What Is Personnel Management?

Personnel management refers to the business functions that deal with people,
whether it's hiring them, paying them, or training them.

However, personnel management is a term that is falling into disuse, replaced by

(or used interchangeably with) the phrase "human resources management."1 A
company's human resources are its personnel—the people who are its employees.
To manage them, many companies today no longer have personnel departments
and instead have human resources departments.

Some consider personnel management to be more administrative in scope—

focused on forms and paperwork—while human resources management more
broadly endeavors to develop an organization's people and its culture.

For example, recruitment under a personnel management department might simply

match job candidates and their resumes to a list of desired qualifications, checking
off boxes in a list. But in a human resources department, hiring may be done by
hiring specialists who have an in-depth understanding of the company's goals and
requirements, sourcing hires who not only have the required skills but are also a
great culture fit.

Or, in the case of new hire orientation, the focus of a personnel management
department might be to ensure the paperwork is completed and filed properly,
whereas a human resources department would ensure that the new hire felt
sufficiently briefed as to their duties and responsibilities, focusing on setting up the
employee for success. New employee orientation might even include a formal
mentoring program. Or, it might involve opportunities for a meet-and-greet so the
new employees get to know people they will be working with as well as those in
different departments.&

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Whether personnel management and human resources management are different in

scope or interchangeable terms often depends on the organization's own viewpoint.

Government agencies and nonprofit organizations often still use the term personnel
management to describe the administrative tasks associated with managing their
employees.

 Alternate name: Human Resource Management 

How Does Personnel Management Work?

An organization's personnel management department typically is responsible for

overseeing the administrative requirements of its employees.

Personnel management is typically responsible for:

 Recruiting
 Hiring
 Determining wages and salaries
 Administering benefits
 Providing employee incentives
 New employee orientation
 Training and development
 Performance appraisals

Functions of Personnel Management

What Is Personnel Management?
Personnel management refers to the business functions that deal with people,
whether it's hiring them, paying them, or training them.

However, personnel management is a term that is falling into disuse, replaced by

(or used interchangeably with) the phrase "human resources management."1 A
company's human resources are its personnel—the people who are its employees.
To manage them, many companies today no longer have personnel departments
and instead have human resources departments.

Everything you need to know about functions of personnel management. Personnel

management is concerned with managing people.
It covers all levels of personnel, including blue-collared employees (craftsman,
foreman, labourers), and white-collared employees (professionals, managers,
clerical workers, salesmen).
It is concerned with employees, both as individuals and a group with collaboration
and involvement in the organisation’s activity.
Personnel management is concerned with helping the employees to develop their
capabilities and potentiality to the maximum possible extent.
Personnel management attempts at getting the willing cooperation of the people
for the attainment of the desired goal.
The functions of personnel management are very wide. An agreement over them is
rare. Broadly, the personnel functions can be divided into two parts — Managerial
functions and Operative functions.
The functions of the personnel manager are very comprehensive and varied and
are determined and influenced by such factors as the size, nature and location of
the organization, its short-term and long-term objectives, nature of industry and
product, market conditions, degree of competitiveness among rivals, economic,
cultural, political and legal environment, the structure of the administrative
officers, the mental make-up of the personnel managers and overall organizational
philosophy of business.

The functions of personnel management can be studied under the following heads:-

1. Administrative and Specialist Functions 2. Managerial Functions 3. Operative

Functions.

These functions are further sub-divided into:

A: Administrative and Specialist Functions

B: Managerial Functions:- 1. Planning 2. Organising 3. Directing 4. Controlling 5.

Motivating 6. Coordinating.

C: Operative Functions:- 1. Procurement of Personnel 2. Development of

Personnel 3. Compensation to Personnel 4. Maintaining Good Industrial Relations
5. Record-Keeping 6. Personnel Planning and Evaluation 7. Personnel Research
and Audit 8. Discipline and Grievance Handling.

Functions of Personnel Management – Managerial, Operative and

Administrative Functions
Functions of Personnel Management – Top 3 Functions: Administrative &
Specialist, Managerial & Operative Functions
Personnel management is concerned with managing people. It covers all levels of
personnel, including blue-collared employees (craftsman, foreman, labourers), and
white-collared employees (professionals, managers, clerical workers, salesmen). It
is concerned with employees, both as individuals and a group with collaboration
and involvement in the organisation’s activity.
Personnel management is concerned with helping the employees to develop their
capabilities and potentiality to the maximum possible extent. Personnel
management attempts at getting the willing cooperation of the people for the
attainment of the desired goal.

Organization is nothing without personnel. Preferring to work with human rather

than objects is still important. What is IBM without its employee? Personnel
constitute an integral part of the organization. The knowledge skills,
imaginativeness, abilities and commitment of the members of the organization
constitute the most critical factor in the development and implementation of work
plan and the delivery of product and services.
Without the full commitment of its employees, an organization cannot accomplish
its objectives. Consequently, the attention, development, motivation and
coordination of employees are essential responsibilities of all levels of
management (top, middle, lower). Personnel manager must be greatly concerned
with the expectations of both employees and societies in general.
Today, personnel manager is attaining more importance because of rapid change in
management process and other technological advancement. Personnel
administration is the code of the ways of organising and treating individuals at
work and the calculated use of resources so that they will each get the greatest
possible realization of their intrinsic (inner) abilities thus, attaining maximum
efficiencies for themselves and their group and thereby giving to the enterprise of
which they are a part of its determining competitive advantage and its optimum or
effective results.
For example, ONGC’s oil exploration capabilities, and Dell’s ability to deliver low cost, high quality
computers at an amazing speed.

Personnel administration help an organization in the management of personnel

resources with the use of well thought out principles, practices, programmes,
functions, activities and rationalise techniques in selecting, retaining, and
developing personnel for the fulfilment of organizational objectives systematically
and scientifically.
It is an art and science of planning, organising, evaluating and implementing the
personnel resources in any organization so that the organization derives maximum
benefits in terms of performance and efficiency as well as achievement of the
objectives, goals, and targets.
Day-by-day, it is becoming complex until and unless we understand all the
implications of such an administration. For example, two professional bodies were
formed namely Indian Institute of Personnel Management (IIPM) at Kolkata and
the National Institute of Labour Management (NILM) at Mumbai.
In 1980s, these two professional bodies merged together and formed the National
Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM) headquartered at Kolkata.

In the year 1990, another milestone was achieved by renaming of American

Society for Personnel Administration (ASPA) as Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM). Over the year, a new approach — the Human Resource
Management has emerged which focuses on developmental aspects of human
resource with a pragmatic (positive) and flexible approach.
There are important functions of personnel management, which are discussed
as under:
Function # 1. Administrative and Specialist:
Personnel function is an administrative and specialist function. It is an
administrative function, as a manager’s job at any level of management hierarchy
is to deal with human beings. It is a specialist function also, as Personnel Manager
should specialise in recruitment and selection, training and development functions,
etc., and he is expected to provide guidance to other departments also.
“Personnel administration is a line responsibility and a staff function. It is a basic
management responsibility, permeating all levels and types of management in all
organisations. Personnel specialists help line managers in providing advice,
counsel, services and various types of controls to secure uniform administration of
personnel policies designed to achieve organisational objective.” —Pigors and
Myers
Function # 2. Managerial:

Main functions under this category are as follows:

(i) Planning- Personnel Management has to plan the manpower requirement of an
organisation. The plans are prepared as to how many employees for each
department or section are required and the necessary calibre each one should
possess.
(ii) Organising- Personnel Management is responsible for organising the human
resources in the best possible manner. It is responsible for establishing harmonious
relationship between various factors of production, so that the employees may
prove helpful in achieving the objectives of the organisation.
(iii) Directing- It involves motivation and leadership. In the absence of effective
direction, the organisation cannot achieve the desired results. Direction includes
issuing instructions to the workers, developing communication network and
integrating workers.
(iv) Controlling- Personnel Management is responsible for controlling and
regulating the activities of personnel department also. It includes the determination
of targets, analysing actual performance, comparing the results with pre-
determined targets and correcting deviations, if any.
(v) Motivating- Personnel Management motivates the employees of the
organisation by providing monetary and non-monetary incentives. This enables the
management to get the maximum advantage out of their capability and efficiency.
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(vi) Coordinating- Personnel Management is responsible for establishing effective

co-ordination between labour and capital resources of the enterprise.

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