ABSTRACT
In the mid-nineteenth century, following the introduction of the Factory Acts, employers were required to comply with legislation controlling the working hours and employment of children (Gray, 2002). The introduction of company-built towns, such as Bournville and Saltaire, was largely driven by enlightened self-interest, with such arrangements allowing for a high level of paternal direction with the banning of public houses and the monitoring of lifestyles. Some organisations conscious of the personal and social difficulties facing some of their employees introduced the role of welfare officer (CIPD, 2007). Initially this role focused on protecting the health and well-being of workers; however, as the usefulness of a welfare officer as a resource to deal with a range of employee-related activities emerged, the role was widened to include recruitment, training, absence management and pay negotiations. Over the next 100 years the role evolved, a situation that has been reflected in the changing role names: ‘personnel officer’, ‘industrial relations manager’ and ‘human resources manager’. From the beginning there have been tensions within the role arising from the difficulties in balancing the needs of the employee with those of the organisation. These tensions have not diminished over the years, with today’s human resource professionals (HRP) sitting Janus1-like, uncertain of whether to look forward to become a strategic partner, fully integrated with business, creating people strategies with tangible financial and organisational benefits (SHRM, 2002a), or to return to their origins as an advocate
for ethical management of the workforce (Foote and Robinson, 1999). Balancing these competing tensions is not without cost; in this chapter we will look at the price paid by HRPs who, as a regular part of their role deal with employee distress, unethical behaviours, organisational dilemmas and heavy workloads, together with their other roles of strategic development, culture and diversity, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance evaluation and management, compensation and benefits (Tsui and Wu, 2005).
