Origin of the Human Resource Function
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Chapter 1: The Nature of Human Resource
Management
Human Resource Management (HRM)
• People employed to carry out various jobs,
tasks, and functions.
• Remunerated via wages, salaries, and other
rewards.
• Comprehensive set of managerial activities
and tasks that help develop and maintain a
qualified workforce.
HRM Function
→ Requires professionals who can balance
ethical and legal concerns with organizational
needs.
→ Properly managed human resources can
provide a competitive advantage.
Contemporary HRM Perspectives
• HRM function
• Shrinking of the traditional HR manager role
→ Outsourcing : Process of hiring external
firms to handle basic HRM functions
Evolution of the Human Resource Function
Evolution of the Human Resource Function
• Scientific management: Concerned with
structuring individual jobs to maximize
efficiency and productivity.
• Frederick Taylor - father of scientific
management
• Frank and Lilian Gilbreth - time and motion
studies
• Businesses such as GM, Bethlehem Steel
(1899), Ford Motor company (1903), Boeing
(1916) grew into big companies.
• BF Goodrich was first company to establish a
corporate employment department—employee
concerns.
• National Cash Register 1902—employee
grievances, wages and salaries, and record
keeping.
• Ford Employment Department
Both military and major suppliers became
interested in better matching people with jobs.
• Hawthorne studies: Instigated the human
relations era and helped develop other
theories to understand employee character
(Roethlisberger and Mayo)
✓ Hierarchy of human needs (Abraham
Maslow)
✓ Theory X and Theory Y (Douglas
McGregor)
• Personnel management: Grew from the
recognition that human resources needed to
be managed.
→ Personnel departments: Specialized
organizational units for hiring and
administering human resources.
→ Personnel manager: The manager who ran
the department.
Evolved during World War II 1930’s-1940s
• Both military and major suppliers became
interested in better matching people with
jobs; psychologists were consulted to develop
selection tests;
• 1950’s-post-war lessons were adapted by
private industry;
• Lead to new and more sophisticated
techniques in the area of testing, reward and
incentive systems; presence of labor unions;
• Role of HR Manager has grown into the role of
strategic partner in response to new
technological innovations.
Human Resource Management in the Electronic
Age
Electronic systems:
→ Employees use of a digital tool to comment on
each other’s work (Washington-based living
social)
→ Find candidates directly via LinkedIn
→ Crowdsourcing (glassdoor, careerbliss,
careerleak, and JobBite)
→ Enable ease of surveillance and
communication.
→ Pose legal concerns regarding ethics and
privacy.
→ Increased need for knowledge workers
• Employees whose jobs are concerned with
the acquisition and application of
knowledge;
• Contribute through specialized knowledge
and application of that knowledge.
Emerging Human Resource Challenges
• New challenges are faced on a daily basis:
- Determining how and when to initiate
layoffs.
- Managing the effect of world events on
existing and potential employees.
• Measures taken:
- Adopting corporate social responsibility
- Indulging in conscious capitalism or triple
bottom line
Human Resource Management Functions
1. Recruiting and selection
Used to attract and hire new employees who have
the abilities, skills, and experiences that will help
an organization achieve its goal.
2. Training and development
• Ensures that organizational members develop
the skills and abilities that will enable them to
perform their jobs effectively in the present
and the future;
• Changes in technology and the environment
require that organizational members learn
new techniques and ways of working.
3. Compensation and benefits
Rewarding high performing organizational
members with raises, bonuses, and recognition.
− Increased pay provides additional
incentive.
− Benefits, such as health insurance,
reward membership in firm.
4. Performance appraisal and career
management (feedback)
Provides managers with the information they
need to make good human resources decisions
about how to train, motivate, and reward
organizational members;
Feedback from performance appraisal serves a
developmental purpose for members of an
organization.
5. Managing Labor Relations
Steps that managers take to develop and
maintain good working relationships with the
labor unions that may represent their employees’
interests.
Goals of Human Resource Management
1. Facilitating organizational competitiveness
2. Enhancing productivity and quality
3. Complying with legal and social obligations
4. Promoting individual growth and development
• HRM is viewed as part of a psychological
contract with employees .
HRM as a STAFF versus LINE FUNCTION
Line managers: Directly responsible for creating
goods and services.
Staff managers: Responsible for an indirect or
support function that would have costs
➢ Bottom-line contributions are less direct
Recent Trend
➢ HRM activities are carried out by line
managers.
➢ Some firms have HR departments structured
around centers of excellence.
HR DEPARTMENTS in SMALLER versus LARGER
ORGANIZATIONS
Smaller Organizations Larger Organizations
Require line managers Separate HR unit is a
to handle their basic necessity.
HR functions.
Employees receive Require one full-time
less training. manager and a
secretary.
Exempt from many HR functions have
legal regulations. specialized sub-units
Trends Shaping Human Resource Management
1. Workforce Demographics and Diversity Trends
2. Trends in how people work
3. Technological trends
4. Globalization
5. Economic Trends
Workforce Demographics and Diversity Trends Characteristics of Contemporary HR Managers
The composition of the workforce will continue to • Understand different specialized areas such
become more diverse with: as:
• More women − Legal environment
• Minority group members − Process of change management
• Older workers in the workforce − Labor relations

Trends on How People Work • Possess general management abilities that

• On-Demand Workers - freelancers and reflect conceptual, diagnostic, and analytical
independent contractors who work when they skills
can & what they want to work on, or when the
company needs them. Human Resource Management as a Center for
Expertise
• Human Capital - employers giving emphasis
on their workers’ knowledge, education,
training, skills, and expertise.

Globalization Trends
• Free flow of trade among countries increased
international competition;
• More globalization means more competition;
• More competition meant pressure to be
“world class”

Economic Trends Careers in Human Resource Management

➢ Labor force trends
• Obtain a degree in Human Resource
➢ The unbalanced labor force
Management
- Provides an entry-level employment
opportunity as an HR manager
Technology Trends
• Line management can be used as a route to
➢ Employers use social media for recruiting
HRM
employees
➢ New mobile applications for monitor location - Enabled via rotation of managers through
➢ Gaming support the HR function
➢ Cloud computing
➢ Data analytics—talent analytics

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• Integrated and interrelated approach to

managing human resources
- Recognizes interdependence among
various tasks and functions that must be
performed
• HRM subsystems affect and are affected by
other organizational sub-systems
- Utility analysis: Attempts to measure the
impact and effectiveness of HRM
practices in terms of metrics such as a
firm’s financial performance Rena Marie C. Gungon