Hired Hands or Human Resources? - by Bruce E Kaufman (Hardcover)

About the Book

In a companion volume to Managing the Human Factor, also from Cornell, Bruce E. Kaufman shows how American firms transitioned from the traditional "hired hand" model of human resource management (HRM) to the modern "human resources" version popular...

Book Synopsis

In a companion volume to Managing the Human Factor, also from Cornell, Bruce E. Kaufman shows how American firms transitioned from the traditional "hired hand" model of human resource management (HRM) to the modern "human resources" version popular today. Kaufman illuminates through fifteen detailed case studies the structure and operation of HRM programs and practices across a diverse range of American business firms spanning the fifty years from 1880 to 1930.

Nine of the fifteen case studies in Hired Hands or Human Resources? examine HRM before World War I and document the highly informal, decentralized, externalized, and sometimes harsh nature of the people-management practices of that era. The remaining six span the Welfare Capitalism decade of the 1920s and reveal the marked transformation to a more progressive and professional model of personnel practice at some companies, along with continued reliance on the traditional model at others.

Kaufman gained access to the richly detailed audits of company HRM programs prepared during the 1920s by Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc., and draws upon this trove of information to present the most in-depth, up-close evidence available of how companies of this period managed their employees and how the practice of HRM evolved and developed. Hired Hands or Human Resources? features new insights into key subjects such as the strategic versus tactical nature of early HRM, alternative models of workforce governance used in these years, and the reasons some companies created autonomous HRM departments.

Review Quotes

"Hired Hands or Human Resources? richly reveals how HRM was practiced during the formative years of large-scale industry and uncovers not only the birth of the modern HRM model but also the origins of the central issues of the field. Today's debates over best practices, strategic HRM, and the determinants of HR practices have finally been given their historical foundations, and scholars and managers should follow Kaufman's lead by understanding the nature of early HR practices and by embracing the implications for today's research and practice."--John Budd, University of Minnesota

"For anyone interested in the history of human resources in the United States, this book is a must-read. Bruce E. Kaufman goes back to the cases written at the time to describe the foundation and evolution of the HR function."--Patrick M. Wright, William J. Conaty GE Professor of Strategic HR, Cornell University

About the Author

Bruce E. Kaufman is Professor of Economics and Senior Associate of the W.T. Beebe Institute of Personnel and Employment Relations at Georgia State University and Research Fellow at the Center for Work, Organization and Wellbeing at Griffith University. His most recent book, also published with Cornell, is Managing the Human Factor: The Early Years of Human Resource Management in American Industry; other books include The Global Evolution of Industrial Relations; What Do Unions Do: A Twenty Year Perspective; and Theoretical Perspectives on Work and the Employment Relationship (a LERA Research volume).