Human resources is a term with which many organizations describe the combination of traditionally administrative personnel functions with performance management, Employee Relations and resource planning. In economic theory factors of production (or productive inputs) are the resources employed to produce goods and services The field draws upon concepts developed in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Human resources has at least two related interpretations depending on context. The original usage derives from political economy and economics, where it was traditionally called labor, one of four factors of production. Political economy originally was the term for studying production buying and selling and their relations with law custom and government Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. In economic theory factors of production (or productive inputs) are the resources employed to produce goods and services The more common usage within corporations and businesses refers to the individuals within the firm, and to the portion of the firm's organization that deals with hiring, firing, training, and other personnel issues. A corporation is a separate legal entity usually used to conduct business A business (also called firm or an enterprise) is a legally recognized organizational entity designed to provide goods and/or services to This article addresses both definitions.

The objective of Human Resources is to maximize the return on investment from the organization's human capital and minimize financial risk. It is the responsibility of human resource managers to conduct these activities in an effective, legal, fair, and consistent manner. Human resource management serves these key functions:

1. Recruitment Strategy Planning
2. Hiring Processes(recruitment)
3. Selection
4. Training and Development
5. Performance Evaluation and Management
6. Promotions
7. Redundancy
8. Industrial and Employee Relations
9. Record keeping of all personal data. Human resource management (HRM is the Strategic and Coherent approach to the Management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working
10. Compensation, pensions, bonuses etc in liaison with Payroll
11. Confidential advice to internal 'customers' in relation to problems at work.
12. Career development

Human resources

Modern analysis emphasizes that human beings are not "commodities" or "resources", but are creative and social beings that make class contributions beyond 'labor' to a society and to civilization. The broad term human capital has evolved to contain some of this complexity, and in micro-economics the term "firm-specific human capital" has come to represent a meaning of the term "human resources. Human capital refers to the stock of skills and knowledge embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce Economic value. Microeconomics is a branch of Economics that studies how individuals households and firms and some states make decisions to allocate limited resources typically in markets "

Advocating the central role of "human resources" or human capital in enterprises and societies has been a traditional role of Human Resource socialist parties, who claim that value is primarily created by their activity, and accordingly justify a larger claim of profits or relief from these enterprises or societies. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Critics say this is just a bargaining tactic which grew out of various practices of medieval European guilds into the modern trade union and collective bargaining unit. A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming Collective bargaining is the process whereby workers organize together to meet converse and compromise upon the work environment with their employers

A contrary view, common to capitalist parties, is that it is the infrastructural capital and (what they call) intellectual capital owned and fused by "management" that provides most value in financial capital terms. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where Infrastructural capital refers to any physical Means of production or Means of protection beyond that which can be gathered or found directly in nature Intellectual Capital was a pioneer Webzine opinion and discussion forum begun in 1996 by Pete duPont Financial capital is money used by Entrepreneurs and Businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services This likewise justifies a bargaining position and a general view that "human resources" are interchangeable.

A sign of consensus on this latter point was the ISO 9000 series of standards which in its 1994 revision could be understood to require procedures or a "job description" of every participant in a productive enterprise. ISO 9000 is a family of standards for Quality management systems ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO the International Organization for Standardization and is The 2000 revision of ISO 9001 in contrast requires to identify the processes, their sequence and interaction, and to define and communicate responsibilities and authorities. ISO 9000 is a family of standards for Quality management systems ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO the International Organization for Standardization and is In general, heavily unionized nations such as France and Germany have adopted and encouraged such job descriptions especially within trade unions. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. One view of this trend is that a strong social consensus on political economy and a good social welfare system facilitates labor mobility and tends to make the entire economy more productive, as labor can move from one enterprise to another with little controversy or difficulty in adapting. "Social welfare" redirects here For other uses see Welfare A social welfare provision refers to any program which seeks to provide Labor mobility or worker mobility is the Socioeconomic ease with which an individual or groups of individuals who are currently receiving remuneration in the form

An important controversy regarding labor mobility illustrates the broader philosophical issue with usage of the phrase "human resources": governments of developing nations often regard developed nations that encourage immigration or "guest workers" as appropriating human capital that is rightfully part of the developing nation and required to further its growth as a civilization. A Civilization is a society in which large numbers of people share a variety of common elements They argue that this appropriation is similar to colonial commodity fiat wherein a colonizing European power would define an arbitrary price for natural resources, extracting which diminished national natural capital. The name colonial commodity fiat refers to the process whereby a colonizing European power would define an arbitrary price for Natural resources This process Natural resources are naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified ( natural) form Natural capital is the extension of the economic notion of capital (manufactured means of production to environmental goods and services

The debate regarding "human resources" versus human capital thus in many ways echoes the debate regarding natural resources versus natural capital. Over time the United Nations have come to more generally support the developing nations' point of view, and have requested significant offsetting "foreign aid" contributions so that a developing nation losing human capital does not lose the capacity to continue to train new people in trades, professions, and the arts. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security

An extreme version of this view is that historical inequities such as African slavery must be compensated by current developed nations, which benefited from stolen "human resources" as they were developing. This article discusses systems of slavery within Africa the history and effects of the slavery trade upon Africa This is an extremely controversial view, but it echoes the general theme of converting human capital to "human resources" and thus greatly diminishing its value to the host society, i. e. "Africa", as it is put to narrow imitative use as "labor" in the using society.

In a series of reports of the UN Secretary-General to the General Assembly over the last decade [e. g. A/56/162 (2001)], a broad inter sectoral approach to developing human resourcefulness has been outlined as a priority for socio-economic development and particularly anti-poverty strategies. This calls for strategic and integrated public policies, for example in education, health, and employment sectors that promote occupational skills, knowledge and performance enhancement.

In the very narrow context of corporate "human resources", there is a contrasting pull to reflect and require workplace diversity that echoes the diversity of a global customer base. The "business case for diversity " theorizes that in a global marketplace, a company that employs a diverse workforce (both men and women people of many generations Foreign language and culture skills, ingenuity, humor, and careful listening, are examples of traits that such programs typically require. It would appear that these evidence a general shift to the human capital point of view, and an acknowledgment that human beings do contribute much more to a productive enterprise than "work": they bring their character, their ethics, their creativity, their social connections, and in some cases even their pets and children, and alter the character of a workplace. The term corporate culture is used to characterize such processes. Organizational culture is a concept in the field of Organizational studies and Management which describes the attitudes experiences beliefs and values

The traditional but extremely narrow context of hiring, firing, and job description is considered a 20th century anachronism. Most corporate organizations that compete in the modern global economy have adopted a view of human capital that mirrors the modern consensus as above. Some of these, in turn, deprecate the term "human resources" as useless.

In general the abstractions of macro-economics treat it this way - as it characterizes no mechanisms to represent choice or ingenuity. So one interpretation is that "firm-specific human capital" as defined in macro-economics is the modern and correct definition of "human resources" - and that this is inadequate to represent the contributions of "human resources" in any modern theory of political economy. Political economy originally was the term for studying production buying and selling and their relations with law custom and government

Human resource development

In terms of recruitment and selection it is important to consider carrying out a thorough job analysis to determine the level of skills/technical abilities, competencies, flexibility of the employee required etc. Job Analysis refers to various methodologies for analyzing the requirements of a job At this point it is important to consider both the internal and external factors that can have an effect on the recruitment of employees. The external factors are those out-with the powers of the organization and include issues such as current and future trends of the labor market e. g. skills, education level, government investment into industries etc. On the other hand internal influences are easier to control, predict and monitor, for example management styles or even the organizational culture. Organizational culture is a concept in the field of Organizational studies and Management which describes the attitudes experiences beliefs and values

In order to know the business environment in which any organization operates, three major trends should be considered:

• Demographics – the characteristics of a population/workforce, for example, age, gender or social class. Demographics or demographic data refers to selected population characteristics as used in government Marketing or opinion research or the Demographic profiles This type of trend may have an effect in relation to pension offerings, insurance packages etc.
• Diversity – the variation within the population/workplace. The "business case for diversity " theorizes that in a global marketplace, a company that employs a diverse workforce (both men and women people of many generations Changes in society now mean that a larger proportion of organizations are made up of "baby-boomers" or older employees in comparison to thirty years ago. Also, over recent years organizations have had to become more diverse in their employment practices to cope with the lower work ethic of the newer generations. The service industry for example, has embraced those "baby-boomers" desiring to reenter the workforce. Traditional advocates of "workplace diversity" simply advocate an employee base that is a mirror reflection of the make-up of society insofar as race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. These advocates focus on the social engineering theory without understanding the more important points: diversity of ideas to prevent stagnation of products and business development; expanding the customer base through "outreach"; and profit. Alarmists and advocates of social engineering theory cite a "rise in discrimination, unfair dismissal and sexual/racial harassment cases" as an indicator of the need for more diversity legislation. While such measures have a significant effect on the organization, they effect little or no real change in advancing diversity of ideas in the workplace. Anti-discrimination laws and regulations do require businesses to undertake a cost-benefit analysis. The result of this analysis is often to adopt an approach that generally recognizes gender, racial, and sexual orientation diversity as a cheaper alternative to fighting endless litigation. In summary, diversity, based on social engineering “is about creating a working culture that seeks, respects and values difference” without regard to how diversity increases productive and unity of effort.
• Skills and qualifications – as industries move from manual to a more managerial professions so does the need for more highly skilled graduates. If the market is "tight" (i. e. not enough staff for the jobs), employers will have to compete for employees by offering financial rewards, community investment, etc.

In regard to how individuals respond to the changes in a labour market the following should be understood:

• Geographical spread – how far is the job from the individual? The distance to travel to work should be in line with the pay offered by the organization and the transportation and infrastructure of the area will also be an influencing factor in deciding who will apply for a post.
• Occupational structure – the norms and values of the different careers within an organization. Mahoney 1989 developed 3 different types of occupational structure namely craft (loyalty to the profession), organization career (promotion through the firm) and unstructured (lower/unskilled workers who work when needed).
• Generational difference –different age categories of employees have certain characteristics, for example their behavior and their expectations of the organization.

While recruitment methods are wide and varied, it is important that the job is described correctly and that any personal specifications are stated. Job recruitment methods can be through job centres, employment agencies/consultants, headhunting, and local/national newspapers. It is important that the correct media is chosen to ensure an appropriate response to the advertised post.

Modern concept of human resources

Though human resources have been part of business and organizations since the first days of agriculture, the modern concept of human resources began in reaction to the efficiency focus of Taylorism in the early 1900s. By 1920, psychologists and employment experts in the United States started the human relations movement, which viewed workers in terms of their psychology and fit with companies, rather than as interchangeable parts. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Human Relations Movement refers to those researchers of Organizational development who study the behavior of people in groups, in particular workplace groups Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and This movement grew throughout the middle of the 20th century, placing emphasis on how leadership, cohesion, and loyalty played important roles in organizational success. The word leadership can refer to Those entities that perform one or more acts of leading Although this view was increasingly challenged by more quantitatively rigorous and less "soft" management techniques in the 1960s and beyond, human resources had gained a permanent role within an organization.

See also

• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• Employee engagement
• HR-XML
• Human resources in education
• Human Resource Management
• Human Resource Management Systems
• Job analysis
• List of human resource management topics
• OD Practitioner Network
• Organizational studies
• Personnel selection
• Professional development
• Society for Human Resource Management
• Worldwide ERC (Employee Relocation Council)
• Human Resource Consulting
• Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Workforce management
• Employee Benefits
• Human Resource Law

Further reading

• Hofmeister, J. Employee engagement is a concept that is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort that is when Employees have choices they will act in a way that furthers their HR-XML is a library of XML schemas developed by the HR-XML Consortium Inc In professional Education, learning by teaching (German LdL) designates a method that allows pupils and students to prepare and to teach Lessons or Human resource management (HRM is the Strategic and Coherent approach to the Management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working Job Analysis refers to various methodologies for analyzing the requirements of a job Organizational studies - an overview Organizational development Collaborative method Management The Organization Development Network, also known as the OD Network, sees Organizational development as a field central to creating effective and humanistically sound Personnel selection is the process used to hire (or less commonly promote individuals Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM is a professional association which represents workers in the field of Human resources. Worldwide ERC is a relocation services industry trade group that has been known historically as the Employee Relocation Council. Human resource consulting is a $184 billion industry that has emerged from Management consulting, as clients' needs have become more complex and specialized widening the gap Industrial and Organizational Psychology (also known as I/O psychology, work psychology, work and organizational psychology, occupational psychology, Workforce Management (WFM encompasses all the responsibilities for maintaining a productive and happy workforce Employee benefits and (especially in British English) benefits in kind (also called fringe benefits, perquisites, perqs or Labour law (also known as employment or labor law is the body of Laws administrative rulings and precedents which address the legal rights of and restrictions , "Global and Local Balance in Human Resources Leadership," in Losey, M. , Meisinger, S. , and Ulrich, D. , (eds. ), The Future of Human Resource Management (Virginia: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , 2005), pp. 361-369.

External links

• Human Resources at the Open Directory Project