What are the key Human Resource Management areas and how do they overlap?
For a company to conduct its business successfully it requires a range of key resources such as financing, equipment, raw materials and people. Human Resources (HR) therefore refers to the professional management of this key people resource. As people contribute to the successful utilisation of all other resources it is critical that HR is given at least the same management attention as the other key resources.
The key Human Resource Management areas are as follows:
Industrial Relations
Industrial Relations generally refers to an employer's, employee's or trade union's reactive response to issues which occur within the company. These can be either spontaneous or on-going and can ultimately terminate in the disputes mechanisms of the Labour Relations Commission, the Rights Commissioner Service, the Employment Appeals Tribunal and the Labour Court or in industrial actions including strikes and lock outs. Generally the companies with poor industrial relations track records have issues of trust between the parties and tend to have a confrontational relationship. In such an environment a lot of energy is 'wasted' on confrontational debate and posturing rather than on the commercial development of the company's products or services.
Central Human Resource Management Structures
Human Resource Management is the overall management function, which embraces all aspects of the employee / employer relationship. It incorporates other areas such as industrial relations, employee relations and employment legislation, but as the philosophical approach to how the relationship is managed varies from company to company, the different approaches are dealt with independently within the 1 Stop HR information service. None the less, you will note that the different approaches can and regularly do overlap. In