How the personnel management evolved in India?

Ans.

Evolution of Personnel Management in India

The points through which the personnel management evolved in India are given below-

Appointment of Labour Officers of the First World War- In our country personnel management evolved after the First World War. Personnel management in India, as understood today, had its beginning in the cotton textile mills. The Calico Mills, Ahmedabad opened a creche for the children of the workers and engaged a doctor and a nurse for their benefit, Tatas in Mumbai appointed a medical officer in 1918. In the early thirties, the Mill Owners’ Association, Mumbai appointed the first labour officer. The Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshedpur appointed their first labour officer in the year 1937. With the development of big business firms, there was a greater realisation in both public and private sectors for the appointment of personnel, welfare or industrial relation officers of facilitate the maintenance of industrial peace and to look after the welfare of the employees.

Royal Commission on Labour- Royal Commission on Labour in 1931, strongly recommended the appointment of a labour officer in every factory to protect the workers from the evils of jobbery. Royal Commission observed the following.

1. The jobber should be excluded from the engagement and dismissal of labour and instead, a labour officer be appointed.

2. The qualities required of a labour officer should be integrity personality, energy and the gift of understanding individuals. He should have a linguistic facility.

3. All labour should be engaged by him and none should be dismissed without consulting him.

4. The labour officer should fulfil many duties and should initiate and administer welfare measures.

On the basis of recommendations of the report of the Royal Commission on Labour, several mill-owners in textile, jute and other industries appointed labour officers to look after recruitment, handle grievances etc.

Enactments- After independence the Factories Act in 1948, the Plantation Labour Act, 1951 and the Mines Act, 1952 were passed and they made it obligatory for the appointment of Labour Welfare officers. Section 49 of the Factories Act requires the appointment of qualified welfare officers in factories employing more than 500 workers. The welfare officer is supposed to help the management in providing welfare measures to the workers as enumerated the Act. Thus, in the majority of large industrial in establishments personnel management has been imposed by legislative action. The Indian experience during 1950s and even in 1960s was not appreciable with the provision of appointment of welfare officers. The big factories appointed welfare officers to carry out their orders, whether just or unjust, as mere subordinates. Such officers also took a biased view while dealing with the workers and they considered themselves as agents of management. This resulted in trade unions looking on these officers with suspicion and distrust. Thus, the real significance of the machinery of personnel management was not realised.

The personnel officers should be appointed not because of legal compulsion but because there is a need of such agency to play an important role in the labour-management relations.

The National Commission on Labour stated, “Laws were made to ensure that the managements appointed a person exclusively to look after the welfare of their workers and help them in discharging their statutory obligations in respect of welfare measures. Welfare officers should form a part of the administration in order to discharge their responsibilities effectively. Therefore, the eligibility of a welfare officer must be ensured before his appointment. Personnel management developed fast during the 1960s as the enlightened managements came to realise as an essential element of good management. Personnel management can contribute a lot in the realisation of organisational goals. The increase in labour problems in the 1970s and 1980s gave a further boost to the growth of personnel management.