Purpose – To examine the experience of agency employment for workers and employers' use of agency workers in Britain to evaluate competing claims made about this form of work. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on results from three recent representative surveys of employment in...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the management of agency workers in Australia and, in particular, to identify the challenges presented to HRM by agency work. Design/methodology/approach – After briefly reviewing the data on the incidence and growth of agency work in...

Purpose – To present a comprehensive literature review of human resource information systems (HRIS) and to report the results of a survey on the implementation of HRIS in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire was designed, pre‐tested, modified, and used to...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue, which brings together five papers exploring the changing anatomy of HRM at organisational level. Design/methodology/approach – This overarching paper briefly contextualises the theme and introduces the five selected...

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to show that HRM is not the sole responsibility of HR departments, but also of other agents inside and outside the organisation, such as top and line managers, and external HRM service providers. This paper seeks to examine how organisations distribute HRM...

Purpose – This paper aims to report a study into the role of middle line managers, in public services, in relation to devolved HRM. The paper notes that the intermediacy of middle management leads to a distinct and unique form of role tension. A model is offered to explain that phenomenon,...

Purpose – The paper aims to report on an in‐depth study of the merger and acquisition processes involved in the creation of the leading financial services corporation in the Nordic countries: Nordea. The purposes are, first, to describe the roles played by the HR function and examine the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the diffusion patterns of eight information technologies that are transforming HR service‐delivery in North America and Europe: HR functional applications, integrated HR suites, IVR systems, HR intranets, employee and manager self‐service...

Purpose – Employability concerns the extent to which people possess the skills and other attributes to find and stay in work of the kind they want. It is thought by many to be a key goal for individuals to aim for in managing their careers, and for organisations to foster in workforces. The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce an integrated three‐phase methodology for forecasting future competency requirements more effectively than existing methods. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is demonstrated with reference to empirical research conducted by...