John Purcell is Associate Fellow of the Industrial Relations Research Unit at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. He is Deputy Chairman of the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) and an Acas arbitrator. His main publications include Human Resource Management in the Multi-divisional Company (Oxford University Press, 1994) and Strategy and Human Resource Management (written with Peter Boxall) (Palgrave, 3rd edition, 2011) and the Oxford Handbook of HRM (Oxford University Press, 2007) edited with Peter Boxall and Patrick Wright. Recent research has been on the effect of people management practices on business performance, the role of front line managers in the delivery of effective people management, contingent workers and temporary work agencies and the impact of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations. His book, written with Mark Hall, Consultation at Work: Regulation and Practice was published by Oxford University Press in 2012.

Nicholas Kinnie is Reader in Human Resource Management in the School of Management at the University of Bath. His research concerns the links between HRM and organizational performance, the role of people management practices in professional service firms, and HRM in customer response centers, and he is the co-author of Understanding the People and Performance Link: Unlocking the Black Box (CIPD) with John Purcell, Sue Hutchinson, Bruce Rayton, and Juani Swart.