Human Resource Management

Strategic and International Perspectives

Jonathan Crawshaw, Pawan Budhwar, Ann Davis, Jonathan Crawshaw, Pawan Budhwar, Ann Davis

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781529729368
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Gestion des ressources humaines

A comprehensive introduction to HRM for students who are new to the field, but who will be seeking employment in a global market, working with diverse colleagues and across international borders. Broken down into three parts covering Strategic Issues in HRM, HRM in Practice and HRM in Context, and weaving international and cross-cultural perspectives throughout, the text explores the ever-changing world of human resource management. The various theories, practices and debates that populate this field are examined, and the challenges and controversies that arise when theory meets practice are explored. The international dimensions of HRM, including cross-cultural working, diversity, equality and international business, have been considered throughout. Practical learning features have been included to help students develop skills they can apply to their course and in graduate employment. In the new edition, all chapters have been thoroughly updated and the authors have included an additional chapter on Digitization and Artificial Intelligence in HRM. The book is supported by a wide range of online resources and tools for both lecturers and students, including access to SAGE journal articles, chapter specific podcasts, SAGE video, PowerPoint slides, interactive multiple choice questions and SAGE Business Cases. Suitable for undergraduates and post-graduate students looking for a strategic and international perspective of HRM.

Part One Strategic Issues in HRM

• Part One Strategic Issues in HRM
  • Chapter 1 Introduction: Context and Challenges for HRM
  • Chapter 2 HRM and Firm Performance
  • Chapter 3 Organisational Change and HRM
  • Chapter 4 Digitisation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and HRM
  • Chapter 5 HRM and the Ethical Organisation
  • Chapter 6 Globalism, Multinational Enterprises and HRM
• Part Two HRM in Practice
  • Chapter 7 Workforce (Artificial) Intelligence Planning
  • Chapter 8 Recruitment and Selection
  • Chapter 9 Diversity in Organisations: HRM and International Practices
  • Chapter 10 Learning and Development
  • Chapter 11 Reward Strategies and Systems
  • Chapter 12 Performance Management and Motivation
  • Chapter 13 Workplace Relations and Regulations
• Part Three HRM in Context
  • Chapter 14 HRM in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
  • Chapter 15 HRM in the Not-for-Profit Sectors

• 1 Introduction: Context and Challenges for HRM 4
• 2 HRM and Firm Performance 34
• 3 Organisational Change and HRM 62
• 4 Digitisation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and HRM 88
• 5 HRM and the Ethical Organisation 112
• 6 Globalism, Multinational Enterprises and HRM 140

Chapter 1 Introduction: Context and Challenges for HRM

Jonathan R. Crawshaw

Jude Preston

Alastair Hatch

Chapter Knowledge Objectives

• To reflect on the changing nature and context of work in terms of the environment in which the contemporary organisation operates.
• To describe the implications of these changes for managing people at work.
• To outline the nature of HRM and its evolution.
• To identify the range of roles, activities and processes included in HRM.
• To discuss the skills and knowledge areas required by HRM specialists and others undertaking HRM responsibilities within organisations.

Key Skills Objectives

• To explore and describe what it is that you want from work.
• To recognise that different people have different views on work and the employment relationship.
• To take other people’s views into account when working in groups or teams.
• To set out the key requirements for an HRM role within an organisation.
• To make arguments from different points of view.

Go Online

This chapter comes with loads of online tools to help you to go that extra mile in your studies!

• Multiple choice questions to help you test your knowledge and revise for exams.
• Journal articles so you can read further for assignments and essays.
• Videos to help you to understand how complex concepts work in the real world.

Visit https://study.sagepub.com/Crawshaw3e to access these resources for this topic.

Online Study Tools

Thinking about joining the CIPD?

Peter Cheese, CEO of the CIPD, sets out the CIPD’s aims and vision for the future in a video available via the companion website:

https://study.sagepub.com/Crawshaw3e > Student Resources > Chapter 1 > Videos

Introduction

This introductory chapter has three main aims. First, it will explore the nature and evolution of human resource management (HRM) as both an academic field of study and a professional discipline. Second, it will outline the potential roles, skills and competencies required by HR professionals – themes that will be returned to throughout the remainder of this book. Finally, it will introduce a number of contemporary people management challenges which organisations face, and the HR implications of these challenges; again, these are issues that will be revisited throughout the remaining chapters of the book.

Human resource management (HRM) The organisational function that deals with issues related to its workforce. HRM may also be seen as a particular ‘perspective’ on people management – one that emphasises a strategic and integrated approach.

What Is HRM?

We could answer this question by simply listing all the activities undertaken by an HR department or HR professional. A quick look at any number of HRM textbooks, HR-related websites or company profiles, and we could soon compile a fairly extensive list of these activities and responsibilities (see Figure 1.1). In this diagram, we have arranged the HR activities into four broad categories: operational, strategic, administrative and people-focused activities. However, it should be borne in mind that these categorisations are by no means definitive – many activities can reasonably be argued to fit into more than one of these category types. This can take us only so far, however, with organisations varying considerably in the activities undertaken by their HR functions. For example, despite the existence of a fairly complex and sophisticated HR function, an organisation may not have an HR presence at the senior management/executive board level. One would expect that within such an organisation, HR’s role in strategic decision-making might be fairly minimal. Some organisations don’t have a distinct HR function at all – this is common in many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). On a more practical level we know that working for one organisation is often very different from working for another despite the two perhaps employing similar HR policies and practices.

In other words, the way we are organised, directed and controlled, the employer’s expectations of us and our contribution to the organisation, and our day-to-day experiences of work and treatment at the hands of our employer can vary greatly. Is this a function of whether one organisation has an HR department and another does not? Is this because one organisation employs certain HR activities that another does not? In short, the list of management activities presented in Figure 1.1, which is neither exhaustive nor definitive, tells us nothing about why these activities are undertaken by organisations, the methods used or how effectively they are implemented, their ultimate goals, or the relative role, power and influence of the HR function within the organisation.

Figure 1.1 Common HR activities

Let’s start instead, therefore, with a definition. Storey (2007: 7) defines HRM 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’. Storey’s is a commonly cited definition and, although there are others, most are fairly consistent in their emphasis on similar assumptions and themes. So, what are these assumptions?

1. That HRM is one particular, but not necessarily dominant, approach to the management of people in organisations. Thus, HRM may be seen as the enactment or operationalisation of a particular ‘perspective’ or ‘philosophy’ on people management.
2. That HRM has a strategic role to play in helping an organisation achieve sustained competitive advantage. Many refer to this as HR ‘adding value’ to the organisation.
3. That an investment in a highly skilled and motivated workforce, through effective HRM policies and practices, is the ‘one best way’ to secure one’s competitive advantage.
4. That HRM presents a unitaristic view of the employment relationship. In other words, the achievement of organisational goals and objectives is the sole purpose of employers and employees, and it is commitment to these goals that is sought from all stakeholders in the organisation. This is an alternative to a more pluralistic perspective on the employment relationship, which would recognise the importance of the different and often competing objectives or goals of different stakeholders – for example, employers, employees, trade unions, shareholders and governments. These perspectives are further discussed in Chapter 13.

Unitaristic A perspective on the employment relationship that assumes the commitment to a single set of (organisational) goals by all stakeholders.

Pluralistic A perspective on the employment relationship that recognises the multiple (and often competing) goals of different stakeholders.

Despite the definition and description presented above, let us not be under an...