Purpose – The purpose of this article is to introduce the special issue which considers the impact that the global world has had on the profession of HRM. Design/methodology/approach – In June 2009, the International Human Resource Management Conference was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA....

For almost twenty years researchers have predicted the end of personnel as HRM practices increasingly became a line management function. However, while useful for describing shifts in human resource responsibilities, this practice-based view obscures the fundamental strategic reason for this...