Evolution of HRM
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the historical evolution of managing people, tracing back to 5000 years ago and highlighting the profound changes brought by the Industrial Revolution. It discusses the shift from household production to factory work, the rise of the Foreman's Empire, and the advent of scientific management through Taylorism. The narrative emphasizes the importance of understanding both the technical and human conditions of work, and the need for managers to adapt their practices and assumptions to current times, underscoring the continuous evolution of ideas in human resource management.
Takeaways
- ๐ The history of managing people dates back 5000 years, indicating that the challenge of worker management is ancient and complex.
- ๐ญ The Industrial Revolution marked a significant shift from agrarian and small-scale production to industrial work, impacting the autonomy and work-life of individuals.
- ๐ฅ The transition to industrial work led to the invisibility of women's unpaid domestic work as societal norms began to equate value with paid, external labor.
- ๐ฎ The Foreman's Empire emerged as a system where supervisors held absolute authority over hiring, firing, and motivating the workforce, often through strict discipline.
- ๐ฌ Scientific management, or Taylorism, sought to break down jobs into standardized, repetitive tasks for efficiency, with managers determining the 'one best way' to perform tasks.
- ๐ The evolution of management practices also involved applying psychological principles to understand and improve worker satisfaction, engagement, and productivity.
- ๐ง The script emphasizes the importance of recognizing and addressing both the economic/technical and human conditions in the workplace for effective management.
- ๐ Historically, management strategies and ideas have evolved, suggesting that current practices should be critically evaluated for their relevance and assumptions.
- ๐ The script challenges managers to reflect on their own assumptions when managing others, highlighting the need for self-awareness in leadership.
- ๐ It is implied that there is an opportunity for managers to innovate and adapt their strategies, ensuring they are not using outdated practices or assumptions.
- ๐ The narrative provides a comprehensive view of the evolution of human resource management, from authoritarian control to a more nuanced understanding of worker needs and motivations.
Q & A
How far back does the history of managing people go according to the script?
-The script suggests that the history of managing people goes back as far as 5000 years ago, starting with skilled and unskilled slaves, conscripts, soldiers, and others.
What significant shift did the Industrial Revolution cause in terms of work and workers?
-The Industrial Revolution caused a massive shift away from farming and small-scale household production to industrial work in factories and other workplaces, changing the nature of work and the relationship between workers and managers.
How did the Industrial Revolution impact the autonomy and discretion of workers?
-The Industrial Revolution led to industrialists controlling the production process, causing individuals to lose autonomy and discretion to decide when, how, and where to work, as well as how to structure their work tasks.
What role did the foreman play in the early industrial workplaces?
-In the early industrial workplaces, the foreman had unquestioned authority to hire, fire, discipline, assign work, set work hours, and motivate workers, a system now referred to as the 'Foreman's Empire'.
What is scientific management or Taylorism, and how did it affect job tasks?
-Scientific management, or Taylorism, sought to find the one best way to do every job by breaking tasks down into small, standardized, repetitive tasks that any unskilled worker could perform, as exemplified by Frederick Winslow Taylor's studies on the optimal shovel size.
How did the script describe the early industrialists' view of workers?
-The script describes early industrialists as viewing workers as lacking the qualities that placed the industrialists at the top of society, such as ambition, thrift, and sobriety, and thus in need of strict hierarchical authoritarian management.
What assumptions underpinned the management practices during the early Industrial Revolution?
-The management practices during the early Industrial Revolution were based on the assumption that owners had particular qualities that justified their place at the top of society and that workers, lacking these qualities, needed to be managed strictly and authoritatively.
What was the role of psychological principles in managing workers as mentioned in the script?
-The script mentions that psychological principles were applied to managing workers to understand that they have different skills, cognitive abilities, and that job satisfaction and attitudes are important for productivity, as well as recognizing the importance of group dynamics in the workplace.
How has the understanding of worker motivation evolved over time according to the script?
-The understanding of worker motivation has evolved from seeing workers as solely money-motivated to recognizing that they have psychological needs and social relationships that are important, reflecting a shift in assumptions about workers.
What key learning can be drawn from the history of human resource management as presented in the script?
-A key learning is that managing people is a very old challenge, and strategies for managing people change over time. Ideas and assumptions behind these practices are as important as the practices themselves, and managers should be aware of and question their own assumptions when managing others.
What advice does the script give to current managers regarding their management practices and ideas?
-The script advises current managers to consider whether their management practices and the ideas behind them are up-to-date and to be innovators in their approach to managing people.
Outlines
๐ง The Evolution of Workforce Management
This paragraph delves into the historical context of managing workers, tracing back to 5000 years ago. It discusses the shift from agrarian and small-scale production to industrial work during the Industrial Revolution, which varied in timing across different regions. The paragraph highlights the loss of autonomy for workers and the rise of individual-based income. It introduces the concept of the 'Foreman's Empire,' where supervisors held absolute authority over workers, including hiring, firing, and work assignment. The narrative then transitions to the efforts to systematize management, with a focus on 'scientific management' or Taylorism, which aimed to standardize tasks for efficiency. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding both the technical and human aspects of work, as well as the evolution of ideas behind management practices.
๐ก Insights from the History of HR Management
The second paragraph reflects on the historical progression of human resource management, emphasizing the enduring challenge of managing people. It acknowledges the difficulty of adapting to working under someone else's directives and methods, which is not the norm for most of human history. The paragraph underscores the evolution of management strategies over time and the significance of underlying ideas that shape these practices. It encourages managers to question the currency of their strategies and assumptions, suggesting that they may be outdated. The summary ends with an encouragement for managers to innovate and adapt their practices to align with contemporary understanding and needs.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กManagement
๐กIndustrial Revolution
๐กAutonomy
๐กForeman's Empire
๐กScientific Management
๐กStandardization
๐กMotivation
๐กPsychological Principles
๐กEmployee Engagement
๐กGroup Dynamics
๐กAssumptions
Highlights
The history of managing people dates back 5000 years, highlighting the long-standing and difficult issue of workforce management.
The Industrial Revolution marked a significant shift in work, moving from farming and household production to industrial factories.
Industrialization resulted in individuals losing autonomy, with work schedules and tasks being dictated by industrialists.
The transition to industrial work made income individually based, rather than being tied to household production.
Women's unpaid domestic work became less visible as society began to equate valuable work with paid, external labor.
Early industrialists believed in strict discipline and close monitoring of the workforce, leading to the 'Foreman's Empire'.
The foreman had unquestioned authority over hiring, firing, and motivating workers, often using harsh methods.
Efforts to systematize management emerged as production processes became more complex with larger factories.
Scientific management, or Taylorism, aimed to find the one best way to perform every job, breaking tasks into standardized, repetitive steps.
Frederick Winslow Taylor pioneered the idea of scientific management, emphasizing efficiency and task standardization.
Managers, not workers, were seen as the knowledgeable ones to determine how to break down jobs into smaller tasks.
Psychological principles were applied to managing workers, focusing on job satisfaction and employee engagement.
Group dynamics in the workplace were recognized as an important factor in managing workers effectively.
The evolution of human resource practices is marked by changes in both strategies and underlying assumptions about workers.
Early management strategies were hierarchical and authoritarian, based on the belief in the superiority of the elites.
The Industrial Revolution saw owners viewing themselves as superior due to their ambition and thrift, managing workers strictly.
Taylorism introduced the assumption that workers are primarily motivated by money and seek the most efficient way to earn it.
Psychological and sociological theories added the understanding that workers have different needs and social relationships.
Managers are encouraged to innovate and reflect on their own assumptions when managing others.
Transcripts
as far back as 5000 years ago skilled
and unskilled slaves and conscript
soldiers and many others needed managing
how to best manage people is therefore a
very long-standing and difficult issue
the modern concern with managing workers
comes from the Industrial Revolution
industrialization causes a massive shift
away from farming and small-scale
household production literally cottage
industries to industrial work and
factories and other workplaces depending
on where you live this transition may
have occurred 200 years ago or is
occurring right now but the changes in
the implications for workers and
managers are the same it's important
that we understand the profound nature
of these changes industrialists displays
household as the controller of the
production process so individuals lost
the autonomy and the discretion to
decide when and how to work how to
structure their work tasks when to do
them where they were going to work an
income also now becomes individually
based rather than household based
finally women's unpaid carrying work was
rendered invisible as new norms equated
valuable work to paid work done outside
of the home now early industrialists
believed that they needed to impose
strict discipline and closely monitor
this workforce that wasn't used to
working for someone else in a factory
and so the foreman the supervisor really
became king this is a system that we now
refer back to as the Foreman's Empire
where the supervisor had the
unquestioned authority to hire to fire
to discipline to assign work to assign
work hours and to motivate workers and
how we're workers motivated through
strict monitoring and the drive system
threats cajoling profanity even pointing
to the factory gate pointing to all
those unemployed workers willing to take
their job if they weren't willing to do
exactly what the foremen wanted now
after this there's an effort to try to
systematize management as the production
process becomes more complicated and
factories get larger and more complex
now this didn't all pertain to human
resources but part of it did and part of
them perhaps the most famous
example that still indoors today is
scientific management or Taylorism after
my distant cousin Frederick Winslow
Taylor who was really at the forefront
of this movement now Taylorism or
scientific management sought to find the
one best way to do every job break every
job down into small standardized
repetitive tasks that any unskilled
worker could do for example Taylor spent
four months figuring out that the
optimal shovel size was 21 pounds not 20
pounds not 22 pounds but 21 pounds and
so therefore these jobs were broken down
into small standardized tasks that
unskilled workers could do and who was
it that was determining how to break
these jobs down
it wasn't workers no it was managers
they were seen as the ones who had all
of the knowledge what were workers
workers were just cogs and machine they
were just hands farm hands factory hands
deck hands you know the phrase all hands
on deck now around the same time there
was also an effort to apply
psychological principles to managing
workers so this wasn't seen as only
trying to get the technical conditions
of work right but also to get the human
conditions right focus on appreciating
that workers have different skills and
levels of cognitive ability focus on the
fact that job satisfaction what we now
call employee engagement and other
attitudes are important for how work
gets done and how productive workers are
and also appreciate that group dynamics
in the workplace are also an important
factor and this really is the key task
of any manager today not only to get the
economic and technical conditions right
but also to get the human conditions
right now as we look back over this
5,000 history 5,000 year history of the
evolution of human resource practices
it's important not to simply see this as
an evolution of practices but also to
see this as an evolution of ideas when
slaves and conscripts are managing very
hierarchical authoritarian ways this was
rooted in assumptions that the elites of
the time were absolutely superior in
every way to slaves and conscripts and
therefore they had the right
sometimes even the divine right to
manage the inferior the
workers that they saw as inferior to
them fast forward several thousand years
ago and the early Industrial Revolution
when workers were managed in very
hierarchical authoritarian ways well
this was rooted in a set of assumptions
which owners thought that they had
particularly qualities that gave them
their place in society they were
industrialists they were at the top of
society because they were ambitious they
were thrifty they were sober and they
saw workers as lacking these qualities
and therefore needed to be managed in
very strict hierarchical authoritarian
ways we add in Taylorism a new set of
assumptions come to the fore workers now
are seen as motivated by money and
they're willing to work to get money but
they want to do it in the most efficient
way and who is going to determine the
most efficient way managers because it's
assumed that managers know best we add
in psychological and sociological
theorizing to the problem of how to best
manage workers and now we add in a new
set of assumptions about workers that
not only are they motivated by money but
they have psychological differences they
have psychological needs social
relationships also important so we have
this evolution not only of practices but
also ideas and as you're managing people
keep track of your own assumptions that
you're making when managing others so
there's a number of key learnings that
we can pull out of this quick review of
the history of human resource management
how to manage people is a very old
challenge if you're finding it tough
you're not alone working for somebody
else on their schedule using methods and
tasks that somebody else has set for
them is a very difficult thing for many
people it's not how most people have
lived for most of human history remember
this when managing others also we can
see quite clearly people management
strategies change over time and ideas
matter as much as practices so remember
this when you're thinking about your own
practices and your own ideas and think
about our current strategies that you're
using being encouraged to use used by
others in your organization are they
out-of-date not only in terms of the
practices but in terms of the
assumptions and the ideas that lie
behind them and finally it's clear you
have choices be an innovator as a man
sure
you
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