Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 5/e

The New Human Resource Management

Learning Objective 3

1. Discuss at least five consequences such trends have for human resource management today.

For much of the 20th century, “personnel” managers focused mostly on day-to-day activities. In the earliest firms, they took over hiring and firing from supervisors, ran the payroll department, and administered benefits plans. As expertise in testing emerged, the personnel department played a bigger role in employee selection and training. 54 New union laws in the 1930s added “Helping the employer deal with unions” to its duties. With new equal employment laws in the 1960s, employers began relying on HR for avoiding discrimination claims. 55

We’ve seen that today’s employers face new trends and challenges. ...