THE ROLE OF THE HUMAN RESOURCE SPECIALIST IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FUTURE
Organizations have for decades proclaimed that people were the most valuable of the resources to which they were entrusted. All too often, however, this statement effectively represented the extent of top organizational interest in the human component of an organization's resource base. Intensive strategic planning and management was reserved, rather, for the financial, physical, and technological resources available to the organization.
A widening recognition of the significance of human resources to an organization began to develop in the 1970s. Much of the early interest in a transition from the older concept of personnel management to the new concept of human resources management was prompted by declining productivity in American organizations, and the competitive threat of the Japanese. "Japanese management" became a buzz word in American organizations, and Japanese management is, essentially, human resources management (Pascale and Athos 19 27).
As the concept of human resources management gained acceptance in American organizations, the concept itself was subjected to intensive review and development. One result was the recognition that an effective human resources strategy could provide an organization with a competitive advantage (MacMillan and Schuler 28).
In the 1990s, human resources management continues to evolve. Many of the important aspects of human resources management in organizations of the future are likely unknown in the 1990s. Some of the recent developments in the field, however, appear to be likely to influence the management of human resources in organizations of the future. Important in this context are (1) the management of intercultural relations, (2) the management of substance abuse problems, and (3) the refinement of the exit interview process to provide valuable information to the organization. These three...