Human Resource Management: History, Theories, and Planning
Historical Evolution of Human Resources
The relevant facts of the historical evolution of the human resources function are:
- Colonial Period: The rise of parcels and the first strikes.
- Independence: Craft workshops appear.
- Revolution: Workshops appear, which are the factories.
- 1950s: In this decade, the career of industrial relations arises.
- 1960s: Legal methods emerge as an improvement for the defense of the individual.
- 1970s: For the first time, the term “human resource management” was used.
- 1980s: Human resource management matures, establishing administrative areas such as training, salaries and wages, hiring and employment, and organizational development.
- 1990s: In this decade, domestic product growth returns.
- 2000s: During this decade, there is competition in Human Resources Management.
Theories of Human Behavior in Human Resource Management
Theories of human behavior are important because people’s activities are voluntary. It’s not just because a contract exists that the organization will have the best efforts of its members. On the contrary, if they perceive that this activity will be profitable, they will apply themselves, and this theory can be achieved.
Maslow’s Theory
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs includes:
- Physiological Needs
- Safety Needs
- Social Needs
- Esteem Needs
- Self-Actualization Needs
Workforce Diversity and Implications for the 21st Century
Workforce diversity refers to a workforce that is pluralistic in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age, and other characteristics. For 21st-century management, this implies that managers must coordinate the efforts of a diverse staff to meet the organization’s goals.
Concept and Objectives of Human Resource Planning
Human resource planning is the process of determining work requirements and the means to meet them in order to carry out the comprehensive plans of the organization. Human resource planning is best described as a systematic procedure, which is a planned sequence of events or a series of chronological steps.
Some objectives are:
- To meet individual, organizational, and national needs.
- Linking human resources with future business needs to maximize the return on investment in human resources.
- Matching or adjusting employee skills to business needs, highlighting the future.
- Anticipating the demand for labor, or how many workers the company will need in the future.
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Approaches to Human Resource Planning
Quantitative Approach: These involve the use of statistical or mathematical approaches and are used by theorists and practitioners. For example, trend analysis is carried out in several steps:
- An appropriate business factor is chosen.
- A historical trend of the business factor is drawn in relation to the number of employees.
- The productivity ratio is computed for the last five years at least.
- The demand for human resources is calculated by dividing the business factor by the productivity ratio.
Qualitative Approach: In contrast to quantitative approaches, qualitative approaches use less statistical forecasting. They try to reconcile the interests, abilities, and aspirations of individual employees with the current and future staffing needs of an organization. In organizations large and small, human resource specialists may rely on experts to help them prepare forecasts to anticipate staffing requirements. Executive forecasts are the opinions of supervisors, department heads, experts, and others regarding the organization’s future employment needs.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Human Resource Planning
Strengths:
- Better use of HR.
- Allows matching the efforts of the personnel department with the overall objectives of the organization.
- Savings in recruitment.
- Expansion of the personnel data base.
- Support for other areas.
- Contribution to the implementation of productivity programs by providing more trained staff.
Weaknesses:
- Lack of staff training for effective planning.