HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENTas coherent and strategic management Essay

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENTas coherent and strategic management - Essay Example The term 'human resource,' first emerged in 1950's, coined by Peter Druker in one of his seminars and traces back to organisational development and human capital theory. HRM is controversial and debatable surrounded by great academic diversity. Confusion is caused because of the 'ambiguous pedigree' of the concept (Noon, 1992). There is a lack of clarity, the term can be viewed as being broad. HRM is a concept regarded as being enigmatic / obscure due to ideological, empirical and theoretical reasons and in many cases because of micro politics (Storey, 1992). Difficulties in defining HRM and the lack of a universally accepted definition implies that HRM is an innovation that takes on the meaning of whatever the person speaking at the time wants it to be (Torrington, 1989). Questions arise over the existence of HRM (Armstrong, 2000), over its meaning and status; is HRM a 'map,' 'model' or 'theory' (Noon, 1992) and of whether it is distinct from the traditional rhetoric of personnel an d industrial relations management. ... However, there must also be something extra if HRM is to be considered as a new innovative approach. Distinction by integration similarly leads to debate as integration is viewed differently. Again, lack of clarity leads back to the thought of HRM being whatever an organisation wants it to be. There is an apparent scale in operation which takes into account hard and soft HRM. Hard versions of HRM place emphasis on: "Strategic interventions to secure full utilisation of labour resources" (Worsfold, 1999, 340). This type of people management may be expected within the manufacturing industry, on the production line which is product and profit driven rather than service. Whereas soft versions of HRM emphasise: "Strategic interventions for commitment and development" (Worsfold, 1999, 340). Soft HRM would appear to be more synonymous with service industries, where the product is generally intangible, customers often receive an experience provided by the 'human resource,' thus commitment is sought. The human resource is perhaps more valuable, their impact greater and they may not be as easily replaced as perhaps a production operative in the manufacturing industry. Hard HRM relates back to the human relations movement from where personnel management can claim some of its origins and presents workers as a commodity, a resource to be exploited: "to be used dispassionately and in a formal rational manner" (Storey, 1992, 26). Hard HRM reflects the capitalist tradition, operating against workers' interests with no significance regarded to their well being, exploitation being paternalist and benevolent (Guest, 1999). "Essentially workers are simply resources to be squeezed and disposed of as business

What is happiness Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What is happiness - Research Paper Example Similarly, the conquest of and pursuit of happiness may be different to other based on the individual desires. There is no fixed or single definition to happiness and it can be defined differently by different experts and analysts from different professions. For example a historian will define happiness in the context of an emperor, ruler or other political or military mindset oriented individual who has had number of successes, in the same context, a philosopher may find happiness in the form of reaching to another level of thinking, or reaching to the minds and acceptance level of the readers or the students who follow that particular philosopher. Happiness also varies between the age groups. It may also vary between the societies, the surroundings and the geographical factors. For example a mere a smile may bring upon happiness and pleasure on any one’s face, to others happiness may mean earning millions and then continuing the process of striving further towards acquiring more wealth. Various questions entail the concept of happiness. These questions include the understanding of the phenomena with regard to the question such as the co relative and subjectively inductive understanding of happiness. What would the state of happiness be if it is in conflict with someone else, or if it is gained at the cost of discomfort, compromise or other damage or deprivation that may be felt by any other individual. In that case the definition of happiness would not stand fulfilled rather it would be termed as an envy, state of unhealthy competition or any other non productive bondage and affiliation in which the gain of one is the loss of other. Happiness in other words is a state of mind that is embodied by expectations. These expectations contain element of hope, future, pleasure, togetherness, completeness, accomplishment of the dreams that are held back in heart and mind and desired to be transformed into reality in the