Human Resource Management 101
Human resources is used to describe both the people who work for a company or organization and the department responsible for managing resources related to employees. The term human resources was first coined in the 1960s when the value of labor relations began to garner attention and when notions such as motivation, organizational behavior, and selection assessments began to take shape.
Human resource management is a contemporary, umbrella term used to describe the management and development of employees in an organization. Also called personnel or talent management (although these terms are a bit antiquated), human resource management involves overseeing all things related to managing an organization’s human capital.
Human resource management is therefore focused on a number of major areas, including:
- Recruiting and staffing
- Compensation and benefits
- Training and learning
- Labor and employee relations
- Organization development
Due to the many areas of human resource management, it is typical for professionals in this field to possess specific expertise in one or more areas. Just a few of the related career titles for HR professionals include:
- Training development specialist
- HR manager
- Benefits specialist
- Human resource generalist
- Employment services manager
- Compensation and job analysis specialist
- Training and development manager
- Recruiter
- Benefits counselor
- Personnel analyst
Job Descriptions for Key Human Resources Positions
To better appreciate the scope of the human resources field and the many jobs within it, the SHRM organizes HR professionals into the following categories (Set forth below, with slight modification, is information drawn from the SHRM and originally published in the SHRM Survey: HR’s Evolving Role in Organizations and Its Impact on Business Strategy.):
Early-Level HR Professionals
Early-level HR professionals are specialists who perform a specific support function or generalists with limited experience. Their work includes supporting HR initiatives, executing tasks requested of management, and performing tactical or transactional tasks.
Typical job duties for early-level HR professionals include:
- Identifying ways to improve operational efficiency
- Networking with HR peers, both internally and externally
- Conducting initial investigations for HR-based transactional issues
- Seeking ways to improve HR process, transactions, and outcomes
Their job titles often include:
- HR assistant
- Junior recruiters
- Benefits clerk
Mid-Level HR Professionals
Mid-level HR professionals are generalists or senior specialists who are most often responsible for managing projects, programs, or initiatives, implementing plans designed by senior management, and delegating tasks to early-level staff members.
Their job titles often include:
- HR manager
- HR generalist
- Senior HR specialist
Typical job duties for mid-level HR professionals include:
- Overseeing interactions with vendors/suppliers to maintain service quality
- Facilitating conflict resolution meetings
- Conducting initial investigations of HR issues
- Participating in creation of HR interventions
- Serving as point person on projects and tasks
- Fielding issues with senior management guidance
- Resolving conflicts due to cultural differences
- Enforcing policies consistently
- Analyzing data and reporting findings and trends
Senior-Level HR Professionals
Senior-level HR professionals are considered experienced generalists or specialists who are responsible for developing and leading implementation plans and analyzing business information.
Their job titles often include:
- Senior HR manager
- Director
- Principal
Typical job duties for senior-level HR professionals include:
- Creating organizational issues, changes, and opportunities
- Implementing case and pilot studies to address specific problems
- Evaluating all proposed business cases for HR projects and initiatives
- Developing business strategies with top leaders of the organization
- Evaluating potential ethical risks and liabilities to the organization
- Providing mentoring/training on cultural trends and practices
- Making departmental/functional decisions
- Designing long-term business solutions in partnership with HR customers
Executive-Level HR Professionals
Executive-level HR professionals serve as the most senior leaders of the HR management team. They are organizational leaders and designers of human capital strategy.
Their job titles often include:
- Chief human resource officer
- Vice president
Typical job duties for executive-level HR professionals include:
- Designing strategic HR and business solutions
- Supervising HR investigations with legal counsel
- Leading HR staff in maintaining or changing organizational culture
- Championing the HR function and organizational mission and vision
- Communicating HR vision, practices, and policies to other stakeholders
- Maintaining expert knowledge of global economic trends
- Empowering senior leaders to create and ethical environment to prevents conflicts of interest
- Sponsoring process improvement initiatives using evidence-based solutions
