Returns to a case study of a newspaper company introducing HRM presented five years earlier in this journal. Looks at all the editorial offices of the company and examines the extent to which the company has succeeded in implementing HRM and what this has meant for a key section of its...

Highlights that although the idea that competences are underlying sustainable competitive advanta ges is central, there has been no thorough investigation into the very nature of competences in the strategic management literature. Uses theories on the sociology of knowledge to advance the...

It is common in discussions about human resource management (HRM) to distinguish between “rhetoric” and what is regarded as a clearly separate “reality”. This is naïve in that it fails to recognize the way those researching the human aspects of management and those practically involved...

Despite debate and criticism, the notion of “competence” has risen to prominence very rapidly and now has an important place in the vocabulary of human resource management (HRM). Seeks to explain such a rapid rise by drawing on discourse theory. The discourse of competence may be seen to...

Total quality management (TQM) principles are now being applied in service industries in the UK, following their perceived success in manufacturing industries, with the particular aim of improving service quality. In financial services the impetus behind the adoption of quality programmes is...

Only recently has a professional personnel function become established within UK universities. Based on interviews with heads of the personnel function in both “old” and “new” universities in northern England, discusses the approach being taken to personnel management in higher...

Increasingly both academic and industrial commentators advocate that a commitment to service quality improvement requires the development of “service driven culture” or a “total quality culture”, based on approaches to human resource management which ensure greater employee involvement...

One of the main features of human resource management (HRM) is the emphasis on aligning the organization’s employee management practice with its strategy. It is argued that the strategy pursued by an organization needs to be supported by a compatible form of HRM practices. Each strategy has to...

Reviews the differences between employee assistance programmes (EAPs) in the USA and the UK, but also identifies convergent trends in the employment environment in both countries. Discusses recent developments for professional EAPs in the USA to be driven by occupational social work models, and...

Critically assesses the underpinnings and implications of the business case for the progression of women at work. Fundamentally linked to the principles of strategic HRM, the business case focuses on the business benefits that employers accrue through making the most of the skills and potential...