Interview Questions for the Job as HR Manager

What is Personnel Management?

Personnel management is managing welfare and performance of persons who are a part of the operations.

What is the difference between Personnel Management and HRM?

Usually these two terms are used interchangeably but there does lie a difference between the two.

Personnel management is reactive in nature and includes administrative tasks while HRM is proactive in nature and requires continuous development in policies and functions of the organization for a better tomorrow.

Personnel management is more of an independent task than HRM which needs to involve the managers of all departments for developing a better team.

Personnel management believes that satisfied employees yield better performance while HRM believes that a good performance provides satisfaction to employees.

HRM works around developing strategies to improve the performance of employees. Personnel management works around motivating employees with compensation, bonuses, rewards etc.

Actually Personnel management can be considered as a subset of HRM.

Here you have to bear in mind that if you are offered the position of a Personnel Manager, you may be required to perform HRM functions and vice versa.

What are the responsibilities of a personnel manager?

Some of the responsibilities of a personnel manager include coordinating benefit programs and employee training, managing the recruiting process, conducting exit interviews and salary surveys, coordinating record keeping and payroll, and administering personnel policies.

What do you mean by Management? Describe the essential functions of management.

Management in simple terms can be understood as the process of bringing people together to achieve the desired goals. The essential functions of management include Planning, Organizing, Budgeting, Resourcing, Directing, Controlling and Reviewing.

What is the difference between salary and incentive?

Salary can be termed as the fixed remuneration you are offered for your services while incentive means some extra benefits that you are offered based on your performance. Incentive can be in cash or kind.

What is 'Span of Management'?

Span of Management or Control in easy terms means, number of subordinates a manager manages.

What are the different factors that determine the 'Span of Management'?

Following factors determine the Span of Management:

1. Size of the organization
2. Different tasks that are performed to keep the work going
3. Complexity of the production process
4. The extent to which IT can help in the process.

What do you mean by Fringe Benefits?

Fringe benefit can be defined as the benefits provided by the employer to its employees in addition to the regular salary. These include health plans, paid holidays, cafeteria, company transport etc.