Even when the terminology has been adopted, we should not assume that
the subject matter is uniform across the world. When the multinational team
involved in running the Cranet surveys on HRM policy and practice (Tregaskis
et al, 2003) met to decide on the areas their survey would cover, there was far
from total unanimity in understanding the nature of the topic. ‘Where,’ the
Swedish colleagues wanted to know, ‘are the questions about the relationship
of the organisation to the natural environment?’ They saw this as an element of
the HRM role. German colleagues wanted more on the role of works councils,