Human Resources Management

THE RISE & RISE OF HR

Organizing people to work

 

At the core of the Human Resource is the function of organizing people to work. Though the core function has remained more or less the same over time, the role, responsibilities and expected results of human resources have changed over time. This evolution has occurred so effectively that the name given to the function of organizing people to work has been changed from personnel management to human resources

 

Looking back in history to find the specific origin of organizing people to work may be a little challenging, though it is quite clear that the practice has always been in existence at the family and community level. The most notorious record in history of combining people's efforts for a profit was slave trade. Since then, organizing people to work, steers clear of the "slave and servitude" philosophy of that time and only recognizes it as a time when people used a good thing to do a bad thing, in the same way as government (good thing) can be used to oppress people (a bad thing).

 

Perhaps the first real corporate effort to pool people to work was hiring farm and factory labor. At the time, workers willingly placed their physical energy at the disposal of the employer in exchange for pay or reward. By the way, this definition disqualifies slavery as a human resource initiative or as organizing people to work. Workers provided labor for agriculture and basic industry such as mining works.

 

The pre-mechanization age provided opportunity for a large labor compliment in organizations. Those who provided the labor, usually did so at their own risk. All the employer provided was the opportunity to do a fairly basic task. There is no question that labor drove industry. When the people realized this, labor unions were born and became a force to recon with the hiring and firing of employees in the market. The principle of labor focused on "just" pay.

 

Then came manpower (or womanpower). This shift took place when progressive employers and workers realized that employees provided more than just physical energy to the business. Workers exercised a good measure of mental skills too. This phase of the evolution of HR was probably fuelled by the educated moving into employment and perhaps not wanting to be classed as workers but as employees. Educated/skilled labor now wanted equitable pay for their services.

 

Personnel management marked a quantum leap forward in terms of organizing people to work. Not only had HR stamped its authority on the frontline of business development, but it had also firmly taken up a place in the management of the business. People were not only a contributor but also a facilitator to corporate success. Professionals began to demand recognition as a cut above "skilled" labor. Meanwhile staff, a new word, need to be managed. Welfare became necessary to safeguard peoples (personnel) interests. It also meant that people no longer worked at their own risk. The employer had to share in that risk as well. People were no longer passive participants in the business. This phase of employment was characterized by the development of corporate structures set up to house personnel. Much of this was derived from bureaucracy. By this time, industrialization had firmly taken root and required professionals to drive new and developing industry.

 

The switch to human resources may have been a little more subtle. For many it may have passed unnoticed. Human resources came into being with the birth of the corporation where resources are put together to facilitate the pursuit of business objectives. People were not just drivers of business but also contributors to corporate success. This thinking perhaps meant that people were important resources. People not only make skills available to a business, but also use multiple personal competencies to make it work. Raw talents became as much a business resource as technical certificates.  People (resources) generate income while other resources are consumed by the business. Employers realized that human (resources) can be developed, improved and made more profitable.

 

Though personnel management focused on career paths within the organization, HR focuses on creating opportunity to participate and develop the business. Human Resources, aided by the complex nature of corporate organization and Information Technology to manage business, play a strategic role in the continuity and future of the business rather than the maintenance role of Personnel Management. This has moved organizing people to work one powerful step higher in the organization. Human resources moved comfortably into the boardroom.

 

There are massive new changes in the way we organize people to work today. In the beginning, people were gathered together in one place. Today people can be working on the same thing and yet be on different corners of the globe. Production takes place far away from the "design". The two may never meet. Labor has been dispersed. Business is no longer a concentrated centralized function. It is still coordinated, but not necessarily centralized. Organizations are much smaller; instead of being labor intensive they are now idea (a human resource) intense. Intellectual property is a big thing these days and its all about organizing people to work.

 

Organizational changes together with peoples perception of employment as a means to an end, and not an end in itself, may be taking us to yet another level of organizing people to work. I would not be surprised if the next move is to Human Capital Leadership or Intellectual Resources Management with the new title advancing the status of Socio-Economic Capital. This would place organizing people to work firmly in the driving seat of the boardroom.

 

Allan Bukusi, 2006