Human Resource Management Overview
HRM/300

Human Resource Management Overview
Human Resource Management is commonly in larger companies. Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment, management, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. HRM is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training (Heathfield, 2013). HRM is also a strategic and comprehensive approach to managing people and the workplace culture and environment. An effective HRM enables employees to contribute effectively and productively to the overall company direction and the accomplishment of the organization's goals and objectives. HRM must also develop mechanisms that will help multicultural individuals work together. As background, language, custom, or age differences become more prevalent, employee conflict is likely to increase. HRM must make every effort to acclimate different groups to each other, finding ways to build teams and thus reduce conflict (DeCenzo & Robbins 2007).
Primary Function of Human Resource Management Human resource management’s primary goal is to improve the contribution of the employees to benefit both the company and the employee. This goal is complicated and always changing as the needs of the workforce and the organization change. According to (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2007), HRM has two primary responsibilities: assisting the organization in its strategic direction and representing and advocating for the organization’s employees success. Human resource management has many additional functions such as:

- Recruiting and Hiring
- Training and position development
- Motivation, compensation, and retention
HRM must also serve the organization by determining lowest-cost strategies to its HRM practices. It must look for ways to reduce personnel costs and find more effective means of offering employee amenities ((DeCenzo & Robbins, 2007). Each of these functions is an important piece to a company’s day-to-day operations as well as their success.
HRM and Strategic Planning Specifically, when an organization plans strategically, it determines its goals and objectives for a given period of time. Human resource management, or HRM, plays an integral role in the strategic planning process of any organization. The HR department oversees a variety of essential business practices which have the potential to impact the organization as a whole. HRM is perhaps one of the most essential pieces of any strategic planning initiative. Strategic planning generally begins with a mission statement that defines what the organization does and why. According to (Webster, 2013), the purpose of most strategic planning initiatives is to align the day-to-day activities of the organization with this mission statement. There are three main focuses when dealing with strategic implementations:
Recruiting
HRM typically oversees the hiring and firing of employees and can have a major impact on an organization's strategic planning initiative. HRM then develops best practices for recruiting the right employees to meet these needs.

Employee Development Employee development is commonly identified as a key factor in meeting organizational goals that are set during the strategic planning process. Training and development is often needed to ensure workers have the necessary skills to advance the organization's core competencies.
Retention
The retention of high-quality workers is a goal of many strategic planning initiatives. HRM should develop and implement systems designed to calculate the costs of turnover to the organization and determine acceptable retention numbers that must be met to align HR with organizational strategies.
Conclusion
Human resource management refers to the people whose knowledge, skills, and abilities are utilized to create and deliver the product and service. This resource is considered to be an organization’s greatest resource. Human resource management’s primary goal is to improve the contribution of the employees to benefit both the company and the employee. Addition functions include: Hiring/recruitment, training/development, and motivation/retention. There are three areas where plans are developed for effectively utilizing the human resource. The human resource strategic plan identifies how to: attract the right types and numbers of people; develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees; and, retain the employees within the organization. HRM is vital for the overall success of an organization in today’s economy especially with new technology and growing markets.
REFERENCES
Amanda L. Webster. (1999-2013). HRM and Strategic Planning. http://www.ehow.com/info_7977568_hrm-strategic-planning.html

David A DeCenzo, Stephen P. Robbins. (2007). Fundamentals of Human Recourses Management. (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Susan M. Heathfield. (2013). What is Human Recourse Management. http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryh/f/hr_management.htm