ABSTRACT
Of all the disciplines of management, human resource management is one of those in which the greatest theoretical progress has been made over the past century. Only in financial management have our understanding of the key concepts and issues advanced more dramatically. Thanks in large part to developments in psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics and cultural studies, as well as advances in business research itself, we now know far more than we did a hundred years ago about the nature of work, human motivation in the workplace, how people act and react to stimuli both individually and in groups, and how human relationships both complicate and facilitate work processes. We are more aware too of the need to treat people fairly and honestly. The transition to a more democratic and egalitarian society in many parts of the world has had a strong impact on HR theory and practice. In most of the developed world, the workplace of today is a far more
pleasant place than it was a hundred years ago. Working conditions are better and safer, working hours are shorter, and workers are treated with more respect and decency by managers. This should not blind us to the fact that in many places in the developing world, and in some of the unregulated sweatshops inside developed countries, working conditions are still appalling; but in general, conditions have improved. Yet, as this book goes to press in 2009, there has been another spate of
‘bossnappings’ in France, workers holding their senior managers hostage as a way of gaining publicity for their grievances. Strikes, if no longer the paralysing force they were a few decades ago, have not disappeared. Problems between labour and management continue. Workforces continue in many cases to be dysfunctional places torn by rivalries and where fear is the
prevailing culture; in his book Management and Machiavelli (1967), Anthony Jay graphically describes life inside such organisations. And human resource managers have their own problems. In some organisations they are regarded as key members of the management team, and their advice and views are given equal weight to those of other managers. But in other organisations they are regarded with distrust by the workforce and lack status in comparison with other managers. Studies in both the USA and Britain in recent years have shown that human resource professionals earn less than finance or marketing professionals of similar experience, and it is still relatively rare for a human resources director to advance to become chief executive or chairman. While we know a great deal more about the best and most effective ways of
managing people, that knowledge has not always been translated into practice. Business schools often teach case studies of companies such as Semco, the Brazilian light industrial firm which, under the guidance of its owner and general manager Ricardo Semler, has evolved a radical business model based on decentralised authority, democracy and self-management. But only a few firms have copied the Semco model, just as only a few copied the model developed at Cadbury Brothers a hundred years ago. Cadbury introduced fairer working conditions, raised levels of workforce commitment to new heights, and harnessed the collective knowledge of its people to powerful effect; but although the company was widely admired, it was rarely imitated. Is there something that stops organisations from adopting what is generally
acknowledged to be best practice in human resource management? Stepping outside the confines of our own time and looking at the problems and challenges of managing people over a longer period may help to answer this question. It may also help to shed more light on those problems and challenges themselves. Finally, we should also begin to see how the historical legacy – good and bad – continues to have an impact on human resource management as practised today.
