Whats a Labor Strike?
Perhaps an even starker illustration of the fading impact of those earlier labor-oriented turning points in HR comes from Michael R. Losey, a consultant and former chief executive of the Society for Human Resource Management. An individual holding a “major HR position” in a large organization who was taking a class Losey was teaching shocked him by asking whether striking workers continue to be paid by their company while on strike. “How could this person not know that answer?” he asks. “Where was her life experience or general education? How can she effectively serve as a general manager?” Yet the decline in unions plays a part in another fundamental shift in the HR world that, according to Losey, has occurred too gradually to pin to any particular event that would qualify as a turning point. That’s HR’s evolution “from a male-dominated profession to a profession dominated by women.” One key driver, says Losey, is the decline of unions. “Through World War II, HR was mostly concerned w
