SOLUTION: ​Leading and Managing People

SOLUTION: ​Leading and Managing People.

Eighth Edition
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
A CONTEMPORARY APPROACH
Julie Beardwell &
Amanda Thompson
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
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HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
A CONTEMPORARY APPROACH
Eighth edition
Edited by
Julie Beardwell
and Amanda Thompson
De Montfort University, Leicester
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ISBN:
978-1-292-11956-4 (print)
978-1-292-11959-5 (PDF)
978-1-292-20446-8 (ePub)
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A catalogue record for the print edition is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Beardwell, Julie, editor. | Thompson, Amanda (Head of the Department
of Human Resource Management), editor.
Title: Human resource management : a contemporary approach / edited by Julie
Beardwell and Amanda Thompson, De Montfort University, Leicester.
Description: Eighth edition. | Harlow, United Kingdom : Pearson Education, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017007976 | ISBN 9781292119564 (print) | ISBN 9781292119595 (pdf) |
ISBN 9781292204468 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Personnel management.
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NOTE THAT ANY PAGE CROSS REFERENCES REFER TO THE PRINT EDITION
BRIEF CONTENTS
Guided tour
Preface
Plan of the book
How to use this book
Contributors
Acknowledgements
xii
xv
xvi
xvii
xix
xxii
PART 1
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
AND ITS ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT
Introduction to Part 1
1 An introduction to human resource
management
2 Strategic human resource management
3 Contextualising HRM
3
30
67
100
101
145
179
PART 3
DEVELOPING THE HUMAN RESOURCE
Introduction to Part 3
7 Learning and development
8 Leadership and management development
9 Organisational development
10 The employment relationship and employee
rights at work
343
11 Employee engagement
389
12 Performance management
425
13 Employee reward
458
14 Employee voice
508
2
PART 2
RESOURCING THE ORGANISATION
Introduction to Part 2
4 HRM and the labour market
5 Talent management
6 Managing equality and diversity
PART 4
THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
214
215
260
299
PART 5
COMPARATIVE HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
15 Comparative HRM in the context of
financialisation, financial crisis and Brexit
16 Employment relations in emerging
economies: China and India
588
Glossary of terms and abbreviations
Index
625
635
545
CONTENTS
Guided tour
Preface
Plan of the book
How to use this book
Contributors
Acknowledgements
xii
xv
xvi
xvii
xix
xxii
Introduction
Understanding the business context
Approaches to the strategy-making process
The rise of SHRM
Exploring the relationship between strategic
management and SHRM: The best-fit school
of SHRM
Limitations of the best-fit models of SHRM
The resource-based view of SHRM
Best-practice SHRM: high-commitment models
HRM and performance
SHRM and performance: The critique
Measuring the impact of SHRM on performance
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: High road versus low road in the civil
aviation industry
References and further reading
PART 1
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
AND ITS ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT
Introduction to Part 1
1
2
An introduction to human resource
management
Julie Beardwell
3
Objectives
3
Case study: Winning HRM practice: simply Business 4
Introduction
4
Definitions of HRM
5
The origins of HRM
7
Models of HRM
8
HRM and organisational performance
12
HRM in practice
17
The impact of HRM on the roles of HR
professionals
20
HR competence
23
Concluding comments
24
Summary
25
Case study: The future of work: the journey to 2022 26
References and further reading
27
2
Strategic human resource management
Heather Connolly and Julie Beardwell
30
Objectives
Case study: Taking the ‘low road’ in big business
30
31
3
32
33
34
38
39
45
47
52
54
57
58
60
60
62
63
Contextualising HRM
Audrey Collin with Julie Beardwell
67
Objectives
Case study: Muddled language hides the
effect of the gig economy
Introduction
The immediate context of HRM
The wider context of HRM
Wider contextual influences on HRM today
Ideas and theories in the wider context of HRM
Underlying assumptions
Alternative ways of thinking
Ethical issues in HRM
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: BHS report lays bare failure and
culpability: Parliamentary inquiry lambasts
collapsed store chain’s ex-owner, buyer and its
‘directors, advisers and hangers-on’
References and further reading
67
68
69
72
76
79
80
81
82
92
93
94
95
96
viii
CONTENTS
6
PART 2
RESOURCING THE ORGANISATION
Introduction to Part 2
4
5
100
HRM and the labour market
Amanda Thompson
101
Objectives
Case study: More than 100,000 legal roles
to become automated
Introduction
The nature of labour markets
The supply of labour
Population
Workforce
Patterns of labour market participation
Labour demand
Changing patterns of demand
Changes in the occupational structure
of employment
Changing forms of employment
Labour market outcomes: The quality of
employment
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: Companies struggle to fill quarter
of skilled jobs vacancies
References and further reading
101
102
102
103
105
106
112
115
120
128
130
132
133
140
141
142
143
Managing equality and diversity
Mike Noon
179
Objectives
Case study: Women in the boardroom
Introduction
Discrimination and legal protection in
the workplace
Why is inequality a problem and why should
managers be concerned with it?
What are the embedded and deep-rooted causes
of the problems of equality and diversity
within an organisation?
Two problems with institutional discrimination
Using equality and diversity policies to deal with
the problems
Devising equality and diversity policies
Sameness and difference
Long and short agendas
The process of discrimination in an organisation
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: Employees of conscience?
References and further reading
179
180
180
181
186
191
193
194
200
204
205
205
208
208
210
211
PART 3
DEVELOPING THE HUMAN RESOURCE
Introduction to Part 3
214
Talent management
Julie Beardwell
145
Objectives
Case study: Talent management in
the Red Arrows
Introduction
Defining talent management
Strategic talent management
Attracting talent
Defining the talent required
Recruitment methods
Selecting talent
Retaining talent
Developing talent
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: Staff retention and staying power:
Nissan builds on loyalty at Sunderland plant
References and further reading
145
146
146
147
148
149
152
153
156
164
167
174
175
176
177
7
Learning and development
Mairi Watson and Jim Stewart
215
Objectives
Case study: From business strategy to training plan
Introduction
The strategic importance of learning and
development for organisations
Individual learning and development
Theories of learning
Theories of the process of development
Learning and development: The organisational
context
Learning and development: The national
perspective
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: Learning IT systems
References and further reading
215
216
216
217
218
224
229
231
249
254
254
255
256
8
9
Leadership and management
development
Mairi Watson and Deborah Price
260
Objectives
Case study: Saatchi chief’s comments on
‘unambitious’ women come under fire from
ad execs
Introduction
Defining leadership and management
development (LMD)
The purposes of LMD
Developing an LMD strategy
International leadership and management
development
The design of international leadership and
management development programmes
LMD in different contexts
The future for LMD: The need for new thinking
and new practices?
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: In the NHS we Trust?
References and further reading
260
261
262
262
265
267
284
287
289
292
292
293
294
295
Organisational development
Mairi Watson
299
Objectives
Case study: World asks just how the Brits do it
Introduction
Definitions and development of OD
A brief history of OD
OD today: The last 10 years
The theories of OD
The techniques and practices of OD
OD: Strategy, structure and culture
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: A whole system event for real-time
strategic change; use of African-influenced
facilitation through lekgotla
References and further reading
299
300
301
303
304
310
312
315
328
335
335
336
336
PART 4
THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
Introduction to Part 4
ix
Objectives
Case study
Introduction
Distinguishing contractual and statutory
employment rights
The importance of the contract of employment
Formation and the contract of employment
Continuation: Discrimination in employment
Termination of the employment contract
Enforcement of contractual and statutory
employment rights
Contractual rights and wrongs?
Current issues
Conclusion
Summary
Case study: Age discrimination more widespread
than sexism in the City
References and further reading
343
344
344
346
348
349
366
367
373
378
379
382
383
385
386
11 Employee engagement
Julia Pointon
389
Objectives
Case study: Alcoa Power and Propulsion
Introduction
Definitions from the practitioner literature
Definitions from the academic literature
Characteristics of engaged employees
Employee disengagement
Employee engagement and related concepts
Employee engagement as an exchange process
Employee engagement and psychological
well-being
Organisational drivers of engagement
Organisational benefits of employee engagement
Employee engagement and the older worker
Measuring employee engagement
Organisational strategies for enhancing employee
engagement
Governmental strategies for enhancing
employee engagement
Patterns of engagement across the world
Summary
Case study: Engaging employees at Tasty Catering
References and further reading
389
390
391
391
392
393
395
396
399
401
402
403
407
408
411
413
414
417
418
422
12 Performance management
342
10 The employment relationship and
employee rights at work
Alan J. Ryan
CONTENTS
343
Deborah Price
425
Objectives
Case study: Mouldaplas
Introduction
The history of performance management
The performance imperative: Why manage
performance?
425
426
427
427
428
x
CONTENTS
What is performance management?
Performance management in practice
Approaches to performance appraisal
Types of performance appraisal
Limitations of performance measurement
Performance management or surveillance?
Collaborative performance management
Green HRM and performance management
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: Performance improvement at TRW
References and further reading
430
432
435
436
439
441
442
448
451
452
453
454
13 Employee reward
Amanda Thompson and Alan J. Ryan
458
Objectives
Case study: City leaders urge radical reforms of
‘unfair’ executive pay
Introduction
The historical and theoretical foundations of
employee reward
The development of reward systems
The design of reward systems and persistent
debates
Employee reward in the contemporary era
Components of reward
Reward management and the emergence of
strategic approaches to reward
Strategic reward in practice
Factors influencing organisational approaches to
reward practice and pay determination
Gender pay reporting
The Equality Act 2010 (EqA), ss. 64–80
National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999
Working Time Regulations 1998
Internal/organisational factors and the influence
of sector
Pay determination – internal or external focus?
Devising pay structures
Pay progression
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: Zizzi cuts staff perks as minimum
wage increases
References and further reading
458
459
459
460
461
463
467
468
474
476
479
482
483
484
486
487
490
491
497
502
502
504
505
14 Employee voice
Peter Butler
508
Objectives
508
Case study: Junior doctors reject call to maintain
paediatrics during strike
509
Introduction
509
Definitions
Employee involvement
Participation
The practice of voice in the workplace
Downward communication
Upward problem-solving and team-working
From team-working to high-performance
management
The impact of HPM on organisational performance
Representative participation
Trade union representation
Voice and the demise of collective bargaining
Trade union decline: Rationale
Opportunities for renaissance? Trade union
voice under New Labour (1997–2010):
‘Fairness, not favours’
Statutory trade union recognition: A critique
Trade union voice under the Coalition (2010–15)
and Conservative (2015–) governments
Trade union voice and membership loss:
Strategies for renewal
Boosting trade union voice: Servicing and organising
Enter partnership
Non-union systems of employee voice: A unitary
approach to collective representation?
Works councils and consultation in the
European Union
The European Works Council Directive
The Information and Consultation Directive
Concluding comments
Summary
Case study: ‘Voice’ issues in a retail fashion
organisation
References and further reading
510
511
512
514
515
516
517
518
518
519
519
521
521
523
523
524
524
525
527
531
531
533
535
536
537
538
PART 5
COMPARATIVE HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
Introduction to Part 5
544
15 Comparative HRM in the context
of financialisation, financial crisis
and Brexit
Ian Clark
545
Objectives
545
Case study: The varied reaction of multinational
car producers to Brexit?
546
Introduction
546
CONTENTS
Comparative and international HRM: The field
of scholarship
547
Contemporary contexts for comparative HRM:
Financialisation, financial crisis, ‘rule making’
and ‘Brexit’
553
National patterns of employment and HRM:
The USA, Japan and Germany
558
Summary
583
Case study: Toyota committed to Japan
584
Case study: Mercedes-Benz in Alabama
584
References and further reading
585
Introduction
Comparative capitalism in Asia
China: State-led capitalist model
India: State-guided capitalist model
China and India: A comparative assessment
Summary
Case study: Organising informal workers in India:
Failures and opportunities
References and further reading
Glossary of terms and abbreviations
Index
16 Employment relations in emerging
economies: China and India
Anita Hammer
588
Objectives
Case study: New skills policy, patterns of skill
formation and firms’ strategies in India
588
589
Lecturer Resources
For password-protected online resources tailored to
support the use of this textbook in teaching, please visit
www.pearsoned.co.uk/beardwell
ON THE
WEBSITE
xi
590
591
593
605
616
620
621
622
625
635
GUIDED TOUR
CHAPTER 1
AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
JULIE BEARDWELL
Objectives

To define human resource management (HRM).

To explore the origins of HRM.

To review and evaluate the main models of HRM.

To explore the association between HRM and business performance.


To explore HRM in practice and the impact of recession and recovery on
HRM practice.
To review the impact of HRM on the changing roles of human resources
professionals.
Objectives
Provide an overview of the topics to be covered
in each chapter, giving a clear indication of what
you should expect to learn.
MODELS OF HRM
9
Political
forces
Cultural
forces
Economic
forces
Mission
and
strategy
Firm
Organisation
structure
Figures
Are used to illustrate key points,
models, theories and processes.
Human
resource
management
Figure 1.1 The matching model of HRM.
Source: Devanna et al. (1984) in Fombrun et al. (1984: 35); reproduced with permission.
The matching model is closely allied with the ‘hard’ interpretation of HRM, that is, the deployment
of human resources to meet business objectives. Two assumptions underpin this model. The first is
that the most effective means of managing people will vary from organisation to organisation and
is dependent on organisational context. The second assumption is that of unitarism, that is, the
assumption that conflict, or at least differing views, cannot exist in the workplace because everyone
(managers and employees) is working to achieve the same goal, the success of the organisation.
This model has formed the basis of the ‘best fit’ school of HRM, discussed further in Chapter 2.
Universalism: More is better
A second influential model, illustrated in Figure 1.2, was developed by Beer et al. (1984) at Harvard
University. ‘The map of HRM territory’, as the authors titled their model, recognises that there are a
variety of ‘stakeholders’ in the organisation, which include shareholders, various groups of employees,
the government and the community. The model recognises the legitimate interests of diverse stakeholders, and assumes that the creation of HRM strategies will have to reflect their different interests and
fuse them as much as possible into the human resource strategy and ultimately the business strategy.
This recognition of stakeholders’ interests raises a number of important questions for policymakers in the organisation (Beer et al., 1984: 8):
How much responsibility, authority and power should the organisation voluntarily delegate
and to whom? If required by government legislation to bargain with the unions or consult with
workers’ councils, how should management enter into these institutional arrangements? Will
they seek to minimise the power and influence of these legislated mechanisms? Or will they
share influence and work to create greater congruence of interests between management and
the employee groups represented through these mechanisms?
GUIDED TOUR
4
xiii
CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Case study
Winning HRM practice: simply Business
Simply Business, an online insurance company that sells
insurance to small businesses, landlords and shops in the
UK, is top of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work
For 2016. The company has 315 staff with a head office in
London and a contact centre in Northampton.
Head office employees work in an open-plan office and
hold meetings via Google hangouts. A number of staff live
abroad and work remotely full-time. Chief executive Jason
Stockwood invites groups of contact centre staff to dinner
when he is in Northampton. ‘I want to make sure people
feel they can do their best work without going through
hierarchies or command-and-control structures,’ he says.
‘I enjoy the company of everyone I work with.’
Stockwood joined Simply Business from Match.
com in 2010. He describes the insurance industry as ‘a
massive market with a low bar on credibility’ that can
serve customers better. In his first year, Stockwood
oversaw a reorganisation that affected 53% of staff. ‘We
changed the culture,’ he says, and put employees at the
forefront, turning the ‘hackneyed phrase about customers
coming first’ on its head. ‘You can’t force people who hate
their environment to do a good job,’ he adds. ‘Customers
only come first if our employees are happy and doing a
good job.’
Simply Business employees are so highly engaged that
their responses to the Sunday Times staff survey put it top
in 50 of the 70 questions. People say that they would not
leave for another job (a 90% positive score) and are inspired
by their leader (91%). Perks include a benefits package with
private health insurance and life assurance. Salaries have
also been improved year on year since Stockwood has
been at the helm, despite the recession. Trips, nights out
and office beers are part of the company’s fabric, as are
charity events. An 89-mile bike ride from Northampton to
London and an Arctic biathlon are the main fundraisers.
Case studies
Appear at the end of each chapter and provide an
opportunity to consider what you have learnt from
the chapter in the context of a real World scenario.
Discover how you might apply both theory and
practice and prepare yourself for life beyond
academic study.
Source: http://appointments.thesundaytimes.co.uk/article/best100
companies/.
Introduction
The first edition of this book was published in 1994 and the then editors described HRM as
a newly emerging phenomenon that added ‘a powerful and influential perspective’ to debates
about the nature of the contemporary employment relationship. They noted (Beardwell and
Holden, 1994: 5):
Any assessment of the emergence of Human Resource Management has, at least, to take
account of this changing context of employment and provide some explanations as to the
relationships that exist between the contribution HRM has made to some of these changes on
the one hand and, on the other hand, the impact that such changes have had on the theory
and practice of HRM itself.
Human resource management continues to both influence and be influenced by the changing
context of employment, but, while still relatively new, it can no longer be described as an emerging phenomenon. Boxall and Purcell (2011: 2) suggest that HRM is the most widely recognised
term in the English-speaking world to refer to management activities in organising work and
employing people. However, there is still little universal agreement on what precisely constitutes
HRM, and debates around the meaning of the term and the impact of the concept continue.
To enable us to identify how ‘understanding HRM’ has changed over time and to consider the
impact this change has had on the management of people, this chapter aims to explore the key
themes within the debates that surround HRM under the six headings in the list of objectives.
Introductory case study
Designed to stimulate interest and provoke
thought as you begin your exploration of
the chapter and consider how it might
relate to the real world.
The resource-based view of shrM
Explore
Explore
Features appear throughout the text to
reinforce learning through the use of selfreflection, problems and practical exercises,
helping you to better understand the links
between theory and practice.
47
reflect on wright and snell’s fit/flexibility model (see figure 2.5). how might an hr professional
facilitate flexibility?
We have explored the best-fit school of SHRM and its relationship to strategic management
through the contingency and configurational approaches. The contingency approach recommends a strong relationship to strategic management, whether it be to an organisation’s life cycle
or to competitive forces. This obviously assumes a classical, rational-planning model of strategic
management. We have considered this relationship, or vertical integration between an organisation’s business strategy and its HR strategy, in some detail, defining the varying degrees of fit or
vertical alignment, and have considered the possibility of providing both fit and flexibility alongside each other. The configurational approach attempts to answer some of the limitations of the
contingency approach by identifying ‘ideal type’ categories of both the organisation strategy and
the HR strategy. It seeks to derive an internally consistent set of HR practices that maximise
horizontal amd vertical integration. The configurational approach is further explored in the
‘bundles’ approach to SHRM, which is considered later in this chapter.
The best-fit approach to strategic HRM utilises an ‘outside-in’ (Wright et al., 2004: 37) perspective to explain how the strategic management of human resources can deliver competitive
advantage; thus organisations can gain advantage by aligning HR policies and practices with
market position and competitive focus. An alternative approach to understanding the relationship
between SHRM and competitive advantage is the resource-based view of SHRM, which utilises
an ‘inside-out’ perspective (Wright et al., 2004: 37), where it is the internal resources of the business that are viewed as the key to sustainable competitive advantage. Thus an organisation’s
skills, knowledge and talent become ‘strategic assets’ and the management of these human
resources takes on strategic significance.
Key controversy
Key controversy
Features invite you to reflect critically,
challenge assumptions and relate scenarios to
your own experience, helping to develop
skills for use in future employment.
external factors, such as technological developments, can mean that the strategies of established organisations can
become irrelevant – think, for example, of the impact on Kodak as a result of being able to take photos on a mobile
phone or the impact on the record industry of music streaming and downloads. when asked about the ability of
spotify to conquer the music industry, Gustav soderstrom, the chief product officer, said that spotify ‘is a pretty good
concept for what the industry could be . . . but it’s dangerous to build for a future that might not be. it’s dangerous
to get stuck in your own bubble’.
To what extent is organisational strategy building for a future that might not be? is it better to have no strategy
than the wrong strategy?
Source: Milne, R. (2014), ‘The Spotify effect’, Financial Times, 25 October.
The resource-based view of SHRM
The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm focuses on the internal resources of the organisation
rather than analysing performance in terms of the external context. In other words, the RBV
perspective analyses strategy from the inside-out, as opposed to the outside-in approach of theories of best fit (Boselie et al., 2014). Advocates of the resource-based view on SHRM help us to
understand the conditions under which human resources become a scarce, valuable, organisationspecific, difficult-to-imitate resource, in other words key ‘strategic assets’ (Winter, 1987; Amit
GUIDED TOUR
xiv
128
CHAPTER 4 HRM AND THE LABOUR MARKET
Rubery (1994) argues that the presence of disadvantaged groups in the labour market increases
the range of options open to some employers by allowing them to fulfil their requirements for a
stable, cooperative workforce without having to offer the positive incentives associated with
internalised employment relationships (see Box 4.2). This is because, as indicated earlier, disadvantaged groups face barriers to employment, curtailing choice in terms of jobs and careers; in
short, they often have to accept what they can get. The absence of better alternatives makes these
jobs more attractive than they would otherwise be and therefore more highly valued by workers.
This is reflected in the willingness of many disadvantaged workers to remain with their employer
and cooperate with management in order to keep their jobs.
Box 4.2 Migrant local-hiring queues
According to Scott (2013), employers from sectors such as the UK horticultural and food industry prefer to hire A8
(and A2) migrant workers rather than domestic workers. Scott carried out a survey of 268 horticulturalist farmers and
interviewed 37 growers and processors from another 30 English horticultural companies about their experiences of
employing EU migrant workers from Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe. The interviews with these employers
revealed that they preferred to hire A8 and A2 migrant workers over white British workers because they had a better
work ethic and were reliable and flexible. The employers commented that the UK horticultural and food industry
success almost depends on the Eastern and Central European migrant labour. Scott concluded that the migrant–local
hiring queues are largely therefore due to the ‘added value’ that migrants from the EU periphery bring, over the short
term, to the low-wage, ‘no-frills’ workplace, benefiting the firms operating in the sector.
Key controversy
Are employers who hire ethnic minority workers and cheap migrant labour capitalising upon the presence of racism
in society as a whole?
Boxes
Contain a variety of business and
organisational examples to demonstrate
theory in practice, providing you with
the knowledge to succeed in future
employment.
Summary
Sections at the end of the chapters recap
the key topics within each chapter and
enable you to review and check your
understanding of them.
SUMMARY
Changing patterns of demand
The period since the 1980s has seen significant changes in the pattern of demand for labour and
therefore in the types of job available to workers in the UK. These shifts reflect interlinked
changes in the structure of the economy, government policy for the labour market and employers’
labour requirements.
A shift of employment from manufacturing to services
The proportion of workers employed in manufacturing has declined in the UK, the USA and all
the major European Union economies since the 1960s. This reflects the effects of economic
growth and rising incomes on people’s consumption patterns. As people get richer, the proportion of their income that they spend on manufactured goods declines (although people may still
spend more money on them in absolute terms) and the proportion spent on services increases.
This means that output, and hence employment, grow faster in the service sector than in the
manufacturing sector.
386
Summary

Labour markets are often seen as arenas of competition in which forces of supply and demand
determine wage and employment levels. In reality, however, there are limits to competition in
labour markets.

Employers have some freedom to make a strategic choice between internalising or externalising the employment relationship. Their choices are influenced, although not entirely determined, by the nature of their labour requirements and by features of the labour market
context in which they operate.

The aggregate supply of labour – the size of the workforce – is determined by demographic
factors such as the size and age structure of the population and by social factors, policy direction and a range of political factors that influence the participation rate of different socioeconomic groups within the population. In the UK, differential participation rates can be
observed between men and women of different age groups and different ethnic groups. The
interplay of social factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, disability and class affects the employment rates of people in ways that are complex and difficult to unravel.

Aggregate labour demand consists of total employment plus unfilled vacancies. The demand
for labour is derived from the demand for goods and services. In conditions of low unemployment – tight labour markets – employers have to compete more actively to attract and retain
workers. When labour markets are ‘loose’, labour is in plentiful supply and the cost of labour
is consequently driven down.

The demand for labour comprises jobs of varying quality. Unfair discrimination operating
within labour markets often means that women and ethnic minorities are disadvantaged in
terms of access to good jobs.

There has been a long-term change in labour demand away from manufacturing to services.
This has been an important force driving the long-term growth of part-time employment and
women’s employment. While this has boosted the employment rates of women, the quality
of jobs on offer is invariably poor, offering poor pay and poor prospects for promotion.

Since the 1980s, there has been a shift in the occupational structure of labour demand mainly
towards highly skilled occupations but also leading to the growth of some low-skilled occupations. There has been a relative decline in intermediate occupations. Some refer to this as the
‘hollowing’ out of the occupational structure to create an hourglass economy.

Contrary to what might have been predicted from the overall trend towards more highly skilled
work, the quality of jobs has deteriorated in terms of work intensification and worker autonomy, although not (up until recently) in terms of job stability. The demand for better work–life
balance is a recent response to growing work pressure and most employers appear now to be
recognising the business case for offering work–life balance provisions.
CHAPTER 10 THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP AND EMPLOYEE RIGHTS AT WORK
Nearly half of employers would like the default retirement age reinstated, according to a survey of 300 employers by Eversheds, the law firm. It said fewer than 3 per cent
of organisations now had a policy of mandatory retirement
for their employees, down from 69 per cent two years ago.
More than half said repeal of the DRA has led to an increase
in the number of employees staying on beyond age 65 or
normal pension age.
Prof Owen Warnock, Eversheds partner, said the end
of the DRA had provided the impetus for change:
72 per cent of respondents said they would still be operating a mandatory retirement age if the law had not been
changed. A third felt the abolition had had a negative
impact, but another third said the change had resulted in
improvements in retaining impor tant skills and
knowledge.
‘What’s more, the much-feared increase in age-related
retirement claims has not, according to the survey respondents, in fact materialised,’ he said.
Source: Adapted from Groom, B. and Business and Employment
Editor. Copyright © The Financial Times Limited 2013.
Questions
1
Compensation in age discrimination cases is considerably lower than in other areas of discrimination. Why do
you think this is so?
2
Considering your organisation (or one with which you are
familiar), do you think age discrimination is a major issue?
What action is the organisation taking to address the issue?
3
Should the government permit organisations to reintroduce a default retirement age for their workers?
4
Mark Cameron commented, ‘The City is getting far better at supporting and developing female staff.’ To what
extent do you think this is true for organisations in other
sectors? Give examples.
5
Anti-sex-discrimination legislation has been in place
since the mid 1970s. Consider why sex discrimination
cases such as Bouabdillah v Commerzbank [2013] still
arise. Can the law alone eradicate the problem of sexism
in the workplace? Similarly, how optimistic are you that
the law can successfully eliminate ageism at work?
References and further reading
Anderman, S. (2000), Labour Law, Management Decisions and
Worker Rights. London: Butterworths.
Armstrong, P. and Baron, A. (1995), The Job Evaluation Handbook. London: CIPD.
Arthurs, H. (2011), ‘Labour law after labour’, in G. Davidov and
B. Langille (eds), The Idea of Labour Law. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Atiyah, P.S. (1979), The Rise and Fall of Freedom of Contract.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barmes, L. (2007), ‘Common law implied terms and behavioural
standards at work’, Industrial Law Journal, 36, 1: 35–47.
Barmes, L., Collins, H. and Kilpatrick, C. (2007), ‘Reconstructing employment contracts’, Industrial Law Journal, 36, 1:
1–12.
Benhabib, S. (1994), ‘Democracy and difference: Reflections on
the metapolitics of Lyotard and Derrida’, Journal of Political
Philosophy, 2, 1: 1–23.
Bercusson, B. and Estlund, C. (2008), Regulating Labour in the
Wake of Globalisation: New Challenges, New Institutions.
Oxford: Hart Publishing.
BERR (2008), Agency Working in the UK: A Review of the
Evidence. BERR.
Blackburn, R. and Hart, M. (2002), Small Firms’ Awareness and
Knowledge of Individual Employment Rights. DTI Employment Relations Research Series No. 14.
Blanpain, R. and Weiss, M. (eds) (2003), Changing Industrial
Relations and Modernisation of Labour Law: Liber Amicorum in Honour of Professor Marco Biagi. The Hague: Kluwer
Law International.
Braucher, J. et al. (eds) (2013), Revisiting the Contractual Scholarship of Stewart Macaulay. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Brodie, D. (2008), ‘Mutual trust and confidence: Catalysts, constraints and commonality’, Industrial Law Journal, 37, 4:
329–75.
Brodie, D. et al. (2016), The Future Regulation of Work. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Brown, E. (2008), ‘Protecting agency workers: Implied contract
or legislation?’, Industrial Law Journal, 37, 2: 178–96.
Bryden, C. and Salter, M. (2009), ‘Overstepping the mark’, New
Law Journal, 159: 491.
Burke, R. and Cooper, C. (eds) (2008), The Long Work Hours
Culture. Bingley: Emerald.
Cabrelli, D. (2008), Law Express: Employment Law. London:
Pearson Longman.
CIPD (2009a), Reward Management: A CIPD Survey. London:
CIPD.
CIPD (2009b), Pay and Reward: An Overview, Factsheet.
London: CIPD.
Clark, I. (1996), ‘The state and new industrial relations’, in I.
Beardwell (ed.), Contemporary Industrial Relations: A Critical Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 37–64.
Clark, I. (2000), The State, Regulation and Industrial Relations.
London: Routledge.
Collins, H. (2000), ‘Justifications and techniques of legal
regulation of the employment relation’, in H. Collins, P.
Davies and R. Rideout (eds), Legal Regulation of the
Employment Relation. London: Kluwer Law International,
pp. 2–30.
143
labour market and are vulnerable to exploitation because of the lack of alternative, better quality
job opportunities. To help protect these groups there is a case for stronger ‘active’ state intervention directed at combating unfair discrimination in the labour market.
Questions
1 Explain why gendered occupational segregation, time segregation and vertical segregation
persist in the UK in the twenty-first century.
2 Explain why rates of labour market participation vary between ethnic minority groups and
within groups.
Questions
Can be used for self-testing, class exercises or
debates, understanding of them.
References and further reading
Are provided at the end of each chapter. Comprehensive details
of the leading literature and sources in the subject area are
provided and those that are asterisked are especially
recommended for further reading, helping you to take the subject
further and begin to understand the links across the subject area.
PREFACE
The theory and practice of human resource management (HRM) continues to evolve. In its
successive editions, this book has provided critical reflection on continuity and new developments
as the issues associated with HRM have multiplied considerably. Previous editions have traced the
debates over the role of the HRM specialist in organisations, the role and nature of HRM in
relation to organisational change initiatives such as total quality management (TQM), and the
strategic role of HRM and its effects on organisational performance. They have also reflected on
how, in academic circles, the search for a universal HRM paradigm has given way to an emphasis
on understanding how HRM operates in diverse situations and what contribution it can make to
organisational performance. More recent editions have explored issues raised by globalisation;
focusing on the development of HRM in the emerging economies of China and India, and the ways
in which multinational companies are influencing HRM ideas and practice across the globe as well
as the national and international policy environments in which HRM operates.
This edition continues to explore these themes and also reflects significant contemporary events,
including the aftermath of the financial crisis and the economic downturn affecting many Western
economies. At the time of writing, the UK’s decision to leave the EU has caused much uncertainty
in the business world and any predictions of its impact included in this text can only be tentative.
All chapters have been updated to reflect developments in thought and practice in the field of HRM
but we recognise that the huge and expanding area in and around HRM cannot be contained
within a single book and apologise for any omissions. Nevertheless, we are confident that we have
covered the broad sweep of the HRM field and some aspects of it in considerable detail.
As with HRM, the team of contributors is a continually evolving one. When the first edition
of this book was published in 1994, all the contributors were members of the HRM department
at De Montfort University (DMU). Since that time, some long-standing contributors have
moved to other institutions (Universities of Leicester, London, Nottingham Trent and
Northampton) while new members of the department at DMU have joined the team of
contributors. We also welcome the contribution from Jim Stewart (University of Liverpool) to
this edition. Some previous contributors have chosen not to be involved this time round and we
would like to thank Tim Claydon, Phil Almond, Olga Tregaskis and Nicky Golding for their
input into earlier editions.
It is with great sadness that we report the loss of a key contributor as Professor Audrey Collin
passed away on 19 October 2015. Audrey has contributed to every edition of the textbook and
her chapter “the Context of HRM” has continued to be an insightful and thought-provoking
read. She is sadly missed and, as a tribute to her, we have retained her chapter for this edition
with only minor updates and new case studies.
As ever, we thank all our contributors for their hard work and willing cooperation in getting
this edition to press. We would also like to thank partners, family members and colleagues for
their help and support in the arduous process of academic writing. Thanks, too, to Pearson for
their commitment to successive editions of this book and for the enthusiastic help and encouragement we have received from the editorial team.
Julie Beardwell
Amanda Thompson
PLAN OF THE BOOK
PART 1
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND ITS ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT
Chapter 1
An introduction to human
resource management
Chapter 2
Strategic human resource
management
Chapter 3
Contextualising HRM
PART 2
RESOURCING THE ORGANISATION
Chapter 4
HRM and the labour market
Chapter 5
Talent management
Chapter 6
Managing equality and
diversity
PART 3
DEVELOPING THE HUMAN RESOURCE
Chapter 7
Learning and development
Chapter 8
Leadership and management
development
Chapter 9
Organisational development
PART 4
THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
Chapter 10
The employment
relationship and
employee rights at
work
Chapter 11
Employee
engagement
Chapter 12
Performance
management
Chapter 13
Employee reward
Chapter 14
Employee voice
PART 5
COMPARATIVE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Chapter 15
Comparative HRM and responses to
global crises
Chapter 16
Employment relations in emerging economies:
China and India
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This text is designed to meet the needs of a range of students who are studying HRM as a core
or option subject on undergraduate degrees in Business and Social Science, MBAs, specialised
Master’s programmes or the CIPD’s Advanced Level Qualification.
All the chapters are designed to take a critically evaluative approach to their subject material.
This means that the book is not written in a prescriptive or descriptive style as are some other
HRM textbooks, although there will be sections that must necessarily incorporate aspects of
that approach. Given this stance, some chapters will be more easily absorbable by the novice
student than others. For example, Chapters 1 (Introduction to HRM) and 2 (Strategic HRM) are
good introductions to the subject, while Chapter 3 takes a more unconventional perspective on
contextualising HRM and developing critical thinking that will prove rewarding to the more able
student.
The critically evaluative approach is reflected in the ‘Explore’ and ‘Key controversy’ features
in every chapter. We use ‘Explore’ points to encourage readers to examine issues in more depth
and to consider how the theories and concepts they have read about in the text apply to
organisational settings with which they are familiar. ‘Key controversy’ boxes are designed to
highlight the most contentious debates and urge readers to formulate their own considered
conclusions. Each chapter begins and ends with a case study to illustrate the practice of HRM
in a diverse range of contexts. As in earlier editions, there are also questions at the end of each
chapter. These features can be used by lecturers as coursework exercises, and the Lecturer’s Guide
that accompanies this edition gives detailed suggested answers. Additional material is also
available on the companion website.
The outlines that follow are intended to indicate how the material in this book can be used to
cover the requirements for a selection of postgraduate programmes. There is no corresponding
outline for undergraduates because we recognise the multiplicity of courses at this level. Nevertheless, it is hoped that these suggested ‘routes’ through the book will be helpful guidelines for
tutors who have responsibility for some or all of these programmes.
MBA Route
Introduction: Chapters 1, 2, 3
Core: Chapters 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15
Options: Chapters 6, 8, 9, 11, 16
MA/MSc Route
Introduction: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4
Core: Chapters 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Options: Chapters 7, 9, 10, 16
‘At a glance’ – quick reference guide for CIPD students
This text is designed to be beneicial to a range of student audiences. Several chapters in
particular complement the CIPD Advanced level modules. The following table is designed to
provide a simple guide to direct CIPD students to those chapters which contain primary and/or
secondary sources of information for each of the CIPD Advanced level modules (see p. xviii).
xviii
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
CIPD Advanced level modules
Primary sources
Secondary sources
Human Resource Management in
Context (7HRC)
Ch 1 – An introduction to HRM
Ch 2 – Strategic HRM
Ch4 – HRM and the labour market
Ch 10 – The employment relationship
and employee rights at work
Leading, Managing and
Developing People (7LMP)
Ch1 – An introduction to HRM
Ch 7 – Learning and development
Ch 8 – Leadership and
management development
Ch 11 – Employee engagement
Ch 9 – Organisational
development
Leadership and Management
Development (7LMD)
Ch 8 – Leadership and management
development
Ch 3 – Contextualising HRM
Organisational Design and
Development (7ODD)
Ch 9 – Organisational
development
Ch 1 – An introduction to HRM
Ch 2 – Strategic HRM
Performance Management (7PFM)
Ch12 – Performance management
Ch 13 – Employee reward
Reward Management (7RWM)
Ch13 – Employee reward
Ch 6 – Managing equality and diversity
Ch 12 – Performance management
Resourcing and Talent
Management (7RTM)
Ch 5 – Talent management
Ch 6 – Managing equality and diversity
Managing Employment Relations
(7MER)
Ch 14 – Employee voice
Ch 4 – HRM and the labour market
Ch 10 – The employment relationship
and employee rights at work
Ch 16 – Employment relations in
emerging economies
Employment Law (7ELW)
Ch 10 – The employment relationship
and employee rights at work
Ch 6 – Managing equality and diversity
Employee Engagement (7EEG)
Ch 11 – Employee engagement
Ch 5 – Talent/Management
Learning and Talent
Development (7LTD)
Ch 7 – Learning and development
Ch 5 – Talent management
Ch 8 – Leadership and management
development
Designing, Delivering and
Evaluating Learning and Development
Provision (7DDE)
Ch 7 – Learning and development
Ch 9 – Organisational
development
Knowledge Management and
Organisational Learning (7KML)
Ch 9 – Organisational
development
Understanding and Implementing
Coaching and Mentoring (7ICM)
Ch 8 – Leadership and management
development
Ch 7 – Learning and development
CONTRIBUTORS
Julie Beardwell, BA, MA, PhD, FCIPD, was awarded her
PhD for her study into people management in engineering companies and continues to be interested in HRM in
small and medium-sized workplaces. Julie left De Montfort University in 2011 and now has irst-hand experience
of running a small business as the owner of Wool Zone,
a shop and online retail business (www.woolzone.co.uk).
Until 2015 she was Honorary Professor of HRM at
Glasgow Caledonian University, Chair of the Police Promotions Examinations Board for the College of Policing
and Chief Moderator for the CIPD. She continues to be a
CIPD Examiner and a Quality Panel Member.
Peter Butler, BA, MA, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in
Employment Relations in the Department of Human
Resource Management, De Montfort University. He
teaches Employment Relations at undergraduate and
postgraduate level. He has written on the topic of nonunion employee representation and the management of
managerial careers in US-owned multinational companies. More recently, along with Dr Linda Glover and Prof.
Olga Tregaskis, he has published on the theme of partnership working in British industry.
Ian Clark, BA, MA, PGCE, PhD, is Professor of
Employment Relations at the University of Leicester
and is Deputy Director of the [&~rom~MRC+ESRC|d
ash|funded~normal~&] Centre for Sustainable Work
and Employment Futures where he leads on research
into financialization and employment relations and
employment relations in low productivity sectors. Ian has
written extensively on industrial relations and economic
performance, and the inluence of the US business system
on HRM and industrial relations in the UK publishing
in the British Journal of Industrial Relations, the Human
Resource Management Journal, the Industrial Relations
Journal and Economic and Industrial Democracy. In
terms of impact and public policy, Ian provided oral and
written evidence to the UK Government Treasury Select
Committee during its investigation into private equity
between 2007 and 2009 and in 2016 produced written
evidence for the Department of Work and Pensions
investigation into the collapse of British Home Stores. Ian
edits the journal Work, Employment and Society and is an
academic fellow at the CIPD.
Audrey Collin, BA, DipAn, PhD, was Professor Emeritus
of Career Studies, De Montfort University and Fellow of the
National Institute for Career Education and Counselling.
Her early career was in personnel management, and
she is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development. She researched and
published on career and lifespan studies, mentoring and
the employment of older people. She co-edited (with
Richard A. Young) two books on career which relect her
questioning of traditional understandings of career and
her commitment to interpretive research approaches, and
another with Wendy Patton: Vocational Psychological
and Organisational Perspectives on Career: Towards a
Multidisciplinary Dialogue. In retirement, she continued
her writing on career for the international academic
readership, while also addressing the relationship between
theory and practice.
Heather Connolly, BSc, MA, PhD, AcadMCIPD is
Reader in European Employment Relations in the
Comparative Employment Research Centre (CERC),
De Montfort University. She has previously held positions
at the Universities of Manchester and Warwick. Her
research interests focus on trade union strategies for
renewal, and how trade unions across Europe have shaped
and are constrained by their institutional contexts. She
teaches courses at postgraduate level in human resource
management from a political economy perspective.
Anita Hammer, BA (Hons.), MA, MSc, PhD, is a Senior
Lecturer in Comparative and International HRM. Anita’s
research focuses on the Global South, in particular India ,
and examines the development trajectories of new industrial regions, changing patterns of work and employment and the role of the informal economy. The research
is interdisciplinary and draws on economic geography,
xx
CONTRIBUTORS
sociology of work, and development and contributes to
key debates on regional development, industrial and social
upgrading and the nature of capitalism. Previously, Anita
was a member of the Indian Civil Service and has industry
experience as Head of HR of a public sector organisation.
Mike Noon, BA, MSc, PhD, is Professor of Human
Resource Management at Queen Mary University of
London. He has previously researched and taught at
Imperial College London, Cardiff Business School,
Lancaster University and De Montfort University.
Mike’s research explores the efects of contemporary
management practices on the work of employees, and his
main focus is equality, diversity and discrimination. His
most recent publications critically question what might
be considered ‘mainstream’ approaches to the challenges
of equality, such as the business case, managing diversity
and positive action initiatives. In addition to publishing
in academic journals, he has co-authored or co-edited
the following books: The Realities of Work, co-authored
with Paul Blyton and Kevin Morrell, (Palgrave, 2013,
fourth edition); Equality, Inequalities and Diversity:
Contemporary Challenges and Strategies, co-edited
with Geraldine Healy and Gill Kirton (Palgrave, 2011);
Equality, Diversity and Disadvantage in Employment,
co-edited with Emmanuel Ogbonna (Palgrave, 2001);
and A Dictionary of Human Resource Management,
co-authored with Ed Heery, the third edition to be
published by Oxford University Press in 2017
Julia Pointon, BA, MA, PGCE, D.Ed., CIPD, is Principal Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and HRM in
the Department of Human Resource Management at De
Montfort University and a National Teacher Fellow. She
teaches principally on postgraduate courses and is Course
Director of the Management of Human Resources MA.
She has served on the CIPD membership and Education
Committee and has also been Chair of the CIPD branch
in Leicester.
Deborah Price, DMS, DipM, MBA, PhD, is a Principal
Lecturer in Human Resource Management at De
Montfort University. Following a career in nursing, she
has worked as an independent consultant and a senior
manager in both Higher Education and the NHS. Her
research interests focus on the psycho-social role of
identity and identiication in the creation of organisational
relationships, on leadership in safety critical contexts and
on qualitative research methods. She has co-authored a
CIPD research methods textbook, Business Research
Methods: A Practical Approach, with Sheila Cameron
and has produced an edited textbook, The Principles and
Practice of Change.
Alan J. Ryan, BA, LLM, AcadMCIPD was a Principal
Lecturer in the Department of HRM at De Montfort
University until 2016. His teaching focused on the
implications of legal change for the management of people
at work and the development of managerial responses to
legislative activity. He taught courses at undergraduate
and postgraduate level as well as delivering courses and
programmes to corporate clients. His research interest lies
in the development of soft systems analysis as a way of
understanding changes in managerial behaviour following
the introduction of legislation. He has undertaken
some consultancy work in both the private and the
voluntary sector. He has written on reward management,
participation regimes in SMEs and the legal implications
of lexibility.
Jim Stewart, BA, DMS, DipTM, FCIPD is Professor of
Human Resource Development at Liverpool Business
School. He has previously held similar positions at Nottingham, Leeds and Coventry Business Schools. A leading researcher on HRD, Jim has authored and co-edited
25 books on the subject as well as numerous chapter
contributions and articles in academic and professional
journals. Jim holds several appointed roles with the
CIPD, including Chief Examiner for Learning and Talent
Development, Quality Panel Chair and Co-Chair of their
Research Ethics Panel. He is also Executive Secretary of
the University Forum for HRD and a member of their
joint Scientiic Committee with the International Federation of Training and Development Organisations.
Amanda Thompson, BA, MA, CertEd, FCIPD, is Head
of Undergraduate Programmes at Nottingham Business
School, Nottingham Trent University. Alongside her
managerial role, she contributes to the delivery of HRM
modules within the School. Amanda has previously
published work on the nature of the employment
relationship in small and medium-sized enterprises and
the role of Healthcare Assistants in the NHS. Her current
research interests focus on men’s engagement with
part-time work and in particular how men construct
masculinity when working part-time. Amanda is engaged
with the CIPD at a National level as an Examiner for
HRM in Context, the Lead External Quality Adviser for
CIPD Awarded Centres in the Southern Region and as a
Quality Panel Member.
Mairi Watson, LLB, LLM, PGCE, MBA, PhD, FCIM,
AcadMCIPD, is Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law at
the University of Northampton. The Faculty is the largest
in the University with UG, PGT and PGR students on
site and enrolled with many international partners across
the world. The University has a strong social enterprise
CONTRIBUTORS
agenda, relected in their Ashoka U Changemaker status
and embedded throughout the curriculum. Previously,
she was Deputy Dean (Development) at Northampton
Business School (NBS), the University of Northampton
and Head of Corporate and Postgraduate Programmes.
As Academic Director of Corporate Programmes and
Principal Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and
Human Resource Management at De Montfort University
xxi
she contributed to activities in Leicester Business School.
She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management
and an Academic Member of the Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development. Her research interests
include managerial identity and policy implementation
in constrained circumstances. Mairi’s research has been
conducted in prisons, as her previous career was as a
prison governor.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce
copyright material:
Figures
Figure 1.1 from Strategic Human Resource Management
John Wiley & Sons (Devanna M.A., Fombrun C.J., Tichy,
N. M. 1984) p.35, Republished with permission of JOHN
WILEY & SONS, INCORPORATED permission conveyed
through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.; Figure 1.2 from
Managing Human Assets, Free Press (Beer, M., Spector, B.,
Lawrence, P.R., Quinn Mills, D. and Walton, R.E 1984) p.16,
Copyright © 1984 by The Free Press reprinted with permission of The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster;
Figure 1.4 adapted from Strategy and Human Resource
Management (Management, Work and Organisations), 3rd
ed., Palgrave Macmillan (Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. 2011) p.5,
© Peter Boxall and John Purcell 2003,2008,2011 reproduced
with permission of Palgrave Macmillan; Figure 2.1 adapted
from Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Concepts, Techniques,
Applications, 6th ed., Blackwell (Grant, R.M. 2008) p.7,
Copyright © 1991, 1995, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2008 by Robert M.
Grant Republished with permission of Blackwell Publishing,
permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center,
Inc; Figure 2.2 from The Strategy Concept 1: Five Ps for
Strategy, Figure 1, California Management Review, 30(1),
14 (Mintzberg, H. 1987), Copyright © 1987 by The Regents
of the University of California, reprinted by Permission of
SAGE Publications, Ltd.; Figure 2.3 adapted from What is
Strategy and Does It Matter?, 2nd ed., Thomson Learning
(Whittington, R. 2001) p.3; Figure 2.4 adapted from Human
Resource Management, 4th ed., Prentice Hall (Torrington, D.
and Hall, L. 1998) p.27, Copyright © Prentice Hall Europe
1987, 1991, 1995, 1997; Figure 2.5 adapted from Toward
a Unifying Framework for Exploring Fit and Flexibility
in Strategic Human Resource Management Academy of
Management Review, Vol. 23 (4), p. 758 (Wright, P. and
Snell, S 1998), Copyright © 1998, Academy of Management,
Republished with permission of Academy of Management,
permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center,
Inc.; Figure 2.6 adapted from Understanding the People
and Performance Link: Unlocking the Black Box, CIPD
(Purcell, J., Kinnie, N., Hutchinson, S., Rayton, B. and
Swart, J 2003) with the permission of the publisher, the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London
(www.cipd.co.uk); Figure 4.1 adapted from The Realities of
Work, 3rd ed, Palgrave Macmillan (Noon, M. and Blyton, P.
2006) p.368, Copyright © Mike Noon and Paul Blyton
1997, 2002, 2007 reproduced with permission of Palgrave
Macmillan; Figure 5.1 adapted from Successful Selection
Interviewing, Blackwell (Anderson, N. and Shackleton V.
1993) p.30, John Wiley & Sons Ltd Reproduced with permission of Blackwell Scientiic in the format Republish in a
book via Copyright Clearance Center and with permission
from Professor Neil Anderson; Figure 5.2 adapted from Quit
stalling, People Management, p.34 (Bevan, S 1997), with permission from Stephen Bevan; Figure 6.2 adapted from The
Realities of Work, 3rd ed., Palgrave Macmillan (Noon, M.
and Blyton, P. 2007) p. 297, Copyright © Mike Noon and
Paul Blyton 1997, 2002, 2007 reproduced with permission
of Palgrave Macmillan; Figure 7.1 from Design for learning
in management training and development: a view, Journal
of European Industrial Training, 4(8), p.22 (Binsted, D.S.
1980), Stockholm University with permission from MCB
University Press; Figure 7.4 adapted from Learning and
Talent Development Survey, London, CIPD (2012) p.8, with
the permission of the publisher, the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development, London (www.cipd.co.uk);
Figure 7.6 from E-moderating: The Key to Online Teaching
and Learning, 3rd ed., Routledge (Salmon, G. 2011) p.32,
Republished with permission of Routledge, permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.; Figure 8.1
adapted from UK Highlights: Global Leadership Forecast
2011, London CIPD (2011) p.6, © Copyright Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development 2011 with the permission of the publisher, the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development, London (www.cipd.co.uk); Figure 8.2
adapted from Leadership development in organisations: multiple discourses and diverse practice, International Journal
of Management Reviews, 15(4), pp. 359-80 (Mabey, C 2013),
© 2012 The Author. International Journal of Management
Reviews © 2012 British Academy of Management and John
Wiley & Sons Ltd.; Figure 8.3 from Linking development
with business, in, Leadership in Organizations: Current Issues
and Key Trends Figure 11.2, 2nd ed., Routledge (Storey, J.
2010) p. 196, Republished with permission of Routledge,
permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center,
Inc.; Figure 8.4 adapted from Strategically aligned leadership development in, Leadership in Organizations: Current
Issues and Key Trends, Routledge (Storey, J. (ed.) 2004)
p. 287; Figure 8.5 adapted from UK Highlights: Global
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Leadership Forecast 2011, CIPD (2011) pp. 8–9, © Copyright
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2011 with
the permission of the publisher, the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development, London (www.cipd.co.uk);
Figure 8.6 adapted from Management Learning: Integrating
Perspectives in Theory and Practice, Table 3.2 (Burgoyne, J.
and Jackson B. 1997) p. 63 Copyright © John Burgoyne and
Brad Jackson 1997 Republished with permission of SAGE
publications, permission conveyed through Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc.; Figure 9.1 adapted from Strategic
Change and the Management Process, Basil Blackwell Ltd
(Johnson, G 1987) p.224 Figure 7.2, Republished with permission of B. BLACKWELL, permission conveyed through
Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.; Figure 9.4 adapted from
Organization Development in Schools, National Press Books
(Schmuck, R.A. and Miles, M.B 1971) p.5, used with permission of the authors; Figure 9.6 from Peter de Jager, http://
www.technobility.com, © 2013 Peter de Jager, reprinted with
express permission of the owner, pdejager@technobility.com;
Figure 9.7 adapted from Models of change agency: a fourfold classiication, British Journal of Management, 14 (2),
pp. 131-142 (Caldwell, R. 2003), Copyright © 2003, John
Wiley and Sons; Figure 9.10 from Organisational Culture
and Leadership, Jossey Bass (Schein, E.H 2004) p. 26,
Reproduced with permission of JOHN WILEY & SONS,
INCORPORATED, permission conveyed through Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc.; Figure 10.1 from Law Express:
Employment Law, Pearson, Longman (Cabrelli, D 2008)
p.11, Copyright © Pearson Education Ltd 2008.; Figure 11.1
from The Drivers of Employee Engagement Report 408,
Institute for Employment Studies UK (Robinson, D.,
Perryman, S. and Hayday, S 2004) with permission of
Institute for Employment Studies (IES); Figure 13.2 adapted
from Paying for Contribution: Real Performance-Related Pay
Strategies, Kogan Page (Brown, D. and Armstrong, M. 1999)
p.81; Figure 13.3 from Inequity in social exchange, Advances
in Experimental Social Psychology, 2, pp. 267-99 (Stacy
Adams J., Berkowitz, L. (ed.) 1965), © 1965 with permission
from Elsevier
Tables
Table 1.1 adapted from Improving Health Through Human
Resource Management: A Starting Point for Change, CIPD
(Hyde, P., Boaden, R., Cortvriend, P., Harris, P., Marchington,
M., Pass, S., Sparrow, P. and Sibald, B. 2006) with the permission of the publisher, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development, London (www.cipd.co.uk); Table 1.2 adapted
from Evolution of HR roles, Role call, People Management,
11, pp. 24-28 (Ulrich, D. and Brockbank, W 2005), Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) with permission from D. Ulrich and W. Brockbank; Table 2.1 adapted
from What is Strategy and Does It Matter?, 2nd ed, Thomson
Learning (Whittington, R. 2001) p.39; Table 2.2 adapted from
Linking competitive strategies with human resource management, Academy of Marketing Executive 1 (3), pp. 207-219
(Schuler, R.S. and Jackson, S.E 1987), Republished with permission of Academy of Management, permission conveyed
xxiii
through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.; Table 2.3 from
Modes of theorizing in strategic human resource management, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 39 (4),
pp. 802-35 (Delery, J.E. and Doty, H. 1996), Copyright
© 1996, Academy of Management, republished with permission of Academy of Management, permission conveyed
through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.; Table 4.1 from
Estimated and projected population of the UK and constituent countries 2010–2035 (igures in 000s) Oice for
National Statistics, licensed under the Open Government
Licence v.3.0 https://www. nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/
open-government-licence/version/3/; Table 4.2 adapted
from Women in employment by employment type
and age of youngest dependent child, UK, 2014 http://
webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://
www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_388440.pdf, Families in the
Labour Market, 2014 © Crown copyright 2014 Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government
Licence v3.0 https://www. nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/
open-government-licence/version/3/; Table 4.6 adapted
from The 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study,
First Findings, Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills (van Wanrooy, B., Bewley, H., Bryson, A., Forth, J.,
Freeth, S., Stokes, L. and Wood, S 2013) p.9, Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government
Licence v3.0 https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/opengovernment-licence/version/3/; Table 5.2 from Recruitment
and Selection, Advisory booklet No. 6, Advisory, Conciliation
and Arbitration Service (ACAS) (1983) © Acas, Euston
Tower, 286 Euston Road, London NW1 3JJ © Crown copyright (2001 – 2009); Table 5.3 from Resourcing and Talent
Planning Survey report, CIPD (2015) p.24, with the permission of the publisher, the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development, London (www.cipd.co.uk); Table 8.1
adapted from Management development for the individual
and the organisation, Personnel Management, pp. 40-44
(Dr J. G. Burgoyne 1988), with permission from Dr J.
G. Burgoyne. © Copyright Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development 1988; Table 9.1 from Organizational discourse and new organization development practices, British
Journal of Management, 19 (s1), S7-S19 (Marshak, R. and
Grant, D. 2008), © 2008 British Academy of Management;
Table 9.2 from Planning and Managing Change., Change
Management 2 (Pugh, D. and Mayle, D 2009), Open
University Business School. Copyright © Open University;
Table 10.2 from The Employment Tribunals and Employment
Appeals Tribunals Fees Order 2013, http://www.legislation.
gov.uk/ukdsi/2013/9780111538654 Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government
Licence v3.0 https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/
open-government-licence/version/3/; Table 11.2 from Global
Employee Engagement Index™, Efectory (2011); Table 13.4
adapted from Job Evaluation: Consideration and Risks,
London: ACAS (2010) © Acas, Euston Tower, 286 Euston
Road, London NW1 3JJ © Crown copyright (2001 – 2009);
Table 14.1 adapted from Managing Employee Involvement
and Participation, Sage (Hyman, J. and Mason, B. 1995)
xxiv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
p. 25, Table 2.1, © Jef Hyman and Bob Mason, republished
with permission of SAGE publications, permission conveyed
through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
Text
Case Study on page 31 adapted from Damning report condemns Ashley for ‘appalling’ practices at Sports direct, FT,
22/07/2016 (Vandevelde,M., Parker, G., and Oakley,D.),
© The Financial Times Limited. All Rights Reserved;
Article on page 47 from The Spotify efect, Financial Times,
24/10/2014 (Milne, R.), © The Financial Times Limited.
All Rights Reserved.; Case Study on page 68 adapted
from Business life – Sarah O’Connor on employment, FT,
15/06/2016 (O’Connor, S.), © The Financial Times Limited.
All Rights Reserved; Case Study on pages 62–3 adapted
from Changing Business Strategies and the Implications for
Workers in the European Civil Aviation Industry 01.11.2015
Geraint Harvey and Peter Turnbull, Dr Geraint Harvey,
Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham
Professor Peter Turnbull, School of Economics, Finance and
Management, University of Bristol, http://www.airneth.nl/
activities/details/article/changing-business-strategies-andthe-implications-for-workers-in-the-european-civil-aviationindustr/; Case Study on page 95 from BHS reports lays
bare failure and culpability, Financial Times, 25/07/2016
(Vandevelde, M), © The Financial Times Limited. All Rights
Reserved; Case Study on page 142 from Companies struggle to ill quarter of skilled jobs vacancies, FT, 28/01/2016
(O’Connor, S.), © The Financial Times Limited. All Rights
Reserved; Case Study on page 102 from More than 100,000
legal roles to become automated FT, 15/03/2016 (Croft, J.),
© The Financial Times Limited. All Rights Reserved; Article
on page 159 from Goldman Sachs to drop on-campus interviews, FT, 23/06/2016 (Noonan, L), © The Financial Times
Limited. All Rights Reserved; Case Study on page 176 from
Nissan builds on loyalty at Sunderland plant, The Financial
Times 07/03/2016 (Tighe, C.), © The Financial Times
Limited. All Rights Reserved; Case Study on page 180 from
Opinion: we need women as chief executives, not just nonexecutives’, Financial Times, 29/04/2015, p.6; Article on
pages 192–3 adapted from Brain science ires up the neurons
of managers, Financial Times, 13/05/2014, p.12 (Clegg, A.),
© The Financial Times Limited. All Rights Reserved.; Box 6.5
adapted from The shackled runner: time to rethink positive
discrimination?, Work, Employment and Society, 24 (4),
p 728–39 (Noon, M 2010), © 2010 by BSA Publications Ltd,
reprinted by Permission of SAGE Publications, Ltd.; Case
Study on page 261 adapted from Saatchi chief’s comments
on ‘unambitious’ women come under ire from ad execs,
People Management (Odum, S. M.), © Copyright Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development 2016 with the permission of the publisher, the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development, London (www.cipd.co.uk); Article on
page 273 adapted from Taking irst steps in making health
clubs it for purpose, The Times, 29/04/2013 (Walsh, D.),
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/leisure/
article3751258.ece; Box 9.1 adapted from HR and organisation development: separate past, joint future? Podcast 44,
with the permission of the publisher, the Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development, London (www.cipd.co.uk).;
Box 9.6 from Training materials provided by Frank Jordan,
University of Northampton 2013; Article on pages 385–6
adapted from Age discrimination more widespread than
sexism in the City, FT (Groom, B), 2013, © The Financial
Times Limited. All Rights Reserved; Case Study on page 390
adapted from http://engageforsuccess.org/case-study-alcoapower-and-propulsion-best-employee-engagement-initiativewinners Case Study: Alcoa Power and Propulsion, Best
Employee Engagement Initiative Winners Engage for Success.
Michaela Weller, Owner Director, Leading Edge Coaching
Ltd. www.leading-edge.co.uk; Case Study on pages 418–21
from Creating and sustaining a highly engaged company
culture in a multigenerational workplace, Strategic HR
Review, 14 Iss 4, pp. 124–130 (Blattner, J., Walter, T. J. 2015),
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited all rights reserved.;
Box 11.4 adapted from Evidence Case Study: Rentokil Initial
www.engageforsuccess.org/ideas-tools/evidence-case-studyrentokil-initial/, Michaela Weller, Owner Director, Leading
Edge Coaching Ltd. www.leading-edge.co.uk; Case Study
on pages 453–54 adapted from Creating a company-wide,
on-line, performance management system: A case study at
TRW Inc., Human Resource Management, 41 (4), pp. 491–98
(Neary, D.B 2002), Copyright © 2002 Wiley Periodicals,
Inc., Reproduced with permission of Blackwell Scientiic
in the format Republish in a book via Copyright Clearance
Center.; Case Study on page 459 adapted from City leaders
urge radical reforms of ‘unfair’ FT, 08/05/2016 (Jenkins, P.
and Financial Editor), © The Financial Times Limited. All
Rights Reserved; Case Study on pages 504–5 from Zizzi cuts
staf perks as minimum wage increases, FT.com, 25/04/2016
(O’Connor, S. and McClean, P.), © The Financial Times
Limited. All Rights Reserved; Article 13.2 adapted from ‘Fat
Cat Tuesday 2016’, www.highpaycentre.org The High Pay
Centre; Case Study on page 509 from Junior doctors reject
call to maintain paediatrics during strike, The Guardian,
15/04/2016 (Campbell, D), https://www.theguardian.com/
society/2016/apr/15/junior-doctors-reject-call-to-maintainpaediatrics-during-strike Copyright Guardian News &
Media Ltd 2017; Box 14.5 adapted from Employment Law:
An Introduction, 2 ed., Oxford University Press (Taylor, S.
and Emir, A. 2009) pp. 539–41, © Stephen Taylor and Astra
Emir 2009 with permission of Oxford University Press;
Box 15.2 from Keidenran’s Okuda lauds Japanese management for revival, The Nikkei Weekly, 16/01/2006
PART 1
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT AND
ITS ORGANISATIONAL
CONTEXT
1 An introduction to human resource management
2 Strategic human resource management
3 Contextualising HRM
Introduction to Part 1
Human resource management (HRM) has become a pervasive and influential approach to the
management of employment in a wide range of market economies. The original US prescriptions
of the early 1980s have become popularised and absorbed in a wide variety of economic settings:
there are very few major economies where the nature of HRM, to include its sources, operation
and philosophy, is not actively discussed. As a result, the analysis and evaluation of HRM are major
themes in academic, policy and practitioner literatures.
These first three chapters are strongly related, in that they consider the nature of HRM from
a number of perspectives. The first chapter outlines the different ways in which HRM has been
interpreted and introduces two of the early influential models. It then explores the preoccupation
in the relationship between HRM and organisational performance and the extent to which research
studies are able to demonstrate a link between the two. The chapter then goes on to explore the
impact the global financial crisis and subsequent recession had on the adoption of HRM practices.
The chapter concludes by considering the impact of HRM on human resources professionals.
Chapter 2 examines the strategic nature of HRM in more depth: how it is aligned to and configured with organisational strategy and how the debate incorporates multiple perspectives, including
the ‘best fit’, the ‘configurational approach’, the ‘resource-based view’ and ‘best practice’. In considering claims for the importance of the strategic nature of HRM, it raises questions as to its efficacy
in helping to meet organisational objectives, creating competitive advantage and ‘adding value’
through ‘high-performance’ or ‘high-commitment work practices’. Whether or not the claims for
these approaches are supportable, it is becoming clear that no one system or approach can be
applied to all organisations, owing to the increasing complexity of organisational forms and organisational contexts.
Chapter 3 continues this contextual theme by exploring the various strands that are woven
together to form the pattern of meanings that constitute HRM. This helps to enrich our understanding
of HRM and unravel some of the assumptions and philosophical stances that lie behind it. The
purpose of the discussion is to create a critical awareness of the broader context in which HRM
operates, not simply as a set of operational matters that describe the functional role of people
management, but also as part of a complex and sophisticated process that helps us to understand
the nature of organisational life. The chapter concludes with a consideration of ethical issues.
The type of questions raised by HRM indicates the extent to which it has disturbed many formerly
accepted concepts in the employment relationship. For some, it has become a model for action and
application; for others, it is no more than a map that indicates how the management of employees
might be worked out in more specific ways than can adequately be dealt with by HRM as a set of
general principles.
CHAPTER 1
AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
JULIE BEARDWELL
Objectives

To define human resource management (HRM).

To explore the origins of HRM.

To review and evaluate the main models of HRM.

To explore the association between HRM and business performance.


To explore HRM in practice and the impact of recession and recovery on
HRM practice.
To review the impact of HRM on the changing roles of human resources
professionals.
4
CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Case study
Winning HRM practice: simply Business
Simply Business, an online insurance company that sells
insurance to small businesses, landlords and shops in the
UK, is top of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work
For 2016. The company has 315 staff with a head office in
London and a contact centre in Northampton.
Head office employees work in an open-plan office and
hold meetings via Google hangouts. A number of staff live
abroad and work remotely full-time. Chief executive Jason
Stockwood invites groups of contact centre staff to dinner
when he is in Northampton. ‘I want to make sure people
feel they can do their best work without going through
hierarchies or command-and-control structures,’ he says.
‘I enjoy the company of everyone I work with.’
Stockwood joined Simply Business from Match.
com in 2010. He describes the insurance industry as ‘a
massive market with a low bar on credibility’ that can
serve customers better. In his first year, Stockwood
oversaw a reorganisation that affected 53% of staff. ‘We
changed the culture,’ he says, and put employees at the
forefront, turning the ‘hackneyed phrase about customers
coming first’ on its head. ‘You can’t force people who hate
their environment to do a good job,’ he adds. ‘Customers
only come first if our employees are happy and doing a
good job.’
Simply Business employees are so highly engaged that
their responses to the Sunday Times staff survey put it top
in 50 of the 70 questions. People say that they would not
leave for another job (a 90% positive score) and are inspired
by their leader (91%). Perks include a benefits package with
private health insurance and life assurance. Salaries have
also been improved year on year since Stockwood has
been at the helm, despite the recession. Trips, nights out
and office beers are part of the company’s fabric, as are
charity events. An 89-mile bike ride from Northampton to
London and an Arctic biathlon are the main fundraisers.
Source: http://appointments.thesundaytimes.co.uk/article/best100
companies/
Introduction
The first edition of this book was published in 1994 and the then editors described HRM as
a newly emerging phenomenon that added ‘a powerful and influential perspective’ to debates
about the nature of the contemporary employment relationship. They noted (Beardwell and
Holden, 1994: 5):
Any assessment of the emergence of Human Resource Management has, at least, to take
account of this changing context of employment and provide some explanations as to the
relationships that exist between the contribution HRM has made to some of these changes on
the one hand and, on the other hand, the impact that such changes have had on the theory
and practice of HRM itself.
Human resource management continues to both influence and be influenced by the changing
context of employment, but, while still relatively new, it can no longer be described as an emerging phenomenon. Boxall and Purcell (2011: 2) suggest that HRM is the most widely recognised
term in the English-speaking world to refer to management activities in organising work and
employing people. However, there is still little universal agreement on what precisely constitutes
HRM, and debates around the meaning of the term and the impact of the concept continue.
To enable us to identify how ‘understanding HRM’ has changed over time and to consider the
impact this change has had on the management of people, this chapter aims to explore the key
themes within the debates that surround HRM under the six headings in the list of objectives.
DEFINITIONS OF HRM
5
Definitions of HRM
Human resource management refers to a collection of policies used to organise work in the
employment relationship. It centres on the management of work and the management of people
who undertake this work. Therefore, HRM is concerned with recruitment, selection, learning
and development, reward, communication and employee involvement, teamwork and performance management. While it is relatively easy to list activities that make up HRM, it is a subject
that has stimulated much debate and disagreement. Thus, despite the popularity of the term
HRM, there is still no universally agreed definition of its meaning. Watson (2002: 369) suggests
that ‘the term HRM is used in a confusing variety of ways’. In its broadest sense, HRM can be
used as a generic term to describe any approach to managing people; for example, Boxall and
Purcell (2011: 3) use the term to encompass ‘the management of work and the management of
people to do the work’.
For others, though, HRM encompasses a new approach to managing people that is significantly
different from more traditional practices. They claim that HRM offers two advantages over
traditional approaches to managing people. First, it is more strategic, in that HRM policies are
designed to reinforce each other and support the organisation’s business strategy. This strategic
dimension incorporates vertical integration, that is, the alignment of human resources (HR)
strategy with business strategies, whereas the operational dimension emphasises horizontal
integration, that is, that HR policies and practices must be compatible with each other. Second,
appropriately designed and integrated HRM policies create an organisational climate in which
workers are more highly motivated and committed to cooperating with management to achieve
organisational goals. This approach has been summed up by Storey (2007: 7) as ‘a distinctive
approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the
strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of cultural,
structural and personnel techniques’.
However, it begs the question as to whether HRM policies designed to achieve strategic goals,
such as competitive costs or the ability to respond rapidly to changes in markets, can also provide
a climate of trust and cooperation between workers and managers. Some commentators have
argued that HRM is essentially about creating a climate of employee commitment (e.g. Pfeffer,
1998) and cooperation, while others have maintained that the term HRM can relate to policies for
managing people that are designed to further the strategic goals of the organisation (e.g. Legge,
2005; Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007). Consequently, there is some ambiguity in the meaning
of HRM, which has led to it becoming a contested concept.
Explore


What does the term HRM mean to you?
To what extent is it possible to have policies and practices that meet the needs and objectives
of organisations and individuals?
This ambiguity has led to various attempts to clarify the meaning or, indeed, the meanings of
HRM. Some of the earliest contributions drew a distinction between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ variants
of HRM (Guest, 1987; Storey, 1992), with ‘soft HRM’ used to describe approaches aimed at
enhancing the commitment, quality and flexibility of employees, while ‘hard HRM’ was used
to describe the emphasis on strategy where human resources are deployed to achieve business
goals in the same way as any other resource. ‘Hard HRM’ can also have a harsher interpretation
associated with strategies of cost reduction (e.g. subcontracting, outsourcing, lower wages,
minimal training, tighter monitoring and performance management) and lean production
methods (downsizing and work intensification) associated with these strategies. However, this
6
CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
attempt at clarification is also problematic. For example, if hard HRM is used to describe a
strategic approach to people management, then soft and hard HRM are ‘not necessarily
incompatible’ (Legge, 2005). Hard variants can contain elements of soft practice, while soft
variants can deliver hard outcomes in terms of tightness of fit with business strategy. However,
if hard HRM is used to describe a cost minimisation approach, then soft and hard HRM may
be ‘diametrically opposed’ (Truss et al., 1997: 54).
As the debate on HRM has continued, further terms have been introduced, for example,
‘high-commitment management’ (HCM) and ‘high-involvement management’ have eclipsed
soft HRM, whereas ‘strategic HRM’ appears to have replaced hard HRM. Nonetheless, the
underlying tensions within HRM that were captured in the ‘hard’ versus ‘soft’ dichotomy remain.
In addition, the preoccupation with the relationship between HR practices and improved business
performance has been reflected in the use of ‘high-performance work practices’ (HPWPs) as
a term to describe ‘a set of complementary work practices covering three broad categories:
high employee involvement practices, human resource practices, and reward and commitment
practices’ (Sung and Ashton, 2005: 5). There are subtle variations in the meanings of these
labels, but there is also considerable overlap and some authors (e.g. Pfeffer, 1998) use the terms
interchangeably. Both the high-commitment and high-involvement models reflect ‘a system of
human resources practices thought to enhance employees’ levels of skill, motivation, information
and empowerment’ (Guthrie, 2001: 180).
High commitment versus control
An element that all HRM models have in common is that they are seen as a contrast to a Taylorist,
control type of management (Wood, 1999). This contrast can be misleading, as high-commitment
and control-based approaches to people management can both be seen as means of achieving
organisational control, that is, ‘the regulation of organisational activities so that some targeted
element of performance remains within acceptable limits’ (Barney and Griffin, 1992: 329). What
varies between them is the type of control exercised and the desired employee behaviours.
Stewart (1991) identifies three distinct control strategies: manager-directed control, bureaucratic control and employee-centred control. Rollinson and Dundon (2011: 344) plot these
strategies on a continuum of the type of employee behaviour desired which has an emphasis
on employee predictability at one end and an emphasis on employee flexibility, creativity and
innovation at the other. At the predictability end of the continuum, manager-directed control
reflects Taylorist assumptions about worker competence and management authority. Control is
exercised through supervisors giving direct instruction and closely monitoring work. The middle
ground, bureaucratic control, relies less on close monitoring and seeks to limit employee discretion through fixed job definitions, reliance on rules and procedures, differentiated status, equitable pay and a restricted flow of information. Guest (1991) labels this the ‘compliance’ model.
Employee-centred control, at the other end of the continuum, equates with the high-commitment
model. This form of control emphasises employee discretion and managers seek to influence the
ways that employees think about their own actions and behave in ways that are congruent with
organisational objectives (Rollinson and Dundon, 2011).
Explore
Revisit Case Study 1.1. What management control strategies are applied at Simply Business?
Compare their approach to that adopted by Sports Direct (the opening case study in Chapter 2).
What are the implications of these different approaches for employees and the organisations?
The high-commitment/high-performance paradigm has come to be promoted as ‘best practice’
for both employers and employees, and many of the HR practices associated with this type of
approach are included in the measures used to compile the Sunday Times ‘Best Companies to
THE ORIGINS OF HRM
7
Work For’ list, as illustrated in Case Study 1.1. Employers are seen to benefit on the grounds
that the practices associated with it yield performance levels above those associated with more
traditional workplace practices (Godard, 2004: 349). Employees are seen to benefit from the
ability to exercise discretion and experience high levels of trust. Guest and Conway (1999) found
that employees in workplaces with a high number of HRM practices reported higher levels of
job satisfaction and a more positive management–worker relationship than employees who did
not. However, there is a danger that the terms used to define HRM imply positive outcomes that
may not necessarily be warranted. For example, greater demands on employee commitment and
tighter systems for performance management are likely to further the interests of the organisation, its owners and investors at the expense of employees. Enhancements in employee discretion,
associated with ‘high-commitment/involvement’ practices, may be achieved at the ‘expense of
stress, work intensification and job strain’ (Ramsay et al., 2000: 505). Similarly, Wall and Wood
(2005: 432) challenged the assumption of an established link between HRM practices and organisational performance, implied in the ‘high performance’ label – this is discussed more fully later
in the chapter.
The origins of HRM
There is rather more consensus that the origins of HRM lie within employment practices associated with welfare capitalist employers in the USA during the 1930s. Both Jacoby (2005) and
Foulkes (1980) argue that this type of employer exhibited an ideological opposition to unionisation and collective employment relations. As an alternative, welfare capitalists believed that the
organisation, rather than third-party institutions such as the state or the trade unions, should
provide for the security and welfare of workers. To deter any propensity to unionise, especially
once President Roosevelt’s New Deal programme began after 1933, welfare capitalists often paid
efficiency wages, introduced healthcare coverage, pension plans and provided layoff pay. Equally,
they conducted regular surveys of employee opinion and sought to secure employee commitment
via the promotion of strong, centralised corporate cultures and long-term permanent employment. Welfare capitalists pioneered individual performance-related pay, profit-sharing schemes
and team-working. This model of employment regulation had a pioneering role in the development of HRM, but rested on structural features such as stable product markets and the absence
of marked business cycles. While the presence of HRM was well established in the US business
system before the 1980s, it was only after that period that HRM gained external recognition by
academics and practitioners.
There are a number of reasons for its emergence since then, among the most important of
which are the major pressures experienced in product markets during the recession of 1980–82,
combined with a growing recognition in the USA that trade union influence was waning. By the
1980s, the US economy was also being challenged by overseas competitors, most notably Japan.
This led to discussions that focused on two issues: ‘the productivity of the American worker’,
particularly compared with the Japanese worker, ‘and the declining rate of innovation in American industries’ (Devanna et al., 1984: 33). From this sprang a desire to create a work situation
free from conflict, in which both employers and employees worked in unity towards the same
goal – the success of the organisation (Fombrun, 1984: 17).
In the UK, the business climate also began to favour changes in the employment relationship
in the 1980s. As in the USA, this was partly driven by economic pressure in the form of increased
product market competition, the recession in the early 1980s and the introduction of new technology. However, a very significant factor in the UK, generally absent from the USA, was the
desire of the government to reform and reshape the conventional model of industrial relations.
This provided support for the development of more employer-oriented employment policies
on the part of management (Beardwell, 1992, 1996). The restructuring of the economy saw a
8
CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
rapid decline in the old industries and a relative rise in the service sector and in new industries
based on ‘high-tech’ products and services, many of which were comparatively free from the
established patterns of what was sometimes termed the ‘old’ industrial relations. These changes
were overseen by a muscular entrepreneurialism promoted by the Conservative government led
by Margaret Thatcher in the form of privatisation and anti-union legislation, ‘which encouraged
firms to introduce new labour practices and to re-order their collective bargaining arrangements’
(Hendry and Pettigrew, 1990: 19).
At the same time, the influence of the US ‘excellence’ literature (e.g. Peters and Waterman,
1982; Kanter, 1984) associated the success of ‘leading edge’ companies with the motivation of
employees by involved management styles that also responded to market changes. Consequently,
the concepts of employee commitment and ‘empowerment’ became another strand in the ongoing debate about management practice and HRM.
A review of these issues suggests that any discussion of HRM has to come to terms with at
least three fundamental problems:

that HRM is derived from a range of antecedents, the ultimate mix of which is wholly dependent upon the stance of the analyst, and which may be drawn from an eclectic range of sources;

that HRM is itself a contributory factor in the analysis of the employment relationship, and
sets part of the context in which that debate takes place;

that it is difficult to distinguish where the significance of HRM lies – whether it is in its supposed transformation of styles of employee management in a specific sense, or whether in a
broader sense it is in its capacity to sponsor a wholly redefined relationship between management and employees that overcomes the traditional issues of control and consen…
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