Reassessing Human Resource Management

Drawing on a wide range of organizational examples, this book brings a new balance to assessing the role and impact of HRM. It looks at the core assumptions of an HRM perspective, and at what happens when organizations seek to implement HRM. The contributors show that there are a number of tensions and contradictions inherent in an HRM concept that raise central issues for practice. They demonstrate that HRM is one approach to employee management that will tend to prevail in certain contexts and conditions rather than universally. Specific themes include: HRM and competitive success; organizational culture and HRM; HRM, flexibility and decentralization; reward management and HRM; HRM, Just-in-Time manufacturing and new technology; HRM and trade unions; HRM as the management of managerial meaning.

Table of Contents:
HRM - Peter Turnbull and Paul Blyton Debates, Dilemmas and Contradictions PART ONE: THE EMERGENCE OF HRM HRM - Mike Noon A Map, Model or Theory? Human Resource Management, Competition and Strategy - Richard Whipp Some Productive Tensions Human Resource Maximization - Rick Delbridge and Peter Turnbull The Management of Labour under Just-in-Time Manufacturing Systems PART TWO: DIMENSIONS OF HRM Organization Culture and Human Resource Management - Emmanuel Ogbonna Dilemmas and Contradictions Empowerment or Emasculation? Shop Floor Surveillance in a Total Quality Organization - Graham Sewell and Barry Wilkinson HRM and the Limits of Flexibility - Paul Blyton and Jonathan Morris Decentralization - Ian Kirkpatrick, Annette Davies and Nick Oliver Friend or Foe of HRM? `Locating the Line′ - James Lowe The Front-Line Supervisor and Human Resource Management Reward Management and HRM - Ian Smith New Technology and Human Resource Management - Caroline Lloyd and Mike Rawlinson PART THREE: MANAGEMENT, UNIONS AND HRM Managers′ Attitudes to Human Resource Management - Michael Poole and Roger Mansfield Rhetoric and Reality Human Resource Management and Trade Union Responses - Miguel Martinez Lucio and Syd Weston Bringing the Politics of the Workplace Back into the Debate PART FOUR: A NEW FORM OF MANAGEMENT PRACTICE? HRM - Tom Keenoy and Peter Anthony Metaphor, Meaning and Morality Afterword - Paul Blyton and Peter Turnbull

About the Author :
Paul Blyton is Reader in Industrial Relations at the Cardiff Business School, University of Wales. His publications include Time, Work and Organization (1989) and The Climate of Workplace Relations (1991) Peter Turnbull is Lecturer in Industrial Relations at the Cardiff Business School and co-author of Dock Strike (1992).

Review :
`Welcome and important attempts to help fill this `qualitative void′.... Comprehensive reference lists in discrete subject areas also constitute a valuable by-product of all the chapters. Moreover, the case studies yield some interesting illustrative material′ - Work, Employment and Society `The book is well researched, well illustrated and thought provoking. As such, it is a welcome antidote to the grossly hyped popular literature and the less critical academic treatments of the subject′ - Times Higher Education Supplement `The book successfully raises conceptual, theoretical and some practical issues key to management practice, human resource management and trade unionism. For the critical practitioner and the student of human resource management the book advances many notable arguments′ - International Journal of Career Management `Fifteen papers that review a wide range of issues. Particularly valuable for those who need to keep up with developments in this area′ - Long Range Planning `One of the great strengths of the book is the way it integrates theoretical and empirical data.... essential reading for undergraduates and graduate human resource management students.... Blyton and Turnbull′s book is a welcome addition to the literature on human resource management′ - The Journal of Industrial Relations