For a company to conduct its business successfully it requires a range of key resources such as financing, equipment, raw materials and people. Human Resources (HR) therefore refers to the professional management of this key people resource. As people contribute to the successful utilisation of all other resources it is critical that HR is given at least the same management attention as the other key resources.

The key Human Resource Management areas are as follows:

Industrial Relations
Industrial Relations generally refers to an employer's, employee's or trade union's reactive response to issues which occur within the company. These can be either spontaneous or on-going and can ultimately terminate in the disputes mechanisms of the Labour Relations Commission, the Rights Commissioner Service, the Employment Appeals Tribunal and the Labour Court or in industrial actions including strikes and lock outs. Generally the companies with poor industrial relations track records have issues of trust between the parties and tend to have a confrontational relationship. In such an environment a lot of energy is 'wasted' on confrontational debate and posturing rather than on the commercial development of the company's products or services.

Central Human Resource Management Structures
Human Resource Management is the overall management function, which embraces all aspects of the employee / employer relationship. It incorporates other areas such as industrial relations, employee relations and employment legislation, but as the philosophical approach to how the relationship is managed varies from company to company, the different approaches are dealt with independently within the 1 Stop HR information service. None the less, you will note that the different approaches can and regularly do overlap. In addition Human Resource Management incorporates the training and development of people and tries to create a positive working environment where the balance of work and reward are monitored and adjusted so as to be beneficial for the employer and the employees.

Employee Relations
On the other hand the employee relations approach to people management includes policies, practices and procedures that are proactive in terms of establishing a positive relationship based on a consultative, participative and communicative approach where high mutual trust is a joint objective. The employee relations concept is to attain a high trust environment and then maintain this status through regular two-way communications and on-going building of high trust. This recognises the need for fair and reasonable pay, benefits and conditions, treats people fairly and has a social culture based on care and openness.

Employment Legislation
Employment law is the central or generic framework of base-line standards within which the previous three areas are all obliged to operate. This applies to employees and employers alike. Irish employment law, established by government and sometimes influenced by European Parliament directives incrementally brings about improvements to employment, social and family policies. Employment legislation, covers many areas that affect the working relationship and places a wide range of responsibilities predominantly on the employer. Some company policies provide practices and procedures, which are better than the minimum standards set by legislation. Other companies lag behind. The legislation provides the opportunity for those employees, who feel that they are not receiving basic entitlements under employment legislation, to seek their rights through the industrial relations procedures up to and including the High Court.

Key HR Management Areas Chart

Click on the graphic below to view a full sized version of the chart.

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