The purpose of this chapter is to outline some of the key elements of human resource management (HRM), and to introduce our framework for this volume. The field of HRM continues to evolve in today's organizations, in part due to the economic, technological, and social realities that influence the nature of business. In a global economy, a wide range of factors – that varies from global sourcing and labour arbitrage to regional trade agreements and labour standards, cultural differences, sustainability, strategic alliances, and innovation – all point to the vital nature of HRM. In a large part this is because, from a strategic standpoint, observers have noted that traditional sources of advantage such as access to capital, protected markets, or proprietary technologies are rapidly eroding, and that survival depends more often on the ability to innovate, adapt, and learn, and then transfer that learning globally (Wilkinson et al., 2017a, b). As one might guess, these capabilities rest squarely on the management of people (Morris, Snell, and Björkman, 2016).
But while few will argue against the premise that HRM issues are critical in today's organizations, the mantra of ‘people are our most valued asset’ has largely been a rhetorical one in most organizations, and the research evidence has often not backed it up (cf. Snell, Shadur, and Wright, 2002). Historically, organizations have not rested their fortunes on human resources. The HR function remains among the least influential in most organizations, and competitive strategies have not typically been based on the skills, capabilities, and behaviours of employees. In fact, the harsh reality is that labour is still often viewed merely as a cost to be minimized, particularly in tough times. Executives have more often tried to minimize the impact of employees on performance by introducing mechanization to substitute for labour where possible, and designing bureaucratic organizations that separate those who think from those who actually do the work (Snell, Youndt, and Wright, 1996).
But there are some encouraging signs that much of this is changing. As Quinn (1992, p. 241) noted, ‘with rare exceptions, the economic and producing power of the firm lies more in its intellectual and service capabilities than in its hard assets'. Again, this clearly highlights the importance of HRM. The science of HRM has also made significant strides forward in providing studies to illustrate how employees are managed has a significant impact on organizational performance. Compelling evidence has accumulated to show a positive association between organizational performance and a bundle of complementary HRM practices that comprise high-performance work systems (HPWS). This bundle includes selective recruitment, extensive training, internal promotion, performance appraisals, work teams, and employee participation among other practices. A positive association between HPWS and organizational performance holds in a wide range of studies (Combs et al., 2006; Huselid, 1995; Wright and Ulrich, 2017) and in those conducted in many different countries (Rabl et al., 2014). This universalistic ‘best practice’ perspective in HRM indicates that the HPWS bundle should be implemented on a worldwide scale – good people management matters everywhere.
However, this is not an uncontested view in the academic and business worlds (Kaufman, 2012). An alternative contingency perspective proposes that effective HRM practices are context specific, whereby firms need to consider practices that ‘best fit’ with aspects of the context in which they operate. From this perspective, competitive advantage is gained by aligning HRM practices with aspects of the organization's internal context (e.g. size, business strategy, technology) and external context (e.g. societal cultures, economic and business systems, laws/regulations, labour markets, and industrial relations systems) (Jackson and Schuler, 1995). Studies in support of these arguments report that differences in context explain variations in HRM practices between firms, industrial sectors, and nations (Aycan, 2005). Whether these differences moderate the relationship between HPWS and organizational performance continues to be studied.
Most recently, there is growing emphasis on a firm's ability to manage multiple HR systems simultaneously. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, it is suggested that a differentiated workforce perspective is required to distinguish between occupational groups or individuals in the workforce that are especially valuable to the firm. This requires focusing HR expenditure and running different sets of strategically targeted HR systems for different groups of employees (Lepak and Snell, 2002). More recently this emphasis on a multifaceted architecture has been explored as a foundation for achieving ambidexterity, agility, and organizational learning (Patel et al., 2013).
But we need to clarify briefly some conceptual issues before reviewing the state of knowledge in the field. We observe that for some authors debates about HRM are portrayed as being in a state of unrest, plagued with conceptual problems, inadequate theory, and colonized by uncritical positivistic psychology (Dundon and Rafferty, 2018). They also point to a crisis of legitimacy for the HRM profession. It is helpful in considering these arguments to unpack the various usages of HRM as a term because we find considerable slippage and hence confusion in the literature. We identify four main usages. First, HRM is used to describe the evolution of a profession from a welfare role that emerged in the 1890s to one responsible for establishing modern personnel methods (Kaufman, 2007). However, it has been often seen as largely an administrative function to deal with the ‘labour problem’ rather than contributing to strategic goals. Second, it is used to denote a particular approach to the management of people that attempts to develop and utilize the potential of HR to the full in pursuit of an organization's strategic objectives. It is the promise that is held by this latter view that has most excited practitioners and attracted the attention of management academics (Guest, 2011; Paauwe et al., 2013; Storey, 1992; Wilkinson et al., 2013). This approach has a normative underpinning since the examples provided were often US non-union firms and has been termed variously high-commitment HRM or high-performance HRM. But as Bacon (2003) points out, if HRM is defined exclusively as high-commitment management then the subject marginalizes itself to the discussion of a relatively small number of distinct companies. Equally as Charlwood and Hoque (2017, p. 195) point out, despite attempts to position HRM as a strategic discipline that offers tools and approaches (such as a high-commitment approach to HRM) which turn people into a source of inimitable competitive advantage, in most organizations most of the time, HR is a primarily administrative activity in the service of production and operational management, with a mandate to ensure compliance with local rules and customs. So rather than high-commitment management we have seen more examples of a ‘bleak house’ approach to managing employees (Guest and Conway, 1999).
Third and the approach we take in this text is that HRM is a map or a field of study covering ‘all aspects of people at work’ (Kochan, 1980, p. 1). As Boxall and Purcell (2011) suggest, HRM refers to all those activities associated with the management of work and people in organizations: related terms such as ‘employee relations', ‘labour management', and ‘people management’ are used as synonymous for HRM; and it is not restricted to any one style or ideology (Boxall and Purcell, 2011, pp. 1 and 34).
It is fair to say that there have been different traditions of writing within HRM. One is primarily associated with a North American approach and has more focus on performance and an organization-level model of an HRM system inspired by the stream of research on HPWS which examines the links between HR strategy and employee outcome measures such as commitment. The model combines theories and concepts from strategic management and organizational behaviour, with a focus on resources and processes internal to the organization, and takes a unitarist–shareholder perspective. But there is also a more critical tradition drawing from industrial relations and taking a pluralist stakeholder approach with more emphasis on forces outside the organization (see Kaufman et al., 2018). Our book represents both strands and our editorial team similarly has feet in both camps, and indeed we include contributors from both traditions.
Of course labels carry baggage and it is certainly true that much of the literature on HRM has encouraged a greater emphasis on efficiency and competitiveness. However, this need not imply a unitarist approach that assumes limited conflict between the interests of employers and employees, but also recognizes what is obvious to most workers and trade unions – that employers and employees have common as well as divergent interests. It is possible, therefore, to see efficiency and issues of cooperation as worthwhile to explore without having a managerial intellectual agenda. There is a danger, evident in the critical management studies’ tradition, that all practical reforms to improve organizations and the lot of workers are doomed, and the abolition of capitalism is required to emancipate the human spirit (Ackers and Wilkinson, 2003). In short, our view is closer to Boxall et al.'s (2008, p. 1) who note that HRM is ‘a fundamental activity in any organization in which human beings are employed. It is not something whose existence needs to be elaborately justified: HRM is an inevitable consequence of starting and growing an organization'.
To explore how HRM is changing, and to examine best practice across its array of activities, we organize this chapter as follows. First, we present a 2 × 3 matrix that summarizes both micro and macro perspectives on elements of HRM across: (a) a human focus, (b) a resource focus, and (c) a management focus. Second, we describe the structure of the book and how the individual chapters deal with the issues raised by this matrix of HRM perspectives.
The history and evolution of HRM (Chapter 1) emphasizes its longstanding concern with a human focus. Historically this focus placed a strong emphasis on employee rights and employee well-being in general. This focus was much in evidence in early developments in the areas of occupational health and safety (Chapter 17), grievance management (Chapter 19), and industrial relations (Chapter 18) in particular. More recently we can see this focus reflected in broad debates about job design (Chapter 23), work–life balance (Chapter 22), equality and diversity (Chapter 14), and well-being (Chapter 17).
At its root, HRM focuses on managing the employment relationship and the implicit as well as explicit agreements that are established between individuals and organizations. In many instances, the HR function plays the role of employee advocate or ‘employee champion’ in ensuring the equitable treatment of employees in order to ensure that the interests of employees as well as the organization are protected, and a strong psychological contract is developed between individual employees and their employer.
A micro perspective. From a micro standpoint, HRM includes managing the nature of employment to ensure some degree of balance is maintained between the parties involved (Chapter 3). This consists of issues such as employee involvement and voice (Chapter 15), and seeking to enhance feelings of employee engagement as opposed to alienation or burnout (Chapter 21). This raises the importance of employees’ experience at work and its outcomes, such as whether individuals have their voices heard (Chapter 15), their levels of engagement (Chapter 21), work–life balance (Chapter 22), and general well-being (Chapter 17).
A macro perspective. From a more macro perspective, the human element of HRM addresses collective agreements between employees and organizations that characterize industrial relations and collective bargaining (Chapter 18), as well as formal policies and procedures that ensure rights of redress in matters of discipline and grievance (Chapter 19). From a broad perspective, the human focus of HRM concerns issues related to ethics (Chapter 29), equal opportunity (Chapter 14), health and safety (Chapter 17), as well as fairness and workplace justice during downsizing and redundancy (Chapter 20).
Balancing the needs and interests of employees against the needs and interests of the organization is often a difficult task in HRM. The contradictions and tensions between different models of the HR function, such as that between an ‘employee champion’ and a ‘business partner’ role in the organization, have received considerable attention in the literature (Francis and Keegan, 2006; Ulrich, 1997). Although HRM by its very nature has a decidedly human focus, it also focuses on employees as a resource in driving performance. Many of the practices that are typically associated with HRM thus focus on increasing productivity and enhancing the competitiveness of the firm.
A micro perspective. From this perspective, HRM focuses on individual practices that improve organizational performance by increasing employees’ skills, motivation, and opportunities to contribute. The enduring importance of linking together these activities is theorized as the ability–motivation–opportunity (AMO) model (Appelbaum et al., 2000; Gardner et al., 2011; Jiang et al., 2012). Ability-enhancing practices ensure employees have appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities. Recruitment and selection practices (Chapter 8), for example, constitute important organizational investments to ensure that the best and the brightest talent is brought into the organization to fulfil its particular needs. Training and development (Chapter 9), in turn, augment the staffing process to build the talent base of the organization and close the gap on required skills, abilities, and other factors. Talent management systems (Chapter 10) and management and leadership development programmes (Chapter 11) help to ensure a strong cadre of executives is available to succeed current leaders, and to provide a succession of experiences that develop this talent over time. As surveys of business leaders frequently identify a shortage of talent as one of the key issues limiting firm performance, the HR function has opportunities to help organizations place an increased emphasis on developing and identifying talent in organizations.
Motivation-enhancing practices seek to increase discretionary effort from employees and align this with organizational goals. Performance appraisal (Chapter 12) is central to this process. Reinvigorating the traditional administrative and developmental requirements of performance management, it also identifies and rewards talent in organizations, addresses ability-related factors, seeks to motivate employees to improve individual and organizational performance, and identifies talent for promotion in order to drive the business forward. Given these aims it ties directly to the management of rewards (Chapter 13) and the various compensation methods organizations use such as pay for performance, incentives, and the like, that have significant consequences for employee motivation. Motivation is also significantly enhanced by fair treatment (Chapter 14) and opportunities to voice concerns (Chapters 15, 16, 18, and 19). How organizations treat employees during difficult periods of downsizing and redundancies is a critical test in the management–employee relationship (Chapter 20). Having developed highly capable and motivated employees it is also essential that they are able to give of their best. Opportunity-enhancing practices, such as work teams and employee participation (Chapter 15), may thus empower employees and increase opportunities to contribute towards organizational objectives. Effective job design (Chapter 23) helps align the motivational basis of work with the micro-structural requirements necessary to enable employees to maximize their contributions to the organization. The links between motivation and opportunities to participate are central to the current popularity of employee engagement (Chapter 21) as an idea eagerly embraced in many boardrooms.
A macro perspective. From a more macro perspective, a resource focus on HRM addresses the set of practices for managing the aggregate of human capital in organizations and nation states (Chapter 26). Much of this literature is informed by the resource-based view of the firm as it applies to HRM (Chapter 27). From a competitive standpoint, executives recognize that their talent base is a source of advantage, and as a consequence they take care to develop strategies that build and deploy their workforces in ways that enhance firm performance (Chapter 24). Different models of macro HRM (Chapter 2) capture the universalistic ‘best practice’ approach to HRM, the contingency approaches, and the configurational approaches which emphasize the combination of practices that reinforce and support one another. Just as individual talents combine to create a collective capability in organizations, multiple HR practices also combine to create an overall HRM strategy positioned within a regulatory context that affects the employer's choice of specific practices (see Chapter 4). This regulatory context requires employers to consider an international framework of human rights in addition to their traditional focus on national employment legislation. The evolution of HR strategy (Chapters 2 and 24) has taken organizations from a fairly static view focused on person–job fit, to one focused on organizational and cultural fit, and to managing a global workforce where practices differ across regions and cultures (Chapters 5 and 6). The development of distinct sub-fields of international and comparative HRM reflects increased interest in these issues. In cases of hyper-competition and rapid change, this often includes the use of contingency workers, strategic partnerships, and alliances that span organizational boundaries (Chapter 7). A traditional focus on outsourcing has expanded to consider the implications of offshoring as business processes are relocated from one country to another. At the extreme, these approaches have an aggregate impact on industry innovation and national economic performance (Chapter 26). The increased mobility of capital and firms continues to pose significant labour market challenges, encouraging significant flows of migration within and between nations.
While much of the literature on HRM has focused on the needs and concerns of employees (as humans) in organizations, as well as their potential contribution as resources contributing to organizational performance, an important subset of concerns relates to the management of the HR function itself. In many ways, the evolution of the HR function, its organization, and the professionalization of HR managers represent some of the biggest changes occurring over the last decades.
A micro perspective. Although the earliest roles and responsibilities of HR managers emerged from the administrative and transactional requirements of employment and personnel issues (Chapter 1), the contemporary setting requires HR managers to adopt a more strategic set of roles that focus on managing change, building organizational culture, and becoming a partner in the business (Chapter 16). The skills, knowledge, and behaviours of HR managers and leaders in this context are substantially different, and many companies are challenged with identifying and developing the next generation of HR professionals. This is further complicated by outsourcing aspects of the HR function and also the integration of information technology into HR activities (Chapter 16). The increased availability of Big Data (Chapter 28) offers the HR function unprecedented opportunities to model and understand how their activities influence employee attitudes and behaviours. Demonstrating the bottom line impact of HR practices in their firm may offer the HR function a long-sought-after seat in the boardroom. However, HR managers require new skills in data analytics to use this information effectively and risk being usurped by other functions in which managers are traditionally well versed in the necessary techniques.
A macro perspective. From this perspective the HR function has undergone a significant amount of change as well. Many firms have restructured to establish a cadre of HR generalists (business partners), complemented by centres of excellence (specialists), and supported by a shared services organization for administrative/transactional activities. In part these changes have taken place to create economies of scale in multinational companies (Chapter 31), and to manage staff across national borders, and in many cases on a global scale (Chapter 5). But some of the change is occurring in small and medium-sized firms as well (Chapter 30) where strategic partnerships give smaller firms access to specialized HR talent. In both settings, the trend towards outsourcing transactional activities such as managing the payroll has also continued.
The issues related to HRM in developing countries are no less significant (Chapter 25) and related to both micro issues of HR managers and macro issues of organizing the HR function within the firm. The rapid economic development of China and India with multinational companies emerging out of these nations to become global players indicates that in the future they will be exporters of HR innovation. Similarly, the special nature of the public sector (Chapter 32) also creates specific HR challenges that continue to affect many managers and employees.
The themes and developments outlined above are reflected in the chapters that follow. In the first part, the contributors provide an overview of the history and different perspectives underpinning the field. Gospel in Chapter 1 examines the management of HR, covering employment relations, work organization, and industrial relations. He covers periods from the nineteenth century to the present day, taking leading sectors and drawing primarily on the UK, USA, Germany, France, and Japan, and in doing so stresses change, continuity, and coexistence of systems over time. In Chapter 2 Jiang and Li start from the point of strategic HRM research having made considerable progress, then examine the relationships between HRM systems and performance outcomes, review the traditional theoretical frameworks that have influenced strategic HRM research in the past three decades, and discuss the new theoretical developments in this field. They then provide an integrated model to combine the traditional perspectives and new developments, and offer research implications to examine the relationships between HRM systems and performance outcomes in the future.
Budd and Bhave argue in Chapter 3 that a deep understanding of the field and practice of HRM is impossible without fully appreciating the elements of the employment relationship, their conceptualizations, and the resulting four frames of reference for HRM. Consequently, they provide a conceptual overview for thinking about the key elements of the employment relationship as a basis for understanding alternative perspectives on important HR issues. Although the employment relationship can be highly diverse in practice, there are five common building blocks: employees and their interests, employers and their interests, states, markets, and contracts. A review of the different perspectives on these elements results in the development of four distinct models of the employment relationship. After describing these models (equivalently, frames of reference), the chapter demonstrates that the four models provide very different perspectives on key issues in HRM: HR practices, equality and diversity, labour unions, and the globalizing employment relationship.
In Chapter 4 Barry and Wilkinson draw on insights from different fields of study to explain how the regulatory context informs the development and application of employer choices within organizations. In considering the contribution of fields such as organizational studies, industrial relations, comparative politics, economics and legal regulation, they note that in most developed countries in the last 20 years, the regulation of employment has shifted from a predominantly national institutional to an organizational setting. Despite this change, which brings the role of HRM and ‘the firm’ into closer scrutiny, they nevertheless maintain that changes in regulatory structures and methods do not simply equate to a shift from regulation to deregulation. While the management of the employment relationship now often involves organizational actors such as employees, supervisors, and managers, rather than institutional actors such as unions and employer associations, the regulatory context nevertheless underwrites and constrains the space in which these actors can shape HRM policies and practices.
Collings and Conroy in Chapter 5 start from the point that effectively managing HR is a complex endeavour and that this complexity is amplified for multinational enterprises (MNEs) that operate across national borders, particularly in the current environment where business is now more interconnected and complex than ever before. They explore three key areas of international human resource management (IHRM) research and practice. Given the long-recognized challenges of managing ‘interunit linkages’ in MNEs, the authors begin by considering the changing nature of international assignments in the context of staffing global operations in the MNE. They then move on to explore the nature of HR subsidiary relations from an IHRM perspective. Finally, they consider the emerging literature on global talent management, which they argue is one of the key contemporary challenges that MNEs face in the context of IHRM.
Farndale, Brewster and Mayrhofer argue in Chapter 6 that comparative HRM helps us understand the fundamental importance of context, which addresses concerns raised in both the HRM and international business fields about how theories that originate from studies in one context might not be readily applied to other contrasting contexts. Omitting or side-lining context is considered a fundamental mistake as HRM is not context-free. The authors note that different approaches to HRM can be equally successful in delivering the desired outcomes. The chapter explores the roots of comparative HRM as a field of study, highlighting how incorporating different levels of analysis (macro and meso) can enhance understanding of how people are managed in organizations worldwide. The question of whether convergence in HRM practice is occurring is also raised, concluding that national-level context is still highly relevant to understanding HRM practice adoption.
Morris, Shenkar, and Mackey note in Chapter 7 that a large body of literature examines the organization's ability to manage or direct its HR. This literature has largely drawn a line at the boundary of the organization; those within the boundary can be, and are, managed by fiat, the imposition of the employer's will, while those outside are not subject to direct employer control. Informed by transaction cost economics and the resource-based view of the firm, current theory holds that employees with highly firm-specific resources are kept inside organizational boundaries. However, the authors theorize that developments in globalization and the increased modularity of work, coupled with the proliferation of knowledge-based and professional work, have altered the landscape for organizations in their human capital decisions. Specifically, globalization and the modularity of work have decreased the value of the employment relationship to the organization, such that organizations have begun attempting to push traditional workers into third-party, independent contractor roles. At the same time, high-value knowledge workers are often brought into the organization, yet, because of their scarcity, are largely free from managerial fiat.
In the second part of the book we move to the fundamentals of HRM. Lievens and Chapman in Chapter 8 focus on the key themes in recruitment and selection in recent years. In personnel recruitment, the review highlights the impact of technology, the rise of employer branding, the renewed importance of the recruiter, and the need to address ageing populations and temporary workers. In personnel selection, the review discusses the increased emphasis on the strategic value of selection, the need to assess dark side traits, the use of social media in selection, the reliance on Big Data analytics, and the gamification trend. Despite these trends, it remains often difficult to demonstrate that recruitment and selection matter to the organization.
In Chapter 9 Grugulis notes that training and development have the potential to benefit every party to the employment relationship and, as a result, it is standard practice for textbooks to promote them. She acknowledges the advantages of training and development but locates the analysis firmly in workplace realities. It contrasts training that is focused on maintenance or meeting statutory requirements with training concerned with skills development, and puts forward a framework for analysing work-related training by dividing it into four different types: developmental, administrative, soft skills, and information and communication. The chapter goes on to examine what is happening to jobs, recruitment, and the issues of supply and demand for skills.
In Chapter 10, Gallardo-Gallardo and Thunnissen point to the rise of talent management (TM) as a hot topic. To survive in today's dynamic and competitive global environment, organizations need to excel and continuously perform better than their competitors, and talent is seen as a unique strategic resource, central to achieving sustained competitive advantage. Thus, organizations use TM to capture, leverage, and protect these resources. However, research on TM has been accused of lagging behind in offering organizations vision and direction on the matter. Despite the increasing scholarly attention to TM in recent years, it is a rather diffuse area of research, and there still is no consensus on its conceptual and intellectual boundaries.
McLaughlin, Vicere, and Ziskin tackle the subject of leadership development in Chapter 11. Given the flux in the world of work the leadership capabilities required for success are being redefined and reimagined. Leadership development practices and processes designed to prepare leaders are being rethought and reconfigured. The authors ask if leaders are ready for and relevant to the transformational changes that will be taking place over the next 10–15 years and beyond, and if organizations are prepared to disrupt and reshape the way they define and cultivate leadership talent. They argue that future-readiness will be found in the shift from ‘ready now’ to ‘ready able’ leadership development.
In Chapter 12 Brown reviews performance management from the perspectives of the two key participants – supervisors and employees. For supervisors, she examines the challenges and motivations in making an assessment of employee performance. For employees the outcomes of performance appraisals can have an impact on their pay and career opportunities. The chapter carefully examines the impression management tactics used by employees to create a favourable performance rating. It also reviews current debates about the value of performance appraisal as a tool of HRM.
Gerhart and Weller note in Chapter 13 that employee compensation or remuneration is a major cost, often the single largest operating cost for organizations. Thus, to be successful, an organization must effectively manage not only what it spends on compensation, but also what it gets in return. Contextual factors serve to place some limits on compensation decisions. Legal, institutional, cultural, and market factors vary across and often within countries, meaning that the degree of discretion an organization has in managing compensation decisions will also vary. Nevertheless, organizations typically have at least some discretion in compensation design. This choice can have a major impact at every level of the organization: on decisions made by individuals (through its incentive effects), as well as who those individuals are (through its sorting or self-selection and selection effects). In other words, compensation is a major factor in successfully executing an organization's strategy. The chapter's focus is primarily on decisions concerning the pay basis/mix (‘how to pay?') and, to a lesser extent, the pay level (‘how much to pay?'). Finally, the authors address potential pitfalls in using pay for performance and how contextual factors may influence compensation strategy and effectiveness.
Greene examines equality and diversity issues within HRM research and practice in Chapter 14. This begins by providing some background context in which the central theme is the move in thought from liberal approaches to equality based on ‘sameness', and to diversity approaches founded on ‘difference'. The chapter is structured around the gap between rhetoric and reality of theory and practice, and the problems of making a business case for equality; moves towards ‘best fit’ or contextualized policies and practices; and looking at who should have responsibility for diversity within organizations.
Wilkinson and Mowbray in Chapter 15 adopt a life-cycle perspective to examine those factors that affect the birth and initiation of employee involvement and participation (EIP) schemes, the design and implementation of EIP practices, and their outcomes. EIP schemes can contribute to improved outcomes for organizations and employees. However, their success or otherwise relies on a combination of organizational and individual factors. These include the extent to which the organizational climate is supportive of EIP and has embedded practices demonstrating both breadth and depth, along with managerial support. The predispositions and motivations of the individual managers, supervisors, and workers involved are also significant considerations affecting the EIP life cycle. The authors identify that EIP schemes may not be successful for all organizations; at best, EIP schemes may transform to a hybrid system, with some practices atrophying over time, while others are reinvigorated. The chapter reveals that there are many variables influencing the life cycle of EIP schemes, with each of the factors and their interactions regarded as complex.
Bondarouk, Ruël, and Roeleveld in Chapter 16 note that for about two decades private and public sector organizations have been digitizing HRM, a phenomenon coined as electronic HRM or e-HRM. The motivation has been mostly promises of cost savings, HR service quality improvements, and a more strategic HR orientation. A growing body of scholarly work since has aimed to test these promises. However, as yet, no study has investigated whether e-HRM implementation by organizations is based on a clear rationale or whether other non-substantial factors dominate. This chapter presents a study that analyses e-HRM through the lens of Abrahamson's theory of management fashion to determine if, and to what extent, e-HRM is truly rational and progressive. Drawing on empirical studies on e-HRM adoption and implementation the authors’ findings indicate that e-HRM can indeed be rational and progressive, and its use does generate time savings, increased profitability, error reductions, and higher quality HRM services. Furthermore, organizations also experienced socio-psychological benefits for national and organizational culture, the mindset and behaviour of employees, the computer skills of employees, and the quality of interpersonal communication with other e-HRM adopters. The techno-economic forces that played a role in e-HRM decision-making include organizational size, environmental infrastructure, industry, available resources, government regulations, firm performance, and pressure from competitors.
In Chapter 17 Loudoun and Johnstone point out that while some industrialized nations have achieved substantial reductions in the number of occupational deaths and injuries, work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths remain at unacceptably high levels. This chapter considers the effect of changing employment patterns, technology, and production techniques on occupational health and safety performance, management strategies, and enforcement strategies. It explores the broadening meaning and focus of workplace health and safety as well as emergent occupational health and safety (OHS) hazards, and international developments affecting work and production. In doing so, it examines developments in strategies to manage and regulate work health and safety along with current and future challenges for policy-makers, workers, and managers.
Sheldon, Bamber, Land-Kazlauskas, and Kochan take up the subject of modern industrial relations (IR) in Chapter 18 by advancing distinct sets of approaches – academic, policy, and practitioner – to the challenges posed as workers organized from early industrialization. The field gained increasing prominence, during the early to mid-20th century, by also addressing how great numbers of workers collectively responded to those challenges. In examining them, together with employer IR strategies – including through employer associations – IR has sought to explain how these have produced national IR systems built upon combinations of legislation and collective bargaining. Collective bargaining and unions remain particular foci, but since the 1980s, policies hostile to worker collectivism have contributed to greatly increased labour market inequality and insecurity for many.
Klaas in Chapter 19 examines what research tells us about the impact of different designs and structures for disciplinary and grievance systems. The chapter also examines work focused on recent efforts at experimentation with disciplinary and grievance systems. Finally, it examines how managers and employees use disciplinary and grievance systems within different contexts. The chapter identifies what is currently known and the key questions that need to be addressed in future research.
Johnstone in Chapter 20 provides an overview of the downsizing phenomenon. First, the chapter explores the origins and conceptual ambiguity surrounding the ‘downsizing’ term. Second, it considers the motivations and explanations offered for downsizing decisions, and notes how such decisions are not necessarily motivated by external threats or underperformance, but can also be a deliberate strategy in seemingly healthy organizations, as part of an attempt to further improve metrics of organizational performance. Third, the different forms downsizing can take are considered. These are further explored in relation to evidence regarding the employment practices and HR strategies adopted during the Great Recession of 2008. The final section then considers the evidence regarding the outcomes of downsizing for both employers and organizations before drawing some conclusions.
In Chapter 21 Kim and LePine outline theoretical perspectives that explain how and why employee engagement leads to positive outcomes for employees and organizations alike, and discuss the implications of employee engagement for HRM. First, they review different frameworks underlying engagement research, as well as different approaches scholars and practitioners utilize to measure this construct. Second, they conduct a critical analysis comparing the strengths and limitations of each framework, followed by suggestions as to when each framework is most appropriate. Third, the chapter concludes by discussing the implications of employee engagement for different HRM functions, including job design, recruitment, selection, training and development, and employee compensation/rewards.
Walsh notes in Chapter 22 the intense debate about the time demands and pressures of work and their impact on employees’ ability to coordinate their work and non-work commitments. These issues were evident in the work of Arlie Hochschild (1997) who argued more than 20 years ago that employees were experiencing a ‘time squeeze'. The chapter examines trends in working time, the debate about employees’ temporal pressures and long-hours working, and the effects of work–life conflict on employees and their organizations. Following this, evidence on individual work-time strategies is considered, as well as work–life policy-making, including how work–life initiatives can assist employees in managing their work and personal lives. Finally, the recent development of work redesign initiatives is examined.
Parker, Knight, and Ohly take up the changing face of work design research in Chapter 23. They point out that the way jobs are structured and organized, or their work design, can have a profound impact on employees’ psychological states and behaviour. Indeed, the way jobs are designed can also affect organizational success, as shown by the proliferation of popular practices that have work design issues at their core (such as lean production, empowerment, high-performance systems, team work, re-engineering and, recently, holocracy). The authors briefly review classic work design theories and research, followed by an outline of some alternative theoretical perspectives. They then return to the dominant concern of mainstream work design research – the relationship between work characteristics and outcomes – and identify several ways this approach has been developed to better meet the needs of the contemporary workplace.
In Part III of the book we look at contemporary issues. Roumpi and Delery in Chapter 24 comment that in over three decades of relevant research, the field of strategic HRM has offered important theoretical insights and empirical findings regarding the relationship between HRM deployments (practices or systems of practices) and organizational outcomes. The chapter identifies four specific areas of enquiry that could be the focus of future strategic HRM research: the black box of the HRM–organizational outcomes relationship; systems of HRM practices; the resource-based view and its potential to bridge the micro–macro divide, and contextual factors that influence the relationship between HRM activities and organizational outcomes.
Fang Lee Cooke examines a number of aspects related to HRM in developing countries in Chapter 25. It starts by outlining some of the features of the political and institutional environment manifested in a number of developing countries, and examines diversity and disparity in approaches to HRM. It provides a summary of the general characteristics of HRM in developing countries, highlighting management mindsets, approaches, differences across ownership forms, as well as deficiencies of strategic HR capabilities. The chapter also assesses the role of premium cities and economic zones in developing countries and considers the HRM implications. The emerging impact of technology on HRM and talent shortages are also discussed. The chapter concludes by arguing that developing countries are not only diverse but also may be leading in some aspects of technological, business, and HRM innovations. These developments challenge existing HRM concepts, theories, and practices. A stereotypical approach to perceiving HRM in these countries should be avoided and some of the new developments found in these countries may be useful for other societal contexts.
Michie in Chapter 26 examines the link between HRM and national economic performance in terms of how HR practices might enhance that performance in terms of productivity and competitiveness. He notes that the management of labour has been recognized as a crucial determinant of national economic and points out to how Adam Smith identified the division of labour as being fundamental to labour productivity, and hence to the economic prosperity of the firm in question and of the economy in aggregate. The role and importance of workforce skills have remained central to the economic analysis of labour and to the HRM field. While the literature and field have developed since 1776, many of the fundamental issues have long been recognized. Thus, the productivity of labour depends on a range of factors, to all of which HRM can contribute either directly or indirectly, with three key areas: first, skills and hence training; second, work organization; and third, the state of technology.
Boselie, Paauwe, and Veld point out that human capital can be a source of (sustained) competitive advantage of organizations through the application of HRM. In Chapter 27, the resource-based view (RBV) is combined with theoretical insights from new institutionalism. The overview presented consists of a general introduction and review of existing empirical HRM and RBV studies. In addition, the RBV is critically analysed in terms of measurement difficulties, lack of attention to context, and tautological issues in the approaches. Next, the RBV approaches are linked to institutional theory in particular to further contextualize the RBV in HRM studies. Finally, the chapter provides a future research agenda proposing alternative methods and techniques.
In Chapter 28 Huselid and Minbaeva observe that the business community's interest in Big Data is substantial, as the amount of available data is growing exponentially, and firms are spending billions of dollars on data and infrastructure. The authors suggest that with the right analytics, Big Data can deliver rich insights and that the advent of Big Data in HRM represents both a major opportunity and a significant challenge. As the authors point out, most organizations spend 50% to 70% of their revenue on their workforces and related expenses, but the quality of analytic processes and infrastructure in most organizations is poor. To address the challenges and opportunities of Big Data for HRM and to move the field forward, the authors ask if the trend towards using Big Data will be positive for the HRM field. Will Big Data and analytics transform HRM as we know it? Where do Big Data and analytics add the most value for HRM and what are the key priorities for the development of workforce analytics? They argue that the advent of Big Data provides an important opportunity, but one that comes with danger if managed incorrectly.
Nieuwenboer and Treviño in Chapter 29 examine the role of HR managers in ensuring ethical behaviour in organizations. While larger organizations often employ ethics and compliance officers to focus on ethics management (who then work with their HR partners), other organizations rely mostly on HR managers to develop HR systems that support ethical conduct in the organization. Indeed, anecdotal evidence suggests that the ethical issues that arise in organizations most often are HR-related issues. In this chapter the authors take an HRM lens to consider the behavioural ethics literature, with the aim of advancing a research agenda that unites these hitherto independent research domains. Specifically, it reviews research on attraction and recruitment, performance management, training, employee voice, abusive and ethical leadership, as well as justice and fairness. They conclude that ethics and compliance officers and HR managers should, thus, be thought of as partners in increasing ethical conduct and reducing misconduct in organizations.
Edwards and Ram in Chapter 30 note the role of the small firm in the economy and that small firms are commonly seen as different from large ones, notably in the informality of their employment. As they note, it is frequently observed that small firms lack formal HR systems. Although such systems are rare compared with the situation in large firms, they vary in the extent of formality. The authors first map the extent of formal HR practices and then consider the underlying managerial processes involved, before considering employee responses to HR practices in small firms, and identifying the sources of variation between firms. Finally, they assess the HPWS debate in the context of the small firm.
In Chapter 31 Reiche and Minbaeva comment that the multinational company (MNC) serves as an important organizational context for the design and diffusion of HRM policies and practices. This is because the HR function typically has higher levels of location-specificity relative to other functions, which requires MNCs to make trade-offs between their HRM configuration at their HQ and subsidiary levels. This chapter outlines the various HRM issues that MNCs encounter across national borders. It first pinpoints the domain of HRM in MNCs before discussing key thematic areas that have received research attention. Subsequently, it reviews relevant theoretical lenses and methodological approaches adopted in past research and then provides recommendations for meaningful future research.
In the final chapter (Chapter 32) Bach examines HRM in the public sector. He notes that while the distinctive values and institutional arrangements of public services, and their oversight by the state, have encouraged separate consideration of HRM in public service workplaces, the findings have rarely been integrated into mainstream debates. As the boundaries and barriers between sectors have loosened, there is increased recognition of the similar HR challenges faced by large organizations, whether in the public or private sector. This chapter examines the context for HR in the public sector before examining the new public management reforms and the subsequent impact of the global financial crisis and austerity measures. It notes that the public sector will continue to experience organizational reform and the HR agenda will have to take account of a wider variety of providers delivering public services, encompassing public, private, and third-sector providers, and a more diverse workforce, less dominated by the traditional professions, will need to respond to increasingly vocal and demanding citizens.
The chapters in the Handbook attest to the continued importance of HRM for both organizational performance and employee well-being. They also identify the broad and increasing scope of academic disciplines generating evidence and developing theories to understand existing practices and help guide managers in the future. The extent to which academics and managers can meet the challenges posed in these chapters will have an impact on our future working lives.
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