Origin, Evolution and Development of Human Resource Management

  

Date Posted: 5/20/2013 11:11:38 AM

Posted By: olivertambo  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 229

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Origin, Evolution and Development of Human Resource Management

Although human resource management as a discipline matured in the late 1980s, it did not suddenly appear but evolved over time into its present form. As correctly stated by Sims (2002), the discipline of HRM is actually a synthesis of themes and concepts drawn from over a century of management theory and social science research.
There are several landmarks that influenced the development of Human Resource Management as a discipline. These include:
- Industrial Revolution;
- Scientific Management
- World Wars;
- Works of behavioural scientists
- Hawthorne studies;
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs;
- McGregor’s theory X and Y

1. The industrial revolution
The industrial revolution began in Great Britain in the late eighteenth century and spread to America in early nineteenth century.
The industrial revolution gave rise to the factory system.
The factory system:
i. greatly expanded production and created a new class of workers and managers
ii. led to the shift from an agricultural based society to an industrial and manufacturing based society
iii. gradually replaced the self-employed house-holds and handcraft
iv. created a class of permanent wage earners
v. brought together many workers
vi. brought rationalization of work and division of labour



The arrival of the Industrial Revolution laid the basis for:
• A new and complex industrial society leading to a significant change in the working conditions, social patterns, and the division of labour.
• Until the time of the Industrial Revolution, organizations were small and there were no human resource professionals and departments. The owner of the business generally did the human resource functions of selecting and training new employees, evaluating and paying these employees.
Laissez-faire approach to management

As the factories grew in size the owners could no longer maintain the highly personalized form of management instead a laissez-faire approach to management was adopted

Under laissez-faire approach to management:
i. personnel practices were autocratic and reflected little concern for the working conditions, safety or job security of workers
ii. workers were seen as just another factor of production
iii. workers were

poorly paid since the employers were more concern in returning profits
iv. poor working conditions whereby buildings were often unsanitary;
v. badly lit and unventilated;
vi. little attention was paid to health and safety;
vii. some machinery was dangerous;
viii. some industries were faced with hazards such as heat, humidity, dust, dirt, fumes, noise and cramped conditions;
ix. the pace of work was determined by machines;
x. And workers were forced to work long fatiguing hours, sometimes in order to lengthen the working day; the employer robbed them of their rest hours.
Employers used normally used the foreman or supervisor to run the whole factory. The foreman was responsible for all human resource functions including: hiring, placement, training, wage setting, grievance handling, and dismissing of workers.
This resulted in:
i. Sometimes riots;
ii. Employees forming unions;
iii. The government intervening with laws and statutory regulations that forced employers to set up formal mechanism to look into workers wages and welfare.
iv. Employers responded to human problems caused by industrialization by creating the post of welfare officer. Welfare officers were supposed to assist workers by suggesting improvements in working conditions, housing, medical care, educational facilities and recreation.
These welfare officers are often considered to be the forerunners of human resource management specialists and acted as a buffer between the organization and its employees.
2. Scientific Management
Scientific Management (SM) was a response to worker related problems in the factory
The scientific management movement originated in America’s business and engineering schools in the late 1880s as an effort to understand human behaviour in the workplace.
The key representative of the scientific management movement is Fredrick Taylor who endeavoured to develop theories of work organizations, which would improve effectiveness and raise productivity.
Taylor believed that:
i. The same techniques used by scientist in the laboratory experimentation could be used to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the workplace.
ii. Production work needed to be systematically analyzed, studied and improved using the same scientific approach engineers use to design machines.
iii. Efficiency and effectiveness could be achieved through application of a set of basic management principles.
iv. There is “one-best-way” and the fastest time a worker could perform a particular task. This is what is popularly known as time and motion study.

v. The scientific approach to organization and management would result in all parties getting what they wanted:
a. higher output and higher profits for the employer
b. higher wages pay for the worker

Scientific Management contributed to HRM in the following ways:

? Taylor showed the importance of job analysis as a basis for selection, training job evaluation, job change and compensation
? He advanced the notion of variable pay, reward for workers on the basis of their productivity
? This approach advocated scientific selection, education, and development of workers and intimate, friendly cooperation between management and the workers
? The effect of the scientific management on HRM was the idea that, there are principles of administration and a range of techniques that can be employed by organizations to deal with employee problems. For instance,
o The traditional powerful foreman’s method of favouritism was replaced by a system of applications, intelligence and aptitude tests.
o Also systems of careful job descriptions and job evaluations were introduced in an effort to reduce worker dissatisfaction due to pay inequalities and favouritism
Criticism
However, despite its contribution to the field of management the scientific management approach has been criticized for:
? Dehumanizing the worker through its person-as-machine
? Assuming that people’s main objective at work was to satisfy their economic needs;
? Emotional needs of workers are not taken into consideration;
? Assuming that the interest of the worker and the employer are mutual.
3. World Wars
The war environment had a great impact upon the management of human resources.
World War I
During the World Wars governments of countries involved in the war were forced to pay attention to personnel management. To support the war a lot of manpower was required to provide the necessary goods and services.
During this period there was a wide spread labour shortage caused by workers being drawn to war industries, and the military. Labour turnover increased due to job opportunities for workers. Skilled men joined the army and were replaced by semi-skilled workers including women.
To deal with labour shortages:
a).The US government for instance:
- The War Industries Board that created centralized employment departments in government run industries
- Set up training courses for their workers and managers
- The job instruction technique (JIT) was introduced during this period. This was a four step instructional method referred to as “show, tell, do, check” used by supervisors on-site.
• Encouraged war related industries to recognize trade unions in order to minimize strikes and production disruptions

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