Difference Between HRM and Personnel Management (With Table)

An organization is made up of a collection of individuals that collaborate to achieve a shared goal: the accomplishment of organizational goals. Only when all of the personnel in the organization are handled effectively and efficiently can this be accomplished. Personnel management and human resource management are the two main methodologies used by employers to manage individuals who work under them in their organizations.

HRM vs Personnel Management

The main difference between HRM and personnel management is primarily in scope and attitude. HRM focuses on resource planning, monitoring, and control, whereas Personnel Management was primarily concerned with bridging the gap between management and workers. HRM comprises a wide vision of how management would want the resources to contribute to the organization’s success, and it extends beyond the administrative chores of personnel management.

Human Resource Management is a specialized and structured sector of management that deals with the acquisition, maintenance, development, usage, and coordination of people at work for them to offer their best to the company. To achieve such objectives, it refers to a systematic function of planning for human resource needs and expectations, selection, training, remuneration, and performance review.

Personnel management is an administrative role in a company that ensures that the correct people are assigned to the right jobs at the right time. It is a conventional method of employee management that emphasizes obedience to the organization’s principles and standards. Planning, job analysis, recruiting, and performance evaluation, as well as training and pay management, are all part of personnel management. Employee complaints are handled through personnel management, which focuses on managing labor relations.

Comparison Table Between HRM and Personnel Management

Parameters of Comparison

HRM

Personnel Management

Type of approach

Modern approach.

Traditional approach.

Nature

Strategic role.

Routine functions.

Responsibilities

Acquisition, development, use, and maintenance of human resources.

Personnel administration, employee welfare, and labor relations.

Orientation

Development.

Discipline, supervision, and guidance.

Main objective

Integration of the workforce’s competencies and skills.  

Adhering to the organization’s norms and procedures.

What is HRM?

Human resource management (HRM) is the management of all people-related decisions made inside a firm. To accomplish the organization’s goals, it aims at maximizing human resources and enhancing employee performance. HRM ensures that policies and processes are implemented consistently and effectively throughout the organization.

HRM exists to maintain a balance between employee requirements and happiness, as well as a company’s profitability and capacity to achieve its goals. Every product or service is made possible by a human idea, effort, and working hours. Without the assistance of humans, no product or service can be created. Human beings are the most basic resource for creating or constructing anything.

Every company wants to hire employees that are experienced and knowledgeable to make their company the best it can be. HRM recognizes the value of each person inside the firm, implying that the company values and recognizes individual contributions. People are managed by HRM, and people bring fresh talents and ideas into the company, fueling corporate growth.

Quality of life at work is a genuine issue, and employees have a right to a safe, clean, and pleasant working environment, which is one of HRM’s obligations. In the long-term objectives of the business, HRM understands the need for ongoing learning, abilities, and skills that must be constantly polished. Employees need to know more than the needs of certain activities to make their full contribution, hence HRM has a far larger scope than technical training.

What is Personnel Management?

Personnel management has traditionally been used to refer to a range of operations involving the workforce, including staffing, payroll, contractual duties, and other administrative chores. Personnel management, rather than resource management, comprises a wide variety of operations related to managing the workforce.

Personnel Management is primarily administrative, and the primary responsibility of the Personnel Manager is to guarantee that the workforce’s immediate requirements are met. Furthermore, people managers frequently served as intermediaries between management and employees, giving rise to the perception that personnel management was out of sync with management’s goals.

Employment, development, and compensation are all activities of personnel management, which are generally conducted by personnel management in collaboration with other departments. The term “personnel management” refers to a subset of general management. It is focused on encouraging and motivating skilled employees to provide their maximum potential to the company.

Personnel management exists to provide guidance and support to line managers on personnel issues. As a result, an organization’s personnel department is a staff department. Rather than developing long timetables, strategies, or work procedures, personnel management focuses on action.

People’s concerns and frustrations at work can be more successfully addressed by logical personnel practices. It is founded on the concept of human orientation. It aims to assist employees in realizing their full potential in the workplace.

Main Differences Between HRM and Personnel Management

  1. Human resource management is a modern method that focuses on the most effective use of human resources in the business, whereas personnel management is a conventional approach to managing employees within an organization.
  2. Human resource management is a strategic role, whereas personnel management is a regular job.
  3. Personnel administration, employee welfare, and labor relations are the major activities of personnel management. The acquisition, development, use, and maintenance of human resources are the primary activities of human resource management.
  4. Personnel management is oriented toward discipline, supervision, and guidance, whereas human resource management is oriented toward development, where people are provided opportunities to perform and improve.
  5. Personnel management focuses on adhering to the organization’s norms and procedures, whereas human resource management focuses on integrating the workforce’s competencies and skills.

Conclusion

Human resource management was created as a complement to personnel management, to fill in the gaps left by the conventional method. Human resource management is critical for firms to adopt since there is so much rivalry these days, and every company must prioritize people and their requirements.

Because workers are fully aware of their rights inside the business, companies nowadays are having a tough time retaining hardworking and effective personnel. As a result, both HRM and personnel management are critical because it ensures that workers’ rights and expectations are considered and linked with the organization’s goals, as well as the management can be done properly.

References

  1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585199400000054
  2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-8583.1992.tb00308.x