Human Resources – A Value Driven Perspective Marius Daraban “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Romania marius.daraban@dmc.ro Abstract The information age has changed many of the “classical” business activities by altering the core values and management principles. Human resources management has also changed and has adapted to the new challenges of the 21 st -century information age. The hunt for knowledge and for the determined business value is driven by more complex and far-reaching human resources activities. Companies must change their “classic” view on human resources to prevail and to be successful in the new complex and speed century. Human resources have changed its old working principles to fit the requirements of constant data, information, and knowledge “hunting” and morphed to a proactive and dynamic business value driver. The main objective of the paper is to show and document that human resources management is 21 st -century business value and knowledge driver that business organizations must use in their quest for the ultimate competitive advantage. Key words: human resources, value driver, information age, economic value J.E.L. Classification: M00, D46, O15 1. Introduction When talking about a business or a business organization the concept of human resources cannot be ignored. Right next to the viability of the business idea and the needed business capital the human resources are an essential element that supports a business idea to become reality by transcending from just a well-thought business plan to an operational, activating organization. A business organization can be defined as being an entity formed for the deployment of commercial activities by making use of resources to create value for its shareholders. One of the critical resources that a business organization needs to control and can use is human resources. Like any other business resource, also human resources, represented by the employed or needed staff/employees need to be properly managed and handled to reach the defined business organization goal. Since the very early stages of development of human society, there was a clear need for attracting, retaining, training and developing the best available people for the achievement of an organizational goal. “During pre-historic times, there existed consistent methods for selection of tribal leaders. From 2000BC to 1500BC, the Chinese used employee screening techniques and while Greeks used an apprentice system.” (Tubey, et al., 2015, p. 1) As of today, there is hardly a universally accepted definition of Human Resource Management. Human Resources Management (also known as HRM or HR) is the activity of managing the organization's human resources by maximization of staff performance to assure the organizational strategic goal. “Ovidius” University Annals, Economic Sciences Series Volume XIX, Issue 2 /2019 255