The development of personnel management

Abstract

The role of personnel management in industry is as old as the industrial revolution. In the words of F.W. Taylor "the duty of enforcing the adoption of standards and of enforcing cooperation (among workmen) rests with the management alone". It was in 1899 that Taylor explained the 'science of shovelling' as a result of which a workman was taught to shovel forty-seven tons of pig iron daily instead of merely twelve and a half tons. It is well known how every aspect ofthis simple job was controlled in detail by management so as to achieve the desired results. Indeed few men can be expected to survive for long under such conditions. Taylor himself has noted that' one of the very first requirements for a man who is fit to handle pig iron as a regular occupation is that he more nearly resembles an ox than any other type". Similar conclusions had been reached by Adam Smith, one hundred and fifty years earlier.