Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management in Transition

Managing Human Resources

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Managing

Human

Resources

FOURTH EDITION

Personnel Management

in Transition

Previously published as Personnel Management

EDITED BY Stephen Bach

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© 2005 by Stephen Bach

BLACKWELL PUBLISHING

350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA

9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK

550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia

The right of Stephen Bach to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted

in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording

or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without

the prior permission of the publisher.

First edition published 1989 as Personnel Management in Britain

Second edition published 1994 as Personnel Management

Third edition published 2000

Fourth edition published 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd

1 2005

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Managing human resources : personnel management in transition /

edited by Stephen Bach.—4th ed.

p. cm.

Rev. ed. of: Personnel management. 3rd ed. 2000.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-1850-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-4051-1850-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-1851-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-4051-1851-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Personnel management—Great Britain. I. Bach, Stephen, 1963–

II. Personnel management.

HF5549.2.G7M357 2006

658.3′00941—dc22

2005006590

A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

Set in 11/13pt Bembo

by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

Printed and bound in the United Kingdom

by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

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policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary

chlorine-free practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board

used have met acceptable environmental accreditation standards.

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Blackwell Publishing, visit our website:

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Contents

Notes on Contributors vii

List of Figures ix

List of Tables x

List of Boxes xi

Preface xii

Part I Managing Human Resources in Context 1

1. Personnel Management in Transition 3

Stephen Bach

2. Personnel Management and European Integration: A Case of

Indelible Imprint? 45

Keith Sisson

3. Managing Human Resources in Multinational Companies 68

Tony Edwards and Anthony Ferner

4. Managing Human Resources in the Networked Organization 90

Trevor Colling

Part II Employee Resourcing 113

5. Recruitment and Selection 115

Sue Newell

6. Work–Life Balance: Challenging the Overwork Culture 148

Janet Walsh

7. Walking the Talk? Equality and Diversity in Employment 178

Linda Dickens

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Part III Employee Development 209

8. Skills, Training and the Quest for the Holy Grail of Influence

and Status 211

Ewart Keep

9. Management Development and Career Management 237

David Guest and Zella King

10. Employer and Employee Branding: HR or PR? 266

Martin R. Edwards

Part IV Pay and Performance 287

11. New Directions in Performance Management 289

Stephen Bach

12. Remuneration Systems 317

Ian Kessler

13. Customer Service Work, Emotional Labour and Performance 346

Stephen Deery

Part V Work Relations 373

14. Discipline and Attendance: A Murky Aspect of People

Management 375

Paul Edwards

15. Direct Participation and Involvement 398

Mick Marchington and Adrian Wilkinson

16. Management and Trade Unions: Partnership at Work? 424

Stephanie Tailby and David Winchester

Index 452

vi Contents

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Notes on Contributors

Stephen Bach, Reader in Employment Relations and Management, Department of

Management, King’s College

Trevor Colling, Principal Lecturer, Department of Human Resource Management,

De Montford University

Stephen Deery, Professor of Health Services Management and Human Resource

Management, Department of Management, King’s College

Linda Dickens, Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Warwick Business

School

Martin R. Edwards, Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organizational

Psychology, Department of Management, King’s College

Paul Edwards, Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Warwick Business School

Tony Edwards, Senior Lecturer in International Human Resource Management,

Department of Management, King’s College

Anthony Ferner, Professor of International HRM, Department of Human Resource

Management, De Montford University

David Guest, Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational

Psychology, Department of Management, King’s College

Ewart Keep, Professorial Fellow and Deputy Director of the ESRC Centre on Skills,

Knowledge and Organizational Performance, University of Warwick Business

School

Ian Kessler, Lecturer in Management Studies and Fellow of Templeton College,

University of Oxford

Zella King, Director, Centre for Career Management Skills, University of Reading

Mick Marchington, Professor of Human Resource Management, Manchester

Business School, The University of Manchester

Sue Newell, Cammarata Professor of Management, Department of Management,

Bentley College

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Keith Sisson, Head of Strategy Development, Advisory Conciliation and Arbitra￾tion Service and Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Warwick

Business School

Stephanie Tailby, Principal Lecturer, School of Human Resource Management,

University of the West of England

Janet Walsh, Reader in Human Resource Management, Department of Manage￾ment, King’s College

Adrian Wilkinson, Professor of Human Resource Management, University of

Loughborough Business School

David Winchester, Associate Member, Industrial Relations Research Unit,

University of Warwick Business School

viii Notes on Contributors

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Figures

1.1 Changes in the use of different forms of labour over the last

5 years 18

5.1 The traditional psychometric view of selection 117

5.2 Selection methods used by employers 126

5.3 Comparison of the validity of different selection methods 128

8.1 Expansive and restrictive learning environments 225

9.1 Groups of management development activities 239

9.2 Groups of career management activities 255

10.1 Individual belief strength × work value congruence: effect on

outcomes 278

11.1 Conflicts in performance appraisal 301

11.2 A typology of rater motives and manipulative rating 302

11.3 Developments in performance management since 1991 310

12.1 Establishing job worth 318

12.2 Types of payment system 321

14.1 Dimensions of workplace relations 385

15.1 The escalator of participation 401

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Tables

1.1 Stereotypes of personnel management and human resource

management 6

1.2 Changes in worker voice arrangements, 1984–1998 (%) 17

1.3 Percentage of workplaces using ‘new’ management practices

and employee involvement schemes 19

1.4 Key changes in employment by sector, over 25 years 22

1.5 Emergent directions in HR practice: From HRM to

the New HR 29

2.1 Manufacturing employment in the UK and EU 59

2.2 Foreign direct investment inflows into the UK and EU 60

4.1 Workforce jobs by manufacturing industry (Man) and

financial and business services (FBS), December 1979–

December 2003 (millions) 94

6.1 Employees working over 48 hours per week, by occupation,

industry and gender 151

6.2 Provision of family friendly practices for non-managerial

employees 159

6.3 Flexible and family friendly working arrangements, by gender

and sector 160

7.1 Equal treatment practices, by formal equal opportunities policy 180

7.2 Discrimination claims to employment tribunals, 2002–2003 196

10.1 Features of employer and employee branding 272

11.1 Features of performance management 292

13.1 Organizing service work 350

15.1 Contrasting meanings of participation 408

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Boxes

1.1 Pfeffer’s seven practices of successful organizations 8

2.1 Main developments in EU employment regulation 52

5.1 Personnel specification for a secondary-school head of English

(following Rodger’s seven-point plan) 120

5.2 Example of a situational interview technique 132

6.1 Flexible working: DTI guidance 158

7.1 Equal opportunities policy: ten-point plan 185

7.2 The business case for racial equality 188

7.3 Key equality aspects of UK legislation 193

11.1 People manager’s views of impact of performance review processes 303

14.1 Key results from the 2003 Survey of Employment Tribunal

Applications, based on applications made in 2002–2003 380

16.1 The main provisions of the information and consultation

regulations 445

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Preface

This book is a direct descendant of the first edition of Personnel Management pub￾lished in 1989, edited by Keith Sisson. This edition continues the traditions of its

predecessors, while including substantial modifications, to reflect the profound changes

in the context of managing human resources (HR) over recent years. This volume

continues the style of earlier editions in which each chapter, in the words of the fore￾word to the 1989 edition, comprises ‘an original essay that brings together the

relevant theoretical and empirical work. Each is stamped with the views of the authors

who are leading experts in the field.’ The book therefore seeks to move beyond

description of current HR recipes and to assess trends and differing perspec￾tives on contemporary developments. This volume also reflects its origins in the

University of Warwick’s ‘Industrial Relations in Context’ series and it maintains

much of this industrial relations orientation. In contrast to many texts which pro￾vide only cursory analysis of influences on the management of human resources

that lie beyond the boundaries of the firm, this volume places the regulation of

the employment relationship at the heart of the analysis. It considers the variety

of contextual and institutional influences which shape the sectors and employer

units in which people work, and seeks to understand the manner in which people

are actually recruited, developed, appraised, disciplined and involved at work. The

book is therefore not prescriptive as most textbooks in this area tend to be.

In addition, by exploring the particular contexts in which people are managed,

it aims to contribute to debate about the state of HR practice in the UK and to

shed light on a variety of contemporary policy debates. What are the consequences

for HR practice of the increased internationalization and Europeanization of the

UK economy? How far has HR policy altered in response to the growth of ser￾vice sector employment and shifts in organizational boundaries? And have shifts

in national patterns of regulation, implemented by successive Labour governments,

had an impact on the skills, managerial competencies and forms of flexibility pre￾sent in UK workplaces?

These questions reflect the changes that have been made in this edition. I have

modified the book’s title to reflect the evolution of the subject. As I engaged with

authors it was clear that all contributors took HRM as the reference point for

debate and engagement. HRM is considered to be a broad field of inquiry con￾cerned with the practices used to shape the employment relationship rather than

as a narrow and prescriptive set of ‘best practice’ strategies. This is the approach

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I have adopted, which has many similarities with the term ‘Personnel Manage￾ment’, used in previous editions, a term which is now used less frequently. My

analysis of these issues and the debate about HRM is developed in more detail

in Chapter 1.

In terms of the volume’s content, the profound ways in which the context for

managing human resources has altered is captured in the opening section which

highlights the consequences of alterations in organizational structures, changes in

labour and product markets, and international developments for HR practice. Two

new chapters consider the impact of European integration and the role of multi￾national companies in altering the context in which people are managed. The

chapters in the other sections are concerned with more long-standing themes:

employee resourcing; employee development; pay and performance; and work

relations. However, reflecting developments since the last edition there are new

chapters concerned with issues of work–life balance, customer service work, and

the emerging area of HR branding. The chapter on discipline has also been expanded

to take account of the prominence within the HR community of concerns about

the management of absence.

It proved difficult to make space for important new developments and at the

same time keep the volume to manageable proportions. In some cases topics that

were the subject of separate chapters in the previous edition have been integrated

into several chapters. In other cases some of the chapters from the third edition had

a timeless quality to them and consequently there seemed little point in asking

contributors to update them for the sake of it.

A key change which merits special mention relates to editorial roles. When Keith

Sisson invited me to edit jointly the third edition, he made it clear that if a fourth

edition was to be produced, he would bow out of his editorial role. Despite my

attempts to persuade Keith to change his mind, understandably he wished to chan￾nel his energies into other projects, especially his important policy role at the Advisory

Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). ACAS’s gain has been my loss, not

only because of the self-evident increase in workload that halving the editorial

team brought, but also because of the companionship and intellectual stimulus that

is associated with joint writing and editorship. Nonetheless, Keith has maintained

an active role in the volume by providing valuable guidance on editorial matters, very

helpful comments on the introductory chapter, and contributing a chapter on the

impact of European integration.

This book was written during the period when the obsession within universities

about the forthcoming research assessment exercise (RAE) was reaching its peak.

The RAE has put pressure on academic staff to focus on a narrow set of activities

and has reinforced the self-serving behaviour that lurks just below the surface in

most universities. Textbooks carry little weight in such research exercises, but this

fails to recognize the degree to which texts are a key representation of our sub￾ject to students and other interested parties. It also undervalues the complex task

of analysing and synthesizing a mass of research evidence and presenting it in an

accessible and coherent manner to a non-specialist audience. I am therefore very

Preface xiii

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grateful not only that all authors approached agreed to contribute, but that they

took the time and trouble to produce high-quality chapters.

As well as the authors many people made this book possible. I have benefited

enormously from the stimulus and support from colleagues in the Department of

Management at King’s College. Over the last four years, it has been rewarding

working with colleagues to establish a Masters’ degree in Human Resource

Management and Organizational Analysis. Special thanks are due to Stephen Deery,

Martin Edwards, Howard Gospel and Ian Kessler for providing me with detailed

comments on the introductory chapter of this book. I am also grateful to the team

at Blackwell – Bridget Jennings, Eloise Keating, Rhonda Pearce, Rosemary Nixon

and Karen Wilson – that helped keep the book on track. As ever I am most appre￾ciative of the encouragement from my wife and children, Caroline, Alexandra and

Richard, who have been a constant source of support as the book moved through

its various stages.

Stephen Bach

xiv Preface

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PART I

Managing Human Resources

in Context

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