HUMAN

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Theory and Practice
 HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
Theory and Practice

John Bratton
and
Jeffrey Gold

MACMILLAN
© John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 1994
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First published 1994 by

THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world

ISBN 978-0-333-58877-2 ISBN 978-1-349-23340-3 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-23340-3

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library.

Copy-edited and typeset by Povey-Edmondson

Okehampton and Rochdale, England

8 7 6 5
03 02 01 00 99
To Amy, Andrew and Jennie
'People developed and upgraded on a continuous basis will be your edge towards
2000. The competition can copy your technology, but they cannot copy the
creativity, knowledge, judgement and skills of your committed workforce.'

The authors
I Contents
List of T abies vm
List of Figures 1x

List of Abbreviations XI

Preface xu
Acknowledgements xv

PART 1 THE CONTEXT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

1 Human Resource Management in Transition john Bratton 3
2 Global Capitalism and Competitive Advantage
john Bratton 36
3 Restructuring Work: Fordism and Post-Fordism
John Bratton 57
4 Employee Health and Safety john Bratton 84

PART 2 PLANNING AND SELECTION

5 Human Resource Planning Jeffrey Gold 121
6 Recruitment and Selection Jeffrey Gold 144

PART 3 REWARDS AND DEVELOPMENT

7 Performance Appraisal Jeffrey Gold 169
8 Rewards Management john Bratton 190
9 Human Resource Development Jeffrey Gold 225

PART 4 EMPLOYEE AND LABOUR RELATIONS

14 Communications and Employee Participation
john Bratton 249
11 Industrial Relations John Bratton 282
12 Back to the Future John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 314

Glossary 325
Bibliography 329
Index 340

vii
I List of T abies
1.1 Ranking of HRM activities of general managers and HRM specialists,
1990 9
2.1 The economic context of trading organizations, 1984 and 1990 42
2.2 The top 25 multinationals 44
2.3 Technical change, 1984 and 1990 45
4.1 Arrangements for dealing with health and safety, 1984 and 1990 112
6.1 Summary of research on selection interviews 159
7.1 Why companies review performance 171
7.2 Summary of findings from Meyer, Kay and French study 172
7.3 Grades of employee and performance reviews 176
7.4 Responses of managers six months after attending a development
centre 184
10.1 Information given to employees or their representatives, by ownership in
the private sector, 1990 260
10.2 Some methods used by management to communicate with their
employees, 1984-1990 265
10.3 Extent of JCCs by sector, 1984-1990 270
10.4 Form of employee involvement in local authorities, 1987 271
11.1 Aggregate union membership and density in the United Kingdom, 1979-91
(thousands and per cent) 286
11.2 Incidence of union representatives, by sector, 1990 287
11.3 Change in membership of the 10 largest TU C affiliated unions, 1979-1991
(thousands and per cent) 294
11.4 Basis for most recent pay increase in private manufacturing, 1984-
1990 304
11.5 Employees covered by collective bargaining, 1968 and 1990 308

Vlll
I List of Figures
1.1 Management as science, art, politics and control 7
1.2 The evolution of human resource management 16
1.3 The Harvard analytical model of HRM 22
1.4 Stereotypes of personnel management and human resource
management 23
1.5 The Guest model of HRM 24
1.6 The Storey model of HRM 27
1.7 The human resource management cycle 28
1.8 Situational factors, stakeholder interests and HR strategies: a combined
model 30
2.1 The external contexts of Human Resource Management 38
3.1 Example of job rotation 66
3.2 Example of job enlargement 67
3.3 Example of job enrichment 67
3.4 The job characteristic model 70
3.5 Ideal types of Fordist and Post-Fordist production systems 74
3.6 Core elements of the Japanese production model 75
3.7 A model of Japanese industrial management 76
3.8 Three approaches to job design 79
4.1 A trade union view on health and safety 88
4.2 The cost of an accident 90
4.3 HASA WA 1974: the duties on employers 96
4.4 Typical symptoms of stress 97
4.5 The EC code on sexual harassment 99
4.6 Some causes of stress 100
4.7 Stress causes by the 'dual-role' syndrome 101
4.8 Action to reduce occupational stress 102
4.9 Smoking-related costs 103
4.10 Strategies to improve health and safety in the workplace 106
4.11 Checklist for health and safety 114
5.1 The rationalized approach to manpower planning 124
5.2 The diagnostic approach to manpower planning 128
5.3 Patterns of responses to the demographic downturn 130
5.4 A model of HRP 131
5.5 A framework of labour market segmentation 135
5.6 A model of career management 138
6.1 The progress of functionally flexible workers 149
6.2 An attraction-selection-attrition framework 153

lX
X List of Figures

6.3
Job description format 154
6.4 Seven point plan 154
6.5 Five-fold grading system 155
7.1 A performance control approach to appraisal 173
7.2 The performance of work as a transformation process 177
7.3 Developmental decisions 178
7.4 A framework for the design of organisational control mechanisms 186
7.5 A planning BARS 186
8.1 Types of individual effort and reward 193
8.2 A framework for rewards management 197
8.3 Reward actions that rely on job analysis 200
8.4 The process of job analysis 201
8.5 Methods of collecting job analysis data 201
8.6 Typical job ranking 204
8.7 Typical ranking jobs by compensable factors 205
8.8 Point system matrix 206
8.9 A model of factors influencing pay level 210
8.10 The construction of pay levels 210
8.11 Indirect government influence on rewards management 217
8.12 Women's pay as a percentage of men's, EC countries (non-manual
employees in retail sector) 218
9.1 Task and personal learning dimensions in career effectiveness 228
9.2 A four-stage training model 233
9.3 Bramley's effectiveness model 234
9.4 The elements of HRD 237
9.5 Traditions of learning 239
9.6 Kolb's learning cycle 240
9.7 A model of the transfer process 242
10.1 Dimensions of employee participation 253
10.2 The involvement-commitment cycle 254
10.3 A model of the communication process and methods of
communication 260
10.4 Downward, upward, and horizontal organizational communication in a
retail store 261
10.5 Example of joint consultation and collective bargaining in local
government 273
11.1 Working days lost due to stoppages (UK) 295
11.2 Dimensions of managerial style 299
11.3 Functional strategies that support corporate-level strategy 300
I List of Abbreviations
ACAS Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
APEX Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff
AEU Amalgamated Engineering Union
AEEU Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union
AUEW Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers
ASTMS Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs
CBI Confederation of British Industry
CNC Computer numerically controlled (machine tools)
COHSE Confederation of Health Service Employees
EEF Engineering Employers' Federation
EETPU Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication and Plumbing Union
EOC Equal Opportunities Commission
GMB General, Municipal Boilermakers' Union
HRD Human resource development
HRM Human resource management
HRP Human resource planning
JCC Joint Consultative/Consultation Committee
JIT Just-in-time
MSF Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union
NUPE National Union of Public Employees
TASS Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Staffs
TGWU Transport and General Workers' Union
TQC Total quality control
TQM Total quality management
TUC Trades Union Congress
WIRS Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (UK)

Xl
I Preface
In the 1990s human resource management has become one of the most dynamic
and challenging areas of European business. The turbulent business climate in
Britain today, brought by changing markets and increased global competitive-
ness, changing technologies, changing employment legislation, and changing
work force composition is challenging managers to utilize their human resources
more effectively to gain competitive advantage. The changes in the nature of
employment toward more knowledge-based, self-paced work in both the
manufacturing and service sectors will demand greater skill and 'empower-
ment' of workers than was required in the past. Managers must understand the
importance of creating work structures and human resource processes that
enable people to work more effectively within organizations. In academia,
human resource management has been the area of fastest growing teaching
and research interest within the broad subject area of business studies. Since the
early 1980s, new courses in human resource management (HRM), at under-
graduate and graduate levels, have been created in higher education institutions
in the United States, Britain and Canada. Research on HRM has focused on
constructing new theoretical frameworks or models to study HRM. In addition,
empirical-based data has been gathered, analyzed and published on the exten-
siveness of HRM practices in North American and British industry.
The field of HRM is in a state of rapid transition. HRM scholars are
adopting new perspectives and theoretical frameworks and placing more
emphasis on strategic considerations. The purpose of Human Resource
Management: Theory and Practice is to provide our readers with a compre-
hensive knowledge and understanding of the latest relevant theories, practices,
and functional activities of human resource management. For some time there
has been a tendency of textbooks on personnel management to be much more
prescriptive and practical than analytical. Human Resource Management:
Theory and Practice is intended as a rigorous, but readable, coverage of
contemporary theories and concepts in key human resources activities such as
recruitment and selection, appraisal, training and development and rewards
management. This book was written to meet the needs of undergraduate
Business Studies students. We have based the structure and contents on our
own teaching, consultancy and research experience in HRM, and on current
research findings and literature in the field. This book has been written
specifically for the British audience, but it draws examples and literature on
HRM from North America. This helps readers to compare international
developments in HRM and to develop a broader understanding of HRM
beyond the UK issues and practices.

xu
 Preface xiii

• Pedagogical features
Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice includes a number of
features that help the learning process:

• Chapter Outline and Learning Objectives. Each chapter opens with a

topic outline and a set of learning objectives to guide the reader through the
material that follows.
• 'HRM in Practice' Boxes. These are strategically placed in the chapter to
help illustrate current developments or practices in HRM.
• Diagrams and Tables. Some of the conceptual material is presented by
graphic diagrams. The aim is to help the reader to visualize the key elements of
the theory being discussed. Data are presented to facilitate interpretation of key
trends in HRM.
• Theory and Practice. This book bridges the gap between those books that
are primarily theoretical and the textbooks that discuss what the personnel
manager does, or should be doing (the prescriptive approach). This book is
both theoretical and prescriptive. It reviews and discusses relevant HRM
concepts and includes up-to-date references to support the theory and
research. It also has a practical orientation- the 'how to' activities of HRM.
For example, it discusses how to recruit and select and how to design training
programmes.
• Chapter Summary and Discussion Questions. All chapters end with a
summary, a list of key concepts, a set of discussion questions to test readers'
understanding of core concepts and to facilitate classroom or group discus-
sion.
• Further Reading. All chapters end with references for further reading to
provide elaboration of topics discussed in the text.
• Chapter Case. Each chapter includes a case to facilitate application of the
theoretical material in the text and to help the reader appreciate the challenges
of managing people at work.
• Glossary. A glossary is provided at the end of this book to help the reader
review and define the key terms used in the text.
• Bibliography. A bibliography provides the student with a comprehensive list
of sources/works cited in the text.
• Index. At the end of the book an index is included to help the reader search for
relevant information and make this book a valuable resource for completing
assignments or projects.

We are confident that these features will make Human Resource Management:
Theory and Practice a valuable learning resource. We are also confident that this
book will encourage the reader to question, to doubt, to investigate, to be
sceptical and to seek multi-causality when analyzing the problems and challenges
of HRM in Britain.

• The plan of this book

This book is divided into four major parts. These parts are, of course,
interconnected but, at the same time, they reflect different focuses of study.
x1v Preface

Part 1 introduces the role of HRM and addresses some of the controversial
theoretical issues surrounding the field of HRM. The external contexts that affect
human resource management policies and actions inside the organization,
changes in job design, and occupational health and safety are also examined in
this section. This discussion provides the context of HRM and prepares the
groundwork for Parts 2 to 4.
Parts 2 and 3 examine the key components that comprise the HRM cycle
illustrated in Figure 1.7: selection, appraisal, human resource development, and
rewards. Several writers have reported how each of these four areas is back in
vogue. The use of the assessment centre and psychological tests measuring
personality appears to be on the increase (see Chapter 6). Performance appraisal
methods, both among non-manual and manual workers, is growing in organiza-
tions on both sides of the Atlantic (see Chapter 7). In the area of reward or
compensation management, employers in the 1980s have been moving towards a
more individualist approach to the wage-effort bargain: merit pay, for instance,
is increasingly replacing the traditional practice of the rate for the job (see
Chapter 8). Human resource development is seen by theorists as a vital
component, if not the pivotal component, of the human resource management
cycle (see Chapter 9).
In Part 4 we address some of the developments in communications and
industrial relations. There is evidence that organizations are devoting more
resources to employee communication programmes and introducing employee
involvement arrangements (see Chapter 10). In the area of industrial relations,
the traditional 'pluralist' or 'Donovan' model is undergoing change (see
Chapter 11).
I Acknowledgements
This textbook was inspired by, and to a large extent draws upon, teaching and
research in which we were involved at Leeds Business School, at Leeds
Metropolitan University and the University College of the Cariboo.
In writing the book a number of acknowledgements are due. We would like to
thank all the students we have taught in human resource management and
industrial relations modules who provided us with many insights and lessons
about how, and what, to teach- ideas that we have attempted to incorporate into
the text. We would like to thank Carolyn Bratton and Maureen Smith at the
University College of the Cariboo for reading the manuscript in draft and
applying their critical eye, thereby reducing the number of errors in the book and
improving the style. We would also like to thank Catrina Crowe, at the
University of the Cariboo, for typing some of the chapters. We are also grateful
for the enthusiasm for the project shown by our publisher, Stephen Rutt. We
would also like to thank the reviewers for their reasoned comments on the
manuscript. A special thanks also to Amy, Andrew and Jennie Bratton, who have
endured John Bratton's absence whilst working on this book.

The authors and publishers are grateful to John Enman, University College of the
Cariboo Public Relations and Publications Department, for permission to
reproduce the photograph which appears on the part-title pages as well as the
cover of this book. They are also grateful to the following for permission to
reproduce copyright material:

ACAS, for Table 10.4, from J. Bratton and L. Sinclair, New Patterns of
Management (1987).
Dartmouth Press, for Tables 1.1, 2.1, 2.3, 4.1, 10.1-10.3, 11.2 and 11.4, from
Workplace Industrial Relations in Transition (1992).
Department of Employment Gazette, for Table 11.1 data.
Employment Department, for Tables 1.2, 1.4, 2.7, 4.2, 5.1, 5.4, 5.5, 5.8, 7.3 from
Workforce Industrial Relations in Transition (1992).
IPM, for Table 7.1, from P. Long, Performance Appraisal Revisited (1986).
John Wiley, for Figure 5.5, from R. Loveridge, 'Labour market segmentation and
the firm?' in J. Edwards et al., Manpower Planning: Strategy and Techniques in
an Organisational Context (1983).

XV
xvt Acknowledgements

MCB University Press, for 'Federal Express employers appraise their managers'
(1992) and 'Rover learning business' (1993), from Executive Development, in
HRM in Practice, sections 7.2 and 9.1, and for Bramley's effectiveness model in
Figure 9.3, from P. Bramley, 'Effective training', Journal of European
Industrial Training (1989).
Nationwide Building Society, for the extract in HRM in Practice, section 7.1.
Personnel Management, for the Guest model in Figure 1.5 (1989) and the
Atkinson model in Figure 5.3 (1989).
Personnel Management Plus, for the cartoon in Figure 7.7, and for the extracts in
HRM in Practice, sections 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.2, 6.3, 8.3, 8.4, 10.3, 11.1, 11.3.
Personnel Today, for Figure 11.1, the extracts in HRM in Practice, sections 2.2,
4.1, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1, 9.2, 10.1 and 10.2, and the case study in
Chapter 10, adapted from 'Working as a team member' (1991).
Philip Allan, for Figure 3.5, from A. Warde, 'The future of work', Social Studies
Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 11-15.
The Economist, for 'What a way to make a living', in HRM in Practice, section
2.1.
TUC, for Table 11.1 and 11.3 data, from TUC Congress Reports and TUC
Bulletins.

Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright-holders, but if any have been
inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary
arrangements at the first opportunity.