Research Paper – The History of Human Resource Management
Abstract
Various attempts have been made towards tracing the historical development of the discipline of Human Resource Management (HRM). However, these initiatives have mainly concentrated on specific periods and experiences of particular countries and regions such as Australia, the USA, the UK, and Asia. This paper attempts to document the entire history of the discipline of Human Resource Management from a holistic perspective. The evolution and development of HRM will be traced right from the pre-historic times through to the postmodern world. Major characteristics in the growth and development of HRM will also be examined and documented.
Introduction
the most valued asset of any organization is the people working within the organization to ensure that the organization runs in a manner that will meet its set objectives; hence these assets require proper management to maintain higher productivity. Human resource management can then be defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued assets, the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives (Busse et al. 2016). Human resource management had gone through various changes since the first concept of the 19th century. The evolution that has occurred within the human resource has been to adapt to the changes that are happening within the industry where human resource, which is virtually every aspect of a business. The transition from the early setting of running organization leads to an ineffective, incompetent and costly way of running the human resource division of most companies, setting into the new generation of doing business or operating organizations much changes were to be incorporated to ensure the operation of this much-needed division of every organization. The business environment in the 21st century is competitive and disruptive. There has never been a time that human resource is needed like today, but this means a new and improved human resource that will ensure organizational excellence and will aid the company or organization in question to achieve by offering more value to the company that will be transferred to the customers, investors and the employees. This can only be achieved by radical changes that separate HR from the standard policy-policing nature of the traditional human resource. The new mandate envisions human resources by what it delivers and not by what it does.
Historical developments of Human Resource Management
Tracing the origins of Human Resource Management
As far as pre-historic times, there existed consistent methods for the selection of tribal leaders. The practice of safety and health while hunting was passed on from generation to generation. From 2000BC to 1500BC, the Chinese used employee screening techniques and while Greeks used an apprentice system (Busse et al. 2016). These actions recognized the need to select and train individuals for jobs. Early employee specialists were called personnel managers or personnel administrators. Personnel management in the United Kingdom and the United States developed earlier than in any other part of the world (Rotich,2015). Mass production work processes, power-driven equipment, and improved production systems enabled products to be manufactured more cheaply than before. This process also created many jobs that were monotonous, unhealthy, or even hazardous, and led to divisions between management and the laborers (Marciano,1995). The concentration of workers in factories served to focus public attention upon conditions of employment and forced workers to collaborate to achieve better status (Rotich,2015). According to the Humanitarian, Cooperative, and Marxist theories of the early 1900s, which highlighted the potential conflicts between employee and employer interests in modern industry situations that laid the foundations for the growth of trade unionism and industrial relations systems which are essential elements of contemporary HRM (Marciano,1995). Governments in both the United Kingdom and the United States became involved in these issues. They passed a series of laws to regulate the hours of work for women and children, to establish minimum wages for male labor and to protect workers from unhealthy or hazardous working conditions (Marciano,1995).
During this period, management theorists in the United States and the United Kingdom began to examine the nature of work and work systems and to develop models based upon emerging psychological and sociological research (Nankervis et al. 2011).
Stages of HRM development in the US and other parts of the world
The progression of HRM almost in every country followed nearly the same path with a few differences, but in general, the history can be seen as the same.
- Stage One aka the Administration stage
This stage of HRM development occurred between 1873-1912. During this period, the personnel functions were performed by specialists with any representation or whatsoever. The personnel functions were based on written theories that had not been employed anywhere. It was during this period when various laws and ideas of Human Resource Management would be like. In most parts of the world, laws had not been implemented, setting the conditions which a worker who be subjected to. By 1902, there severe concerns about the working conditions of the employees as well as compensation coupled with the hours of work, especially for children and women. During this stage, the laws could help with the administration of what could be later called Human Resource Management (Rao &Teegen, 2009).
- Stage two aka the welfare stage
This stage of HRM development occurred between the 1913-1940s. During this period, many improvements and professionalism were already put in place. It was during this period that the world had had the second world war; much of the business operation was already going out of the country due to globalization, especially after the end of the world war. During this period, the concept of recruitment and selection first came in place during the world war when the army encouraged the hiring of selected girls to aid in the war efforts (Bach & Kessler,2007). Food and ammunition factories were booming, but there was a problem with the workers in terms of their performance. Financial, social and family pressures began to hinder the productivity and output of such employees, becoming increasingly harder to recruit. When the war ended, returning soldiers flooded the labor market, often with few work skills. Thus, employers spurred on by government initiatives and post-war requirements for skilled employees in a developing economy began to focus on the importance of a broader range of personnel functions. This stage is also characterized by the expansion of necessary personnel functions for the post-world war economy (Bach & Kessler,2007).; a gradual move from specialist to more general approaches; the adoption of overseas theories, including scientific management, behavioral science and human relations; and the emergence of professional associations and courses. The resurgence of unionism during these decades cannot, of course, be overlooked. Unions in a buoyant economy focused on issues of pay and work conditions, forcing the further expansion of personnel activities to include industrial relations considerations. The sophisticated industrial relations structure at the national level was the origin.
- Stage 3 aka the Age of HR and HRM
This stage of human resource management happened between 1945-1970, possibly to the 1990s. The most noticeable event during this era of human resource development was the effects of globalization. Every country that was producing directed their products toward the US market. Various industries faced stiff competition from products from other countries, and it became clear that organizational effectiveness and excellence could not be obtained through technological advancements and various cost-driven measures that could easily be replicated. Organizational effectiveness created more jibs as it became apparent that skilled personnel would quickly propel a company to success (Collings et al.,2018).
This era of HRM development was marked by
Industrial RelationsConsultation between management and the workforce spread during the war. This meant that personnel departments became responsible for its organization and administration. Health and safety and the need for specialists became the focus. The need for specialists to deal with industrial relations was recognized so that the personnel manager became the spokesman for the organization when discussions were held with trade unions/shop stewards. In the 1970s, industrial relations were fundamental. The heated climate during this period reinforced the importance of a specialist role in industrial relations negotiation. The personnel manager had the authority to negotiate deals about pay and other collective issues (Collings et al.,2018).
Legislation In the 1970s, employment legislation had risen, and the personnel function took the specialist advisor role, ensuring that managers did not violate the law and that cases did not end up in industrial tribunals(Collings et al.,2018).
Flexibility and Diversity
In the 1990s, a significant trend emerged where employers were seeking increasing flexible arrangements in the hours worked by employees due to an increase in several part-time and temporary contracts and the invention of distance working. The workforce and work patterns are becoming diverse, in which traditional recruitment practices are useless (Collings et al.,2018).
- Stage 4 aka the present and the future of HRM
These include the period between the late 1990s to date 2020. The HRM is fully developed with every measure now in place to show how an excellent human resource management plan is supposed to be like (Nankervis et al. 2011). Dave Ulrich documents this era of HRM. Different institutions have found ways to have the human resource team as part of the strategy development and strategy execution. The traditional policy policing nature of HR has shifted to find ways to include HR as the strategists in the company’s operation. The human resource department or division in most has been involved in organizational architecture, organizational audits, removing and renovating parts of the organizational architecture, and taking of stock of its work. For example, strategic human resource management at Apple Inc is tasked with the development of organizational architecture incorporation with head management to ensure the best of recruitment and selection, leadership development, incentive compensation, employee development, and employee relations, career opportunity, among others (Ulrich et al.,2009).
The current of HR and HRM also has taken keen development in human capital development by championing the employees across many organizations. The work environment has changed significantly for the past 20 years. The work is now much demanding, and with it comes a human resource that can handle the challenges brought about by the new era laborer. Human resource and human resource management across many institutions have been a the forefront of fighting for their workers by venturing in many activities that affect the well-being of their staff as well as ensuring they perform to their best by investing in training, workshops and even talks on how to improve the delivery of human capital (Ulrich et al.,2009).
References
Bach, S., & Kessler, I. (2007). HRM and the new public management. In The Oxford handbook of human resource management.
Busse, R., Warner, M., & Zhao, S. (2016). In search of the roots of HRM in the Chinese workplace. Chinese Management Studies.
Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human resource management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.
Marciano, V. M. (1995, August). THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 1995, No. 1, pp. 223-227). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Nankervis et al. (2011) Human Resource Management: Strategy and Practice, (7th ed) Cengage Learning, Melbourne, Australia
Rao, P., & Teegen, H. (2009). Human resource management.
Rotich, K. J. (2015). History, evolution, and development of human resource management: a contemporary perspective. Global Journal of Human Resource Management, 3(3), 58-73.
Ulrich, D., Allen, J., Brockbank, W., Younger, J., & Nyman, M. (2009). HR transformation: Building human resources from the outside in. New York.