History of Human Resource Management

For any organization, the employees are the biggest resources. That's pretty much how the term was coined. However, the practice has been in existence, seems some time before it was given a name. Let's see how this complex management form came into existence.

They say that communication is the oldest existential phenomenon on earth. Well, if that's the case then human resource management would get the second place in the sibling hierarchy. In spite of being added as a subject in management courses fairly late, HRM has been a concept that was utilized ever since human beings started following an organized way of life. So shall we start digging up the history of human resource management? Some of human resource management's vital principles were used in prehistoric times. Like, mechanisms being developed for selecting tribal leaders. Knowledge was recorded and passed on to the next generation about safety, health, hunting, and gathering. 1000 B.C. to 2000 B.C. saw the development of more advanced HR functions. The Chinese are known to be the first to use employee screening techniques, way back in 1115 B.C. And turns out it was not Donald Trump who started "the apprentice" system. They were the Greek and Babylonian civilizations, ages before the medieval times. HRM has seen a lot of nick naming in its age. Since it was recognized as a separate and important function, it has been called "personnel relations" then it evolved to "industrial relations", then "employee relations" and then, finally, to "human resources". I strongly believe, that human resources is the most apt name for it. It, quintessentially, proves the importance of the human beings working in the organization. With the Industrial Revolution, came the conversion of the US economy from agriculture-based to industry-based. This led them to require an extremely well-organized structure. Further, this led them to recruit a lot of people. More so, the industrial revolution brought in maddening amounts of immigration. Again, to create employment for all the immigrants, recruitment and management of the recruited individuals gained vitality. As such, there was a blaring need for Human Resource Management. Early human resource management, in general, followed a social welfare approach. It aimed at helping immigrants in the process of adjusting to their jobs and to an "American" life. The main aim behind these programs was to assist immigrants in learning English and acquiring housing

and medical care. Also, these techniques used to promote supervisory training to ensure an increase in productivity. With the advent of "labor unions" in the 1790's, the power in the hands of the employees multiplied considerably and increased at a rapid pace by the 1800s and furthermore in the 1900s. This led to the HR department being more capable of politics and diplomacy. The two feats that were quintessential to the importance of HR were; the fact that it was the HR department that got the management and the labor unions to come on common grounds. They basically worked on getting the management to see things from the labor perspective and grant them medical and educational benefits. The other would be Frederick W. Taylor's (1856-1915) Scientific Management. This book had tremendous impact on attaining better productivity from low-level production workers. B.F. Goodrich Company were the pioneers in designing a corporate employee department to address the concerns of the employees in 1900. National Cash Register followed suit in 1902 by forming a separate department to handle employee grievances, record keeping, wage management and other employee-related functions. Personnel Managers started seeing more sunshine since the Wagner's Act (aka National Labor Relations Act) in 1935. There was a shift in focus from worker's efficiency to efficiency through work satisfaction, thanks to the Hawthorne studies around the 1930s to 1940s. Between the 1960s and 1970s, the HRM movement gained further momentum due to the passing of several acts like the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. Now, the HR department was the apple of the corporates' eyes because, the corporates placed a lot of importance on human resource management to avoid plausible law suit. So by the end of the 1970s, HRM had taken over the world! Almost all big and medium scale industries had a department to manage their recruitment, employee relations, record-keeping, salaries and wages, etc. Towards the 1980s, the importance of HR continued to intumesce for several reasons like increase in skilled labor, training, regulation compliance, dismissal, etc. The HR managers were the ones who did the hiring and the firing. In today's date, HR has the same importance as the other departments, in some corporates, it has more. With the constant increase in education, technology and frequent fluctuations in economic status and structures, I believe, HR is the oldest, most mature and yet, the most efficient of all management styles.

By Rashida Khilawala

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/history-of-human-resource-management.html

The history of human resource management (HRM)

The history of personnel management begins around the end of the 19th century, when welfare officers (sometimes called welfare secretaries) came into being. They were women and concerned only with the protection of women and girls. Their creation was a reaction to the harshness of industrial conditions, coupled with pressures arising from the extension of the franchise, the influence of trade unions and the labour movement, and the campaigning of enlightened employers, often Quakers, for what was called industrial betterment. As the role grew there was some tension between the aim of moral protection of women and children and the needs for higher output. The First World War accelerated change in the development of personnel management, with women being recruited in large numbers to fill the gaps left by men going to fight, which in turn

meant reaching agreement with trade unions (often after bitter disputes) about dilution accepting unskilled women into craftsmens jobs and changing manning levels. During the 1920s, jobs with the titles of labour manager or employment manager came into being in the engineering industry and other industries where there were large factories, to handle absence, recruitment, dismissal and queries over bonuses and so on. Employers federations, particularly in engineering and shipbuilding, negotiated national pay rates with the unions, but there were local and district variations and there was plenty of scope for disputes. During the 1930s, with the economy beginning to pick up, big corporations in these newer sectors saw value in improving employee benefits as a way of recruiting, retaining and motivating employees. But older industries such as textiles, mining and shipbuilding which were hit by the worldwide recession did not adopt new techniques, seeing no need to do so because they had no difficulty in recruiting labour. The Second World War brought about welfare and personnel work on a full-time basis at all establishments producing war materials because an expanded Ministry of Labour and National Service insisted on it, just as the Government had insisted on welfare workers in munitions factories in the previous conflict. The government saw specialist personnel management as part of the drive for greater efficiency and the number of people in the personnel function grew substantially; there were around 5,300 in 1943. By 1945, employment management and welfare work had become integrated under the broad term personnel management. Experience of the war had shown that output and productivity could be influenced by employment policies. The role of the personnel function in wartime had been largely that of implementing the rules demanded by large-scale, state-governed production, and thus the image of an emerging profession was very much a bureaucratic one. Following the development of poor industrial relations during the 1960s a Royal Commission under Lord Donovan was set up. Reporting in 19681, it was critical of both employers and unions; personnel managers were criticised for lacking negotiation skills and failing to plan industrial relations strategies. At least in part, Donovan suggested, these deficiencies were a consequence of managements failure to give personnel management sufficiently high priority. In the 1960s and 70s employment started to develop significantly. At the same time personnel techniques developed using theories from the social sciences about motivation and organisational behaviour; selection testing became more widely used, and management training expanded. During the 1970s, specialisms started to develop, with reward and resourcing, for example, being addressed as separate issues. Around the mid-80s, the term human resource management arrived from the USA. The term human resources is an interesting one: it seemed to suggest that employees were an asset or resource-like machines, but at the same time HR also appeared to emphasise employee commitment and motivation. Todays HR profession encompasses a number of specialist disciplines, including diversity, reward (including compensation, benefits, pensions), resourcing, employee relations, organisation development and design, and learning and development (the history of which is covered in detail in

the next section of this factsheet). Most recently, in developing the new CIPD HR Profession Map, the CIPD has defined ten professional areas covered by the HR profession.

http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/history-hr-cipd.aspx#link_0
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

History of HRM
Organizations have many operational functions. HRD is one of the functions that is engaging with the tasks of an organization. In early 70 s there was no division called as Human Resource Department or Division. By that time there was only a division called "Personnel" engaged with the labor related in the organization.

Personnel Management was introduced by the end of 19th century. At that time, this was focused on the welfare of labors in the organizations. According to the tasks they have done, the officers at

Personnel Department was called as "We

lfare Officers". The

special thing was, the employee welfare tasks were done by women at that time.

During the period of 1914-1939, many organizations has showed a quick growth and quick changes in needs and wants of the operations. Therefore the tasks done by women shifted to the men's, because of the complexity of tasks. These officers has called as "Labor managers" at that time.

After Second World War, during the period 1945 - 1979, this has grown up and changed to "Personnel Management", and Personnel Management was focus basically on employee administration and the legislation.

At late 70 s the

economic of the world changed gradually and

organizations started to consider labors work as an important resource. At the decade of 80 the concept of "Human Resource Management" was started and then it has shown growth gradually in decade of 1990. Finally the tasks and operations of personnel management was shifted to the Human Resource Management and it is functioning now in broad way in the organizations than Personnel Management.

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Evolution of Human Resource Management

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Get Your ACCA in London Fully Funded MBA for ACCA Students. Study ACCA with LSBF London. Enrol!www.LSBF.org.uk/ACCA Human Capital Management Improve outcomes using integrated workforce management solutions.www.apihealthcare.com Microsurgical VasReversal Expert Microsurgeon, 96% Success if vasectomy less than 18 years ago www.vasreversal.co.uk Quality Eyewear Suppliers Official HKTDC eMarketplace, Choose from over 120,000 suppliers! www.hktdc.com EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ABSTRACT In the competitive environment of open economy human resource management with the increased modern trends becoming significant factor for the efficient running of organization Human resource management emerged from personnel management and personnel management emerged from manpower planning. The consideration of changes taking place in managing human resource led to adaptation of strategic HRM the consideration of strategy and HRM system jointly led to the emergence of strategic human resource management SHRM which is crucial for achieving a corporation's long term goal. This article attempts to bring the historical evolution of HRM and changing roles of HR professional from time to time in order to considered employees as an important assets which helps in attaining goals of the organization. The article finally draws attention to the fact that SHRM and not PM or HRM are people considered for modern industrialization that is to be used for creating and sustaining competitive advantage for the firm. INTRODUCTION American writers Terrey and Franklin (1996) mentioned about the 6 Ms of management, viz. Men and women, material, money, market and method. But among these, men and women the only living being- do the effective coordination and utilization of these human and nonhuman resources. All the activities of any enterprise are initiated and Human resource gained more attention as the workforce considered to be an important resource to gain competitive advantage of organization and also it helpful in utilizing the resources of an organization to a optimum extent in order to achieve organizational goal.

Managing human resource is an complex process. As Harzing and Ruysseveldt said a better way to understand the philosophy of human resource management demands a thorough understanding about the evolution of the concept itself from the ancestral concept personnel management. In 1990 due to liberalized government policies of various countries the human resource started floating from one country to another this led to diversification of workforce and cross culture took place as a result employees from one nation migrating to another nation and bringing their culture with them this led to mixed organization culture so the HR professional has to play major role in coordinating the workforce of different culture in an organization. Approaches towards recruitment of staff focused to geocentric from ethnocentric and polycentric which is more efficient because workforce will be selected based on talent regardless of nationality. Method of recruiting also changed towards efficient policies like using of head hunters, cross national advertising, E- recruitment. EVOLUTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMETN Evolution of Personnel management started in 19th century at that time there was a boom in industrialization which leads to increase in franchising and influence of trade unions and harshness of industrial condition called for the better of industrial condition. There was no department as such for taking care of above problem only welfare officers came into being to take care of above situation. These welfare officers were only women's who take care of protectionism of women and girls because they feel it as worthy if women employee are sick they visit their home give food accommodation give moral welfare. As the role of women increasing like they were getting employed in modern industries where their work is packing assembly or other routine job so the quality required by these women employee increased so these welfare officer who were women their responsibility also increased that is to recruitment training development. But ambiguity has been increased due to increased in production and also increased in paternalistic behavior relationship between employer and employee and also aiming at moral protection of women and girls and also side by side the aim of achieving economies of scale is also increased like achieving higher output by minimizing cost by resolving grievances control of sickness these leads to mixed aim of achieving organizational objective in order to achieve but at that time their was only a handful of welfare officer was their they wanted to improve the condition of working of women in 1900 there were only few welfare officer was their but in 1913 number of welfare officer has been increased to take care of the situation. GROWTH IN PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 1914-39 The exact growth of personnel management started during First World War because the number of munitions manufactured at a large scale so the number of employees needed to manufacture increased on the other hand the welfare officer also increased by 1300 to take care of employees it also sought the supply of labor to munitions factories as the supply of welfare officer made mandatory by government. During war women recruited at a large scale to fill the gap of men who left the factories to joint war which in turn leads to dispute labour union to employ unskilled women

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The title labour manager or employment manager came in the yeat 1920 in engineering industry and other industries where the factories was very huge to handle absence, recruitment, queries over business and so on. Companies started merger and acquisition as strategy to grow in the mid of 19th century due to large number of employees employed they created their own specialist personnel department to unify the different policies and manage absence and recruitment with the objective of improving productivity. But this department is mainly concerned with hourly paid workers. As personnel management exist only in the emerging companies like plastic, chemicals and multiple retail. But during 1930's the economy started to grow at a rapid pace due to this big corporation came in to existence they feel to improve the value of employee benefits like different kinds of allowances as a measure of retaining motivating employee. SECOND WORLD WAR LEADS TO IMPROVEMENT IN PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT. Second world war increased the importance of having personnel department because of producing large war materials the ministry of labour and national services insisted to combine both personnel department and welfare officer work on a full time basis. Again in second world war the number of women employees is more to fill the gap left by men who join the battle field again re-training proper recruitment taken place government saw the there is a huge neeed to have personnel department to take care of all employees in well manner.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ERA As the industrial revolution take place simultaneously the factory system came in to being that leads increase in working rules and regulation to large number to employees increase in the hierarchical structure also increased in working hours but decrease in pay bad working condition, social distance between employee and employer has increased, increased bureaucratization all these factor results in increasing monotony boredom job displacement impersonality due to these factor personnel management got higher attention. 1945 1979 STARTED COLLECTIVE BARGAINING POWER AND INDUSTRIAL RELATION HAVE PRIMACY ROLE TO PLAY. As in the Second World War the term employment manager started to take care of women employees the combination of both welfare officers and employment manager leads to

personnel management. Though in the war times the productivity increased due to number of employment policies undertaken but the role of personnel management during war time was small that to implement the rules demanded to produce large scale goods but it was not focusing on other aspect of managing human resource that is by motivation, promotion, increasing morale, performance appraisal etc but the role of negotiation of union has gain important role. But there is an increasing in the bargaining between employer and unions during pre world war. During there is an enormous growth in an engineering industry but in 1950,s and 60,s there was an enormous growth in other type of industry which leads to the increasing the role of personnel management at same time large companies wanted to develop their own employment policies which suites to their company which leads to improve emerging new aspect in personnel management. The bargaining power of unions has increases which resulted in unnecessary official and unofficial strikes which were damaging the economy particularly manufacturing industry in UK the strikes were in huge number and it became famous in maintain poor industrial relation and the number of working days lost due to strike which resulted in closer of number of factories. The situation becoming worse and worse it was critical for both employers and unions due to this reason personnel manager was blaming for lacking of negotiation skill to resolve these situation and plan for industrial relationship strategies because of these deficiencies personnel management was not given high priority these leads to management to think something higher profile which have all the skill to negotiate to motivate. In the year mid of 1960's organization started giving much importance to employ the personnel specialist to perform different activities in order to make the employees as a whole package to perform in the organization. the world is becoming global village and labour started moving from one country to another this resulted in managing the workforce diversity this become the challenge for the personnel management to manage these workforce diversity. In the year 1960 Even the domestic rules and regulation was increased towards employability the new legislation was introduced towards employment, training, and redundancy payments, equal pay opportunities, employment protection. The year 1960 was high inflation so there was a regulation on wages paid by the employer personnel manager has to understand this new aspect of regulation regarding inflation to develop policies to implement new measures which aligned with employee's satisfaction level. Improvement in selection training appraisal and new management techniques has been expanded to improve the performance of the employees which demands to improve the profile of personnel management. Personnel management perform different function such as Collective bargaining role Implementation of legislation role Bureaucratic role Social conscience of the business role Growing performance improvement role RISING ROLE OF HRM

The role of HRM has gain more important in the year 1980. There was a complete shift from post war collectivism and towards individualism and changes in structure of economy. Some people thought that HRM was evolved to solve union problem as there is an demand to take care of employees of an organization as a whole it performs different function. During 1990,s the success of large Japanese corporation in export market like automobiles and electronic goods took surprise to many western companies but studies says that the success of these Japanese firm is due to effective management of workforce the studies also shows that the workforce of Japanese firm are more productive and efficient than western firm. The key to success of Japanese companies like Toyota Matsushita are the practice adopted for efficient management of workforce as these companies started opening its manufacturing plant in western countries the practice of these companies also started practiced by western companies. The practice include are:

Strict and rigorous selection and recruitment High level of training, especially induction training and on the job training Team working Multitasking Better management-worker communications Use of quality circles and an emphasis on right first time quality Encouragement of employee suggestions and innovation Single status symbols such as common canteens and corporate uniforms

The reason of above practice is create an organization atmosphere where workers can grow and identify their own success and goal which match with organization. Management practice Control Commitment Job design Focused on the individual Focused on the team Performance management Measured standards for minimum performance Higher "stretch" objectives Management structure Top down and hierarchical. Emphasis on management symbols Flat organisation structure. Minimum status differentials Compensation Individual pay linked to job evaluation

Pay linked to skills and mastery Employment Employees viewed as variable cost Assurances that participation will not result in job losses Employee voice Employee input allowed on a narrow agenda. Employee participation enacted on a wide range of issues Labour management relations Adversarial labour relations Mutuality with joint planning and problem solving Figure 1 Walton's control to commitment (Source adopted from Walton 1985) RISE OF STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Strategic human resource management is a branch of human resource management. SHRM means combination of strategy and HRM. It also refers to linking of human resources with strategic goals and objectives to achieve goals of an organization it also helps in improving the performance of innovation flexibility and competitive advantage. In an organization SHRM means accepting and involving the HR function as a strategic partner in the formulation and implementation of the company's strategies through HR activities. FEATURES OF STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Linkage of HR policy with organizational strategy in order to achieve organizational goals and objective Linkage of individual HR intervention so that they are mutually supportive. REASON FOR STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOUCE MANAGEMENT Globalization and internationalization of market integration Increased technological change Cross culture issues Increased competition Increasing new concept CONCLUSION By doing complete analysis of evolution of HRM the conclusion is their will be modern trends will be occurring in HRM like strategic human resource management it is mandatory for every organization to treat all employees in a well manner because they are the assets of an organization which helps in achieving organization goal. REFERENCES http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/hrtrends/hrsurvey.htm

Documents and Settings\a\Desktop\What is Strategic Human Resource

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History
[edit]Antecedent

theoretical developments

HR spawned from the human relations movement, which began in the early 20th century due to work by Frederick Taylor in lean manufacturing. Taylor explored what he termed "scientific management" (later referred to by others as "Taylorism"), striving to improve economic efficiency in manufacturing jobs. He eventually keyed in on one of the principal inputs into the manufacturing processlaborsparking inquiry into workforce productivity.[1] The movement was formalized following the research of Elton Mayo, whose Hawthorne studiesserendipitously documented how stimuli unrelated to financial compensation and working conditionsattention and engagementyielded more productive workers.[2] Contemporaneous work by Abraham Maslow, Kurt Lewin, Max Weber, Frederick Herzberg, and David McClelland formed the basis for studies in organizational behavior and organizational theory, giving room for an applied discipline. [edit]Birth

and evolution of the discipline

By the time enough theoretical evidence existed to make a business case for strategic workforce management, changes in the business landscape (a l Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller) and in public policy (a l Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal) had transformed the employer-employee relationship, and the discipline was formalized as "industrial andlabor relations". In 1913, one of the oldest known professional HR associations the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Developmentwas founded in England as the Welfare Workers' Association, then changed its name a decade later to the Institute of Industrial Welfare Workers, and again the next decade to Institute of Labour Management before settling upon its current name.[3]Likewise in the United States, the world's first institution of higher education dedicated to workplace studiesthe School of Industrial and Labor Relationswas formed at Cornell University in 1945.[4] During the latter half of the 20th century, union membership declined significantly, while workforce management continued to expand its influence within organizations. "Industrial and labor relations" began being used to refer specifically to issues concerning collective representation, and many companies began referring to the profession as "personnel administration". In 1948, what would later become the largest professional HR associationthe Society for Human Resource Management(SHRM)was founded as the American Society for Personnel Administration (ASPA).
[5]

Nearing the 21st century, advances in transportation and communications greatly facilitated workforce mobility and collaboration. Corporations began viewing employees as assets rather than as cogs in machine. "Human resources management", consequently, became the dominant term for the functionthe ASPA even changing its name to SHRM in 1998.[5] "Human capital

management" is sometimes used synonymously with HR, although human capital typically refers to a more narrow view of human resources; i.e., the knowledge the individuals embody and can contribute to an organization. Likewise, other terms sometimes used to describe the field include "organizational management", "manpower management", "talent management", and simply "people management". [edit]In

popular media

HR has been portrayed in several instances of popular media. On the U.S. television series of The Office, HR representative Toby Flenderson is sometimes seen as a nag because he constantly reminds coworkers of company policies and government regulations.[6] Long-running American comic strip Dilbert also frequently portrays sadistic HR policies through character Catbert, the "evil director of human resources".[7] An HR manager is also the title character in the 2010 Israeli film The Human Resources Manager.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource_management

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HR comes of age - history of human resource management

Workfoce management has becomeincreasingly complex. The heritage and growth of the human resource management profession is closely linked to people's attitudes about work, the evolution of employment-related laws and sociological trends. The HR field today recognizes the dynamic relationship between strategy, people, technology and the processes that drive organizations. Although this dynamic relationship appears obvious now, the evolution of the profession has often been slow. One could argue that the HR field dates back to the first working arrangements between master craftspeople and their apprentices. Before the industrial Revolution,

working arrangements involved close relationships between mentors and apprentices dedicated to learning a particular trade. Apprentices were often required to live in the shop or home of the master craftsperson. If an apprentice was injured or sick, the master's family was responsible for restoring the young worker's health and welfare. Master and apprentice shared in good times and bad, in profit and in loss. The usefulness of this age-old relationship came to an abrupt end with the advent of the Industrial Age. In one powerful stroke, the notion of work moved from guilds and home shops to steam-driven factories. The introduction of the assembly line brought a need for low-skilled employees capable of performing repetitive tasks. Management philosophy at the turn of the century was epitomized by Henry Ford, who often wondered why workers brought their heads to work when all he really needed was their hands and feet. Assembly line production required that large numbers of people come together for work, but these workers were interchangeable and, to some extent, expendable, because few skills were required for most factory jobs. Employers' attentions focused on consumer demands, the speed at which new machines produced goods and the processes that drove production -- concerns that were sometimes placed well ahead of the needs of employees. The personnel administration movement By the late 1800s, people problems were a very real concern in the workplace. For the average blue-collar worker, most jobs were low-paying, monotonous and unsafe. Some industries experienced difficulty recruiting and retaining employees because of the poor working conditions workers were exposed to. As the means of production continued to shift from farmlands and guilds to city factories, concerns grew about wages, safety, child labor and 12-hour workdays. Workers began to band together in unions to protect their interests and improve living standards. Government stepped in to provide basic rights and protections for workers. Forward-thinking employers recognized that productivity was connected to worker satisfaction and involvement and realized they could not meet production schedules with bands of disgruntled employees. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the personnel profession that grew out of concerns about employee absenteeism and high turnover attempted to solve worker problems with such basic personnel management functions as employee selection, training and compensation.

It's believed that the first personnel management department began at the National Cash Register Co. (NCR). NCR faced a major strike at the turn of the century but eventually defeated the union after a lockout in 1901. After this difficult union battle, company President John H. Patterson decided to improve worker relations by organizing a personnel department to handle grievances, discharges, safety and other employee issues. The department also kept track of pending legislation and court decisions and these first personnel managers provided training for supervisors on new laws and practices. NCR was not alone in its efforts to address employee grievances. Other employers were looking for management solutions that would alleviate employee disenchantment. Many attempted to ease labor unrest by increasing wages. For example, Ford experienced employee turnover ratios of 380 percent in 1913; in 1914, the company doubled the daily salaries for line workers from $2.50 to $5, even though $2.50 was a fair wage at that time. Although industrial giants were beginning to understand that they had to do more than just hire and fire if they were going to meet consumer demands for products, most of the objectives of early personnel professionals were one-sided. Business leaders still viewed the work itself as infinitely more important than the people doing it, and production rates remained the top concern. Because employers believed employees would accept more rigid standards if they received extra pay and benefits, most employer-sponsored business solutions were aimed at making employees more efficient. From this mind-set grew scientific management approaches based on the work of Frederick W. Taylor and other experts whose goal was to get people to perform as efficiently as machines. Of course, such approaches did little to improve worker morale or improve working environments. To counter the growing strength of the labor movement, some employers hired strikebreakers or kept blacklists of union members. Others made workers sign "yellow-dog" contracts -- agreements that they would not join unions. Still others attempted to protect their interests by creating company unions to preempt the influence of outside union activities. Government stepped up to help those who were less fortunate through reforms of work hours, new laws governing the work of children and workers' compensation laws aimed at protecting employees injured on the job. In Congress created the U.S. Department of Labor "to foster, promote and develop the welfare of working people, to improve their working conditions and to enhance their opportunities for profitable employment."

The Labor Department grew rapidly during World War I as the war effort became a national priority. By the war's end, the Labor Department -- through the War Labor Administration (WLA) -- had set numerous policies to ensure that wage, hour or working condition problems did not hinder the war effort and industrial growth. WLA initiatives were model programs but frequently fell short of business needs. They could not meet the challenges that would soon stop the industrial explosion in its tracks. In 1929, the onset of the Great Depression drastically changed the rules of business. With profits dwindling, employers first eliminated voluntary welfare program, then jobs. The government led by President Franklin Roosevelt, provided some assistance by creating jobs ranging from road building to painting murals on government buildings through the Civil Works Administration and later the more extensive Works Progress Administration. New social programs, including old-age pensions, labor standards and minimum wages for some industries, were developed. With dreams of the good life fading for most workers, unions established strong roots in many industries and gathered political clout with Congress. The Norris-LaGuardia Act changed the rules of the game in labor-management relations by making "yellow-dog" contracts unenforceable and severely restricting the use of federal court injunctions in labor disputes. Union organizations grew in power after passage of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in 1935, also known as the Wagner Act. The NLRA signaled a change in the federal government's role in labor-management relations, giving employees the right to organize unions and bargain collectively, while prohibiting employers from engaging in certain unfair labor practices. The act also created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which continues to establish procedures for conducting union organizing and election campaigns and has authority to investigate unfair labor practices. As employers began to understand the need for professionals who could play a middle role between employees and employers, the personnel manager's role emerged. It was during this first movement that employers began to truly understand that employees were more than machines with interchangeable faces. The personnel managers of this period did not have all the answers, but the developing practices and concerns of the era set the stage for continuing study and investment in the role of effective human resource management. Human relations movement

The field of human relations -- or industrial and personnel relations -- that emerged in the 1920s provided a new focus for the profession. In an effort to increase productivity, personnel programs expanded to include medical aid and sick benefits, vaccinations, holidays, housing allowances and other new benefits. New personnel roles emerged as unions began challenging the fairness and validity of Taylor's scientific management theories. The human relations movement provided new insights derived from studies that linked improved productivity to management philosophies emphasizing employeecommunications, cooperation and involvement. This new thinking about employee cooperation grew from the works ofElton Mayo -- known as the Father of Human Relations -- and from the Hawthorne Studies, an important series of illumination experiments conducted between 1924 and 1932. Conducted at the Hawthorne Works of AT&T's Western Electric Plant near Chicago, the Hawthorne Studies were the first to question Taylorism's behavioral assumptions. Mayo, who conducted the studies to explore how changes in working environments affected productivity, was surprised by the results. Although the study began as an effort to quantify the levels of lighting and other physical conditions that would maximize employee productivity, Mayo and his researchers soon found a much greater link between employee productivity and the level of attention managers paid to employees and their behavior. The studies concluded that, in motivating workers, human factors were often more important than physical conditions. For the first time, productivity research put forth the controversial proposition that workers' feelings were important. Mayo's work propelled further developments in HR management. The concept of employee motivation increased in importance in the 1940s. When World War II ended the nation's economic drought and brought full production and full employment to the industrial giants, labor was again in short supply. As men were called to serve their country, shortages emerged, and women and teens were called on to keep the engines of industry rolling. For the first time, people of color took jobs previously not open to them. Expanded job growth also meant expanded roles for the personnel manager -- recruiting, testing, training, mediating, and keeping an eye on employee morale and production efficiency. As the 1940s moved forward, Mayo's work and real-world business experiences launched a greater understanding of the dynamics of work groups and the social needs of employees. Business leaders began to appreciate the production that resulted when managers acted less like taskmasters and more like good leaders, counselors and facilitators. Non-monetary rewards became an important supplement

to monetary rewards for motivating employees. New theories on the benefits of improving the relationships between management and employees abounded. But many Americans awoke to harsh realities after World War II. Returning war veterans were ill equipped to meet the technological demands of the new workplace. The federal government responded with measures such as the GI Bill of Rights, which granted university-level educational assistance to returning veterans and was instrumental in developing new leaders and a powerful new workforce for the United States. After the war, the country was also rocked by severe inflation and labor unrest. After enduring wage freezes imposed during the war, unions sought to make up for the lost time. Union membership had grown from about 6 percent when the NLRA was passed to about 23 percent in 1947. Strikes became more frequent and union tactics in some cases more militant. A strong anti-union sentiment emerged and against this backdrop Congress overrode President Truman's veto of the 1947 Labor-Management Relations Act, better known as the Taft-Hartley Act. The new law banned the use of "closed shops," which required workers to join t he union to be hired, and placed government in the role of mediating union and management disagreements. But as the turbulent 1940s came to an end, a new turbulence was brewing in the Far East. Once again, the country mobilized for war production with the outbreak of the Korean War. Human resource movement After the Korean War, a new class of college-educated managers emerged with a greater sense of social responsibility than their predecessors. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, social well-being coupled with social upheaval -best exemplified by the struggle for desegregation -- changed the thinking of employees in the United States. As the 1960s and 1970s unfolded, a more personable group of managers emerged, and their interests in people and feelings influenced all facets of business, including the growth of market research, communications and public relations. This group of managers emphasized the relationship between employers and employees, rather than scientific management. Programs to increase wages and fringe benefits continued to be developed. New studies linked greater productivity to management philosophies that encouraged worker ideas and initiatives.

The new laws of the Great Society sprouted from this social foundation -- laws that protected employees from unsafe jobs and from violations of basic civil rights. Personnel and human relations managers were now responsible for motivating people and helping their organizations navigate a maze of regulations, executive orders and court decisions. As time progressed, the nature of work continued to change. A well-educated group of baby boomers became to take new theories to heart. Boomers placed human rights and ideas of self-fulfillment at the forefront of their workplace concerns. These people wanted more than an occupation; they wanted jobs that were challenging and interesting. Employees of this era began to view themselves as stakeholders in their companys' enterprises. In contrast to the attitude of the early 1900s -- where workers were considered cogs in the industrial machine -- many of the highly skilled knowledge workers of today actually control the machines, carrying the power and ability to make decisions to satisfy customer needs. In looking for ways to increase productivity, baby boomers are also heavily influenced by psychology and other behavioral sciences. Dedicated to making work meaningful, enriching the work environment, communicating and imaging by objectives, this generation seeks to tie the goals of individuals with the goals of the organization. Most businesses have been happy to go along with the new programs, since their efforts are tied to in-creased productivity. As bottom-line results improve and more competitive advantages are tied to human resource innovations, the power of human resource management has begun to extend beyond the domain of human resource departments. Organizations have recognized the importance of human resource considerations in long-range strategic planning. Today, the human resource professional is charged with optimizing employee skills, matching people to jobs and maximizing the potential of employees as valuable resources. Poised for the future Many challenges remain for the HR profession. Companies must to maintain ethical standards to match heightened social mores and the greater attention given to the ways they behave and communicate. The diverse composition of the workforce means employers must work to ensure that they reward effort, not prejudices against sex, race, age, national origin, religion or other global differences. Many companies still have not made their human resource professionals key participants in strategic business decisions. And top management stiff resists

sharing decision-making power with employees, who must be given such power if they are to add value to products and services. While maintaining the special body of HR knowledge, professionals in human resource management must also be generalists who understand economics, politics, social and cultural trends, technological innovations, changing work values, skill shortages, government mandates in labor laws, affirmative action, health care management, privacy concerns, international trends, and myriad other issues. For HR professionals, the challenge of today's business environment is to understand and manage the important interaction of technology, work, flow, organizational strategies and, most important, people. The human resource profession has come a long way since the early days of Henry Ford and other industrial giants who believed they needed little more than able bodies to keep production lines running. In our new age of technology and rapid product innovation, unleashing the minds and creative souls of tomorrow's workforce is the factor most likely to propel businesses and the HR profession into the future. Michael R. Losey, SPHR, CAE, is president and chief executive officer of the Society for Human Resource Management. COPYRIGHT 1998 Society for Human Resource Management COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group Business Services Industry Bibliography for: "HR comes of age - history of human resource management" Michael Losey "HR comes of age - history of human resource management". HR Magazine. FindArticles.com. 22 Feb, 2012. COPYRIGHT 1998 Society for Human Resource Management COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_n3_v43/ai_20514399/pg_4/? tag=content;col1