Human Resources Management (HRM)

Human resource management (HRM) is the practice of recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing an organization's employees. HRM is often referred to simply as human resources (HR). A company or organization's HR department is usually responsible for creating, putting into effect and overseeing policies governing workers and the relationship of the organization with its employees. The term human resources was first used in the early 1900s, and then more widely in the 1960s, to describe the people who work for the organization, in aggregate.

HRM is employee management with an emphasis on those employees as assets of the business. In this context, employees are sometimes referred to as human capital. As with other business assets, the goal is to make effective use of employees, reducing risk and maximizing return on investment (ROI).

The modern HR technology term human capital management (HCM) has been used more frequently compared to the term HRM. The term HCM has had widespread adoption by large and midsize companies and other organizations of software to manage many HR functions.

Objectives of human resource management

The objectives of HRM can be broken down into four broad categories:

1. Societal objectives: Measures put into place that responds to the ethical and social needs or challenges of the company and its employees. This includes legal issues such as equal opportunity and equal pay for equal work.
2. Organizational objectives: Actions taken that help to ensure the efficiency of the organization. This includes providing training, hiring the right number of employees for a given task or maintaining high employee retention rates.
3. Functional objectives: Guidelines used to keep HR functioning properly within the organization as a whole. This includes making sure that all of HR's resources are being allocated to their full potential.
4. Personal objectives: Resources used to support the personal goals of each employee. This includes offering the opportunity for education or career development as well as maintaining employee satisfaction.

THE BENEFITS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

International trade involves the licensed exchange of goods across borders. It leads to the establishment of trade agreements and trade policy. These encourage harmonious relationships between nations that rely on one another for a better standard of living across their populations. When there is disharmony, sanctions and trade restrictions are often imposed to block the movement of assets.

The European Union is an example of how countries can utilise free trade agreements to improve their standing in the international market and increase GDP while contributing to the world economy. Free trade is when member nations of a union become borderless in terms of trade, meaning that tariffs are not charged on imports and exports. Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, it has been attempting to forge trade agreements with other nations around the world. 

The concept of the European Union grew in the wake of the Second World War as did the increase in world trade. Tariffs on industrial products fell steeply and in the 25 years following the war, world economic growth averaged approximately 5% per year. This high rate can partly be attributed to the lower trade barriers. During the same period, world trade grew even faster with an average of approximately 8%. Liberal trade policies that facilitate the unrestricted flow of goods and services tend to heighten competition and cultivate innovation, leading to successful business.

Comparative advantage remains, arguably, the most powerful insight according to economists. Comparative advantage states that even if a country is not as good at making a particular type of good as another country, it still stands to gain from trade. As the World Trade Organization (WTO) points out, it is virtually impossible for a country to have no comparative advantage in anything, simply by the nature of it being comparative.

International Trade

 We live in an age of globalisation, where different nations across the world trade goods and services. This has therefore seen the development of international trade and international trade agreements. As global trade has grown, the economies of different countries have become reliant on exports and good international relations and many supply chains also rely on raw materials from different countries even before the finished product is ready to ship. Some of the largest and most successful global companies have managed to build a strong customer base by understanding different trends in supply and demand across the world. However, international trade has seen various challenges over the past few years including the Coronavirus pandemic, political tensions between China and the USA, Brexit, the war in Ukraine, and the impact of the climate crisis on raw materials. 

International trade is important because countries rely on other countries for the import of goods that can’t be readily found domestically. If a country specialises in the exports of goods, it may have more supply of certain raw materials than there is demand in its own markets. Or it may have a certain expertise, for example, in technology or manufacturing that leads to demand in the international market. International trade creates the global marketplace upon which the world economy relies for prosperity.

The International Trade Centre (ITC) provides trade statistics on imports and exports classified by product groups across 200 countries. It’s a useful free resource to understand the specialisations of certain countries and to help solidify trade development strategies. The ITC is particularly focused on introducing small businesses in developing countries to international markets and supporting the United Nations Global Goals including ending poverty and protecting the planet.