What is Human Resource Management?
Human Resource Management (HRM) involves the practice of managing people and has been practiced since the first century “with Columella, a Roman farmer and former soldier whose De Rustica featured one of the earliest tracts on people management” (Rowley and Jackson, 2011 p.xx). HRM covers a broad spectrum of employee related affairs, ranging from selection and recruitment to training and development, employee reward, and performance management (Beardwell and Clark, 2010). Some of the objectives of Human Resource (HR) are to ensure staff motivation, to effectively manage change in the organisation and most importantly to maintain good employee/employer relationship. This essay seeks to give a general overview on the origins and meaning of HRM, reviewing the main models of HRM, the link between HRM and performance, and finally assessing the impact of HRM in multinational corporations. The origins of HR in the UK traces back to the 80’s when government reforms were been implemented to reshape the framework of industrial relations in the country. Due to “the restructuring of the economy” there was a decline in manufacturing industries, a “rise the service sector” and an increase in “new industries based on high tech products and service” (Beardwell and Clark, 2010 p.7). The economic changes were promoted by “the political climate of Thatcherism” through “entrepreneurialism and antiunion legislations which encouraged firms to introduce new labour practices and reorder their collective bargain agreements” (Hendrey and Pettigrew, 1990 p.19). There is no universally accepted definition for the term HRM. While some researchers see HRM as a more acceptable phrase from the previously know Personnel Management, (Beardwell and Clark, 2010) others regard it as a high commitment management style which presents an ideological perspective of what