Week 4: How has the management of people evolved in recent years - Essay Example

Personnel management does not concern itself with the progress of the organization unlike HRM. It is also about the program commands, coordination, offers, control, and so on. Essentially, it’s about the management work in personal. Management has evolved greatly over the years. New techniques in management have come up replacing the old ones. In the earlier days, management was more concerned with motivating employees. Currently, management is mainly concerned with maximizing performance through efficient utilization of resources.

According to Lewis, five perspectives can be identified in the evolution of management (2007). These stages include the classical stage, behavioural stage, quantitative view, systems view and the most recent which is identified as contingency view. The latter view suggests that all approaches are equally effective when it comes to management, the only factors determining their effectiveness being the key variables. The classical perspective was among the earliest approaches to management. It includes the scientific management theory, bureaucracy theory and administrative management (Lewis 2007).

Koster recognizes the fact that there may be difficulties in identifying the difference between the two concepts (2002). Personnel management is relatively simple. Personnel management department is generally involved in recruiting new people, filling vacancies, supervising workers to provide the direction so that people can work towards achieving organization’s goals. This means it does not play a management role. HRM focuses on the relationship between people and coordination between design, planning processes, creativity on job redesign and rich content.

This highlights some of the management functions. HRM is thus a broader term that also includes some aspects of personnel management. Therefore, HRM is