Human Resource Management

16 Pages 3900 Words

n environments changed the way we did business as a nation. Where extended families resided in and supported each other in culturally defined rural settings, nuclear families found themselves alone in homogenous neighborhoods. (1) This created a demand for goods and services that were formerly provided by extended family and community members, opening up new markets and creating jobs. It also created the need to recognize the management of workers as a separate and formal discipline.


As we move into the 21st century we can trace our nations’ business growth over the last 100 years. We moved from an agrarian base to an industrial one. By the mid-50s’ the majority of jobs were found in factories. Manufacturing suffered heavy blows during the late 60’s and early seventies and was displaced by the service industry. With the closing of the 20th century those services have become increasingly technological.


Surviving those changes requires adaptation, not only in the retooling of physical plants and the retraining workers, but also in the way we manage those workers. Some feel that there appears to be an underlying theme in books and papers on the subject of HRM, that there is only one correct way to manage people. (2) Maslow on Management offers a much different approach, demonstrating conclusively that one size does not fit all; i.e., that different people need to be managed differently.


HMR models operating on the assumption that there is a single right way to manage people are using workplace criteria that are quickly becoming a thing of the past. The “one way” model views people working for an organization as employees who work full time and are solely dependent on that organization for their livelihood and their careers. These employees generally were viewed as subordinates with limited or very narrow skill sets. (3)


These images of the worker may have been valid several decades ago. How...