In the past couple of decades there was a shift away from personnel management and

towards HRM. Explain why the shift occurred

Management is about getting things done through people Armstrong (2006) and personnel
management ultimately deal with employees, their payroll and the laws governing the
employment. However, over the couple of decades, there has been a shift away from
personnel management towards Human Resource Management (HRM) within contemporary
work organisations. This essay will discuss the reason behind this change by highlightening
the difference between personnel management and human resource management. It will also
evaluate the functions of the human resource management in contributing to organisational
purposes as well as assessing the role and the responsibility of line managers in human
resource management. Finally, the essay will conclude by looking at the impact of the legal
and regulatory framework on human resource management.
According to Armstrong (1995), and Bhatia (2007) personnel management is seen as an
administrative function of an organisation responsible for the personnel needed for
organisational activities and management of the general employee to employer relationship
(Kamoche et al 2004). In many firms, personnel management has traditionally been
constituted as a support function, existing on the periphery of organisational and strategic
decision-making, to ensure that people are hired, oriented, paid on time and have their
complaints and needs addressed which held a relatively lowly operational status (Redman and
Wilkinson, 2006). However, this discipline and practice has undergone significant changes
from theory building and testing of various concepts by academics and practitioners from
managing personnel in an organisation to currently management of human resource
(Armstrong 1995).
The push towards this apparently ideological approach increased in the late 1980s as a result
of increasing competitive pressures, increased globalisation and generally tougher business
environment of better ways of acquiring and utilising labour (Legge, 2005). According to
CIPD (2008) is of the view that the changing organisational environment in the marketplace

caused managers to want to improve efficiency in the production and service delivery
processes by increasing their ability to use the best practices of people management so as to
enhance internal corporate effectiveness and thus improve external competitiveness. This
necessitates the maximisation of all resources, including the human resource through

techniques or methods that would improve production, reduce service delivery costs, and
simultaneously ensure sustained availability of competent staff in the organisation (Govern,
1997). Within these changes, personnel management was redefined and the concept of human
resource was embraced, although the debate concerning the differences continues. Torrington
et al. (2008) suggest that rather than representing a revolution in people management
practices, the emergence of HRM represents an evolution towards more effective practice.
HRM comprises a number of discrete but overlapping areas of managerial activity
nonetheless, Gabbai (2001) highlights that the definition of human resource management
varies and no single definition of the term is accepted both within academic and
organisational environments. Boxall and Purcell, (2003) gave the definition of HRM to
include anything and everything associated with the management of employment
relationships in the firms. They see HRM as a contemporary term used to indicate the
activities associated with people management in work organisations.
Similarly, Storey (2007) believed that HRM is a specific recipe for the management of
people and defines HRM as a philosophy of people management based on the belief that
human resources are uniquely important in sustained business success. An organisation gains
competitive advantage by using its people effectively, drawing on their expertise and
ingenuity to meet clearly defined objectives. HRM is aimed at recruiting capable, flexible and
committed people, managing and rewarding their performance and developing key
competencies (Storey 2007). HRM offers management, theoretically at least, the prospect of
enhanced organisational performance whilst simultaneously improving workers experience
of employment.
HRM is the term commonly used to describe all those organisational activities concerned
with recruiting and selecting, designing work for, training and developing, appraising and
rewarding, directing, motivating and controlling workers. Regardless of these uncertainties in
the HRM descriptions, observer believed that HRM is just a rebranding of personnel
management to gain more respect for their role in the organisation from upper management
as both seems to be involved in similar if not the same activities although some terminology
might be different. Nonetheless, others believed that there are significant differences between
personnel management and HRM in the way the activities are approached. Whilst personnel
management is seen as a short-term solution, reacting to stimuli, HRM is founded on the idea
that an organisation includes human resource factors within top-level corporate strategies and

hence seeks to adopt a long-term view. The job of human resource management is to ensure
that the organization has the human capital it needs to accomplish its goals with a certain set
of knowledge, skills and abilities that can be used by an organization in a productive way.
Thus, by comparing HRM with personnel management, it is observed that HRM is the
achievement of a fit between management of the work force and the strategic drive of the
organisation, a notion reinforced by Torrington et al. (2008).
Human resource management principles and techniques for managing people are drawn from
various theories. Nonetheless, for the sake of this essay, two of such theories namely strategic
contingency theory and resource dependency theories are explained below.
Strategic contingency theory of management relies on the notion that since an organisation
operates and thrives in a complex environment, managers must adopt specific strategies
which will maximise gains and minimise risks from the environment (Khan and Ackers
2004). Resource dependency theory on the other hand contends that organisations can best
acquire scarce resources and effectively utilise them in order to remain competitive in the
market (Gareth 2008). The more organisations were able to harness resources, the more
competitive they became. Therefore, resources were seen as the essence of organisational
power (Gareth 2008) However, overdependence on external resources appeared to be risky
due to the uncertainties that cannot be controlled by the organisation (Pfeffer & Solansick
1978). Concerning useful labour, the emphasis shifted to seeing employees as scarce
resources that should be acquired effectively, utilised, developed and retained.
Organisations change in response to many developments taking place in the internal and
external environment such as technology, policies, laws, customer tests, fashions and choices
that influence peoples attitudes and behaviour (Renwick, 2003). These developments
influence different aspects of human resource management and in response, organisations
have to change the way organisational structure, job design, recruitment, utilisation,
development, reward and retention are managed (Schuler, 2000). Based on the theory,
personnel management functions changed and HR is continuing delegation of some HR
activities to line managers. Line managers have become partners in the business and they
play a central role in human resource management. Wright and Boswell, (2002) stress that in
many organisations Line managers are charged with numerous HR-related tasks, such as
include recruitment and selection, pay and reward, performance management, grievances and
discipline, coaching, and learning and development.

Although line managers are considered as implementers, enactors or translators of HR policy

within the organisation, however it is generally accepted that some line managers have skills
gaps in people management and development activities and therefore have difficulties
implementing HR policies effectively contrary to corporate procedures For instance,
managers at HP were found to pre-write performance appraisals, rather than draft them
jointly with the employee during the appraisal interview, as company policy indicated (Truss,
2001). Similarly, Purcell and Hutchinson, 2007) observed that managers at Selfridges
conducted appraisals with less frequency than required by HR policy. These are instances of
managers following procedures that are different from those set by policy makers, with
negative implications for employee satisfaction with HRM. The implication is a negative
implication of line manager actions in the sense that they distort the uniform application of
policy by creating undesired variability (Boxall and Purcell, 2003; Nishii and Wright, 2008).
For example, in British Gas, all individual departments are accountable for their own
personnel responsibilities which are prescribed as personnel management task. However
when all the departments work together to reach British Gass goal with maximum employees
effectiveness then it called human resource management task.
One of the important planning process to British Gas is Human resource planning. British
Gas is the among the largest energy supplier in the UK. Within the energy sector, British Gas
desires to maintain the competitive position of the company. Due to the dynamic nature of the
UK customers in looking for better standards and services British Gas needs high-level skills
and expertise. Highly skilled HRM helps to select those people gives them top quality
training to compete with other companies and learn new technologies. This has helped in
making good profit in the UK as a result of high standard of products and services with
competitive price. They have a high class engineering team and more highly skilled
engineers. HR planning process help to recruit those engineers and it is really cost effective
as they are skilled they need less training. HR planning process help British Gas to do more
profit and maintain its high standard of service and products
Due to the important role that HRM plays in the organisations, HR develops policies
(employers and employees relationship) to make sure managers and employees are aware of
these legal restrictions and know how to deal with potential violations. For example to protect
employees form unfair discrimination in the work place there is equal employment
opportunity in place which requires that all employees are treated equal (Legislation.gov.uk

2015). The equality Acts 2010 put together a number of old legislation together into law
which covers all aspects of discrimination in the work place including sex, age orientation
race or religion. Employers could risk heavy penalties if they are found to be breaching the
laws. Moreover, statutory right and contract of employment are legal rights based on laws
passed by the British parliament in overseeing that employee is given a written statement of
terms of employment within two months of starting work. It also include the right to be paid a
least the national minimum wage as well as the right to itemised pay slip to mention just a
few. Furthermore, employers are obligated to provide each employer employee with safe and
clean environment at their place. There is also a labour law describing the process by which
unions can be formed and indicate what the parties can and cannot do. There are also work
and Family Act to help employees to balance their work and family lives. This Act defines the
maternity leaves and payments introducing new rights for fathers such as paternity leaves,
making flexible working times. All of these regulations are put in place to safeguard the wellbeing of employees in work place (Legislation.gov.uk 2015).
In conclusion, it has been observed that HRM aims in trying to achieve an organisational
mission, vision, goals and objectives by using people as valuable resources. It utilises staff
capacity by ensuring that employees are committed to their jobs, teams, departments and the
entire organisation, to ensure that organisational systems, processes and activities are
integrated and synergised through a strong organisational culture via optimal utilisation of
available resources. Unlike the traditional personnel management whereby employees were
seen as instruments needed to accomplish work in organisations.

References
ARMSTRONG, M. (1995), A Handbook of Personnel Management Practice. London: Kogan
page
Armstrong , M., (2006). Human Resource Management Practice (10th Ed.) London: Kogan
Page
BHATIA, S.K. (2007), Strategic Human Resource Management. Winning through People.
Concepts, Practices and Emerging Trends. New Delhi: Deep and Deep Publication PVT.
BOXALL, P. & PURCELL, J., (2003). Strategy and human resource management,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
CIPD (2008) The Changing HR Function: Survey Report, London: CIPD.
GABBAI, J., (2001) Current Human Resource Management Practices in Britain. [online]
Available at: http://gabbai.com/management/current-human-resource-management-practicesin-britain [Accessed on 13/09/2015]
GARETH, R., (2008), Organisation Theory, Design and Change. New Delhi: Pearson
Education Publishing.
GOVERN, P. et al (1997) Human Resource Management on the Line, Human Resource
Journal Vol 7 No 4.
KHAN, A.S & P. ACKERS (2004), Neo Pluralism as a Theoretical Framework for
Understanding Human Resource Management in Sub Saharan Africa. International Journal
of Human Resource Management 15(7): 1330-1353.
KAMOCHE, K.N., Y.A. DEBRAH, F.M. HORTWITZ & G. MUUKA (2004), Managing
human resources in Africa. London and New Delhi: Routledge.).
LEGGE, K. 2005. Times are a-changing: Human Resource Management, Rhetorics and
Realities ten years on. Preview/postcript for anniversary edition. Human resource
management: rhetorics and realities. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York, N.Y.:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Legislation

.gov.uk

(2015)

The

National

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ [Access on 13/09/2015]

Archive

[online]

Available

at:

NISHII, L. & WRIGHT, P. M. 2008. Variability within organizations: implications for

strategic human resources management. In: SMITH, D. B. (ed.) The people make 16 the
place : dynamic linkages between individuals and organizations. New York: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
PURCELL, J. & HUTCHINSON, S. 2007. Front-line managers as agents in the
HRMperformance causal chain: theory, analysis and evidence. Human Resource
Management Journal, 17, 3-20.
Redman. T., and Wilkinson, A., (2006). Contemporry Human Resource management: Text
and Cases (2nd. Ed.) London : Prentice Hall
Renwick D. (2003) Line manager involvement in HRM: an inside view? Employee Relations,
Vol.25, No.3, pp262-280.
Storey, J. (2007) Human resource management today: an assessment, in J. Storey (ed)
Human Resource Management: A Critical Text, (3rd ed.) London: Thomson Learning,
STOREY, D. (1995), Human Resource Management. London: Routledge.
SCHULER, R. S. (2000), The Internationalization of Human Resource Management. Journal
of International Management 6: 239-260.
Torrington, D., Hall, L., Taylor, S., Atkinson C., (2008). Fundamentals of Human Resource
Management: Managing People at Work (7th. Ed.) Spain: Spain: Pearson Education
TRUSS, C., (2001). Complexities and controversies in linking HRM with organizational
outcomes. Journal of Management Studies, 38, 1121-49.
WRIGHT, P. M. & BOSWELL, W. R. 2002. Desegregating HRM: a review and synthesis of
micro and macro human resource management research. Journal of Management, 28, 247-76.