What Is Human Resources

Human Resources are the cornerstone of any organization's success. Human Resources are the corporation's most prized assets and needs to be managed with that view in mind. Human Resources Management is the science developed to manage a large workforce. It is one thing to manage 1 or 2 employees in a small startup or in the corner cafe, but managing sizable human resources of more than 10 or even 100 is a complex challenge. Over the years, entire theories and techniques have been developed for managing small to large sized human resources.

What is the Theory Behind Human Resources Management?

The goal of Human Resources Management is to attract, administrate and motivate employees in the pursue of the mission set by the company. It is also the art and science of aligning the employees' goals with that of the corporation. As with all other sciences dealing with people, human resources management is both an art as well as science. Human Resources Management requires many skill sets from various discipline and modern business schools offers bachelor and master degrees in Human Resources Management.

In practise, Human Resources Management is made up of several components. Many of these processes are performed by the Human Resource Practitioner but a lot of these tasks are actually done in collaboration with the other department managers and the leaders or senior managers in the organization. Human Resources Management is not only the responsibility of the Human Resources Department, it is a shared responsibility of all the managers within the organization.These human resources management processes are listed as below:

• Workforce Planning
• Personnel Recruitment
• New Personnel Induction
• Skills Upgrading and Training
• Personnel Administration
• Compensation
• Leave Management
• Travel Management
• Payroll Employee Benefits; inclusive of medical and retirement benefits
• Personnel Cost Planning
• Performance Appraisal

Note that each organization is different and may include less or more of the above components.

This is a rhetoric question. Of course we need Human Resources Management. The more important question to ask is how should human resources management contribute to the bottom line of the company. Too often, human resources management has been relegated to the back of the room because the functions (listed below) performed are viewed as at best necessary and is parked under expenses. Human Resources Management must rise to the strategic level and be able to correlate the functions of Human Resources Management with the company's vision, policies as well as profit contribution. One of the ways that you can accomplish this is by managing employee turnover as a function of cost management. Think of employee turnover as a loss of potential revenue and employee time as well as additional costs incurred for new hire. I will explain this in greater detail in a future hubpage.