Market-focused management: Human resource management implications

Under market-focused management (MFM) the whole organization is engaged in the satisfaction of customers' needs—so much so that MFM becomes the philosophy and modus operandi of doing business and customers become the reason for the organization's existence. If this is to happen, human resource philosophies, policies, and practice must be conducive to MFM. The objectives of this article are to briefly review the implications for human resource management. The merits of adopting the business philosophy of MFM as compared to other traditional alternatives have been discussed in detail elsewhere (Webster, 1992; Day, 1990; Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Narver and Slater, 1990; Grover, 1995). Here we focus on describing human resource philosophy, policies, and practices options that are affected by MFM.