HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT
BPL 215; BBA 215; BTM 224; DTH 221; DBA 123; DPL 214

HRM and Personnel Management

by
Margaret Atiro
1
 HRM & PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Definition of Personnel Management.
Description of the evolution of
Personnel Management.
Distinction between Personnel
Management and HR.
CONCEPT OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Personnel Management (PM) is also known as
Personnel Administration (PA), Labour
Management (LM) and Labour Administration
(LA).
Prof. Thomas G Spates says, “PA is a code of
the ways of organising and treating individuals
at work so that they will each get the greatest
possible realisation of their intrinsic abilities,
thus attaining maximum efficiency for
themselves and their group, and thereby giving
to the enterprise of which they are a part.”
CONCEPT OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
C. H. Northcott defines it as “extension of
general management, that of prompting
and stimulating every employee to make
his fullest contribution to the purpose of a
business.”
According to Richard Calhoon, Harper
and Row Calhoon, “Personnel
Management involves the task of handling
the human problems of an organization,
and is devoted to acquiring, developing,
utilising and maintaining an efficient work
CONCEPT OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Important features of personnel
management:
Personnel Management is an
extension of the managerial aspects in
an organization.
It focuses on employees as individuals
and groups working together for
accomplishing the goals of the
organisation.
CONCEPT OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
All categories of employees from top
management to the temporary workers
in an organisation are included.
Personnel management functions
require the support of line and staff
managers also. It cannot be carried out
by the Personnel Manager alone.
It requires constant monitoring and
supervision of employee relations and
their importance in everyday operations.
CONCEPT OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
It focuses on maintaining
organisational harmony and on
preventing employment related
problems.
It is concerned with the development
of human resource to the maximum
possible extent to that the employees
get the maximum satisfaction from
their jobs.
FUNCTIONS OF THE LABOUR WELFARE OFFICER
Major functions performed by a Labour
Welfare Officer were primarily statutory.
The welfare officers were initially
appointed to fulfil the statutory
requirements.
They were considered as reactive rather
than preventive.
The prime responsibility of welfare
officers was to resolve grievances and
disputes between workers and
FUNCTIONS OF THE LABOUR WELFARE OFFICER
Functions performed by the Labour
Welfare Officers or the Personnel
managers are given below:
Maintaining harmonious industrial
relations by resolving grievances and
ensuring a quick settlement of labour
issues.
Formulating welfare and personnel
policies.
FUNCTIONS OF THE LABOUR WELFARE OFFICER
Maintaining the health and safety of
the workers by ensuring that the
machines are adequately fenced, rooms
are well ventilated, workers are
provided with safety gadgets etc.
Ensuring comfortable working
conditions by providing adequate rest
periods between working hours,
limiting the working hours to 8 hours a
day etc.
FUNCTIONS OF THE LABOUR WELFARE OFFICER
Ensuring the functioning of the Works
Committee so that the problems of the
workers are solved at the initial stage
itself.
Providing for welfare of the workers by
providing for canteen, rest room,
washing area, place to sit etc.
 Difference between PM & HRM
The concepts of PM and HRM differ in
terms of their areas of focus.
PM primarily focus on employee
grievance and settling disputes. Workforce
is given importance only in terms of their
productivity and achievement of
organisational goals. HRM, however
focuses on the welfare of the employees
and regard the workforce as the most
dynamic and important resource in an
organisation.
 Difference between PM & HRM
Major areas of differences between PM
and HRM in detail:
1. PM is workforce-centred.
It is directed mainly at the employees
of the organisation by focusing on their
recruitment, providing wages and
salary, explaining the management’s
goals and targets, justifying the actions
of the management etc.
 Difference between PM & HRM
On the other hand, HRM is resource–
centred.
It is directed mainly at management,
by focusing on providing opportunities
to employees for growth and
development through training and
management development
programmes, transferring more power
and authority to the workers, etc.
 Difference between PM & HRM
2. PM is basically an operational
function.
It gives a lot of importance to the day-
to-day administration of the workers.
HRM, however, is strategic in nature.
It focuses on enabling the organisation
to gain sustained competitive
advantage through strategic planning.
 Difference between PM & HRM
3. HRM is more proactive than PM.
PM focuses on employee grievances
and disputes expressed.
They play a major role in addressing
the problems after its occurrence.
Hence it is reactive.
HRM focuses on providing a healthy
work atmosphere looking into each and
every aspect of the workers.
 Difference between PM & HRM
They value the workers as a crucial
resource and therefore take all
measures to ensure the job satisfaction
of the employees.
This is achieved by providing adequate
opportunities for employees to learn
and grow, provide adequate
promotional opportunities, conducting
a fair performance appraisal etc.
 Difference between PM & HRM
4. Personnel Management focuses on
negotiation.
It focuses on bargaining and
negotiating between the workers.
HRM however focuses on facilitation.
In HRM, the management go beyond
the contracts and try to retain the
employees to the maximum.
 Difference between PM & HRM
5. Industrial conflicts and disputes are
given a lot of importance in PM.
PM, as stated in the previous sub-
sections focuses on creating industrial
harmony and ensuring that disputes are
settles at the earliest.
HRM de-emphasizes conflicts.
It believes that a certain level of
conflict is essential for generation of
 Difference between PM & HRM
At the same time HRM focuses on
ensuring that conflicts are mostly
prevented by providing training such
sensitivity training, cross-cultural
training, fair performance appraisal etc.
6. Personnel management uses job
analysis and job evaluation for fixing
the wages and salary of the workers.
The wages and salary are mostly fixed
and has a specific structure.
 Difference between PM & HRM
6 continued:
HRM provides for performance based
pay, where the employees are paid
based on their level of performance.
It also provides for fringe benefits that
may not be monetary such as petrol
allowance, telephone allowance etc.
 Difference between PM & HRM
7. The leadership style in Personnel
Management is transactional.
It focuses on the type of
communication between the
management and workers.
The leadership style of HRM is
transformational.
HRM focuses on improving the skills
and abilities of the employees.
 Difference between PM & HRM
7 continued
It provides for bringing about
transformational changes in the
employees.

8. Personnel management focuses on

centralisation of authority.
Authority in Personnel management is
in the hands of the management alone.
 Difference between PM & HRM
8 continued
The management makes all the major
decisions and does not involve the
workers in it.
The decisions of the management are
then communicated to the workers by
the labour welfare officers.
HRM provides for decentralisation of
authority.
 Difference between PM & HRM
8 continued
It supports employee empowerment
and engages the employees in the major
decisions of the organisation.
9. HRM is futuristic.
HRM focuses on building the abilities
and knowledge of the employees so that
they are capable of taking up future
roles and responsibilities as well.
 Difference between PM & HRM
9 continued
PM focuses more on the present
situation. It focuses on extracting
maximum productivity of the workers.
10. HRM is more nurturing than PM.
 HRM provides for more freedom to
the employees and is willing to accept
their suggestions and involvement.
PM is more monitoring.
 Difference between PM & HRM
10 continued
Productivity and the amount of work
carried out is the
focus of assessment of the workers in
Personnel Management.
 REFERENCES
C. B. Mamoria and S.V, Gankar. (2010). Human Resource
Management. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.
D'Cenzo, David A. & Robbins, P. Stephen., (2001).
Human Resource Management. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall.
Deb, T., (2009). Human Resources and Industrial
Relations. New Delhi: Excel Books.
Dessler, Gary. (2010) Human Resource Management
.New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
K. Aswathappa., (2006). Human Resource and Personnel
Management. New Delhi: Tata Mc Graw Hill.
Rao, V.S.P. (2009). Human Resource Management. New
Delhi: Excel Books.