Personnel Management in Third World Countries

The effective harnessing of human resources is inevitably an issue of considerable moment in any modern nation state. Nevertheless, particularly because of the rapidity of change, in countries in which major processes of economic and technical advancement are in train, this problem undoubtedly assumes a particular significance. In the following analysis, therefore, some of the general forces which affect the personnel function in the organisation will first be examined. This will be followed by a review of the ways in which “human resource management” may be different in “emergent” countries from other developed nations. Evidence from case studies of the constraints upon and the actual operation of personnel departments in the Third World will then be assessed. And, finally, the thesis will be advanced that there is considerable choice in the ways in which the personnel task may actually be performed in the countries under review.