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Why the Human Resources Management Function Fails
Jain, Harish C., and Victor V. Murray
26/4  (Summer 1984): 95-110

Since the end of the Second World War, the field of human resources management (or personnel administration, as it was once called) has been a burgeoning one. Most organizations of any size feature a personnel manager and a department of personnel specialists and clerks in varying numbers. Most business school programs contain anywhere from one to a dozen courses in various aspects of the field. In spite of the strenuous efforts of many wise practitioners, teachers, and researchers over the years, the personnel function has failed to have any significant impact of its own. Rather it has been, and remains today, a reactive function, only responding to problems once they arise (and not forecasting or preventing them). However, human resource planning is rarely integrated with strategic business planning. Human resource considerations are often minimal in planning new plant sites or the expansion of facilities. Further is found that of all the areas of human resources practice, that of employee selection has been subject to the greatest amount of "scientific" study.

 

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