Human Resource Management

"Human Resource Management" examines specific areas in which human resource management will be critical to business performance in the 1990s and beyond. In this changing environment, personnel managers will play an increasingly important role. The first part of the book covers the challenges to traditional personnel management which are being posed by changes in demography, culture and competitiveness. "Human Resource Management" puts forward potential strategies that involve not just the personnel departments, but a firm's entire structure. Topics covered include: the role played by British culture and institutions in recruitment, current definitions of work-time, and the costs of training new recruits who soon leave the company suggesting the alternative strategy of "mentoring". There is also an examination of the training and development of management. The second part of the book looks at specifically organizational problems. The key issue for Western business is quality, which the Japanese have made a source of competitor advantage. Quality involves the establishment of a quality culture within the firm and therefore demands a new appreciation of human resources.
The essays go on to discuss company accounting, information technology, corporate strategy, profit-sharing and the John Lewis Partnership. The book concludes with a constructive look ahead arguing that with the rise of high technology in modern industrial society, which demands that firms rely more upon the expertise of their personnel, means we need qualitative and quantitative analysis and measurement of social capital as a precious resource.