- The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Human Resource Management: Scope, Analysis, and Significance
- The Development of HRM in Historical and International Perspective
- The Goals of HRM
- Economics and HRM
- Strategic Management and HRM
- Organization Theory and HRM
- HRM and the Worker: Towards a New Psychological Contract?
- HRM and the Worker: Labor Process Perspectives
- HRM and Societal Embeddedness
- Work Organization
- Employment Subsystems and the ‘HR Architecture’
- Employee Voice Systems
- EEO and the Management of Diversity
- Recruitment Strategy
- Selection Decision-Making
- Training, Development, and Competence
- Remuneration: Pay Effects at Work
- Performance Management
- HRM Systems and the Problem of Internal Fit
- HRM and Contemporary Manufacturing
- Service Strategies: Marketing, Operations, and Human Resource Practices
- HRM and Knowledge Workers
- HRM and the New Public Management
- Multinational Companies and Global Human Resource Strategy
- Transnational Firms and Cultural Diversity
- HRM and Business Performance
- Modeling HRM and Performance Linkages
- Family-Friendly, Equal-Opportunity, and High-Involvement Management in Britain
- Social Legitimacy of the HRM Profession: A US Perspective
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
One of the more fundamental aspects of the ongoing debate about the added value of HRM relates to ‘best practice’ versus ‘best fit’. ‘Best practice’ argues for the universal success of certain HR practices while ‘best fit’ acknowledges the relevance of contextual factors. This article argues that differences in institutional settings affect the nature of HRM. To understand this phenomenon, HRM needs additional theory. This article uses ‘new institutionalism’ and the theoretical notions of organizational justice and organizational legitimacy as a better way to understand the shaping of HR policies and practices in different settings. This article offers an explicit account of the importance of societal embeddedness in HRM. As an independent variable, societal embeddedness can have an important influence on the shaping of HR policies and practices and their subsequent effect on performance. It takes a closer look at the field of HRM itself, especially focusing on strategic contingency approaches in HRM.
Keywords: human resource management, societal embeddedness, best practice, HR practices, new institutionalism, organizational justice
Jaap Paauwe is Professor in Human Resource Studies in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Tilburg University. His research ranges across HRM and industrial relations and his publications include HRM and Performance: Achieving Long-Term Viability (Oxford University Press).
Paul Boselie is an Associate Professor in Human Resources Studies in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Tilburg University. His research traverses human resource management, institutionalism, strategic management, and industrial relations.
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- The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Human Resource Management: Scope, Analysis, and Significance
- The Development of HRM in Historical and International Perspective
- The Goals of HRM
- Economics and HRM
- Strategic Management and HRM
- Organization Theory and HRM
- HRM and the Worker: Towards a New Psychological Contract?
- HRM and the Worker: Labor Process Perspectives
- HRM and Societal Embeddedness
- Work Organization
- Employment Subsystems and the ‘HR Architecture’
- Employee Voice Systems
- EEO and the Management of Diversity
- Recruitment Strategy
- Selection Decision-Making
- Training, Development, and Competence
- Remuneration: Pay Effects at Work
- Performance Management
- HRM Systems and the Problem of Internal Fit
- HRM and Contemporary Manufacturing
- Service Strategies: Marketing, Operations, and Human Resource Practices
- HRM and Knowledge Workers
- HRM and the New Public Management
- Multinational Companies and Global Human Resource Strategy
- Transnational Firms and Cultural Diversity
- HRM and Business Performance
- Modeling HRM and Performance Linkages
- Family-Friendly, Equal-Opportunity, and High-Involvement Management in Britain
- Social Legitimacy of the HRM Profession: A US Perspective
- Index