Beer Et Al’s (1984) Harvard Model of Hrm Notes. Essay Example
1
Human resource management: A critical approach
David G. Collings and Geoffrey Wood
Introduction
Despite almost two decades of debate in the mainstream literature around the nature of human resource management (HRM), its intellectual boundaries and its application in practice, the field continues to be dogged by a number of theoretical and practical limitations. This book is intended to provide students with a relatively advanced and critical discussion of the key debates and themes around HRM as it is conceptualized and operationalized in the early part of the twenty-first century. Thus the current contribution is intended to be in the tradition of Storey (2007) and Legge (1995) and aims to provide students with a well-grounded and critical overview of the key issues surrounding HRM from a theoretical and practical perspective. In doing so we draw on contributions from the leading scholars in the field who provide detailed discussions on key debates in their respective offerings.
In this introduction we provide the context for the book though considering a number of overarching themes within which key debates in the field of HRM are situated. Specifically, we provide a summary discussion of the theoretical and intellectual boundaries of HRM, consider its emergence in historical context and identify some of the pervasive contradictions and limitations which prevail in the literature. Finally we provide a short outline of the structure and content of this volume.
HRM defined
Our discussion begins by considering what HRM actually means. Given the importance of definition in understanding the boundaries of a field, this issue is clearly an important point of departure. However, this question is more difficult to answer than one would expect, since from its emergence HRM has been dogged by the still largely unresolved ambiguity surrounding its definition. As Blyton and Turnbull (1992:2) note ‘The ways in which the term is used by academics and practitioners
Human resource management: A critical approach
David G. Collings and Geoffrey Wood
Introduction
Despite almost two decades of debate in the mainstream literature around the nature of human resource management (HRM), its intellectual boundaries and its application in practice, the field continues to be dogged by a number of theoretical and practical limitations. This book is intended to provide students with a relatively advanced and critical discussion of the key debates and themes around HRM as it is conceptualized and operationalized in the early part of the twenty-first century. Thus the current contribution is intended to be in the tradition of Storey (2007) and Legge (1995) and aims to provide students with a well-grounded and critical overview of the key issues surrounding HRM from a theoretical and practical perspective. In doing so we draw on contributions from the leading scholars in the field who provide detailed discussions on key debates in their respective offerings.
In this introduction we provide the context for the book though considering a number of overarching themes within which key debates in the field of HRM are situated. Specifically, we provide a summary discussion of the theoretical and intellectual boundaries of HRM, consider its emergence in historical context and identify some of the pervasive contradictions and limitations which prevail in the literature. Finally we provide a short outline of the structure and content of this volume.
HRM defined
Our discussion begins by considering what HRM actually means. Given the importance of definition in understanding the boundaries of a field, this issue is clearly an important point of departure. However, this question is more difficult to answer than one would expect, since from its emergence HRM has been dogged by the still largely unresolved ambiguity surrounding its definition. As Blyton and Turnbull (1992:2) note ‘The ways in which the term is used by academics and practitioners