Meaning:
Human resources may be defined as the total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes of an organization's workforce. It is the sum total or aggregate of inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills represented by the talents and aptitudes of the persons employed in the organization.
The human resources are multidimensional in nature. From the national point of view, human resources may be defined as the knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes obtained in the population; whereas from the viewpoint of the individual enterprise, they represent the total of the inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills as exemplified in the talents and aptitudes of its employees.
Its objective is the maintenance of better human relations in the organization by the development, application and evaluation of policies,procedures and programmes relating to human resources in order to optimize their contribution towards the realization of organizational objectives.
In other words, HRM is concerned with getting better results with the collaboration of people. It is an integral but distinctive part of management, concerned with people at work and their relationships within the enterprise. HRM helps in attaining maximum individual development, desirable working relationship between employees and employers, employees and employees, and effective modelling of human resources as contrasted with physical
resources. It is the recruitment, selection, development, utilization, compensation and motivation of human resources by the organization.
Evolution:
The early part of the century saw a concern for improved efficiency through careful design of work. During the middle part of the century emphasis shifted to the employee's productivity. Recent decades have focused on increased concern for the quality of working life, total quality management and worker's participation in management. These three phases may be
termed as welfare, development and empowerment
Nature:
Human Resource Management is a process of bringing people and organizations together so that the goals of each are met. The various features of HRM include:
• It is pervasive in nature as it is present in all enterprises.
• Its focus is on results rather than on rules.
• It tries to help employees develop their potential fully.
• It encourages employees to give their best to the organization.
• It is all about people at work, both as individuals and groups.
• It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to produce good results.
• It helps an organization meet its goals in the future by providing for competent and well-motivated employees.
• It tries to build and maintain cordial relations between people working at various levels in the organization.
• It is a multidisciplinary activity, utilizing knowledge and inputs drawn
from psychology, economics,