aPHRi™ ASSOCIATE PROFESSIONAL IN HUMAN RESOURCE INTERNATIONAL

PART I CONTENTS  01 Human resource management (HRM)  02 Human capital management  03 Strategic HRM  Introduction  Human resource management (HRM) is about how people are managed and employed. It can be regarded as a philosophy about the ways in which people should be dealt with at work, which is underpinned by a number of theories relating to the behaviour of people and organizations. It is concerned with making a contribution to the improvement of organizational effectiveness through people, but it is, or should be, equally concerned with the ethical dimension  how people should be treated in accordance with a set of moral values. HRM involves the application of policies and practices in the fields of organization design and development, employee resourcing, learning and development, performance and reward and the provision of services that enhance the well-being of employees. These are based on human resource (HR) strategies which are integrated with one another and aligned to the business strategy.  The term ‘human resources’ can be criticized because it implies that people can be manipulated like any other factor of production. It’s increasingly being replaced by ‘people management’. But HRM is most common.  Whatever term is adopted, the approach should  be based on the principle laid down by Schneider (1987: 450) that: ‘Organizations are the people in them; that people make the place’. He went on to explain that ‘Positive job attitudes for workers in an organization can be expected when the natural inclinations of the persons there are allowed to be reflected in their behaviours by the kinds of processes and structures that have evolved there.’  As Keegan and Francis (2010: 873) noted, HR work is now ‘largely framed as a business issue’.  The emphasis is on business alignment and strategic fit. These are important requirements, but focusing on them can lead HR professionals to place less emphasis on employee needs and motivations when developing HR policy and practice. A simplistic view of the business imperative permits little room for considering how HR strategy should impact on individual employees. HRM indeed aims to support the achievement of business goals but equally, it should aim to build a relationship based on trust, openness and personal fulfilment. This part of the handbook covers the conceptual basis of HRM, including the various HRM models, the associated concept of human capital management, and the strategic framework within which HRM activities take place.