Employment,Selection and Training Procedures in Australian Manufacturing,1940-1960

Abstract

While contertrporary Australian industrial relations studies are focusing increasingly on the workplace, our understanding of the historical development of workplace industrial relations remains hazy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the area of workplace labour management, and the role of the personnel manager. This paper seeks to rectify this neglect by analyzing the origins and development of the personnel function in manufacturing industry since the Second World War. Personnel initiatives in the areas of employment, selection and training are examined. The paper concludes that, while a tight post-war labour market provided a general impetus for the more widespread use of specialist personnel work, the nature of personnel practice varied widely between firms.