This book provides publication of a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development sponsored research study in the UK and incorporating over 1,000 employee interviews between 1999 and 2007. The study carried out by John Purcell and his research team at the University of Bath explores the real‐life effects of HRM policies whilst seeking to answer the primary question – do HRM practices actually work? The authors' identify students of HRM and business and management, plus HRM practitioners as the readership of the book.
The main aims of the book are to explore and identify:
The links between HR and business performance.
How and why are HR practices linked to performance?
What is the link between important theoretical HRM models and how they can be implemented in practice?
In providing answers to these questions the text evaluates existing research; looks at theory development; explores that theory; applies the theory; and looks at the implications of the theory and practice in terms of the conclusions drawn.
The book is divided into four sections. The first is intended to help the reader to understand the link between people management and performance by looking at previous research and theory development.
The second looks at context in relation to organizational culture and values, practices as regards intended and experienced HR practices, processes in terms of the vital role of the line manager in bringing practices to life, and outcomes, considering employee perception, attitudes and discretionary behavior.
The third section majors on the application of the research outcomes to study:
different employment and sub systems;
professional knowledge workers (people and performance) within knowledge intensive firms; and
the financial services sector and analysis of the links between people and organizational performance.
The fourth section considers implications of theory development for practice. In doing so the authors' summarize that the research and the book have identified three major themes concerning the role of line managers, the heterogeneity of HR practices linked to the knowledge of different groups of employees, and the importance of managing HR across and outside organizational boundaries. They state “these themes represent the key challenges faced by both academics and managers when seeking to understand the links between HR practices and organizational performance.”
The book is designed for serious students of HR (academic or practitioner) as regards the methodological rigor of the research and the theoretical bias of the text. The research population includes both line‐managers and front line staff and this approach by the researchers helps bring real life problems and HR practice in the workplace to life. The employees interviewed work for organizations including Tesco, Jaguar, Nationwide and Selfridges. References are plentiful and up to date and provide the reader who wants to delve deeper with plenty of material to do so. Thorough and in‐depth in its coverage, the book provides the reader with plenty of food for thought about the challenges facing HR and solutions to these challenges.
