Functions of Human Resource Management

Table of Contents

Human Resource Management

Definition: Human Resource Management (HRM) is a collective term for all the formal systems created to help in managing employees and other stakeholders within a company.
- HRM is an invisible agent that binds all the aspects of the organization to ensure smooth progress.
Mandate of HRM: HRM is entrusted with the smooth functioning of an organization.
- The process starts with formulating the right policies for the job requirements and ends with ensuring the successful business growth of the company.
Significance: Human Resource Management has a key role in allowing employers and organizations to reach their objectives, especially in the modern era, where organizations have become more people-centric than ever.
- Various studies have found that the people-centric approach in an organization pays great dividends in terms of enhanced employee performance and lower attrition rates.
We have already discussed the elaborate definition, relevance and key Principles of HRM in detail. To read more, click here.
In this article, we are going to discuss the key functions of Human Resource Management.

Key Functions of Human Resource Management

Functions of HRM can be divided into the following categories-
Employee Recruitment: Recruitment is the process of identifying talent gaps in a company and finding the right people to fill the roles. There are four stages in this process:
1. Job analysis: This involves defining the various aspects of a job through job description and specification. Job description identifies the tasks required for a specific job and Jon Specification defines the requirements an individual needs to fulfill that job.
2. Sourcing: This encompasses the different techniques a company employs to attract potential candidates to fill a given position (for example Advertisements).
3. Screening and Selection: This is the process of evaluating the candidates who apply for the job. The evaluation parameters may include the skills, qualifications, competency, and job-related experience of the potential candidates.
4. Selection of the right candidates: Once the best candidate has been selected, the next process that follows is onboarding. This is simply helping the new recruits become productive members of the company.
Employee Orientation:
- Definition: it is the process of teaching new recruits the necessary skills, knowledge, and behaviors so that they can transition to the new company effectively.
- Methods used: Employee orientation is a broad process conducted by the HR department, and it’s done through different methods, including lectures, meetings, videos, mentoring, and team-building exercises.
- Key Objective: to provide new recruits with adequate information regarding the company’s targets, rules, policies, and activities.
Employee Development
- Definition: It refers to all the efforts for improving personal, team, and organizational effectiveness. It is basically talent development.
- This involves aligning the employees’ skills with the company’s needs. HRM should also improve employee’s career opportunities.
- Importance: it is more economical to improve a company’s current workforce than to hire new employees in the future. So, employee development is a trade-off through which HRM saves money by avoiding the potential costs of hiring new employees.