Is HRM an Effective Approach to Managing People at Work Essay

Is HRM an Effective Approach to Managing People at Work - Essay Example Machineries will be passive resources unless they are controlled and operated by human workforce. It should be noted that only the human resources has natural intelligence whereas the machineries have only artificial intelligence. Since human intelligence is much more advanced than artificial intelligence, an organization cannot neglect the importance of manpower and human intelligence under any circumstances. Human resource management or HRM is one of the major divisions of every organization. The success and failures of the organization depends on the functioning of the HRM wing. According to Torrington et al. (2011), â€Å"Human resource management (HRM) is the basis of all management activity†(Torrington et al., 2011, p.4). In other words, all the organizational activities start from the HR department. HR is responsible for assigning duties to the employees of an organization. Human resource management theories are undergoing rapid changes because of the changes in life st yles and advancements in science and technology. Earlier, employees were more interested in getting decent salaries. However, current employees are not only interested in getting decent salaries, but also in getting proper work culture, environment and opportunities to keep a balance between work and life. Effectiveness of HRM lies in keeping a balance between the employee interests and that of the organization’s interests.It is difficult to define HRM in few words because of the complex functions associated with it. Generally speaking â€Å"HRM is the process of managing people in organizations in a structured and thorough manner† (Human Resource Management (HRM), 2012). HR department is responsible for recruitment, retention, allocation of suitable jobs, training and development of employees. A right person at the right place at the right time is always beneficial to an organization and it is the duty of HR to ensure it. Even though unemployment is a big problem in m any of the countries, lack of skilled manpower is creating major problems to organizations. It is the duty of the HR to identify best talents from the employment market so that the organization will always have the se4rvices of extremely good talents. Competition is growing day by day and as a result of that, organizations are competing each other for recruiting best talents. As a result of that employee retention is a major problem nowadays. HR department is responsible for employee retention. Training and development is another major HR function. No employee can develop properly if the organization fails to provide adequate training to them. Knowledge explosion and technological advancements forced organizations to give more importance to training of employees. HR is responsible for training also. It should be noted that the responsibilities of HR will be over after recruitment, retention, and training. Allocation of suitable jobs to the employees is another major HR function. A s mart employee at the wrong place may bring more harm than good to an organization. For example, an employee who has sales skills should be appointed only in the sales department in order to derive maximum efficiency out of him. If the organization wrongly places him in some other departments, he may not deliver the goods. In short, effectiveness of HRM depends on talent identification,