1.2 Evolution and History of Human Resources Management
As a field, HRM has a long history. It takes root in the study of psychology, organizational behaviour, and industrial engineering. The field has undergone many changes over the last twenty years, giving it an even more important role in today’s organizations. In the past, human resource management (HRM) was called the personnel department. This department was in charge of hiring people and dealing with the paperwork related to employment.
More recently, however, the personnel department has been divided into human resource management and human resource development as these functions continue to evolve. More recently, HR departments often contain “people” and “culture” in their nomenclature in order to broaden the understanding of the organizational influence of HR. HRM is crucial to an organization’s success and serves a key support role in a company’s strategic planning because so many businesses today depend on people to support their vision and accomplish their mission.
| Personnel Management Focus | HRM Focus |
|---|---|
| Administering of policies | Helping to design, implement and administer talent management policies |
| Stand-alone programs, such as training | HRM training programs that are integrated with company’s mission and values |
| Personnel department is responsible for people administration | Partner with management in all areas of hiring and management of people |
| Creates a cost within an organization | Contributes to the profit objectives of the organization |
In the book HR From the Outside In (Ulrich et al., 2012), the authors describe the evolution of HR work in four “waves.”
| Wave 1 – Early 1900s | Focused on the administrative work of HR personnel, such as the terms and conditions of work, delivery of HR services, and regulatory compliance (e.g., payroll). This administrative side still exists in HR today, but it is often accomplished differently via technology and outsourcing solutions. |
| Wave 2 – 1970s | Focused on the design of innovative HR practice areas, such as, compensation, learning, and sourcing. The HR professionals in these practice areas began to interact and share with each other to build a consistent approach to human resource management. The HR credibility in Wave 2 came from the delivery of “best-practice” HR solutions. |
| Wave 3 – 2000s | HRM continues to be a partner to the business but has also become a competitive practice for responding to external business conditions. Organizations get ahead of the competition with their HRM practices. |
| Wave 4 – 2020 and Beyond (pandemic): | The role of HRM has dramatically changed with the onset of Covid19. The pandemic disrupted organizations across the world. To prevent spreading, employees became remote workers. Face-to-face collaborating changed to email and videoconferencing. Human resources were not only concerned for people’s work health, but their well-being. Their role expanded to quasi-counsellors who provided supports to the employees. As well, millions of employees were laid off. The workers who stayed on their jobs needed to be protected, stay motivated as a new normal emerged. Quickly, company management, along with human resources, needed to change their approaches to health care. Companies hired doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to provide care. Human resources needed to revise job descriptions and decide who could work in specific situations if other employees were absent. Human resources assisted the entire family, helped with child care, and elder care, distributed accurate information about the virus to keep people safe. Human resources dealt with employee’s who were stressed and depressed, and presented with physical symptoms like fatigue and headaches. Organizations wanted people to know they cared. It was human resources who supported the organization’s people. |
Human Resources and the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic threw employers and employees into chaos and uncertainty. Human Resources departments operated in crisis in 2020-2021. They needed to figure out how to support employees working for them, provide support for mental and physical well-being, and figure out how to keep their organizations operating. As the world adjusted to its new “normal”, HR changed.
The human resources role has changed forever. Where the focus was on salaries, employee engagement and motivation, it is now also about health and wellness. The coronavirus pandemic expanded the role of human resources in the work environment. Companies quickly shifted to remote work, videoconferencing, and online tools. As well, the added workload due to lay-offs produced huge amounts of administrative tasks for HR professionals (Lewis, 2020).
Human resources have played, and will continue to play an important role in the shifting culture of organizations in communication and engaging employees in new ways post-pandemic. It has also solidified Human Resources and their role at the executive level. It has become a critical function in organizations as they adjust to flexible work that has its own unique challenges and opportunities. HR will continue to develop new skills and processes to maximize a new way of working.
Although each “wave” of HRM’s evolution is important and must be managed effectively, it is the “outside in” perspective that allows the human resource management function to shine via the external reputation and successes of the organization.
Think!
With companies shutting down worldwide, employees (as people) were frightened and there were a lot of unknowns about COVID-19. People were getting sick, and the spread of the virus was a global concern. Remote work was the only way for many people to continue to work. Other people needed to continue to work to provide services for others. They were frightened too about going to work and staying safe.
Think about your own life during the beginning of the pandemic. How was your work impacted? How was your family affected? How was your company/school impacted? Do you believe the world will return to the way it was? Or, will it continue to evolve in new ways? In what ways do you think it will continue to evolve, if it does?
“1.2 Evolution and History of Human Resources Management” from Human Resources Management – 3rd Edition by Debra Patterson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
