Human Resource Management in France

In France, no other specialist business function is so predominantly marked by culture as HRM. In France, Cartesian patterns of analytical thinking, the passion for anti‐authoritarian individualism,and the reduction of disorder through legislation and bureaucracy influence the company′s sociocultural environments, in particular through the education system, the status of executives, and the role of trade unionism. Emphasis is put on the concept of ubiquity in HRM; it is at the intersection of all the other corporate functions and its role is shared with the line managers at the technical, relational and strategic level. Future perspectives, like the introduction of new technologies,may impose a new ethical dimension for HRM against the “gospel of efficiency”.