The Development
From absence of staff facilities before the Industrial Welfare to tribunals and equal pay in the 21st century, management in the workplace has came along way. It all began with Robert Hyde who had experienced appalling workplaces, and wanted to make them more enjoyable for employees. He founded ‘The Industrial Welfare’ Society, formally known as ‘The Boys’ Welfare Association’. The Industrial Welfare foundation continues to promote the idea of good quality or working life equals improved employee satisfaction. Some of their recent programmes include ‘The Future of HR’ and ‘Health and Wellbeing and Outstanding Leadership’.
Various changes have occurred since the Industrial Welfare such as the industrial relations during the 1950’s. Employment relationships will have conflicts of interest; therefore management would not be the correct people to serve the interests of employee’s. In order to prevent exploitation and to be the voice of employee’s, a neutral body must be in place, i.e. a ‘Trade Union’. Trade Unions usually consist of a group of workers (employee’s) who will speak on behalf of their co-workers to increase working conditions, negotiate wages and holiday entitlements. Trade Unions are becoming less common due to the reduction in industry and have been criticised for their ineffective policies on racism and sexism. The reason being is that a Trade Union’s purpose is to support an entire workforce and cannot justify supporting an individual’s complaint as it would be accusing another co-worker. Businesses have found solutions to this via the implementation of ‘Staff Representatives’ who can deal with personal problems on a one-to-one basis. Staff Representatives work closely with Personnel/Human Resource Management continuing the industrial relations.
Some say that HRM derived from the journey of Trade Unions. Due to the 1942 Factory Act, Government made it compulsory for factories with over 500 workers must employee a...