The changing face of HRM: in search of balance

Current models of HRM suggest that expectations about HR roles are changing as organisations are striving to make the HR function leaner and more ‘strategic’. In our article we explore the changing roles of HRM as they are perceived by different stakeholder groups within the HR profession through the medium of a study examining the diffusion of the concept of ‘the thinking performer’ launched by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in 2002. We explain how the concept of business partnering dominates respondents' talk about HR policy and practice and raise questions about the impact of this in terms of HRM's relationship with employees, employee well‐being and the career paths of HR professionals. We argue that the profession needs to reflect seriously on the consequences of a dominant business/strategic partner framing of HR work, which fails to address the duality that has historically always been inherent in HR practice. We conclude that there is a need for a more balanced HR agenda addressing human and economic concerns in current and future models of HRM.     

Reviews

POLICIES FOR TRAINING AND THE LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED.

Corney, M. 1990: The Black Hole in Britain's Training System; Training for People in Employment: Robinson, P. 1989: Stagflation; Lessons from Other Places; and Meacher, M. 1990: Adopting the Employment Principle: A Green Paper. All published by the Campaign for Work. The price of the first is £4.00, the second £5.00 and the third £3.50.

US LESSONS IN EVALUATION.

Bingham, R. D., Hill, E. W. and White, S. B. (eds) 1990: Financing Economic Development: An Institutional Response. Newbury Park, California and London: Sage Publications, £33.25 cloth, £16.75 paper.

LESSONS FROM THE USA.

Hambleton, R. 1990: Urban Government in the 1990s: Lessons from the USA,

Occasional Paper No. 35, Bristol: School for Advanced Urban Studies. No price stated.

SKILLS TRAINING.

CBI, 1989: Managing the Skills Gap. London: CBI, £10.00 paper; Report of the Vocational Education and Training Task Force, 1989: Towards a Skills Revolution. London: CBI, £20.00 paper; Association of London Authorities, 1990: Training for London. London: ALA.     

Research or practice: the debate goes on

Summary If research is superior to practice the difference does not appear to be in the process that is used. Inquiry and problem-solving are, in fact, based on the same process, decision-making. Both involved the use of an analysis-synthesis-evaluation sequence, both may involve deduction, but they also have the same inductive flaws, and both produce results that are of great benefit to mankind. Thus, if there is a difference, it must have something to do with the skills the individual brings to the process.Competent decision makers analyze and define the situation that exists, distinguish problems from symptoms and identify the problems that should be considered. They think creatively as they generate options using brainstorming, synectics, and lateral thinking. They use logic to test the ideas involved in each step of the process, make assumptions, test inferences, interpret statements, and evaluate arguments. They demand evidence for claims that are made and think critically as they weigh, reconcile, and assess arguments using dialogue, discussion, and debate. And they apply appropriate values and ethics before they make decisions. These are the skills that should be taught in schools for if there is any superiority, it is not intrinsic to the process, it is within the decision maker.This paper was first presented at a conference of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers     

Invisible work, invisible skills: interactive customer service as articulation work

The concept of emotional labour provides an incomplete account of interactive service work, underplaying its invisible cognitive and non-routine elements. In interactive work, from customer service jobs in the fast food industry to 'knowledge work' and at those levels in between on which we focus here, many jobs involve 'articulation work'—the often unacknowledged management of awkward intersections among the social worlds of people, technology and organisations.     

MARKET STRUCTURE AND TRADING VOLUME

Historically, trading volume reported for NASDAQ stocks has been overstated vis‐à‐vis New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stocks, both because of the dealer's participation in trades as a market maker and because of interdealer trading. Beginning in 1997, the Securities and Exchange Commission changed order‐handling rules and trade‐reporting rules, which may have reduced or eliminated the overstatement of NASDAQ trading. We examine trading volumes of firms changing from NASDAQ to the NYSE since 1997 and document that reported trading volume for NASDAQ stocks continues to be overstated. Moreover, the degree of overstatement is much larger for firms with high trading volume.