Question

Describe the nature of human resources.

Answer 1

1. The human resources of an organisation are the product of their biological inheritance and interactions with the environment. Family relationships, religious influences, caste or racial background, educational accomplishments, and organisational climate influence the attitudes, behaviours, and performance of human beings.
2. Human resources are heterogeneous. They consist of a large number of individuals, each with a unique personality, different needs, attitudes, and values. Each has his own physical and psychological traits. Most of the problems of an organisation are people-related problems. These problems arise from the mistaken belief that people are alike and can be treated identically. In order to make effective use of its human resources, an organisation must recognise and pay attention to differences between individuals so that each person can maximise his/her potential.
3. Human resources are dynamic and behave differently. They react to the same situation in quite different ways. Even the same individual may behave differently at two different points in time. It is, therefore, very difficult to predict human behaviour.
4. Human resources are the most important element in an organisation. The effective utilisation of all other resources depends upon the quality of human resources.
5. Human resources have the greatest potential to develop and grow, provided the right climate is provided to them. An organisation can survive and grow if it has the right people at the right time working at the right jobs.
6. The term human resources is wider than the term personnel. Human resources include all the dynamic components of all the people at all levels in the organisation, whereas personnel means the employees working in the organisation.