History of Human Resource

The history of personnel management begins around the end of the 19th century, when
welfare officers (sometimes called welfare secretaries) came into being. They were women
and concerned only with the protection of women and girls. Their creation was a reaction to
the harshness of industrial conditions, coupled with pressures arising from the extension of
the franchise, the influence of trade unions and the labour movement, and the campaigning of
enlightened employers, often Quakers, for what was called industrial betterment. As the role
grew there was some tension between the aim of moral protection of women and children and
the needs for higher output.
The First World War accelerated change in the development of personnel management, with
women being recruited in large numbers to fill the gaps left by men going to fight, which in
turn meant reaching agreement with trade unions (often after bitter disputes) about dilution
accepting unskilled women into craftsmens jobs and changing manning levels.
During the 1920s, jobs with the titles of labour manager or employment manager came
into being in the engineering industry and other industries where there were large factories, to
handle absence, recruitment, dismissal and queries over bonuses and so on. Employers
federations, particularly in engineering and shipbuilding, negotiated national pay rates with
the unions, but there were local and district variations and there was plenty of scope for
disputes.
During the 1930s, with the economy beginning to pick up, big corporations in these newer
sectors saw value in improving employee benefits as a way of recruiting, retaining and
motivating employees. But older industries such as textiles, mining and shipbuilding which
were hit by the worldwide recession did not adopt new techniques, seeing no need to do so
because they had no difficulty in recruiting labour.
The Second World War brought about welfare and personnel work on a full-time basis at all
establishments producing war materials because an expanded Ministry of Labour and
National Service insisted on it, just as the Government had insisted on welfare workers in
munitions factories in the previous conflict. The Government saw specialist personnel
management as part of the drive for greater efficiency and the number of people in the
personnel function grew substantially; there were around 5,300 in 1943.
By 1945, employment management and welfare work had become integrated under the broad
term personnel management. Experience of the war had shown that output and productivity
could be influenced by employment policies. The role of the personnel function in wartime
had been largely that of implementing the rules demanded by large-scale, state-governed
production, and thus the image of an emerging profession was very much a bureaucratic one.
Following the development of poor industrial relations during the 1960s a Royal Commission
under Lord Donovan was set up. Reporting in 19681, it was critical of both employers and

unions; personnel managers were criticised for lacking negotiation skills and failing to plan
industrial relations strategies. At least in part, Donovan suggested, these deficiencies were a
consequence of managements failure to give personnel management sufficiently high
priority.
In the 1960s and 70s employment started to develop significantly. At the same time personnel
techniques developed using theories from the social sciences about motivation and
organisational behaviour; selection testing became more widely used, and management
training expanded. During the 1970s, specialisms started to develop, with reward and
resourcing, for example, being addressed as separate issues.
Around the mid-80s, the term human resource management arrived from the USA. The term
human resources is an interesting one: it seemed to suggest that employees were an asset or
resource-like machines, but at the same time HR also appeared to emphasise employee
commitment and motivation.
Todays HR profession encompasses a number of specialist disciplines, including diversity,
reward (including compensation, benefits, pensions), resourcing, employee relations,
organisation development and design, and learning and development (the history of which is
covered in detail in the next section of this factsheet). The CIPD's Profession Map defines
what the best HR and L&D professionals know, do and understand across ten key
specialisms, in order to really make a difference and drive performance in the organisations in
which they work.
Importance of Human Resource
Importance of Human Resource Management:
Human resources are the valuable assets of the corporate bodies. They are their strength. To
face the new challenges on the fronts of knowledge, technology and changing trends in global
economy needs effective human resource management. Significance of HRM can be seen in
three contexts: organisational, social and professional.
Organisation Significance:
HRM is of vital importance to the individual organisation as a means for achieving their
objectives.
It contributes to the achievement of organisational objectives in the following ways:
1. Good human resource practice can help in attracting and retaining the best people in the
organisation.
2. Developing the necessary skills and right attitudes among the employees through training,
development, performance appraisal, etc.
3. Securing willing cooperation of employees through motivation, participation, grievance
handling, etc.

4. Effective utilisation of available human resources.

5. Ensuring that enterprise will have in future a team of competent and dedicated employees.
Social Significance:
Social significance of HRM lies in the need satisfaction of personnel in the organisation.
Since these personnel are drawn from the society, their effectiveness contributes to the
welfare of the society. Society, as a whole, is the major beneficiary of good human resource
practice.
i. Employment opportunities multiply.
ii. Eliminating waste of human resources through conservation of physical and mental health.
iii. Scare talents are put to best use. Companies that pay and treat people well always race
ahead of others and deliver excellent results.
Professional Significance:
Professional significance of HRM lies in developing people and providing healthy
environment for effective utilisation of their capabilities.
This can be done by:
1. Developing people on continuous basis to meet challenge of their job.
2. Promoting team-work and team-spirit among employees.
3. Offering excellent growth opportunities to people who have the potential to rise.
4. Providing environment and incentives for developing and utilising creativity.

Toyota

Vision:
To be the most respected and successful enterprise, delight customers with a wide range of
products and solutions in the automobile industry with the best people and best technology.
Mission:
Mission of Toyota is to provide safe & sound journey. Toyota is developing various new
technologies from the perspective of energy saving and diversifying energy sources.
Environment has been first and most important issue in priorities of Toyota and working
toward creating a prosperous society and clean world.

Slogan:
ACT#1: Actions, Commitment and Teamwork to become No.1.
Toyota Human Resource
Because people make our automobiles, nothing gets started until we train and educate
our people." As seen in these words, which were expressed by Honorary Advisor Eiji
Toyoda, Toyota seeks to develop human resources through the activity of making things.
Toyota believes that the development of human resources requires the handing down of
values and perspectives. In conjunction with the geographic expansion of business and the
growth of business areas, undertaking global actions for the development of human resources
has become a priority issue. Toyota is building both tangible (a new learning facility) and
intangible (course content) structures relating to team member development that ensures a
secure and steady flow of qualified human resources to conduct Toyota's global business in
the 21st century.
Fully Committed and Thorough Human Resources Development
Toyota conducts systematic company-wide and divisional training and assignments for
training purposes with an emphasis on on-the-job training (OJT) to ensure that associates can

fully

utilize

their

abilities.

A Shared Toyota Way

In order to carry out the Guiding Principles at Toyota
Motor Corporation, in April 2001 Toyota adopted the
Toyota Way 2001, an expression of the values and
conduct guidelines that all employees should embrace.

Toyota Institute
In January 2002, the Toyota Institute was established as an internal human-resource
development organization that aims to reinforce the organic integration of global Toyota
companies by way of sharing the Toyota Way as well as to promote self-sufficiency. The
purpose behind the Toyota Institute's establishment is to promote the human resources
development of global Toyota in order to promote true globalization and to realize the
advancement of Toyota's core values. TMC President Fujio Cho is the Toyota Institute's first
president, with 16 full-time associates managing the business.