ABSTRACT
The concern for the contribution of the HR function dates back to the 1920s, when personnel research set the stage for the development of measures of the function’s activities and performance. In the 1940s and 1950s, about the time the function became a legitimate and essential part of organizations, practitioners and researchers began to explore ways of measuring its contribution. In the years that followed, HR practitioners wrestled with this difficult problem. By the late 1970s, evaluation became a part of some HR departments. Considerable advancements in measurement and evaluation took place in the 1980s, but it is still far from being practiced widely. The decade of the 1990s saw tremendous growth in this area.
