Literature Review of Human Resource Management, theory versus practice

Scientific Management was first described by Frederick Taylor in the late 19th century. Its relevance to modern day management is widely debated in academic circles. In this essay, I will address the question of whether Scientific Management has a place today, in a 21st Century Knowledge Economy, or whether it belongs to a ‘different time and place. I will argue that much of modern management practice is derived from Taylor’s theories and that in this sense his work is very relevant. Next, I will examine the context in which Taylor developed his principles and contrast this with the contemporary context. Then I will evaluate the relevance of each of Taylor’s 4 Principles to today, with help from a

Frederick Taylor’s fundamental thoughts on scientific management dated back to early 1880s when he was employed at Midvale Steel Company and observed his coworkers “soldiering” at work. In the following two decades, he moved around different companies while developing his management theory

Today 's fast-paced, competitive business environment has resulted in "rediscovery" of the human resource management function as a group that may be able to enhance firm competitiveness and performance by being "strategic" (Dyer & Kochan, 1995; Ulrich, 1997). Strategic Human Resource Management is a term describing an integrated approach to the development of Human Resource Strategy that will enable the organization to achieve its goals (Armstrong, 2005). Whiles strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization’s goals. Strategy presents a general direction set for the company and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future. This results from the detailed

Cascio, W. (2013). Managing Human Resources: productivity, quality of work life, profits (ninth edition). New York, NY: McGraw – Hill Companies, Inc.

What are the main features of Taylor’s approach to ‘Scientific Management” and what criticisms have been made of it? Do firms use scientific management today?

Cascio, W. F. (2013). Managing Human Resources (9th ed.). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc

Human resource management is one of the vital parts of any organization. Employees are the critical components for the success of business units, they make important decisions, and they are to blame for the failures of firms. Employees are intangible assets for most organizations, and they are the primary source of making value-added decisions. Eyvazi et al. (2013) selected 1859 employees to participate in the study based on the four

Stewart, Greg L., Brown, Kenneth G., 2012, Human Resource Management: Linking Strategy to Practice, 2nd edition, Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

In an era of increasing competitiveness, globalization, economic rationalization, deregulation, technological revolution and changing workforce there is an ever-increasing need for human resource management to be able to capitalize on the special challenges that this changing environment brings. For a company to be able to successfully keep ahead of the competition, human resource management is seen to be a significant contributor.

Human resource management has gained atmost importance in the past few years. Studies have found that there is a relationship between human resources of an organization and performance. From an era of slaves to an era of knowledge resources, People have been regarded differently throughout the years. People are now considered to be energy resources which are directly responsible for the effective working of the organization. An organization with good human resources and its effective management forms an effective organization.

With those evocative words, Frederick W. Taylor had begun his highly influential book; “The Principles of Scientific Management” indicating his view regarding management practices. As one of the most influential management theorists, Taylor is widely acclaimed as the ‘father of scientific management’. Taylor had sought “the ‘one best way’ for a job to be done” (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter, 2003, p.39). Northcraft and Neale (1990, p.41) state that “Scientific management took its

Scientific management (also called Taylorism, the Taylor system, or the Classical Perspective) is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflow processes, improving labor productivity. The core ideas of the theory were developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s, and were first published in his monographs, Shop Management (1905) and The Principles of Scientific Management (1911).[1] Taylor believed that decisions based upon tradition and rules of thumb should be replaced by precise procedures developed after careful study of an individual at work.

Aim: This research will help us understand the role played by Strategic Human Resources Management in Organizational success, what role a HR manager plays in improving organizational efficiency and how it differs from traditional Human Resources Management.

Different approaches have been executed with Human Resource Management practices due to change in time and context (Townley, 1999). HRM in the Bureaucratic era focused on maximizing organizational success based on monetary gain; employing people merely as ‘resources’ (Paauwe, 2009). HRM practices in the post-bureaucratic era focuses on employment engagement and retainment to ensure the ongoing prosperity and sustainability of an organisation. To fulfill these goals practices had to incorporate stakeholder’s interests and needs; it was about seeing employees not as resources by as resourceful employees (Simmons, 2003). The shift is practices are referred to the swift between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ HRM; hard HRM

Chew, Y. T. (2005). Achieving Organisational Prosperity through Employee Motivation and Retention: A Comparative Study of Strategic HRM Practices in Malaysian Institutions, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 13(2), 87-104.