sability wfm history and evolution
DESCRIPTION
Beginning with the earliest forms of organized labour, this session will trace the rather fascinating history of humankind as we organized and pooled our resources to produce goods and services. Three distinct eras are identified and discussed: the Pre-Industrial age, the Industrial Age, and our current era, the Information Age. You can watch a full video presentation here: http://ity.vc/webi010TRANSCRIPT
Workforce Management Fundamentals Series
Scott BrownPresident, Sability
Rob LeonardChief Operating Officer, Sability
The History and Evolution of WFM
Origins of Organized Labor
• Humankind pools resources to produce goods and services.
• Set the stage of how we think about organizing our labor
Early Workforce Management
• Apprentice to journeyman• Craftsmen formed guilds• Regulation and standardization follow• Excellence = certification
Industrial Age
• Industrial Age ushers in sweeping changes
• Mass employment• Focus on productivity• Fair and safe working
conditions
Birth of Modern Labor Market
• Industrialization makes guilds obsolete• Creates demand for new organizational
methods• Parallel organizations evolved slowly• Workers dissatisfaction rampant by late 1800s• First labor union formed by NCR employees• Unions now represent less than 2% of the
workforce
Origin of WFM as a science
• Fredrick Taylor’s Shop Management published in 1903
• Asserts that humans are production units, analogous to machines
• How-to guide regarded by unions as exploitive• Taylor’s practices were subject of
Congressional hearings
Division of Work Emerges
• Henry Fayol introduced the theory in 1918• Work is:
– Broken down into tasks– Grouped into functions– Performed by workers
with specialized skills
Shedding Light on Productivity
• Experiments begin in 1924 to explore the link between illumination and productivity
• Hawthorne Experiments prove that both higher and lower illumination deliver higher productivity
• Western Electric & Harvard University continue experiments until 1932
• Conclusion of study: Productivity boosts are result of focus on workers
Organization Behavior is Born
• Psychology is significant factor in productivity• Sets tone of Harvard Business School’s
management philosophy• Dominates for next century• Results still pertinent
World War I Impact
• Increase in government bureaucracies
• Department of Labor is founded
• Continued focus on productivity and output
Depression-Era Legislation
• Davis-Bacon• Norris-LaGuardia• National Industrial Recovery Act• Wagner• Welsh-Healey• Fair Labor Standards Act
World War II Impact
• Manpower shortages necessitate government to keep prices artificially low
• Labor policy through presidential decree• Taft-Hartley allows state to pass “right to work”
laws• Worldwide, legislation is passed• Management sciences provide incremental
productivity gains
Information Age
• The Information Age dates from the 1950s• Applying technology to business applications• How do we manage complexity?
Productivity is the Driving Force
• Commercial use of computers begin in 1950s• IBM estimated world market at 5 computers• Current estimates of PCs is 1.4 billion• First applications related to WFM were payroll• COBOL & FORTRAN emerge• Automation & complexity outstrip
programming ability
Systems Still Challenged
• Computer problems not all hardware-based• Birth of information as a science• First relational database introduced in 1978 by
Relational Software (Oracle)• 1985: Intel co-founded Gordon Moore
predicts integrated complexity will double every 18 to 24 months
• He’s right!
The Holy Trinity
• Increasing computer power, relational databases, & GUIs lead to:– Client-Server Architecture– Unmatched applications champion: PeopleSoft– First HR software shakeout
Why Should I Care?
• Patterns have emerged• Unless recognized and managed, they will be
problematic in all stages:– Implementing– Upgrading– Launching– Maintaining
The Shift to the Web
• Causes global stampede– Virtually no installation– No version mismatches
between client servercomponents
– Ubiquitous– Invented by Al Gore!
The Shift to the Web
• Disruptive technology• Drivers
– Cost– Infrastructure
• Challenges– Stateless– Though graphically rich, provides less true
functionality than early Green Screen systems
Acquisitions spike
• Side effect of (disruptive) technology boom• Acquisitions, while a cause of customer
concern, result in:– A dispersion of talent– The creation of software alternatives– Increased competition– Customers benefit long-term
WFM Systems
• WFM systems come into being• Evolution from “time clock” applications• Integration with HR• Push forward into
– Scheduling– Absence Planning– Workforce Planning
• Future of WFM
Successful Long-Term Systems Strategy
• Expect to replace systems regularly• Employee schedule optimization – a WFM
breakthrough – drives labor costs down in large organizations
• Meta-patterns: don’t be doomed to repeat them