and the conduct of relationships between management and the workforce.

(Armstrong, 1999)

Planning, organising, directing, and controlling of the procurement, integration, maintenance and reproduction of human resource to the end that individual organisational and societal objectives are accomplished.

(Edwin, 1979)

A managerial perspective which argues the need to establish an integrated series of personnel policies to support organisational strategy.

(Buchanan & Huczynski, 2004, p. 679)

The process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating employees, and of attending to their labour relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns.

(Dessler, 2020)

• It’s a distinctive approach to the management of people that serves the interests of modern organisations
• It’s closely related to the organisation’s business strategy
• A critical HR management task is to align HR systems of staffing and performance management with the business strategy
• People are the most important asset of the organisation as they help to generate competitive advantage, therefore people management is a central strategy of an organisation
• It’s the organisational function that deals with issues related to people, such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organisation development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration and training
• It’s also a strategic and comprehensive approach to managing people and the workplace culture and environment
• Effective HRM enables employees to contribute effectively and productively to the overall company direction and the accomplishment of the organisation’s goals and objectives

Your task

Please compare and contrast the HR definitions listed above, and identify the similarities among these definitions. Can you add your own?

References

_{Armstrong, M. (1999). A handbook of HR management practice (7th ed.). Kogan Page.}

_{Buchanan, D. A., & Huczynski, A. A. (2004). Organizational behaviour (5th ed.). FT/Prentice Hall.}

_{Dessler, G. (2020). Human resource management (16th ed.). Pearson Education Limited.}

_{Edwin, B. F. (1979). Personnel Management (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill.}

_{Guest, D. E. (1997). Human resource management and performance: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(3), 263-276.}

_{Storey, J. (1995). Human resource management: A critical text. Cengage Learning EMEA.}