Innovative Management in Human Resource Terms

The industrial relations and organisational behaviour literature contain frequent references to terms such as best practice employers, model employers, progressive firms, innovative management, etc. These firms are seen to be those that place a very high priority on good human resource management right across the board, and thus have been highly innovative in the policies, structures and arrangements that they have introduced in their dealings and relationships with employees. More formally, they can be seen to constitute the system of management that Likert has labelled System 4. According to Likert the organisational climate of such a system of management can be measured by a number of elements including decision making practices, where persons affected by decision are asked for their ideas, and there is concern for persons, whereby attempts are made to improve working conditions and organise work activities sensibly.