Human Resources

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Human resource" and "Manpower" redirect here. For other uses, see Human resource (disambiguation) and Manpower (disambiguation). his article needs additional citations for verification. !lease help impro"e this article by adding citations to reliable sources. #nsourced material may be challenged and remo"ed.
(October 2013)

Human resources is the set of indi"iduals who make up the workforce of an organi$ation, business sector, or economy. "Human capital" is sometimes used synonymously with human resources, although human capital typically refers to a more narrow "iew (i.e., the knowledge the indi"iduals embody and can contribute to an organi$ation). %ikewise, other terms sometimes used include "manpower", "talent", "labour", or simply "people". he professional discipline and business function that o"ersees an organi$ation&s human resources is called human resource management (H'M, or simply H')

Overview
The term in practice
From the corporate ob(ecti"e, employees are "iewed as assets to the enterprise, whose "alue is enhanced by de"elopment. )*+ Hence, companies will engage in a barrage of human resource management practices to capitali$e on those assets. ,n go"erning human resources, three ma(or trends are typically considered*. .emographics- the characteristics of a population/workforce, for e0ample, age, gender or social class. his type of trend may ha"e an effect in relation to pension offerings, insurance packages etc. 1. .i"ersity- the "ariation within the population/workplace. 2hanges in society now mean that a larger proportion of organi$ations are made up of "baby3boomers" or older employees in comparison to thirty years ago. 4d"ocates of "workplace di"ersity" ad"ocate an employee base that is a mirror reflection of the make3up of society insofar as race, gender, se0ual orientation etc.
3. 5kills and 6ualifications- as industries mo"e from manual to more managerial professions

so does the need for more highly skilled graduates. ,f the market is "tight" (i.e. not enough staff for the (obs), employers must compete for employees by offering financial rewards, community in"estment, etc. ,n regard to how indi"iduals respond to the changes in a labour market, the following must be understood-

7eographical spread- how far is the (ob from the indi"idual8 he distance to tra"el to work should be in line with the pay offered, and the transportation and infrastructure of the area also influence who applies for a post. 9ccupational structure- the norms and "alues of the different careers within an organi$ation. Mahoney *:;: de"eloped < different types of occupational structure, namely, craft (loyalty to the profession), organi$ation career (promotion through the firm) and unstructured (lower/unskilled workers who work when needed). 7enerational difference- different age categories of employees ha"e certain characteristics, for e0ample, their beha"ior and their e0pectations of the organi$ation.

Concerns about the terminology

9ne ma(or concern about considering people as assets or resources is that they will be commoditi$ed and abused. 5ome analysis suggests that human beings are not "commodities" or "resources", but are creati"e and social beings in a producti"e enterprise. he 1=== re"ision of ,59 :==*, in contrast, re6uires identifying the processes, their se6uence and interaction, and to define and communicate responsibilities and authorities. ,n general, hea"ily unionised nations such as France and 7ermany ha"e adopted and encouraged such approaches. 4lso, in 1==*, the ,nternational %abour 9rgani$ation decided to re"isit and re"ise its *:>? 'ecommendation *?= on Human 'esources .e"elopment,)1+ resulting in its "%abour is not a commodity" principle. 9ne "iew of these trends is that a strong social consensus on political economy and a good social welfare system facilitates labor mobility and tends to make the entire economy more producti"e, as labor can de"elop skills and e0perience in "arious ways, and mo"e from one enterprise to another with little contro"ersy or difficulty in adapting. 4nother important contro"ersy regards labor mobility and the broader philosophical issue with usage of the phrase "human resources". 7o"ernments of de"eloping nations often regard de"eloped nations that encourage immigration or "guest workers" as appropriating human capital that is more rightfully part of the de"eloping nation and re6uired to further its economic growth. 9"er time, the #nited @ations ha"e come to more generally support the de"eloping nations& point of "iew, and ha"e re6uested significant offsetting "foreign aid" contributions so that a de"eloping nation losing human capital does not lose the capacity to continue to train new people in trades, professions, and the arts.)<+