Human Resource Management: Rhetorics and Realities; Anniversary Edition (Management, Work and Organisations) [Deluxe Edition] [Paperback]

Karen Legge (Author)

Book Description

Series: Management, Work and Organisations | Publication Date: February 10, 2005

Human Resource Management remains a classic text examining the role and place of HRM in contemporary society. A decade on, the anniversary edition brings the debate up to date, and explores the changes and developments that have taken place since its original publication in 1995. A new foreword and introductory chapter by Karen Legge places the original debates within the context of the new millennium, ensuring that Human Resource Management remains fresh and relevant to a new generation of students.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karen Legge is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Warwick Business School and Joint editor of the Journal of Management Studies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; Anv edition (February 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403936005
• ISBN-13: 978-1403936004
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HRM: Theory and Practice Interface, February 13, 2006

By 

Debi Singh Saini (Gurgaon and Delhi INDIA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Human Resource Management: Rhetorics and Realities; Anniversary Edition (Management, Work and Organisations) (Paperback)

In this revised edition Legge adds a new new introduction of 42 pages, though the rest of the book is the earlier edition itself. She notes a number of new developments, which, among others, include the following: the private sector services sector has been emerging at a fast pace; the emergence of call centres as a huge industry; Mcdonaldization is taking place; knowledge worker has demonstrated a different set of needs; management of emotions is becoming an important area; there is a major attempt towards conceptualizing the links between HRM, business strategy and firm performance; there is a growing debate on cultural and institutional effects of globalization; the debate on Asian tigers, Japanese keiretsu and Korean Chaebols is giving way to outsourcing to India and China and rising growth rates of these two economies; unions' failure to organize new private sector manufacturing and service sector workplaces; and comprehensive increase in business ethics in general.

Legge continues to point out yawning gaps between the promises of HRM and its practice. Even as the author has stuck to her original arguments on the projected and realistic role of HRM, her new introductory chapter to the earlier edition will stimulate HRM scholars to further contribute to critical HRM scholarship. By deconstructing the HRM discourse, she had summarily dismissed the claims of HRM. She has not substantially diluted the spirit of the arguments she had put forward in the earlier edition. For most scholars, the book will surely recast the original debates in the context of the new realities that have been emerging over the years.

But it must be said that even as the book is an intellectual extravaganza in critical HRM, it will certainly not be of much interest to MBA students as the book claims on the back cover; they will be apt to protest vigorously if any teacher prescribes this book to them as it is too heavy for them; and they may also argue that they do not need to go into such perspectives. Rather they are expected to uncritically accept--or are going to be told to so--the competitiveness potential of soft HRM. That is also what industry wants from them. The book is an essential reading for anyone who researches in these areas, given the depth of analysis and rigour that is the hallmark of all writings of Legge.

Debi S. Saini
MDI, Gurgaon, India