Examines five strategic human resource management (HRM) issues using a qualitative methodology. Two of these are related to the central organisational‐level constructs of structure and culture. The other three pertain to HR strategy, HR competencies, and HR outsourcing. The study employed the...

Management texts abound on how to develop effective techniques to manage absence, but what actually happens in practice? Aims to shed light on how organisations try to cope with the “problem”. Examines the practices of seven companies from three sectors (financial services, retail, and...

Organisation Development (OD) seems to have become unfashionable in the UK in recent years, with “culture and excellence” and “strategic human resources management” approaches more popular. This is in part due to OD’s naivete over power and politics, its neglect of corporate‐level...

Strategy and culture in British supermarkets are dealt with in a second article, this time from the viewpoint of the checkout. Attempts to create a customer care ethos include instilling a corporate philosophy. For checkout staff this means smiling and meaning it. The staff see it differently;...

This article questions whether a core objective of HRM – to manage organisational culture – is feasible, other than at a most superficial level. On the basis of an in‐depth case study analysis the authors argue that the dominant values of society at large are implicated in what appears to...

It is argued that management seek to close the gap between their employees’ requisite and actual performance, not only by mechanisms of “primary” control but also by imposing their own belief systems as a “strong” culture. However, such belief systems are never successfully transmitted...

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...

Based on empirical work from two major UK organizations. British Airways and BT (formerly British Telecom), both of whom have, after privatization, engaged in large‐scale culture change programmes. Both organizations have made substantial job cuts and (at the time of writing in May 1991) both...

Management development structures such as training courses and appraisal interviews communicate the values and expectations of senior management to participants and thereby socialize them into an organization and its culture. Symbolism, one of many approaches used to try and understand the...

Uses a longitudinal case study approach to analyse changes in industrial relations in a chemical company over the last decade. The authors argue that the concept of “waves” can be used to help understand developments during this period. The first wave related to the crisis of the early 1980s...