HRM versus administration

Most people including the young who are on the verge of their graduation are under the impression that functions of human resource management (HR or HRM) and administration are the same and HR is apparently synonymous with administration.  The popular notion is that the functions of HR are to recruit people, supervise the attendance of the employees, logistic management, etc. They are awfully wrong since these are the functions of administration and not of HR.
As a HR professional, I would like to highlight the distinctions between HRM and Administration. The main theme of HR is to "put the right people in the right place at the right time". This theme aligns with the business strategy of the organisation. Based on the strategy, HR does manpower planning, career planning, performance management, talent management, competency mapping, skills inventory etc. In view of its functions as mentioned above, HR management plays a vital role in running a business effectively.
Multinational organizations like some reputed multinational corporations (MNCs) and a few foreign banks in the country are trying to utilize their human resources in a proper manner aligning with their business objectives and strategy. They do not consider their employees as resources; they look upon them as Human Capital. They want to maximize their return on investment (ROI) on human capital through need-based training.
However, garments sector of the country fully focuses on administration rather than HR although RMG is the lifeline of our economy. They are focusing more on expatriate management, employee's health and safety issues, logistic management, canteen management, etc.
The concept and tasks of HR have changed a lot over the years. Administration has remained more or less the same and encompasses more or less the same tasks as it had over the decades. But human resource management has undergone revolutionary changes. Initially the main task of HR was transactional jobs which included administering payroll and benefit packages. But with time and due to rapid globalization, technological advancement and loads of research, HR now focuses on strategic initiatives such as mergers and acquisitions, managing talent, planning succession and industrial relations as well as diversity and inclusion. Areas of HR are expanding and more areas are coming under its purview, whereas areas of administration are squeezing. Global management practices are gradually uncovering newer concepts and ideas for development of human capital as a result of which more and more functions are being added to HR.
The writer is a HR professional.
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