rentices, and taught them the trade. Apprentices were paid little, if anything, and lived with their masters. Once they reached the journeyman's status, they could move from one craftsman to another, and if they could save money and purchase a few tools they could start their own businesses.
From this system craft guilds developed. These were associations which regulated the quality of materials, wages paid and terms and conditions of apprenticeship training. In the handicraft system personnel management was the responsibility of the master craftsman. Such a system existed only where there was no permanent class of wage earners. Again, collective bargaining was not used as a means of settling disputes.
The industrial revolution changed that. With the expansion of markets, better transportation, the development of machines which replaced hand tools and steam power, the workers' efforts could be multiplied. This also produced a requirement for greater capital. New social and economic classes emerged. Wage earners for the first time formed a distinct class. Industrial capitalists provided the money for larger, more complex enterprises. Slowly, but perceptibly, a changing attitude toward the worker developed. There was a growing emphasis on personal and individual values. Workers could move to areas where free land was available, and for the first time employers realized a dissatisfied employee could generally become an independent landowner or farmer.
Managements in their desire to improve the general standard of living of the American worker introduced certain facilities and programs to neutralize the generally imposed, arduous working conditions which they had experienced. This welfarism, or paternalism produced recreational programs, financial assistance for education and medical care, and improved hygienic measures in the working milieu. With the passage of workmen's compensation laws, employers not in...