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The majority of textbooks on HRM tend to focus on the administrative side of the subject and fail to examine its strategic importance. This book is intended to redress the balance and, taking strategy as its starting point, it looks at the overall roleof HRM in the organization. The author explores strategic human resource management through chapters on managing change in strategy, structure, and culture; the role of human resource planning, and types of employment system. He also reviews some of the key issues in managing different employee groups. These themes are problem- and issue- focused

The management of change has become characterized by an atheoretical pragmatism, overfocused on the political aspects of the change process. Emerging interest in the learning organization provides an occasion to remedy this, by developing a theory of change which is more congruent with the requirement to build learning capacity within organizations. The result should be to place learning theory more centrally within the theory of planned organizational change. This should also reinvigorate action research by defining a wider range of learning technologies and perspectives. The argument is developed by first reviewing theories of learning employed in organizational change. The notion of communities-of-practice is then developed as a core concept to highlight the paradoxical processes of inertia and change centered on groups. A series of examples is then drawn from a recent action research project in order to illustrate the possibilities for applying learning theory. Finally, a research agenda is set out for exploring the role of communities-of-practice, with some preliminary observations from a study of small-medium enterprises.

This paper focuses on the possibilities of the long‐term development of flexible working as a work‐life policy, through understanding the power dynamics between the individual and the organisation. The study presents a framework which summarises the factors influencing the employee‐employer power dynamics, and leads us to the research questions. The methodology involves triangulation in case studies in two organisations based on surveys of representative samples in each organisation (n= 243 andn= 128) and interviews with the management. Findings support the long‐term development of employee‐friendly flexible working. There is a strong desire, and a lack of polarisation of attitudes, among employees for greater flexibility. Certain employee groups with stronger negotiating power have initiated the work‐life debate, but in doing so, they have increased the power of all employees through lowering ideological barriers, and creating knowledge of new possibilities and aspirations. Favourable external pressures and changing business needs also improve the position of employees.

During the past twenty years, the emphasis of policy towards high-technology industry has shifted from national innovation systems to take account of globalisation and the formation of regional clusters. Support for high-technology sectors now takes place at a number of levels—regional, national, and international. However, the extent to which firms operate in these three arenas, and how relevant government action is for the needs and behaviour of firms in respect of these is open to question. The paper reports on a study into innovation in Germany and the United Kingdom, in a particular industry—opto-electronics—which has a highly global character, but is also characterised by concentrations of firms in clusters. The contrasting experiences of firms in two regions—Wales and Thuringia—and the different policy emphasis of the regional government provide a test for the relevance, appropriateness, and impact of government policies towards high-technology industry. By focusing on the experiences of innovating firms, the authors provide a conceptually rich understanding of innovation in terms of two processes, which are often conflated in public policy—stimulating knowledge and technology transfer, and providing resource support. The paper concludes with a suggestion that support for innovation needs to be based around the twin concepts of redundancy and systems thinking, and a series of questions policymakers need to keep in mind are proposed.

This study investigated the potential for improving the quality of information available to investors on the management and development of people within companies. Sixty‐eight exploratory interviews were held with four key 'constituencies' who were hypothesized to hold different views on the relevance of people management factors in assessments of corporate performance. These were fund managers, brokers' analysts, corporate management (chief executives, finance directors, investor relations directors) and human resource directors. The findings, to a large extent, confirm the stereotype that the investment community does not greatly take account of people management factors in their estimation of companies. But this is not for the reasons often assumed. Additionally, while there is great scepticism about the value and efficacy of highly specified 'hard' measures of HR performance, the findings reveal the potential for an alternative approach that can provide information of more value to investors.