"Strategic" HRM - the personnel office looks to make a return on investment. Or does it?

It's just logical - why wouldn't you have an HR department to look after the most important resource of any business, its people?

Well when times get tough that logic goes out the window and HR is asked to eat itself. Downsizing becomes easier than just doing the right thing and the shrinking HR department is called upon to make the redundancies "easier". So much for caring, sharing and loyalty.

Oh well, that's business and the game we are playing. If HR can't show a return on investment then its place at the corporate table will inevitably be questioned. Some larger companies resist these baser urges but most succumb, only to rebuild (at great expense) when the cycle turns upwards again. 


Human resource management - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business.[1] The terms "human resource management" and "human resources" (HR) have largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations.[1] In simple words, HRM means employing people, developing their capacities, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement.