Implications for Practitioners
Empirical studies of HRM do seem to be consolidating attention on certain broad areas of policy (see
Table 2), namely careful investment in recruitment and selection; provisions for training and employee
development; flexible job designs (particularly in terms of de-centralised decision-making, teamworking
and employee participation), performance management and appraisal, and appropriate payment systems
including some form of incentive bonus component. These may be akin to Becker and Gerhart‟s core,
universalistic „HR principles‟ (1996: 786). However, each element is still „contestable terrain‟ in the
managerial pursuit of „employee-organisation fit‟: performance management and individualised forms of
PRP are particularly contentious policy domains, whose effects on employees are the subject of long-
standing controversy (see Townley et al., 2003, and Marsden and Richardson, 1994 respectively).
Additionally, in noting the popularity of these HR practices in research designs, we are certainly not
advocating the marginalisation of other practices, such as employment security, diversity and work-life
balance policies. Though they feature less frequently in research studies, these may have a significant
influence on HRM‟s impact on performance. In other words, HR professionals, and other managers
engaged directly in co-ordinating employees‟ efforts, need to reflect upon the totality of effects from their
HR system, and should aim to shape all elements toward reconciling the „employee-organisation‟ fit
challenge (i.e. internal „fit‟).