Commerce · Ch 9 — Fundamentals of HRM
HRM vs Personnel Management
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HRM vs Personnel Management
Although the terms Human Resource Management and Personnel Management are sometimes used loosely as if interchangeable, they represent two different approaches to managing people at work, with Personnel Management being the older, narrower approach that HRM has broadly grown beyond.
| Basis | Human Resource Management | Personnel Management |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Proactive — anticipates people-related needs and problems in advance and plans for them | Reactive — mostly responds to problems (grievances, disputes) as and when they arise |
| View of employees | Treats employees as a valuable asset/human capital to be developed and invested in | Tends to treat employees mainly as a cost to be controlled and administered |
| Scope | Broad and strategic — closely linked to the organisation's overall goals and involves every manager | Narrower and largely administrative — record-keeping, wage administration, statutory compliance |
| Nature of function | An integrated management function contributing to organisational strategy | Mostly a specialised, largely clerical/administrative support function |
| Job design | Emphasises teamwork, flexible job design, and employee participation | Emphasises a fixed, well-defined job description with narrower individual tasks |
| Communication | Encourages open, two-way communication between management and employees | Communication is largely restricted and mostly flows one way, from management downward |
| Responsibility for HR matters | Regarded as the responsibility of every manager, not just the personnel department | Regarded mainly as the specialised responsibility of the personnel department alone |