Everything you need to know about the difference between human resource management and human resource development.

Some writers have used both the terms HRM and HRD interchangeably assuming that they are synonymous. But they are not synonymous.

They are different concepts with different meaning and they are used in different contexts. At the same time, it should be noted that HRD is at the centre of HRM. In other words, HRD has become an integral part of the HRM.

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the planning, organising, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation, and maintenance of human resources of an organisation’s goals or objectives.

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It is responsible for getting the best people, training them, and providing mechanism to ensure that these employees maintain their productivity affiliations with the organisations.

HRD is a continuous process to ensure the development of the employees, competencies, dynamism, motivation, and effectiveness in a planned and systematic manner.

The terms ‘HRM’ and ‘HRD’ are used interchangeably but both have different meanings. HRM is a wider term and HRD is only a part of it.

Learn about the distinction and difference between human resource management and human resource development.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development

Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development

There are Some Basic Differences between HRM and HRD:

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They are:

1. Human Resource Management is mainly a service function responding to the demands of the organization. But HRD is proactive function.

2. In HRM, salary, wages, incentives and job simplification are considered to be the main motivation. But, HRD deals on job enrichment, job challenge, informal organization, autonomous work groups and creativity for motivating people.

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3. Human Resource Management as a set of independents sub-function. And HRD is a sub­system of a larger system of the organization.

4. Human Resource Management is narrow in scope and aims at developing and administering to the people only. But in the HRD, its scope is wider and it aims at developing the total organization. The basic focus of Human Resource Management is on increasing the efficiency of people. But the focus of HRD is on building the right organizational culture.

5. Human Resource Management is main res­ponsibility of the human resource department. But HRD is regarded as the responsibility of all managers in the organization.

Basic feature of HRD:

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1. Human Resource Management has both micro and macro aspects. At the micro level, HRD is deals with improving the skills, attitudes and behaviour of employees in organization. But at the macro level, HRD involves improving the quality of life of people in the country.

2. Human Resource Development is an inter­disciplinary concept. It involves the ideas from many sciences. So that, sociology helps to growth and development of human system through the study of families, communities and other groups.

3. Human Resource Development is a planned and systematic approach to the development of people.

4. Human Resource Development is a continuous process of developing. In the Human Resource Management, there is no end to the development of an individual and learning continues throughout life.

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5. It helps to develop an organisational culture where superior-subordinate relationships.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development

Both are very important concepts of management specifically related with human resources of organization.

Human resource management and human resource development can be differentiated on the following grounds:

1. The human resource management [HRM] is mainly maintenance oriented whereas human resource development [HRD] is development oriented.

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2. Organization structure in case of human resources management [HRM] is independent whereas human resource development [HRD] creates a structure, which is inter-dependent and inter-related.

3. Human resource management [HRM] mainly aims to improve the efficiency of the employees whereas [HRD] aims at the development of the employees as well as organization as a whole.

4. Responsibility of human resource management [HRM] is given to the personnel/human resource management department and specifically to personnel manager whereas responsibility of HRD is given to all managers at various levels of the organization.

5. HRM motivates the employees by giving them monetary incentives or rewards whereas human resource development [HRD] stresses on motivating people by satisfying higher-order needs.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development

HRM has come to be celebrated as an important factor in the successful management of an organization and so the emphasis on effective human resource management has increased in the recent times.

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With the growing importance of knowledge workers in organizations and the mounting expectations of employees, it is essential to have a good human resource development system with Human Resource Management System in place. Many Organisations are still not clear about what constitutes development and so it is important to differentiate between the two.

Difference # HRM:

1. Objectives – Social, Organizational, Functional, and Personal Objectives like Union Management Relations, Employee Relations, Placement & Orientation, Employee Assessment, Compensation etc.

2. Perspective – Short run and current.

3. Functions – Acquiring, developing, motivating and retaining human resources.

4. Activities – Human resource planning, Staffing, Training and deve­lopment, Performance appraisal and compen­sation.

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5. Challenges – Globalization, Corporate Re-organizations, and New Organizational forms, Changing Demographics of Workforce, Changed employee expectations, New Industrial Relations Approach.

Difference # HRD:

1. Objectives – Career planning, talent management, motivation, stress management, work- life balance, TQM.

2. Perspective – Long run.

3. Functions – Need Analysis, HRD audit, developing career enhance­ment strategies, designing, implementing and evaluating HRD Programs.

4. Activities – Coaching, counselling, mento­ring, and mapping performance, job enrichment.

5. Challenges – Meeting aspirations of Em­ployees, Keeping pace with changing socio-economic and technological environment.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development – 7 Key Points

The difference between HRM and HRD are discussed as below:

Difference # HRM:

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1. Status – It is viewed as a set of independent sub-functions.

2.  Aim and Scope – It is narrow in scope and aims at developing and administering people only.

3. Objective – Its objective is to develop competitive advantage based on human resources.

4.  Orientation – It is considered to be mainly a service function in response to the demands of the organisation as and when they arise.

5. Morale Productivity Relationship – Under HRM, high morale and satisfaction are regarded as the cause of improved performance.

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6.  Responsibility – HRM is supposed to be the exclusive responsibility of the human resource department.

7.  Incentives Used – In HRM, salary, wage, incentives and job simplification are considered to be the main motivations.

Difference # HRD:

1. Status – It is viewed as a sub-system of a larger system, i.e., the organisation. It is assumed to be made-up of mutually dependent parts.

2.  Aim and Scope – It is wider in scope and aims at developing the total organisation. The focus of human resource management is on increasing the efficiency of people. But the focus of it is on building the right organisational culture that can continuously identify, nurture and use human capabilities.

3. Objective – Its objective is to develop human resources matching with organisational culture and provide inputs for the effective performance of various HRM functions.

4. Orientation – It is considered a proactive function which does not merely cope with organisational requirement but anticipates them and acts on them in advance in a planned and continuous manner.

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5. Morale Productivity Relationship – It considers improved performance as the cause of improved job satisfaction and morale.

6.  Responsibility – It is regarded as the responsibility of all managers in the organisation. In fact, it aims at developing the capabilities of all line managers to carry out various human resource management functions themselves.

7.  Incentives Used – It relies on job enrichment, job challenge, informal organisation, autonomous work groups, and creativity for motivating people.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development

Some writers have used both the terms HRM and HRD interchangeably assuming that they are synonymous. But they are not synonymous. They are different concepts with different meaning and they are used in different contexts. At the same time, it should be noted that HRD is at the centre of HRM. In other words, HRD has become an integral part of the HRM.

HRM is concerned with the management of human resources in the organisation. It is a process of managing the people in the organisa­tion with a human approach. It reflects a new approach, a new philoso­phy, a new outlook and a new strategy towards human resources. It views its manpower in the organisation as its resources and assets and not as liabilities or mere hands.

HRM is a set of policies, practices and programmes designed to maximise both personal goals of the employees as well as the goals of the organisation. It is the process of binding people and organisation together in order to achieve the goals of each.

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The differences between HRM and HRD are as follows:

1. HRM is concerned with managing people at work at all levels in the organisation. It is a routine, maintenance-oriented and administrative function. But HRD is a continuous on-going development function which aims at improving human resources.

2. HRM is concerned with bringing people and their organisation together to achieve the goals of each of them. But HRD is concerned with the development of the competencies, motivation, dynamics and effectiveness at the people in the organisation.

3. HRM is regarded as a reactive function responding to the needs of the organisation as and when they arise, whereas HRD is regarded as a pro-active function not only to cope with the needs of the organisation but also to anticipate them and to act on them in advance in a planned and continuous way.

4. HRM is considered as a micro-concept as it concentrates on in­dividuals whereas HRD is both a micro and macro concept.

5. HRM is the integrated approach to actuating and managing the people of the organisation whereas HRD deals with the process of developing people in accordance with their aspirations and to suit the organisational needs.

6. HRD is at the centre of HRM but both HRM and HRD are inter­dependent and integrated into one system.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development  6 Main Points

The various differences existing between HRM and HRD are reflected as follows:

Difference # HRM:

1. Meaning:

It is concerned with the acquisition, training, compensation and appraisal of human resources working in the organisation.

2. Objectives:

It aims at improving the efficiency of people and administration.

3. Responsibility:

It is mainly the responsibility of the HR manager.

4. Orientation:

It is maintenance oriented. It is reactive function responding to events as and when they take place.

5. Motivators:

It focuses on salary and other economic rewards, job satisfaction as motivators.

6. Outcomes:

Improved performance is the result of improved satisfaction and morale of the employees.

Difference # HRD:

1. Meaning:

It is concerned with the total development of all individuals working in the organisation. It leads to improvement of existing capabilities and acquisition of new capabilities.

2. Objectives:

It aims at developing the organisation as a whole and its culture.

3. Responsibility:

Its responsibility is shared by all the managers in the organisation.

4. Orientation:

It is development oriented. It is a proactive function trying to anticipate and get ready with appropriate responses.

5. Motivators:

It focuses on autonomous work groups, job challenges, problem solving skills as motivators.

6. Outcomes:

Improved performance through the development of human resources needs to improve satisfaction and morale.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development – 8 Key Points

If we view the field carefully, we can easily differentiate the two field in the following manner:

Difference # HRD:

1. It is a continuous process.

2. It deals with the development and upgradation of the human capital in an organization.

3. It is independent in nature.

4. HRD tries to bring about qualitative changes in the stock of human capital in an organization in accordance with the corporate objectives and needs.

5. It is a sub-system of a large system, and more organizational oriented in nature.

6. It is more proactive; it copes with the changing needs of the people as well as anticipate these needs.

7. It contributes to developing the whole organization, e.g., Organizational Development.

8. It is concerned with the involvement of the entire work force from top to bottom is more and a must in most of the cases.

Difference # HRM:

1. It is a routine and administrative function.

2. It deals with the optimum utilization of the human capitals in the organization.

3. It is integrative and supportive in nature.

4. HRM takes the stock of human capital as given and tries to optimally allocate it among different processes/activities in such a way that its effectiveness is maximized.

5. It is a function of more independent activities with separate roles to play.

6. It is mainly a reactive function responding to the demands which may arise.

7. It is concerned with people only.

8. It is basically the responsibilities of the HR department.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development

1. The HRM function is a routine, maintenance-oriented administrative function, while HRD is a continuous development function. The major attention of HRD is on improving human processes.

2. HRM is regarded essentially as a reactive function responding to the demands of the organization as and when they arise, while HRD is regarded as a proactive function. The function of HRD is not merely to cope with the needs of the organization but to anticipate them and act on them in advance in a continuous and planned way.

3. HRM is seen as an independent function with independent sub functions, while HRD is viewed as a subsystem of a larger system. This means that the design of HRD cannot be considered in isolation.

4. HRM is supposed to be the exclusive responsibility of the personnel department, while HRD aims at developing the capabilities of all line managers to carry-out various personnel functions on their own.

5. The HRM function considers salary, economic rewards, job simplification and job-specialisation as important motivators, while HRD emphasises the importance of higher needs in motivating individuals. It considers informal organisations, autonomous workgroups, job enrichment, job challenges and creativity as the main motivating forces.

6. HRM takes a very narrow view of its scope and aims only at developing and administering people, while HRD take a wider view of its scope and aims at developing the total organization.

7. HRM considers improved satisfaction and morale as the cause of improved performance, while HRD considers improved performance as the cause and improved satisfaction and morale as its results.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development

Difference # HRM:

1. Meaning – It is concerned with acquisition, training, compensation and appraisal of human resources working in the organisation.

2. Objectives – It aims at improving the efficiency of people and administration.

3. Orientation – It is maintenance oriented. It is a reactive function responding to events as and when they take place.

4. Responsibility – It is mainly the responsibility of the HR manager.

5. Motivators – It focuses on salary and other economic rewards, job satisfaction as motivators.

6. Outcomes – Improved performance is the result of improved satisfaction and morale of the employees.

Difference # HRD:

1. Meaning – It is concerned with the total development of all individuals working in the organisation. It leads to improvement of existing capabilities and acquisition of new capabilities.

2. Objectives – It aims at developing the organisation as a whole and its culture.

3. Orientation – It is development oriented. It is a proactive function trying to anticipate and get ready with appropriate responses.

4. Responsibility – Its responsibility is shared by all the managers in the organisation.

5. Motivators – It focuses on autonomous work groups, job challenges, problem solving skills as motivators.

6. Outcomes – Improved performance through the development of human resources leads to improved satisfaction and morale.


Difference between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the planning, organising, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation, and maintenance of human resources of an organisation’s goals or objectives. It is responsible for getting the best people, training them, and providing mechanism to ensure that these employees maintain their productivity affiliations with the organisations.

HRD is a continuous process to ensure the development of the employees, competencies, dynamism, motivation, and effectiveness in a planned and systematic manner. The terms ‘HRM’ and ‘HRD’ are used interchangeably but both have different meanings. HRM is a wider term and HRD is only a part of it.

Following are the differences between HRM and HRD:

1. Meaning:

HRM is a set of policies, practices and programmes designed to maximize both personal and organisational goals. It is a process by which people and organisation are bound together in such a way that both of them are able to achieve their objectives whereas HRD is an essential ingredient of any human resource system poised to achieve productivity, quality, efficiency and effectiveness.

2. Status:

HRD is at the centre of HRM. Therefore, HRM is wider in scope as compared to the HRD. HRM includes the strategies relating to identifying and developing persons, retaining suitable persons, creating work culture, educating managerial personnel etc. on the other hand HRD is an integrated system consisting of interdependent sub systems of performance appraisal, potential appraisal, counselling and monitoring, training, building morale, development of team work etc.

3. Aims:

HRM aims for the selection of right type of personnel for right jobs, it helps to build a team spirit where employees satisfy their aspirations by developing themselves and contribute to the accomplishment of organisational goals whereas HRD aims to develop employee in accordance with his aspirations and potentialities on one hand and the company’s requirements on the other hand. HRD programmes are described as training and development programmes.

4. Responsibility:

HRM is the responsibility of HR manager whereas HRD is the responsibility of all the managers in the organisation.

5. Tools and Techniques:

The tools and techniques used under HRM are, identifying and developing persons, retaining suitable persons, creating work culture, educating managerial personnel on the other hand the tools and techniques of HRD are – performance appraisal, potential appraisal, counselling and monitoring, training, building morale, development of team work etc.

6. Aspects:

HRM has three aspects like Personnel, Welfare and Industrial Relations Aspect. On the other hand the HRD has two aspects Micro and Macro.

7. Orientation:

HRM is basically employee oriented. It does not mean that employees do not benefit by it. It only means when employees feel satisfied after meeting their needs and aspirations, they will whole heartedly work for the accomplishment of organisational goals on the other hand HRD is concerned with employees as individuals as well as groups. It deals with the development of potentialities and skills of the employees.