Stage three in personnel administration: strategic human resources management

The traditional view of the personnel manager-a glorified record keeper who processes forms, monitors the suggestion box, and administers employee benefits-is fast fading. Top management's notion that the personnel department is merely a cost center-overly concerned with humanistic ideals and with little impact on the bottom line-is giving way under the impact of several changes. Beginning in the late 1970s, a series of major upheavals in the world of work-increasing government regulation, declining productivity, rising concern with the quality of worklife, and the entrance of the post-World War II baby boom population into an already highly competitive job market-have changed the personnel department's status from that of organizational stepchild to a potentially premier force in the organization's ability to survive and grow. Stella A. Nkomo, human resource research associate at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, traces the evolution of the personnel function and discusses how personnel executives can meet the challenge of strategic human resources planning.

The surgical staffing of the future

An analysis of the amount of surgical work carried out in the hospitals of the West Midlands Health Region during the year 1975 has been carried out. From this it is calculated that the number of surgeons on permanent contract will have to be increased by between 50 and 100%, that of registrars being reduced by 50% and that of the rest of the junior staff by 15-20%, to enable an equivalent amount of work to be done in the future.

A decade of rapid change: the outlook for human resources management in the '80s

The new decade also means a new chapter for personnel professionals. From our research, interviews and observations during the '70s come these predictions for the '80s.

Human resources in the 1980s

As the decade of the 1970s closes, new trends in human resources will test the ingenuity of corporate planners to produce policies for the 1980s that will match changing corporate demands with changing employee expectations. The 1970s have produced much-publicized problems--for example, the introduction to the work force of larger numbers of minorities and women--that are not yet fully resolved and that can be expected to continue. But the 1980s will bring their own special challenges. Shifting populations (such as legal and illegal immigrants), the women's movement's demand for equal pay for work of comparable worth, and the push for civil liberties at the workplace are all factors that will dramatically change the business climate. With these factors in mind, the author examines the 1980s' business environment, takes a backward look at planning policies in the 1970s, and shows how the priorities of those policies will have to be reevaluated to meet the challenges of the future.

Bringing salary administration out of the closet

None of the companies that reported having an open salary administration policy cited negative results or negative employee reactions as a consequence of that policy. In contrast, some of the companies that have less open salary administration policies expressed doubts about the soundness of their position, and some indicated they are currently investigating more open salary administration methods.