HRM Concepts
1B:
Human Resources
Management
or
Personnel Administration?
Human Resources Management or Personnel Administration?
Professional human resources management (HRM) is concerned with all aspects of how
people are employed and managed in organisations. It covers activities such as strategic
HRM, human capital management, knowledge management, social responsibility,
organisational development, resourcing (workforce planning, recruitment, and selection and
talent management), learning and development, performance and reward management,
employee relations, employee wellbeing and the provision of employee services.
Professional HRM is usually concerned with supporting the organisation in achieving its
objectives by developing and implementing human resources (HR) strategies that are:
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Integrated with the strategic goals of the organisation
Contributing to the development of a high performance culture
Ensuring that the organisation has the talented and engaged people it needs
Creating a positive employment relationship between management and
employees and a climate of mutual trust, and
Encouraging the application of an ethical approach to people management.
In contrast, personnel administration is an administrative transaction and record-keeping
function that aims to establish and maintain equitable terms and conditions of employment.
People Not Paper:
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1
By design, administrative officers are good ‘all-rounders’, but the roles they play,
and the structures in which they work do not allow for the development of the
technical HR skills needed to address the fundamental ‘people problems’
prevalent in the organisation
In contrast, the HRM professional is trained to proactively identify and nip in the
bud minor problems that, left unchecked, can develop into formal issues, e.g.
absenteeism, lack of motivation at work, poor work ethic, etc.
Administrative models often assume a ‘one size fits all’ approach to people
management, with little autonomy given to individual ministries, departments
and agencies (MDAs), departments and units
A professional HRM model acknowledges that the HR issues and needs, and
therefore solutions, may be MDA specific, and sometimes department specific,
and that professional HRM officers in individual MDAs have a key role to play in
tackling these.
1B HRM or Personnel Administration?
Contents
Evolution of the Concept of Professional HRM ......................................................................... 3
End of the 19th century ......................................................................................................... 3
Around the mid 1980s ........................................................................................................... 3
In 1990s .................................................................................................................................. 3
Professional HRM Today ........................................................................................................ 3
Growth of Professional HRM in the Public Sector ................................................................. 4
Differences Between the Approaches ....................................................................................... 4
Some Benefits of Professional HRM .......................................................................................... 5
People Management.............................................................................................................. 5
Budget/MTSS ......................................................................................................................... 5
Value for Money .................................................................................................................... 6
Service Delivery ...................................................................................................................... 6
2
1B HRM or Personnel Administration?
Evolution of the Concept of Professional HRM
End of the 19th century
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Use of the term ‘personnel’ began
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This is when welfare officers (sometimes called ‘welfare secretaries’) came into being
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Their creation was a reaction to a number of factors:
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harsh industrial conditions
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growing influence of trade unions and the labour movement
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campaigning of enlightened employers for what was called ‘industrial
betterment’
As the personnel role grew there was increasing acknowledgement that these officers
had a key and evolving role to play in balancing the protection of employee rights with
the employer need for higher output.
Around the mid 1980s
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The term ‘HRM’ arrived from the USA
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This started to suggest that employees were an asset or key resource in their own right
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It also placed emphasis on employee commitment and motivation.
In 1990s
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The term ‘personnel ’ was used less and less
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Increased use of the term ‘HRM’ to describe the changing way people where thinking
about HR
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Emergence of the concept of ‘Human Capital’, which describes the value of people at
work, i.e., their collective knowledge, skills, abilities and capacity to develop.
Professional HRM Today
3
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Today’s HR professionals encompass a number of specialist disciplines, e.g. diversity,
reward (including compensation, benefits, pensions), recruitment and resourcing,
employee relations, organisational development/design, and learning and development
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Crucially, however, professional HRM adds the greatest sustained value to the
organisations it operates in, both now and in the future
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It combines the highest standards of professional competence with the closest
alignment to organisational goals, to deliver sustained performance
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It is a practitioner model that focuses on skills, behaviour and expert knowledge.
1B HRM or Personnel Administration?
Growth of Professional HRM in the Public Sector
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There is a growing international and regional trend for those in the public service to look
to be more effective, e.g. in Botswana, Tanzania and Ghana
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This has forced governments to consider new management practices, with a greater
emphasis on achieving efficiency, effectiveness and economy
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Policymakers are often overly optimistic in their expectation that once plans for reform
have been devised, the process of implementation will be straightforward
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Not only does strong people management increase the chances of successful reform
implementation, but professional HRM also responds directly to the need for
governments to become more focused on performance and accountability
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A strategic approach to HR and the active and proactive management of people is
therefore essential.
Differences Between the Approaches
Administration (Personnel Duties)
 Administrative experts
 Generalist skills (all-rounders)
 Management based on terms and
conditions of employment contract
 Support service
 Directive driven
 ‘Siloed’ HR functions
 ‘This is what we’ve always done’
 Service-wide HR only
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Professional HRM
People practitioners
Specialist skills (HR experts)
Management of skills, abilities,
knowledge, talents
Strategic partners
Proactive and long term
Joined up HR functions
Change agents
Service wide HR and tailored
MDA/department specific solutions
HR issues differ in each MDA, in each department and even in each unit, so only through
dialogue with Heads of Department and Heads of Unit can HR issues be proactively
identified and addressed, using tailored in-house HR solutions. For example, a letter is often
merely a symptom of a wider HR issue – it does not address the underlying root cause or
actively manage the expectations of the individual concerned.
The HR officer therefore has a key role to play in balancing the interests of management
with the interests of individual officers, with an emphasis on coaching/counselling. Trust
and confidentiality are also critically important.
4
1B HRM or Personnel Administration?
Some Benefits of Professional HRM
People Management
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Concept of meritocracy will be reinforced
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MDAs will acquire, develop and retain higher performing officers
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HRM officers will be able to provide professional, specialist advice on particular
areas
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Greater accountability and stronger people management
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Professional HR strategists and HR managers are the primary resources for
operational managers for all people problems and solutions
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HR officers will work closely with the heads of department to support MDA and
department specific objectives, in particular designing and implementing HR
solutions that support their strategic aims
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HR officers will ensure the people strategy of the MDA is consistent with what each
department is trying to achieve, and implement appropriate tailored HR solutions
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MDAs will build stronger people capability
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HR officers will support longer term human resource and talent management
planning
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There will be tailored capacity-building interventions within individual MDAs
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Each MDA will be better able to anticipate the future needs of state government and
its component parts.
Budget/MTSS
5
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Budget and medium term sector strategies (MTSS) do not exist in a vacuum
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They require that the mandates of each MDA are clearly defined, and strategic HRM
professionals give input into this
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HRM professionals then ensure the MDAs actually deliver their mandates by
ensuring the right people, with the right skills, are in place, with the right motivation,
at the right time
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Without these key HR and corporate planning linkages, the right information will not
feed into the MTSS and budget process, and MDAs will not be able to deliver
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Professional HRM will make sure the size and shape of the service is congruent with
a government’s strategic priorities, and is affordable.
1B HRM or Personnel Administration?
Value for Money
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In many parts of the country there is a general trend for revenue to be dwindling,
while expenditure is escalating
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Total personnel costs appear to be increasing unchecked year on year, making up a
large percentage of total recurrent expenditure
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Such expenditure may prevent much-needed capital expenditure
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The civil service may therefore become increasingly bloated, yet there are few
returns and little improvement in MDA performance and service delivery
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This would be symptomatic of a lack of workforce planning and a recruitment
process that is not strategic, and hence the need for professional HRM officers who
can address these issues.
Service Delivery
6
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Staff will be better able to respond to civil service needs, and more motivated to do
so
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With active support of the political leadership for the civil service, HRM can
contribute to translating the vision of government into reality
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MDAs will have clearer accountability and civil servant performance management.
There will be a link between people management and the strategic objectives of the
state government (or organisation)
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Professional HRM will show how new strategies set by government can actually be
achieved
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Staff will respond better to the needs of the state and be more motivated to do so.
1B HRM or Personnel Administration?