Resource management is like managing a matrix; each side influences the other.

Resource management is not a separate branch of management, but part of the organizing activities of each and every management discipline.

A marketing manager should take care of its resources, in the same way as an operations manager, IT, Financial or Human Resource Manager would do.

To manage the resources for the (current) operation you are to solve demands for resources with available supply. For the operations managers, this activity is part of the normal planning process, focused on availability of (human) resources; "who is doing what and when?”

Human resources, like you and me, are the managers of the other type of resources. Organizations are more capitalized than before and systems are a prominent "member” of these. There are different kinds of systems, but most of them share the characteristics that they are dedicated to a specific task or process. That is probably because people design them, and such a design is always owned by someone; the sales managers owns the sales management system. The marketing department controls the campaign management tools and the operational department supervises the enterprise resource planning. Managing these systems require a different kind of resource management. Where an employee can be hired in a flexible way nearly at the moment you need them, systems can only be planned long in advance.

One category influences the other. Employees and designers influence and steer the design of systems, and in turn the system that is delivered influences the way in which activities will b

e organized. More capital - information systems or medical systems in case of a health care institution - requires more skilled and knowledgeable jobs. And this requires a constant training and education.

A third resource category is used by everybody in the organization. This resource solves issues like security; "nobody gets unauthorized access through our building or through our site.” Today it is easier to hack the system of an organization than to enter their building physically. Especially for those companies that exists only virtually. This resource type also enables teamwork and networking between the different parts of the organization, by providing "groupware;” functionality that enable people to communicate, to access and update the memory of the organization. Sharing information and knowledge. The owner of these facilities is less visible which complicates the management of this resource category.

...and the challenge starts with awareness..:

© 2006 Hans Bool

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