Strategic Human Resource Management. - Review - book review

Organization Studies, Nov, 2000 by Marielle G. Heijltjes

Christopher Mabey, Graeme Salaman and John Storey (eds.): Strategic Human Resource Management. A Reader

1998, London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi: The Open University/Sage. 334 pages.

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is an area that continues to evoke a lot of debate as to what it actually embraces. Definitions range from 'a human resource system that is tailored to the demands of the business strategy' (Miles and Snow 1984) to 'the pattern of planned human resource activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals' (Wright and McMahan 1992). Although the difference between these two seems subtle, the implications of the difference are considerable. Where in the first definition human resource management is a 'reactive' management field in which human resource management becomes a tool to implement strategy, in the latter definition it has a proactive function in which human resource activities actually create and shape the business strategy (Sanz-Valle et al. 1999).

The broadness of the field opens up an enormous array of opportunities with respect to composing a reader on the topic of Strategic Human Resource Management. Mabey, Salaman and Storey have taken advantage of this by presenting a very diverse and interesting selection of articles that they group according to four main themes of discussion.

In the first theme, articles are included that discuss the significance of the social and economic context of SHRM. The objective of this section is to paint a picture of the landscape in which SHRM develops, thereby including elements of the internal as well as external environment of organizations. For example, articles that address the internal environment discuss issues such as the ethics of an HR strategy (Legge, Miller). An example of an article that addresses the external environment, is the one by Noble in which the national training systems in Australia, Britain, France and Germany are assessed.

The second section is devoted to the issue of performance measurement of SHRM. The articles in this section relate diverse HRM practices to business performance. They range from hypothesis driven empirical research in which the performance of a collection of HR practices is assessed (Huselid) to the theoretical analysis of conceptual frameworks on appraisals (Newton and Findlay).

The third section moves away from specific HRM issues and deals with the relationship between managerial style in general and new organizational forms. Specifically, the articles in this section analyze the required management style in high technology organizations (Bahrarmi), the possible shift from hierarchies to network-based organizations (Ferlie and Pettigrew) and the conditions necessary to develop into a mutual gains enterprise (Kochan and Osterman). Furthermore, the relationship between HRM and industrial relations (Guest), employment relations in small firms (Bacon et al.) and the novelty of 'new' approaches in the light of a historical context (Jacques) are addressed.

The fourth section of the book concentrates on the relationship between human resources and the development of organizational capability. The three contributions in this section are very diverse, each addressing a different aspect of the proposed relationship. In the first chapter, Kamoche raises his concerns about the current nature of SHRM and argues for an explicit recognition of socio-theoretical motive forces behind managerial actions and a shifting of level of analysis from industry to resource. The second article in this section reflects on the nature of organizational change and decision processes that are associated with this (Brunsson and Olsen 1998). Finally, the third chapter contains the seminal article on knowledge management by Nonaka and Takeuchi.

Although the attempt to identify main areas of debate is interesting and fruitful to structure the discussion on the topic, it is a pity that the editors have not taken this opportunity to relate the four themes in a more systematic way. They point out in their contribution, 'Strategic Human Resource Management: The Theory of Practice and the Practice of Theory', that the diversity which exists in the field with respect to the level of analysis, definition, objectives and approach, results from diversity in theoretical predisposition. Unfortunately, however, this theoretical basis is rarely made explicit. It is exactly with respect to this issue that the editors could have made a more significant contribution. Although they now signal diversity in approaches -- for example, the difference between those writers regarding HRM from a managerialist perspective and those regarding the field from a socio-political perspective or the different opinions on the link between individual and organizational performance -- they do not go beyond this recognition. This leaves the reader with an awareness of potential causes of diversity, but not with a more coherent map to order this diversity in the field. The question that thus remains is why these particular articles were chosen to be included in the reader and why they are considered to be Strategic HRM.