Were the Vikings the first HR executives?

Although the term human resources may have been coined only about 40 years ago, as a management function, one might argue that the roots of human resources can be traced to an ancient society -- the Vikings. It may, at first, seem far-fetched to draw an analogy between HR and the warriors of Scandin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Employment Relations Today 2010-09, Vol.37 (3), p.15-21
Main Authors: Meitar, Aviad, Cohen-Meitar, Ravit
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Guidelines
Historical analysis
Human resource management
Human resources
Vikings
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Although the term human resources may have been coined only about 40 years ago, as a management function, one might argue that the roots of human resources can be traced to an ancient society -- the Vikings. It may, at first, seem far-fetched to draw an analogy between HR and the warriors of Scandinavian origin who lived over 1,000 years ago and raided foreign lands to expand their trading zones. However, the Vikings established a set of laws that had the seeds of management ideas that are relevant and useful to the business environment of the twenty-first century. This article offers a close look at the four laws that were a prescription for Viking warrior conduct: 1. Be a good merchant. 2. Be prepared. 3. Be brave and aggressive. 4. Keep the camp in order. The authors describe how these laws can be used as templates for doing business today.
ISSN:0745-7790
1520-6459
DOI:10.1002/ert.20305