Management and organisation literature often characterises managing in Africa as 'the challenge of' and rarely do scholars look to the continent for novel ideas, inspiration, best practice, or theoretical insights. Yet, in the last five years or so, the African organisational landscape has...

Recent studies have found that initiatives relying on the participation and development of employees, such as TQM, can struggle if different kinds of employees are not involved equally. For instance, part‐time workers, administrative or shift staff often receive less training and communication...

The role and significance of people management professionals in managing change has become increasingly important with the growing ascendancy of “HRM” in its various manifestations. Yet there is persistent concern that “traditional personnel managers” may be less willing or able to act...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how a national policy on sickness absence management is translated by HR managers into local human resource management (HRM) practices by developing and applying an analytical framework with three dimensions: individual preferences, strategic...

Purpose – This paper seeks to compare Ulrich's model of HR transformation/shared service organisation (the “three‐legged stool”) with the empirical evidence from the research. The aim of the paper is to describe the journey from theory to practice of HR transformation in organisations as...

This article aims to show through a case study analysis how a UK company has adopted policies that in practice appear to signify a move towards HRM techniques. The analysis discusses first the industrial setting that encourages the flourishing of HRM; second, organisational changes at corporate...

In many organisations, changes in organisational structure and the introduction of technology are occurring simultaneously, impacting upon personnel in many different ways. The process of such changes, how they interrelate and how they affect personnel are discussed, through examining some of...

The introduction of cellular manufacture in two factories is examined. In the first factory, the economic difficulties driving the changes were anticipated rather than being felt. Its most pressing problem was how to divide its products into the “families” ecessary for cellular production....

Describes a process through which an organization moved from traditional personnel management towards a more strategically oriented human resource management. Focuses on tracking down, periodically, the actions taken by the human resource manager and his/her relationships with the strategic...

Analyses the links between the process of cultural change and managerial career systems. Describes qualitative research conducted in Jaguar Cars, British Airways, British Nuclear Fuels and British Airports Authority while experiencing major changes associated with privatization decisions....