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INTRODUCTION
This week we will look at the history of Human
Resources Administration. Webb & Norton make the point that "Human resource
administration as we know it today did not exist prior to 1900." (p 34). In the
business and industrial sector, personnel issues such as hiring and firing were
delegated to supervisors or foremen, also known as, "line bosses". After 1900
personnel issues became more centralized. Here is an outline of the major
figures in HR administration, theory and practice.
- Scientific management.
Taylor
(worker productivity and efficiency)
- Weber
(bureaucracy and taxonomy of authority) • Charismatic authority - based on
personality • Traditional power - based on the position • Legal
authority - based on rules and laws
- Fayol's
key principles: • Division of labor - specialization leads to efficiency
• Unity of command - avoid conflicting instructions • Unity of
direction - one supervisor or manager • Scalar chain - a single,
uninterrupted line of authority from top to bottom
- Human
relations movement Economic incentive is not the only significant motivator
(noneconomic social sanctions can even limit the effectiveness of economic
incentives); • Workers respond to management as members of an informal
group, not as individuals; • Production levels are limited more by social
norms of the informal organization than by physiological capacities:
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