Introduction

While the Industrial Revolution first brought about the need for organised workforce

management, the ideas and approaches put forward by theorists over the past century can be

seen, albeit refined and developed, in modern people management literature and practises

3 | Page

today.

Models such as Pfeffer’s set of best practises echo of Taylor’s “One Best Way” and scientific

selection of people, and welfare theorists such as Robert Owen and Elton Mayo’s recognition

of the need for, and benefits from, improved working conditions and motivation can be seen

as the origins of organisational culture and motivation theory.

Just as each theory reflected the influencing environment of its time, both internal and

external, the political, social, economic and other changes of the past 20 or so years, has

evolved people management to where human resources management (HRM) is today.

Over this period, the global and local business environment has prospered and suffered,

industry and organisations have grown and retrenched, and against these backdrops, ideas on

what approach best yields superior employee/organisational performance has evolved, with

HRM the widely supported approach in today’s business environment.

The popularity of HRM rose from US theorists in the 1980’s such as Storey, whose “ideal

type” of HRM pinpointed 27 differences (Appendixes 1) between the personnel management

role, “essentially an administrative support function…perceived as being remote from

business performance issues” (Storey, 2007, cited in Beardwell and Claydon, 2010, p. 21) to

encompass, “all management decisions and action that affect the nature of the relationship

between the organisation and its employees”. (Beer et al, 1984, cited in Armstrong, 2009)

The argument to support this approach has been