A Petite Chronicle

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In principle, our time on this planet has been divided into seven ages, punctuated by unique events and revolutionary shuffles of social life.

We have lived through millions of unaccounted years during the Pre-historic Age. It was around the Ancient Ages when man started to keep journals of life and the surrounding developments. Consumerism then was unaffiliated ventures and services and goods were traded by skilled artists and craftsmen.

During the Middle Ages, the trend continued, and skilled workers were the sole proprietors of their devices and enterprises. Circumstantially, business partnerships were stretched within the family. Nonetheless, during the same time when administrations were passed from one poor leadership to another, advancements in all spheres of society decelerated. Engaging slaves to serve arduous tasks emerged as a practice. They were sold in the open market like commodities and people who purchased them dictatorially controlled their lives. Legend has it, that failing to deliver the services under any circumstances led to physical mutilation and at times death penalties. The Middle Ages came to be known as the Dark Ages for several reasons besides the conditions of human life.

As we gradually transitioned to the modern age, during the Renaissance humanism and humans being the centre of existence and excellence emerged as the ideology. This entailed the promotion of people’s self-interest. The wealthy started to invest in art, literature and research, which encouraged overseas exploration. Development in the various sectors boosted the need for financial services and resulted in the expansion of the banking sector. Such high-velocity progression played an instrumental part to initiate the transactional relationship between an employer and employee.

Then there was the advent of the Industrial Revolution, which brought about systematic development surrounding Human Resources Management, and three departments were categorically established - Recruitment, Training and Control of the Workforce. Mass production of goods encouraged people to move to urban areas looking for jobs and motivated investors to consider exporting raw materials from foreign lands. Countries like Africa and India served as raw material jackpots to the traders and what followed was the colonialization of these countries. This was the genesis of Imperialism, an age that impacted Humans in both favourable and damaging ways, depending on which part of the World they came from.

During the later course of Imperialism, management became a subject of research and in 1908 World’s first MBA program was launched at Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, with 15 faculty members, 33 regular students and 47 special students.

Finally, we made our way to the Contemporary Age, with the conclusion of World War II and the end of Imperialism. Many countries across the Globe gained freedom and the rise in democratic ideals led the experts to take a closer look at the human behavioural aspects that impacted work and variables of a society.

In 1945, the World’s first institute of higher education dedicated to workplace studies was established, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations affiliated with Cornell University and in 1948 the foundation became the largest professional HR association—the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). In the 1970s business became a Global venture and commerce was no longer restricted to a particular country. Flexibility and diversity became the need of the time and Human Resource Management transpired as a core department of every establishment.

If we crystallize the idea, Humans have proved to be the most pragmatic resource. In absence of the adaptability, skills, knowledge retention and execution abilities of Humans, we would have never known the technological, architectural, social and economic advances of the world we live in today. This is the Alchemy of Human Resources, the continual transformation that turns potential into progress