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HOW FAR DOES HRM DIFFER FROM PM
Habib Allah Doaei
Ferdosi University of Mashhad
Rahim Najminia
Ferdosi University of Mashad Abstract It is clear from the literature that HRM represents a shift in focus and strategy and is in tune with the needs of the modern organization. HRM concentrates on the planning, monitoring and control aspects of resources whereas Personnel Management was mainly about refereeing between the management and employees. Many scholars view Personnel Management as being workforce whereas HRM is resource. The differences between these two terms have to be viewed from many perspectives through the times and in context of the industry that is being studied. Keywords: Human resource management, Personnel management, SHRM Introduction Many researchers have been arguing recently the difficulty of distinguishing clear differences between Personnel management and Human resource management. Some authors believe that the difference is just a change of label as Torrington (1989cited in Koster 2007) said and there is no different in the content of Human resource management. On the other hand, there are researchers such as Guest (1987 cited in Arsmtrong, 1999) who argued that Human resource management is differentiated from traditional Personnel management. However, HRM is concerned with performing the same functional activities traditionally carried out by personnel function, but HRM approach performs these functions in a qualitatively distinct way when compared with personnel management (Storey, 1989).
In this article, the differences between Human resource management and Traditional personnel management are analysed with regard to using academic articles related to theoretical approach. According to Storey (1989) Human resource management is a completely different philosophy and an approach contrast to Personnel management. In his view, HRM provides a completely new form of managing personnel and can therefore be regarded as departure from the orthodoxy (Storey, 1989 cited in Koster, 2007) of traditional personnel management. Definitions of Human resource management and Personnel management According to Armstrong (1999.Page,4)”Human resource management is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most valued assets-the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its goals”.Other researchers such as Storey (1995 cited in Armstrong,1999 p 4) defined HRM in a different way. He said “Human resource management is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to obtain competitive advantage through the strategic development of a highly committed and skilled work force, using on array of culture, structure and personnel technique.” The Institute of Personnel Managementstates “Personnel Management is that part of management concerned with people at work and with their relationships within a firm. Its aim is to bring together and develop into an effective organisation the men and women who make up an enterprise and, having regard for the well-being of the individual and of working groups, to enable them to make their best contribution to its success” (Rea, 1972, p38). When considering the definition of Human resource management and Personnel management, there are many differences on the perspectives of researchers.Legge(1989) reviewed the definition of a variety of writers. She could come to conclude that there isthree features which seems to distinguish HRM and personnel management(Guest,1990). These three differences will beanalysed below: First of all,manystatements about personnel management had been written by researchers, when placed in the background of the texts from which they are derived, seem to see it as a management activity, which is largely aimed at non-managers(Storey, 1989). Apart from management development, Personnel management appears to be something performed on assistants by managers rather than something that the latter experience themselves-other than as a set of rules and measures that may constrain their freedom in managing their subordinates as they think fit(Storey and Legge, 1989). On the other side, Human resource
1989). Furthermore, according to the normative HRM modelsit is through an integrated and internally dependable set of HR policies in relation to recruitment, selection, training, development, rewarding and communications that the firm’s core values can best be expressed(Legge,1989).As result, it can be said that Integration is a particularly important issue, not only integration of HRM policies with strategy, but the internal integration and consistency of HRM policies themselves to perform a consistent strong culture(Storey, 1989).In contrast, the normative personnel management models do not present personnel policies as senior management’s tool for reinforcing or changing organizational values in a manner consistent with preferred business strategy (Storey, 1989).Above all, it can be said that human resource management is highlighting the important of senior management and management of culture. On the other hand, Personnel management has always been rather distrustful of organization development and related unitarist, social-psychologically oriented ideas(Guest,1990). According to Storey(Storey, 1989 p28) ”These three differences emphasis all point to HRM, in theory, being essentially a more central strategic management task than personnel management in that it is experienced by managers, as the most valued company resource to be managed, it concerns them in the achievement of business goals and it expresses senior management’s preferred organizational value.” From this perspective Fowler(1987) said that the real difference between HRM and personnel management as not what is, but who is saying it. While Legge found some of the key difference in the definitions of HRM and personnel management, Guest (1990, 1987) said that there is a need for greater precision if an operational analysis to be provided. The first possibility is to use theories of control in organizations derived from the relatedsociological (Etzioni, 1961) and psychological (Mcgregor, 1960 cited in Guest, 1990) literature. Walton (1985) and Guest (1987) have mentioned the contrast.Walton(1985) differentiated control and commitment,nevertheless since both approaches are forms of control it is more suitable to tag them compliance and commitment. Personnelmanagement is stronglyconnected with compliance base system of control whereas HRM is usuallyassociated to commitment. Comparisons a long the dimensions presented in figure 1 present normative view (Guest, 1990).
(This table came from Guest 1990, p 152). A Comparison of Personnel and HRM Based on the recent research and debates about HRM and Personnel management by (Bylton and Turnbull, 1992; Salamn, 1992, Storey, 1989, 1995, Towers, 1993) and more researchers such as Legge, Sission and Guest state that the conclusion of difference came to a total of 27 which are in below (Storey,1995). This table shows the difference individually in each part. 2 7 Points of Difference between Personnel Management & HRD S. No. Dimension Personnel Management Human Resource Development Beliefs & Assumptions
Contract Careful delineation of written contracts Aim to go ‘beyond contracts’
- Rules Importance of devising clear rules/mutuality ‘Can-do’ outlook; impatience with ‘rule’
- Guide to management Action Procedures ‘Business – need’
facilities & training exception of some bargaining for change models)
- Job categories & grades Many Few
- Communication Restricted flow Increased flow
- Job Design Division of Labour Teamwork
- Conflict Handling Reach temporary truces Manage climate & culture
- Training & Development Controlled access to courses Learning companies
- Foci of attention of interventions Personnel procedures Wide ranging cultural, structural & personnel strategies (From Bratton and Gold,2007, p27). Comparative Models of Personnel management and HRM As part of these debates, several researchers attempt to describe in which ways HRM differed from Personnel management: Guest’s (1987) comparison between stereotypes of personnel management and Human resource management; and storey’s 27 points of difference (Table above) and Beer and Spectors (1985) identify a number of common themes as it is described more in the following table(Beardwell and Claydon, 2004). The comparative models below show that HRM is as proactive, nurturing and organic instinctively seem more positive and attractive than terms applied to personnel managementsuchas, reactive, monitoring and bureaucratic (Beardwell and Claydon, 2004). In addition, there are many evidences in the table from different perspectives that the difference between HR and PM is enormous. Most of the differences are related to soft (the involvement of senior managers in the certain of organizational culture and value) and hard approach (focus on organizational need and profit at line bottom), strategy integration (integration HRM strategy with business strategy) and long-term investment on people (physiological contract, training and educating employee). The table below will explained each perspective in different parts. This table is from Beer and Spectors (1985),p 13.
personnel management HRM Planning perspective Beer and Spector,1985 Reactive Proactive Place meal intervention in response to System-wide interventions with specific problem emphasis on fit Guest,1987 Short-term, Reactive, and Hoc, Long-term, Proactive, Strategic Marginal Integrated Storey,1992 Place meal initiatives integrated initiatives Marginal to corporate plan central to corporate plan People management Perspective Beer and Spector,1985 people as variable cost people are social capital capable of development Guest,1987 Cost minimisation Maximum utilisation Compliance Commitment Storey,1992 Monitoring Nurturing Mutuality can-do outlook Employment relation perspective Beer and Spector,1985 self-interest dominates:conflict of coincidence of interests between interest between stakeholders seeks power stakeholders can be developed advantages for bargaining and confrontation seeks power equalisation for trust and collaboration Guest,1987 Pluralist, collective, low trust unitarsit,individual,high trust Storey,1992 Pluralist, institutionalisedconflict unitarist, conflict de- emphasised
Conclusion To conclude, personnel management focus on operational level. As result, emphasizing technical skills and day to day as recruitment and selection, training, salary administration and employee relations, while, HRM was portrayed as being proactive-looking at peoplein economicterms as either assets or cost to be actively managed.HRM was seen to be strategic, tying people management to business objectives. It was an attempt to manage people in the long-term interests of the business (Price, 2004).HRM is an integrated approach that provided a logical programme to link all aspect of people management. HRM focus on people management as a consistent view in which people treated as Valuable asset. A firm’s reward systems, performance measures, promotion and learning opportunities were used to maximize the utilization of its resources. References: Armstrong, M. (2000). Strategic Human Resource Management. A Guide to Action, Kogan Page, London Armstrong,M (1999). Human resource management : the foundation of human resource management .Vol,7.p3.15.P Bartton,J and Gold,J (2007). Human resource management , th Ed.Palgrave.China Beardwell,T and Claydon,T (2004). Human Resource management : Acontemporary Approach perspective; 5th^ Ed. Pitman. London. Beer,M and Spector(1985). Human resource management .NY Caldwell,R(2003). The change roles of personnel managers :Old ambiguities,New uncertainties Colling,T (1995). Experiencing turbulence: Competition, Strategic choice and the management human resource in BA .Vol.5.pages.18- 35 Ferries,G and Martocchio ,J (2002). Research in personnel and human resources management
. Vol. 21 Amsterdam; London Fowler(1987). When chief executive discover HRM, Personnel Management. Vol19. issue 3. Guest, D.E. (1990). Personnel Management: The End of Orthodoxy, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 149- 176 Guest, D.E. (1999). Human Resource Management: The Workers’ Verdict, Human Resource Management Journal , Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 5- 25 Guest,D.E(1987). Human resource management and industrial relations: Journal of management studies .Vol 24.issue
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