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CONTENTS
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vi CONTENTS
1
The Development and History of
Human Resource Management
INTRODUCTION
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2 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
development and training, and serve as a point of contact for staff and
their trade union representation. Hence, in Figure 1.1 there is a transition
from the custom and practices of the pre-industrial environment into col-
lectivism, where the corporate personnel departments oversaw the opera-
tional delivery of staff services, such as recruitment, selection, induction,
training, retention and disciplinary procedures (Ulrich 2011).
workers toiled and his aim was to improve both working conditions and
efficiency. Therefore, although Taylor’s work has become associated with
managing processes, his intentions were also to improve working condi-
tions. Indeed, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries workers
were exposed to sometimes life-threatening dangers, even on the leading
technological projects such as the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge or
the Hoover Dam (Cadbury 2003). Part of Taylor’s vision was therefore
to apply scientific methodology and thereby improve working processes
and conditions.
One of the first corporations to recognize the advantages of scientific
management to productivity was Ford, who adopted Taylor’s (1947) meth-
ods to replace craft-like working practices with the first of the modern car
production lines. The scientific method of segmenting work into a series
of allocated tasks enabled the company to employ a less skilled workforce
because they were only required to learn how to complete their allocated
task, rather than to work as automotive engineers. It was therefore pos-
sible for a person with no knowledge of how to build a complete car to
successfully work on a production line. The scientific approach thereby
reduced the cost of manufacture by increasing efficiency and the num-
ber of cars produced per day. Ford also made precise calculations of the
productivity and price needed to make the required profit level (Pickard
2003). The manufacturing process was very effective at mass production,
as the late Henry Ford is reported to have said that customers could have
any colour, as long as it was black. (The original Models T Fords were all
painted black.)
Essentially, the scientific approach to task management dissects work
into managed elements, thereby reducing the autonomy of the human
input in favour of the systematically organized process. This is why the sci-
entific approach and its derivatives are still an integral part of the modern
workplace. For example, burger restaurants can produce the same product
in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo by specifying the exact ingredients,
cooking method and delivery in every outlet. A similar approach can be
utilized in other organizational activities such as call centres where the
client is led through a series of pre-set questions and their answers are
The Ford car company was one of the first to apply Taylor’s scientific
management (1947). The importance to a national economy of having a
workforce which can afford to buy goods and services was as evident in
the early twentieth century as it is today in the twenty-first century.
There is an interesting story (which may or may not be factual but is
nevertheless informative) that Henry Ford II had a discussion with the
union boss Walter Reuther, leader of the United Automobile Workers.
Ford allegedly asked the union boss how he would collect union funds if
robots built the cars? Reuther allegedly replied, ‘How are you going to get
them [the robots] to buy your cars?’
According to Pickard’s research (2003: 30), Henry Ford had recognized
the importance of an affluent workforce. Accordingly, Ford doubled his
workers’ pay to ensure they could afford the cars they made and in recog-
nition that affluent workers created more customers. A modern equivalent
for pay comparison would be a rate of pay which was above the average
level and enabled workers to buy new cars.
Activity: Individual or Group seminar presentation on the productivity
benefits of having a well-paid and cared for workforce.
( JIT), whereby materials are delivered just as they are required, instead of
storing stocks of components (Taylor 1947; Jones 1997).
In common with the early twentieth-century scientific management
system, the new scientific methods have often been associated with the
pursuit of greater efficiency and performance through costs reductions and
greater control of employee behaviour. The new variants also share scientific
management’s predisposition to control the detail of working processes.
These methods might be criticized for overt micro management.
Hence they usually increase management control on job content, working
practices, monitoring and supervision, and take away autonomy from the
people closest to the work, be they factory workers, teachers or doctors.
Thus, where management micro-manages the detail of work, employees
have less autonomy in their interpretations of how to do their jobs. This
may be counter-productive to employee motivation.
(a) In the early twentieth century, industrialization and trade unionism led
to the emergence of industrial relations with the collectivist approach
to employment, whereby many employees were represented by a
trade union.
(b) Contemporary managers need to have the appropriate attitudes,
knowledge and skills to manage their people. Hence, human resources
are for every manager, not just the specialists.
(c) Figure 1.1: From Pre-industrial society to personnel management and
HRM.
(d) Twentieth-century personnel departments generally served their
organizations’ functional departments with recruitment, selection,
induction, training, retention and personnel management procedures.
(e) With fewer unionized employees, each employer has to manage
employment contracts. For many non-HR managers, this has added
additional responsibilities in employee management as well as their
functional managerial role.
REVISION SECTION
1. What is integrated HRM (Nieto 2006)?
2. Why is a situation-specific management approach preferable to adopt-
ing systems from other organizations?
3. What can we learn from both the scientific approach and the
Hawthorne experiments in managing the way people work?
4. Would you prefer to work in an organization where the managerial
system was predominantly process-orientated (scientific) or people-
orientated (Hawthorne experiments)? Why?
TAKING IT FURTHER
REFERENCES
Jones, O., Conway, S. and Steward, F. (eds) (2001) Social Interaction and
Organisational Change: Aston Perspectives on Innovation Networks.
London: Imperial College Press.
Kotter, J. P. (1990) A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from
Management. London: Collier Macmillan.
Legge, K. (1993) The Role of Personnel Specialist: Centrality or Margina-
lisation. In: Clark (ed.), Human Resource Management and Technical
Change. London: Sage.
Mabey, C. and Finch-Lees, T. (2008) Management and Leadership
Development. London: Sage.
Mayo, E. (1933) The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilisation. New York:
Macmillan.
Mayo, E. (1945) The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilisation.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Morgan, G. (1993) Imaginization: The Art of Creative Management.
London: Sage.
Morgan, H. and Jardin, D. (2010) ‘Integrated Talent Management’, OD
Practitioner: Journal of the Organization. Development Network, 42(4),
pp. 23–29.
Moss Kanter, R. (1990) The Change Masters: Corporate Entrepreneurs at
Work. London: Unwin.
Nieto, M. L. (2006) An Introduction to Human Resource Management: An
Integrated Approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
O’Neill, O. (2002) Is Trust Failing? Reith Lecture. BBC Radio 4. 17 April.
Paauwe, J. (2009) ‘HRM and Performance: Achievements, Methodological
Issues and Prospects’, Journal of Managerial Studies, 46(1), pp. 129–142.
Pascale, R. T. (1990) Managing on the Edge: How Successful Companies
Use Conflict to Stay Ahead. London: Viking.
Peters T. (1994) The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Calls for Crazy
Organizations. London: Macmillan.
Pickard, J. (2003) 100 Years of Ford, People Management, November, CIPD.
Pilenzo, R. C. (2009) ‘A New Paradigm for HR’, Organizational Develop-
ment Journal, 27(3), pp. 63–75.
INDEX
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276 INDEX