Dear Friend,
You are aware that we all say that we should change as per the changing environments. Accordingly, the HR dept. has also undergone a significant change. I have been working in the manufacturing scenario for the last 11 years and recently joined a service cum manufacturing firm. I came across this question during a discussion, and it really gave me the answers that I was seeking. I can tell you about the changes that have taken place in the environment, leading to significant changes in our HR departments.
1) Earlier, there was a huge manpower base, and companies used to boast about having a large number of headcounts. To manage them equally, a large number of IR-PO's were required, and as such, the HR dept had 15-20 people working there. Thanks to automation and computerization, the numbers got reduced drastically. The time office was replaced by an automatic attendance system, salary preparation was taken care of by salary software, etc. The term HRD came into existence from the Personnel department.
2) Automations in the shop floor reduced the headcount drastically. CNC machines, automatic lifters, automatic packing lines, complex conveyor systems for transportation of finished goods and unloading of raw materials all went through a sea change. For these operations, engineering graduates, minimum ITI passed workers, or diploma engineers became a necessity. All these educated and technically qualified personnel had little time for gossiping and were more absorbed in carrying out their operations and troubleshooting functions. This led to the downfall of the trade union culture. The union scenario also changed in their thought process, becoming more work-oriented. The need for training, appraisals, re-training, career orientation grew, and the Personnel or Industrial Relations dept became the Human Resource dept. With the decrease in usual problems of wage settlement, strikes/lockouts percentage rate also dropped drastically, and disciplinary actions and their processes decreased, making HR more employee benefit-oriented.
3) Due to automations mentioned above, the size of the organization shrunk. What used to be carried out by a 300-400 workforce is now done by 45-50 technically qualified employees. For example, the Sandoz factory at Thane, Maharashtra, previously had 500-600 employees, but now Sandoz has a state-of-the-art plant in New Bombay where all manufacturing functions are done automatically in a sterilized and fully automatic environment. The company itself has changed from Sandoz to Novartis. The need to pamper employees, increase their motivation levels, and enhance their quality inputs all became HR responsibilities.
From the above, you can see that as the scenario/environment changed, HR also underwent suitable changes in their areas.
These are my observations that justify how the HR dept. has come a long way and still has more transformations ahead in the future.
With Best Regards,