a brief history of hrm

1.2. A Brief History of HRM

1. The history of HRM can be traced to England.- Employees(masons, carpenters, leather workers,

and other craftspeople) organized themselves into guilds/association/unity.

- They used their unity to improve their working conditions.

2. Industrial Revolution: The field further developed with the arrival of industrial revolution in the latter part of the 18th century.

04/10/23 1HRM: overview

A Brief History of HRM…• The industrial revolution was characterized by:- a new and complex industrial society.- The substitution of steam power and machinery for

time-consuming hand labor- The significant change in the working conditions,

social patterns, and the division of labor- A new kind of employee-a boss, who wasn’t

necessarily the owner, as had usually been the case in the past- became a power

• With these changes also came a widening gap between workers and owners


A Brief History of HRM…3. Scientific Management, Welfare work and Industrial

Psychology• In the 19th century, Scientific management , welfare

work and industrial psychology emerged concurrently and merged during the world wars.

3.1. Scientific Management dealt with inefficiencies in labor and management through work methods, time and motion study, and specialization

• The renowned father of scientific management was Fredric W. Taylor

• He studied worker efficiency and attempted to discover the “one best way” and the one faster way to do a job.


A Brief History of HRM…• He summarized scientific management as 1. science, not rules of thumb;2. Harmony, not discord;3. Cooperation, individualism; and 4. Maximum output, not restricted output.• Whereas scientific management focused on the

job and efficiencies, industrial psychology focused on the worker and individual differences.

• The maximum well-being of the worker was the focus of industrial psychology.


A Brief History of HRM…

3.2. Industrial psychology • Focused on the application of psychological principles

towards increasing the ability of workers to perform efficiently and effectively.

• Development of Personnel departments caused by: The drastic changes in technology, The growth of organizations, The rise of unions, and Government concern and intervention

concerning working people



• Development of personnel departments…- No specific date assigned to the appearance of the

first personnel department- Established around 1920s to fill the gap resulting

from the conflict between employees and management

- Early personnel administrators were called welfare secretaries.

- The job of welfare secretaries was to bridge the gap between management and operator(worker)



4. Human Relations Movement- Founders: Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger - incorporated human factors into work.- Conducted Hawthorne studies (1924-1933)- The purpose of the Hawthorne study was to determine the

effects of illumination on workers and their output.- The study pointed out the importance of social interaction

and work group on output and satisfaction.- contributed to the field of organizational behavior.


The changing role of the HR Practitioner

04/10/23 HRM: overview 8

The changing role of HR Practitioner

• In 1997 Dave Ulrich produced his model in which he suggested that as champions of competitiveness in creating and delivering value, HR professionals carry out the roles of:

• strategic partners, • administrative experts, • employee champions and • change agents.


The changing role of HR Practitioner…

Ulrich, in conjunction with Brockbank, reformulated the 1997 model in 2005, listing the following roles:

• Employee advocate – focuses on the needs of today’s employees through listening, understanding and empathizing.

• Human capital developer – in the role of managing and developing human capital (individuals and teams), focuses on preparing employees to be successful in the future.


The changing role of HR practitioner…

• Functional expert – concerned with the HR practices that are central to HR value, acting with insight on the basis of the body of knowledge they possess.

• Strategic partner – consists of multiple dimensions: business expert, change agent, strategic HR planner, knowledge manager and consultant, combining them to align HR systems to help accomplish the organization’s vision and mission, helping managers to get things done, and disseminating learning cross the organization.

• Leader – leading the HR function, collaborating with other functions and providing leadership to them, setting and enhancing the standards for strategic thinking and ensuring corporate governance.


The changing role of HRM

Early practices of Personnel Management• Obscures the importance of the HRM function to

Management.• Concerned only with blue-collar or operating employees until

1960s• A record keeping unit• Drucker stated that the job of personnel was “partly a file clerk’s job,

partly a house keeping job, partly a social worker’s job, and partly firefighting , heading off union trouble.”

• Company moral officer


The changing role of HRM…

• HR as employee advocate - traditionally, HR has been viewed as the “employee

advocate” in organizations.- Seen as “company morale officers” and hence they

do not understand the business realities of the organizations and

- do not contribute measurably to the strategic success of the business.

- “Crisis Management”- Fair and Equitable Treatment04/10/23 13HRM: overview


• HR as employee advocate…• Balancing the advocacy with the business

contributor.• Being an effective employee advocate is not

sufficient.• Instead, HR professionals must be strategic

contributors , partners with operating managers, administratively efficient , and cost effective.



• Administrative role of HRM- Heavily oriented to processing and record keeping.- It involves maintaining HR files and HR-related databases, - Processing employee benefits claims,- Answering questions about tuition and/sick leave policies,

and compiling and submitting required state and federal government reports.

- Considered as paper shufflers- HR staff are seen primarily as clerical and lower-level

administrative contributors to the organization.- most often outsourced to external providers or automated04/10/23 15HRM: overview


• Operational Role of HR Management - Operational activities are tactical in nature.- Operational roles involves coordinating the management of

HR activities with the actions of managers and supervisors throughout the organization.

- Requires HR professionals to identify and implement operational programs and policies in the organization.

- major implementers of the HR portion of organizational strategic plans developed by top management , rather than being deeply involved in developing those strategic plans.



• Strategic Role of HR Management - Emphasizes that people in an organization are

valuable resources representing significant organizational investments.

- For HR to play a strategic role it must focus on the long-term implications of HR issues.


HRM as strategic Business Contributor

• The HRM function today is concerned with much more than simple filing, house keeping, and record keeping.

• For the years the HRM function had not been linked to the corporate performance i.e. the bottom line.

• HRM was merely a tagalong unit with people-oriented plans, not a major part of the planning or strategic thinking.

• Today, HRM has become one of the major player in the design of the organization’s strategic plan.

• Organizational and human resource plans and strategies are inextricably linked.

• The HRM strategies must reflect clearly the organization's strategy regarding people, profit, and overall effectiveness.


HRM as strategic Business Contributor

• One of the most important shifts in the emphasis of HRM in the past few years has been the recognition of HR as a strategic business contributor.

• All organizations, including not-for-profits such as governmental or social service entities must manage their human resources as being valuable and in a “business oriented” manner.

• Based up on the research and writings of a number of scholars, including David Ulrich of the university of Michigan, the importance of HR being a strategic business partner has been addressed.


1.3. strategic importance of HRM• Analyzing and solving problems from a profit-oriented, not just a service-

oriented, point of view.• Assessing and interpreting costs or benefits of such HRM issues as

Productivity, salaries and benefits, recruitment, training, absenteeism, overseas relocation, layoffs, meetings, and attitude surveys.

• Using planning models that include realistic, challenging, specific, and meaningful goals.

• Preparing reports on HRM solutions to problems encountered by the firm.• Training the human resources staff and emphasizing the strategic

importance of HRM and the importance of contributing to the firm’s profits.


1.4. Major trends affecting HRM

• The increased globalization of the Economy.• Technological changes, challenges, and

opportunities.• The need to be flexible in Response to

changing business environments.• Increase in litigation in related to HRM.• Changing characteristics of the workforce.


1.5. Objectives of the HRM function

• The contributions HRM makes to organizational effectiveness include the following:

- Helping the organization reach its goals.- Efficiently employing the skills and abilities of the workforce.- Providing well-trained and well-motivated employees.- Increasing employee’s job satisfaction self- actualization.- Achieving quality of work life.- Communicating HRM policies to All employees.- Maintaining ethical policies and socially responsible behavior.- Managing change.- Managing increased urgency and faster cycle time.04/10/23 22HRM: overview

Who performs HRM activities?

• Delegation of HRM duties has changed over time.• In most organizations two groups perform HRM

activities: HR-manager specialists and Operating Managers.

• Operating managers(supervisors, department heads, vice presidents) are involved in HRM activities because they are responsible for effective utilization of all the resources at their disposal.

• Operating managers spend considerable time managing people!


Who performs HRM activities?...

• As he/she is responsible if a machines breaks down and production drops, he/she must see to the training, performance and satisfaction of employees.

• Research indicates that a large part of an operating manager’s day is spent in unscheduled and scheduled meetings, telephone conversations, and solving problems that have a direct impact on people.

• The manager, through constant contact with many different people, attempts to solve problems, reach decisions, and prevent future difficulties.



• Smaller organizations usually have no HR unit, so the operating managers have many HRM responsibilities, such as scheduling work, recruitment and selection, and compensating people.

• As the organizations increase in size, the operating manager’s work is divided up, and some of it becomes specialized. HRM is one such specialized function.

• The structure and degree of specialization in HRM function is positively correlated with size and nature of the organization.



(1) Outsourcing, or Contracting with a vender to perform on a recurring basis an HRM activity previously performed by a firm, is growing in popularity.

• The drivers of increased outsourcing include downsizing, rapid growth or decline of business and hence uncertainty, globalization, increased competition, and restructuring.

• Some executives assume that outsourcing some HRM activities is a competitive advantage.



• It is assumed that outsourcing can reduce costs , improve flexibility, and permit the hiring of specialized expertise.

• The choice to outsources some, all, or none of the HRM activities is being made with little empirical support.

• However, outsourcing is likely to continue a decision makers search for ways to improve the financial and operating performance of firms.



(2) The interaction of operating and HR managers.- With two groups of people(operating managers and

HR specialists) making HRM decisions, there can be conflict.

- Conflict occurs b/se operating and HR managers sometimes differ on who has authority for what decisions, or there may be other differences between operating and HR managers.

- They have different orientations, called line and staff, which have different objectives.



(2) The interaction of operating and HR managers...- A staff person typically supports the primary

functions such as marketing, and production by providing advice, counsel, and information.

- The staff does not wield direct authority over the line manager.

- Line managers have the authority to make final decisions concerning their operations.

- However, the specific distinction between line and staff is not a clear-cut in actual organizations.



(2) The interaction of operating and HR managers...- For example, on recruitment and selection, line

managers are generally not familiar with the legal requirements and hence invite HRM experts to make the final decisions.

- The conflict is most pressing when there must be joint decisions on such issues as discipline, physical working conditions, termination, transfer, promotion, and employment planning.



(2) The interaction of operating and HR managers...- Research indicates that operating managers and HR

specialists differ on how much authority employees should have over job design, labor relations, organizational planning, and certain rewards, such as bonuses and promotions.

- Changes in business, globalization, technology and demography have changed both the roles of HRM and operating mangers.

- Line mangers have the responsibilities of managing people and/or projects.04/10/23 31HRM: overview


(2) The interaction of operating and HR managers...- HRM is viewed by line managers as “company

policeman who many managers get tired of being told no”

- HRM inflexibility/rigidity and over attention to detail.



(2) The interaction of operating and HR managers...- What should be done to improve the relationship?1. HRM units must analyze their job and focus on value adding

jobs.2. HRM units are encouraged to understand the business so that

they can become strategic partners with line managers.3. HRM specialists are requested to seek out operating

managers.4. They are also asked to help managers avoid problems. 5. Being more flexible and open to the ideas of others is a

recommendation that applies to both HRM and Operating managers.04/10/23 33HRM: overview

a brief history of hrm

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