Evolution of Human Resource Management

GUEST EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION GROWTH AND GLOBALIZATION: EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN ASIA
ARTHUR YEUNG, MALCOLM WARNER, AND CHRIS ROWLEY
In this introductory note, we offer an overview of how human resource management in Asian countries and corporations is evolving in the face of rapid business growth and integration into the global economy and we describe how the articles in this Special Issue contribute to new knowledge and insights regarding key issues, challenges, and evolution in the field of HRM in Asia. Driven by the combined forces of rapid gross domestic product growth in many Asian economies and their further integration into the global business arena, firms in Asia are in constant flux, no matter whether they are developed economies like Japan, Korea, and Taiwan; developing economies like Malaysia and Thailand; or transitional economies like China and Vietnam. How will HRM systems in these countries evolve and transform under the combined forces of growth and globalization? We argue that HRM systems in these Asian firms most likely will evolve toward “bounded convergence. The demands and ex” pectations of the HR function to take on strategic roles (versus administrative roles) and address critical HR issues like attracting and retaining key talent, building talent pipelines, and creating high-performing cultures are greater than ever. We conclude with a high-level summary of the key contribution of the eight articles covered in this Special Issue. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Introduction

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s many Asian economies’ expectations continue to be surpassed (with a recent gross domestic product growth rate as high as 11 percent in China for example) vis á vis an otherwise darkening outlook for the world economy (see “Economic and Financial In-

dicators,” 2007), they present opportunities for firms around the world both to capture these high-growth markets and to accelerate the migration of their higher value-added business activities

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