Human Resource Management in a Business Context
3rd edition

by Alan Price

Human Resource Management in a Business Context provides an international focus on the theory and practice of people management. A thorough and comprehensive overview of all the key aspects of HRM, including case studies, articles from HRM Guide and other sources, key concepts, review questions and problems for discussion and analysis.
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  The new managerialism . Schuler (1990) emphasized that the HR function had an opportunity to shift from being an 'employee advocate' (associated with personnel management) to a 'member of the management team'. Schuler's view was that this required HR professionals to be concerned with the bottom line, profits, organizational effectiveness and business survival. In other words, human resource issues should be addressed as business issues.

In fact, line and general managers have been instrumental in the adoption of HRM - often pushing changes through despite the resistance of personnel specialists (Storey, 1995: 7).

Encouraged by the writing of management gurus such as Peters and Waterman and Kanter, managers eagerly adopted new forms of organization. (..)

 How does a management guru exercise such an influence? See Laughing Gurus  on the HRMGuide.co.uk site. 

 The concept of HRM

What exactly is 'human resource management'? Many people find HRM to be a vague and elusive concept - not least because it seems to have a variety of meanings. This confusion reflects the different interpretations found in articles and books about human resource management. Human Resource Management in a Business Context includes a reasoned discussion on this topic.

Townley (1994) argues that much of the confusion over the role of human resource managers is due to two factors:-

The conflict between the 'welfare' tradition of personnel management and the strategic orientation of modern HRM

A gender divide between:

• 'female' or 'soft' personnel management (particularly in respect of the welfare tradition) at lower management and administrative levels;
• 'male', hard-nosed human resource managers within upper management or corporate headquarters.

She contends that the gender issue should be taken further than 'counting the number of women' into an examination of language, role divisions and power. In particular, Townley (1994) holds that gender is inherent in how 'personnel' has become a subject of study. In the UK the professional institution has had several different titles since it was founded as the Welfare Workers Association in 1913. Currently it is the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, having been unable to face the ultimate change to a name which parallels the Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI) or the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in the USA.

Townley (1994) points to the debate about consequences of the name on employment prospects: 'debates centred on the image projected - welfare was thought to reflect the feminine'. The consequence was that more 'strenuous terms' were used: in 1924 it became Industrial Welfare Workers; in 1931 it changed to Institute of Labour Management; in 1946, the Institute of Personnel Management, a title which remained for the next half century. Throughout the last century there has been a polarisation between male and female aspects of people management. As an example, Townley cites industrial relations as a male preserve in the 1960s and 70s, whereas training was mainly staffed by females.

More recently, she believes that: "The present division between personnel and HRM ... equally reflects the same gendered elements. Put bluntly, the focus of HRM - an agenda, in the main, prescribed by men - has been 'important' men in one field talking to, reflecting and reporting on 'important' men in another."

References:

Schuler, R. S. (1990). `Repositioning the human resource function: transformation or demise?' Academy of Management Executive, 4:3, 49-60.

Storey, J. (ed) (1995, 2000) Human Resource Management: A Critical Text Thomson Learning (2nd edition 2000, 1995 edition under the Routledge imprint).

Townley, B. (1994) Reframing Human Resource Management: Power, Ethics and the Subject of Work Sage.

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