HRM: Evolution, Functions and Roles

A century ago 'personnel departments' kept files and paid wages; today Chief People Officers sit on boards. HRM's evolution — personnel administration → human relations → human resource management → strategic HRM — mirrors management thought itself, and understanding the functions and roles frames everything that follows.

Key Concepts

• HRM defined: the process of acquiring, training, appraising and compensating employees while attending to labour relations, health-safety and fairness (Dessler)
• Core functions: HR planning, job analysis, recruitment & selection, training & development, performance management, compensation, employee relations
• Hard vs soft HRM: people as resource to optimise vs people as assets to develop — most real systems blend both
• Ulrich's four HR roles: strategic partner, administrative expert, employee champion, change agent
• Line vs staff authority: HR advises (staff), line managers decide — HR programs succeed only through line ownership
• The human capital lens: skills, knowledge and abilities as investable, appreciating assets
• Nepal's HR context: Labour Act 2074, social security fund (SSF), a large informal sector formalising, and diaspora-driven labour markets

In Practice

Exam classic: distinguish personnel management from HRM (reactive administration vs proactive strategic integration) and name Ulrich's roles with one activity each. These definitional contrasts open most HRM papers.

Try It Yourself

Map your organisation (or one you know) onto Ulrich's four roles: name one concrete activity it performs — or fails to perform — under each role. Verdict line: which role dominates, and what does that reveal?