7. POSITIVE NEGATIVE
Companies established or
strengthened their personnel
programs to avoid unionization
Once unionized, companies
needed to add personnel and
labor relations staff
Unions pushed for wage
standardization, job
classification systems, formal
grievance systems, and written
employment rules
Many corporate labor
programs were removed
HRM function lost professional
prestige, worker confidence,
and public approval
HRM lost power and influence
at the strategic level
Over the next ten years, however, the prestige and influence of HRM, and particularly the strategic ‘goodwill’ version associated with the Welfare Capitalist movement, took a dramatic nose-dive. The Great Depression began in late 1929 and the economy went into a downward spiral until in early 1933 gross domestic product had fallen 30 percent and one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed. The economies of other countries followed suit and, indeed, Great Britain had started the descent earlier.