Module 1 Overview of HRM

Introduction Concept, nature, scope, objectives and importance of HRM; Evolution of HRM: Challenges
of HRM; Personnel Management vs. HRM; Strategies for the New Millennium: Role of HRM in strategic
management; Human capital, Emotional Quotient, Mentoring, ESOP.
Human: refer to the skilled workforce in the organisation.
Resource: refer to limited availability or scarce.
Management: refer to maximise or proper utilisation and make best use of limited and a scarce resource.
The success of any organization depends upon how it manages its resources. While several resources are non-
human resource such as land, capital and equipment, it is the human resource and its management which is at
the heart of an organization’s success.
Human Resource (HR) refers to all the people who work in an organization called personnel. Human Resource
Management refers to the organizational function which includes practices that help the organization to deal
effectively with its people during the various phases of the employment cycle. HRM is management function
concerned with hiring, motivating, and maintaining people in an organisation. It focuses on people in the
organisation.
Concept of HRM:
Meaning: Human Resource Management (HRM) is a management function that deals with recruiting, selecting,
training and developing human resource in an organization. It is concerned with the “people” dimension in
management. It includes activities focusing on the effective use of human resources in an organization. It is
concerned with the development of a highly motivated and smooth functioning workforce. It also includes
planning, acquiring, developing, utilising and maintaining ‘human resources’ in the achievement of
organizational goals.
Definition:
According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Human resource management is the planning, organizing, directing, and
controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human
resources to the end that individual, organizational and societal objectives are accomplished.”
According to Tead and Metcaff, “Human resource management is the planning, supervision, direction and co-
ordination of those activities of an organization which contribute to realizing the definite purpose of that
organization, with an animating spirit of co-operation and with a proper regard for the well-being of all the
members of the organization.”
Milkovich and Boudreau view HRM as, “A series of integrated decisions that form the employment
relationship; their quality contributes to the ability of the organizations and the employees to achieve their
objective.”

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Nature of HRM
1. People-Centric Focus: HRM is fundamentally concerned with people. It involves the recruitment,
selection, training, development, and management of employees to ensure they contribute effectively to
the organization's success.
2. Strategic Alignment: HRM is not just about administrative tasks; it is strategic in nature. Effective
HRM aligns with the overall business strategy to ensure that the organization's human resources are in
sync with its goals and objectives.
3. Employee Lifecycle Management: HRM covers the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment and
onboarding to development, performance management, and eventually exit or retirement. It involves
creating and managing processes that support employees throughout their tenure.
4. Talent Acquisition and Retention: HRM is responsible for attracting and retaining talented individuals.
This includes sourcing and recruiting qualified candidates, as well as implementing strategies to retain
high-performing employees.
5. Training and Development: HRM ensures that employees acquire the necessary skills and knowledge
to perform their jobs effectively. Training and development programs are designed to enhance the
capabilities of the workforce and contribute to organizational growth.
6. Performance Management: HRM involves establishing performance standards, evaluating employee
performance, providing feedback, and implementing performance improvement plans. The goal is to
ensure that employees meet or exceed expectations.
7. Employee Relations: HRM is responsible for maintaining positive employee relations. This includes
addressing workplace conflicts, fostering a positive work environment, and ensuring compliance with
labor laws and regulations.
8. Compensation and Benefits: HRM manages compensation and benefits programs to ensure they are
competitive, fair, and aligned with organizational goals. This includes salary structures, bonuses,
incentives, and employee benefits.
9. Compliance and Legal Issues: HRM plays a critical role in ensuring that the organization complies
with employment laws and regulations. This includes staying informed about labor laws, handling
disputes, and maintaining fair and ethical practices.
10. Technology Integration: In modern HRM, technology plays a significant role. HRM systems and tools
are used for tasks such as payroll processing, talent management, employee self-service, and data
analytics to make informed decisions.

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Scope of Human Resource Management
1. Personnel Aspect
• Human Resource Planning – It is the process by which the organization identifies the number
of jobs vacant.
• Job Analysis and Job Design – Job analysis is the systematic process for gathering,
documenting, and analyzing data about the work required for a job. Job analysis is the procedure
for identifying those duties or behavior that define a job.
• Recruitment and Selection – Recruitment is the process of preparing advertisements on the
basis of information collected from job analysis and publishing it in newspaper. Selection is the
process of choosing the best candidate among the candidates applied for the job.
• Orientation and Induction – Making the selected candidate informed about the organization’s
background, culture, values, and work ethics.
• Training and Development – Training is provided to both new and existing employees to
improve their performance.
• Performance Appraisal – Performance check is done of every employee by Human Resource
Management. Promotions, transfers, incentives, and salary increments are decided on the basis
of employee performance appraisal.
• Compensation Planning and Remuneration – It is the job of Human Resource Management
to plan compensation and remunerate.
• Motivation – Human Resource Management tries to keep employees motivated so that
employees put their maximum efforts in work.
2. Welfare Aspect – Human Resource Management have to follow certain health and safety regulations
for the benefit of employees. It deals with working conditions, and amenities like - canteens, creches,
rest and lunch rooms, housing, transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety, recreation
facilities, etc.
3. Industrial Relation Aspect – HRM works to maintain co-ordinal relation with the union members to
avoid strikes or lockouts to ensure smooth functioning of the organization. It also covers - joint
consultation, collective bargaining, grievance and disciplinary procedures, and dispute settlement.
Objectives of HRM:
The primary objective of HRM is to ensure the availability of a competent and willing workforce to an
organization. Apart from this, there are other objectives too.
Specifically, HRM objectives are four-fold: societal, organisational, functional, and personal.
• Societal Objectives: The societal objectives are socially and ethically responsible for the needs and
challenges of society. While doing so, they have to minimize the negative impact of such demands upon
the organisation. The failure of organisations to use their resources for society’s benefit in ethical ways
may lead to restrictions. For example, the society may limit human resource decisions to laws that
enforce reservation in hiring and laws that address discrimination, safety or other such areas of societal
concern.
• Organisational Objectives: The organisational objectives recognise the role of human resource
management in bringing about organisational effectiveness. Human resource management is not an end
in itself; it is only a means to assist the organisation with its primary objectives. Simply stated the human
resource department exists to serve the rest of the organisation.
• Functional Objectives: Functional objectives try to maintain the department’s contribution at a level
appropriate to the organisation’s needs. Human resources are to be adjusted to suit the organisation’s
demands. The department’s level of service must be tailored to fit the organisation it serves.
• Personal Objectives: Personal objectives assist employees in achieving their personal goals, at least in
so far as these goals enhance the individual’s contribution to the organisation. Personal objectives of
employees must be met if they are to be maintained, retained and motivated. Otherwise, employee
performance and satisfaction may decline giving rise to employee turnover.

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Objectives of HRM
Functions of HRM
Human Resources management has an important role to play in equipping organizations to meet the challenges
of an expanding and increasingly competitive sector. Increase in staff numbers, contractual diversification and
changes in demographic profile which compel the HR managers to reconfigure the role and significance of
human resources management.
Human Resource or Personnel Department is established in most of the organisations, under the charge of an
executive known as Human Resource/Personnel Manager. This department plays an important role in the
efficient management of human resources.
Some of the major functions of human resource management are as follows:
• Managerial Functions
• Operative Functions
• Advisory Functions.

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Function of HRM

1. Managerial Functions:
The Human Resource Manager is a part of the organisational management. So he must perform the basic
managerial functions of planning, organising, directing and controlling in relation to his department. These
functions are briefly discussed below:
• Planning: To get things done through the subordinates, a manager must plan ahead. Planning is
necessary to determine the goals of the organisation and lay down policies and procedures to reach the
goals. For a human resource manager, planning means the determination of personnel programs that will
contribute to the goals of the enterprise, i.e., anticipating vacancies, planning job requirements, job
descriptions and determination of the sources of recruitment. The process of personnel planning involves
three essential steps. A supply and demand forecast for each job category is made. This step requires
knowledge to both labour market conditions and the strategic posture and goals of the organisation. Net
shortage and excess of personnel by job category are projected for a specific time horizon. Plans are
developed to eliminate the forecast shortages and excess of particular categories of human resources.
• Organizing: Once the human resource manager has established objectives and developed plans and
programs to reach them, he must design and develop organisation structure to carry out the various
operations. The organisation structure basically includes the following:
▪ Grouping of personnel activity logically into functions or positions;

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▪ Assignment of different functions to different individuals;
▪ Delegation of authority according to the tasks assigned and responsibilities involved;
▪ Co-ordination of activities of different individuals.
• Directing: The plans are to be pure into effect by people. But how smoothly the plans are implemented
depends on the motivation of people. The direction function of the personnel manager involves
encouraging people to work willingly and effectively for the goals of the enterprise. In other words, the
direction function is meant to guide and motivate the people to accomplish the personnel programs. The
personnel manager can motivate the employees in an organisation through career planning, salary
administration, ensuring employee morale, developing cordial relationships and provision of safety
requirements and welfare of employees.
• The motivational function poses a great challenge for any manager. The personnel manager must have
the ability to identify the needs of employees and the means and methods of satisfy those needs.
Motivation is a continuous process as new needs and expectations emerge among employees when old
ones are satisfied.
• Controlling: Controlling is concerned with the regulation of activities in accordance with the plans,
which in turn have been formulated on the basis of the objectives of the organisation. Thus, controlling
completes the cycle and leads back to planning. It involves the observation and comparison of results
with the standards and correction of deviations that may occur.
• Controlling helps the personnel manager to evaluate the control the performance of the personnel
department in terms of various operative functions. It involves performance appraisal, critical
examination of personnel records and statistics and personnel audit.
2. Operative Functions:
The operative functions are those tasks or duties which are specifically entrusted to the human resource or
personnel department. These are concerned with employment, development, compensation, integration and
maintenance of personnel of the organisation. The operative functions of human resource or personnel
department are discussed below:
• Employment: The first operative function of the human resource of personnel department is the
employment of proper kind and number of persons necessary to achieve the objectives of the
organisation. This involves recruitment, selection, placement, etc. of the personnel.
• Before these processes are performed, it is better to determine the manpower requirements both in terms
of number and quality of the personnel. Recruitment and selection cover the sources of supply of labour
and the devices designed to select the right type of people for various jobs. Induction and placement of
personnel for their better performance also come under the employment or procurement function.
• Development: Training and development of personnel is a follow up of the employment function. It is
a duty of management to train each employee property to develop technical skills for the job for which
he has been employed and also to develop him for the higher jobs in the organisation. Proper
development of personnel is necessary to increase their skills in doing their jobs and in satisfying their
growth need.
• For this purpose, the personnel departments will device appropriate training programs. There are several
on- the-job and off-the-job methods available for training purposes. A good training program should
include a mixture of both types of methods. It is important to point out that personnel department
arranges for training not only of new employees but also of old employees to update their knowledge in
the use of latest techniques.
• Compensation: This function is concerned with the determination of adequate and equitable
remuneration of the employees in the organisation of their contribution to the organisational goals. The
personnel can be compensated both in terms of monetary as well as non-monetary rewards.
• Factors which must be borne in mind while fixing the remuneration of personnel are their basic needs,
requirements of jobs, legal provisions regarding minimum wages, capacity of the organisation to pay,
wage level afforded by competitors etc. For fixing the wage levels, the personnel department can make
use of certain techniques like job evaluation and performance appraisal.

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• Maintenance (Working Conditions and Welfare): Merely appointment and training of people is not
sufficient; they must be provided with good working, conditions so that they may like their work and
workplace and maintain their efficiency. Working conditions certainly influence the motivation and
morale of the employees.
• These include measures taken for health, safety, and comfort of the workforce. The personnel department
also provides for various welfare services which relate to the physical and social well-being of the
employees. These may include provision of cafeteria, rest rooms, counselling, group insurance,
education for children of employees, recreational facilities, etc.
• Motivation: Employees work in the organisation for the satisfaction of their needs. In many of the cases,
it is found that they do not contribute towards the organisational goals as much as they can. This happens
because employees are not adequately motivated. The human resource manager helps the various
departmental managers to design a system of financial and non-financial rewards to motivate the
employees.
• Personnel Records: The human resource or personnel department maintains the records of the
employees working in the enterprise. It keeps full records of their training, achievements, transfer,
promotion, etc. It also preserves many other records relating to the behaviour of personnel like
absenteeism and labour turnover and the personnel programs and policies of the organisation.
• Industrial Relations: These days, the responsibility of maintaining good industrial relations is mainly
discharged by the human resource manager. The human resource manager can help in collective
bargaining, joint consultation and settlement of disputes, if the need arises. This is because of the fact
that he is in possession of full information relating to personnel and has the working knowledge of
various labour enactments. The human resource manager can do a great deal in maintaining industrial
peace in the organisation as he is deeply associated with various committees on discipline, labour
welfare, safety, grievance, etc. He helps in laying down the grievance procedure to redress the grievances
of the employees. He also gives authentic information to the trade union leaders and conveys their views
on various labour problems to the top management.
• Separation: Since the first function of human resource management is to procure the employees, it is
logical that the last should be the separation and return of that person to society. Most people do not die
on the job. The organisation is responsible for meeting certain requirements of due process in separation,
as well as assuring that the returned person is in as good shape as possible. The personnel manager has
to ensure the release of retirement benefits to the retiring personnel in time.
3. Advisory Functions: Human resource manager has specialised education and training in managing human
resources. He is an expert in his area and so can give advice on matters relating to human resources of the
organisation. He offers his advice to:
• Advised to Top Management: Personnel manager advises the top management in formulation and
evaluation of personnel programs, policies and procedures. He also gives advice for achieving and
maintaining good human relations and high employee morale.
• Advised to Departmental Heads: Personnel manager offers advice to the heads of various departments
on matters such as manpower planning, job analysis and design, recruitment and selection, placement,
training, performance appraisal, etc.

The functions are responsive to current staffing needs, but can be proactive in reshaping organizational
objectives. All the functions of HRM are correlated with the core objectives of HRM (Table). For example-
Personal objectives is sought to be realized through functions like remuneration, assessment etc.

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Challenges of HRM:
Changes in socio-economic and political conditions are bound to bring about changes in the environment within
the organizations. The personnel managers of today may find themselves obsolete because of the rapidly
changing business environment, and therefore they should constantly update their knowledge and skills by
looking at the organization’s needs and objectives. Some of the important challenges are:
i. Vision penetration: Evolving the right vision is an entrepreneurial or top management function, but
its utility increases immensely if it percolates, and is understood and accepted down the line. Vision
not only provides the fuel and direction to business strategy, but also helps managers evaluate
management practices and make decisions. Penetration of vision shall therefore become an
important, integral part of man management in future.
ii. Internal environment: Creating an environment, which is responsive to external changes, providing
satisfaction to the members of the organization, and sustaining it through culture, useful traditions,
practices, and even systems, will become another important dimension of managing managerial
personnel.
iii. Change in industrial relations: The practice of IR has undergone sea change. The notion that
workers must be disciplined at the managers will have to be buried. Development of workers may
need simpler and appropriate inputs, but both the workers and managers must be managed and
developed by the same set of assumptions and HRM philosophy of the company.
iv. Building organizational capabilities: The paradigm of managing managers would include not only
assisting them to acquire new skills and knowledge and to evaluate environmental changes to evolve
business strategies, but also to live in a psychological state of readiness to continually change.
v. Job design and organizational structure: In designing organizations, we will, hopefully, soon give
up uncritical acceptance of foreign concepts and fads like quality circles, TQM, etc. Instead of these,
organizational structure and design will primarily be based on (i) task approach, i.e. understanding
of the intricacies of technology, jobs and functions to be performed to achieve organizational tasks,
and (ii) people approach, which takes cognizance of their strengths, idiosyncrasies, aspirations and
relationships at work.
vi. Increasing size of workforce: The organizations are ever increasing in size and complexity,
multiplying the number of people working therein. The management of an increased workforce poses
serious problems and challenges especially since the workers are becoming more conscious of their
rights.
vii. Changing psycho-social system: In the traditional bureaucratic mode, the organizations were
designed to perform technical functions with strict compartmentalization of work functions. But in
future, human participation will be required not only in technical functions but also in establishing
the democratic humanistic system.
viii. Satisfaction of higher-level needs: The workers are becoming much aware of their higher-level
needs. The awareness is likely to intensify further in the future workforce. Therefore, managers
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would be required to evolve appropriate techniques of motivating the workers and getting work from
them.
ix. Equalitarian social system: Major developments that have taken place in the last four decades have
been due to the desire of the organization’s members to have greater say and influence in
organizational functioning. Thus, contemporary organizations are putting lesser emphasis on the
hierarchical structures and thus moving towards a more equalitarian social system. This is going to
be more common in days to come.
x. Technological advances: In the wake of technological advances new jobs will create and many jobs
will become redundant. Unemployment resulting from modernization could be liquidated by
properly assessing manpower needs and training of redundant employees in alternate skills.
xi. Computerized information system: It will play a revolutionary role in managerial decision making.
It will also have an increasing impact in coordination and at strategic levels.
xii. Changes in legal environment: To meet with the increasing changes in the legal environment,
necessary adjustments will have to be made so that greater utilization of human resources can be
achieved.
xiii. Management of human relations: The new generation workforce comprising educated and
conscious workers will ask for higher degree of participation and avenues for self-fulfilment. It is
rather difficult to motivate many of the new generation workers than their predecessors. This is partly
due to change in their value system and higher levels of professional competency.
Difference between Personnel Management and Human Resource Management
BASIS FOR HUMAN RESOURCE
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
COMPARISON MANAGEMENT
Meaning The aspect of management that is The branch of management that focuses
concerned with the work force and on the most effective use of the manpower
their relationship with the entity is of an entity, to achieve the organizational
known as Personnel Management. goals is known as Human Resource
Management.
Approach Traditional Modern
Treatment of Machines or Tools Asset
manpower
Type of function Routine function Strategic function
Basis of Pay Job Evaluation Performance Evaluation
Management Role Transactional Transformational
Communication Indirect Direct
Labor Collective Bargaining Contracts Individual Contracts
Management
Initiatives Piecemeal Integrated
Management Procedure Business needs
Actions
Decision Making Slow Fast
Job Design Division of Labour Groups/Teams
Focus Primarily on mundane activities like Treat manpower of the organization as
employee hiring, remunerating, valued assets, to be valued, used and
training, and harmony. preserved.

Evolution of HRM
From industrial revolution era to the present era, various stages to development of management of human
resource practices may be classified as follows:
1. Industrial revolution era— 19th century
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2. Trade union movement era — close to the 19th century
3. Social responsibility era — beginning of the 20th century
4. Scientific management era— 1900-1920s
5. Human relations era— 1930s-1950s
6. Behavioural science era— 1950s-1960s
7. Systems and contingency approach era – 1960 onwards
8. Human resource management era — 1980 onwards
Main features of these eras and the type of practices related to managing human resources are as follows:
1. Industrial Revolution Era:
The systematic development of HRM started with industrial revolution that started during 1850s in Western
Europe and USA. The industrial revolution consisted, essentially, the development of machinery, the use of
mechanical energy in production processes, and consequently the emergence of the concept of factory with large
number of workforces working together.
The factory system replaced the old cottage system. Industrial revolution brought out a number of changes like
centralized work locations with large number of workers working together, mechanized production process,
migration of workers from their place of origin, and indirect contact between factory owners and workers.
In order to manage people in the factory system of industrial revolution, three systems of HRM were developed-
recruitment of workers, training for workers, and control of workers. However, the basic philosophy of
managing workers revolved around master-servant relationship.
2. Trade Union Movement Era:
Shortly after the emergence of factory system, workers started to organize themselves based on their common
interests to form workers’ associations which were subsequently known as trade unions. The basic objectives
of these associations were to safeguard interest of their members and to sort out their problems which arose
primarily because of employment of child labour, long hours of work, and poor working conditions.
Later, other aspects of work such as economic problems and wages, employee benefits and services, etc. also
became issues. These trade unions started such weapons as strikes, slowdowns, walkouts, boycotts, etc., for the
acceptance of their demands.
These activities of the trade unions forced owners and managers to adopt employee grievance handling systems,
arbitration as a means of resolving conflicts between owners/managers and workers, disciplinary practice,
expansion of employee benefit programmes, holiday and vacation time, clear definition of job duties, job rights
through seniority, and installation of rational and defensible wage structures.
3. Social Responsibility Era:
In the first decade of 20th century, some factory owners started adopting a more humanistic and paternalistic
approach towards workers. Paternalistic approach to labour management is based on the philosophy that labour
is just like a child and owner is just like a father and the owner should take care of his labour just like a father
takes care of his children.
Those industrialists who adopted paternalistic approach offered a number of concessions and facilities to labour
force like reduced number of work hours, improved facilities at workplace, model villages to workers, etc. All
these practices led to the development of social welfare aspect of labour management.
Many critics to paternalistic approach viewed that this approach was adopted to overcome the problems posed
by labour union movement as plenty of trade unions emerged which frequently interrupted work performance.
Employers observed that workers were going out of their control and to overcome this problem, they
implemented welfare scheme. Thus, this was a compulsion rather than a philosophy.
4. Scientific Management Era:
Around the beginning of 20th century, Taylor started to find out ‘one best way of doing thing’ based on time
and motion studies. On the basis of his experiments, he was able to increase workers’ productivity considerably
and wrote many papers based on these experiments and a book on scientific management.
The main principles of scientific management are:

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(i) Replacing rule of thumb with science, (ii) harmony, not conflict, (iii) cooperation, not individualism, and (iv)
development of each and every person. Scientific management techniques relevant to management of workers
are- functional foremanship, standardization and simplification of work, and differential piece wage system.
5. Human Relations Era:
Around 1920s, management researchers gave a close look at the human factor at work and the variables that
affected people’s behaviour. Before that, Hugo Munsterberg wrote a book on ‘Psychology and Industrial
Efficiency’ which suggested the use of psychology in the field of personnel testing, interviewing, attitude
measurement, learning, etc.
This brief period was termed as ‘Industrial Psychology Era’. In 1924, a group of professors from Harvard
Business School, USA, began an enquiry into the human aspects of work and working conditions at Hawthorne
plant of Western Electric Company, Chicago.
They conducted researches from 1924 to 1932 and arrived at the conclusions that productivity of workers
depended on- (i) social factors at the workplace, (ii) group formation and group influence, (iii) nature of
leadership and supervision, and (iv) communication.
They concluded that in order to have better productivity, management should take care of human relations
besides the physical conditions at the workplace. Consequently, the concepts of social system, informal
organization, group influence, and non-logical behaviour entered the field of management of personnel.
6. Behavioural Science Era:
In contrast to human relations which assume that happy workers are productive workers, the behavioural
scientists have been goal and efficiency- oriented and consider understanding of human behaviour to be the
major means to that end. They have tried several sophisticated research methods to understand the nature of
work and the people in the work environment.
The contribution of behavioural scientists to management practices consists primarily of producing new insights
rather than new techniques. It has developed or expanded a useful way of thinking about the role of the manager,
the nature of organizations, and the behaviour of individuals within organizations. As against human relations
model, they have given the concept of human resource model.
Major conclusions of the contributions made by behaviouralists are as follows:
i. People do not dislike work. If they have been helped to establish objectives, they will want to achieve
them. In fact, job itself is a source of motivation and satisfaction to employees.
ii. Most people can exercise a great deal of self-direction and self-control and generate more creativity
than required in their current job. Therefore, their untapped potential remains unutilized.
iii. Managers’ basic job is to use untapped human potential in the organization.
iv. Manager should create a healthy environment wherein all persons can contribute to the best of their
capacity. The environment should provide a healthy, safe, comfortable, and convenient place to
work.
v. Managers should provide opportunity for self-direction by their subordinates and they must be
encouraged to participate fully in all important matters.
vi. Operating efficiency can be improved by expanding subordinate influence, self- direction, and self-
control.
vii. Work satisfaction may improve as a ‘by-product’ of subordinates making full use of their potential.
Behavioural science era led to the development of two-way communication, participation of employees in
decision making, joint goal-setting, group dynamics, management development, and management of change in
the organization. These contributions of behavioural science era are backbone of behavioural approach of human
resource management even in the present context.
7. Systems and Contingency Approach Era:
Systems and contingency approach have attracted maximum attention of thinkers in management in the present
era. It is an integrated approach which considers management of human resources in its totality based on
empirical data. The basic idea of this approach is that analysis of any object must rely on a method of analysis
involving simultaneous variations of mutually-dependent variables. This happens when systems approach is
applied in managing human resources.

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8. Human Resource Management Era:
When the factory system was applied in production, large number of workers started working together. A need
was felt that there should be someone who should take care of recruiting, developing, and looking after welfare
of these workers. For this purpose, industrial relations department came into existence in most of the large
organizations which was concerned mostly with workers.
However, as the time passed and the complexity of managing human resources in large business organizations
increased, the scope of industrial relations department was extended to cover supervisory staff and subsequently
managerial personnel. Industrial relations department was named as personnel department.
With the increasing competition for market share, competition for resources including human talents, and
increased knowledge in the field of managing human resources, people were not treated merely as physiological
beings but socio-psychological beings as a prime source of organizational effectiveness and large organizations
changed the nomenclature of their personnel department to human resource ‘department to reflect the
contemporary view.
Even the American Society for Personnel Administration, the largest professional association in the field of
human resource management, changed its name to the Society for Human Resource Management in 1990. At
the academic level, similar pattern was followed and the title of personnel management course was changed to
human resource management. Since then, the expression is gradually replacing the hackneyed term ‘personnel
management’.
History of Modern Human Resource Management
1. Early Philosophy (Before 1900):
The history of modern Human Resource Management began with the efforts of Robert Owen. Owen is called
the founder of Human Resource Management. In 1813, he wrote a book, A New View of Society. In it he
propounded the need for better industrial relations and improvements in the service conditions. His attitude
towards workers was very cordial, liberal and paternalistic.
He got good houses constructed for his workers by the side of his factory. He eliminated child labour and
provided healthy working conditions. J.S. Mill, Andrew Yule and Charles Bewarage, contemporaries of Robert
Owen, developed Human Resource Management as a science and supported the idea of wage incentives, profit
sharing and labour welfare, etc.
2. Efficiency and Productivity Movement (1900-1920):
During the last year of the 19th century arrived the age of efficiency and productivity movement. The two
decades from 1900 to 1920 were the years of scientific management movement. Taylor’s Scientific Management
Thought was accepted during this period. Taylor opposed the idea of trade unionism and workers’ organization.
The main contribution of these two decades has been the increase in the size of units, introduction of scientific
thinking into actions, job analysis, standards costing, scientific selection and training of workers and the idea of
mental revolution.
3. Period of Welfarism and Industrial Psychology (1920- 1930):
Up to 1925, the Human Resource Management had taken a definite form. Staff line organization became the
basis of Human Resource Management. The opposition of scientific management movement by workers
introduced the need of industrial psychology.
Industrial psychologists developed many new techniques like psychological testing, interviewing, workers
training and non-financial incentives. They helped to give a professional form to Human Resource Management.
The Human Resource Management began to be realized as a profession and a specialist’s function.
4. Period of Human Relations (1930-1950):
When Prof. Elton Mayo and his companions conducted Hawthorn experiments, it was the beginning of
recognition of the fact that human resources have greater influence on production than other psychical resources.
A worker must be treated as a human being. His social, psychological and moral instincts should be fully
recognized by the management.
Due to these experiments the commodity concept of labour changed to social concept. The decade of 1940-1950
was very important for the development of Human Resource Management. During that decade, many new
techniques were developed for the selection, training and induction of workers. The human resource philosophy

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became people-oriented. Trade unions flourished and provision of fringe benefits for the workers became
common.
5. Modern Times (After 1950):
The history of Human Resource Management since 1950 up to current times is the age of modern developments.
It is the period of the citizenship concept of labour where the workers have full right to be consulted in
determining the rules and regulations under which they work.
The concept of industrial democracy has imposed many new responsibilities upon the human resource managers
of industrial houses. In modern times, Human Resource Management is widely accepted as an independent
discipline. One finds two important developments during this period, after 1960, the Human Resource
Management began to be realized as a behavioural science which centred completely on human elements with
the study of organizational behaviour as its main crux.
After 1970s the belief of ‘open social and industrial system’ became very popular for business organizations. In
modern times, Human Resource Management is fully recognized as a profession dealing with the management
of human resources. These developments widened the scope of Human Resource Management.
Evolution of Human Resource Management – 3 Stages for the Growth of Human Resource Management
Historically, the beginning of HRM from the writing of Robert Owen, Charles Babbage and Henry Towde.
Especially, the HRM growth was particularly marked in the inter-war era. It has branched out specifically along
the domains of applied psychology and sociology. The latter in turn has evolved around the concept of the
“welfare state”. While the former has proceeded as the behavioural science movement.
Human Resource Management (HRM) is relatively a very recent term considered for managing human
resources in an organisation. HRM is still evolving to become an amalgam of organisational behaviour,
personnel management, industrial relations and labour legislation.
Following stages explain the process involved for reaching to the current HRM stage:
1. Labour Welfare Stage:
Formal beginnings of HRM may have emerged from industrial disputes and conflicts. An enquiry on
determining reasons for industrial disputes and conflicts gave light to several problems related to living and
working conditions of employees across industries. This enquiry highlighted limitations of businesses that
perceived human resources as machines for obtaining increased productivity and more profits at lower costs.
Workers worked long hours in strenuous working conditions that led to the formation of trade unions. These
trade unions focused on protecting and promoting workers’ interests but faced resistance from the management
of businesses thus leading to industrial disputes and conflicts.
2. Personnel Management Stage:
When labour welfare issues were provided legal assurances, organisations began focusing on behaviour of
employees at all levels at an individual, group and overall organisational basis. A “Personnel” was appointed to
manage the employee-employer relationship by managing issues related to human resource planning,
recruitment and selection, training and development, performance and potential appraisal, promotions, transfers,
quality of working life, compensation, compliances to labour laws and legislations.
3. HRM Stage:
Human Resource Management or HRM is a mix of labour welfare and personnel management. HRM aims at
maximising employee performance in accordance to the objectives set by an organisation. HRM is a result of
increasing organisational size, changing social and cultural norms, easy access to information (via technology)
and globalisation. Accordingly, it attempts to build worker-employees relationship more humanely through
motivation, training and development, retention, worker protection, etc.
Also, under HRM, HR managers need to obtain and incorporate knowledge about possible changes that may
affect the overall organisation. HR managers thus attempt to execute relevant strategies to ensure smooth
transition of changes without disturbing inter-relationships and avoiding disputes/conflicts within an
organisation.

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Strategic Management
Strategic decision-making is done through the process of strategic management, which has been defined by
different authors. The following three definitions present a complete overview of the concept.
‘Strategic management is that set of decisions and actions which leads to the development of an effective
strategy or strategies to help achieve corporate objectives.’ – F.Glueck
‘Strategic management is defined as the set of decisions and actions in formulation and implementation of
strategies designed to achieve the objectives of an organization.’ – W.F. Glueck
‘Strategic management is primarily concerned with relating the organization to its environment, formulating
strategies to adapt to that environment, and, assuming that implementation of strategies takes place.’
– Pearce & Robinson
All the management functions of a company can be broadly classified into two categories –strategic and
operational. Strategic functions are performed more at the senior and top management level, and operational
functions are performed more by middle and lower management levels. In other words, as the level of
management moves up, the managers perform more strategic functions and less operational functions.
Strategic management is an art as well as science of formulating, implementing and evaluating decisions across
functional areas to help an organisation in achieving its objectives. It focuses on integrating management,
marketing, finance, production, R&D and IT to achieve organisational success. In business world, the terms
strategic planning and strategic management are used interchangeably. The rationale of strategic management
is to utilize and develop new and different opportunities for future.
Advantages of Strategic Management
Strategic management allows organisations to shape their own destinies by becoming more proactive than
reactive; it allows organisations to initiate and influence activities to control its future. The major advantage of
strategic management is to help organisations to formulate better strategies by following a methodical, rational
approach while making strategic choice. One key focus of the strategic management is on getting the
understanding of and commitment from all managers and employees. Understanding is probably one of the most
important benefits of strategic management, followed by commitment. In cases where employees and managers
understand what the organisation is doing and why, they often feel they are a part of the firm and become
committed to assisting it. This also enables employees to understand the linkages between their own
compensation and organisational performance. Another great benefit o strategic management is that it empowers
the individuals. Empowerment means strengthening employees’ sense of effectiveness by involving them in
decision-making and to exercise initiative and imagination, and rewarding them for doing so.
I. Financial Benefits
Research indicates strategic management helps organisations to become more successful and profitable than
their counterparts. Systematic planning prepares organisations for uncertain future and also generally shows
better financial performance in comparison to their industry. Further, these enterprises are also expected to make
more informed decisions by analysing both short and long-term consequences.
The strategic management practices may help a company by yielding following benefits:
• Increased sales
• Improved profitability
• Enhanced productivity
II. Non-Financial Benefits
In addition to the financial benefits, strategic management offers other intangible and non-financial benefits.
Some of these befits are:
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• Enhanced awareness of external threats
• Improved understanding of competitors’ strategies
• Increased employee productivity
• Reduced resistance to change
• Clearer understanding of performance-reward relationships.
• Promotes interaction among managers at divisional and functional levels by enhancing the problem
prevention capabilities
• Encourages order and discipline in the organisation
• Creates efficient and effective managerial systems
• Establishes confidence in current business strategy and highlights need for corrective measures
• Provides basis for identifying and rationalising the need for change
Helps the employees to view change as an opportunity Greenly stated the below mentioned benefits of strategic
management:
• Permits organisations to identify, prioritise and exploit opportunities.
• Gives an unbiased and real picture of management problems.
• Provides guidelines to stimulate coordination and control of activities.
• Reduces the impact of adverse conditions and changes in the business environment.
• Helps in taking good decisions to support established objectives.
• Allows effective allocation of time and resources to identified opportunities.
• Management Strategic Management Concept of Strategy.
• Helps in reducing the wastage of resources and time.
• Encourages internal communication.
• Integrates the behaviour of individuals into total effort.
• Defines clear individual responsibilities.
• Promotes forward thinking.
• Provides cooperative and integrated approach to deal with problems and opportunities.
• Stimulates a favourable attitude toward change.
• Creates discipline in the management of a business.
Limitations of Strategic Management: Strategic management and planning is a complex process, thus has
some major limitations –
• Analysing a complex and dynamic environment: Complete information or details on environmental
changes including markets and competitors, are hardly available. Thus, companies have to act on
incomplete information or database.
• Plans, frameworks and system mean rigidity: Strategic planning or management reduces flexibility
and individual initiatives. All systems imply certain amount of rigidity.
• Limitation in implementation: A strategy may be well conceived and formulated, but there may be
problems in implementation arising out of internal conflicts, lack of co-ordination, lack of support from
top management etc.
• Inadequate appreciation by the management: The planning and executing teams may not get
adequate appreciation or reward from the top management when their strategies succeed, but, in case of
failure, management may not accept the situation.
Role of HRM in strategic management
The major roles of Strategic HRM in an organisation are given below:
1. Strategic role: The strategic role of HR involves formulating business decisions, translating corporate
strategy into a human resource strategy, and training employees to concentrate on customer needs.

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2. Information and decision-making role: In this role, the HR department must inform and advice the
organisation about the various best practices like efficiency in customer services or new product development.
In the information and decision- making role, HR must take decisions about problems in employee relations.
3. Strategic HR functional role: This is a very important role. In this role, HR must select, design and
implement planning and appraisal systems for the employees. These systems should fit both the strategy and
the culture of the organisation concerned.
4. Administrative role: In this role, HR must implement policies and procedures for the organisation. In
addition, the HR department must try to improve the administrative system of the organisation. SHRM organises
various training and development programmes to encourage employee involvement. It thus, motivates the
employees to become flexible to achieve the strategic goals of the organisation.
Role of HRM in Strategic Management: Human Resource Management (HRM) plays a crucial role in
strategic management by aligning human capital with organizational goals and objectives. It involves the
effective management of people, processes, and policies to contribute to the overall success of an organization.
1. Workforce Planning: HRM assists in forecasting the organization's future human resource needs based
on strategic goals. It involves analysing current workforce capabilities, identifying skill gaps, and
planning for recruitment, training, or restructuring as necessary.
2. Talent Acquisition and Recruitment: HRM ensures the organization has the right people with the right
skills and competencies. Recruitment strategies are aligned with the organization's strategic objectives
to attract top talent.
3. Training and Development: HRM identifies skill gaps and designs training programs to enhance
employee capabilities. Development initiatives are aligned with strategic goals to build a workforce
capable of meeting future organizational challenges.
4. Performance Management: HRM establishes performance metrics and aligns individual and team
goals with the overall strategic objectives. Regular performance reviews help in identifying high
performers, providing feedback, and addressing areas of improvement.
5. Employee Engagement: Engaged employees are more likely to contribute positively to strategic goals.
HRM implements initiatives to foster a positive work culture, improve communication, and enhance
employee satisfaction.
6. Succession Planning: HRM identifies and develops potential future leaders within the organization.
Succession planning ensures a smooth transition of key personnel, minimizing disruptions to strategic
initiatives.
7. Compensation and Benefits: HRM designs compensation structures that attract, retain, and motivate
employees. Aligning compensation with strategic objectives helps in retaining key talent and achieving
organizational goals.
8. Change Management: HRM plays a pivotal role in managing organizational change by addressing the
human side of change. It helps employees understand and adapt to changes brought about by strategic
initiatives.
9. Labor Relations: HRM manages relationships with unions and ensures that labor practices align with
the organization's strategic goals. Effective communication and negotiation are essential for maintaining
a positive labour environment.
10. Data Analytics: HRM uses data analytics to track key performance indicators, measure the impact of
HR interventions, and make informed decisions. Analytics can provide insights into workforce trends,
helping in strategic planning.
Human capital Management:
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The word “Human Capital” was introduced by A. W. Lewis in “Economic Development with Unlimited
Supplies of Labour”. Human capital is defined as the collective stock of skills, attributes, knowledge, and
expertise of employees which further plays an integral role in increasing the productivity of the organization.
The term Human Capital has now become common in HR language to describe people and their collective skills,
abilities, experience and potential.
• Intellectual capital - Intellectual capital describes the knowledge assets available to the organizations
and is a large part of intangible value, which is defined as the stocks and flows of knowledge available
to an organization. These can be regarded as the intangible resources associated with people which,
together with tangible resources (money and physical assets), comprise the market or total value of a
business.
• Social capital - Social capital is another element of intellectual capital. It consists of the knowledge
derived from networks of relationships within and outside the organization. The concept of social capital
has been defined by Putnam (1996: 66) as ‘the features of social life – networks, norms and trust – that
enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives. In other words, the
structures, networks and procedures that enable those people to acquire and develop intellectual capital
represented by the stocks and flows of knowledge derived from relationships within and outside the
organization.
• Human capital - The knowledge, skills, abilities and capacity to develop and innovate possessed by
people in an organization
• Organizational capital - Organizational capital is the institutionalized knowledge possessed by an
organization that is stored in databases, manuals, etc. It is often called “structural capital”.
Key components of human capital include:
• Education and Training: The level of formal education, vocational training, and continuous learning
that individuals have undergone contribute to their human capital.
• Skills and Expertise: Specific abilities and competencies acquired through education, training, and on-
the-job experience are crucial elements of human capital.
• Experience: The practical knowledge gained through work experience adds to an individual's human
capital. It often includes problem-solving skills, adaptability, and industry-specific insights.
• Health and Well-being: Physical and mental well-being are important factors. Healthy and motivated
individuals are likely to be more productive and contribute more effectively to their work.
• Work Ethic: Personal qualities such as punctuality, dedication, and a strong work ethic contribute to
the overall effectiveness of an individual in a professional setting.
• Innovation and Creativity: The ability to think critically, solve problems, and generate innovative ideas
is increasingly recognized as a valuable aspect of human capital.
Investments in human capital, such as education and training programs, not only benefit individuals but also
contribute to the overall development of societies and economies. Organizations that recognize and invest in the
development of their employees' human capital often experience increased productivity, improved
competitiveness, and innovation. Governments and policymakers also focus on strategies to enhance the human
capital of their populations as a means of fostering economic growth and social development.
Importance of Human Capital
• Economic Productivity: Human capital significantly influences economic productivity. Well-educated,
skilled, and healthy individuals are more likely to be productive in the workforce. A highly skilled and
knowledgeable workforce can contribute to higher levels of output and efficiency, which is essential for
economic growth.
• Innovation and Technological Progress: Human capital is a key driver of innovation and technological
advancements. Individuals with a strong educational background and diverse skills are more likely to

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contribute to the development of new ideas, processes, and technologies. This, in turn, fuels economic
growth and competitiveness.

• Adaptability and Resilience: Human capital is not only about technical skills but also includes qualities
such as adaptability, problem-solving abilities, and resilience. Individuals with a well-developed human
capital can navigate and adapt to changes in the economy, technology, and the workplace more
effectively.
• Social Development: Human capital is essential for the overall development of societies. A well-
educated and skilled population is better equipped to address social challenges, participate in civic
activities, and contribute positively to community development.
• Health and Well-being: The health and well-being of individuals are integral components of human
capital. Healthy individuals are more likely to be productive, and investments in healthcare contribute
to the overall development of human capital.
• Long-term Economic Growth: Countries that invest in education, training, and healthcare to enhance
human capital tend to experience sustained economic growth over the long term. This is because an
educated and skilled workforce attracts investments, stimulates innovation, and creates a positive cycle
of economic development.
• Reduction of Income Inequality: Access to education and opportunities for skill development can help
reduce income inequality by providing individuals with the tools to improve their economic prospects.
A well-developed human capital base contributes to a more equitable distribution of wealth and
opportunities.
Emotional Quotient
Emotional Quotient Assessment Results
The Emotional Quotient (EQ) is a measure of your ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power
and acum1qaen of your emotions and the emotions of others in order to facilitate high levels of collaboration
and productivity. Your total score on the Emotional Quotient Assessment indicates your level of overall
emotional intelligence. The higher the number, the more emotionally intelligent you are. If your goal is to raise
your EQ, the components on which you have scored the lowest should be the focus of your development.

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Emotional Quotient Scoring Information

The average of the Self-Regulation, Self-Awareness and Motivation subscales represent your Self Score. The
average of the Social Awareness and Social Regulation subscales represent your Others Score. Your total level
of Emotional Quotient was calculated by averaging all five EQ dimensions.
TOTAL EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT - Your total level of emotional intelligence, formed by averaging your
Others and Self scores.

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SELF - The ability to understand yourself and form an accurate concept of yourself to operate effectively in
life.

OTHERS - The ability to understand other people, what motivates others, how they work and how to work
cooperatively with them.

Self-Awareness Based on Andrew's level of EQ in this dimension, he is moderately self-aware, meaning he

may notice what he is feeling but is not always able to explain it.
What Andrew can do:
• Practice self-reflection by identifying and naming your current emotional tone.
• Check your emotional clarity, what is your current state; red, clear or somewhere in-between?
• Once you identify the emotion, describe it aloud or write it down on paper.
• To improve your ability to self-assess, ask a family member or trusted advisor to describe your strengths
and weaknesses.
• Compare with your own self-assessment.
• Pay attention to your behaviours and see if you recognize patterns throughout the day.
• Reflect on the connection between your emotions and your behaviour.
• Write in a journal about your emotional responses to situations that were significant.
• Share your introspective discoveries and the impact on your decisions with a family member, friend or
trusted advisor.
• Make a list of your strengths and areas for improvement. Look at it daily.
• Create an action plan to develop the areas you want to improve.
• Think of situations in which you made progress on an area you wish to develop, especially in the
workplace.
• Identify three specific, measurable goals for improving your Self Awareness and revisit these goals
monthly.
• Continue to practice the realistic perspective you are developing.
Self-Awareness - The ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions and drives, as well as their
effect on others.

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Self-Regulation
Based on Andrew's level of EQ in this dimension, he would benefit from developing his level of Self-Regulation
in order to regulate actions fueled by negative or disruptive emotions.
What Andrew can do:
• Practice self-restraint by listening first, pausing and then responding.
• Learn to step away from difficult or overwhelming situations.
• Be committed to not interrupting others.
• When frustration has occurred, summarize the situation to determine triggers.
• Role-play effective responses to a stressful situation with a family member, friend or trusted co-worker
(use examples of workplace circumstances).
• Determine activities that improve your mood and take action when you feel stressed or overwhelmed.
• Focus on events that provide a sense of calm or elicit positive emotions.
• Keep a log of your effective and ineffective self-management skills so you can recall them in future
situations.
• Discuss ways of expressing emotions appropriately with your co-workers.
• When negative emotions take over, try to visualize a positive or calming scene. Put things in perspective.
Ask yourself, "What is the worst that can happen?" or "How will I feel about this a week from now?"
Self-Regulation - The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods and the propensity to suspend
judgement and think before acting.

Motivation
Based on Andrew's current level of Motivation, procrastination may be an issue.
What Andrew can do:
• Set specific goals with milestones and dates for achievement. Clarify why the goals you have set are
important to you.
• Ask yourself not only, "What are my goals?" but also, "Why are they my goals?"
• Work with a peer or trusted advisor to create detailed action items to work toward your overall goals.
• Set aside time to work on your goals each day, even if it is just five minutes at a time. List your goals
and post them where you can see them every day.
• Spend time visualizing the outcome of accomplishing your goals.
• How does it look and feel? Ask a close friend to help hold you accountable for reaching your goals.
• Celebrate accomplishments, both big and small. Learn from your mistakes; keep track of the lessons
learned in a journal.
• Challenge the status quo and make suggestions for improvement.
• Find inspiration from others who use internal Motivation to overcome obstacles to reach their dreams.
Motivation - A passion to work for reasons that go beyond the external drive for knowledge, utility,
surroundings, others, power or methodology and are based on an internal drive or propensity to pursue goals
with energy and persistence.

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Social Awareness
Based on Andrew's level of Social Awareness, at times, he may find it difficult to understand others'
emotional responses to situations and may need to adapt his communication.
What Andrew can do:
• Attempt to predict and understand the emotional responses of others before communicating your point
of view.
• Observe nonverbal behaviour to evaluate the emotional temperature of others.
• Analyse and understand things from others' perspectives before responding to your peers at work or
family members.
• Think about an invisible clarity meter over people and ask yourself what is their emotional state: red,
clear or somewhere in-between, knowing that if not clear, the optimal outcome may be compromised.
• Continue to develop interpersonal habits, such as listening to others until they are finished with their
thought before asking questions or making statements.
• Observe body language for nonverbal messages being expressed.
• Seek clarification from others when attempting to interpret emotional responses.
• Be nonjudgmental in your interactions with others.
• Ask questions before drawing conclusions.
• Offer assistance to your friends, family and even strangers on occasion. Be careful to give the assistance
they are looking for versus what you think they need.
Social Awareness - The ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people and how your words and
actions affect others.

Social Regulation
Based on Andrew's level of Social Regulation, he may find relating to others challenging, especially in
emotionally charged situations.
What Andrew can do:
• Be aware of the message your body language is communicating, try to predict how you can respond
positively to the interaction.
• Ask those you admire to describe their experience when socializing with you.
• Remember people's names.
• Use memory techniques and be known as the one that remembers!
• After a negative interaction or misunderstanding, take accountability and find ways to make amends.
• Describe scenarios to a trusted advisor in order to gain experiential knowledge on how to increase your
level of Social Regulation skills.
• Take notice when emotions are taking over an interaction and then find ways to remove yourself from
the situation.
• Show a genuine curiosity for others' well-being.
• Allow others to take the lead role so you can learn from their leadership style.
• Connect with people you have just met and find ways to continue to build the rapport.
• Seek quality, rather than quantity, in your social bonds.
• Converse with others on a deeper level.
• Join a professional association or special interest group to practice building bonds.

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Social Regulation - The ability to influence the emotional clarity of others through a proficiency in managing
relationships and building networks.

Emotional Quotient Wheel

The Emotional Quotient wheel is a visualization of your scores in the report. The circle, split into quadrants, is
encompassed by Motivation and divided by Self and Others. Your Motivation score starts at Self-Awareness,
and wraps around the wheel clockwise. This starting position is due to all EQ dimensions being influenced first
by your level of Self-Awareness. The volume of color illustrates the strength of your overall EQ score which is
also notated in the centre circle.

Mentoring
Mentoring is a professional relationship in which an experienced person (the mentor) assists another (The
mentee) in developing specific skills and knowledge that will enhance the less experienced person’s professional
and personal growth.
“Mentoring is a long-term relationship that meets a development need, helps develop full potential and benefits
all partners, mentor, mentee and the organization”. - Suzanne Faure
“Mentoring is a protected relationship in which learning and experimentation can occur, potential skills be
developed, an in which results can be measured in terms of competencies gained.’’ - Audrey Collin
Characteristics of Mentoring: The process of mentoring has following characteristics
• Mentoring is long term in nature.
• Mentoring involves two parties i.e. mentor and mentee in which mentor is more qualified person compared to
mentee. Mentoring is a professional relationship.
• The process of mentoring enhances skills of mentee.
• Mentoring serves as a career development tool.
• Mentoring leads to reduced training costs for an organization.

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Types of mentoring:

I. Formal mentoring: Formal mentoring also referred as classic mentoring. This type of mentoring pairs a
senior faculty member with a junior member, usually from the same department, for a specified period of
time.
II. Informal mentoring: Voluntary mentoring relationships that are not assigned and lack structure about how
mentors work with mentees constitute ‘informal mentoring’.
III. Peer mentoring: Members with equal ranks form either the same or different departments develop supportive
networks. They meet regularly to discuss issues and challenges they are facing as well as share advice,
information and strategies.
IV. Group or Team mentoring: In group mentoring, senior faculty members serve as mentors for a group of
junior mentees who meet regularly as a team. For example, a senior member may meet with a group of junior
faculties on a monthly basis.
V. Special project mentoring: Here mentor helps to guide mentees for short term project or task (normally
lasting a few weeks to a few months).
VI. Reverse mentoring: Here, the roles of traditional mentoring are reversed. A young employee takes on the role
of the mentor while the mentee is an older and often more experienced employee. This relationship closes the
knowledge gap for both parties.
Benefits of mentoring: The benefits of mentoring process observed in the following areas
a. mentors
b. mentees
c. organization
a. Benefits for mentors: The benefits of mentoring for mentors given here as follows;
• Mentoring process strengthens mentor’s active listening skills.
• Mentoring encourages knowledge sharing that increases self-worth (self-value) of mentor.
• A sense of fulfilment and achievement is established to the mentor with mentoring.
• Mentoring process helps to enhance mentor’s relationship building skills.
• The process of mentoring provides an added sense of responsibility and purpose for one’s career.
b. Benefits for Mentees: The benefits for mentee given here under;
• Skills or competency levels of mentees developed with mentoring process.
• Mentoring improves mentees confidence in their ability.
• Communication skills of mentee will be enhanced with process of mentoring.
• With mentoring process, mentee comes to know how to maintain professional relationship.
• Mentee’s network of contacts enhanced.
c. Benefits for organization: With mentoring process, an organization will have following benefits;

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Module 1 Overview of HRM
• The process of mentoring helps an organization to achieve its talent development goals like succession planning
and strong leadership development.
• Mentoring process improves employee retention keeping an employee for a long period in organization there by
reducing turnover rates.
• The training costs get reduced by one-to-one interaction.
• By mentoring process, it is possible to inform everyone throughout the company that leadership is willing to in
its employees.
• Mentoring improves talent acquisition efforts (acquiring skilled human labour to meet organizational needs) New
hires are aware of this organization’s career development opportunities.
Characteristics of mentor:
Mentors do not take their responsibility as a mentor lightly. A good mentor is committed in helping their mentees find
success in their chosen profession. mentor has following characteristics:
I. Willingness to share: A mentor is willing to teach what he /she knows and accept the mentee where they
currently are in their professional development. For this, a mentor must be willing to share skills, knowledge
and expertise.
II. Good communicators: Good mentor is able to communicate complex concepts in a language that mentee
understand and are in constant communication with mentee.
III. Inspiring: As a mentor, he or she must be able to inspire mentee to achieve more and success in their
profession by motivating and inspiring the mentees.
IV. Responsive: Mentors should respond to the needs of mentee and also the needed tools and information should
be provided to help mentees for developing skills and knowledge.
V. Patience: Another vital characteristic of mentor is patience. Patience is must because whatever the
information the mentors are sharing to mentees, it takes time to understand and adopt by mentees.
VI. Successful: Being successful is one of the important characteristics of mentor. As a mentor, they should have
a successful track record in their field. Then he or she will be a role model to mentees.
VII. Supportive: Always mentors should be supportive to the mentees by providing support and guidance to make
them successful. This is also one of the important characteristics a mentor should have.
VIII. Respectful: As a mentor, he is respected by colleague and employees in the organization and the professional
community.
IX. Provide insight: In mentoring process, mentors use their personal experience to help the mentees avoid
mistakes and learn from good decisions.

Building the Negotiating Developing Ending the

relationship Agreements the mentee relationship

Mentoring Process

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Step 1: Building the relationship: This is the first and foremost step in the process of mentoring. The mentor-
mentee relationship is the first vital aspect of mentoring that needs to be established. Time and money must be
invested in building a good relationship. The mentor and mentee take their time in getting to know each other.
With this, the process of mentoring will be easy.
Step 2: Negotiating Agreements: Negotiating is the action of transferring legal ownership of a document. In
this step, a set of agreements get established to be implemented and followed during mentoring relationship.
This includes:
• Defining the roles
• Setting schedules for mentoring sessions
• Identifying limitations
• Identifying mentoring style preferences.
Step 3: Developing the mentee: This is the longest step of mentoring process. During this stage, both the
mentor and mentee will define mentoring goals, create a list of mentoring activates to achieve their goals and
keep constant communication with each other.
Step 4: Ending the relationship: It is the final step in the process of mentoring. The mentoring process ends
with a celebration of the accomplishments and evaluation of outcomes. The mentoring relationship must end on
a highly positive note rather that closing abruptly (in a rude manner).
GROUP MENTORING: Group mentoring is a methodology for individual development that utilizes multiple
experts (mentors) and multiple learner (mentees) in a group setting. Although structured as group, learning is
individual and each mentee works on his or her own unique learning needs and development goals. Group
mentoring connects employees and advances learning within your organization
Features of group mentoring:
I. Group mentoring is efficient: Group mentoring affords (provide) an organization the opportunity
to extend its mentoring efforts and reach more people in a time –efficient manner.
II. Promotes Diversity: Group mentoring promotes diversity of thinking practice and understanding.
This diversity of group mentoring interaction is a powerful motivation for employee development.
III. Contribution to vibrant culture: Here, vibrant means full of energy and life. Group mentoring also
contributes to the vibrancy of mentoring culture. It expands the mentoring capacity of the
organization and affords the opportunity to move learning to the next level.
IV. Matching process: Group mentoring is a matching process that takes into consideration competency
areas like teamwork responsibility, leadership, decision making and so on as well as personal
characteristics like flexibility, honesty, communication skills etc., as needed in mentoring
relationship.
V. Avoids favouritism: Favouritism means giving unfair preferential treatment to one person at the
expense of another. Group mentoring avoids favouritism that can results when there are limited
mentors and many potential mentees.
BENEFITS OF GROUP MENTORING:
• Group mentoring reduce costs.
• Group mentoring may communicate corporate culture faster.
• It allows mentors to observe mentees as they share leadership.
• Group mentoring allows faster matching process i.e., both business needs and personal characteristics.
• Group mentoring improves social skills thorough peer interaction.
• Group mentoring improves work performance through feedback from more than just one person.
• It provides broader peer support opportunities.
• Group mentoring offers more employees the chance to be included in mentoring program.
• Group mentoring builds team work and sense of community.
• It provides mentees a chance to build a group facilitation and leadership skill.
26 Dr. Khushnuma Bano