Balancing the demands of the changing market with the demands of the employees for reasonable treatment and respect is becoming increasingly difficult. Loyalty to a company, which came naturally in the past, from an employee's perspective seems to be diminishing in today's business world. Restructuring, downsizing and layoffs from mergers and acquisitions becoming the order of the day, employees don't feel they have the job security as they did in the past. The result has been that people are more open to other opportunities. And motivation of employees for higher levels of performance becomes difficult when all the rules have changed and the simple exchange of loyalty and commitment does not exist anymore. In times like this, effective management of human resources is very critical.
There was a time when employees were considered just another input for the production of goods and services. However, this way of thinking changed probably after Elton Mayo's Hawthorne studies, which were conducted from 1924 to 1932. These studies showed that an employee's productivity was not only linked to monetary reasons, but also depended to how a manager behaved and motivated his team. The studies began a human relations approach (that became popular in the 1920s and remained influential through the 1950s) to management issues and the needs and motivation of employees became the main focus of managers. |
