The concept of human resource management has grown through an evolutionary process in India. The various stages of development have greatly contributed to this process of evolution What all began began to put an end to exploitation in the “sweated industries”. The exploitation of labour took on such an inhuman form and character that the state had to intervene by putting in legislative measures to protect the people who were the victims of this naked exploitation. The concept of 'welfarism' which formed the bedrock of management of human resources owed to these legislative measures. Taking a cue from the state many progressive minded employers thought of this aspect of employees welfare. They started changing in their attitudes by introducing a series of social welfare measures in the form of better amenities and facilities for the employees. This kind of altruisitic thoughts led to kind of paternalism in Indian managers.

Sir Jamshedji Tata described his employees as his children. The creation of position like 'Welfare Officer' and their appointments under the Factories Act and other legislative measures led to the emergence and growth of a profession. The developments in the middle of the last century necessitated substantial work connected with the establishment which fell outside the realm of welfare officers but the specialized nature of the work required personnel who could professionally handle recruitment , manpower training, planning, discipline and other roles which called for professional expertise. This was the second phase during which many organizations recruited professional personnel managers to take care of the responsibilities of the areas mentioned afore.. There were organizations which blended two roles of the personal officer with welfare officer together.

This phase also witnessed a steady increase in the number of legislation in the sphere of industrial relations in relation to settlement of disputes and conducting the affairs of the organization in consonance with the letter and spirit of the Standing Orders. This development led to the appointment of professionals who could deal with industrial relations representing the conflict management concerns of the organization as well as meeting the requirements of the new industrial relations machinery. Many forward-looking companies established industrial relations and welfare department besides the personnel department under one umbrella. It was only in the seventies and later decades that more behavioural and technological chamges were considered necessary in management of human resources. The erstwhile personnel and welfare functions were broadened to cover areas like behavioural and motivational techniques, performance appraisal systems, management by objectives as well as incentive schemes to improve the performance of the employees. In a dramatic development during this period, management became aware of work culture and work values.