HUMAN resource management (HRM) in Pakistan was adopted to meet challenges of modern times and to speed up the pace of economic and business activities. However, the concept of HRM so far has failed to deliver as it is still in its preliminary phase here and in small businesses it is almost non-existent.

Although, businesses, small and large, in the country seem inclined to introduce the HRM to manage their workforce efficiently, yet developing an HR department with a head is all cosmetic measure unless the company has a desire to invest and to accept the real essence of HR development.

This transformation from old and rigid administrative structure to new HRM techniques needs changes in managements' mindset, otherwise it would prove an exercise in futility.

In Pakistan, unluckily at this stage, managements thought is dominated by the efficiency criterion as spelled out by Adam Smith's famous dictum of “wealth criterion through the efficient use of the factor of production.”

In this scenario there is a deliberate de-emphasising of the importance of human resources as in Adam Smith's thinking labour was the last important of the factors of production.

There is hardly any attempt to improve the productivity and quality of human resources. Development of HRM as against conventional personnel management is indeed a neglected activity and even though many of the companies possess ISO 9000 certification, they are still working with the obsolete system of personnel administration.

In most of the companies, personnel departments have been transformed to the HR department while maintaining the same old staff and not inducting HR experts, i.e. there is just the change of name and not the structural change.

People who are not even aware of the basic terminologies of HRM are helpless in implementing and performing the core functions of HRM.

Moreover, because of the management's favouritism and nepotism, the core functions of HRM, i. e. recruitment and selection, training and development and performance appraisal, cannot be implemented.

Even in organisations with educated and experienced staff the department cannot carry out its functions due to lack of cooperation on the part of the management.

It is always difficult for the department to bring in new policies because of resistance by the uneducated old staff that enjoys management's favours.

In many companies owned by traditional seths the HRM department is just a showpiece and it is not authorised to perform its functions as owners always seek their interest and profit and do not consider employees as an asset.

They believe that practising HRM functions demands investment in employees while making them more powerful and they do not want to invest in this field.

Therefore, they are always reluctant about facilitating operations of the HR department. This is the very reason that HRM departments in most organisations have failed to perform their duties, i.e. capacity building of the staff.

HRM is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation's most valued assets -- the people working there -- and we as a nation should pay attention to this crucial field. A developed human resource cadre is like a foundation on which we can build anything and it can prove a great step towards gigantic economic progress of the country.

SYED NADEEM ABBAS
Via email