Business Management or HR Management?
Business management and human resource management are two crucial elements in every organisation. While both sides are essential to a business’ success and share an overall aim to keep a company sustainable, they may sometimes seem to have a single function.
They, however, do not! Though business management and human resource management share a primary goal in the organisation, they operate on different management skills and processes to achieve the intended result.
What is Business Management?
Business management refers to the coordination of all business-related activities, which mainly include how a business manages itself and its operations to achieve its goals and generate profits. From processes, systems, and resources, business management aims to innovate and strategise company performance to ensure continuous improvement at all levels.
What is Human Resource Management?
What, then, about human resource management? One word: people.
Human resource management is primarily focused on the well-being of each and every employee in the organisation. By encouraging collaboration, building relationships, and maintaining connections within the workplace, good HR ensures that employees are content, happy, and continue to thrive within their roles. Thus, part of a human resource management team's job is to mediate and find resolutions when conflicts or challenges among employees emerge. Employee well-being and relations; drafting company policies; recruitment and training of new employees; and, performance reviews and reward management also fall under the human resource management mandate.
What are the Differences Between Business Management and Human Resource Management?
Operations vs Employees
Business management focuses on a company’s operational potential with strategies to drive business goals, while human resource management focuses on a company’s employee base with strategies to improve and build a robust company culture.
While these two aspects of a business are essentially different, they heavily depend on each other, with human resource management setting and influencing the company culture, while business managers work within the parameters of that culture. After all, happy employees mean that company goals are able to be achieved with greater effectiveness!
Approach
The business management approach means holding people accountable to their roles and responsibilities with set goals in mind, whereas the human resource management approach focuses on the values and mission of the organisation from a broader perspective with added empathy.
Nature
Business management is almost always goal-driven. Core organisational values may be overlooked in efforts to ensure maximum efficiency for all set goals. Human resource management steps in to align corporate goals and see to it that the core vision of the company is implemented, while ensuring that employee satisfaction is catered to.
Which is More Important: Business Management or Human Resource Management?
Both are equally important! Though each type of management's focus is different, both sides work together to ensure a company's viability through systems, processes, and employee well-being in order to boost productivity levels and achieve the set goals.
So, which career path is the right one for you? Choosing between human resources and business administration depends on which one is more suited to your interests and career goals. Human resource management enables you to focus your career on personnel management, while business management enables you to focus on overall organisational management.
If you're more into the business side of things, our Graduate Diploma in Business Management (E-Learning) is for you. If you consider yourself a people person, our Graduate Certificate in Human Resource Management (E-Learning) fits you best.
Schedule a call with our Student Advisors today for more information on these programmes, both designed for career advancement in your area of choice!
