HOW DO YOU DEFINE PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT?

The job of a personnel manager has undergone a dramatic change in recent years. From being a record keeper and a welfare man trying to administer policies to keep workforce happy, he is compelled by circumstances to look at the big picture. He is forced to strike a rapport between organisational demands and employee expectations---precisely in sync with trends in the labour market. In this new avatar, the personnel man is supposed the wear many hats---that of being a recruiter; trainer, developer and motivator; coordinator; mediator and more importantly act as an employee champion. To complicate the matters further, these roles are being looked at with critical attention by one and all. The demands of 21st century have manifested themselves long ago---forcing personnel people to switch gears, change hats and assume roles that have become quite complex, demanding and challenging. The personnel man is supposed to bring about change initiatives that help people grow and realize their potential fully and also act as a strategic partner translating management rhetoric and philosophy into concrete actions plans. The definition of personnel management, as a result, has been suitably refinedkeeping these background factors in mind. Personnel management is concerned with people at work and their relationships with each other. It may be defined as a set of programmes, functions and activities aimed at achieving both personal and organisational goals. It ensures that the organisation attracts and hires qualified, imaginative and competent people. It involves the establishment of various policies to deal with employees and to retain them. To this end, it lays out the rules relating to working conditions, designs suitable compensation plans and strengthens employer-employee relations.

Personnel Management: Important Definitions Dale Yoder: It is that phase of management which deals with the effective control and use of manpower as distinguished from other sources of power. The management of human resources is viewed as a system in which participants seek to attain both individual and group goals. Its objective is to understand what has happened and is happening and to be prepared for what will happen in the area of working relationships between the managers and the managed. Prof. Jucius The field of management which has to do with planning, organising, directing and controlling various operative functions of procuring, developing, maintaining and utilising a labour force, such that the: (a) objectives, for which the company is established are attained economically and effectively; (b) objectives of all levels of personnel are served to the highest possible degree; and (c) objectives of the community are duly considered and served.

Prof. Thomas G. Spates Personnel administration is a code of the ways of organising and treating individuals at work so that they will each get the greatest possible realisation of their intrinsic abilities, thus attaining maximum efficiency for themselves and their group, and thereby giving to the enterprise of which they are a part its determining competitive advantage and its optimum results. Edward Flippo Personnel Management is the planning, organising, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organisational and social objectives are accomplished. French, Personnel Management is the recruitment, selection, development, utilization of and accommodation to human resources by organisations. The human resources of an organisation consist of all individuals regardless of their role, who are engaged in any of the organisations activities. Personnel management is a major component of the broader managerial function and has roots and branches extending throughout and beyond each organisation. It is a major sub-systems of all organisations. Scott et alIt is that branch of management which is responsible, on a staff basis for concentrating on those aspects of operations which are primarily concerned with the relationship of management to employees and employees to employees and with the development of the individual and group. The objective is to attain maximum individual development, desirable working relationship between employers and employees and employees and employees, and effective moulding of human resources as contrasted with physical resources. Dunn and Stephens: The personnel management is the process of attracting, holding and motivating people involving all managers line and staff. The Institute of Personnel Management, London: Personnel Management is that part of management concerned with people at work and with their relationship within an organisation. Its aim is to bring together and develop into an effective organisation the men and women who make up an enterprise and having regard for the well-being of the individual and of working groups, to enable them to make their best contribution to its success. The National Institute of Personnel Management Personnel Management, Labour Management or Staff Management means quite simply the task of dealing with human relationships within an organisation. Academically the three aspects of Personnel Management are: (i) the welfare aspect concerned with working conditions and amenities such as canteens, creches, housing, personal problems of workers, schools, and recreation; (ii) the labour or personnel aspect concerned with recruitment, placement of employees, remuneration, promotion, incentives, productivity etc. (iii) the industrial relations aspects concerned with trade union negotiation, settlement of industrial disputes, joint consultation and collective bargaining. All these aspects are concerned with human element in industry as distinct from the mechanical. Lawrence Appley, former President of the American Management Association:It is a function of guiding human resources into a dynamic organisation that attains its objectives with a high degree of morale and to the satisfaction of those concerned. It is concerned with getting results through people. According to him, all management is personnel management as it deals with human beings, its development can best be discussed in terms of human development, philosophical, psychological, spiritual and physical. The development and utilisation of human resources is not by any means an ancillary activity but a central element in the operation of a business.