The role of human resource management

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Chapter1
Introduction to
human resource
management
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
identify the historical developments and their impact on HRM
outline the development and functions of HRM
understand the differences between HRM and personnel management
evaluate ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to HRM
understand how diversity is an issue in HR practice
consider the HRM as an international issue.
The opening vignette gives a somewhat pessimistic view of the role of people in the workplace.
Often it is the job of the human resource manager to develop policies and practices that serve
the organisation, but she or he also needs to think about the people. If the people are nurtured
then the organisation can develop. As can be seen below, this was not the case with Enron.
Enron: something’s got to give
Human beings are not governed purely by their own self-interest, so our management and HR
systems should not assume they are.
For more than a year, Andrew Fastow – the erstwhile chief financial officer of Enron and the
key architect of the off-balance-sheet entities that caused Enron’s sudden death – ran rings
around the prosecutors investigating the collapse of the energy giant.
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