Human Resource Management is a process of bringing people and organisations together so that the goals of each are met. It tries to secure the best from people by winning their wholehearted cooperation. In short, it may be defined as the art of procuring, developing and maintaining competent workforce to achieve the goals of an organisation in an effective and efficient manner. It has the following features:
i. Pervasive force: HRM is pervasive in nature. It is present in all enterprises. It permeates all levels of management in an organisation.
ii. Action oriented: HRM focuses attention on action, rather than on record keeping, written procedures or rules. The problems of employees at work are solved through rational policies.
iii. Individually oriented: It tries to help employees develop their potential fully. It encourages them to give their best to the organisation. It motivates employees through a systematic process of recruitment, selection, training and development coupled with fair wage policies.
iv. People oriented: HRM is all about people at work, both as individuals and groups. It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to produce good results. The resultant gains are used to reward people and motivate them toward further improvements in productivity.
v. Future-oriented: Effective HRM helps an organisation meet its goals in the future by providing for competent and well-motivated employees.
vi. Development oriented: HRM intends to develop the full potential of employees. The reward structure is tuned to the needs of employees. Training is offered to sharpen and improve their skills. Employees are rotated on various jobs so that they gain experience and exposure. Every attempt is made to use their talents fully in the service of organisational goals.
vii. Integrating mechanism: HRM tries to build and maintain cordial relations between people working at various levels in the organisation. In short, it tries to integrate human assets in the best possible manner in the service of an organisation.
viii. Comprehensive function: HRM is, to some extent, concerned with any organizational decision which has an impact on the workforce or the potential workforce. The term ‘workforce’ signifies people working at various levels, including workers, supervisors, middle and top managers. It is concerned with managing people at work. It covers all types of personnel. Personnel work may take different shapes and forms at each level in the organisational hierarchy but the basic objective of achieving organisational effectiveness through effective and efficient utilization of human resources, remains the same. “It is basically a method of developing potentialities of employees so that they get maximum satisfaction out of their work and give their best efforts to the organisation”. (Pigors and Myers)
ix. Auxiliary service: HR departments exist to assist and advise the line or operating managers to do their personnel work more effectively. HR manager is a specialist advisor. It is a staff function.
x. Inter-disciplinary function: HRM is a multi-disciplinary activity, utilising knowledge and inputs drawn from psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, etc. To unravel the mystery surrounding the human brain, managers, need to understand and appreciate the contributions of all such ‘soft’ disciplines.
xi. Continuous function: According to Terry, HRM is not a one shot deal. It cannot be practised only one hour each day or one day a week. It requires a constant alertness and awareness of human relations and their importance in every day operations.
