what is new about this edition?
We have introduced a number of additional chapters from the previous edition.
Notably, the textbook now gives more coverage to institutional influences on
IHRM. We have strengthened the comparative sections of the book with a
new chapter on the organisation of work and have redeveloped the material
on flexible work. We have also introduced a new chapter on performance
management. This new material enables lecturers to provide much broader
functional coverage in a comparative setting. All the other chapters have been
updated to pick up developments in both the literature and practice over the last
four years.
The aim of this text, however, remains the same: to help you explore the meaning
and implications of the concepts of cross-cultural, comparative and IHRM.
We do not assume that there is only one way of defining or understanding the
nature of HRM. On the contrary, we believe that HRM varies according to the
country in which HRM is conducted: that provides the cultural and institutional
environment for HRM. This text addresses directly the issues raised by the fact
that HRM is different from country to country. One effect that this must have is
on people like you, who are trying to gain an understanding of the full range of
meanings of HRM. Another effect is on those, like some of you, trying to manage
HRM in organisations whose reach crosses national boundaries. These issues are
covered in this text.
A key task for organisations which operate across international boundaries is to
manage the different stresses of the drive for integration (being coherent across
the world) and differentiation (being adaptive to local environments). Reading
this text will give you some flavour of the way that HRM – and particularly
what is seen as ‘good’ HRM – is defined differently in different national cultures,
and is presented and operates differently in different national institutional
environments; some flavour, too, of the ways in which international organisations
attempt to deal with the issues these differences create.
We believe that the text will be of value to anyone involved in, or interested in,
comparative and IHRM. Whereas in the past the book has focused particularly
on HRM specialists, for this edition we have sought to take a more general
approach, acknowledging that for some readers they may only be studying IHRM
as one component in a broader qualification programme. At the same time we
have kept a close eye on the CIPD’s International Personnel and Development
Standards. If you are teaching a course, or studying for the CIPD qualification,
this book will therefore form a comprehensive course text.
This book is unusual in that it provides evidence of cross-national variation in
HRM policies and practices from the Cranet survey. Cranet is the largest ongoing
academic survey in the world and has, over more than 20 years now, gathered
comparative data from countries around the world. The survey database is
broadly representative of the countries in which data is collected, matching the
employment patterns of organisations (of more than 100 employees) in now more
than 50 countries. The data is collected from the most senior person responsible