Human Resource Management

All countries today have complex government department and agency structures that employ thousands and sometimes millions of workers. Modern economic organizations are similarly complex with great variety in size, purpose, and methods. Most simply, one can classify the people who work for these entities as workers or managers. The former are “human resources,” using a term derived from economics, and the latter have the task of “managing” those workers. In the discipline of public administration, improving and sustaining worker productivity translates into methods for enhancing the human resources (HR) function. Studies show that the work environment exerts a great impact on manager and employee success.

HR administrative regulations and policies are important in improving employment practices and have today evolved into the development of HR law. These regulations and practices generally propel the wheels of the HR function and strive toward the accomplishment of a variety of tasks.

The human resources function focuses on strengthening the legal aspects of organizational performance, which may neglect the improvement of the quality of the human factor (HF). The HF is the range of dimensions of human performance, including personality characteristics, which allows social, economic, and political institutions to operate. These dimensions are what maintain mechanisms such as the rule of law, political accord, a regimented workforce, and human dignity and decency. No social institution operates effectively without a system of people who believe in and are committed to the organization's ideals.