Human Resource management (HRM) is emerging as a vital component in the growth story of every economy .Human Resource Management is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment, management and the direction of the people in the organization.
HRM is essentially concerned with basic employee management.
It encompasses the traditional areas that motivate people of
HR, including compensation and benefits recruiting and staffing
employee and labour relations and occupational health and safety.
Human Resource Development (HRD) on the other hand, deals with
the development of the resources in a company-organizational
development, performance management training and learning and
coaching. In the broader sense, it means evaluating the performance
of employees and helping employees learn new skills.
A good way to start a career in HR is to determine what side
of HR you want to work on: HRM or HRD.
A good question to ask yourself is, do I want to build and implement
processes and programmes at the workplace, or do I want to help
develop people and transform behaviour at the work place? However,
choosing one does not mean you are stuck with it forever. Many
HR professional starts out in HRM to understand the field and
then move into HRD to hone their development.
HRM is an evolving and dynamic field that challenges the ability
of even the most seasoned professionals to keep abreast of policies,
procedures, compliance requirements and best practices. “In
today’s economy, talent acquisition is the foremost business
challenge that the HR function faces,” declares Judhajit
Das, Chief, Human Resources, ICICI Prudential life Insurance,
adding, “The lack of investment in education has led to
an acute shortage of talented professionals, who can take the
onus for changes in a developing economy like India, and thus
the challenge gets even tougher.
Business Schools world wide have incorporated HR as an important
subject of study. At the Indian School of Business organizational
behaviour is a compulsory course hence all students have to
complete it successfully. The electives we offer include a variety
of subjects including negotiation skills, conflict resolution
an strategies HR among others states Bhuvana Ramalingam, Senior
Director communications Indian School of Business.
If you like systems analytics and processes, a career in HRM
may just be the thing for you. Remember the key ingredients
to successes as an HRM professional lie in one's understanding
of the business and overall alignment of all activities to the
core business strategies.
Multiple Roles
In the administrative role, there isn’t much specialized
training required. However, to become a strategic business partner,
a change agent or an employee champion, one needs to have substantial
knowledge of the business and the processes. The industry expects
qualified HR professionals to bring on board specialty knowledge
by virtue of which they can make visible the unseen, avers Ravindran.
For instance in a renowned FMCG company it is imperative for
HR professionals to come with an experience of a stint outside
the realm of HR, which is crucial for better understanding of
the business. This helps them earn the credibility of the managers
and also facilitates creation of a synergy within the organization.
As an HRM professional you may be performing one or more tasks.
>>Workforce planning
>> Recruitment
>> Induction and Orientation
>> Skills Management
>> Training and Development
>> Personal Administration
>> Compensation
>> Time Management
>> Employee Benefits Administration
>> Personal Cost Planning
>> Performance Appraisal
Eligibility and Money Matters
A Bachelor’s degree in management allows
entry into mid-level/ senior positions in HR. You should be
able to manage a huge workload in a fast paced environment and
have excellent verbal ability and written communication skill.
The skill that sets apart HRM professionals from others is their
ability to leverage their specialized knowledge of people for
better business.
The money in this field is also reasonably high. Students from
tiertwo B-School can look forward to a Package of about Rs.5,50,000(fixed)
and a bonus of about Rs. 1,50,000 (dependent on performance).
The Growth Curve
The Vault Guide to Human Resources Careers says an HRM professional,
might start out as a generalist then choose a specialty area
of HRM such as benefits, and become a benefits manages. After
that the candidate may choose to remain in the specialty area
or move into an HR leadership role.
Today the traditional HR functions of staffing recruiting, compensation,
and benefits are losing ground to a new generation of value
added core HR functions that include career planning, executive
development training, succession planning and organizational
development with equal ease in the need of the hour for HRM
professionals.
