The historical development of American HRM broadly viewed

Abstract

This paper surveys the development of the American human resource management field from the late 19th century to the start of the 21st century. Important people, ideas and events are identified as are contributing fields of study and schools of thought. Interesting and sometimes revisionist insights emerge, partly because human resource management is defined broadly to include industrial relations and personnel economics. The historical analysis is also used to derive implications for improving the current-day HRM research program.