History Of Human Resource Management

The History of Human Resource Management

Human resource management is the 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 the objectives of the business. The terms "human resource management" and "human resources" (HR) have largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations. Human Resource management is evolving rapidly. Human resource management is both an academic theory and a business practice that addresses the theoretical and practical techniques of managing a workforce. (1)

Human resource management has it roots in the late and early 1900's. When workers jobs became less labor intense and more working with machinary. The scientific management movement began. This movement was started by Frederick Taylor when he wrote about it a book titled The Principles of Scientific Management. The book stated, "The principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee."(2) Taylor believed that management should use the techniques used by scientist to research and test work skills to improve the efficiency of the workforce.

Also around the same time came the industrial welfare movement. This was usually a voluntary effort by employers to improve the conditions in their factories. The effort also extended into the employees life outside of the work place. The employer would try to provide assistance to employees to purchase a home, medical care, or assistance for education.

The human relations movement is the major influence of the modern human resource management. The movement focused on how employees group behavior and how employee feelings. This movement was influenced by the Hawthorne Studies and the belief that employees worked better in a social system.

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, and 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. (3)

The growth of organized labor soon followed. The first union the Knights of Labor formed in 1869. This union pushed for 8 hour work days (which we all enjoy today), the prohibition of child labor, and equal pay for men and women. Unions supported boycotts - not purchasing products from a producer it they were not participating in what the union wanted. The Knights of Labor switched their stance to striking when in the 1880's unemployment and wage cuts were widespread. This proved less effective the larger the union became because they could not control the members from unauthorized strikes and sabotaging the factories. The employers resorted to using strikebreakers, non union members willing to replace striking employees.

Violence became more prevalent in the late 1900's during strikes. The Molly Maguires became infamous for beatings and murders of employers. The turn of the century did nothing to curtail such violence. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation strike of 1913 saw the use of militia. The militia fired machine guns into tents housing family members of the strikers then the company doused the tents with fuel and set them ablaze killing many.

The federal government had had enough. At first the government was not supportive of the labor movement. Then they tides turned and they started to enact laws in favor of labor. The Clayton Act, passed in 1914, allowed for picket lines and limited the use of court orders against workers and unions. The Wagner Act of 1935 addressed the need of labor to organize. The act permitted employees to choose their representation and allow them exclusive rights to bargain with the employers.

The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 enacted amendments prohibiting actions, or "unfair labor practices", on the part of unions to the NLRA, which had previously only prohibited "unfair labor practices" committed by employers. The Taft-Hartley Act prohibited jurisdictional strikes, secondary boycotts and picketing, closed shops, and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns. Union shops were heavily restricted, and states were allowed to pass "right-to-work laws" that outlawed union shops. Furthermore, the executive branch of the Federal government could obtain legal strikebreaking injunctions if an impending or current strike "imperiled the national health or safety," a test that has been interpreted broadly by the courts. (4)

At the turn of the 20th century companies began employing people to manage personnel. These first positions were called personnel specialists. Companies were encouraged to create this position when in 1920 a book was published by Tead and Metcalf called Personnel Administration. These positions also fell under different titles such as employment agents and labor department specialists.

Many companies also started to create entire departments