Stage three in personnel administration: strategic human resources management

The traditional view of the personnel manager-a glorified record keeper who processes forms, monitors the suggestion box, and administers employee benefits-is fast fading. Top management's notion that the personnel department is merely a cost center-overly concerned with humanistic ideals and with little impact on the bottom line-is giving way under the impact of several changes. Beginning in the late 1970s, a series of major upheavals in the world of work-increasing government regulation, declining productivity, rising concern with the quality of worklife, and the entrance of the post-World War II baby boom population into an already highly competitive job market-have changed the personnel department's status from that of organizational stepchild to a potentially premier force in the organization's ability to survive and grow. Stella A. Nkomo, human resource research associate at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, traces the evolution of the personnel function and discusses how personnel executives can meet the challenge of strategic human resources planning.