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HUMA C00.QXD3/3/0812:55 PMPage viiiCONTENTS14 Employee participation and involvementPeter Butler and Linda GloverObjectivesIntroductionDefinitionsHistory of EPIEPI: managerial motivesEPI practices in the workplaceWorks councils and consultation in theEuropean UnionNew management initiatives: from qualitycircles, to quality management, to ‘highperformance management’?SummaryCase study: Advanced ComponentsReferences and further readingPart 4 Case study:Malone Superbuy Ltd525525525526530534537546549555555557561Part 5INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCEMANAGEMENTIntroduction to Part 5ObjectivesIntroductionNational employment systemsGermany: the social partnership modelJapan: the enterprise-based modelThe American employment system:a managerial modelThree national systems: a summaryPatterns of change in national systemsWhere the USA leads the rest of the worldfollows?Change, convergence and divergence inemployment systemsviii59359359359459516 Human resource management in Chinaand IndiaLinda Glover and Anita Trivedi598ObjectivesIntroductionConvergence or divergence in Asia?China: economic growth and HRMIndiaSummaryCase study: Yummee Biscuits: Part 1Case study: Yummee Biscuits: Part 2References and further reading59859859960061562862962963017 International HRM56315 HRM trends and prospects:a comparative perspectiveIan Clark and Tim ClaydonConclusionSummaryQuestionsCase study: Chill enters cosy GermanboardroomsReferences and further reading564564564566566571576581582Phil Almond and Olga Tregaskis634ObjectivesIntroductionThe international strategic contextConfiguration of the international HRMfunctionKnowledge and the transfer of the HRpolicy and practice in internationalorganisationsCountry effectsSummaryQuestionsCase study: All change at LinkzReferences and further reading634634636651654661662662664Part 5 Case study:Global and local: the case of the inoperableHRM strategy667Glossary of terms and abbreviationsIndex669677640584591

HUMA C00.QXD3/3/0812:55 PMPage ixPrefaceThis fifth edition is the first edition of this text that has not been co-edited and contributed toby Len Holden. The book was in many ways Len’s brainchild and the fact that the book goeson even though he has relinquished his role is a tribute to the quality of the vision that he andIan Beardwell shared nearly fifteen years ago. As new co-editors we have tried to ensure thatthis edition maintains the analytical and critical standard that they set in earlier ones.HRM is a continually evolving field of practice and study. In its successive editions thisbook has tried to reflect critically upon new developments as the issues and policies that havebecome associated with it have multiplied considerably. Previous editions have traced thedebates over the role of the HRM specialist within organisations, the role and nature of HRMin relation to organisational change initiatives such as total quality management (TQM),and the strategic role of HRM and its effect on organisational performance. They alsoaddressed the implications for HRM of the emergence of new concepts such as the learningorganisation and the knowledge-based organisation and new approaches to employeeinvolvement (EI) and empowerment.In the last edition we noted how in academic circles the search for a universal HRM paradigm has given way to an emphasis on understanding how HRM operates in diversesituations and what contribution it can make to the effectiveness and profitability of theorganisation. Particular attention was paid to concepts such as high performance worksystems, the resource-based view of HRM and ‘bundles’ of HR policies. That editionalso examined the operation of HRM across national boundaries, reflecting the growingimportance of multinational companies and the globalising trends in the world economy.This edition continues to explore these themes and to reflect further developments in thefield, including changes in employees’ legal rights, developments in employee involvementand the implications of the continuing emphasis on the need to raise skills and compete inworld markets on the basis of skills and knowledge. We have paid particular attention to thefinal section dealing with comparative and international HRM in order to address more fullythe issues for HRM raised by globalisation. There are new chapters that discuss whether distinctive national patterns of HRM can survive in the face of US-led globalisation, how HRMis developing in the rapidly growing economies of China and India, and the ways in whichmultinational companies are influencing not only HRM ideas and practice across the globebut also the national and international policy environments within which HRM operates. Asingle volume cannot encompass the huge area in and around the HRM sphere, and weapologise for any omissions. Nevertheless, we have covered the broad sweep of the HRM fieldand some aspects in considerable detail.We would again like to thank our long-standing contributors and those who are makingtheir first appearance in this edition for their hard work and willing cooperation in gettingthis edition to press. We would also like to thank partners, family members and colleagues fortheir help and support in the arduous process of academic writing. Finally, we would like tothank our editors at Pearson for their enthusiastic help and encouragement.Julie BeardwellTim Claydonix

HUMA C00.QXD3/3/0812:55 PMPage xGuided tourChapter 2Strategic human resourcemanagementNicky GoldingObjectives To indicate the significance of the business context in developing an understanding of themeaning and application of SHRM. To analyse the relationship between strategic management and SHRM. To examine the different approaches to SHRM including:Objectives provide an overview ofthe topics to be covered in eachchapter, giving a clear indication ofwhat you should expect to learn.– the best-fit approach to SHRM;– the configurational approach to SHRM;– the resource based view of SHRM– the best-practice approach to SHRM. To evaluate the relationship between SHRM and organisational performance. To present a number of activities and case studies that will facilitate the reader’sunderstanding of the nature and complexity of the SHRM debate, and enable the readerto apply their knowledge and understanding.Introduction to strategic human resource managementThis chapter charts the development of strategic human resource management. It assumesa certain familiarity with the evolution of HRM, early HRM models and frameworks andtheir theoretical underpinning as discussed in other chapters and particularly Chapter 1.The aim of this chapter is to provide a challenging and critical analysis of the strategichuman resource management literature, so that you will be able to understand the synthesis both within and between strategic human resource management and strategicmanagement in its various forms.Since the early 1980s when human resource management arrived on the managerialagenda, there has been considerable debate concerning its nature and its value to organisations. From the seminal works emerging from the Chicago school and the matching modelof HRM (Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna, 1984) the emphasis has very much concerned itsstrategic role in the organisation. Indeed the now large literature rarely differentiates betweenhuman resource management (HRM) and strategic human resource management (SHRM).While some writers have associated HRM with the strategic aspects and concerns of ‘best-fit’,THE SYSTEMATIC APPROACHFigure 2.2Emergent strategyIntstr endeate trategyEmergent strategyFigures are used to illustratekey points, models, theoriesand processes.Source: Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. From ‘Crafting Strategy’ by Mintzberg, H., July–August 1987. Copyright 1987 by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, all rights reserved.is these pluralist tensions that are sometimes ignored in certain branches of the SHRM literature, most notably the ‘best-practice’ approach.Stop & think: readers arefrequently invited to reflectcritically, challenge theirassumptions and relate totheir own experience.Stop&thinkCan you think of reasons why an intended strategy might not be realised? Why dostrategies sometimes emerge?Illustrate your answers with examples from your own experience. If you do not haveorganisational examples, reflect upon your personal development so far.What factors have influenced your choice of university? degree subject? career?, etc. Have youfollowed your original plans? What changes have you made? Have new strategies emerged?Using Mintzberg’s model, you could plot your development so far on a time-line, identifyingwhere and why planned strategies have failed to be realised while new ones have emerged.The systemic approachThis leads us on to the final perspective identified by Whittington (1993, 2001), the systemicapproach. The systemic approach suggests that strategy is shaped by the social system it operates within. Strategic choices, therefore, are shaped by the cultural and institutional interestsof a broader society. So for example, state intervention in France and Germany has shapedHRM in a way which is different to the USA and the UK. A key theme of the systemicapproach is that ‘decision makers are not detached, calculating individuals interacting inpurely economic transactions’ (Whittington, 2001: 26) but are members of a community‘rooted in a densely interwoven social system’. Therefore in reality, organisations and theirmembers’ choices are embedded in a network of social relations (Whittington, 1993). Thusaccording to this approach, organisations differ according to the social and economic systemsin which they are embedded.41x

HUMA C00.QXD3/3/0812:55 PMPage xiGUIDED TOURCHAPTER 2 STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTActivityTry to answer these questions with regard to your organisation or one you are familiar with.Alternatively, you could use the case study ‘Café Expresso’ at the end of this chapter.Activities appear throughout thetext to reinforce learning withproblems and practical exercises.This approach has further implications for the role of human resource managers in a firm, asthey need to understand the economic consequences of human resource practices and understand where they fit in the value chain. Barney and Wright (1998: 42) suggest that the humanresources function needs to be able to explore the following questions: Who are your internal customers and how well do you know their part of the business?Are there organisational policies and practices that make it difficult for your internalclients to be successful?What services do you provide? What services should you provide? What services shouldyou not provide?How do these services reduce internal customers’ costs/increase their revenues?Can these services be provided more efficiently by outside vendors?Can you provide these services more efficiently?Do managers in the HR function understand the economic consequence of their jobs?The value of an organisation’s resources is not sufficient alone, however, for sustainable competitive advantage, because if other organisations possess the same value, then it will onlyprovide competitive parity. Therefore an organisation needs to consider the next stage of theframework: rarity.RarityThe HR manager needs to consider how to develop and exploit rare characteristics of a firm’shuman resources to gain competitive advantage.Nordstrom is an interesting case, because they operate in a highly competitive retail industry where you would usually expect a lower level of skill and subsequently high labourturnover. Nordstrom, however, focused on individual salespeople as a key source of its competitive advantage. It therefore invested in attracting and retaining young college-educatedpeople who were looking for a career in retailing. To ensure horizontal integration, it alsoprovided a highly incentive-based compensation system (up to twice the industry average)Box 2.2Please read the following extract:Nordstrom exists in the highly competitive retailing industry. This industry is usually characterised as having relatively low skill requirements and high turnover for sales clerks.Nordstrom, however, has attempted to focus on individual salespersons as the key to its competitive advantage. It invests in attracting and retaining young, college-educated sales clerkswho desire a career in retailing. It provides a highly incentive-based compensation system thatallows Nordstrom’s salespersons to make as much as twice the industry average in pay. TheNordstrom culture encourages sales clerks to make heroic efforts to attend to customers’ needs,even to the point of changing a customer’s tyre in the parking lot. The recruiting process, compensation practices, and culture at Nordstrom have helped the organisation to maintain thehighest sales per square foot of any retailer in the nation.Boxes contain a variety of businessexamples to put theory into practice.Source: Barney J.B. and Wright P.M. On becoming a strategic partner: the role of human resources in gainingcompetitive advantage, Human Resource Management, Spring, 1998, vol. 37, no 1, 34.QuestionHow did Nordstrom exploit the rare characteristics of their employees?CHAPTER 5 HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING54SummaryThe chapter began by outlining seven key objectives and these are revisited here. The Summary allows you to recapand review your understanding ofthe main points of the chapter. Human resource planning can be interpreted in a number of different ways. For some itmeans the same as manpower planning, for others it is significantly different and hasmany similarities to HRM. The definition used in this chapter relates to HRP as a set ofdistinct activities that incorporates both the hard elements associated with manpowerplanning and some of the softer elements associated with HRM.The key stages in the traditional human resource planning process are investigation andanalysis, forecasting demand and supply, developing action plans to address any imbalance, implementing the plans and evaluating their effectiveness.Methods of demand forecasting discussed are time series, ratio analysis, work study, managerial judgement, the Delphi technique and working back from budgets. Quantitativemethods can be problematic as the extrapolation of past data might be inappropriate in achanging environment but they can provide a reasonable starting point for forecasts.Qualitative methods are more flexible but can be manipulated for political ends. Supplyforecasting tends to focus mainly on various analyses of labour turnover and stability andmovement through an organisation. Quantitative analysis can help to highlight problemareas but gives little indication about how problems might be addressed. Qualitative datacan help to address this gap but can sometimes be difficult to obtain. Organisations canexacerbate problems if they are not seen to act on the information they receive.A more contemporary approach to HRP aims to enable the organisation to adapt to anuncertain and changing environment and emphasises the need to develop a well-trainedand flexible workforce. Variants to HRP include micro-planning, contingency planning,succession planning, skills planning and soft human resource planning.The main advantages of HRP are that plans can help reduce uncertainty, can build flexibility and can contribute to vertical and horizontal integration. The key disadvantages relateto difficulties of predicting an uncertain future, the lack of necessary data to make accuratepredictions and the absence of clear business plans.Evidence of HRP in practice is varied but the dominant approach seems to view HR as the‘dependent variable’ and tends to be tentative and incremental rather than systematic.HRP’s main role in SHRM is as a means to facilitate the integration of HR strategy withbusiness strategy and to ensure that HR policies and practice are compatible with eachother. In addition, some studies associate formal planning activity with improved organisational performance, particularly if planning is sustained over a number of years. The keyemphasis, however, needs to be on building adaptability and managing change.QUESTIONS1 To what extent can forecasting activity influence the effectiveness of human resource plans?Questions can be used forself-testing, class exercisesor debates.2 Why should organisations be concerned with labour turnover and what steps can they taketo address the issue?3 Contemporary organisations increasingly operate in a dynamic and uncertain environment.Does this reduce or increase the need for human resource planning activity? Justify youranswer.186xi

HUMA C00.QXD3/3/0812:55 PMPage xiiGUIDED TOURCHAPTER 2 STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTCASE STUDYCase studies, at the end of eachchapter and part, help consolidateyour learning of major themes byapplying them to real-life examples.Café ExpressoCafé Expresso is one of the three main players in the‘coffee house’ industry, which now has more than6000 stores across the globe, 500 of which are in theUK and Ireland. They employ 7000 staff in the UKalone and serve 35 million customers in their storesacross the globe each week.The coffee industry is particularly robust, withcoffee being the second most valuable commodity inthe world after oil, with global retail sales estimatedto be 39.2 billion. A total of 6.7 million tonnes ofcoffee were produced annually in 1998–2000, whichis forecast to rise to 7 million tonnes by 2010.The number of coffee bars in the high street hasincreased considerably in recent years, with themarket being dominated by three main players. The‘coffee house’ business therefore, is very competitivewith coffee chains constantly looking for innovativeways of achieving sustainable competitive advantage,to remain ahead of their rivals.Café Expresso had enjoyed first mover advantagein the marketplace and had rapidly grown to numberone position, which they had re

Human Resource Management is written for undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students, as well as those studying for the CIPD qualifi cations. 5th Edition The fi fth edition of Human Resource Management is edited by Julie Beardwell, Associate Dean and Head of School, HRM at Leeds Metropolitan University and