This volume examines developments in human resource management (HRM) in public and private organizations in European countries. The basic data used for the chapters in the book were collected within the Cranfield Network on European HRM (Cranet‐E). This network (formerly called the Price Waterhouse project which began in 1989 with five countries) is now a research network consisting of 25 countries of which five are non European. A distinctive feature of their approach is the attempt to analyse HRM issues in a national, cross‐national and longitudinal way. Most of the contributions were written specifically for this book, though some draw on already published work.
The book has 16 chapters and is divided into six sections. Mayrhofer et al. set the scene in Part one by critically considering the concept of Strategic European Human Resource Management. The chapter highlights the differences within Europe as well as the differences between Europe and other parts of the world and argues for new research approaches to identify these more effectively.
In Part two there are six contributions that deal with aspects of flexibility. Servlavos and Aparicio‐Valverde use Atkinson’s model to examine flexibility in Spain and highlights that flexibility has considerable drawbacks as well as advantages. The third chapter by Friedrich and colleagues is a very interesting analysis of one specific aspect of organizational flexibility – job rotation which is considered in relation to wider personnel strategies. In Chapter four Mayne etal. examine part‐time and short‐term working in relation to strategic approaches to HRM. Buyens etal. (Chapter five) consider empirically the links between the application of flexible work structures and competitiveness in Belgian companies. In Chapter six Gooderham and Nordhaug focus on the issue of numerical flexibility while Papalexandris (Chapter seven) considers the role of flexibility in addressing the important social issue of the work – family balance in Greece and Europe.
In Part three training and development issues are discussed. Tregaskis (Chapter eight) considers the key role of the HRD system and in particular compares the role of the host‐national context to that of the parent company in shaping the HRD practices of foreign MNEs operating in the UK. In Chapter nine Larsen offers an interesting analysis of the role and effectiveness of high‐ flyer programmes in organizations in the context of the changed demands and expectations of management development in recent years.
Part four deals with various dimensions of the changing industrial relations system in Europe. Morley et al. (Chapter ten) provide an excellent overview of developments of the system from an overall European perspective. In Chapter 11 Mayrhofer and colleagues investigate the extent of communication and consultation that takes place in organizations across Europe and they convincingly conclude that the alternatives suggested by current models are inadequate to describe and explain current practice in Europe.
Part five deals with analyses of HRM in different regions of the world. Weber et al. (Chapter 12) consider the convergence – divergence issue across Europe, and analyse empirically whether organization‐specific variables or country specific variables have the major influence on the formulation of HR policies. In Chapter 13 Vatchkova offers an interesting account of some of the key HRM challenges faced by Bulgarian organizations during the transition from a planned to a market economy, one of the few analyses available on the changing nature of HRM in this country. In Chapter 14 Kramer provides an interesting analysis of the way that the management of labour has changed in Australia over the last two decades and as well as considering whether these changes constitute a new approach, she explains the reasons for these developments.
Part six considers organizational and methodological questions of international comparative research in the area of HRM. In an excellent contribution Mayrhofer (Chapter 15) draws some interesting comparisons between managing an international research network and managing cross‐border activities in the business field. He offers a valuable discussion of the important issues of maintaining co‐ordination and control in such networks, and based on the experiences of the network, offers some useful lessons and open questions regarding the successful management of international research networks. This contribution is particularly valuable as few studies reflect critically on the process of international comparative research. In the final chapter (16) Brewster et al. highlight the importance of international comparative research in HRM and also identify some of the main complexities and difficulties of conducting such research, in particular the problems encountered in using international comparative surveys.
This book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of European Human Resource Management. The strengths of this book reflect the work of a truly collaborative international project written by a wide range of leading European specialists drawing on a common cross‐national database. This represents a significant advance from previous texts that lack a common cross‐national survey and the focus on specific themes is a further advantage. Indeed the impressive in‐depth coverage of a wide range of key themes and issues makes this book compulsory reading for serious students of European HRM and for those interested more generally in international comparative management research.
