who invented human resources?

Mike Maslanka · March 2003

I am old enough to remember that hr used to be called personnel.Who came up with the term human resources? Has the term been so overused---and often misused---that it has lost its original and powerful meaning...mike

Parabeagle · March 2003

I, too, remember being in "Personnel" rather than "Human Resources." I don't know who coined the phrase. Probably the same guy who came up with "Human Capital," a dehumanzing phrase I loathe.

Rockie · March 2003

>I, too, remember being in "Personnel" rather than "Human Resources."
>I don't know who coined the phrase. Probably the same guy who came up
>with "Human Capital," a dehumanzing phrase I loathe.

Yuck. "Human Capital" sounds like an acounting phrase, much like referring to employees as RVUs (Relative Value Units) or FTEs (Full Time Equivalents). Instead of HR Director, I'd rather be known as the CPO (Chief People Officer). We'd then rank up there with the CEO and the COO.

sonny · March 2003

Reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon given to me by our Public Affairs Director.
(don't know the characters well, think this is right)

Catbert: "I'm tired of calling the employees "resources." It's too complimentary."
"I'm thinking of something along the lines of livestock or Human Capitol."

Guy w/pointy hair; "I don't want them demanding hay.

"Good point. We'll go with Human Capitol."

ray a · March 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-11-03 AT 07:44PM (CST)[/font][p]Right up there with "people are our greatest asset." As if people are equated with desks, chairs, paperclips, and machines - the other assets owned by our employers.

Hatchetman · March 2003

When the term first appeared in the 70's, I always kept thinking of an old person with a shovel going out to the backyard and starting to dig dirt. Just digging, looking for some humans that he could melt down and make his fortune.

Sho' 'nuf, those diggins' paid off. Got me some of that assayed and melted pe'ple rightch heya.

Don D · March 2003

Reminds me of a cartoon I've kept since the 70s. There's this little old crumpled man, maybe 75 years old, about Margaret's age, sitting slumped in a straight chair. He says, "Young lady, they used to call me poor; then some people came by and told me they no longer could use the word poor, that now I was economically disadvantaged. A few years later these people from the college showed up with a clipboard and told me they had stopped using disadvantaged and now they were going to call me financially challenged. Just about a year ago, a social worker came up on the porch and told me from that day forward, they were going to call me 'safety net enabled'. Well, I still ain't got a damned dime; but, I got a great vocabulary.

Frankly I prefer 'Personnel'. It has a more genuine ring. Damn the social engineers!

Whatever · March 2003

Probably the same person who came up with Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Administrative Assistant to.....
etc. However "a rose, is a rose, is a rose".

AprilShowers · March 2003

I like the term, I think it sounds cool xB-) !

Okay, who's going to steal my lunch money and beat me up after work now?

Your Office Dork,
April

tvanostran · March 2003

I agree April - I like it better than "Personnel", too. Sounds like there's a lot more to it, which we all know is true!

I hope nobody steals my lunch money.

The Great North Woods · March 2003

What if we could change it to Director or Manager of Resourceful Humans?
Takes on a different connotation, doesn't it?

ritaanz · March 2003

A Republican

Don D · March 2003

......scuse me?

ritaanz · March 2003

I guess you do not agree?

Hey! Congrats on your 2000+ postings. xclap

Leslie · March 2003

Are we a resource for humans? Or are we the department that procures the human resources? A lot of both actually.

Don D · March 2003

I don't know if I agree or not. It's that I didn't understand the post. What's Republican got to do with H.R. or stealing lunch money? Realizing you're from Torricelli land......maybe I should not ask.

ritaanz · March 2003

Ouch!

sonny · March 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-12-03 AT 09:52AM (CST)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-12-03 AT 09:52 AM (CST)[/font]

Don: I think it was in response to the original post. ."Who came up with the term Human Resources?" Answer: "Republicans."

Moria · March 2003

Hey, you guys deal with humans? x:o

Whatever · March 2003

The issue is not the term human. The question is resources and I am not to sure I always deal with resources.

Parabeagle · March 2003

If you look at my budget, I can tell you for a fact that I don't get to deal with resources. x;-)

Meg · March 2003

I thought you meant a Replublican was going to beat him up the Office Dork..

Don D · March 2003

You can bet your sweet patootie that a Republican didn't come up with the term. The Republicans weren't exactly the party of social engineering at the time, although they have been, on occasion. I suspect it was a Harvard Think-Tank type thing. Right in there with the glass ceiling and sensitivity training.

Balloonman · March 2003

Don,
Margaret is around 75? Wow I thought she was closer to the 68-69 age category! Well remember all you are as young as you feel!
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

jules2001 · March 2003

Don and DJ - You guys are bad! x}>

Don D · March 2003

I would not tell this if I wasn't sure Margaret was on a wagon train into Arkansas (the main form of transportation). I wrote her last week to tell her that I took a magnifying glass to a photo of hers on a brochure. In the background I spotted a wall calendar with the year 1978 in bold numbers. I think I may be only a year or two off at the most. But they have mineral springs in Arkansas.

ritaanz · March 2003

Don dear, we're gonna miss you on the Forum. Honest.

Moria · March 2003

He was the late great Don D. xpray

Margaret Morford · March 2003

I'm very much here and do not go to Arkansas until April. I don't mind being the mature one on the Forum. It's so much better than being the curmudgeon of the Forum!

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Hatchetman · March 2003

Margaret, I don't think you are old. I've been doing Personnel or Human Resources, or Emplyee Relations, or whatever you want to call it since 1979.

Margaret Morford · March 2003

I too started when it was Personnel and have chalked up a lot of HR miles since then. I started about the same time you did, but took three years off to go to law school. I'm now a "recovering attorney!"

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

who invented human resources?

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