Much of this volume is dedicated to presenting and assessing the various diverse projects which constitute SHRM initiatives or the theory underpin-ning SHRM initiatives. These chapters represent the ways in which those who study SHRM initiatives and theories attempt to make sense of and assess these initiatives.
This volume is organized into four main parts. The first of these is a collection of chapters which illustrate the critically detached assessment of SHRM; that is, the approach which we described above as focusing on the ideas underpinning the theory and the practice. The second part addresses the subject from the point of view which has been predominant in recent years; namely the evaluation of the impact of SHRM on performance. The third part then turns to another major theme; the newly emerging forms of organization and of relationships. The standard assumption in much dis-course of a singular employer with a directly employed workforce is coming under increasing challenge. The SHRM implications of the changes are explored in this part of the book. Finally, in the final part of the volume we attend to three key sub-themes of contemporary practice: ethics, change man-agement and performance management.
In summary, we suggest that SHRM can best be understood in relation to wider political, economic and social movements; in relation to major shifts in ideas and their underlying cultural contexts; and in relation to daily experi-mentation by managers and workers as they seek to try-out the theories of ‘professional theorists’ and of practitioner-theorists. It is in these multiple ways that knowledge of the field of SHRM slowly emerges.