Discuss and evaluate the extent to which the terms Personnel Management and Human Resource Management are
‘HRM is regarded by some personnel managers as just a set of initials or old wine in new bottles”(Armstrong, 1987) Many critics of Human Resource Management have stated that it is an old discipline within organisations under a new guise. They claim that it encompasses all of the ideas and functions that Personnel Management has always carried out the operations that are now covered in the new obedience. ... In order to do this I shall be looking at the basic characteristics of the two fields, then contrasting the two in terms of the functions within those branches of learning. Then I shall consider how far and to what extent I believe the terms to be interchangeable. Personnel Management has been referred to in the past as the fore runner of Human Resource Management. ... Personnel Management has been seen as a responsibility of those who manage people since 1963. The basis of personnel management is to achieve effectiveness and integrity, with ‘neither of which being pursued successfully without the other’ (IPM, 1963). This form of management also tries to merge members of an organisation as both individuals, being able to contribute as such, and as part of a team as a whole. Later definitions by the IPM (1994) stated that the objectives of the personnel managers ‘can only be met if the organisation employs the correct number of people with the right skills’ whilst guaranteeing that the employees skills are ‘updated to keep pace with the changing demands and conditions which affect an organisation’ (IPM). This relates to the need for the personnel managers to motivate and train their employees, with key roles in the organisation being fulfilled by the line managers. Personnel management has however been criticised for its lack of strategic considerations and has been described as “reactive, not strategic, short-term, and focused on lower levels of employees” (Iles, Wilson and Hicks-Clarke, ) Human Resource Management (HRM) is described as ‘ a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued assets: the people’ (Armstrong 2001). ... It has been believed that organisations moved away from the ‘bureaucracy of personnel management to the apparent flexibility and responsiveness of HRM’ (Hope-Hailey et al 1998).