Human Resources Management
Welcome to our Week One! As we embark on this exciting journey into the world of Human Resources Management, it is of a great importance to get ourselves familiar with the history and core goals of this fascinating field.
Let's start this week by watching a video created by Alan Sklover: The Seven Timeless Truths about Human ResourcesLinks to an external site., which explores the issues at a core of Human Resource Arena.
As you watch the video please focus on the following questions:
What are some of the biggest challenges facing the world of HR today?
How can HR representatives address the above mentioned challenges?
How do you envision the field of HR evolving in the years to come?
History of the HR field
Many human resource professionals are not even aware of the complex history of their profession. As much as human resource management appears to be researched and/or praised as a fairly recent phenomenon, emerging after the full establishment of worker’s rights, the origins of this exciting field can be traced back to the prehistoric times.
Khilawala XXXXXXXXXXargues that some prehistoric tribal leader elections actually followed basic human resource principles, and as early as, “1000 B.C to 2000 B.C saw the development of more advanced HR functions. The Chinese are known to be the first to use employee screening techniques, way back in 1115 B.C” (para. 2). Hammurabi, king of Babylon, “set wages for people hired as agricultural laborers, ox-drivers and shepherds. Craftsmen could be prosecuted if they failed to pass their skills on to apprentices, builders were held liable for the standard of their work, and owners were required to pay for the health care of their slaves” (Rudman, 2010, p.1).
Week One Lecture Picture ("Hammurabi's Code")
At the origin of human resources, human resource professionals (unaware of their job title at the time), were concerned with two main issues: workers’ selection and workers’ health. The health of the workers was not a humanitarian concern; instead it was a concern focusing on prolonging employees’ work productivity. Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar, wrote about the hazardous impact of zinc and sulphur on workers suggesting protective masks in the first century A.D., which created a firm foundation 13 centuries later for Ulrich Ellenbog to discuss diseases impacting gold miners (Rudman, XXXXXXXXXXA century later, German scholar, Agricola, took discussing hazardous occupations and health issues facing miners to the next level. He suggested specific measures needed to protect their health, creating a firm ground for the first book in history dealing with the subject of occupational medicine, Diseases of Workman, which was written by Bernardino Ramazzini and published in Italy in the 18th century (Rudman, 2010).
Week 1, Lecture Picture 2
As the world moved from the agricultural to industrial economies, the need for effective recruiting and managing workers rapidly emerged. HR field (still not coded as such) started shaping up in an organized form, requiring a certain organizational structure and framework as opposed to random isolated ventures. Here in the US, the need to organize and manage workers was especially important considering the steady influx of immigrant workers, whose language ba
iers, among other things, presented the personnel managers with a unique set of challenges. “Therefore, other factors such as hazardous working conditions and pressure from labor unions also increased the importance of effective management of human resources” (Mote, 2011, para.9). The old approach of workers being easily replaceable and their needs not being an area of focus/concern of a particular company, which dominated newly industrialized businesses for decades, started to be slowly replaced with the notion that only those companies who are able to successfully address their workers needs can be ultimately successful in a long run. This movement from an employer-centric approach to a more balanced employe
employee relationship focus paved a path to the world of HR as it is today.
Week 1, Lecture Picture 3
HR World of Today
As we start this chapter of our discussions, let’s review another video exploring how HR teams play an important role in leading and promoting collaboration amongst their teams. This includes ensuring their companies are set up for success operating at a global level and facing multiple challenges in the world of ever-changing, and at times volatile, business environment.
Nowadays, HRM encompasses, “planning, implementing, and managing recruitment, as well as selection, training, career, and organizational development initiatives within an organization” (Mote, 2011, para.9). In the next six weeks, this course will cover some unique challenges and opportunities human resource professionals face on a daily basis. In the vast majority of cases, human resource departments have to obey and follow all directions provided by the upper management. As such, it is often identified with the activities and functionalities of the upper management, which can negatively impact its perception and relationship with the employees. Finding its own path, its own voice, and its own direction is challenging at times considering the pressures this field is under on a daily basis.
As Castro XXXXXXXXXXindicates, “We are facing a reduction in human resources caused by the retirement of the generation with the greatest representation in the labor force—the baby boomers—an aging workforce, and most importantly, a contraction in the global workforce that is expected to last decades” (para. 3). Strategic position of each HR team and supe
leadership skills are going to be in a great demand in the years to come. New trend identification, change management, adaptability, and a proactive approach will be the governing forces of a successful HR department.
Fo
es School of Business Faculty
References:
Child Labor During Industrial Revolution [Image] XXXXXXXXXXRetrieved from http:
apworldhistorywiki.wikispaces.com/Child+Labor+During+the+Industrial+Revolution
Collaboration Now XXXXXXXXXXHuman resources: People and partnerships [Video file]. Retrieved from the Films on Demand database.
Diseases of workers [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http:
www.artofsafety.net/wp-content/uploads/image/diseasesofworkers.gif
Khilawala, R. (2013, January). History of human resource management. Buzzle. Retrieved from http:
www.buzzle.com/articles/history-of-
human-resource-management.html
Mesopotamia Hammurabi [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https:
www.flickr.com/photos
efuddledsenses/ XXXXXXXXXX/sizes/z/in/photostream
Mote, D XXXXXXXXXXHuman resource management (HRM). Encyclopedia of Business. Retrieved from http:
www.referencefo
usiness.com/encyclopedia/Gov-Inc/Human-Resource-Management-HRM.html
Ojeda Castro, I XXXXXXXXXXHR means business..the human factor-the lead to success. Cari
ean Business. 41(36), S2. Retrieved from the EBSCOhost database.
Rudman, R XXXXXXXXXXHuman resources management in New Zealand (5th ed.). Pearson New Zealand.
Sklover, A XXXXXXXXXXThe seven timeless truths about human resourcesLinks to an external site. [Video file]. Retrieved March 5th from http:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjomGCpnTLs