Personnel Management

Personnel Management refers to the procurement of workforce, paying them, motivating them and especially developing them with the competencies they could acquire for the betterment of the organisation. The process makes the employee more valuable for the company.

Personnel management and Human Resource Management both deal with the same factors that’s why at present there is no distinction between them, but personnel management is a prior concept and covers more aspects than HRM, also it is an enhanced form  of the general management, exclusively dealing in the training and development of the workforce.

The process includes functions to classify the human resource required for the organisation. Any kind or workforce cannot help in meeting the goals. Each company has separate requirements, it is the responsibility of the personnel management to classify the resource, ensure the right combination of the workforce with the job profile, training them and developing them in due course of employment.

Personnel Manager

The head, the one having the authority to make analysis and meet the requirements of the organisations, is the Personnel Manager. The most important duty of the personnel manager is to recruit the right employees or workforce for the company. To determine a company’s current needs and what could be the possibilities of future needs.

The other main roles of a Personnel Manager is to:

• To provide easement to the top management. The policies framed by the top management are needed to be accomplished by the Personnel manager throughout the organisation.

• To advise the other managers working in other departments about various personnel matters to deal efficiently.

• As a counsellor or mentor it is the responsibility of the manager to guide and solve the issues of the employees and to retain the right ones.

• He/she is the representative of the employees, whether in front of top management or in training programs, as he/she has a direct relationship with the employees.

• To maintain relations between the workforce and the organisation. 

Personnel Management v/s Human Resource Management

Human resource is a modern approach to manage the resources in addition with, a human resource manager also looks into legal matters of the company, may have a knowledge of federal laws, labour laws and others required to sustain a cooperative environment, also represents company in the outer market and is responsible for efficiency and productivity in the organisation.

Where personnel manager is responsible for compliances and administration with a limited scope. Basically maintaining the proper employment conditions and documentation duties.

Characteristics of Personnel Management

• Continual process

The management is of continuous nature as it can be performed for a fixed period or a particular period of the day. There should be continuous guidance and support to workers.

• Based on principles

The management is based on certain guidelines. These guidelines help in taking decisions according to the demanding situation. The guidelines help in organising and treating employees, and also provide techniques to develop the workforce.

• Team Spirit

The management helps in improving the team spirit, as an isolated worker cannot provide much to the organisation, on the other hand in the presence of the workforce there is a wide scope of development of the individuals as well with the growth of the company, and is required to keep the employees motivational.

• Efficient Output

The aim of the management is to provide efficient output at minimum cost. Procuring the right workforce, training them according to their competency, and employing them with the right job profile is one of the most important tasks to the personnel manager.

Objectives of Personnel Management

Primary objectives

• To provide goods and services to employees

It is the duty of the management to provide its employees all the required basic services to work with ease in the organisation, and creating a workforce sufficiently motivated to meet the desired basic goals of the organisation.

• To provide Monetary benefits

Monetary benefits like a better salary, incentives, rent allowances etc. motivates an employee to stay in the same company for a longer duration. The monetary allowance should be sufficient to keep a standard lifestyle to an employee.

• To provide non-monetary benefits

Other than monetary benefits an employee is sustained with other benefits like, security of job, a positive working environment, appraisal, recognition, prestige etc. This helps in boosting their confidence and motivates them to work more dedicatedly for the organisation.

Secondary Objectives

• Effective utilisation

There must be effective utilisation of the workforce, the materials and the other assets. To minimise the cost is the core duty of the management. This can only happen when there is a good coordination among the workforce, between workforce and the non-human assets, that’s why a proper training must be given.

• Continuity of the organisation

All small and basic goals must be directed towards the one objective of the company. All goals must be accomplished with the objective of organisational growth and continuity. Such goals can never be over the organisation’s regulations and opportunity to growth.

Functions of Personnel Management

1. Manpower Planning

Manpower planning involves hiring the optimum number of people, with the right capacity, for the right job profile, at the right time, and for the tasks for which they are qualified to help the company achieve its objectives. Planning must be done systematically. The steps are as follows:

• Examining the current workforce

• Creating future workforce needs

• Creating job-training programmes

• Create training programmes

2. Recruitment

There are  two types of recruitment;

• Internal Recruitment

In the internal recruitment process the source of recruiting is the organisation itself. In the process requirements can be fulfilled by promoting the existing staff, giving opportunity to ex-employees and from the references provided by the employees. The process helps in minimising the cost. 

• External Recruitment

In external recruitment the hiring is processed from the outer sources of the organisation for example, advertisement, contracts, using of hiring portals etc. But this process would raise the cost of time as well as money.

3. Selection

Putting the right men or women in the right jobs is what employee selection is all about. It is a method of satisfying organisational requirements using people’s abilities. The correct individuals will do their jobs more efficiently, and absenteeism will be reduced. Hiring the appropriate candidate will help you save money.

But there is a slight difference between recruitment and selection. Recruitment is a positive response, where the best suitable among the appropriate selected candidates are hired. In selection the inappropriate candidates are rejected therefore it is a negative response, these candidates don’t reach up to recruitment process.

4. Training and Development

Training is important for organisational development. It helps in making an employee more efficient and productive if he is trained well, and therefore contributing in the organisational development.

Training is given on grounds of:

• New candidates who join an organisation are given training. This helps to familiarise them with the organisational working conditions.

• The existing employees are trained to refresh and enhance their knowledge and to make them aware if there are any amendments in working, rules, techniques or technologies.

• For sharing responsibilities at higher level jobs, training is also provided.

Conclusion

Personnel Management is considered as an important asset for any business organisation. It is the process of recruitment, selection, training and developing skills of the employees and also involves motivating the workforce and maintaining a healthy relationship. Personnel management is the process in which an organisation undergoes the process of managing people in order to achieve its goals. The core responsibility of the management is to ensure the right type of candidates are hired which will be fruitful for the organisation in the long run, and to not only manage existing staff, it also plans for changes that will affect the future recruitment needs of the organisation.

Through effective training and development, employees at the enterprise achieve promotion within the company which helps in  reducing the need for external recruitment and makes maximum use of existing talent. Therefore it ensures that the best of the talent is retained by the organisation in the long run. For this it also ensures to provide monetary or non-monetary benefits to the employees.

Personnel management increases the morale and motivation level of the workforce so that they become more loyal towards the organisation. That is why this particular form of management is considered to be crucial as it deals with the management of people.