The link between HRM and performance has become an important policy issue at both a national and a corporate level. In Europe, following the Lisbon agreement, there has been an increasing focus on better jobs as well as more jobs. Following the Accounting for People Report, there is a continuing debate about how firms should account publicly for their human resource practices and their impact on company performance. In both the USA and the UK, considerable attention is given to the 100 Best Companies to Work For and to the ways in which they might be able to combine high performance with high worker well-being (see, for example, Gerhart et al. ; woman). All of these debates make extensive use of theory and research about HRM and performance.

The aim of this book is to draw on the knowledge and expertise of a number of leading international scholars in the field of HRM to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of HRM and identify fruitful directions for theory, research and practice. A central question throughout is – what’s next for HRM and what are the keys to the future of managing people and performance?

The Competition

This book is distinctive in drawing together a number of leading academics to review progress to date and future prospects in the field of HRM with specific reference to performance and other outcomes. It covers the core issues in a comprehensive way. There are a number of excellent books that overlap in some respects but either address specific issues in much more depth or have a rather different focus. In the former category we would include books such as Paauwe’s (2004) HRM and Performance (OUP) and Boxall and Purcell’s (2003) Strategy and Human Resource Management (Palgrave Macmillan).