Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management. The management of human resources (from Human Resource Management) is a business function that relates to the management of staff in its broader meaning. In the first post-war period in the United States were launched the first studies related to "Human Resource Management". In particular, we outline two different approaches: - Some authors are of the Taylorist organization and the technical and socio- structural variables, the so-called "hard" factors - While since the 80s, other authors highlight the social dimension and the human factor as a strategic resource, thus giving importance to the "soft" factors. Already with Fordism and the subsequent introduction of the assembly line, was brought about in the course of the 900 a reorganization of work within the factories (fragmentation of tasks and standardization of production) which marked a consequence, the profound changes in society as a whole.

Ford put in relation to the series production with mass consumption ; workers thus became "consumers" of the final products and not just "factor of production". Although there is no commonly accepted definition, the key point is to see the staff as a real resource within the organization.
From this principle two basic schools of thought are divided:
the RBT (resources - based theory) sees this resource as the sole source of a unique competitive advantage, durable and non- imitable and thus makes the management of human resources at the heart of corporate strategy (see Barney 1991 Boxall and Purcell 2003).

the second school also called "soft HRM" starting from the analysis of Porter (1985) who sees the competitive advantage can only be reached by a product differentiation or cost leadership, then suggests an integration (a "fit") policies management of human resources with those of the general business strategy (see also Miller 1987).

The management of human resources is often misunderstood or used as a synonym for personnel management (personnel management), Storey (1992) has identified in his work 27 key points that differentiate the human resource management from the mere direction of the staff. In general, the Office of Personnel Management is seen simply as a series of activities which have as their purpose the definition of the employment contract (and therefore of the various tasks to be performed) and his respect.(See also Torrington and Hall 1987).

Personnel management is instead a much more complex and broad concept which covers activities such as motivation, commitment and participation of staff. Among the many definitions of human resource management there is also the potential to indicate the destination address or the appropriate initiatives related to several operational goals of the company, and also reserves the right to decide properly with respect to the difficulty of logistical or economic depending on which cases occur in this regard. In recent years, the management staff has undergone major changes, the reasons for which are to be found in real estate market, more and more competitive and "fast" and within the union tense adaptation of the figure of the worker to the new lease required. It seems clear that the way of doing business today has changed significantly, personnel management tends not to be regarded as a cost, but is increasingly being considered as an integral part of the company's organizational structure.

Everything today has made it possible, in the management of human resources, a greater focus on certain policies, such as increased employee involvement in decision-making through improved communication between managers and workers, the recognition performance across the different pay systems, recruitment, the selection and training of staff, in view of the increasing flexibility that is required in today's roles and tasks within a company. This allows you to understand how important the role of human resources in determining business success, an added value that improves productivity as a function of applied investment to the sector, and personnel policies.