Human-Resource Management in a Global Context: a Critical Approach

Citation

(2013), "Human-Resource Management in a Global Context: a Critical Approach", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 21 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2013.04421baa.011

Human-Resource Management in a Global Context: a Critical Approach

Article Type: Suggested reading From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 21, Issue 2

Robin Kramar and Jawad Syed, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, ISBN: 9780230251533

Human-Resource Management in a Global Context: a Critical Approach examines the increasingly global context of HRM practice from a critical-thinking perspective. It is helpfully separated into three sections, each with five or six chapters, which explore a number of aspects of HRM within the global context.

The initial section summarizes the underpinning concepts of HRM. The opening chapter discusses the contextualization of HRM in organizations, considering sociocultural, legal and political, economic and technological, along with local contexts. The authors highlight that HRM will have a limited value if cultural and institutional contexts are not considered fully.

The following chapter frames HRM within key theoretical debates considering the shift from mainstream HRM to strategic human-resource management and its longer-term frame of reference within the subject. The authors also highlight how strategic HRM focuses on the links between human-resource practices, the human-resource pool and organizational outcomes, which are increasingly important within the global marketplaces in which these organizations exist.

Such discussions frame the following two chapters as the authors go on to explore considerations multinational companies must take into account in the current economic climate and examine diversity management in organizations in order that businesses take full advantage of their talent pool.

The final chapter in this section discusses ethics in the HRM realm and bemoans the fact that ethical issues are either forgotten or taken for granted.

The second section begins with chapters looking at human-resource planning and job and work design. Concepts such as talent management, the outsourcing of work and other such strategic challenges are explored. Both chapters discuss how organizations can ensure they achieve a sustained competitive advantage while taking into account the needs and feelings of employees and ensuring levels of engagement are unaffected through any new job designs and strategic planning of human resources.

The authors then examine recruitment and selection, which they describe as seminal. The text then looks at performance management and reward management, highlighting the difficulties and issues arising in multinational companies. The complexities of culture are underlined and it is emphasized that performance management and the reward system will probably need to tailored between headquarters and subsidiary companies.

The final chapter in this section looks at training, development and learning. Discussions range from classical to contemporary training approaches. The authors highlight how considerations must be made by national corporations in delivering learning across international contexts.

The final section analyzes concepts that have a major impact on today’s organizations. The authors suggest that the nature of change has evolved and that managers at the cutting edge of change therefore need greater capabilities in achieving sustainability in organizations. The authors highlight that a study of employee involvement is key to HRM, as it is arguably a core ingredient in high-performance work systems because of the fact that it influences the way in which an individual responds to, and interacts with, the organization.

This section also looks at work-life balance. The authors argue that organizations need to incorporate flexibility and management skills throughout the company, especially in multinational corporations, where it may be that these needs and considerations vary depending on the culture and context.

The final chapter explores human-resource management in small to medium-size enterprises. The authors comment that, although their importance to the international economy is not in doubt, how to promote improvement and sustainable growth is. The chapter points out that individuals play a central role in SMEs and their HR functions are characterized by a high degree of informality and flexibility.

Overall the book effectively communicates the turbulent world in which HRM exists. The layout is excellent because of the way in which the book initially explains each concept and different schools of thought surrounding it, then explores how international organizations should react in such a global context.

Reviewed by Laura Strachan, of the Human Resource Academy, Edinburgh Napier University Business School, Edinburgh, UK.

A longer version of this review originally appeared in European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 36 No. 9, 2012.