Evolution of Human Resources over the Years

16 years ago, I studied History & Evolution of Management and Human Resources while doing my MBA.

But it was much later, that I realised the enormous impact & significance of Evolution of Human Resources over the Years.

Here’s a thread for those interested in evolution of #peoplemanagement & #hr:

The Term #humanresource gained popularity in the 1970s. However, the concept of welfare of workers has been in existence since ages. Kautilya’s Arthshastra talked about scientific management of resources as early as 4th Century B.C!

The historic monuments- Egyptian Pyramids, Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China deployed thousands of workers- imagine who told them what to do? Who decided what was a good day’s work or not? Whatever name it was then called- there certainly was a #manager managing workers.

In 1776, Adam Smith in his classic book, Wealth of Nations studied why some Nations are wealthy. This book was revolutionary. It paved way for a lot of thinking, research& debates. Division of labour, Wages, Productivity were some of the new concepts introduced in this book.

In the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution led to the emergence of factories. Making products in a factory was more beneficial than at home. Managers had to forecast, coordinate, assign tasks, motivate their workers. Theories of Management started in the early 1900s.

Also, in the late 18th century, the western world started hearing concepts of human psychology & behaviours. FW Taylor (1856-1915) is considered one of the 1st mgt consultants. His book on Scientific Mgt has been voted as the most influential books by Academy of Management.

Taylor, a mechanical engineer was continuously irked by worker’s inefficiencies. They used vastly different techniques to do the same job, no work standards existed, workers output was just 1/3rd of what was possible, managers & workers were in continual conflict, he observed.

He set out to correct the situation by applying scientific management techniques on shop floor. He spent two decades to passionately pursue “one best way” for each job to be done. His ground-breaking studies led him to be called as father of scientific management.

In 1911, FW Taylor gave the world 4 principles of Scientific Mgt, which were:

1) Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of tasks.

2) Scientifically select, train&develop each employee rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.

3) Provide detailed instruction & supervision of each worker in the performance of that worker’s discrete task.

4) Divide work nearly equally b/w managers& workers, so that the managers apply scientific mgt principles to planning the work & the workers actually perform the tasks.

Walter D Scott (1869-1955) was a psychologist who studied the impact of human efficiency. He was impressed by Taylor’s work & started using his principles. Scott, in his book, Increasing Human Efficiency in Business (1912) credits Taylor for his scientific inputs on humans.

The modern day concepts of Leadership, Motivation, Training, Loyalty, Passion, &Succession Planning can be found in Walter’s book (of 1912!!). His famous quote was, in comparison to increase in efficiency of machines, human efficiency has been insignificant in the same period.

It is believed that it was Scott who started the concept of assessing human beings using a rating scale (our modern day PMS) as early as World War I. However, it took a few more years before organizations started using this religiously.

Taylor had said, “A first-class man can, in most cases, do from two to four times as much as is done on the average.” It was this search to determine who were these first-class men (Top Talent!) that led to the evolution of all concepts of appraisals & development in orgs.

Henri Fayol (1841-1925) was MD of a large French coal-mining firm. He gave 14 principles of mgt, devised by his own experience. These principles became later known as Fayolism & influenced some of the theories on #management.

World War I &World War II had great impact on way humans were managed. In India, work around #hr started as a result of emergence of trade unions post World War1. Royal Commission (1931)& Factories Act (1948) laid down guidelines & mandated appointment of labour-welfare officers.

After the World War II was over, much of the techniques used in military problems were applied to business sector. One such group of military officers, called whizkids joined Ford Motors in 1940s & started using quantitative models to improve decision-making.

Interestingly, two people out of this group of military officers went on to become important leaders-

1) Robert McNamara became President of Ford, US Secretary of Defence & head of World Bank.

2) Charles Thornton founded Litton Industries.

During the subsequent decades, studies & research work around motivation & human theories started forming the base of how organizations managed it’s people. Even today, organizations keep looking at latest studies & research on how to attract, engage and retain talent.

If you are interested in providing scientific HR solutions to your business, then do read these initial researches. Two books I’d definitely recommend:

• Increasing Human Efficiency in Business by Walter D Scott
• The Principles of Scientific Management by FW Taylor

You would be amazed as to how our current day #peoplechallenges were exactly the ones studies of early 1900s researched upon. Use their base, & your current contextual knowledge to make effective people solutions for your business!

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