AN APPRAISAL OF THE EFFECT OF PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT IN AN ORGANIZATION

Personnel management can be defined as obtaining, using and maintaining a satisfied workforce.

t is a significant part of management concerned with employees at work and with their relationship within the organization.

Definition of Personnel Management

According to Flippo, “Personnel management is the planning, organizing, compensation, integration, and maintenance of people for the purpose of contributing to organizational, individual and societal goals.”

t is a significant part of management concerned with employees at work and with their relationship within the organization.

According to Brech, “Personnel Management is that part which is primarily concerned with human resource of an organization.”

Nature of Personnel Management

Nature of Personnel management includes the function of employment, development, and compensation- These functions are performed primarily by the personnel management in consultation with other departments.

1. Personnel management is an extension of general management. It is concerned with promoting and stimulating a competent workforce to make their fullest contribution to the concern.
2. Personnel management exists to advise and assists the line managers in personnel matters. Therefore, the personnel department is a staff department of an organization.
3. Personnel management lays emphasize on action rather than making lengthy schedules, plans, and work methods. The problems and grievances of people at work can be solved more effectively through rationale personnel policies.
4. It is based on human orientation. It tries to help the workers to develop their potential fully to the concern.
5. It also motivates the employees through its effective incentive plans so that the employees provide fullest co-operation.
6. Personnel management deals with human resources of a concern. In the context of human resources, it manages both individuals as well as blue- collar workers.

Role of Personnel Management

Personnel manager is the head of the personnel department. He performs both managerial and operative functions of management.

His role can be summarized as:

1. Personnel manager provides assistance to top management- The top management are the people who decide and frame the primary policies of the concern. All kinds of policies related to personnel or workforce can be framed out effectively by the personnel manager.
2. He advises the line manager as a staff specialist. Personnel manager acts as a staff advisor and assists the line managers in dealing with various personnel matters.
3. “As a counselor, the personnel manager attends problems and grievances of employees and guides them. He tries to solve them in the best of his capacity.
4. Personnel manager acts as a He is a linking pin between management and workers.
5. He acts as a Since he is in direct contact with the employees, he is required to act as a representative of the organization in committees appointed by the government. He represents the company in training programmer.

Difference between personnel management and human resource management.

There are some points of dissimilarities between Personnel Management (PM) and Human Resource Management (HRM) although, on some key issues, PM and HRM are identical.

Traditional Personnel Management tends to be narrow, striving to attend line managers, whereas HRM is integrated into the role of line managers with a strong proactive position and a bias towards business.

The PM has a history of placing emphasis on bureaucratic control, often in a reactive sense, i.e., control of manpower and personnel systems.

Some would argue that PM represented a highly compartmentalized system.

By contrast, HRM makes a determined effort to be a more integral mechanism in bringing people issue into line with business issues, with a pronounced problem­seeking and problem-solving orientation, and a determination to build collaborative organizational systems.

The role of top management in setting the agenda for change and development is very much in evidence in HRM.

From the above discussion, we can make the major differences between traditional personnel management and modern HRM.

Human resource management is a new version of personnel management. There is no watertight difference between human resource management and personnel management. However, there are some differences in the following matters :

• Personnel management is a traditional approach to managing people in the organization. Human resource management is a modern approach to managing people in the organization.
• Personnel management focuses on personnel administration, employee welfare, and labor relation. Human resource management focuses on acquisition, development, motivation, and maintenance of human resources in the organization.
• Personnel management assumes people as input for achieving the desired output. Human resource management assumes people as an important and valuable resource for achieving the desired output.
• Under personnel management, personnel function is undertaken for employee satisfaction. Under human resource management, the administrative function is undertaken for goal achievement.
• Under personnel management, job design is done on the basis of division of labor. Under human resource management, job design function is done on the basis of group work/teamwork.
• Under personnel management, employees are provided with less training and development opportunities. Under human resource management, employees are provided with more training and development opportunities.
• In personnel management, decisions are made by the top management as per the rules and regulation of the organization. In human resource management, decisions are made collectively after considering employee’s participation, authority, decentralization, competitive environment, etc.
• Personnel management focuses on increased production and satisfied employees. Human resource management focuses on effectiveness, culture, productivity and employee’s participation.
• Personnel management is concerned with the personnel manager. Human resource management is concerned with all levels of managers from top to bottom.
• Personnel management is a routine function. Human resource management is a strategic function.

Human resource management is a new version of personnel management. There is no any watertight difference between human resource management and personnel management.