Secrets of Human Resource Management (HRM) Functions

Human Resource Management (HRM) focuses on the essential functions surrounding personnel in organizations. Key functions include managerial processes like planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling, alongside operative tasks such as recruitment, employee development, and maintaining healthy workplace relations. Discover how HRM ensures organizational success by effectively managing the human factor in various environments.

What are the Core Functions of Human Resource Management (HRM)?

Human Resource Management (HRM) is fundamentally about the “people dimension” in an organization. Since every organization relies on its people, securing their services, developing their skills, motivating them to achieve high performance, and ensuring their continued commitment are crucial for meeting organizational objectives. This holds true for all types of organizations, whether governmental, business, educational, healthcare, recreational, or social.

HRM is viewed as a process of developing human resources through guidance, integration, and motivation of personnel to achieve both organizational and individual goals. It is a social process that involves economic planning and supervising enterprise activities while prioritizing the “human factor.”

While the functions of HRM are interconnected and interdependent, their execution can vary depending on specific situations. Often, multiple functions are carried out as a single management activity.

The functions of HRM can be broadly categorized into two main types:

• A. Managerial Functions
• B. Operative Functions

A. Managerial Functions of HRM

The HR manager, as a manager, must perform the fundamental management functions:

Planning:

This involves determining actions in advance. For an HR manager, planning includes anticipating manpower needs, outlining job requirements and descriptions, and identifying recruitment sources. It requires forecasting, setting goals (short-term, long-term, financial, non-financial, or mixed), developing action plans, establishing policies and procedures, setting evaluation standards, and allocating resources. Effective planning provides a basis for economical action, reduces crises, and aids in achieving goals through better control and coordination.

Organizing:

After plans are developed, organizing establishes the structure to achieve objectives. This involves grouping activities, assigning them to individuals and departments, defining roles, establishing relationships, delegating authority, and ensuring coordination. For an HR manager, this means designing the structure of relationships among jobs, personnel, and physical resources to execute HR plans and programs smoothly.

Staffing:

This function focuses on manning the organization and maintaining its workforce. It’s critical for an organization’s future to have the right people in the right jobs. An HR manager’s staffing responsibilities include recruiting, selecting, training, placing, compensating, promoting, and retiring personnel at appropriate times to align with organizational objectives. The HR department itself deeply involved in staffing.

Directing:

This involves motivating people to achieve organizational goals. Managers must lead, guide, motivate, supervise, communicate with, and inspire employees for improved performance. HR managers expected to excel in these areas, ensuring employees work willingly and effectively.

Controlling:

This crucial function involves verifying that activities conform to plans, instructions, and principles. It’s a measuring and corrective process where actual performance compared against standards, and corrective actions are taken for any deviations. The HR manager evaluates the outcomes of personnel activities against desired objectives, measures the progress of HR programs, and ensures the effective attainment of HR goals through observation, reports, records, and audits.

B. Operative Functions of HRM

These are routine tasks performed continuously and regularly by the human resource manager:

Procurement of Human Resource / Employment:

This primary function involves securing and employing the right personnel based on organizational needs. It includes:

• Manpower Planning: Estimating manpower requirements.
• Job Analysis: Defining job titles, nature, duties, authorities (job description), and required qualifications, skills, and experience (job specification).
• Recruitment: Identifying and selecting appropriate sources for attracting candidates.
• Selection: Developing and executing procedures to choose the best candidates.
• Placement: Assigning suitable jobs to selected candidates.
• Induction: Familiarizing new employees with the company’s culture and operations.

Employee Compensation:

This involves providing adequate, equitable, regular, and fair remuneration based on employee services. It includes wage and salary administration, formulating incentives, bonuses, fringe benefits, and social security measures, often based on job evaluation and merit rating techniques.

Development of Human Resource:

This function focuses on improving employees’ skills, knowledge, creativity, abilities, and attitudes through systematic training and development programs. It also includes performance appraisal, career planning, and policies for promotion, demotion, and transfer.

Developing Healthy Human Relations:

A crucial operative function is fostering and maintaining harmonious relationships between management and employees, and among workers, trade unions, and management. This minimizes disputes and enhances morale, teamwork, and cooperation.

Integration of Conflicting Interests:

HR managers work to reconcile the often-conflicting interests of individual employees (e.g., higher wages, better benefits) and the organization (e.g., higher profits, efficiency). The goal is to satisfy both parties.

Safety and Health of Employees:

This involves providing safety measures for employees in risky jobs and ensuring their well-being through regular medical check-ups, free medicines, and treatment for illnesses.

Stability and Optimum Utilization of Employees:

HR managers aim to retain employees and ensure their optimal utilization. This involves motivating them, providing job satisfaction and security, involving them in management, resolving grievances promptly, and offering career development opportunities to foster a stable workforce.

Personnel Research, Audit, and Records:

This includes conducting research in areas like motivation, behavior, turnover, and absenteeism. It also involves periodical assessment and appraisal of employee performance (audit) and maintaining updated records from joining to retirement, which are useful for promotions, demotions, and transfers.

Key Functions of Human Resource Management (short):

• HRIS & Analytics – data, reports, workforce insights.
• Recruit & Select – find and hire the right talent.
• Train & Develop – upskill and grow employees.
• Compensate & Reward – pay, bonus, equity, benefits.
• Performance Manage – set goals, review, improve.
• Employee Relations – engagement, discipline, disputes.
• Health & Safety – workplace well-being & compliance.

Additional Operative Functions found in the text:

• HR Accounting and Audit: Evaluating the value and contribution of HR against its cost, and examining HR policies, procedures, and practices for effectiveness.
• Appraisal: Systematic evaluation of employee performance for decisions on training, transfer, and promotion.
• Maintenance (Working Conditions and Welfare): Providing good working conditions, health, safety, and comfort measures, as well as welfare services like cafeterias, rest rooms, counseling, group insurance, and recreational facilities to maintain employee efficiency and morale.
• Motivation: Designing financial and non-financial reward systems to adequately motivate employees and help them contribute fully to organizational goals.
• Industrial Relations: Managing collective bargaining, joint consultation, dispute settlement, and maintaining industrial peace through involvement in committees on discipline, welfare, safety, and grievances. HR managers also act as intermediaries between management and labor.
• Separation: Managing the orderly departure of employees from the organization, including ensuring timely settlement of benefits for retiring personnel and a positive exit experience.
• Ascertaining the Effectiveness of HR Management: Measuring the success of HR programs through:
• Organization Health: Assessing employee satisfaction through metrics like attrition, absenteeism, and commitment.

Additional Functions of Human Resource Management (short):

• Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) – ensure compliance with workplace and environmental regulations.
• Workforce Planning – forecast staffing needs and skills gaps.
• Onboarding & Induction – integrate new hires quickly and effectively.
• Employee Engagement & Well-being – boost morale, satisfaction, and mental-health support.
• Compensation Benchmarking – match pay to market data and internal equity.
• Learning & Development (L&D) – design training paths and career progression.
• Succession Planning – prepare internal talent for future leadership roles.
• HR Analytics & Metrics – track KPIs like turnover, engagement, and ROI.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) – foster fair representation and inclusive culture.
• Industrial Relations & Dispute Resolution – manage union relations and settle conflicts.