social welfare and personne managemenl t by …
TRANSCRIPT
SOCIAL WELFARE AND PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
by
REGINALD L. CLARKSON
ELIZABETH EVE CROSTHWAIT
ANCIE POUKS
Th e s i s Submitted i n P a r t i a l F u l f i l m e n t
of the Requirements f o r the Degree o f
MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK
i n the School o f S o c i a l Work
Accepted as Conforming to the Standard Required f o r the Degree of
Master o f S o c i a l Work
School o f S o c i a l Work
1964 THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for an advanced degree at the University of
Br i t ish Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make i t
freely available for reference and study. I further
agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis
for scholarly purposes, may be granted by the Head of my
Department or by his representatives. It is understood
that copying or publication of this thesis for f inancial
gain shall not be allowed without my written permission.
School of Social Work
The University of Br i t ish Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada.
Date "TH-fl
In presenting t h i s thesis i n p a r t i a l fulfilment of
the requirements for an advanced degree at the University
of B r i t i s h Columbia, I agree that the Library s h a l l make
i t f r e e l y available for reference and study. I further
agree that permission for extensive copying of t h i s thesis
for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my
Department or by his representatives. It i s understood
that copying or publication of t h i s thesis for f i n a n c i a l
gain s h a l l not be allowed without my written permission.
Department of SaQ.Q^ k)oR<
The University of Br i t i s h , Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada.
Date
I n p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t o f
t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r a n a d v a n c e d d e g r e e a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y
o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a , I a g r e e t h a t t h e L i b r a r y s h a l l make
i t f r e e l y a v a i l a b l e f o r r e f e r e n c e a n d s t u d y . I f u r t h e r
a g r e e t h a t p e r m i s s i o n f o r e x t e n s i v e c o p y i n g o f t h i s t h e s i s
f o r s c h o l a r l y p u r p o s e s may b e g r a n t e d b y t h e Head o f my
D e p a r t m e n t o r b y h i s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . I t i s u n d e r s t o o d
t h a t c o p y i n g o r p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l
g a i n s h a l l n o t be a l l o w e d w i t h o u t my w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n .
D e p a r t m e n t o f
The U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a , V a n c o u v e r it, C a n a d a .
Date IT, / ? C Y
1?
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ABSTRACT
The study of social welfare and personnel management is justified by the possibility of providing in the work situation the early detection and treatment of persons with social needs. The advantages of developing an increased sensitivity in personnel managers to the pathogenic conditions present in economic organizations is a further reason for studying the subject of this thesis. Encouraging results have been achieved by other professions, such as industrial medicine, which have placed themselves in the most strategic location to workers.
This thesis attempts to discover what social welfare elements are present in the field of personnel management, and to map a course of action for the social work profession to follow in it's relationship to personnel management groups.
Data was gathered by reviewing literature that described industrial social work and/or the social welfare practices of personnel managers. Theoretical descriptions of the personnel manager's job and of his training were studied to determine the social welfare content of his general duties. An operational definition and interview structure were developed. These were used in personal interviews to provide data on the practices of seven reasonably representative personnel managers in the Greater Vancouver area.
Several significant conclusions for Social Welfare were discovered in the data of this thesis. Personnel managers are directly involved in several major social welfare activities. They are concerned about the provision of income protection and health care for their employees, and are often involved in the treatment of crippling personal problems experienced by employees. Personnel managers consider their social welfare activities of vit a l importance to their organizations because of the effect of these activities on employee morale. Within the limits set by their organizational settings, personnel managers have a unique contribution to make to Social Welfare. The transfer of employees to new jobs and the retraining of employees are two actions that personnel managers can, and do take, to prevent individual cases of unemployment. Large organizations should experiment with the establishment of industrial social work positions.
The results of this thesis indicate a need for further studies of the subject of social welfare and personnel management. The area of union relations and collective bargaining is important to the social welfare actions of economic organizations and also requires special study.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to thank Mr. A d r i a n Marriage f o r h i s guidance and encouragement i n completing t h i s t h e s i s . We a l s o wish to extend our thanks to Mr. L. F r o s t , P r e s i d e n t of the Vancouver Personnel Management A s s o c i a t i o n f o r h i s kindness i n g i v i n g generously of h i s time and a l s o f o r recommending important sources of i n f o r m a t i o n . We would l i k e to express our a p p r e c i a t i o n to the many personnel managers i n Vancouver who so generously granted us p e r s o n a l i n t e r v i e w s .
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter I. The Link Between Personnel Management and Social Welfare.
The emergence of i n d u s t r i a l welfare. Points of convergence i n the entrepreneurial aspects of the manageri a l task. Some points of non-convergence. Thresholds of f e a s i b i l i t y and relevance for welfare schemes i n industry. Sources of organizational r i g i d i t y i n the structure of conventional welfare services. Some examples of the strategic use of context i n the administration of helping services such as i n d u s t r i a l and occupational medicine, public health, the worker p r i e s t s and s o c i a l work. The concept of work "as" welfare. Personnel management as the professional dimension of i n d u s t r i a l welfare. . P r o f i t i b i l i t y as a p r i n c i p l e of l i m i t a t i o n i n i n d u s t r i a l welfare. The interrogatives of the present study 1.1
Chapter I I . The Role of Personnel Management i n Industrial Organization.
The evolution of personnel management. The range, scope and character of the personnel manager's job. The heterogeneous and unsettled character of the personnel manager's job. Training programs fo r personnel management. The welfare cha r a c t e r i s t i c s of the personnel manager's job I I . 1
Chapter I I I . A P o l l of Opinion and Experience i n a Group of Local Personnel Managers.
Need fo r an operational d e f i n i t i o n of s o c i a l welfare. Operational d e f i n i t i o n as a questionnaire and as an interview. The interviewing program and findings. The conclusions drawn from the interviews I I I . l
Chapter IV. Contradiction and Agreement i n the F i e l d s of Social Welfare and Personnel Management.
The personnel manager's function incorporates many of the values of s o c i a l welfare. The influence of trade unionism on the personnel function of management. The projected tasks of s o c i a l welfare i n industry. The l i m i t a t i o n s facing the personnel manager i n dealing with employees' welfare. Recommendations IV. 1
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Appendices.
A. A Note on Methods Used to Obtain Research Data 1 B. Job Description 5 G. Bibliography 7 D. Questionnaire 15
Table and Chart i n the Text.
Table A. Summary of the Interview Findings 111.14
Figure I. Functional Chart. Personnel Department 17
CHAPTER I
THE LINK BETWEEN PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL WELFARE
The Emergence of Industrial Welfare
Welfare work i n industry as recently as the early 1 9 2 0 1 s
was thought of as anything contributing to the comfort and
improvement of the employee which was not required by law and
not part of a system of remuneration. Today, however, i t i s
realized that welfare i n industry consists of more than administering
a few additional comforts to working people; and i n d u s t r i a l
e f f i c i e n c y i t s e l f i s seen to depend on success i n coping with the
human problems of production no l e s s than with i t s technical
problems. The interrelatedness of industry and welfare i s indeed
both deep and many sided. Friedlander, for example, has indicated
that there are four aspects of modern i n d u s t r i a l operations which
seem of p a r t i c u l a r importance when considered i n the l i g h t of t h e i r
implications f o r s o c i a l welfare.
F i r s t , there are the arrangements made (recently described as " i n d u s t r i a l health and welfare plans") i n plants, mines and commerce i n order to establish or to improve s o c i a l security, health and general welfare of the employees and t h e i r families. Second, there i s the function of public employment services i n finding the best-suited worker f o r employers and the right jobs f o r workers seeking employment. Third, there i s the use of s o c i a l workers i n i n d u s t r i a l and commercial companies i n order to a s s i s t the employees and t h e i r families i n personal, health and f i n a n c i a l problems and d i f f i c u l t i e s . F i n a l l y , there i s the r e l a t i o n of organized
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labour to s o c i a l work and i t s p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the responsib i l i t y f o r development and maintenance of community welfare s e r v i c e s . 1
Ever since there have been employers, there have been those
who did t h e i r utmost to promote the welfare of t h e i r employees.
But so long as industry i t s e l f was organized i n small units, welfare
schemes were necessarily l i m i t e d i n scope and idios y n c r a t i c i n
character. Even these, however, disappeared when, with the i n t r o
duction of the factory system, personal l i n k s and primary s o l i
d a r i t i e s between employer and employee were broken; and with
the development of j o i n t stock li m i t e d l i a b i l i t y companies, the
t y p i c a l business enterprise became even more impersonal. Under
the moral exemptions of Manchester School doctrines, the workers
were regarded merely as instruments of production rather than as
men, women and children whose in d i v i d u a l well being was of import
ance. Labour was something to be bought cheaply, i n the same single
minded way that one approached one's other production costs.
Untempered at least i n the early days of the Industrial
Revolution by the requirements of factory l e g i s l a t i o n or the
checks of trade union organization, the conditions of work for
the mass of those who did i t were related to welfare only by t h e i r
systematic enmity to i t . The few factory owners whose despotism
was benevolent have become h i s t o r i c a l l y memorable for t h e i r
abnormality.
Friedlander, Walter, Introduction to Social Welfare, (New York Prentice-Hall, 1 9 5 5 ) . p. 495 .
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C o n d i t i o n s o f t h i s s o r t have s u r v i v e d i n t o the contemporary-
Western world o n l y i n v e s t i g i a l form. For a v a r i e t y of reasons,
which we do not need to d i s c u s s i n d e t a i l , the a t t i t u d e s of what
we now c a l l "management" to the w e l l - h e i n g of the i n d u s t r i a l worker
have undergone fundamental changes. Whether i n deference to the
demands of the unions, i n compliance with the standards of r e g u l a t o r y
agencies, i n response to competitive b i d d i n g f o r scarce s u p p l i e s
o f labour, or simply i n the i n t e r e s t s of i n d u s t r i a l e f f i c i e n c y ,
the modern employer i s concerned i n innumerable ways wit h the
s e c u r i t y , comfort and morale o f the people he employs.
I t i s not p o s s i b l e to say w i t h any degree of confidence what
c o n s i d e r a t i o n s weighed most p o w e r f u l l y i n b r i n g i n g about these
changes. I t may be that a complex and t e c h n o l o g i c a l l y advanced
economy j u s t cannot be run on the b a s i s of c o e r c i o n and n e g l e c t o f
i t s l a b o u r f o r c e . The more common view, however, i s t h a t i t was
the growth of l a b o u r o r g a n i z a t i o n s which had the most o b v i o u s l y
d e c i s i v e e f f e c t , e s p e c i a l l y when i t i s remembered t h a t t h i s e f f e c t
was f e l t not o n l y through the a c t i v i t i e s of the unions, but a l s o
through the a c t i v i t i e s of labour-based p o l i t i c a l movements.
Other circumstances a l s o promoted the development of w e l f a r e
s e r v i c e s f o r the worker. Fo r i n s t a n c e , the n e c e s s i t y f o r n a t i o n a l
u n i t y and i n d u s t r i a l harmony i n times of war has p e r f o r c e l e d
employers to take a g r e a t e r i n t e r e s t i n the w e l l - b e i n g of the
employee. To c i t e j u s t one example, the B r i t i s h government,
du r i n g World War I, e s t a b l i s h e d a welfare department with the
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Ministry of Munitions, concerned solely with the development of
welfare conditions i n the thousands of munition factories controlled
by the State. But i t i s almost an act of arbitrariness to single
out any one example when one ponders the part that the i d e o l o g i c a l
pre-requisites of t o t a l war..:have played i n the creations of the
B r i t i s h welfare state.
The adoption by management of an enlightened and benign approach
to relations spread slowly, though progress became more rapid
during and a f t e r World War II, being marked by the establishment
i n increasing numbers of personnel and welfare departments, staffed
by people with variably convincing claims to expertness i n the
human problems of industry.
Today, welfare services are viewed as normal adjuncts of
modern i n d u s t r i a l society. As Wilensky and Lebeaux put i t :
Social welfare objectives can be intimately associated with what i s b a s i c a l l y profit-making enterprise, as when a private business provides recreation f a c i l i t i e s , pension plans, or nurseries f o r i t s employees. The view may be taken, on one hand, that since such services attend human wants quite peripheral to the purpose of the organization, they neither share.in nor a l t e r the nature of the underlying profit-making a c t i v i t y On the other hand, the view may be taken that industry-sponsored welfare programs are simply part of the conditions of employment, a substitute f o r wages .... Thus, the degree to which an i n d u s t r i a l s o c i a l welfare program may be considered s o c i a l welfare varies inversely with the extent of emphasis on a contractual relationship between two parties seeking a mutually rewarding arrangement, and d i r e c t l y with the extent of s o c i a l sponsorship and control. It i s clear, nevertheless, that i n d u s t r i a l welfare programs affe c t the development of s o c i a l welfare i n s t i t u t i o n s .
Wilensky, Harold L. and Charles N. Lebeaux, Industrial Society and Social Welfare, (New York, Russel Sage Foundation, 1958), pp. 142-143.
I. 5
P o i n t s of Convergence i n the E n t r e p r e n e u r i a l and Welfare Aspects o f the Managerial Task
As the i n t e r e s t i n the "human r e l a t i o n s " aspects of manage
ment grew, i t became c l e a r t h a t welfare p r o v i s i o n s could not be
formulated or administered without thought f o r t h e i r r e c i p r o c a l l y -
c o n s e q u e n t i a l r e l a t i o n s h i p to e x i s t i n g procedures and p o l i c i e s .
( I t was i n acknowledgment of t h i s f a c t t h a t the job of personnel
manager took on i t s s p e c i a l c h a r a c t e r of expert mediations between
the demands of i n d u s t r i a l e f f i c i e n c y and the requirements o f employee
w e l l - b e i n g ) . I t was recognized, moreover, t h a t "welfare" was not
something apart from the job, bestowed or w i t h h e l d a t the w i l l o f
the employer. Rather than b e i n g seen as, of i t s very nature, a
challenge of c u r t a i l m e n t o f o r d i n a r y canons of p r o f i t a b i l i t y , i t
came to be viewed as a means o f improving the working environment
t h a t c o u l d be o f advantage to both the employer and the employee.
I t was r e c o g n i z e d t h a t the employee, i n a d d i t i o n to h i s obvious
i n t e r e s t i n a h i g h l e v e l o f earnings, had a need a l s o f o r d i r e c t
s a t i s f a c t i o n from h i s work, f o r agreeable group r e l a t i o n s h i p s ,
and not l e a s t , f o r informed and benevolent a s s i s t a n c e i n tie
management o f p e r s o n a l problems which might a f f e c t h i s performance
i n and experience o f the job.
Most people d u r i n g a g r e a t e r or l e s s e r p a r t of t h e i r l i v e s
spend a t l e a s t h a l f of t h e i r working hours a t work, and what
happens to them there i s bound to have profound and r a m i f i e d con
sequences f o r the h e a l t h , p r o s p e r i t y and c u l t u r a l v i t a l i t y o f the
n a t i o n as a whole. In t h i s p e r s p e c t i v e , employers must be seen
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as having obligations for the quality of l i f e i n t h e i r places
of business which are owed not only to those they employ but also
to a l l members of the same c i v i l society. Work should not be
regarded as an inevitable deduction from the net p o s s i b i l i t y of
happiness i n l i f e , but as an i n t e g r a l part of that p o s s i b i l i t y .
The establishment of welfare services i n strategic locations
such as industry i s not only a duty of kindness to those who may
use the services, but a source of advantage to the employer him
s e l f and for that matter, to the rest of us also i n so f a r
as we parti c i p a t e i n the benefits of a f l o u r i s h i n g economy. Since
i t i s ordinary men, rather than specimens of "homo economicus",
who spend so much of th e i r time at work, t h e i r e f f i c i e n c y i n and
attitude to that work w i l l be a r e f l e c t i o n of the t o t a l human
situa t i o n i n which they there f i n d themselves. The economic
and administrative aspects of the job cannot be divorced from the
functionally "extraneous" experiences to which the workers w i l l i n
fact d a i l y be submitted. The importance of human relations on
the job i n giving job s a t i s f a c t i o n to the worker can hardly be
overemphasized. The desire f o r s i g n i f i c a n t p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the
so c i a l enterprise and the corol l a r y desire for recognitions of
one's contribution to i t are powerful motivational forces. A
man's wish (too often allowed to slumber.') to test and to use h i s
highest capacities can be the p r i n c i p a l dynamic of s t a f f develop
ment. I t can also be a r a d i c a l cause for d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n i f the
organization f a i l s to recognize the existence of such wishes, or,
though recognizing the wish, i s complacently cynical about the
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capacities. It i s a strangely s e l f - l i m i t i n g concern with pro
d u c t i v i t y that w i l l accept i t i f i t i s enforced, but reject i t i f
i t i s volunteered. One of the things that workers are too seldom
expected to ask i s that the job should ask something of them. 1
Moreover, i f the worker i s considered as a "whole person",
with no more than a.limited capacity for leaving his other s o c i a l
i d e n t i t i e s at the factory gate, i t w i l l be rea l i z e d that when he
has a serious personal problem which he cannot s a t i s f a c t o r i l y
resolve, h i s preoccupation, however irrelevant to the job, i s
l i k e l y to a f f e c t both his productivity and h i s morale.
Business enterprise depends for success, at least i n part,
upon the personal e f f i c i e n c y and s o c i a l s t a b i l i t y of workers, as
well as on the more obvious q u a l i t i e s of pecuniary zeal and
organizational compliance which are normally held to be cardinal
f o r r a t i o n a l economic behaviour. I t i s therefore to management's
advantage to provide conditions that are calculated to generate
s a t i s f a c t i o n both on and o f f the job, and likewise to give each
employee whatever help can properly be offered i n meeting his
personal problems. It i s almost by d e f i n i t i o n — unreasonable
to expect a high standard of e f f i c i e n c y from employees whose
Aronson, Albert H. "Human Dynamics i n Administration: The Social work and Personnel Approaches", (New York, Social Work i n the Current Scene, 1950 Selected Papers, National Conference of Social Work, Columbia University Press) p. 214.
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energies are being wasted i n combating gratuitously adverse
conditions. 1 An early detection of existing problems w i l l y i e l d
benefit to the employer- i n greater productivity and lower unit
cost, more team s p i r i t , a reduction i n absenteeism, tardiness,
accidents, complaints and excessive personnel mobility. There
w i l l also be lower costs i n the h i r i n g and r e t r a i n i n g of new
employees.
Seen from one r a t i o viewpoint, the re l a t i o n s between manage
ment and the workers are l i k e those of partners i n a j o i n t enterprise
and fellow members of the company community. Management therefore
should do i t s share i n supporting the p r i n c i p l e of mutual respon
s i b i l i t y by helping themselves i n meeting t h e i r fundamental needs.
By so doing, i t increases the employee.'s morale, gives him a
greater sense of well-being, gives him fewer causes f o r d i s s a t i s
faction, creates a basis for better i n d u s t r i a l relations, and
helps generate a settled mood of good w i l l which i s propitious
fo r a greater understanding of and sympathy to a company's p o l i c i e s
and purposes.
Some Points of Non Convergence: Thresholds of F e a s i b i l i t y and Relevance f o r Welfare Schemes i n Industry
This, however, i s quite c e r t a i n l y to state the case i n i t s
most optimistic and unqualified form. There are important reserv
ations to be entered. Titmuss states one of them well when he says:
1 Pigors, Paul and Charles A. Meyers, Personnel Administration: A Point of View and a Method, (New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Incorporated, 1956) p. 335.
I. 9
I do not believe that the problem of 'human relat i o n s ' i n industry can be e n t i r e l y solved within industry i t s e l f . I t cannot be solved by tying closer the bonds between employer and employee through the provision of miniature occupational welfare states. Such an approach implies l e s s freedom of choice, and consequently, l e s s rather than more control by the worker over his a f f a i r s . I t can also mean, too, more s o c i a l and psychological pressures toward submissive and conforming behaviour i n the workplace and thus have, again, disturbing effects i n the home when the worker, released from the determinism of the factory, attempts to recover possession of himself.
Nor can the contemporary problems of family l i f e be en t i r e l y solved within the family i t s e l f . The family does not function i n a s o c i a l vacuum. How i t functions today i s profoundly affected by the forces of i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n . I t i s simultaneously benefited and damaged by these forces. And the r a p i d i t y with which they have been developing over the past one hundred years or so i n highly i n d u s t r i a l i z e d societies has put the family on the defensive. Its r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s have grown; i t has been placed i n more situations of divided l o y a l t i e s and c o n f l i c t i n g values; i t has been forced to choose between kinship and economic progress; and i t has been constantly subjected to gales of creative i n s t a b i l i t y .
I f i s i n t h i s context, that we have to see the s o c i a l services i n a variety of s t a b i l i z i n g , preventive and protective roles 1
Considerations of t h i s kind represent one of the l i m i t a t i o n s
to the scope and f e a s i b i l i t y of welfare schemes i n industry. I f
there i s a danger of management becoming an over-bearing parent,
there i s a danger also of labour becoming a self-indulgent and
irresponsible c h i l d . Moreover, no business organization either
can or should be expected to surrender i t s primary concern with
the economic and productive significance of i t s a c t i v i t i e s , whether
the standards used to assess that significance are those of ordinary
commercial p r o f i t a b i l i t y or something else.
Titmuss, Richard M., " I n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n and the Family", I n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n and Social Work, (Munich, 1 9 5 6 , Carl Heymanns Verlag kG, Koln, Berlin) p. 3 5 .
I. 10
Sources of Organizational R i g i d i t y i n the Structure of Conventional V/elfare Services
Nevertheless, so long as we are not so simple-minded as to
forget such facts of l i f e , a v a l i d place f o r welfare i n industry
remains, i f only as part of the "variety of s t a b i l i z i n g
preventive and protective r o l e s " to which Titmuss refers. For
one thing, the existing i n s t i t u t i o n a l structure of our welfare
services i t s e l f f a i l s to s a t i s f y the requirements of adaptiveness
and v e r s a t i l i t y which are implied i n the notion of "varied ro l e s " .
Organized as they are on the pattern on the general p r a c t i t i o n e r ' s
o f f i c e , to which the patient "brings" a l l the information and i t s
causes the doctor i s thought obliged to know about, they are often
as insensitive to the str u c t u r a l aspects of welfare problems and
welfare services as conventional medicine i s to the epidemiological
and s o c i a l dimensions of disease. Thus few s o c i a l workers are as
l i k e l y to have a developed awareness of the problems associated
with the individual's place of work as someone who i s located
right on the job. Even when r e f e r r a l s are made from the place
of work, they often get " l o s t " because of the long waiting periods
involved. I f the problem originates i n the plant or has i t s out
l e t preponderantly i n the plant, the service of out-plant agencies
i s usually too in d i r e c t and small-scale i n character to influence
the e t i o l o g i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t variables i n the i n d u s t r i a l environ
ment i t s e l f . Thus the strategies of prevention the most
e f f i c i e n t of a l l forms of service are made almost impossible,
i n t h i s instance, at least, f o r the t y p i c a l s o c i a l welfare agency.
I. 11
This point w i l l become clearer i f , following the comparison
with medical practice that has already been made, we b r i e f l y
examine the problems of the organization and l o c a t i o n of services
as they are dealt with by cer t a i n other professions as well as
that of s o c i a l work.
Some Examples of the Strategic Use of Context i n the Administration of Helping Services such as Industrial and Occupational Medicine, Public Health, The Worker P r i e s t s and Social Work
Indus t r i a l medicine i s an example of a specialized form of
medical practice, directed i n t h i s case toward the prevention of
disease i n the i n d u s t r i a l worker and the treatment of those diseases
and d i s a b i l i t i e s which have a causal r e l a t i o n to the environment
of the worker. In some (perhaps most) industries, workers are
exposed to c h a r a c t e r i s t i c health hazards which may cause disease
or d i s a b i l i t y . Where an i l l n e s s i s the d i r e c t consequence of some
factor i n employment, or where a disease condition can be traced
to employment as the proximate cause, i t i s generally regarded as
i n d u s t r i a l disease.
Production losses r e s u l t i n g from i l l n e s s and accidents among
workers cost m i l l i o n s of d o l l a r s each year, and even i f we had no
independent concern for the health of the people involved, i t
would be clear that the conservation of the working capacity of the
i n d u s t r i a l l y employed was of major importance i n maintaining a
highly productive economy. Studies of absenteeism r e s u l t i n g from
non-occupational i l l n e s s e s and accidents have been shown to be one
of the most important causes of l o s t man-hours and decreased
employee earnings.
I. 12
The passage of workmen's compensation laws placing responsi
b i l i t y upon the employer f o r medical care or of r e s t i t u t i o n to the
injured or diseased worker was a major influence i n the develop
ment of i n d u s t r i a l medicine. Employers did not need to have
visionary powers to recognize that the prevention of d i s a b i l i t y had
an actual monetary value. At the same time, management found
that medical services i n industry made an important contribution
to the effectiveness of workers i n a plant, and even to the standards
of health i n the general community. Nowadays, i n addition to the
care of compensable accidents and i l l n e s s , the medical departments
of large industries render in-plant treatment f o r minor i l l n e s s e s ,
preplacement examinations to determine f i t n e s s of applicants f o r
work, periodic check-ups and examinations of workers i n hazardous
occupations, and medical opinions on questions of job f i t n e s s ,
d i s a b i l i t y and retirement. They also advise management and labour
on questions r e l a t i n g to health, sanitation, hygiene and pre
ventive medicine. Another important function of an i n d u s t r i a l
medical program i s the education of workers on such subjects as
n u t r i t i o n , personal hygiene and other aspects of accident and
disease prevention.
The prime purpose of these varied i n d u s t r i a l medical a c t i v i t i e s
i s not to replace or supplant the personal physician, but rather
to meet emergency needs without loss of working time, production
and wages. They also stimulate an i n t e l l i g e n t interest i n the
maintenance of health and o f f e r guidance to the sick and handicapped
I. 13
employees who might otherwise f a i l to obtain competent medical
care. There has been increased emphasis i n the past few years
on the relationship between occupational medicine and other
branches of medicine, and on the contributions that each may
be able to make to the other. More recent trends have seen a
new emphasis on the r e h a b i l i t a t i o n and employment of the handi
capped worker and on the study of the re-employment of the cardiac
and psychiatric p a t i e n t . 1
Again, i n the closely related f i e l d of public health, we can
see c l e a r l y how the strategic location of services, even when
these services are administered to "selected" groups has improved
the general health and welfare of a l l concerned. Notwithstanding
the variety of the scope of l o c a l health programs and the d i f
ferences i n the administrative auspices under which they operate,
one of t h e i r chief functions i s the control of communicable and
chronic disease. An excellent example of t h i s l i e s to hand i n
the recent project of the B r i t i s h Columbia Tuberculosis Society
calle d "Operation Doorstep". Not only was every c h i l d enrolled
i n school given the opportunity to have a skin test to determine
the presence of tuberculosis, but also mobile c l i n i c s were set up
i n d i f f e r e n t neighbourhoods i n order to reach as many individuals
as possible. Each new case diagnosed by these means was calculated
to have brought benefit not only to the person concerned but also
to those others who might have contracted tuberculosis had h i s
1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Book of the Year. 1963 Edition, see Industrial Health, p, .455.
I. 14
condition gone undetected and untreated. The operation of
neighbourhood c l i n i c s for mothers and children places an important
program of immunization and general health care i n a geographical
and s o c i a l l o c a t i o n which i n v i t e s use and y i e l d s major benefits to
health at a low l e v e l of cost. Public health nursing services
meet an important need for those who require nursing care at
home and o f f e r the same advantage of r e l a t i v e cheapness. There
are also environmental health services including inspection,
supervision and sanitary control of water supplies, sewage disposal
f a c i l i t i e s , milk production and d i s t r i b u t i o n , and food-handling
establishments. Public health agencies o f f e r the community a
readily available f a c i l i t y f o r information. There are many
l o c a l and national agencies working closely with voluntary organi
zations, with professional groups, with schools and foundations,
with representatives of labour and industry, and in d i r e c t service
to families and communities, to control disease and improve the
general standards of physical well-being. The p r i n c i p a l communi
cable diseases of childhood such as diphtheria, whooping cough,
measles and scar l e t fever have been v i r t u a l l y eliminated as
causes of death as a resu l t of the progress made i n the public
health f i e l d . Public health agencies are now turning to the
control of chronic diseases, such as cancer and heart disease,
to the problems of an ageing population, and to the health problems
associated with a complex and i n d u s t r i a l i z e d s o c i a l environment.
Among these l a t t e r are water and a i r p o l l u t i o n , the hygiene aspects
I . 15
of housing, accident prevention, the dangers involved i n the
widespread use of chemicals, i o n i z i n g radiation, and the pro
motion of mental h e a l t h . 1
In Great B r i t a i n , the National Health Service Act of 1946
(which came into operation i n July, 1948) provided f o r the
expansion of public health into the f i e l d s of s o c i a l medicine.
It provided f o r a health v i s i t i n g service to give advice and
assistance to mothers experiencing d i f f i c u l t y i n the care of
young children, to people suffering from long-term i l l n e s s e s and
residing at home and to expectant mothers. The health v i s i t o r ' s
work was thus extended to the whole family and the opportunity
created to integrate her s o c i a l work with medical care by the
family doctor. The Act also provided a home nursing service f o r
those requiring nursing care i n t h e i r own homes and a home help
service for those requiring assistance i n the performance of
domestic jobs; both services being designed f o r such groups as
l y i n g - i n and expectant mothers, the mentally defective and the
aged. The National Health Service brought about far-reaching
changes i n the understanding of the scope of public health i n
Great B r i t a i n . Its emphasis upon the s o c i a l aspects of disease,
upon bringing services into the home and exploiting i t s indigenous
therapeutic resources, upon alternatives to i n s t i t u t i o n a l care f o r
the aged, and upon early detection of so-called problem families,
a l l t e s t i f y to the c r u c i a l importance of context i n the admini
s t r a t i o n of health and welfare services.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Book of the Year, 1963 edition. See Public Health Service, U.S. p. 675-
I. 16
However di f f e r e n t the nature of the "service" may appear to
be, similar p r i n c i p l e s are involved i n the phenomenon of the worker-
p r i e s t i n industry. In France, as i n so many other countries, the
processes of i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n during the l a s t century l e d to the
growth of huge urban agglomerations and the creation of a rootless
working class. This development became a matter of deep concern
to certain Catholics who had become conscious of the misery of the
masses and of t h e i r estrangement from the Church. In turn, t h i s
concern f o r the s p i r i t u a l l y alienated worker prompted a number of
p r i e s t s to enter what was termed, "The Mission to Paris". These
pr i e s t s l i v e d and worked alongside other workers i n order to
experience i n t h e i r own l i v e s the conditions of the labouring
poor, believing that i t was only by some such affirmation of
kinship that they couH accomplish t h e i r work as p r i e s t s . I t
was thought at the outset of t h i s experiment that after a time
these p r i e s t s would be p a r t l y released from manual labour i n
order to have greater freedom to devote themselves to s t r i c t l y
apostolic a c t i v i t i e s .
This o r i g i n a l idea underwent gradual change. Even i n the
early days of the movement, some worker-priests had thought i t
t h e i r duty to accept temporal commitments i n trade unions and
other secular organizations. Later, however, several of them l e t
themselves become so f a r preoccupied by these commitments that
t h e i r mission as p r i e s t s seemed to take second place and t h e i r
effectiveness as pri e s t s was questioned. Some of them were alleged
I. 17
by senior o f f i c i a l s of the Church to be i n danger of confusing
t h e i r apostolic a c t i v i t y with t h e i r temporal commitments so that
they ceased to stand out c l e a r l y enough as o f f i c e r s of the Gospel
on permanent duty.
The Pope and the Bishops were af r a i d that the l i f e of the
p r i e s t s , occupied and committed as these were, might l i t t l e by
l i t t l e be emptied of what i s essential i n p r i e s t l y l i f e . I t was
for these reasons that the Church, f e a r f u l of these deviations,
decided that the worker-priest experiment as i t had developed should
not be continued, and they therefore attempted to put a halt to
these a c t i v i t i e s . In January of 1954, the Bishops sent to each
of t h e i r worker-priests a c i r c u l a r l e t t e r requesting them to
renounce everything that had gone to make up t h e i r l i f e during
the preceding years. A certain number did leave t h e i r work; but
the majority of the worker-priests have continued to l i v e as
workers, maintaining between themselves the same close bonds as
before and preserving as a group the same concern with what they
believe to be the s o c i a l implications of t h e i r ministry.
In Canada, similar developments took place. The Quebec
Action Catholique, announced i n i t s issue of February 1954 the
o f f i c i a l entry of a p r i e s t , as such, into one of the largest
factories i n Canada. The day t h i s venture began, i t s originator
addressed an audience of workers i n the following manner: "We
s h a l l not concern ourselves with your technical problems. For
example, i t w i l l not be our job (a) to t e l l you how to repair such
I. 18
and such a machine part: the foreman i s there to t e l l you.
Nor i s i t (h) to s e t t l e your differences with the management;
the unions are responsible f o r that. Rather you w i l l come to
see us to talk about your personal and family problems, to t e l l
us at times what makes you happy or anxious "
The worker-priests are perhaps notable not so much for the
o r i g i n a l i t y or the systematic character of the view they hold of
the priesthood but rather f o r the dramatic significance of t h e i r
unaccustomed manner of existence. They have l i v e d i n a world, i n
many ways opposed to the one i n which the clergy are accustomed to
spend t h e i r days. 1 Their devotion to t h e i r cause and t h e i r re
f u s a l to leave the i n d u s t r i a l scene, i n spite of great opposition
from the hierarchy of t h e i r Church, would lead one to believe that
they are meeting some measure of success i n helping t h e i r fellow
workers.
The close i d e n t i f i c a t i o n with his fellow workers has presented
many problems to the worker-priest. It i s evident that he has
experienced many c o n f l i c t s i n his dual role of worker and p r i e s t .
Nevertheless, i t i s d i f f i c u l t not to be impressed by his attempt
to reach his "parishioners" by placing himself where he could be
reached most re a d i l y by those who needed him, and by his p e r s i s
tence i n conveying to those i n higher places the manifold problems
of a working class from which they are often so f a r removed.
The Worker-Priests. A C o l l e c t i v e Documentation, Translated from the French by John Petrie, Routledge and Kegan Paul, Lord on, 1956.
I. 19
One cannot leave a discussion of the strategic use of
context i n the administration of helping services without also
considering the profession of s o c i a l work. The s o c i a l worker has
realized that i t i s often necessary to separate himself from the
specialized agency structure and go into the community i n order
to o f f e r a more advantageous service. Projects such as those
which deal with families having a m u l t i p l i c i t y of problems have
been devised i n which one worker deals with a l l aspects of the
family's problems rather than having the family v i s i t a number
of agencies which would deal with only one aspect of the family's
problems. This has enabled the worker to see the interrelatedness
of the problems, has eliminated the need for the involvement of
many agencies and has expedited the r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of the family,
where possible.
In the f i e l d of mental health, i t i s evident that one of the
most c r u c i a l times f o r the welfare of the patient i s the time when
he leaves the hospital and re-enters community l i f e . The s o c i a l
worker has begun to leave the confines of the mental hospital
and now spends a great deal of time i n discharge and after-care
a c t i v i t i e s f o r the welfare of the patient.
In large c i t i e s such as New York, the street-club worker has
developed i n order to cope with the problems of juvenile d e l i n
quency. These workers reach out to troubled youth who l i v e i n the
midst of violence, poverty, mental i l l n e s s and narcotic addiction.
These workers are nearly always available to these youths either
I. 20
on the streets or i n t h e i r homes. They aim, i n many cases, to
get them o f f the streets and into community centres where they
could receive specialized attention.
From the foregoing, i t can he seen that e f f o r t s are being
made i n many d i v e r s i f i e d f i e l d s to of f e r services to the i n d i v i d u a l
where they can be most readi l y available and also most e f f e c t i v e .
The Concept of Work "As" Welfare
L i b r a r i e s could now be f i l l e d with what has been written
about the influences which technologically and routinized forms
of work are said to exert on human beings. These influences, quite
c l e a r l y , are f e l t by the white c o l l a r worker just as they are by
his neighbour i n the blue c o l l a r , even though the most f a m i l i a r
image of the " r a t i o n a l i z a t i o n " and de-personalization of work i s
probably that of the assembly l i n e . Few of us, at. any rate, ( i f any)
are immune from the effects of the bureaucratic and engineering
refinements of the d i v i s i o n of labour, and the attendant impoverish
ment of the meanings of work. Whether the end resu l t of these
trends w i l l be a millenium of l e i s u r e and abundance or an eternity
of s e r v i l e boredom i s a question which i t would require oracular
powers to answer. Even at the more modest l e v e l s of judgment,
however, the subject i s f u l l of uncertainty and controversy.
Nobody can say with confidence i f the mass of men are happy i n
t h e i r work or miserable; or i f whatever t h e i r condition may
be that they are happier or more miserable than t h e i r ancestors
were. And i t i s l i k e l y to be many years before the human sciences
I. 21
can provide us with the instruments for making such judgments
with any show of ob j e c t i v i t y .
One feature of the l i f e of contemporary i n d u s t r i a l s o c i e t i e s ,
however, which has evoked some unanimity i s the apparent f a i l u r e of
affluence to create the conditions necessary for a general state of
well-being. The almost obsessional concern at the present time with
the subject of mental i l l n e s s and mental health may not s i g n i f y any
objective increase i n the rates of psychiatric disorders, but i t
does seem to suggest a widely diffused sense of the d i f f i c u l t i e s of
achieving a l a s t i n g condition of personal contentment and s a t i s f a c t i o n .
Such d i f f i c u l t i e s w i l l undoubtedly have many diff e r e n t sources. But
one of them i s almost cer t a i n l y to be found i n the paucity of the
sa t i s f a c t i o n the average worker receives from his job. The imperson
a l i t y of most systems of i n d u s t r i a l organization i s calculated to
preclude either the sense of being a valued member of a purposeful
enterprise or the sustaining pleasures of an i n s t i t u t i o n a l atmosphere
of s o c i a b i l i t y . Most people are consequently forced to look f o r these
satisfactions e n t i r e l y i n the private sphere, and p a r t i c u l a r l y , of
course, i n t h e i r family l i v e s — often with disastrous r e s u l t s f o r
those very relationships upon which they have come so exclusively to
depend. One may wonder what species of dogma i t i s that binds us
to the view that the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s for accommodation of these
tensions l i e wholly, or even mainly, with the worker: that i t i s up
to him to "adjust" to the job. The r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s are mutual, and
we must not be put off from saying so for fear of being accused of
sentimentality. There i s a large and open question as to how
i n d u s t r i a l organization can be adapted to the demands of human
I. 22
personality, and i t i s no les s v a l i d than the question as to how
human personality can he subordinated to the requirements of indust
r i a l organization. Fortunately, the legitimacy of th i s question i s
being acknowledged i n widening c i r c l e s throughout our i n d u s t r i a l
system.
Personnel Management as the Professional Dimension of Industrial Welfare
A number of professions and sundry people without a formal
professional a f f i l i a t i o n , are to be found i n i n d u s t r i a l l i f e today
that a l l share some kind of concern with improvement of the conditions,
s o c i a l and physical, of work. Personnel Management i s probably the
most prominent of these groups. 1
In 1963 the Institute of Personnel Management of Great B r i t a i n issued a statement defining the scope and aims of Personnel Management embracing a l l aspects of i n d u s t r i a l welfare, which runs as follows:
Personnel management i s a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of a l l those who manage people as well as being a description of the work of those who are employed as s p e c i a l i s t s . I t i s that part of the management which i s concerned with people at work and with t h e i r relationships within an enterprise. It applies not only to industry and commerce but to a l l f i e l d s of employment.
Personnel management aims to achieve both e f f i c i e n c y and j u s t i c e , neither of which can be pursued successfully without the other. It seeks to bring together and develop into an effective organization the men and women who make up an enterprise, enabling each to make his own best contribution to i t s success both as an individual and as a member of a working group. It seeks to provide f a i r terms and conditions of employment and s a t i s f y i n g work for those employed.
"Statement on Personnel Management and Personnel P o l i c i e s " i n Personnel Management, Journal of the Institute of Personnel Management, Vol. No. 363, March 1963, London, p. 11.
I. 23
Personnel management has been defined as that part of the
management function which i s primarily concerned with the human
relationships within an organization, and which has as i t s objective
the maintenance of those relationships on the basis which by
systematic reference to the well-being of the individuals involved,
enables a l l engaged i n the undertaking to make th e i r best personal
contribution to i t s work. It i s concerned with methods of r e c r u i t
ment, selection, t r a i n i n g and education and the proper employment
of personnel; subsequently with terms of employment, methods and
standards of remuneration, working conditions, amenities and employee
services; and beyond t h i s with the maintenance and eff e c t i v e use
of f a c i l i t i e s for j o i n t consultation between employers and employees
and between t h e i r representatives and the establishment of recognized
procedures for the settlement of disputes. 1
Although the job of the personnel manager could scarcely be
called an ancient one, and although i t s composition as a job varies
greatly from one setting to another, one could f a i r l y say that a
v e r s a t i l e ooncern for the health and welfare of the in d i v i d u a l
worker i s now an established and e x p l i c i t part of most current
conceptions of the job. Moreover, the personnel manager i s
generally well placed to detect the early signs of maladjustment
i n the work situation, so that given the appropriate t r a i n i n g and
resources, he could often deal with these before they became
exacerbated.
Hunter, Guy. The Role of the Personnel O f f i c e r , A Group Review, Institute of Personnel Management, Management House, London, 1957.
I. 24
Nor i s t h i s part of his job l i k e l y to become obsolete. It
i s evident that the immediate future w i l l bring a marked increase
i n i n d u s t r i a l problems having repercussions for s o c i a l agencies.
The accelerating pace of automation and the consequent releasing or
ret r a i n i n g of workers, early retirement of workers, the entry of
large numbers of young untrained workers to the labour market,
the increase of l e i s u r e time, d i s a b i l i t y from chronic disease;
these are but a few of the problems that the personnel manager should
be q u a l i f i e d by t r a i n i n g and experience to deal with or help deal
with when they arise. He should be able to advise senior l e v e l s
of management on the best way of dealing with current problems, and
to a l e r t them to the importance of looking ahead to future problems
involving personnel.
These are not f a n c i f u l or speculative suggestions, for they are
consistent with much that i s being done already. It i s widely recog
nized, for example, that management has a clear and confessed need
for guidance i n developing e f f e c t i v e retirement programs i n order
to have t h e i r employees make a satisfactory adjustment to r e t i r e
ment.1 Again, personnel managers have frequently been urged i n
recent years to combat the waste of s k i l l and talent which arises from
the reluctance of employers to hire former mental patients — a
prejudice that, as the program described i n a recent a r t i c l e demon-2
strates has l i t t l e or no basis i n fact. There i s growing evidence,
1 Industry's Interest i n the Older Worker and the Retired Employee: Proceedings of a conference, I960, Industrial Relations Section, C a l i f o r n i a Institute of Technology, Pasadena, C a l i f o r n i a . p
Teplow, Josef E. and Reuben J. Margolin, "The Former Mental Patient: An Untapped Labour Source?" Personnel, Vol. 38, No. 1. Jan.-Feb.1961.
I. 25
too, that the very processes of management, and personnel
management i n particu l a r , are being ar t i c u l a t e d i n terms which
bear the imprint of concepts developed and made fam i l i a r i n the
work of the mental hygiene movement.1 In some cases, indeed, the
very core of the personnel manager's job has been defined as an
a c t i v i t y aimed at developing the human relations s k i l l s of other p
spheres of management. Attention has been drawn to the respon
s i b i l i t y the personnel manager bears, especially i n his capacity
as counsellor, to help an employee solve these problems which are
not job problems but which a f f e c t his job e f f i c i e n c y . These are
only a few of the signs of the increasingly e x p l i c i t orientation
of personnel management to the welfare and mental health i m p l i
cations of a man's experience of and performance i n his job.
P r o f i t a b i l i t y as a Pr i n c i p l e of Limitation i n Industrial Welfare
Industry, however, i s f i r s t and foremost an economic a c t i v i t y ,
and personnel management as such exists only within the framework
of industry. I t must therefore be concerned along with every other
branch of management, with the economic v i a b i l i t y of the firm.
There may be an apparent or, indeed, a r e a l clash at certain
times between the requirements of business enterprise and the
desiderata of employee welfare. In such cases, the personnel
"hEilbirt, Henry, "A Study of Current Counselling Practices i n Industry", Journal of Business, January, 1958. 2
F i l l e y , Alan C., "Human Relations i n the Growing Company", Personnel. Vol. 34, No. 2, September-October, 1957. ^ Meyer, Gladys D., "A Primer f o r Counsellors", Personnel, A p r i l , 1959.
I. 2 6
o f f i c e r might act as an advisor i n a r b i t r a t i o n between the c o n f l i c t i n g
policy alternatives, i n d i c a t i n g the probable consequences of d i f
ferent courses of action f o r employee morale and i n d u s t r i a l r e l a t i o n s ,
and interpreting the significance of these predictions f o r the
decision to be made; but i t i s presumptive that the decision
eventually reached must be referrable to the organization's long-
term economic interests. "In t h i s , he d i f f e r s e s s e n t i a l l y from
the s o c i a l reformer, whose precise business i t i s to put s o c i a l
needs f i r s t and demand that economic needs should accommodate.1,1
The personnel o f f i c e r may f e e l i t h i s "duty to improve the way i n
which i n d u s t r i a l a c t i v i t y i s organized, but i n doing so, he does
not act by higher standards than those of good management.
I f these observations have the effect of making the personnel
o f f i c e r ' s commitment to employee welfare seem half-hearted, or
c y n i c a l l y d e f i c i e n t , as soon as happiness ceases to be productive,
i t must be remembered that on the one hand there would be no firm
to administer welfare schemes i f i t f a i l e d to maintain a healthy
trading p o s i t i o n i n i t s markets, while on the other hand, the
personnel manager has every r i g h t to assume that where his com
petence of r e s p o n s i b i l i t y ends, the competence and r e s p o n s i b i l i t y
of the " f u l l - t i m e " welfare agencies begin.
The Interrogatives of the Present Study
The Personnel manager i s , therefore, a natural l i n k between
1 Hunter, Guy, The Role of the Personnel O f f i c e r , A Group Review, Occasional Papers No. 1 2 , I n s t i t u t e of Personnel Management, Management House, London, p. 9 .
I. 27
industry and s o c i a l welfare. I t i s the purpose of th i s study to
examine the character of that l i n k . An attempt has been made to
answer some of the following questions: In what respects does
the personnel manager's job encompass welfare functions? Is he
q u a l i f i e d by v i r t u e of his tra i n i n g , s k i l l s and knowledge to carry
out these functions? In what ways and with what frequency does
his job expose him to stresses and confront him with the pre
dicament of divided l o y a l t i e s ? Is the t y p i c a l personnel manager
aware of the important function he f u l f i l l s i n contributing to the
welfare of employees? What opinions does he have about the
problems of s o c i a l welfare considered i n their general aspects?
Is he aware of community resources and does he use them f o r
refe r r a l s ?
With these questions i n mind, we set out to examine the
range, scope and character of the personnel manager's job and
i t s r e l a t i o n to the f i e l d of s o c i a l welfare.
CHAPTER II
THE ROLE OP PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT IN INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
The Evolution of Personnel Management
When the Ashtons of Hyde, s t i r r e d perhaps hy some remini
scence of feudal patronage, exhibited certain marks of so l i c i t u d e
for the employees of th e i r factory i n Cheshire, when Robert Owen
made the 1700 workers i n his New Lanark m i l l s the object of his
Utopian paternalism, when Boulton and Watt set up sick clubs,
schools and dispensaries i n t h e i r respective f a c t o r i e s i n Soho
and Birmingham, they were inaugurating an approach to the world
of i n d u s t r i a l and commercial enterprise which has become as well
established i n our day as i t was eccentric and rare i n t h e i r s .
What they were doing, f o r t h e i r diverse reasons and i n th e i r
d i f f e r e n t ways, now constitutes the f i e l d of i n d u s t r i a l welfare,
which i s almost as in t e g r a l a part of the tasks of management i n
the mid-twentieth century as playgrounds are a part of our schools.
Nobody needs to be told how long and discontinuous a l i n e
stretches from these primitive and extraordinary experiments i n
benevolence to the elaborate and widespread schemes found today.
This i s not the place for a detailed reconstruction of the fami
l i a r horrors of the Industrial Revolution, the enactment of fac
tory l e g i s l a t i o n , the growth of the organized labour movement
and the other i n s t i t u t i o n a l transformations which eventually l e d
I I . 2
to the pattern of i n d u s t r i a l relations p r e v a i l i n g i n the western
nations at the present time. It i s s u f f i c i e n t i f t h i s sequence
of events be perceived as h i s t o r i c a l back-drop to the questions
with which we s h a l l be c h i e f l y concerned i n t h i s Chapter; and i n
par t i c u l a r , that t h e i r significance f o r the evolution of the job
of the personnel manager be t a c i t l y understood.
To assign a point of o r i g i n to any complex s o c i a l phenomenon
i s always, i n some degree, an arb i t r a r y act. But f o r our li m i t e d
and p r a c t i c a l purposes i t w i l l be convenient to date our record
from the year 1913 when the Institute of Industrial Welfare
Workers was formed i n B r i t a i n . This body was brought into being
upon the i n i t i a t i v e of a group of employers — themselves repre
sentative of a strengthening current of s o c i a l and economic
thought — who repudiated the t r a d i t i o n a l view of the worker as
a tiresomely'recalcitrant but regrettably necessary feature of
the processes of trade, and affirmed instead the claims of the
employee as a human being. Shortly a f t e r i t s foundation, the
Institute and i t s p r i n c i p l e s received support from an adventitious
quarter when the unprecedentedly acute concern with i n d u s t r i a l
e f f i c i e n c y (especially i n munitions work) prompted by the F i r s t
World War resulted i n a rash of new programs f o r the health and
welfare of factory workers. The return of peace, however, and
what was known at the time as "normalcy" was accompanied by a
d i s t i n c t slackening of zeal f o r the welfare of the i n d u s t r i a l
workers; and many health and welfare schemes which had been i
inspired either by the Institute or the necessities of warfare
I I . 3
were l a i d aside as being not required i n the prosperity of the
1920's and not supportable i n the destitution of the 1930's. But
not a l l the ground gained i n e a r l i e r years was l o s t during t h i s
period; and the even more thorough-going mobilization of the
labour force that took place i n the Second World War, followed
i n turn by the demand f o r increased productivity occasioned by
Bri t a i n ' s post-war trading d i f f i c u l t i e s , a l l served to give fresh
impetus to the development of i n d u s t r i a l welfare programs and to
enlargement of the scope of personnel management. Training
courses f o r those entering the f i e l d were established at a number
of u n i v e r s i t i e s and technical colleges. A watershed had obviously
been reached when the Institute of 1913 changed i t s name to the
Professional Institute of Personnel Management. This organiza
t i o n i s o f f i c i a l l y recognized by the B r i t i s h Institute of Manage
ment, and i n les s formal ways, by B r i t i s h industry i n general.
In one sense of the word, (though not, as we s h a l l see, i n the
other) i n d u s t r i a l welfare and personnel management have ceased
to be controversial.
It i s no doubt a fact of considerable c u l t u r a l significance
that personnel management i n the United States begins, around
1910 with P.W. Taylor's evangelical celebration of the idea of
" s c i e n t i f i c management", with i t s now almost notorious proposals
f o r the application of s c i e n t i f i c , efficiency-oriented methods
i n management's dealings with employees. Certain kinds of ideas
t r a v e l with great speed i n North America, and by 1914 a number
of companies, under the banner of Taylorism, had already placed
I I . 4
the tasks of the e f f i c i e n t use of s t a f f resources under the
di r e c t i o n of one executive — a man sometimes known as the
"personnel manager".
Meanwhile, (whether i n p a r a l l e l or opposing l i n e s one i s
hard put to say) the trade union movement was becoming a force
to be reckoned with; and the reckoning had much to do with i n
d u s t r i a l welfare and personnel management. By the 1930*s, per
sonnel administration had i n fact become firmly established as
an essential function of i n d u s t r i a l organization.
The New Deal gave further impetus to these trends i n both
i d e o l o g i c a l and regulatory terms, l e g i s l a t i o n l i k e the Unem
ployment Insurance Laws and the Soc i a l Security Act gave statu
tory form to the notion that the worker's economic security was,
i n certain p a r t i a l but d e f i n i t e ways (as d e f i n i t e as a premium
percentage!), a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of industry. The l o g i c of ad
ministration was almost universally seen to carry the implica
t i o n that the requirements which such laws made of industry
came within the realm of the personnel manager's function.
Lundberg, indeed, suggests that unionism and increased govern
ment intervention i n employer-employee relations had a powerful
influence on management i n the establishment of personnel ad
ministration as an essential pre-requisite of organizational
e f f i c i e n c y . 1 It was a sign of the time when the Taylor Socie
t i e s , o r i g i n a l l y formed f o r the discussion and promulgation of
Lundberg, Craig C , "New Directions f o r Personnel Research", Personnel Journal. November, 1962, Vol. 41, No. 10, p. 498.
I I . 5
Taylor's ideas, were transformed into organizations such as the
American Management Association, which l a t t e r body i s t y p i c a l
i n the importance i t accords to work of personnel managers.
The Range. Scone and Character of the Personnel Manager's Job
Lundberg defines personnel administration as:
... the organization, d i r e c t i o n and control of people i n formal organizations accomplished through superv i s i o n and policy, and as such ( i t t r u l y becomes) the management of manpower resources.
But t h i s d e f i n i t i o n f a i l s to acknowledge the importance of
constructive relationships within organizations, and these are
essential i f the people involved are to be united i n the e f f o r t
of reaching a commonly accepted goal. Appley has drawn atten
t i o n to management's consistent neglect of t h i s aspect of human
relationships:
... i t has f a i l e d i n the development of constructive relationships between manager and manager, worker and worker, and manager and worker.
Insofar as personnel management i s concerned with the crea
t i v e use of the entire range of human resources available to an
i n d u s t r i a l enterprise, t h i s i s a weighty accusation. A d e f i n i
t i o n which seems less l i a b l e to such charges of managerial forma
lism runs as follows:
Personnel administration i s a code of the ways of
^Lundberg, Craig C , "New Directions f o r Personnel Research", Personnel Journal. November, 1962, Vol. 41, No. 10, p. 498. p Appley, Lawrence A., "The War i s Over, Personnel, May, June
1963, Vol. 40, No. 3, p. 17.
I I . 6
organizing and treating individuals at work so that they w i l l each get the greatest possible r e a l i z a t i o n of t h e i r i n t r i n s i c a b i l i t i e s , thus attaining maximum e f f i c i e n c y f o r themselves and t h e i r group, and thereby giving to the enterprise of which they are a part i t s determining comp e t i t i v e advantage and i t s optimum r e s u l t s .
In most instances, the personnel manager i s d i r e c t l y respon
s i b l e to the Chief Executive. In theory, at least, he has equal
rank with the other s t a f f executives i n handling matters of
general p o l i c y . He i s therefore a representative of management,
not just a l i a i s o n between managers and those who are managed.
He i s the s p e c i a l i s t i n human resources and should be the key
advisor on a l l matters of personnel. As a l l management decisions
have behavioural implications, the personnel manager's function
i s , p o t e n t i a l l y , a very important one indeed.
Some companies have a written statement of p r i n c i p l e s which
has something of the status of a philosophy of personnel prac
t i c e . When a statement of t h i s kind i s available i t provides
the personnel manager with e x p l i c i t c r i t e r i a of relevance and
legitimacy i n the l i g h t of which he can assess the v a l i d i t y of
p a r t i c u l a r decisions and p o l i c i e s . It w i l l also serve as a
means whereby a c t i v i t i e s having implications for personnel p o l i
cies i n di f f e r e n t departments of the organization can be co
ordinated and systematized. An example of such a generalizating
formula — t h i s one being concerned with the provision of bene
f i t s might be:
Pigors, Paul and Charles Myers, Personnel Administration; McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., N.Y., 1956, p. 7.
I I . 7
To give the employee peace of mine or to protect hi s physical well-being to the extent that, i n the long run, the cost of the benefit w i l l be no more than the return the company may reasonably expect to receive.
The personnel manager has a v i t a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y to aid
management i n the formulation of sound personnel p o l i c i e s .
These p o l i c i e s should be f l e x i b l e enough to accommodate varied
and changing circumstances, yet stable enough to serve as limit'
s e tting guides to action. The personnel manager should con
t i n u a l l y assess these p o l i c i e s and should bring i t to manage
ment's attention when they have given evidence of being inade
quate or inappropriate. Moreover, he has a delegated responsi
b i l i t y to interpret personnel p o l i c i e s to the l i n e supervisors,
who i n turn should interpret these p o l i c i e s c o r r e c t l y to t h e i r
l i n e workers. One student of the subject writes:
Major personnel p o l i c i e s comprise that body of pr i n c i p l e s and rules of conduct with which i t governs the enterprise i n i t s relationships with i t s employees. Being a v i t a l part of the major business policy formulated to guide the enterprise i n attaining i t s objectives, the personnel p o l i c i e s naturally must conform to the broad structural relationships governing the organization as a whole.
In most companies, personnel management assumes the or
ganized form of a "function", a c o l l e c t i o n of o f f i c i a l duties
f o r which the personnel manager i s responsible. The range of
a c t i v i t i e s that may be contained i n the work of a personnel
Schleh, Edward 0., "Personnel P o l i c y " . Personnel. May, 1954, Vol. 30, No. 6, p. 453. p Scott, Walter D i l l , Robert C. Clothier and Wm. R. Spriegel,
Personnel Management. McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., New York, 1954, p. 40.
I I . 8
department i s as extensive as the range of human relations
within the organization. The personnel program — planned,
co-ordinated, and controlled hy the personnel manager — com
monly comprises such a c t i v i t i e s as the formulation and d i r e c t i o n
of a t r a i n i n g and education program, employment, wages and hours,
safety, health, economic security, employee relations, employee
service a c t i v i t i e s and research and s t a t i s t i c s . Each d i v i s i o n
i s usually broken down i n turn into i t s constituent parts. For
example, Scott, Clothier and Spriegel, i n discussing the problem
of providing economic security, (or as they c a l l i t , " f i n a n c i a l
aids to employees") itemize f i f t e e n component considerations.
These include: mutual saving programs, profit-sharing programs,
pension plans, unemployment insurance, group l i f e insurance,
group h o s p i t a l i z a t i o n , and certain annual wage guarantees. 1
A summary chart i l l u s t r a t i n g the way i n which a personnel
program may be c l a s s i f i e d and analysed i s contained i n Figure 2.
Examination of a number of such charts reveals wide v a r i a t i o n
both i n the administrative categories used and i n the program
matic content of each category. For example, some companies do
not mention counselling as a personnel function, although i t i s
included i n the chart comprising Figure 2 under the heading of
"Benefits". The categories used and t h e i r significance f o r a
given personnel program w i l l evidently vary according to the
-"•Scott, Walter D i l l , Robert C. Clothier and Wm. R. Spriegel, Personnel Management, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., New York, 1954, p. 40.
I I . 9
structure and purpose of the organization and the orientations
of the managerial group.
A l l these a c t i v i t i e s are designed to procure, u t i l i z e and
maintain e f f i c i e n t workers. The personnel manager seeks to co
ordinate and d i r e c t t h i s combined program using a complex pro
cess of intra-organizational communication. It i s a matter of
the highest p r i o r i t y for a personnel manager that channels of
communication remain f l u i d throughout the organization, f o r
these are the means whereby he maintains a state of informed
awareness of the effects of personnel p o l i c i e s and the guide
he refers to i n changing e x i s t i n g p o l i c i e s or introducing new
ones. At the same time i t has to be remembered that everything
he does should be referable to and consistent with the general
p o l i c i e s of the firm.
It had often been said the ultimate canon of value f o r what
the personnel manager does l i e s i n the contribution he makes to
the promotion of "teamwork1*. A watchful attention to t h i s
matter, as a c r i t i c a l index of organizational s t a b i l i t y and
morale, i s claimed by Pigors and Myers to be one of the p r i n
c i p a l functions of the personnel administrator. The equilibrium-
maintaining role of the personnel manager i s c l e a r l y to the fore
i n the following quotation from t h e i r widely-used text.
The personnel administrator i s the exponent of the personnel point of view i n policy formulation and administration as well as handling special personnel problems. He i s expected to keep his finger on the pulse of the organization - to diagnose i t s s t a b i l i t y and morale - and to help develop sound personnel
I I . 10
procedures and services designed to.,maintain, high morale and correct poor conditions.
The Heterogeneous and Unsettled Character of the Personnel Manager's Job
Even a cursory examination of the l i t e r a t u r e of personnel
management w i l l make i t clear that there i s an enormous variety
of opinion as to what the personnel manager actually does. This
d e f i n i t i o n a l equivocation i s also revealingly i l l u s t r a t e d i n the
d i v e r s i t y of t i t l e s ascribed to those who are actually involved
i n dealing with the "human resources" of industry. J . J . Evans
draws attention to t h i s i n an analysis of the o f f i c i a l designa
tions of the registrants at a representative series of con
ferences on personnel problems. Altogether, the number of job
t i t l e s held by the conferees was thirty-one. These included
"Employee Relations Representative", "Personnel Manager",
"Director of Employee Services","Vice-President i n Charge of In
d u s t r i a l Relations", and others even more exotic. Evans com
ments parenthetically that — apart from everything else - none
of the t i t l e s does much to indicate what the job i t refers to 2
actually consists of.
A s i m i l a r point i s made i n a study of the participants at
a Mid-Winter Personnel Conference of the American Management
Association. Pour hundred and f i f t y out of 1800 members of the "^Pigors, Paul and Charles Myers, op_. c i t . , p. 28. p Evans, J.J., A Program for Personnel Administration. McGraw-
H i l l Book Co., Inc., New York, 1945, pp. 16-23.
I I . 11
conference completed a questionnaire designed to e l i c i t certain
career-profile data on personnel men. Again, the variety of
t i t l e s was s t r i k i n g . They included "Vice-Presidents", "Indus
t r i a l Relations Directors", "Public Relations", "Employment
Managers", and "Wage and Salary Administrators".
Facts such as these are paralle l e d by many other signs of
the confusion which surrounds the nature and composition of the
personnel man's job. Donald E. Lundberg, addressing himself
p a r t i c u l a r l y to the problems of nomenclature but alluding at
the same time to other elements of uncertainty i n the f i e l d , has
said:
Perhaps we can do l i t t l e but recognize the overlapping and c o n f l i c t s i n terms u n t i l the entire f i e l d of personnel - or s h a l l we say i n d u s t r i a l relations - outlines i t s e l f i n growth and development.
A statement such as thi s leaves l i t t l e doubt that personnel men
themselves also recognize the unsettled character of t h e i r role
i n industry.
The scope of the personnel manager's a c t i v i t i e s vary, i n
the f i r s t place, according to the nature of the industry. No
standardized plan appears to be i n use even by groups of agencies
or organizations, much less by a l l companies. The administra
tive l o g i c of the personnel manager's status and responsibi
l i t i e s i s s i m i l a r l y wanting i n a r t i c u l a t i o n . There appears to
be no general agreement as to the exact meaning of the term
"personnel manager". To some he i s a person who interviews
Lundberg, Donald E., "Why c a l l i t Industrial Relations?", Personnel Journal. May 1948, Vol. 27, p. 21.
I I . 12
prospective employees, to others a labour relations o f f i c e r .
Some think of him as l i t t l e more than a record keeper, while
others see him as a key figure i n the formulation of company
po l i c y .
Craig C. Lundberg i s a p a r t i c u l a r l y f o r c e f u l c r i t i c of the
nebulousness of personnel administration, arguing that the lack
of a basic and uniform terminology and the poverty of good re
search both show that the f i e l d has so f a r f a i l e d to rationa
l i z e and integrate i t s p r a c t i c e . 1 Without i n t e l l i g i b l e pur
poses, clear working goals or systematic theory, the f i e l d i s
capable of doing l i t t l e to improve our understanding of the
problems i t i s supposed to deal with. The l i t e r a t u r e i n the
f i e l d of personnel management i s said to consist mainly of
speculations as to why personnel work exists, random accounts
of how i t i s being done, and rule of thumb suggestions of how
i t should be done; but there i s l i t t l e or nothing i n the
l i t e r a t u r e with the proper credentials f o r the t i t l e of "science".
In these circumstances, the d i f f i c u l t i e s associated with d e f i n i
t i o n of the personnel manager's job are cause and effect at one 2
and the same time.
There i s a strong p o s s i b i l i t y that some of these problems
are the r e s u l t of c o n f l i c t i n g and ambivalent attitudes to per
sonnel work on the part of both management and labour. The "^Lundberg, Craig C , "New Directions f o r Personnel Research", Personnel Journal. November, 1962, Vo l . 41, No. 10, p. 497. 2 The attentive reader may recognize some s i m i l a r i t i e s with
s o c i a l work i n t h i s disenchanted account of personnel management.
I I . 13
personnel "function" has had a mottled and somewhat impure
histo r y . There have been times, i t must be said, when "the
r a t i o n a l use of human resources" meant more work fo r the same
pay; others, when welfare schemes were introduced as the en
teri n g wedge f o r an oppressive paternalism. Many employers
s t i l l look upon i n d u s t r i a l welfare as an i l l - j u d g e d concession
to the greed of the workers, and many union o f f i c i a l s view i t
as a poor substitute f o r better wages. Some firms retain a
personnel manager i n deference to what they secretly regard
as nothing more than a fashion. It i s small wonder i f the per
sonnel manager, who i s at the point of intersection of these
currents of suspicion and controversy, should have d i f f i c u l t y
i n achieving a coherent and viable role i n i n d u s t r i a l l i f e . As
the answers to an item on "sources of d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n " i n the
questionnaire mentioned e a r l i e r made clear, a primary concern
of personnel managers i s with the lack of consistent support
from the senior ranks of management. As one i n d u s t r i a l r e l a
tions man stated:
There i s a standard lack of status, except when i n the c r i t i c a l function of 'ba i l i n g out' some other management element. Badge of o f f i c e should be a bucket.
Many personnel men recorded i n the same questionnaire that
i t was common for parts of t h e i r jobs to be usurped by c o l
leagues, such as l i n e supervisors, who took i t upon themselves
to do such things as h i r i n g , f i r i n g and wage-setting. They
Lynch, Edith. "The.ri.Personnel Man and His Job", Personnel. May, 1956, Vol. 32, l o . 6, p. 489.
I I . 14
complained too that many other people i n t h e i r organizations
i n s i s t e d on regarding themselves as personnel experts, refusing
or f a i l i n g to respect either the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s or the com
petences that were d i s t i n c t i v e to the personnel manager.
The ambiguity of the personnel manager's role at the theo
r e t i c a l or programmatic l e v e l i s matched by the miscellaneous-
ness of the tasks comprised i n his job at the p r a c t i c a l and day
to day l e v e l . One recently published study of t h i s aspect of
personnel management l i s t e d areas of r e s p o n s i b i l i t y as diverse
as employment, medical supplies, communications, incentive pro
grammes, books and magazines, recreation, vending machines,
house organ, c a f e t e r i a and public address system! It would tax
the understanding of the best brains to discover a unifying pro
fe s s i o n a l purpose i n a series of a c t i v i t i e s as apparently random
as that. Moreover, the problem i s not made any simpler by the
fact that i n many companies, jobs l i k e these are performed by
people with quite d i f f e r e n t t i t l e s and designations. 1 (For
example, they may be part of the subsidiary r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of
the Office Manager or Chief Executive). The irony of t h i s s i t u a
t i o n i s not only that i t reveals a deplorably improvisatory state
of a f f a i r s but also that i t e f f e c t i v e l y serves to prevent the
creation of one that i s not. It i s hard to see how the per
sonnel manager can be expected to f i n d either the time or the
energy to formulate a meaningful role f o r himself i n the organi
zation when both time and energy are being dissipated i n an
Report "What the Personnel Man Does". Personnel Journal. March, 1963, Vol. 42, No.'3, p. 145.
,11. 15
endless round of errand-running.
The reasons f o r the problems under discussion are both
numerous and varied. At times the blame appears to l i e with
management and at others with the personnel man himself.
Management a l l too often f a i l s to define either the content of
the job or the position i t should occupy i n the firm's admini
st r a t i v e structure. As a re s u l t , the personnel manager w i l l
often f i n d himself working i n a situation of what might be
termed administrative anomie. Quite apart from the f r u s t r a
tions to which such a si t u a t i o n w i l l subject the personnel man
himself, i t has the further gross defect of f a i l i n g to y i e l d
clear performance c r i t e r i a to which the personnel manager can
be held accountable.
It w i l l frequently transpire that the personnel manager
has arrived at his job step by step from some other position
within the organization, and thi s i n turn w i l l mean that he i s
unli k e l y to have had formal training f o r the job. In t h i s re
spect he w i l l d i f f e r from the executives of most other depart
ments, who w i l l usually have undergone either some kind of
formal t r a i n i n g or a prolonged "apprenticeship" of some sort.
It i s also quite common for a person from another f i e l d such
as law, s o c i a l work, or public relations to secure the position
of personnel manager.
Personnel men themselves sometimes seem to expect t h e i r
mere word to be a s u f f i c i e n t warrant f o r t h e i r policy recom
mendations, since the standards of "adequate evidence" i n t h e i r
I I . 16
f i e l d are so poorly developed. The c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y specu
l a t i v e nature of the personnel manager's claims i s i n marked
contrast to the ruthlessly objective and sharply precise judg
ments of his colleagues i n ( s h a l l we say) the accounting de
partment; and f o r that matter, bear a generally anomalous
relationship to the f l i n t y decision-making processes that are
customary i n business l i f e . However, the job does involve
many intangible elements, and the personnel man i s undoubtedly
dealing with those variables i n i n d u s t r i a l administration that
are the least amenable to simple measurement and simple manipu
l a t i o n . Perhaps i t i s only f a i r to say that the personnel
manager i s i n some ways a scapegoat, carrying on his back the
sins of ignorance and stupidity about human relationships that
belong properly to our entire system of economic rationalism.
Training Programs f o r Personnel Management
The data collected i n the course of this study on the sub
ject of the t r a i n i n g of personnel managers are not, of course,
claimed to be exhaustive. Nevertheless, they are probably rep
resentative enough to permit the summary judgment that, i n t h i s
matter also, the predominant impression i s one of pronounced
unevenness of development and widespread improvisation.
In many cases we found that the personnel manager i n a small
company would be a comptroller, accountant, or even the manager
or owner himself, performing the personnel function as a side
l i n e to his other various duties. In other, larger companies,
I I . 17
the personnel manager was often someone who had r i s e n through
the ranks of the business, although i t was common f o r such
people to have taken courses i n i n d u s t r i a l r elations and a l l i e d
subjects. (With t h i s exception, however, they seemed to have a
wide variety of educational backgrounds). The American and
Canadian companies evidently used the American Management Asso
c i a t i o n extensively as a consultative and educational resource.
Many u n i v e r s i t i e s , both i n Canada and the United States,
o f f e r short courses and seminars i n personnel administration
and labor relations which large numbers of men engaged i n per
sonnel work attend. 1 The Department of University Extension
and Adult Education at the University of Manitoba offers a
Three Year C e r t i f i c a t e Course (the lectures being given on
Saturdays) f o r those interested i n personnel and related work.
University entrance standards, or the equivalent i n p r a c t i c a l
experience, are required f o r admittance to the course. The
courses offered include: The Canadian Economy, Industrial
Psychology and Sociology, labor Economics, Personnel Administra
t i o n , Labor Relations, Administrative Practices, and Organiza
ti o n Theory. The University of Alberta Banff Centre f o r Con
tinuing Education offers an annual course i n Personnel Manage
ment i n cooperation with the Western Canadian Personnel
""•From the many l e t t e r s which were sent to u n i v e r s i t i e s , personnel associations and management associations, i t was learned that there are very few educational programs — i f any — s p e c i f i c a l l y directed to the t r a i n i n g of personnel managers i n Canada or the United States.
I I . 18
Associations. This course i s available to individuals with
considerable experience i n personnel work or i n general manage
ment. The course l a s t s for ten days and includes lectures on
Human Relations, Labor Relations, Administrative Practices,
Management Theory, and Economics.''"
The Institute of Personnel Management i n Great B r i t a i n co
operates with a number of u n i v e r s i t i e s and technical colleges
i n providing courses of t r a i n i n g for a career i n personnel
management. These courses are of two kinds: those giving
exemption from the Institute's own examination, and those pre
paring students f o r that examination. In the former instance,
year-long f u l l time courses are held at B r i s t o l College of
Technology, Ca r d i f f University, The Royal College of Science
and Technology of Glasgow, The London School of Economics, The
Manchester College of Technology, Queens College i n Dundee,
Liverpool University, and Oxford University. The h s t two
courses are at graduate l e v e l .
These courses are of university standard and combine
the o r e t i c a l with p r a c t i c a l work. They include a minimum of two
month's p r a c t i c a l experience i n personnel departments which may
be arranged by the Institute or by the college concerned. Those
e l i g i b l e to apply are university graduates, people nominated by
th e i r employers to take the course (the minimum age being
"'"These programs of the Univ e r s i t i e s of Manitoba and Alberta are described for t h e i r representative rather than t h e i r paragonl i k e character. There are many such programs scattered through the u n i v e r s i t i e s of North America.
J 1 - !9
twenty-four), or those with experience i n industry or commerce
who wish to take the course on t h e i r own i n i t i a t i v e . There are
also Part-Time Day Release Courses given at various colleges on
one day and one evening a week over a period of two years. The
courses are attended hy those who are already employed i n the
personnel f i e l d and who have been nominated by t h e i r firms to
participate i n them.
The courses which prepare a candidate f o r the Institute's
examination are somewhat d i f f e r e n t . One-year f u l l time courses
are held at Hendon College of Technology, (on the outskirts of
London), and Slough College. Day Release Courses are held at
various colleges throughout the country. The examination i s
designed to test basic knowledge of personnel management, and
the standard approximates that of a university degree. There
are two parts. Successful completion of Part 1 leads to Gra
duate Membership, and completion of Part 11 to Associate Mem
bership. Candidates may prepare on t h e i r own by corresponding
or by attending technical college classes. The examination f o r
Part 1 covers Business Economics, Business Administration, In
d u s t r i a l Relations (inclusive of i t s l e g a l aspects), and Per
sonnel Management. The examination f o r Part 11 requires a
supervised project, an o r a l examination, and one paper i n Per
sonnel Management. In these ways the Institute cooperates with
u n i v e r s i t i e s and other educational authorities to ensure a high
and reasonably uniform standard of q u a l i f i c a t i o n and t r a i n i n g
among personnel o f f i c e r s i n Great B r i t a i n .
I I . 20
A somewhat unusual educational project, which i s neverthe
les s of great interest f o r the uniquely direct bearing i t has on
the subject of the present study, has been set up i n India,
where i t may be presumed the processes of i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n pro
duce even more numerous and d i f f i c u l t problems than they do i n
our part of the world. In 1942 the University of Calcutta
established a Department of Social Work to conduct a diploma
course i n labor welfare. In 1954 the A l l India Institute of
Social Welfare and Business Management was established at the
University, and the Department of Social Work was merged with
i t . (Subsequently, i n June 1958, the name of the Institute was
changed to the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business
Management). The Institute was to continue to prepare and pre
sent students f o r the Diploma Examination of the Calcutta Uni
v e r s i t y i n labor Welfare and i n Business Management. Indian
labor law requires firms which employ 500 or more people to re
tai n a labor welfare o f f i c e r . Most of the welfare o f f i c e r s are
trained i n the School of Social Work. Their duties are manifold,
and range from the provision of various amenities i n plants to
c o n c i l i a t i n g i n d u s t r i a l disputes and handling worker grievances.
It should be noted, however, that i n d u s t r i a l and s o c i a l condi
tions i n India would i n fact make possible fewer provisions f o r
the welfare of the worker than would conditions i n the advanced
i n d u s t r i a l s o c i e t i e s of Canada, the United States and Great
B r i t a i n . Nevertheless, given the differences i n the base-line,
the Indian experiment i s well worth further study.
I I . 21
It appears that Great B r i t a i n i s the most advanced country
i n the provision i t makes fo r specialized t r a i n i n g courses f o r
personnel managers. Perhaps the fact that i t has more exten
sive welfare services i n general, together with the presence of
a p o l i t i c a l l y potent labour movement, might help to account f o r
the differences. In addition, the influences which led to the
development of the personnel management function had t h e i r be
ginning i n Great B r i t a i n . It would be natural enough i f specia
l i z e d programs f o r the education of the personnel o f f i c e r were
most highly developed i n the country where the job i t s e l f be
came singularized f i r s t .
In 1945 the American Management Association issued a state
ment on what was judged to be a desirable background f o r per
sonnel work. This included the completion of courses d i r e c t l y
related to personnel work (such as psychology, labor l e g i s l a t i o n ,
sociology, and general management); previous business ex
perience i n l i n e and s t a f f positions; a period of apprentice
ship i n a personnel department; and a record of successful or
ganization and development of a personnel program."1"
Recent pronouncements appearing i n the professional journals
suggest that graduate degrees w i l l be an absolute requirement
i n the near future. It appears to be a matter of general agree
ment also that a d i s t i n c t i v e system of t r a i n i n g must be developed
which w i l l p a r a l l e l the t r a i n i n g required f o r executives i n other
"The Qualified Personnel Director". Personnel. November, 1945, Vol. 22, No. 3, p. 141.
I I . 22
branches of management. Action under this head, we might add,
could well have the effect of both defining and legitimating
personnel administration to those other branches of management,
apart from i t s more obvious value i n providing a r a t i o n a l l y con
ceived t r a i n i n g plan f o r intending personnel managers.
The Welfare Characteristics of the Personnel Manager's Job
The personnel manager's job can be said to have three broad
and closely i n t e r - r e l a t e d objectives: the i n d u s t r i a l l y produc
tive u t i l i z a t i o n of human resources; the development of good
working relationships among his firm's employees; and the de
velopment of the s k i l l s and capacities of the in d i v i d u a l em
ployee. A l l three objectives have welfare implications of one
sort or another. In the f i r s t place, there i s an obvious con
nection (though not an i n f a l l i b l y d i r e c t or symmetrical one)
between the wealth of nations and the welfare of nations.
Secondly, "good working relationships" are a major source of
s a t i s f a c t i o n i n themselves i n addition to being an important
variable i n the achievement of the i n d u s t r i a l productivity we
have already spoken of. F i n a l l y , the purposeful c u l t i v a t i o n
of the s k i l l s and capacities of the i n d u s t r i a l worker i s not
only an important instance of sophisticated husbandry, but a
means whereby the worker's own sense of accomplishment can be
fostered.
Many of the a c t i v i t i e s of personnel managers, therefore,
have a welfare character. For example, a l l benefit plans, such
I I . 23
as pension plans, group l i f e insurance plans and health i n
surance schemes, are designed to provide the worker and his
family with protection from some of the hazards of old age
and sickness. Their value l i e s both i n the concrete benefits
they supply and i n t h e i r power to free the mind from enerva
t i n g worries. The part that the personnel manager plays i n
the formulation and administration of such plans c l e a r l y makes
him a c o l l a t e r a l figure i n the maintenance of the country's
system of s o c i a l security.
Personal counselling i s another a c t i v i t y of the personnel
manager which exhibits unmistakable a f f i n i t i e s with welfare work.
Three-quarters of the panelists who comprise the Bureau of
National A f f a i r s Forum reported that they offered personal
counselling to t h e i r employees on a wide range of problems."*"
These problems might concern either job matters or personal
matters. Provisions for a service of t h i s sort i s made nowadays
by almost a l l medium sized and large scale i n d u s t r i a l organiza
tions, and where the provision exists, i t i s nearly always p r i
marily the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of the department of personnel manage
ment. It i s probably unnecessary to s p e l l out the connections
between t h i s service and the welfare of the worker. (If the
connection i s uncertain here, then i t i s also uncertain i n
psychiatry and s o c i a l work).
To continue l i s t i n g examples, however, would be needlessly
"Company Counselling Programs", Personnel. January, February, 1962, Vol. 39, No. 1, p. 77.
I I . 24
painstaking and literal-minded. Reference to the summary ac
count of the personnel manager's duties contained i n Appendix
II i s by i t s e l f s u f f i c i e n t to show that v i r t u a l l y nothing he
does i s without consequence f o r the welfare of the organiza
tion's employees."'"
Reference has already been made, i n an e a r l i e r part of t h i s
study, to the f a c t that i f the personnel manager's concern with
welfare matters i s pervasive i t i s nevertheless not boundless.
A community's o v e r a l l system of welfare services must extend
to many i n s t i t u t i o n a l spheres. The impediments to occupational
mobility to say nothing of the threats to c i v i l l i b e r t i e s as
sociated with corporate paternalism must be seduously avoided.
Not l e a s t , the i n d u s t r i a l organization's primary concern with
the production of marketable goods and services must not be
blunted through being ground down by an excessive and func
t i o n a l l y inappropriate preoccupation with the creation and
maintenance of welfare programs.
To indicate the l i m i t s to i n d u s t r i a l welfare, however, i s
not to deny i t s f e a s i b i l i t y or even to question i t s necessity.
It would not be claimed that, because a school teacher f e l t
obliged to put h i s concern with the mental health of h i s pupils
into abeyance when i t seemed l i k e l y to undermine h i s educational
"Welfare i s an i n t e g r a l part of the personnel function, to be attained through a policy soundly based on human considerations and human values". (Northcutt, C.H., Personnel Management. Prin c i p l e s and Practices. Philosophical Library, Inc., N.Y., 1956, p. 215.
I I . 25
r o l e , he was insincere i n his e a r l i e r expressions of t h i s con
cern or had no genuine grounds f o r acting upon i t i n the f i r s t
place. It i s true, of course, that the relationship between
the educability and the mental health of children i s more
straightforward than the relationship between the well-being
and productivity of factory workers, and i s less l i k e l y ,
moreover, to be the subject of p a i n f u l "either-or" choices.
In addition, i t would be ingenuous to ignore the f a c t that
businessmen w i l l not be as consistently impartial i n the way
they balance the two things as a teacher — or any other public
o f f i c i a l — i s at any rate expected to be. Nevertheless, we
must i n s i s t that observations l i k e these do not so much destroy
our case as specify the r e a l i s t i c terms i n which i t has to be
made •
It must be remembered, also, that the economic systems of
the advanced i n d u s t r i a l nations are not made up of a m u l t i p l i c i t y
of small businesses engaged i n a ferocious struggle to survive
i n a c r u e l l y competitive world. It i s characterized rather by
the prominence of large corporations which are heavily insulated
against the cruder shocks of competition, and which can go a
very long way before they f i n d that the arrangements they have
made for employee welfare are threatening t h e i r health as busi
ness enterprises. Organizations l i k e this can afford to be
both s o l i c i t o u s and sincere. As Tead and Metcalf put i t :
There are companies where the objectives and purposes of operation have already become broadened to include a remarkably f u l l acknowledgment of the p r i o r i t y of
I I . 26
human values. P r o f i t s are regarded as a necessary means of e f f i c i e n c y and a useful operation against periods of business depression. Beyond that the central thought i s on perfecting the organization as a sound instrument of production and public service.
The importance and authentic problems, therefore, seem to
us to be these: to a r t i c u l a t e , i n a degree of d e t a i l hitherto
unavailable, the scope and methodology of welfare i n industry;
to affirm and demonstrate the legitimacy of i t s place therein;
to integrate the measures taken for i t s provision with the
organizational processes of the t y p i c a l business enterprise;
to lay these provisions under the responsible and expert d i r e c t i o n
of a d i s t i n c t and respected branch of management; to r i d the
o f f i c e of the personnel manager of i t s present thoughtless
c l u t t e r of odd jobs; and to develop a program of "professional"
education f o r the personnel manager which w i l l be uniformly good
enough to j u s t i f y managerial and public confidence, though not
so stereotyped as to foreclose the question of what such an
education should consist of. I f those working i n the f i e l d of
personnel management were to do a l l t h i s , the only thing wanting
would be that the members of the other "human rel a t i o n s " pro
fessions should do h a l f as much!.
Tead, Ordway and Henry C. Metcalf. Personnel Administration. McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., N.Y., 1920, p. 17.
Chapter 3.
A POLL OF OPINION AND EXPERIENCE
IN A GROUP OF LOCAL PERSONNEL MANAGERS
Chapter three is concerned with the findings yielded by interviews
with seven personnel managers in the Greater Vancouver area. The aim of the
interviews was to determine the extent to which reasonably representative
personnel managers were engaged in dealing with social welfare programs and
how they viewed their work in this area.
An Operational Definition of Social Welfare
The scope and nature of "social welfare" are notoriously elusive of
definition even in the context and with the advantage of shared professional
understandings and purposesj but even more so when the conversation is between
people who do not have a common idiomatic background. Of the fifty-six
replies to letters sent to personnel associations and training institutions
during the course of this investigation over half requested clarification of
the term "social welfare". It was part of our task, therefore, to formulate
an operational definition of social welfare that would be suitable for
standardized use in a questionnaire or in an interview.
Two approaches were used in producing the operational definition that
was finally adopted. The f i r s t was to consider well-recognized, formal
definitions of the term. Two sources were used for this: Friedlander's
Introduction to Social Welfare ^ and "The Beveridge Report". ^
(1) Friedlander, W. A. Introduction to Social Welfare, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1961
(2) Beveridge, Sir W. Social Insurance and Allied Services Report, New York, The Macmillan Co., 19UH
Priedlander's observations on the subject, i f they do nothing else, at
least serve to confirm the impression of prevailing ambiguity. He frankly
acknowledges that there has been l i t t l e or no success to date in establishing (1)
a generally acceptable protocol of usage for the concept. In his own text,
however, he would appear to have averted the risks of controversy only to court
the opposing risk of a limp generality. His definition runs: "Social Welfare is
the organized system of social services and institutions, designed to aid
individuals and groups to attain satisfying standards of l i f e and health, and
personal and social relationships which permit them to develop their f u l l
capacities and to promote their well-being in harmony with the needs of their (2)
families and the community." This definition i s so abstracted and high-flown
that without further clarification i t is almost meaningless, even to professional
social workers. It is weak in the discriminations that a good definition
should contain, and vague in its implicit rules of application. We, therefore,
took from the Beveridge Report the idea of the five "giants" named as the
enemies of social welfares namely, "Want, Squalor, Ignorance, Illness, and
Idleness". These five conditions served as the starting point of the
operational definition.
The second approach involved an examination of the typical social welfare
services and institutions of North America to determine what needs appeared to
be uppermost in the circumstances of the clients served by those institutions.
From this review, three items were selected for inclusion with the five
outlined by Beveridge. These were (a) the relief of psychological stress,
(b) the solution of problems of personal relationships so serious as to affect
an individual's "social functioning", and (c) the promotion of the general
well being of individuals. The excessive generality of these notions has to
(1) Friedlander, Op. Cit., p. h (2) Friedlander, Op. Cit., p. k
3.3
be recognized, but i t seemed necessary to have something of this sort included
i f the objectives of casework and groupwork (as opposed to concrete welfare
"benefits") were going to be covered. The eight needs were then summarized
as follows:
A. Income protection against unemployment arising from, (1) sickness,
disability, death, (2) old age, (3) lack of suitable work.
B. Health needs for (1) hospitalization and (2) medical services
C. Housing needs
B. Educational needs
E. "Personality problems" expressed in impaired social functioning
and obstructed development of natural capacities.
These eight concerns of social welfare had to be made "operational" so
that the practices of personnel managers could be appraised i n accordance with
the extent to which their work could be said to be addressed to precisely such
problems. The f i r s t operational definition prepared was in the form of a
questionnaire (see Appendix D) which attempted to formulate the eight needs as
the personnel manager might encounter them.
The second operational definition was prepared in the form of an
interview outline. It was decided at this point to omit a number of the problem
areas listed above, either because they did not lend themselves to unambiguous
specification (their boundaries being difficult to l o c a t e o r because
personnel men were usually concerned with them only in unique or extraordinary
situations. (The "housing" item was eliminated for this latter reason).
Finally the following operational definition of "social welfare" was adopted
(l) The concepts employee morale and employee education can be found in almost every action the personnel manager takes on behalf of employees. Similarly a l l actions of the personnel man on behalf of employees can be considered as efforts aimed at the development of employee capacities.
3.k
for the study.
Social welfare measures are comprised in those actions taken under institutionalized auspices to deal with certain well-known contingencies of the l i f e history. These contingencies are (a) loss of income through unemployment, sickness, disability, death or old age; (b) the need for hospitalization and for medical services (c) the occurrence of personal problems that affect a man's ability to do his job and/or to maintain a viable pattern of social relationships.
Certain other considerations that were thought favourable to the choice
of this simplified definition of "social welfare" may be cited: the study was
to be exploratory rather than encyclopaedic; the areas of social welfare not
covered by the definition were chiefly those which seemed least amenable to
scientific analysis and measurement; and i f the personnel managers were not
concerned with the subjects of the definition, then their working relationship
to "social welfare" would be tenuous, and of correspondingly meagre relevance
to this study.
Even at this comparatively unusual level of specification, however, i t
was judged that a continuing uncertainty as to how personnel managers might
interpret the very terms of our definition made i t desirable to abandon the pro
posed questionnaire and to conduct the investigation solely through the means
of interviewing. It is well known that the questionnaire is an effective
instrument of research only when the terms i t employs are substantially free
of ambiguity, requiring l i t t l e or no explication for the informants.
Interview Structure
Interviews lasting an average of 1 to 1-1/2 hours were held with seven
practicing personnel managers employed in a variety of businesses in the
Greater Vancouver area. Each interview was introduced with a short account of
the purpose of the investigation and a recitation of the definition of social
welfare described above. The questions posed in the course of the interview
are given in order, as follows:
3.5
- Do your responsibilities include elements of social welfare? What kinds of employee problems do you deal with that are similar to those that concern social workers?
- Are the social welfare elements of your job an officially accepted part of it? Do your superiors expect you to deal with the social welfare problems that are involved in your work? Are these responsibilities part of a written position description?
- What is the relationship between the social welfare activities of your firm and the overall objectives of your firm to provide goods and/or services efficiently and at a profit?
- Is there any conflict in your job between your social welfare responsibilities*;and your responsibilities to help your firm operate as efficiently as possible?
- Do you need or have you received any special training to carry out your social welfare responsibilities?
- How does the union affect the social welfare activities of yourself and your firm?
- Are there any characteristic opinions amongst your management group about the possible relationships that might exist between government and industry to satisfy the social welfare needs of a l l Canadians?
- How much interest do you show in the private lives of your employees before and after they are employed? Does an employee's private l i f e become a consideration in his employment and promotion?
- Do you feel you are sufficiently aware of the resources of the social welfare agencies in the community, to make referrals for your employees?
The only eligibility criterion used in selecting the interview subjects
was that they be fully occupied in personnel administration positions.^ An
effort was made to secure representation from at least one each of the following
types of firmst large and small local firms; local branches of national firms;
union and non-union firms; blue collar firms and white collar firms.
Results
Probably the most significant single finding.of the interview series was
the discovery that a l l the personnel managers interviewed were concerned, in one
(1) The actual selection process is described in Appendix A.
3.6
way or another, with social welfare problems. These problems were of three
types: (a) income protection, (b) health insurance, (c) personal stresses that
were affecting a man's work performance or for which he was seeking help for
independent reasons. The personnel managers were concerned with these problems
either because the problems f e l l within the terms of company policies or because
of the claims to attention of the individual case. A l l the personnel managers
interviewed were either administering retirement plans or were considering such
plans for initiation at a future date; they a l l administered group medical plans
and sickness pay plans. A l l the firms they worked for, of course, were
involved in statutory sanitary regulations, workmen's compensation, and the
unemployment insurance plan. In each case, the personnel manager was
responsible for the administration of the Workmen's Compensation Plan, though
in several instances a Safety Director had the job of attending to the
technical side of these responsibilitiesffor the Personnel Manager. Every
personnel manager interviewed confessed to being continually faced with the
problem of finding jobs for long service employees who could not carry on at
their regular jobs; many of these employees were disabled and did not have
sufficient insurance and pension protection to permit them to stop working,
or held jobs that were becoming obsolescent.
Financial indebtedness and alcoholism were the two most common personal
problems the personnel managers had to deal with. In a l l cases of personal
problems the personnel manager tried to work through the man's supervisor or
through a fellow worker who had some special and close relationship to the
employee. Two of the managers had medical departments to refer the employee to
for counselling. If these approaches failed, or i f the supervisor or employee
preferred i t , the personnel manager would himself deal directly with the employee,
3.7
generally by talking with him. None of the managers thought of these talks
as "counselling" that used recognized techniques or required formal training.
"In addition to talking to him certain other efforts were made by the firm to
help the employee. These included pay advances, job changes, shift changes,
and retraining.
The social welfare responsibilities they bore were, for a l l the
managers interviewed, of a secondary status. Their primary responsibilities
were concerned with hiring, training, and placing employees, processing the day-
to-day documents that are required by employees (such as time cards, pay checks,
reports to operating management), and attendance at grievance procedure sessions
and collective bargaining sessions. The personnel men a l l indicated, though,
that their social welfare responsibilities were important and even vital to the
success of their organizations. This latter statement is of particular signi
ficance for i t indicates that a l l the firms contacted have a stake in social
welfare measures which they themselves acknowledge. The importance of social
welfare measures to a company was also affirmed by the managers when they
stated "that these measures had a direct influence on the efficiency of their
own firms in the way in which they affected the attitudes of employees.
Moreover, i t would be possible to argue that the acceptance of social welfare
measures as a natural part of their employee-relations policies was shown in
the absence of feelings of role conflict among the personnel managers, despite
the fact that they had simultaneous responsibilities to the profit-making
capacity of the firm and the welfare needs of its employees. But i t should
be said also that conflict fails to arise not only because there is a clear
understanding of the part that welfare schemes can play in industrial
administration but because the very possibility of conflict is precluded by
the unfailing preference that would operate in favour of the organization's
economic interests whenever a choice appeared to exist*
3.8
The compelling features of the social welfare activities of the firms
studied are to be found in the instrumental value of those activities rather
than i n their character of something independently worthwhile. Management
establishes and maintains welfare programs in order to attract, retain, and
positively motivate employees. Since business concerns cannot survive i f
they f a l l below certain critical levels of business-like efficiency, the
tendency of what is done in this field must be to contribute, directly or
indirectly, to the promotion of the goal of efficiency. Thus, in commenting
on why their firms had adopted certain social welfare practices, the personnel
managers referred to the possibility of adverse affects on morale that might
have arisen had the management not taken such action. Again - and for similar
general reasons - their concern for employees was usually directed toward the
long service employee. For example, one personnel manager expressed com
paratively l i t t l e concern for eight men then being laid off, even though a l l
eight men had four or five year's service with the company, a l l were unskilled
and a l l faced a bleak employment future. Tet this manager was greatly con
cerned about an employee with thirty year's service who had been partially
disabled by a heart attack. This concern with long service employees seems to
be in part the result of a policy of rewarding corporate loyalty, in part the
result of the intrusion of "particularistic" sentiments which have no strict
connection with general rules either of profit or of welfare.
Besides personal acquaintance, and the needs of the firm, modal practice
in the same branch of industry appeared to be an important determinant of the
scope and form of a firm's social welfare policies. Two of the managers stated
that their companies" policies were governed by industry practice, even though
in one case this meant being more generous than the firm wanted to be, and in
the second case less generous. One manager had recently turned down a proposal
for a dental health plan because i t was not part of industry practice.
3.9
The Interviews do suggest, however, that within the limits set by the
overall objective of maximum profits, individual firms, both large and small,
can effectively administer social welfare measures of vital importance to their
employees and to the general community. The flexibility the firms exhibited
in dealing with individual cases in which employees were no longer able to
carry on their regular jobs was impressive. One firm had recently taken back
an employee who had gone blind and been trained by the local C.N.I.E. Agency.
Another firm had created a special job for an employee almost totally crippled
by arthritis. A l l the firms either had staff training programs designed to
help employees acquire special knowledge and skills, or encouraged employees
to take training courses on their own time. One firm was reported to have
hired two trained instructors to conduct annual courses which employees could
attend without cost. The skills developed in these courses made i t possible
for some employees in the forest products industry to move from the status of
unskilled worker to that of skilled worker over a period of three years.
Unless their reticence on the subject was due to causes not revealed to
us, the personnel managers had remarkably indefinite opinions about the more
general issues of social welfare. In reply to the question concerning the
respective responsibilities for social welfare measures of government and
private organizations, not one of the personnel managers was able to give an
account either of his own views on the topic or of those held by other
members of his management group.
The personnel managers readily admitted a lack of knowledge of social
welfare resources in the community, the one exception being a manager who had
served actively on two social welfare agency boards. They believed, too, that
i t would be of assistance to them in their jobs i f they were in fact better
informed about such resources, methods of referral to social agencies, and so forth.
3.10
Our informants were unequivocal in their rejection of any suggestion of
intentional paternalism in their firms. ̂ Nor were their firms thought to be
improperly or unduly concerned with the private lives of their employees.
Even in the appointment of middle management personnel or senior executives
there was no scrutinizing of an employee's family or his social habits.
Perhaps the second most significant finding of the interviews is the
manifest importance of the influence that unions and the process of collective
bargaining have on the social welfare measures taken by the firms involved.
Since welfare benefit plans for employees cost the firm money, the management
naturally looks on such expenditures as part of the remuneration of employees,
and accordingly includes welfare benefit plans in its bargaining with the
union about wages. These managements expect the union concerned to reduce
its cents-per-hour demands in proportion to the costs of any benefit plan
being negotiated. Management is usually willing to absorb the administrative
costs of a plan, as well as to absorb a percentage of its costs in substance.
For example, one of the personnel managers recounted how his firm had offered
to establish a disability pension plan for its employees, stipulating that i f
the union would contribute three-cents-per-hour of its normal wage increase,
the firm would match this with three-cents-per-hour and administer the plan
without cost. The union refused the offer because, (so the personnel man
believed), the union is judged by its members and by other unions in terms of
the cents-per-hour pay i t has secured in bargaining, for its members. Welfare (2)
plans apparently do not figure prominently in the prestige appraisals of unions.
(1) This finding appears to confirm the point made earlier that industrial management sees social welfare measures as related to employee productivity. It does not use these measures to satisfy paternalistic inclinations.
(2) "Union positions with respect to the question of bargaining on a cents-per-hour basis versus the level of benefits basis seem to reflect the bargaining environment rather than firm principle." Barbash, J., "The Unions and Negotiated Health and Welfare Plans", New Dimensions in Collective Bargaining, Davey, Kaltenborn, Ruttenberg, Ed. Harper & Bros. i<>3<), p.' 102'
3.31
The union influence is extremely important in company welfare arrange
ments where there is industry-wide bargaining. One of the firms studied was
a very successful, long established, and large business, with approximately
600 employees on its payroll. Yet i t did not have a retirement pension plan.
The personnel manager was convinced his firm would have established a retire
ment pension plan years earlier had i t not been for the industry-wide bargaining
in which his firm participated. Since many of the smaller firms in the industry
were marginal operations, they were opposed to any welfare measures that would
increase their operating costs.
The personnel managers of the two largest unionized firms in the study
indicated a second way in which unions influence the social welfare policies
of companies. In order to find work for disabled employees or for employees
whose jobs are being discontinued, management often has to transfer the
employees concerned to other jobs. Union agreements are continually being
negotiated, however, that limit management's right to transfer employees from
one job to another without f i r s t holding the position open to applications
from employees with seniority claims.
Only one of the firms studied was non-unionized. This particular firm
had the most extensive social welfare policies and services of the seven in
the group. It was the only firm that offered a savings plan and a profit-sharing
plan. The employees were represented by an employee council, the members of
which were chosen on a departmental basis in annual elections. This council
met monthly with local management personnel and i t s members were free to bring
up any subject of concern to the employees they represented. Future studies
of "social welfare and personnel administration" should concern themselves,
inter alia with the seeming advantages of working for a non-union firm. A l l
of the personnel managers felt that the unions in their companies adversely
3.12
affected a management's ability to deal with employee social welfare needs.
The majority agreed, though, that unions had been directly responsible for
many of the benefits now enjoyed by the employees. In one firm that employed
seasonal workers, the management refused to support the union when i t wanted
help in publicizing a special government program dealing with seasonal work,
even though i t was a program of obvious benefit to the employees.
Any future study of "social welfare and personnel administration" should
include as a matter of priority a review of union policies and practices in
the social welfare field. In unionized firms social welfare programs are
often dependent upon, or are vitally affected by, the terras of the joint
agreement that governs the actions of both management and union in almost a l l
phases of employee-employer relations.
Personnel managers see the results of the "major contingencies" dealt
with by social welfare institutions in cases of individual hardship. A l l the
men interviewed had come across dramatic examples of the human misery caused
by sickness, disability, unemployment, old age and the breakdown of personal
self-control. They had a l l seen the effects of automation in their operations
as i t replaced men by machines. One firm employs 300 to UOO employees on a
part-time basis in full-time jobs because these jobs will, over a two to
three year period, be taken over by machines. These experiences cannot help
but make personnel men well disposed to the establishment of permanent, pro
gressive social welfare policies, even though, as managers, their paramount
concern is bound to be with efficiency and profit.
Only two of the personnel men interviewed dealt directly with the
question of the similarities and differences of social work and personnel
administration. The fi r s t personnel manager, whose firm employed over 300
unskilled workers, thought the two types of work were similar. He f e l t that
3.13
the amount of time he spent on his social welfare responsibilities and the
importance of these responsibilities justified his comparing himself to a
social worker. This man felt also that many problems of the current
industrial scene, such as employee training and automation, were becoming
so important that they urgently needed more attention from him.
The second personnel manager felt that his overall goal of helping
the firm achieve maximum efficiency and profits precluded any possibility
of his being a social worker. He had to get the best possible people
into the positions for which they were best suited, and the welfare of the
employee had to be a secondary consideration that could not be allowed to
jeopardize the primary responsibility of his job. He felt that there was
much that a company could do to provide for the employee's welfare, but
asserted that a l l welfare provisions had to be justified in terms of increased
productivity. He felt his "work l i f e would be unbearable" i f he tried
to put employee welfare f i r s t while a l l other department heads put lower
costs f i r s t .
Though a l l of the personnel managers were clear about their
social welfare responsibilities, they were uncertain about the functional
unity of their departments. They found difficulty in giving succinct
expression to the purpose of the personnel department. Two of the
managers described their work as so many "joe" jobs.
The following table summarizes the answers received from the
personnel men who were interviewed for this thesis:
3.U*
Table A. Summary of Interview findings
Answers Given Interview Questions Yes No Undecided
The Personnel manager has social welfare responsibilities 7 -
Social welfare responsibilities are officially part of the personnel manager's job 7
There are conflicts between the social welfare responsibi l i t i e s and the objectives of the firm - 7
The social welfare actions are taken in order to improve employee productivity 7 -
Personnel men require special training for social welfare responsibilities 3 2 2
The personnel men and their companies are only "casually1* interested in the private lives of employees 7
Unions have a vital effect on the social welfare actions of an organization of which they are a part 6 1
The personnel managers are sufficiently informed of community social welfare resources to make referrals for employees 1 6
The personnel managers are sufficiently aware of the major social welfare problems in Canada - 7
The industrial management personnel are aware of the major social welfare problems in Canada - 7 -
3.15
Conclusions
Several important conclusions can be drawn from the interview
findings. Personnel managers have social welfare responsibilities as a
recognized part of their jobs. Many of the needs of their employees that
concern them most are the same kinds of needs that social welfare institutions
are also - i f more centrally - concerned with. These needs are the provision
of income protection, the provision of health services through insurance
plans, the retraining of workers for useful employment, and the provision
of assistance to employees suffering from crippling personality problems.
Personnel managers are in direct contact with the gross manifestations
of several serious social problems; (a) unemployment arising from economic
instabilities, (b) the disabling lack of education and training of many
workers, (c) the displacement of workers by automation, and (d) the problems
caused by sickness, disability, and old age. But personnel managers lack a
"social 1 1 perspective from which to view the human problems they encounter.
Their approach to human problems is what one might call an anecdotal one,
usually prompted by personal acquaintance with the employees in question.
This lack of "social" perspective is common to the majority of the executives
in the industries that were studied. A knowledge of the social welfare
resources of the community is lacking - perhaps seriously lacking - amongst
the personnel managers who were interviewed.
The social welfare work of the personnel managers questioned is
subject to the commitment-of the organization to efficiency and profits,
and in unionized firms, to the constraints implicit in the process of
collective bargaining. The personnel managers, however, experience no conflict
3.16
between the logic of efficiency and profit and their social welfare
responsibilities since, where conflict might develop, the firm's goals
of efficiency and profits are always sovereign. There is, though, a
wide scope for social welfare activities within the limits set by the
entrepreneurial orientation of most organizations, because employee needs
for security have a direct effect on the productivity of employees and
because there is always a distinction to be made between 'Uie service of
profit and the worship of profit. What we have already suggested on the
basis of essentially theoretical considerations is confirmed in our modest
empirically derived data: namely that even though industrial administration
may be governed by the principle of economic success, prudent rulers are
neither advised nor required to be despotic.
CHAPTER IV
CONTRADICTION AND AGREEMENT IH THE FIELDS OP
SOCIAL WELFARE AND PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
The Personnel Manager's Function Incorporates Many of the Values of Social Welfare
During the past forty years or so, there has been a growing
emphasis upon the personnel function i n management. The labour
shortages of the Two World Wars, the increasing attention being
given by management to the welfare of the employees, spurred not
a l i t t l e by the action of the trade unions and many other factors
dealt with more f u l l y elsewhere i n this study, have a l l led to
what we know today as Personnel Administration. With the r e a l i
zation, too, that good management was closely bound up with e f f i c i e n c y
and p r o f i t came many of the welfare services i n industry. There are
many de f i n i t i o n s of Personnel Administration, but the majority of
them stress the notion of c u l t i v a t i n g and encouraging each worker's
special talents and c a p a b i l i t i e s , and thereby making possible high
l e v e l s of personal and corporate e f f i c i e n c y and giving to the
enterprise of which the worker i s a part i t s determining competi
t i v e advantage. 1
A f u l l y rounded personnel service program i s planned to help
i n three areas of the worker's l i f e : on the job, o f f the job but
i n the company, and outside the company i n the community at large.
It includes f a c i l i t i e s for promoting 1. health 2. safety provisions
3. "conveniences", such as rooms for rest and lunch 4. education
or i n non-competitive contexts, i t s special excellences.
IV. 2
and i n f o r m a t i o n 5. a g r e a t e r measure of economic s e c u r i t y ,
through such d e v i c e s as r e t i r e m e n t pensions, v a r i o u s forms of
insurance, c r e d i t unions and p r o f i t s h a r i n g 6. r e c r e a t i o n s (viewed
as the c o n s t r u c t i v e use of l e i s u r e time) 7. c o u n s e l l i n g i n con
n e c t i o n with p e r s o n a l and f a m i l y problems and 8. community i n t e r e s t s .
The scope of personnel management i n c l u d e s the human and
s o c i a l i m p l i c a t i o n s of work and o r g a n i z a t i o n , recruitment and
s e l e c t i o n of employees, and t h e i r t r a i n i n g , promotion and develop
ment. I t i s concerned with the r e l a t i o n s between employers and
employees and o f management wit h trade unions, i n t e r n a l communication
and c o n s u l t a t i o n and the terms and c o n d i t i o n s of employment
( i n c l u d i n g wages and s a l a r i e s as w e l l as the h e a l t h , s a f e t y and
g e n e r a l w e l f a r e of employees). Personnel management, t h e r e f o r e ,
cuts across many o f the r e c o g n i z e d areas of s o c i a l welfare.
The I n f l u e n c e of Trade Unionism on the Personnel F u n c t i o n o f Management
"Management" i s not a homogeneous category and g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s
about i t , a t best, are n e c e s s a r i l y s i m p l i f i c a t i o n s . The emphasis
must be on trends r a t h e r than on absolute p o s i t i o n s a t g i v e n p o i n t s
o f time. A l l o w i n g f o r these q u a l i f i c a t i o n s , however, i t has seemed
c l e a r to us from our examinations of i t s l i t e r a t u r e and from per
sonal i n t e r v i e w s w i t h some r e p r e s e n t a t i v e f i g u r e s i n the f i e l d ,
t h a t personnel management today can be s a i d to r e s t on many of the
same value assumptions which inform the f i e l d o f s o c i a l welfare;
not l e a s t i t s p o s i t i v e view of the c r e a t i v e p o t e n t i a l s of each
human being.
IV. 3
I n c r e a s i n g l y , q u i t e apart from the more f o r m a l i z e d p l a n s of
union-management cooperation and "suggestion" systems, the i d e a
has gained ground t h a t employees may have something to c o n t r i b u t e
to the improvement of the p r o d u c t i v e process, over and above the
performance o f t h e i r s p e c i f i c a l l y assigned t a s k s .
Managerial approaches to employees and unions have changed
from a s o r t of w e l f a r e p a t e r n a l i s m to a d y n a m i c a l l y - o r i e n t e d
concern w i t h communication, p a r t i c i p a t i o n and the acceptance of
u n i o n i s m . 1
I t i s c l e a r t h a t personnel a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , as a b a s i c manage
ment f u n c t i o n , has to be geared to the e x i s t e n c e of unionism.
The most obvious f a c t i s that managements have recognized unions
and are d e a l i n g w i t h them to an extent, as measured e i t h e r by the
numbers o f employees represented by unions or by the s u b s t a n t i v e
matters over which b a r g a i n i n g takes p l a c e , t h a t would have been
undreamed of twenty-five years ago. The growth of trade unionism
has been a most potent f o r c e i n i n f l u e n c i n g management to modify
i t s methods of d e a l i n g with employees. Often these adjustments
have been made grudgingly, sometimes t a k i n g p l a c e only a f t e r s e r i o u s
economic c o n f l i c t ; and t h a t they are by no means u n i v e r s a l today i s
shown by the p e r i o d i c occurence of i n d u s t r i a l b a t t l e s t h a t are
waged wit h old-time f e r o c i t y . Furthermore, i t has been b l u n t l y s a i d
t h a t the change i n management i s o f t e n one of t a c t i c s r a t h e r than
b a s i c philosophy. As a trade u n i o n i s t has put i t :
1 P i g o r s , Paul et a l . Readings i n Personnel A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1959, p. 1. I n t r o d u c t i o n .
IV. 4
Tr a d i t i o n a l l y , a personnel program i s simply one of management's tools for the control and di r e c t i o n of the enterprise. Like the others i t seeks greater e f f i c i e n c y and higher p r o f i t s . Personal values do affect the application of t h i s guide, but the ultimate ends are the same. As a result plant e f f i c i e n c y i s the basic unit for testing conduct. x
It i s obvious that personnel management must seek to accom
modate the goals of both management and the trade union. As
long as we have a private-enterprise economy, these ends must be
s a t i s f i e d through the same mechanisms. And i f our economic system
i s to survive i n an era of strong trade unions, neither union nor
management can operate independently of the other. It i s a
weakness, perhaps, of t h i s study, that we did not investigate the
attitudes of the unions towards personnel management and i t s
welfare functions but our findings made i t clear, even so, that
those attitudes are an i n t e g r a l part of the personnel manager's 2
concerns.
The Projected Tasks of Welfare i n Industry
It was discovered from personal interviews that the personnel
o f f i c e r was involved i n many welfare functions. It i s commendable,
we believe, that many of these services were regarded as a natural
part of the employee's rights and that the t r a d i t i o n a l concept of
1 Barkin, Solomon, "A Trade Unionist Appraises Management Personnel Philosophy," Readings i n Personnel Administration, McGraw-Hill Book Co., p. 2 3 .
2 An e a r l i e r study did explore the attitude of the trade unions to
some aspects of welfare r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i n the community, v i z . Pennington, Edward James and Ian Walker, The Role of Trade Unions i n Social Welfare, Master of Social Work Thesis, University of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1 9 6 2 .
IV. 5
"welfare" as a form of patronage seems to have disappeared. In
fact, when the word "welfare" was used, i n t h i s study, i t was
expressly projected to our informants i n terms of those contingencies
which the s o c i a l worker might deal with, such as loss of income,
unemployment, sickness, d i s a b i l i t y and personal problems.
The personnel manager sees many of these problems i n his d a i l y
work with employees. There are many s i m i l a r i t i e s between his job
and those involved i n s o c i a l welfare. For t h i s reason, perhaps,
those engaged i n so c i a l welfare work have been remiss i n overlooking
the personnel manager as a natural l i n k between industry and
s o c i a l welfare. I f the s o c i a l worker i s not going to take an
appointed place i n industry (and there seems to be l i t t l e evidence
to indicate that he w i l l ) i t i s perhaps an obligation of those
engaged i n welfare work to help the personnel manager deal more
ef f e c t i v e l y with the tasks of detecting and changing the pathogenic
conditions which occur i n industry. In time, perhaps, he could be
persuaded to a more e x p l i c i t concern with preventive rather than
curative treatment and with benefit not only to industry but to
the community i n general.
Limitations Facing the Personnel Manager i n Dealing With Employee 1s Welfare
(a) The Personnel Manager Ide n t i f i e s with Management
The personnel manager, by the very l o g i c of his position, i s
faced with a number of l i m i t a t i o n s which may prevent him from
dealing adequately with the problems of employee welfare. In
the f i r s t place, there i s no doubt that he sees himself as part
IV. 6
of management, and i n doing so, assumes as his foremost concern
the e f f i c i e n t operations of the industry or business he works for.
Thus although i t i s true that i n attaining this objective the
employees' welfare must be a consideration, i t i s a consideration
which places second, not f i r s t . I f the personnel manager betrays
a clumsy "expedience" i n balancing these dual claims upon him,
i t i s unlikely that the workers w i l l think of him as anything
other than a representative of management. Since the worker r e l i e s
on his job as a means of l i v e l i h o o d for himself and for his family,
he i s not l i k e l y to discuss with somebody seen i n t h i s l i g h t any
concerns, personal or otherwise, that might tend to jeopardize
his employment. Several of tie personnel managers interviewed i n
the course of t h i s study i d e n t i f i e d this conceptual dichotomy of
"management" and "labour" as a serious impediment to the job that
they were expected to do. They reported that they would l i k e to
think that employees would approach them whenever necessary; but
they knew that the r e a l i t y of the situation was that the workers
were quite reluctant to do so and f o r the reasons that we have
given.
(b) The Personnel Manager Is Concerned Primarily with His Job Supremacy
As a salaried employee with his own career aspirations, the
personnel manager has an obvious personal investment i n his job.
It would be naive to suppose that the personnel manager i s not
concerned with his own advancement i n the organization. It i s
unlikely, therefore, that the personnel man i s going to engage
IV. 7
i n unremitting advocacy of the claims of the workers i n dealing
with management. He i s , by the same token, unlikel y to he
entirel y objective i n his thinking about alternative methods of
coping with the problems of "organizational behaviour." In
theory, the personnel manager i s supposed to be concerned, d i s
interestedly and impartially, about the well-being of each employee.
In practice, however, his attitudes cannot always be characterized
i n t h i s way. Such comments as, " I f they are not happy people, you
cannot get the work out of them," were common i n the interviews
we conducted; and they would seem to suggest that the concern with
employee welfare l i e s under the poised axe of i t s demonstrated
usefulness to the firm, and that execution would be summary i f
the demonstration f a i l e d .
(c) The Personnel Manager Cannot Be I n f i n i t e l y V ersatile
In theory and i n practice a l i k e , the m u l t i p l i c i t y of the
tasks the personnel manager i s expected to perform i s extreme.
In addition to his regular and assigned tasks, i t was found that
he frequently had r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s that bore no relationship to
matters of personnel policy. Several personnel men made reference
to t h i s aspect of their job by r e f e r r i n g to themselves as "Joe boys."
In circumstances l i k e these, i t i s quite l i k e l y that some areas
of t h e i r r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s w i l l receive no more than scant attention.
For example, i t was found that "exit" interviews were frequently
not held. Yet t h i s might be considered the very point at which
the worker s h i f t s from being an independent and employed ind i v i d u a l
to a jobless and dependent member of society. The fact that t h i s
IV. 8
task has to he placed low on the scale of p r i o r i t i e s suggests
that the personnel man's excessively miscellaneous duties have
imposed serious l i m i t s on the p r a c t i c a l scope of his concern with
the welfare of employees.
(d) The Personnel Manager Lacks Specialized Training for His Role i n Industry
The personnel manager's own lack of special training l i m i t s
him i n planning for and dealing adequately and e f f i c i e n t l y with
the welfare aspects of his job. This problem i s discussed ex
tensively i n the l i t e r a t u r e and i t was much i n evidence during
the personal interviews. Few of our informants f e l t that they had
had adequate preparation f o r t h e i r d i f f i c u l t and responsible jobs.
They were not s k i l l e d i n "human relations" and did not have the
training to do counselling. They had l i t t l e knowledge, i f any,
of community resources, and r e f e r r a l s to outside sources were
the exception rather than the rule. Even with the best w i l l i n
the world, one cannot "help" unless one knows "how to help"; and
i t i s apparent that many personnel managers do not, and know that
they do not.
(e) The Tasks of the Personnel Manager Are Hot Clearly Defined
The way i n which industry i s organized with i t s h i e r a r c h i c a l
structures of authority and r e s p o n s i b i l i t y w i l l also determine
how many and what problems come to the attention of the personnel
manager. In our interviews, i t was found that i t was frequently
the supervisors i n l i n e positions below the personnel man who
handled employee problems, both those of a personal nature and
IV. 9
those r e s u l t i n g from the working s i t u a t i o n . In p r a c t i c e , the
personnel managers seem to f e e l t h a t i f a l i n e s u p e r v i s o r i s
doing h i s job w e l l , he can handle these problems b e t t e r because
he i s l o c a t e d hearer t h e i r source. But i t seems to us that t h i s
procedure might tend to deepen the d i v i s i o n between "management"
and "labour" r a t h e r than serve to u n i t e them i n the c o o p e r a t i v e
e f f o r t of a t t a i n i n g a common g o a l . In Chapter Two, we drew
a t t e n t i o n to the f a c t t h a t persons other than personnel managers
o f t e n assume personnel r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . The o b j e c t i o n i n t h a t
i n s t a n c e was not that i t widened the gap between workers and
employers, but that i t downgraded the s t a t u s of the personnel
manager by making i t appear as though he were o t i o s e and d i s
pensable. The assumption would be that the s p e c i a l s k i l l a
personnel manager possessed (at l e a s t i n theory) i n d e a l i n g w i t h
human r e l a t i o n s and human welf a r e , might tend to be d i s r e g a r d e d ,
a t r i s k of damage to the employees' welfare.
( f ) The Dangers of P a t e r n a l i s m
No d i s c u s s i o n of managerial concern f o r the welfare of workers
can p r o p e r l y a v o i d the s u b j e c t of p a t e r n a l i s m . In the l i t e r a t u r e
o f personnel management, i t i s c l e a r that few students of the p r o b l
b e l i e v e t h a t p a t e r n a l i s m s u r v i v e s i n n o t i c e a b l e p r o p o r t i o n s . But
nobody could d i s p u t e that i t would s t i l l be o b j e c t i o n a b l e i f i t
d i d s u r v i v e . I t i s c h a r a c t e r i z e d by managerial a t t i t u d e s t h a t
they w i l l p r o v i d e s e r v i c e s and b e n e f i t they c o n s i d e r to be "good"
f o r the employees. They re s e r v e the r i g h t to withdraw such b e n e f i t
a t any time, and the employees do not p a r t i c i p a t e i n p l a n n i n g f o r
I V . 10
s u c h s e r v i c e s . I n s u c h a n i n s t a n c e t h e company m i g h t c o n s i d e r i t
h a s a r i g h t t o i n t e r f e r e i n t h e p r i v a t e l i v e s o f t h e w o r k e r s .
T h i s m i g h t l e a d t o t h e w o r k e r h a v i n g t o f u l f i l c e r t a i n c o n d i t i o n s
i n h i s p r i v a t e l i f e i n o r d e r t o r e m a i n i n t h e g o o d f a v o u r o f
managemen t . P a t e r n a l i s m m i g h t a l s o h a v e t h e t e n d e n c y t o " s p o i l "
e m p l o y e e s — t o go t o o f a r i n p r o v i d i n g f o r t h e m — w i t h t h e
r e s u l t t h a t e m p l o y e e s m i g h t a s s u m e p r o g r e s s i v e l y l e s s r e s p o n s i
b i l i t y f o r t h e m s e l v e s . T h e r e w o u l d be no r o o m f o r t hem t o make
i n d i v i d u a l d e c i s i o n s o r t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n p l a n n i n g f o r t h e m s e l v e s .
I n t h i s l i g h t , p a t e r n a l i s m i s a n enemy r a t h e r t h a n a n a l l y o f t h e
i n d i v i d u a l e m p l o y e e ' s w e l f a r e , h o w e v e r b e n i g n t h e m o t i v a t i o n s
b e h i n d i t .
I n o u r i n t e r v i e w , we d i d n o t f i n d a n y c l e a r e v i d e n c e o f
company p a t e r n a l i s m . H o w e v e r , i n a t l e a s t one i n s t a n c e , t h e r e
was some i n d i c a t i o n t h a t t h e management i n q u e s t i o n w o u l d p r e f e r t o
be p a t e r n a l i s t i c e v e n t h o u g h i n f a c t i t was n o t . Management a p p e a r e d
t o r e s e n t t h e c o n t r a c t e d b e n e f i t s a n d s e r v i c e s t h a t h a d a c q u i r e d
t h e s t a t u s o f r i g h t s f o r t h e e m p l o y e e s , l a r g e l y t h r o u g h t h e a c t i v i
t i e s o f t h e u n i o n s . B u t i f a p e r s o n n e l m a n a g e r h a r b o u r s u n s p o k e n
t h o u g h t s l i k e t h e s e , t h e y w i l l s u r e l y u n d e r m i n e h i s e f f o r t s t o
p r o m o t e s a t i s f a c t o r y r e l a t i o n s b e t w e e n management a n d l a b o u r ,
p a r t i c u l a r l y i n so f a r a s t h e y i m p i n g e u p o n t h e m a n n e r i n w h i c h
t h e c o m p a n y ' s w e l f a r e p r o g r a m s a r e a d m i n i s t e r e d . The f a i l u r e o f
many i n d u s t r i e s t o d e t e r m i n e t h e e x t e n t t o w h i c h t h e y a r e r e s p o n
s i b l e f o r t h e h e a l t h a n d w e l f a r e o f t h e i r e m p l o y e e s , a n d t h e i r
f a i l u r e s a t i s f a c t o r i l y t o s e t o u t a c o d e o f m u t u a l o b l i g a t i o n s
IV. 11
between labour and management have resulted i n needless f r i c t i o n s
which carry a heavy price i n i n e f f i c i e n c y and i l l w i l l . These
undertakings, however, can never be carried out successfully so
long as they are i n i t i a t e d i n an atmosphere of ambivalence and
suppressed resentment.
(g) The Discrepancies Between the Personnel Manager's Intentions and His Practice
Personnel managers are aware of the problems that arise from
the operations of industry. They are aware too of the implications
that these problems have f o r the individual worker's well-being.
But the l i m i t a t i o n s — both structural and accidental — of the
settings i n which they work have created a gap between i d e a l and
r e a l i t y , profession and practice, intention and achievement, which
leaves most personnel managers with a sense of something l i k e
moral unease. It may leave the student of s o c i a l welfare with
a sense of wasted resources. I t i s i n acknowledgement of both
of these that we now off e r some modest recommendations f o r action.
Recommendations
(a) Liaison Between Social Workers and Personnel Administrators
Social workers as individuals and through t h e i r professional
associations should try to establish working relationships with
personnel men i n both capacities and at both l e v e l s . Social
workers should also take proper note of the fact that personnel
men are well q u a l i f i e d for inc l u s i o n on s o c i a l welfare agency
boards. Social welfare research and action projects requiring
I V . 12
l a y p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f f e r e x c e l l e n t o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r b r i n g i n g
p e r s o n n e l men m o r e f u l l y i n t o t h e f i e l d o f s o c i a l w e l f a r e .
S o c i a l w o r k e r s c o u l d make t h e m s e l v e s a v a i l a b l e a s s p e a k e r s
t o g r o u p s o f p e r s o n n e l men . Two o f t h e p e r s o n n e l m a n a g e r s i n t e r
v i e w e d f o r t h i s s t u d y e x p l i c i t l y s a i d t h a t t h e y w o u l d be i n t e r e s t e d
i n h e a r i n g t h e s o c i a l w o r k e r ' s v i e w o f w h a t a n e m p l o y e e n e e d s a n d
e x p e c t s f r o m h i s e m p l o y e r . S o c i a l w o r k e r s c o u l d a l s o w i t h p r o f i t
a t t e n d p e r s o n n e l c o n f e r e n c e s a n d p a r t i c i p a t e i n t h e w o r k s h o p s o f
s u c h c o n f e r e n c e s .
C e r t a i n p r o b l e m s ( e . g . t h e d i s a b l e d a n d t h e o l d e r w o r k e r )
a r e o f s u c h i m p o r t a n c e t o b o t h g r o u p s t h a t t h e y c o u l d c o - s p o n s o r
d i s c u s s i o n s o f t h e s e p r o b l e m s . A g a i n , b o t h s o c i a l w o r k a n d p e r
s o n n e l a d m i n i s t r a t i o n h a v e a c c e s s t o k n o w l e d g e t h a t i s e s s e n t i a l
t o a t h o r o u g h d i s c u s s i o n o f t h e p r o b l e m s a r i s i n g f r o m a u t o m a t i o n .
( b ) T r a i n i n g i n S o c i a l W e l f a r e S e r v i c e s a n d P o l i c y
A c t i o n s h o u l d be t a k e n b y t h e o r g a n i z e d s o c i a l w o r k p r o f e s s i o n
t o e n c o u r a g e p e r s o n n e l men t o t a k e a n a c a d e m i c c o u r s e i n " s o c i a l
w e l f a r e s e r v i c e s a n d p o l i c y " . T h i s c o u l d be s e t u p e s p e c i a l l y f o r
t h e p u r p o s e ( e . g . i n c o l l a b e r a t i o n w i t h a u n i v e r s i t y e x t e n s i o n
d e p a r t m e n t ) o r s y n t h e s i z e d f r o m e x i s t i n g a c a d e m i c p r o g r a m s i n
u n i v e r s i t y s o c i a l s c i e n c e d e p a r t m e n t s o r p r o f e s s i o n a l s c h o o l s o f
s o c i a l w o r k . A c o u r s e o f t h i s k i n d , i f p r o p e r l y c o n c e i v e d a n d
c a r r i e d o u t , c o u l d h e l p p e r s o n n e l men i n s e v e r a l a r e a s o f t h e i r
j o b s . I t w o u l d g i v e t hem a s o c i a l p e r s p e c t i v e f r o m w h i c h t o v i e w
t h e i n d i v i d u a l p r e d i c a m e n t s o f t h e i r e m p l o y e e s . T h i s s o c i a l p e r s -
IV. 13
pective would promote a better understanding of the predicaments
themselves and suggest hitherto untried solutions. A s o c i a l
perspective might also prompt personnel men to in t e n s i f y t h e i r
efforts to prevent and solve the ind i v i d u a l troubles that
compositely go to make up many of Canada's most serious s o c i a l
problems, such as unemployment and retraining. It i s not im
possible, for that matter, that these enriched undertakings should
be transmitted from the personnel man to his management group, so
that both he and the management group would have a larger view of
the s o c i a l problems that exist i n Canada and of the complex and only
half-perceived causes of these problems. As c i t i z e n s , and as people
often d i r e c t l y charged with the costs of s o c i a l policy, management
people both require and are e n t i t l e d to t h i s measure of enlighten
ment.
An ef f e c t i v e course on s o c i a l welfare services and po l i c y
would give the personnel man knowledge calculated to help him
understand the attitudes and behaviour of his employees, and of
the unions he works with. This knowledge would include the dominant
cul t u r a l values influencing employees, the h i s t o r i c a l development
of the major economic philosophies, and the growth of present-day
so c i a l welfare services and p o l i c i e s . It should also include
analysis of the behavioural and philosophical premises underlying
these services and p o l i c i e s .
(c) C l a r i f i c a t i o n of the Welfare Function i n the Light of Organizational Objectives
As long as the overall objective of the firm i s ess e n t i a l l y
IV. 14
that of economic ef f i c i e n c y , the personnel manager should keep
his personnel functions as primary and only work for the welfare
of his employees when thi s action i s compatible with the o v e r a l l
purpose of the organization. 1 Painless and f r u i t l e s s c o n f l i c t s
w i l l develop i f the personnel man t r i e s to make his so c i a l welfare
r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s his chief concern. The immediate needs of the
employees and the needs of the organization are often incompatible
and often a choice of one or the other must be made. Unless a
clear, consistent policy i s established for making such choices,
the personnel manager could be immobilized by the re s u l t i n g dilemma.
The personnel function i s a v i t a l one i n any organization and must
be performed e f f e c t i v e l y and consistently. It i s a d i f f i c u l t
function and requires extensive tr a i n i n g and experience. It i s a
time-consuming job and requires close attention. A l l of these
reasons make i t impossible for the personnel man to be both a
soc i a l worker and a personnel manager. He may perform many s o c i a l
welfare functions but these must be subject always, i n an ultimate
way, to the demands of the organization f o r maximum ef f i c i e n c y and
p r o f i t s .
1 Two things should be said i n elaboration of t h i s statement: f i r s t , that "economic e f f i c i e n c y " i s not the same as p r o f i t i b i l i t y f o r some p a r t i c u l a r person or persons; second, that there i s an important difference between respecting the proper boundaries of one's concern with something ( i n t h i s case "employee welfare"), and having a concern the boundaries of which can be a r b i t r a r i l y and u n i l a t e r a l l y contracted. We think i t better that the personnel manager have a s t r i c t l y defined but unequivocally sincere interest i n the welfare of hi s firm's employees than that he have an all-encompassing one which stands under perpetual threat of revocation!
IV. 15
The statutory position i n India of a Welfare O f f i c e r i s a
good example. Berkowitz i n h i s study of t h i s position has pointed
out that i t i s almost impossible for one person to carry the two
r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of employee welfare and the personnel function of
a s s i s t i n g operating management to select, t r a i n , place, motivate
and document workers. One of these r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s must be
considered primary and the other secondary. The secondary responsi
b i l i t y i s then neglected. Berkowitz concludes that both employee
welfare and personnel a c t i v i t i e s are suffering because of the
statutory creation of the p o s i t i o n of Welfare O f f i c e r . He f e e l s
that India needs urgently i n i t s i n d u s t r i a l organizations the
progressive personnel theories and practices of Great B r i t a i n and
the United States. But these are not being developed by the
Welfare Officers because of the impossible task they face of
trying to become personnel experts while carrying the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s
of s o c i a l workers. Berkowitz also states that the s o c i a l welfare
of the employees suffers because too much r e s p o n s i b i l i t y i s given
to the indvidual firm for s o c i a l welfare actions and not enough
re s p o n s i b i l i t y assumed by the government. The larger, more suc
cessful firms are able to meet adequately the s o c i a l welfare needs
of th e i r employees, but the majority of workers benefit l i t t l e from
the fact that t h e i r company i s l e g a l l y compelled to employ a wel
fare o f f i c e r . The firm i s unable to s a t i s f y the needs of the
workers for decent homes and extensive health care. 1
Berkowitz, M., "Social Workers i n Indian Industry", Social Service Review. Vol. 36, Dec. 1962, pp. 412-420.
IV. 16
(d) Nationalized Industries
It i s probable that i n nationalized industries the personnel
manager would experience l e s s c o n f l i c t i f he put the employee's
welfare on something nearer an equal footing with the need f o r
efficiency. The subject of nationalized industries, however,
raises so many serious p o l i t i c a l , economic, and administrative
questions that the effect i t would have on the functions of person
nel managers cannot be r e a l i s t i c a l l y considered i n i s o l a t i o n . 1
(e) Social Welfare L e g i s l a t i o n
The p o s s i b i l i t y of the personnel manager and his organization
being able to provide for the major s o c i a l welfare needs of t h e i r
employees should not lessen e f f o r t s to develop pro v i n c i a l and
federal programs that w i l l provide for the major contingencies
faced by a l l c i t i z e n s . This study indicates, on the contrary, a
need to strengthen government s o c i a l welfare a c t i v i t i e s , i f only
because of the limi t a t i o n s surrounding the personnel manager's
and his organization's implementation of s o c i a l welfare p o l i c i e s
and practices. The s o c i a l welfare rights of Canadians cannot be
l e f t to the whims of private enterprises and to the weaknesses of
col l e c t i v e bargaining for s a t i s f a c t i o n . A l l c i t i z e n s through t h e i r
respective governments must guarantee that s o c i a l rights are
acknowledged and that e f f e c t i v e e f f o r t s are being made to supply
the needs these rights represent; t h i s acknowledgement and the
1 But the differences would i n any case l i e c h i e f l y i n the margins of decision-making. No modern businesses operate on cut-throat Malthusian p r i n c i p l e s ; and no nationalized industries can abandon a l l thought of eff i c i e n c y .
IV. 17
r e s u l t i n g actions must be based on l e g i s l a t i o n . The programs
projected i n thi s l e g i s l a t i o n would be and are of such magnitude
and importance that public control would be e s s e n t i a l . 1
The l e g i s l a t i v e approach to s o c i a l welfare needs recommended
here does not lessen the contribution to .social welfare that can
be made by private enterprise and personnel administration. A l l
citi z e n s need regular, meaningful work that gives them the opport
unity to contribute ( i n keeping with t h e i r potential) to the
productivity of the i r country and the world. Personnel managers
can help supply t h i s meaningful work and the tr a i n i n g required by
the i r employees to do i t . They can also be instrumental i n the
early detection of serious personality problems and the application
of the prevention and treatment resources of t h e i r organizations
or of the general community. These tasks o f f e r almost unlimited
scope and challenge to personnel managers.
(f) Industrial Social Work
Industrial s o c i a l work has had i t s greatest development i n
Europe. In 1959 personnel s o c i a l workers representing the countries
of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, I t a l y , Netherlands, Scotland,
Sweden, and Switzerland met i n Germany to further the development
of the profession of personnel s o c i a l work i n Europe, through
1 "Everyone has the right to a standard of l i v i n g adequate fo r the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary s o c i a l services, and the right to security i n the event of unemployment, sickness, d i s a b i l i t y , widowhood, old age or other lack of l i v e l i h o o d i n c i r cumstances beyond his control". Proclamation of the United Nations General Assembly, Dec. 10, 1948, A r t i c l e 25, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
IV. 18
c l a r i f i c a t i o n of aims, basic p r i n c i p l e s , tasks, l i m i t s , methods
and conditions, peculiar to the working situation of the
specialization. They defined personnel s o c i a l work as part of
so c i a l work i n general and adhering to i t s general aims and
pri n c i p l e s . However, personnel s o c i a l work i n pr i n c i p l e i s
limited to a s s i s t i n g i n solving problems which are connected with
the working situation. These problems might —
1. be caused by and occur i n the work environment
2. have unfavourable effects i n the work situation, although not caused there
3. be due to general a r b i t r a r y regulations i n industry, the results of which aff e c t the l i f e of the-workers outside t h e i r work.
Just as i n s o c i a l work i n general, personnel s o c i a l work
has a threefold aim, namely:
1. to help any Individual or group to adapt to the work situ a t i o n and to meet the work requirements,
2. to stimulate management to adapt the work situation to the s o c i a l needs of the employees,
3. to a s s i s t the work "community" as a whole to function i n a better way.
It was f e l t that problems not connected with work should be
referred to the appropriate s o c i a l work agency, just as these
agencies would i n turn r e f e r work problems to the personnel
soc i a l worker.
Industrial s o c i a l work i n Europe has i t s primary task i n
representing and i n protecting many basic needs which are not
only material ones but emotional ones also. It would appear that
i n t h i s setting, the personnel s o c i a l worker functions as an int e g r a l
IV. 19
part of the personnel department either under the personnel
manager or on the same l e v e l as the personnel manager.1
By now, management, unions and s o c i a l welfare o f f i c i a l s i n
Europe are thoroughly f a m i l i a r with i n d u s t r i a l s o c i a l work and
recignize i t as one branch of professional s o c i a l work. Since
the i n d u s t r i a l s o c i a l worker i s le s s overwhelmed with cases of acute
material need, she has more time for preventive work.
It has been said that i n d u s t r i a l s o c i a l work did not become
established i n the United States because of the current b e l i e f that
i t i s not the task of industry to establish i t s own s o c i a l services,
but rather to support the community i n i t s attempt to supply and
to extend i t s s o c i a l agencies according to the need and the demand
for them. This viewpoint i s shared by management and union a l i k e ,
and i s also widely held i n s o c i a l welfare c i r c l e s . It i s f e l t
that the employee, f i r s t of a l l , i s a member of his community l i k e
everybody else. I f he becomes troubled and wants tie help of a
s o c i a l worker, i t i s not the job of his employer to furnish the 2
service he needs.
Professor Herman D. Stein of the Columbia School of Social
Work presented a paper at the School's Alumni Conference of 1958
i n which he outlined some of the d i f f i c u l t i e s that stand i n the
way of doing s o c i a l work i n industry. They are as follows
1 "Function and Working Methods of the Personnel Social Worker", i n International Social Work, 1959.
2 Miro, Annelise, Industrial Social Work, Its Pr i n c i p l e s and
Its Practices, Master of Social Work Thesis, Wayne University, Detroit, Mich. 1956.
IV. 20
1. Social work i s e s s e n t i a l l y agency based. Even i f there could be a s p e c i f i c function f o r a s o c i a l worker i n industry, the s o c i a l worker would have to perform as a kind of entrepreneur, unrelated to the mainstream of s o c i a l work a c t i v i t y which goes on within agency structures. Unlike the doctor who can practice medicine i n industry and remain a doctor, the s o c i a l worker i n industry would be r e l a t i v e l y isolated from the mainstream of h i s profession.
2. The s o c i a l objectives of s o c i a l work are much more closely related to programs supported by organized labour than those of organized industry. As an employee of an i n d u s t r i a l organization, the s o c i a l worker can easily f i n d himself i n a business which does not value the things that s o c i a l work stands f o r . The p o s s i b i l i t y of e t h i c a l c o n f l i c t i s a very r e a l one.
3. Industry has shown no special desire f o r s o c i a l workers. It has tapped many other f i e l d s , but has not defined any of i t s needs i n terms which would suggest s o c i a l workers as a l o g i c a l resource, nor has s o c i a l work i d e n t i f i e d a service that has significance to industry.
4. There may be a future for s o c i a l workers i n the development of c l i n i c a l treatment but as of now, one can see t h i s only i n r e l a t i o n to psychiatry as the dominant d i s c i p l i n e .
While the s o c i a l worker has no monopoly on concern with human
relations, he does o f f e r certain assets to industry. These include
a professionally d i s c i p l i n e d approach to his work, a capacity to
work i n n o n - c l i n i c a l settings and relationships, an understanding
of group and community process as well as i n d i v i d u a l treatment,
and an understanding of supervisory process.
I f the s o c i a l worker were to work i n industry, he would require
additional knowledge with regard to organizational theory. He
would require a strong sense of professional i n t e g r i t y and security,
and would have to be both able and w i l l i n g to work outside his
t r a d i t i o n a l setting and yet remain within the framework of s o c i a l
IV. 21
work. It would mean also c l a r i f y i n g an area of service for industry
that meets a genuine organizational need. 1
It would appear that i n d u s t r i a l s o c i a l work i s not on the
immediate horizon i n Great B r i t a i n , the United States or Canada.
It i s apparent, however, that s o c i a l agencies are not always
equipped to meet the many demands placed on them and that there
are many problems closely related to the i n d u s t r i a l scene which
could he discovered e a r l i e r and treated more e f f e c t i v e l y at t h e i r
onset, on the i n d u s t r i a l scene. It would appear that the person
nel manager, who already has wide i n d u s t r i a l acceptance and who i s
located i n the most strategic position, would be the most l o g i c a l
person at the present time to be responsible f o r the supervision
of i n d u s t r i a l s o c i a l work.
The s o c i a l work profession should explore with the personnel
profession the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of having selected firms experiment
with the establishment of s o c i a l work positions i n th e i r organi
zations.
(g) Future Studies
Future studies of the subject of " s o c i a l welfare and per
sonnel administration" should include attempts to determine:
(a) how employees view the s o c i a l welfare a c t i v i t e s of t h e i r
employers, (b) how union representatives view the s o c i a l welfare
1 Stein, Herman D., Is There A Place for Social Work i n Industry? Statement given at the 1 9 5 8 Alumni Conference of the Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, New York.
IV. 22
n e e d s o f C a n a d i a n s , w h a t s o l u t i o n s u n i o n s o f f e r t o s a t i s f y t h e s e
n e e d s , a n d how u n i o n s r e a c t t o t h e s o c i a l w e l f a r e a c t i v i t i e s o f
e m p l o y e r s , a n d ( c ) how t h e o p e r a t i o n a l m a n a g e r s v i e w t h e s o c i a l
w e l f a r e a c t i v i t i e s o f t h e i r p e r s o n n e l m a n a g e r s .
F u t u r e s t u d i e s s h o u l d make u s e o f w r i t t e n q u e s t i o n n a i r e s ,
( s i m i l a r t o t h e one i n A p p e n d i x A ) , t o p r o v i d e a l a r g e r s a m p l e
o f p e r s o n n e l m a n a g e r s ' o p i n i o n s a n d p e r h a p s a m o r e o b j e c t i v e
r e c o r d o f t h e s e o p i n i o n s .
Appendix A. A NOTE ON METHODS USED TO OBTAIN RESEARCH DATA
On the recommendation of Dr. John T. Montague, Director of
the Institute of Industrial Relations, University of B r i t i s h
Columbia, an interview was held with Mr. 1. Prost, a member of
the Educational Committee of the Vancouver Personnel Manager's
Association. Mr. Frost had expressed the interest of the l o c a l
Association, i n our project and h i s views as to a feasible and
desirable approach for our undertaking were explored. Similar
interviews were held with Dr. N. A. H a l l of the Faculty of
Commerce and Dr. S. Jamieson of the Faculty of Economics,
University of B r i t i s h Columbia. The interviews were designed
to e l i c i t t h e i r opinions on the relationship between personnel
management and s o c i a l welfare and to acquire information as to
pertinent resources which could be used i n the c o l l e c t i o n of our
data.
A form l e t t e r requesting: c r i t e r i a of e l i g i b i l i t y for
membership i n the personnel association, job descriptions of
personnel managers, tr a i n i n g i n s t i t u t i o n s f o r personnel managers,
and welfare programmes involving personnel managers were sent to
a number of personnel associations i n the United States, Great
B r i t a i n and Canada. These sources were obtained from: a l i s t
contained i n "1962 Directory of Local Personnel and Training
Groups", Personnel, Vol. 39, No. 2, March, A p r i l , 1962, Journal
of The American Management Association, Concord, N.H., from which
certain associations were selected which we had reason to believe
2
would be representative of the associations i n the United States
and Canada, the B r i t i s h Institute of Personnel Management, and
the B r i t i s h Information Service i n Vancouver. These included:
American Management Association Public Personnel Association American Personnel and Guidance Association,
Washington, D.C. Personnel Management Association Anaheim Industrial Management Club Federal Personnel Council of San Francisco Fresno Personnel Management Association Inland Personnel Association Personnel Testing Council of Los Angeles Stockton Area Personnel Council Connecticut Personnel Association Employment Managers Association of Meriden
and Wallingford Greater Bridgeport Personnel Association Hartford Manufacturers Personnel Group Personnel Management Group, Manufacturers'
Section, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce Central F l o r i d a Personnel and Management
Association Personnel Association of Greater Miami Personnel Council, Planning Department, City
and County of Honolulu Central I l l i n o i s Personnel Club East Side Industrial Relations Association Industrial Relations Association of Chicago Industrial Relations Association of Decatur Personnel Association of Springfield Personnel Association of Indianapolis Personnel Administration Association of
Baltimore New England Society for Personnel Management American Society f o r Personnel Administration,
East Lansing, Michigan Professional Society i n Industrial Relations,
Minnesota Industrial Relations Workshop, Management Institute,
D i v i s i o n of General Education, New York University, New York
Cleveland Personnel Association V i r g i n i a Personnel and Guidance Association Fort Worth Personnel and Management Association P a c i f i c Northwest Personnel Management Association Society for Personnel Administration, Washington,
D.C.
3
Personnel Association of Toronto, Ontario Personnel Association of London and D i s t r i c t ,
London, Ontario Montreal Personnel Association, Montreal, P.Q. Calgary Personnel Association, Calgary, Alberta.
Similar l e t t e r s were sent to u n i v e r s i t i e s and t r a i n i n g
centres which were well-known fo r having conducted research i n
Industrial Relations. These sources were obtained from: a
pamphlet, Personnel Research Contributions by TJ. S. Universities
by Frank B. M i l l e r , a pamphlet, The Committee of University
Industrial Relations Librarians, containing information regarding
the Industrial Relations sections i n colleges and u n i v e r s i t i e s i n
North America, which was sent to us by the American Management
Association; and the B r i t i s h Information Service i n Vancouver.
These sources included:
University of C a l i f o r n i a , San Diego University of Michigan New York University Harvard University Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, New York School of Social Work of Columbia
University Bureau of Business Management, College of
Commerce and Business Administration, University of I l l i n o i s
University of C a l i f o r n i a , Institute of Industrial Relations, Los Angeles
C a l i f o r n i a Institute of Technology, Industrial Relations Section, Pasadena
Princeton University Industrial Relations Section University of Michigan, Bureau of Industrial
Relations, Ann Arbor London School of Economics and P o l i t i c a l Science Manchester College of Science and Technology University of Liverpool University College of South Wales and
Monmouthshire University of Manitoba University of Alberta McGill University, Industrial Relations Centre,
Montreal, P.Q.
4
Periodicals, journals and texts i n the f i e l d of personnel
management were surveyed to assemble data concerning the role of
the personnel manager i n i n d u s t r i a l society, and the welfare
dimensions of h i s tasks.
Personal interviews were held with seven members of the
Vancouver Personnel Manager's Association. These men held positions
involving the personnel function and were employed by firms rep
resentative of a variety of industries i n the Vancouver a r e a .
Information was compiled during the interviews r e l a t i n g to the
nature of t h e i r r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and t h e i r opinions as to the
aspects of t h e i r job which might contain "welfare elements".
5
APPENDIX B. JOB DESCRIPTION*
Position T i t l e : Personnel Director Date: February 1961
Department: Personnel Exempt
Supervision Received:
T i t l e of Supervisor: President, General Manager, or Vice-President
Overall Responsibility and Authority:
The Personnel Director i s responsible f o r advising top management and furnishing functional guidance to Department Heads by developing • and applying sound plans and practices f o r personnel administration and labor relations and with conducting such a c t i v i t i e s i n a manner which w i l l enable the Company to accomplish i t s objectives through an e f f i c i e n t work force with good morale.
Specific R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s :
Formulates or receives and recommends f o r approval proposals f o r p o l i c i e s of, personnel administration and labor relations, and administers a l l such p o l i c i e s establishing appropriate procedures:
1. Recruits, screens, tests and recommends f o r employment the best q u a l i f i e d candidates f o r open positions within the Company.
2. Prepares, guides, coordinates, the employee relations, evaluation and development and tr a i n i n g programs.
3. Administers the Company Fringe Benefit program.
4. Assists and supervises recreation and other special personnel programs of the Company.
5. Directs and administers the Safety and Health Program of the Company.
6. Establishes and administers wage and salary program of the Company.
7. May direc t and administer Industrial Security within the Company.
8. May conduct communication program such as house organ, news bu l l e t i n s , etc.
9. May administer in-plant feeding program.
6
10. May participate i n the public relations program of the Company.
11. May coordinate and supervise employee suggestion system.
12. Administers company's compliance with a l l pertinent Labor l e g i s l a t i o n .
13. May prepare, conduct or supervise, or a s s i s t i n union-management contract negotiations and administers the provisions of agreements.
May Supervise:
Employment Supervisor, Wage and Salary Administrator, Chief Guard, Personnel Secretary and Clerks, Training Supervisor, Cafeteria Manager and Recruiters.
Education Requirements:
College Degree
Work Experience:
Approximately ten (10) years i n the personnel f i e l d .
7
APPENDIX G
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Beveridge, S i r William, Social Insurance.and A l l i e d Services Report. The Macmillan Company, New York, New York, 1944.
Biggers, John David, Human Relations i n Modern Business. Prentice-H a l l , New York, 1949.
Breckinridge, Elizabeth L., E f f e c t i v e Use of Older Workers. Wilcox and P o l l e t t Company, Chicago, 1953.
Carlton, F. T., Labor Problems. D.C. Heath and Company, New York New York, 1933-
Dublin, Robert, Human Relations i n Administration, 2nd edition, Prentice-Hall Incorporated, Englewood C l i f f s , New Jersey, 1961.
Evans, J. J., A Program f o r Personnel Administration. McGraw-Hill Book Co. Inc., New York, 1945.
Fink, Arthur E., The F i e l d of Social Work. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1942.
Friedlander, Walter A., Introduction to Social Welfare, Prentice-H a l l Incorporated, Englewood C l i f f s , New Jersey, 1961.
Harbison, F. H. and Coleman J. R., Goals and Strategy i n Co l l e c t i v e Bargaining, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1951.
Jones, E. M. Hugh, edition, Modern Management, Quadrangle Books, Chicago, 1959.
K i n d a l l , Alva, Personnel Administration, Richard D. Irwin Inc., Homewood, I l l i n o i s , 1961.
Lucius, Michael L., Personnel Management, Richard D. Irwin Inc., Chicago, 1949.
Maier, Norman R. F., Pri n c i p l e s of Human Relation, John Wiley and Sons Incorporated, New York, 1952.
Miro, Annelise, Industrial Social Work: Its Pr i n c i p l e s and Practices Master's Thesis, Wayne State University, Detroit, 1956.
8
Northcott, C. H., Personnel Management Pr i n c i p l e s and Practice, Philosophical Library, Incorporated, New York, 1956.
Pennington, Edward James and Ian Walker, The Role of Trade Unions i n Social Welfare. Unpublished Master of Social Work Thesis, University of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1962.
Pigors, Paul and Charles A. Myers, Personal Administration: A Point of View and A Method. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, Toronto, London, 1956.
Pigors, Paul and Charles A. Myers, Readings i n Personnel Administration, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., New York, 1959.
Roethlisberger, F r i t z J ., Management and the Worker, An account of a research program conducted by the Western E l e c t r i c Company, Hawthorn Works by F r i t z J. Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson, Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1939.
Scott, Walter, Robert C. Clothier and William R. Spriegel, Personnel Management, Pr i n c i p l e s , Practices and Point of View, McGraw-H i l l Book Company, Incorporated, New York, 1954.
Strauss, George and Leonard R. Sayles, Personnel: The Human Problems of Management, Prentice-Hall Incorporated, Englewood C l i f f s , New Jersey, I960.
Taylor, James M., Personnel Administration, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1959.
Tead, Ordway and Henry C. Metcalf, Personnel Administration: I t s Principl e s and Practices, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Incorporated, New York, 1920.
Watkins, Gordon et a l , The Management of Personnel and Labor Relations, McGraw-Hill Book Company Incorporated, New York, 1950.
Wilensky, Harold L. and Charles N. LeBeaux, Industrial Society and Social Welfare, Russel Sage Foundation, New York, 1958.
Worker-Priests, The, A Collective Documentation, Translated from the French by John Petrie, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1956.
Yoder, Dale, Personnel P r i n c i p l e s and P o l i c i e s , 2nd edition, Prentice-Hall Incorporated, Englewood C l i f f s , New Jersey, 1959.
9
A r t i c l e s
Appley, Lawrence A., "The War Is Over". Personnel, Journal of the American Management Association, Vol. 40, No. 3, Concord, New Haven, June, 1963.
Appley, Lawrence A., "Emergence of a New Management Era", i n Personnel, Vol. 25, 1948-1949, Concord, New Haven.
Aronson, Albert H., "Human Dynamics i n Administration: The Social Work and Personnel Approaches, "Social Work i n the Current Scene, Selected Papers, National Conference of Social Work, Columbia University Press, 1950, p. 214.
Barbash, J . , "The Unions and Negotiated Health and Welfare Plans", New Dimensions i n Collective Bargaining, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1959.
Barkin, Solomon, "A Trade Unionist Appraises Management Personnel Philosophy", Readings i n Personnel Administration, edited by Paul Pigors and Charles A. Myers, McGraw-Hill Book Company, N.Y., 1956.
Belcher, A. L., "How Top Management Views the Industrial Relations Function", Personnel, Vol. 34, No. 5, March-April, 1958, p. 65.
Berkowitz, Monroe, "Social Workers i n Indian Industry", Social Service Review. Vol. 36, December, 1962, pp. 412-420
Blomstron, Robert L., " S e l l i n g a Personnel Program", Personnel, Vol. 41, No. 9, October, 1962.
"Company Counselling Programs", Personnel, January, February, 1962.
Coyle, John B., "Executive Development Plan for Personnel Directors", Personnel, Vol. 40, No. 6, May 1961.
Daly, C. E., "Retraining f o r What? Personnel, Vol. 40, No. 6, November-December, 1963.
Directory of Local Personnel and Training Groups, 1962. Personnel, Vol. 39, No. 2, March, A p r i l , 1962. Journal of the American Management Association, Concord, N.H.
E i l b i r t , Henry, "A Study of Current Counselling Practices i n Industry", Journal of Business, January, 1958.
F i l l e y , Alan C., "Human Relations i n the Growing Company", Personnel ?
Vol. 34, No. 2, September-October, 1957.
10
Ford, Guy B., "Why Doesn't Everyone Love the Personnel Man", Personnel, January-February, 1963.
Fried, Jerry, ;"Retraining Does Pay Off", Personnel, Vol. No. 40, No. 6, November-December, 1963.
French, Wendell L., "Predictions for Personnel and Industrial Reflections for 1985," Personnel. V o l . 40, No. 6, November, 1961.
"Function and Working Methods of the Personnel Social Worker", Report of a meeting held i n March 1959, under the auspices of the International Federation of Social Workers, International Social Work, I960.
Hopper, Jerry R., "Some C r i t i c a l Reflections on the New Paternalism," Personnel, Vol. 34, No. 3, November-December, 1957, p. 31.
"Industrial Medicine", Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 12, William Benton, Chicago, London, Toronto, 1957.
Kennedy, James, " The Personnel Director's Changing Character", Personnel, Vol. 41, No. 8, September, 1962.
Knudsen, Harry R. J r . , "Enter The Personnel Generalist", Personnel, Vol. 37, March-April, I960.
Lundberg, Craig C., "New Directors for Personnel Research", Personnel, Vol. 41, No. 10, November, 1962.
Lundberg, Donald E., "Why C a l l i t Industrial Relations", Personnel, May 1948, Vol 27, p. 21.
Lynch, Edith, "The Personnel Man and His Job", an American Management Survey. Personnel, Vol. 32, No. 6, May, 1956.
McFarland, D. E., "Basic Aims i n Teaching Personnel Administration", Personnel, Vol. 30, No. 1, July, 1953-
McFarland, D. E., "The Scope of the Industrial Relations Function", Personnel, Vol. 36, No. 1, January-February, 1959, p. 42.
Meyer, Gladys D., "A Primer f o r Counselling", Personnel, A p r i l , 1959.
Odiorne, George, "Company Growth and Personnel Administration", Personnel, Vol. 37, No. 1, January-February, I960.
Patin, James T., "How to Pick a Personnel Man", Personnel, Vol. 37, November-December, I960.
11
"Public Health", Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 18, 1957 ed. William Benton, Chicago, London, Toronto.
"The Qualified Personnel Director", Personnel, Vol. 22, No. 3, November, 1945.
Report, "What the Personnel Man Does", Personnel• March, 1963, Vol. 42, No. 3, p. 145.
Scheer, Wilbert E., "What's Ahead i n Personnel and Training", Personnel, Vol. 39, No. 4, September, I960.
Schleh, Edward 0., "Personnel Policy", Personnel, May, 1954, Vol. 30, No. 6, P. 453.
Scanlan, Burt K., "Personnel Management i s Growing Up", Personnel, Vol. 41, No. 2, February, 1962.
Strother, George B., "Personnel Management i n Theory and Practice", Personnel, Vol. 36, No. 2, March-April, 1959, p. 63.
Teplow, Josef E. and Reuben J. Margolin, "The Former Mental Patient: An Untapped Labor Source?", Personnel, Vol. 38, No. 1, January-February, 1961, Concord, N.H.
Titmuss, Richard M., " I n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n and the Family", i n In d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n and Social Work, Munich, 1956. Carl Heymanns Verlag Kg, Koln, B e r l i n , p. 35.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, A r t i c l e 25. Proclamation of the United Nations General Assembly, December 10, 1948.
Williams, Edgar G. and Keith Davis, "Desirable Characteristics f o r Personnel Directors", Personnel, November, 1953, Vol. 32, No. 6.
12
Pamphlets
A l l India Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management* The Director's Report, 1953-1956, College Square West, Calcutta, India.
A l l India Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management. The Director's Report, 1956-1957, College Square West, Calcutta, India.
Committee of University Industrial Relations Librarians. Information regarding Industrial Relations Sections in. colleges and u n i v e r s i t i e s i n North America, Revised L i s t — A p r i l , 1962.
Diploma i n Industrial Administration. The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England.
Hunter, Guy. The Role of the Personnel O f f i c e r . A Group Review. Occasional Papers No. 12, Institute of Personnel Management, Management House, London, England,- 1957.
Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management. Annual Report, 1958-1959, College Square West, Calcutta, India.
Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management. Annual Report, 1960-1961.
Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management. Annual Report, 1961-1962.
Industry's Interest i n the Older Worker and the Retired Employee. Proceedings of a Conference, Edited by Michael T. Wermel and Geraldine M. Beideman, Benefits and Insurance Research Centre, Industrial Relations Section, C a l i f o r n i a Institute of Technology, Pasadena, C a l i f o r n i a , I960.
Institute of Personnel Management. 80 Fetter Lane, London, E.C. 4. Pamphlet outl i n i n g Institute Services; e.g. Publications, Information, Library, Research, Conferences and Meetings, Appointments Service and Careers Advice, Training, etc.,
13
Institute's Examination Regulations, Syllabuses and Book L i s t s . Institute of Personnel Management, London, England.
Labour Relations and Conditions of Work in Bri ta in . Br i t i sh Information Services, Canada, Revised, March 1962.
Membership and Training for Personnel Management. Institute of Personnel Management, London, England.
M i l l e r , Prank B . , Personnel Research Contributions by U.S. Uni v e r s i t i e s . A Project Sponsored by the American Society fo r Personnel Administration and the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., I960.
Personnel Industrial Relations. Session 1963-1964* Three Year Certificate Course, Sponsored by the Personnel Association of Greater Winnipeg and Department of University Extension and Adult Education, The University of Manitoba.
Personnel Management. Journal of the Institute of Personnel Management, March, 1963, Vo l . XIV. No. 363, London, England.
Personnel Management Course, The University of Alberta, Banff Centre for Continuing Education in cooperation with the Western Canadian Personnel Association, October 28th to November 9th, 1963.
Personnel Management Salaries. Report of a Survey undertaken in February/March, 1961, Institute of Personnel Management, London, England.
Personnel Officer's Guide. Institute of Personnel Management, January, 1961, London, England.
Personnel Techniques Seminars. Bureau of Industrial Relations, Graduate School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, September-December, 1963.
Publications. New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, 1963.
14
Publications of the Institute of Personnel Management, f o r Directors, Executives, Personnel O f f i c e r s , London, England•
Social Security i n B r i t a i n . Prepared f o r the B r i t i s h Information Services, Revised, August, 1962.
Stein, Herman D., "Is There a Place f o r Social Work i n Industry?" Statement given at the 1958 Alumni Conference of the Columbia University School of Social Work, 1958, Unpublished.
The Story of the American Society f o r Personnel Administration. American Society f o r Personnel Administration, East Lansing, Michigan•
Training for Personnel Management Pull-Time Courses. Institute of Personnel Management, London, England.
Troubled People on the Job. Prepared by the American Psychiatric Association Committee on Occupational Psychiatry, American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C, 1959.
University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire. Diploma i n Personnel Management.
University of Michigan. Bureau of Industrial Relations. A selected l i s t of books and periodicals i n the f i e l d of Personnel Administration and Labor-Management Relations, School of Business Administration, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1962.
- 15 -
APPENDIX D
Questionnaire
Social Welfare Responsibilities of Personnel Managers
Part I
Would you please indicate with a check ( ) which of the functions listed below are included in the responsibilities of your position.
1. Seeing that employees have had pre-employment medicals
2. Bringing to management's attention conditions affecting employee's health and safety
3. Advising and training management members on the basic factors involved in employee morale; such as: security challenging work, opportunity to develop ability, grievance procedure, union relations, cooperative supervision, etc.
it. (a) Advising management about desirable benefit plans (Sickness Pay
(Severance Pay (Hospital and Medical Insurance (Retirement Pay (Etc.
(b) Administering Benefit Plans
5. Helping management operate a formal employee development program
6. Helping management and the employees provide a recreation and social program
7. Helping employees get proper housing
8. Helping employees establish a credit union
9. Assisting management in its public relations activities with social welfare agencies, such as Community Chest, etc.
10. Advising management on organizational relationships, (such as job placement, etc.) that affect employee morale
- 16 -
Part II
11. Do you have a responsibility that could be called Employee Counselling?
(3h a sentence or two, please describe this responsibility.)
12. If you are responsible for dealing with the personal problems of employees, such as alcoholism, indebtedness, etc., please indicate which of the following methods you use:
(a) Counselling to help employee control problem
(b) Refer employee to other sources for help, such as
family doctor, lawyer, social welfare agency, etc.
(c) Refer employee to his supervisor for counselling
(d) Advise supervisor to talk to employee about personal problem
(e) Help train supervisors to deal with personal problems
13. Indicate those problems dealt with by Personnel Department and/or Supervisors; and the methods used:
Dealt with Dealt with Formal Informal Problem by Personnel by Sup'vr. Counselling Talk Referral
Alcoholism Dope Addiction Pregnancy Indebtedness Housing Marital Conflict Parent-Child Conflict Uncooperative Behavior Mental Illness Criminal Behavior Legal Problems Education Problems Retirement Adjustment Family Stress
FIGURE I. FUNCTIONAL CHART*
PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYMENT AND
PLACEMENT
REMUNERATION AND
INCENTIVE
BENEFITS (WELFARE & SERVICE)
TRAINING AND
EDUCATION
HEALTH AND
SAFETY
LABOUR
RELATIONS
H
Recruiting
Interviewing
Selection
Placement
Records
Wage Plans
Job Rating
Wages Surveys
Vacation Plans
Suggestion Schemes
Services:
Canteen
Recreation
Counselling
Legal
Welfare:
L i f e
Insurance
Pension Plan
Medical Plan
Loans Educational a i d
Training:
New Employees fo r Promotion
Instructors
Supervisors
Education:
Day Schools
Evening Classes
Lectures
Films
Work Tours
Library
s Accident Prevention Sick V i s i t i n g
Working Conditions:
Heat
Light
V e n t i l a t i o n
Noise
Cleanliness
Studying Labour Law
Negotiating Contracts
Handling Grievances
Interpreting P o l i c i e s
A Pamphlet f o r Young People Interested i n the F i e l d of Personnel Management. Issued by the Federation of Canadian Personnel Associations, Toronto, September 1963 .