ess, with labor being viewed almost as a stumbling block to profits. Shifting the focus from employees as costs and adversaries to employees as a vital resource and most important asset represents a monumental shift in organizational philosophy.
Staehle (1990) noted that there are two basic contemporary approaches to human resource management in the United States. The first approach, which he termed the Michigan concept, emphasizes the interlinking of mission, strategies, organization structure, and human resource management. It has four basic components, which include selection, appraisal, rewards, and development. For example, strategic development involves conceptualizing training that is future oriented and emphasizing career planning and development that is congruent with this.
On the other hand, the second approach, which Staehle (1990) termed the Harvard Concept, emphasizes a general management perspective of human resource management. It emphasizes four specific human resource management policy areas, which include employee influence, human resources flow, reward system, and work systems. Work systems involve the organization of work. Each of these policy areas are affected by the interplay of the interests of stakeholders and situational factors. The emphasis is on harmonizing the four policy areas among themselves and with corporate strategy.
While some of this sounds rather abstract, there are a number of key practical components involved in human resource management that can be directly examined and understood. These include the following basic steps or components:
1. Human resource planning, or assessing the needs of the organization into the future and planning to meet them;
2. Recruiting of potential job candidates and creating a resource pool;
4. Compensation and benefits creation and implementation;
5. Orientation and socialization processes;
8. Promotion, demotion, transfer, and term...