HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
For more than a century now, human resource management, as a discipline and practice in the management of people in an organisation, has evolved and developed into different areas. These disciplines and practices have gone through a process of trial and error, theory building and testing of various concepts by practicing managers and academics (Farnham & Pimlott 1979; Storey 1989; Armstrong 1995). The underlying forces behind the evolution and development of human resource management have been (and still are) mainly environmental, and the quest for knowledge of better ways of acquiring and utilizing labour. The changing organisational environment in the marketplace pushed managers to improve efficiency in the production and service delivery processes by increasing their ability to use the best practices of people management at the time. That is, employee management techniques or methods that would improve production, reduce service delivery costs, and at the same time ensure sustained availability of competent staff in the organisation.
Strategic Human Resources Management provides the strategic skills and tactical approaches to become an active and agile HR organization. It also uses technical human resources knowledge to effectively and manage a diverse workforce in organizations undergoing change. Through a partnership with the