Making the most of people

There is widespread academic debate as to what human resource management (HRM) is really about. Because of differing ideologies and perspectives, there is underlying conflict when philosophy determines practice. Traditionally personnel management is concerned with employee welfare and well-being, whereas HRM in its purest form views people as a unit of resource, i.e. something that may be manipulated and controlled for business purposes. HRM could include recruitment, selection, training, performance management, reward systems, job evaluation etc. The critical issue could be as to how we maximise the performance of employees in order to achieve corporate objectives, and at the same time, how as employers we value our employees, or as Michael Porter states: "HRM carries the promise that, if people are regarded and managed as strategic resources, it can help the firm to obtain competitive advantage and superior performance".