It's reasonable to say human resource management has changed more than any other aspect of organizations in recent years. Previously, departments or divisions for personell or labor relations existed in companies and organizations, and their role was normally to ensure production flowed smoothing. They tried to discourage strikes or other labor activism, and looked after appraisal and compensation in line with the law.

The improvements and changes in the industry and economy besides increased awareness of employees as a valuable resource has changed the focus from controlling to managing this resource. An organization's most valuable asset now is its people and not capital, machinery or technology. People are emotional, ever changing and susceptible to ups and downs and as such managing this dynamic resource needs a set of both hard and soft analytical skills.

In human resource management various activities find a place, such as recruiting the right kind of employees, training them to enhance themselves and enrich the organization at the same time, keep them motivated and enthusiastic and encourage high performance. More fields include hrm and psychology, benefits and compensation, compliance with regulations, equal opportunity to minorities, women and physically challenged.

A figure which has come to play an increasingly important role in an organization's success is the human resource manager. He has the complex task of searching for and recruiting people having not only the qualifications required by the organization but also the right attitude and emotional balance. He has to then use hrm and psychology to ensure that they all work towards the same direction set by the organization and at the same time, not just creativity and individuality.

An effective human resource management has some fundamental features like a system to bring suggestions and complaints and to apply/think over them immediately and effectively. Some other functions of a good human resource management are to have a responding appraisal system that contains the facility of giving counsel to each employee in his/her career and in building their personality and also an honest feedback mechanism.

Any organization, whether it is a large corporation, a non-profit or a small business unit, has to take care of its people if it has to grow and prosper. It has to identify and nurture those who are high performers and groom them for leadership roles. At the same time, it has to identify and help average performers to improve themselves and their productivity. Without a well-developed human resource management, it cannot hope to achieve these objectives. In essence, it has to keep its people happy. After all, a happy person is a productive person.