1. Personnel Management, Human Resource Management and Strategic Human Resource
Management. Explain each of these three concepts and discuss how they differ from each other.
1. Definition:
1.1 Personnel Management
Personnel management refers primarily to staff activities responsible for implementing the
organization's staff goals. It is an administrative function of an enterprise to provide the
necessary personnel for organizational activities and to manage the general relationship between
employee and employer. It's that part of management that concerns people at work and their
relationships within a company. It aims at bringing together and developing into an effective
organization the men and women who make up an enterprise and, taking into account the well-
being of individuals and working groups, enabling them to make their best contribution to their
success "(Rea, 1972, p38). The head of staff function is essentially a specialist manager
responsible for the development and execution of the policies and strategies for people of the
organization. It is also possible to define personnel management as obtaining, using and
maintaining satisfied employees. Personnel management is an important part of management that
concerns employees at work and their relationship within the organization. It is therefore
essentially, at the operational level, an administrative record-keeping function. Personnel
management endeavors to maintain fair terms and conditions of employment while at the same
time managing individual departments ' personnel activities efficiently. The results of providing
justice and achieving efficiency in managing staff activities are expected to eventually lead to
organizational success. It refers to the functions now referred to by many employers as human
resources. The staff function is that function of all enterprises that provide effective use of
human resources to achieve the enterprise's goal as well as employee satisfaction and
development. The staff function includes numerous activities:
Employment planning
Employee recruitment, selection and orientation
Career development and counselling
Performance evaluation
, Training and development
Compensation and protection
Labour relations
Equal employment opportunity programmes
Discipline and control
Evaluation of the personnel function
It's an older term in modern business organizations that falls into disuse. Personnel management
is a term that is still used in different government agencies, mainly in the non-profit sector, to
describe the function that deals with the employment of people within the business organisation.
However, when considering this, most people tend to think about the more transactional and
administrative aspects of HR management functions, others still use the term to refer to the full
range of HR responsibilities and services. In addition, the term staff management provides
images of employee unions, strict job classification systems and pay grades that leave line
management with few management options.
1.2 Human Resource Management
Marchington and Wilkinson (2008) have a curt definition of HRM as job management. Another
standard text does not provide an agreed definition of HRM, but distinguishes between versions
"soft" and "hard." The soft HRM recognizes employees as a resource worth investing in and
tends to focus on high human resource engagement / high involvement practices. Hard HRM
"identifies employees as costs that need to be minimized and tends to focus on' flexibility
techniques' and limited learning and development investment" (Beardwell & Claydon, 2007).
HRM in the English-speaking world is considered to be all activities related to the management
of the company's employment relationships (CIPD, 2014). Hence, HRM is the process of
recruitment, selection of employees, providing proper orientation and induction, providing
proper training and the developing skills, assessment of employee (performance of appraisal),
providing proper compensation and benefits, motivating, maintaining proper relations with
labour and with trade unions, maintaining employees’ safety, welfare and health by complying
with labour laws of concern state or country. In addition, Armstrong (1999.Page, 4) defines
Management. Explain each of these three concepts and discuss how they differ from each other.
1. Definition:
1.1 Personnel Management
Personnel management refers primarily to staff activities responsible for implementing the
organization's staff goals. It is an administrative function of an enterprise to provide the
necessary personnel for organizational activities and to manage the general relationship between
employee and employer. It's that part of management that concerns people at work and their
relationships within a company. It aims at bringing together and developing into an effective
organization the men and women who make up an enterprise and, taking into account the well-
being of individuals and working groups, enabling them to make their best contribution to their
success "(Rea, 1972, p38). The head of staff function is essentially a specialist manager
responsible for the development and execution of the policies and strategies for people of the
organization. It is also possible to define personnel management as obtaining, using and
maintaining satisfied employees. Personnel management is an important part of management that
concerns employees at work and their relationship within the organization. It is therefore
essentially, at the operational level, an administrative record-keeping function. Personnel
management endeavors to maintain fair terms and conditions of employment while at the same
time managing individual departments ' personnel activities efficiently. The results of providing
justice and achieving efficiency in managing staff activities are expected to eventually lead to
organizational success. It refers to the functions now referred to by many employers as human
resources. The staff function is that function of all enterprises that provide effective use of
human resources to achieve the enterprise's goal as well as employee satisfaction and
development. The staff function includes numerous activities:
Employment planning
Employee recruitment, selection and orientation
Career development and counselling
Performance evaluation
, Training and development
Compensation and protection
Labour relations
Equal employment opportunity programmes
Discipline and control
Evaluation of the personnel function
It's an older term in modern business organizations that falls into disuse. Personnel management
is a term that is still used in different government agencies, mainly in the non-profit sector, to
describe the function that deals with the employment of people within the business organisation.
However, when considering this, most people tend to think about the more transactional and
administrative aspects of HR management functions, others still use the term to refer to the full
range of HR responsibilities and services. In addition, the term staff management provides
images of employee unions, strict job classification systems and pay grades that leave line
management with few management options.
1.2 Human Resource Management
Marchington and Wilkinson (2008) have a curt definition of HRM as job management. Another
standard text does not provide an agreed definition of HRM, but distinguishes between versions
"soft" and "hard." The soft HRM recognizes employees as a resource worth investing in and
tends to focus on high human resource engagement / high involvement practices. Hard HRM
"identifies employees as costs that need to be minimized and tends to focus on' flexibility
techniques' and limited learning and development investment" (Beardwell & Claydon, 2007).
HRM in the English-speaking world is considered to be all activities related to the management
of the company's employment relationships (CIPD, 2014). Hence, HRM is the process of
recruitment, selection of employees, providing proper orientation and induction, providing
proper training and the developing skills, assessment of employee (performance of appraisal),
providing proper compensation and benefits, motivating, maintaining proper relations with
labour and with trade unions, maintaining employees’ safety, welfare and health by complying
with labour laws of concern state or country. In addition, Armstrong (1999.Page, 4) defines
