Customer Reviews

Fundamentals of Human Resource Management

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Six months after the first review regarding wrong edition was posted in February 2010 we ordered the book assuming that Amazon had corrected this issue.

Sad to say, the book pictured on the order page is not consistent with the book shipped (International Edition: Not for use inside the US).

To make matters worse, my last two orders (placed over 2 weeks ago) no longer appear in the history and the Order ID Search did not recognize the ID.

At least the phone interaction was satisfactory with the customer service rep.

If you had updated the web page with the correct information or shipped the book as advertised we would not have had to had called.

At this point we are forced to go with another option.

The book is an easy to read type of book, with case studies in every chapter, and seems up to date. My graduate class in general seem to like the book also. My teacher who does HR consulting for a living likes the book. The book is down to earth, and applicable. The only thing negative was how long I had to wait to get my book since it was in back order. Also, no indication on how long I would have to wait to get my book was sent to me. But once it was out on its way, it was easy to track where my book was. Still no regrets ordering through Amazon. 60% cheaper than my college bookstore.

So I got the book in good time, and it has the same content that the book I wanted has, but it is an international version so I can't sell it back to any bookstore nor will anyone taking the class want to purchase it. Right on the front cover it say for international use only. The picture of the cover is not the picture of the cover of my book, false advertising wouldn't you say?

I received the wrong book. I needed it for my class and when it arrived I got the international edition. No where in the description does it say that Amazon is selling the international edition. After so many purchase with Amazon this one was really a big disappointment.

First time after many purchases has the wrong item ever been sent. This is the INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EDITION ISBN:978-0070292895. It is approximately 200 less pages. I don't know what else is missing, but I guess it doesn't matter. I think the US version third edition proper ISBN is 978-0073381473. SO Amazon, you should change the book image and add explicitly that this is a INTERNATIONAL EDITION.

Ordered the book a week before classes started, and didn't get it for nearly a month! When I finally got it the book, it was the right edition but the warehouse was out of the USA edition, so they sent me the international edition which is slightly different in content... Cover clearly says "Not for use in the United States". First disappointing Amazon purchase.

I am taking an accelerated undergrad business course for which this book is the text. Overall I have found the book to be superficial, vague, and lacking in academic rigor. I will cite two examples from the introductory chapter to illustrate:

Under the heading of "why should you care", the text claims that effective HRM yields a sustainable competitive advantage. To justify this, the book makes acceptable claims that "Human resources are valuable", and "Human resources are rare" (Page 4). It then argues that "Human resources cannot be imitated" and engages in rather ludicrous hyperbole to support the contention, while ignoring the obvious fact that companies study and imitate successful HR policies and processes of competitors all the time. Even more egregiously, the text asserts that "Human resources have no good substitutes", and defends that assertion by saying "It is difficult to imagine another resource that can match committed and talented employees." This is not a reason, it concedes that there might exist such a resource (job redesign and automation leap to mind), and lists the only barrier to discovery of such a resource is the author's lack of energetically applied imagination.

On page 15, the text asserts that the following list of "rights" is necessary and foundational to ethical decision making in an HR context. The text does not cite a specific source for these rights, makes an unsubstantiated claim that these "rights" are ubiquitously adopted, and deceptively conflates these rights with U.S. Constitutional Rights. The rights are "Right of free consent", "Right of privacy", "Right of freedom of conscience", "Right of freedom of speech", and "Right to due process". All of these so-called rights are explained with such broad exceptions that it is hard to describe them as rights at all, for example, the freedom of conscience is described as "... the right to refuse to do what violates their moral beliefs, as long as these beliefs reflect commonly accepted norms"; In other words, it's not the person's morals, but "commonly accepted" morals, which is not really a personal right at all. Later, on Page 17, an example of an ethical HR decision infringes and sublimates an individual's "rights" to a "for their own good" consideration. This is a confusing and shaky foundation for building a system of ethics.

Here's my bottom line: I want to learn how to successfully manage people in a business, and this book is not helping me. It is a seemingly endless barrage of suspicious platitudes, goals, objectives, and catch-phrases, but missing concrete information about the best way to achieve them. It feels a little like wanting to learn how to speak English, and being handed an abridged pocket dictionary - lots of what - not much how - balanced on a foundation of exaggeration and illogic.

they re really bad. they didnt sent to me the item and said that the UPS could not send the item. after that i pruchased with somebody else to the same address and everything was good.
dont but nothing from them!!!

This textbook is the 3rd edition, not the 4th (and latest) edition. My college course requires answers to questions that aren't in this edition of the textbook. Thankfully, I discovered this before a week had passed, so Amazon was happy to refund my purchase and removed the book from my Kindle. However, I'm still left with having to purchase the actual textbook. If you can get by with the 3rd edition of this textbook, fine... But this is not the latest edition, so proceed with caution.

I was a little skeptical ordering a USED book online...I thought it would be like a pack of cards, missing pages...but I was wrong. The book arrived in a timely manner, and in great condition. Sure, there were a few markings in it, but it served its purpose well. I'll definitely buy from this company again!