The effective usage of HRM principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The effective usage of HRM principles - Essay Example The importance of HRM has already been recognised by virtually any company which follows western standards of business. It is clear that its performance depends not only on hard and attenuating work of its personnel, but also on the "human side" of the employees, their competence, motivation, attitudes, communication and other variables: "HRM is the core of company's general efficiency and the basis for effective management" (Gunnigle et al, 2002: 12). In a similar vein Beardwell (2003: 15) believes that despite the visible simplicity, the area of HRM is exceptionally complex due to potentially unpredictable nature of human resources. If a company fails to properly and effectively manage its human resources in the right areas of the business, at the right time and at the right cost, serious inefficiencies are likely to arise creating considerable operational difficulties and likely business failure (Beardwell, 2003). Originally emerged in 1960s, the paradigm of HRM relied, however, on previous researches and findings of organizational scientists. As Alan Price (2000: 62) states the concept of HRM "...hasn't come out of nowhere" as there is a long history of attempts to achieve an understanding of human behaviour in the workplace. Throughout the whole XX century and even earlier both practitioners and scholars attempted to design the theories explaining human behaviour at work and the ways to raise its effectiveness. A number of organizational theories brought to life the principles of HRM in 1960s-1970s. Though many of modern HRM principles have been already developed by this time, the year of HRM "official birth" is 1981 when Harvard Business School introduced a course that served a blueprint for global spread of human resource planning and management (Price, 2000: 64). A good insight into the value of HR related programs is provided by Schuler (1990: 52-54). He emphasizes that the HR function had an opportunity to shift from being an "employee advocate" (associated with personnel management) to a "member of the management team". Schuler's (1990) view was that this required HR professionals to be concerned with the bottom line, profits, organizational effectiveness and business survival. In other words, human resource issues should be addressed as business issues. It is noteworthy that emergence of HRM chimed with decay of heavy industry and development of sophisticated IT business. Storey (2001: 18-34) believes that emergence of HRM contributed greatly to an ever-greatest since industrial revolution shift in the principles of management. HRM encouraged both managers and employees to get rid of traditional patterns of interaction, outdated ideas of motivation, stereotypes, assessment and appraisal. Managers as well stop being the mentors and executioners and turned to be the members of business teams. Introduction of HRM principle has made modern companies more competitive, dynamic and people-friendly that consequently influenced their efficiency and marketability. Storey (2001: 18) argues that HRM caused what was later called "a new managerialism" - a new look on organization, the ways it functions and succeeds and the way its employees work. Regardless of global recognition of HRM, many managers are still