History of Human Resource Management:

The Human Resource history is about the evolution of first communes and growth of first ancient
societies. The history of Human Resource Management did not begin at the moment when Dave
Ulrich published his first book about Human Resources. He discovered the importance of HRM for
successful organizations but the people management was crucial even in ancient China.
The army was the first driver of innovations. A nation without a strong army was overtaken by
neighbors, and it just made an importance of a strong army visible to each citizen. A successful
command requires strong, brave and smart leaders who engage and share a vision of the victory. It
designed and developed first procedures for the outstanding selection of new hires and leaders. It
had recourses to invest in innovations. The first successful HR practices in the history can be found
in ancient armies. They required a good work organization of jobs and tasks, even they used the
workforce with no education and knowledge (more on Key Milestones in HR History).
Italian Machiavelli (the author of The Emperor and other books) was not writing just about the art
of the power. He was writing about managing all kinds of resources including the people, reward
and recognition and various leadership styles. He was clearly splitting roles in the society; securing
the position of the emperor. That is a book about Human Resource Management. However, most
recommended practices would not be allowed and performed today. He has to be mentioned in the
HR Management history. (More on the HR practices in ancient China till the beginning of 20th
century).
We tend to recognize just the modern HRM as the best competitive business practice it today.
However, we ignore the long list of successful organizations from the history. Many successful

to protect its
future (and they were able to do so for centuries). Nowadays, we know that a
strong respected and widely recognized HR organizations makes a difference. It
can create a great company that wins the market wars. The modern HRM is a
business function, which managers leads, facilitates and provides tools for the
human capital management in the enterprise (more on Evolution of Human
Resources).
companies had been running impressive leadership development procedures

A modern contemporary HR organizations designs and develops strategic

processes and procedures; it runs difficult and complex communication
campaigns as the organization attracts the best talents from the job market; it
retains them with the attractive compensation packages, or it develops them in
talent development programs. On the other hand, the British Honorable East
India Corporation was running complicated procedures to identify new leaders
who could conquer and lead business opportunities in new areas. It just followed
inventions and innovations introduced by British Navy in the 16th century.
The modern history of Human Resources as we know it starts with the British
Industrial Revolution." The foundation of large factories increased a demand for
the workforce significantly. It was in the 18th century, and it is the movement
when the evolution of new people management practices begins. It is the
important landmark in the history of Human Resources. The rapid development of
new industrial approaches and new inventions to work changed the world
dramatically. The quick and cheap production became priority for many
industries.

The factories hired thousands of workers, who worked up to 16 hours a day. Soon,
many entrepreneurs discovered the fact that the satisfaction of employees
influences the performance and productivity. Satisfied employees were more
efficient than the rest of workforce, and they can produce more products than
depressed employees. As a result, many factories started to introduce voluntary
programs for employees to increase their comfort and satisfaction.
Moreover, the government began to intervene to introduce some fundamental
human rights and the work safety legislation.
The second rapid development of Human Resources started at the beginning of
the 20th century. Most organizations launched the "Personnel Management".
(More on personnel management). The personnel department had large
responsibilities however it was still a service department. It was dealing with all
employees related issues, and it was responsible for the full compliance with the
newly introduced law requirements.
It had the responsibility for the implementation of different social and workplace
safety programs. Everything was focused on the productivity of employees. The
regular productivity increments were the key measure for the management of
employees. The significant change was introduced after the 2nd world war
because armies developed many training programs for new soldiers. After the
2nd world war, the Training Department became a widely recognized and
respected unit in the Personnel Management Department. Moreover, the trade
unions evolved almost at the same moment as the Personnel Management. The
trade unions changed the rules of the game. So far we are not sure about the
positive impact of trade unions. However, they played a significant role in
improving the role of employees in the organization. The employer got a reliable
partner to discuss with. Trade unions introduced many improvements at no
significant costs for the business. Today, trade unions are not as strong as they
were used to be, but many organizations still benefit or suffer from a strong
presence of trade unions in their factories.
The introduction of the Human Resource Management has begun in 70's of the
20th century (more on Early Human Resource Management). New technologies
allowed the growth of large multinational organization; that was the moment
when the new wave of globalization has begun. The Personnel Departments
turned into Human Resource Departments. They started to manage processes
and procedures around the globalized workforce. From that times, most HR
functions are running complex HRIS solutions, which make information about
employees available anywhere and anytime to HR professionals.
The second significant change in the history of the Human Resource Management
was the introduction of the Human Resource Business Partnering Model
(more on Advanced Human Resource Management, Human Resource Roles and
Responsibilities and Human Resource Model). The demand of the organizations
changed dramatically as economies of the wealthy western countries shifted
towards the service economies. The role of Human Resources has changed
significantly because the Leadership Development and Succession Planning

became crucial processes securing the future of the business. Also the quality of
provided HR services became the significant competitive advantage.
Nowadays managers and leaders have to think globally; they have to understand
employees coming from completely different cultural backgrounds. They have to
manage the global corporate culture. They have to find values and energize
employees around the Globe. The corporate culture cannot be country specific
anymore; it has to reflect employees with many nationalities work for the
organization. This is a fantastic opportunity for Human Resources. However, it is
also a pressure. The international Human Resource Management drives global HR
processes procedures in different countries. It has to make sure that they produce
similar and comparable results.
The future of Human Resources in full of new challenges (more on Future of
Human Resources). The globalization will continue; even local businesses will hire
new talents from other countries. The shortage of skilled employees will push
Human Resources to introduce global recruitment and policies and practices. The
international relocation of employees will become a standard HR service. The
organizations became less county specific, and they cannot identify themselves
with one county. They lose their face, and Human Resources has to help to
identify and introduce the new corporate culture.
Tablets and smartphones change the way we work. They will bring a new wave of
changes in Human Resources as well. Leaders and managers can access data
about the organization anywhere, and Human Resources Big Data will become
the next big topic. Human Resources collect many pieces of information about
employees, and it has to connect its data with other departments.
The commute working is quite a standard today, but it will become a norm. The
technology will connect employees as they would sit in the next cubicle. On the
other hand, it will create another pressure on Human Resources. New assimilation
procedures will be required. The networking will be still important for the
successful career. The future of Human Resources Will be about new networking
methods and processes how to make commute employees know each other.
Today, Human Resources runs many processes, which are crucial for the modern
organization. We cannot believe that the successful business could exist without
the Recruitment and Staffing, Compensation and Benefits, Training and
Development or the Leadership Development. However, the story of Human
Resource Management has started in ancient China. In the past the companies
and nations did not use many the HR value added processes; they used just
procedures they needed to be successful.
The story of the modern Human Resources started as evidence of all employees.
It dealt with issues and requests. Later, the negotiations with Trade Unions were
added as strategic relationship of the organization. Overtime, Human Resources
evolved into a strategic business partner, and it makes the Human Resource
Management History fascinating.

Evolution of Human Resource Management:

In the 1950s collective bargaining led to a tremendous increase in benefits
offered to workers. The personnel function evolved to cope with labor relations,
collective bargaining, and a more complex compensation and benefits
environment. The human relations philosophy and labor relations were the
dominant concerns of HRM in the 1950s.
HRM was revolutionized in the 1960s by passage o Title vii of the Civil Rights Act
and other anti - discrimination legislation as well as presidential executive orders
that required many organizations to undertake affirmative actions in order to
remedy past discriminatory practices. Equal employment opportunity and
affirmative action mandates greatly complicated the HRM function, but also
enhanced its importance in modern organizations.
In the 1970s industrial relations and legislation were the most concerned issues.
Industrial relations: In the 1970s industrial relations was very important. The
heated climate during this period reinforced the importance of a specialist role in
industrial relations negotiation. The personnel manager had the authority to
negotiate deals about pay and other collective issues.
Legislation: In the 1970s employment legislation increased and personnel
function took the role of the specialist advisor ensuring that managers do not
violate the law and that eases did not end up in industrial tribunals.