Functions of HRM, the HR manager and organisation design
Human Resource Management · Unit I · Topic 3 of 14 · 5 min read
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Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.
Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.
1. Managerial functions
The HR manager is a manager first, and performs the general management functions for his own department and for the people side of the organisation.
- Planning — deciding in advance the HR programmes needed to meet the organisation’s goals: manpower needs, training plans, pay policy.
- Organising — designing the structure of the HR department, assigning tasks and establishing relationships of authority.
- Directing — guiding and motivating people to carry out the plans: leadership, communication and motivation.
- Controlling — comparing actual performance with plans and correcting deviations: HR audit, records, labour turnover and absenteeism reports.
2. Operative functions
(a) Procurement (employment)
Job analysis (job description and job specification), human resource planning, recruitment, selection, placement and induction. The aim is the right number of people of the right kind at the right time.
(b) Development
Training of workers, executive development, career planning and development, and organisation development. Development raises both present performance and future potential.
(c) Compensation
Job evaluation, wage and salary administration, incentives and bonus, fringe benefits. Pay must be fair internally (between jobs) and competitive externally. Minimum and floor wages and the timing and deductions of wages are now fixed by the Code on Wages, 2019 (see minimum wages and floor wage).
(d) Integration
Reconciling the goals of the individual with those of the organisation, so that employees feel a sense of belonging. It covers motivation, job satisfaction, grievance handling, discipline, communication, teamwork, and relations with trade unions, including collective bargaining and workers’ participation in management.
(e) Maintenance
Keeping the workforce physically and mentally fit and committed: health, safety and welfare measures, social security (provident fund, insurance, gratuity, maternity benefit) and good working conditions. These are now governed by the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020.
(f) Separation
Retirement, resignation, retrenchment, lay-off, dismissal and death. HRM handles exit interviews, settlement of dues and retirement benefits, and ensures any termination follows the law.
(g) Records, research and audit
Maintaining personnel records and HRIS, conducting HR research (attitude surveys, turnover analysis) and HR audit.
3. The industrial relations function: management side
Because the course is called “HRM – Industrial Relations”, a sentence or two on the IR function earns credit in any functions answer. From management’s point of view, the IR function is to keep cooperative relations with workers and their unions so that disputes are prevented or settled quickly. Its tasks:
- Dealing with recognised unions and negotiating settlements (the law on registration and recognition is in trade unions: history, registration and cancellation and recognition and collective bargaining).
- Framing and applying service rules: in establishments with 300 or more workers these are the certified standing orders under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020.
- Running the grievance procedure and the Grievance Redressal Committee (compulsory for establishments with twenty or more workers) and the Works Committee (one hundred or more): see settlement machinery.
- Maintaining discipline through fair domestic enquiries (see disciplinary action and domestic enquiry).
- Encouraging participation: suggestion schemes, joint councils, quality circles.
4. Role of the HR manager
The January 2025 paper set “Role of HR Manager” as a short note. Two lists are used; give both briefly.
Traditional roles
- Administrative role — records, policies, compliance with labour law.
- Welfare role — canteens, housing, medical care, counselling.
- Advisory role — advising line managers on HR matters (a staff role).
- Mediator role — between management and workers; handling grievances.
- Spokesman role — representing the company to unions and to Government.
- Problem-solver role — on absenteeism, turnover, conflict.
- Change agent — introducing new technology, restructuring.
Dave Ulrich’s four roles (1997)
| Role | Focus |
|---|---|
| Strategic partner | Aligning HR with business strategy |
| Administrative expert | Efficient HR processes |
| Employee champion | Listening to and representing employees |
| Change agent | Managing transformation and culture |
5. Organisation design and HRM
Organisation design is the choice of structure — how tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated, and where authority lies. It affects HRM in two ways.
(a) The place of the HR department
In a small firm the owner or a single officer handles personnel work. As the firm grows, a personnel or HR department is created. It is a staff department: it advises and serves the line departments (production, sales) but does not command them. In a large company the HR head (Director or Vice-President, HR) reports to the chief executive, with sections for recruitment, training, compensation, industrial relations, welfare and HRIS. In a multi-unit company there is a corporate HR office laying down policy and unit HR officers carrying it out.
(b) How the structure shapes HR work
- Functional structure — HR specialists in each function; clear career ladders within functions.
- Divisional structure — each division may have its own HR team; recruitment and pay may be decentralised.
- Matrix structure — employees report to two bosses; appraisal needs input from both.
- Flat and team-based structures — fewer levels, broader jobs; more emphasis on multi-skilling, team rewards and lateral moves rather than promotion.
- Network and virtual organisations — outsourced and remote staff; HR must manage contracts and performance at a distance.
Job design follows from organisation design: job analysis tells HR what each position requires, and that becomes the basis of recruitment, selection, training, appraisal and pay. Job analysis is set out in the next note on HR planning.
How this is examined
“Define HRM. Explain its functions” (January 2026; August 2024, 10 marks) and “Explain the various functions of Human Resource Management” (January 2026 100-mark paper, Q.2, 16 marks). Short note: role of HR manager (January 2025). For a functions answer draw a two-branch chart (managerial: planning, organising, directing, controlling; operative: procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance, separation) and explain each in three or four lines.
Now try the real questions: Human Resource Management past question papers.