Abstract
During the last 15 years we have seen notable changes the Human Resource management function. Today we consider that there have been three different levels in the evolution of the HR function. The first generation of HR, was dedicated to the "Personnel Administration", what we consider the foundation of the function. Its job was mainly to support the company it was working for by providing all the basic HR services like leave processing, salary packaging, recruitment and training. The problem was that all those jobs could be easily replaced by information and e-Learning systems, which means that the HR function wasn't really necessary in a company. It didn't really add much value to the company.
In order to be more useful, the HR function needed to be more connected to the company and more aware of what it was looking for. That is what the second generation HR is all about. It managed to become more valuable to the company by trying to understand its actual needs. The HR department began working more closely to the managers in order to study and understand how the company worked, and help find new solutions and strategies to improve the management of the labor. They added value to the company by finding ways to increase the productivity of the labor force and improve their working conditions. They considered themselves more as business partners than simple employees.
