Personnel and Human Resource Management in Britain

Abstract

Personnel management in Britain continues to evolve with the adoption of ideas from human resource management (HRM). This has been controversial, however, due to the antagonism which many academics have for an American import which signifies (for them) an attack on the structures of collective bargaining. For personnel professionals, it has been seen as a slight on their pretensions to take a strategic approach to employment, and to threaten their exclusive claims to professional expertise. The paper attempts to separate reality from myth by reviewing the progress of HRM in terms of four criteria - commitment, flexibility, quality, and strategic integration - which are commonly associated with HRM. It concludes that strategic integration is the most important differentiating factor, but that there is more than one emerging model of HRM. Finally, it proposes employment systems and skill as two essential concepts for a strategic perspective.