New empirical research is presented on the human resource management implications of introducing a service excellence programme into an Australian optometry company. The case study is used to demonstrate the difficulties of changing employee behaviour and illustrates how the rhetorical hype...

In recent years, the term empowerment has become part of everyday management language. It has also been associated with popular management movements of the times such as human resource management (HRM) and total quality management (TQM). Empowerment is regarded as providing a solution to the...

Service organisations are striving to increase the quality of the services they offer. They are also using a wide variety of people management techniques. These two activities can sometimes come into conflict. This article examines a variety of management practices, particularly from human...

Evidence to date shows a divergence in the methods and approaches used by companies to introduce empowerment and indeed a wide debate as to the meaning and appropriateness of the term itself. The popularity of the concept has led many organisations to “dive in at the deep end”, wanting to...

This paper reports on a case study of an internationalized‐industry Engineering Process Plant Contracting (EPPC). The study examines how a leading engineering contracting project management firm has responded to heightened competitive pressures through a process or organizational change. A key...

This paper is concerned with recent attempts to appropriate normative ethics as a medium for engaging critically with the practice and theory of human resource management (HRM). Focusing particularly on arguments for justice and rights in the workplace, the limits of foundationalist critiques of...

The central role of line managers in implementing human resource management, is widely acknowledged. There has, however, been scant research into how far that group affect, or are affected by, such practices. Through a case study in two Trust hospitals, this article demonstrates that middle line...

A great deal of time and effort is invested by personnel managers and researchers in minimising performance appraisal errors. Until recently, these efforts concentrated on improving the design, implementation and the monitoring of appraisal instruments, producing only minimal improvement in the...

Post‐industrial predictions of a rapid growth in new technology homeworking have gained widespread currency to become part of the conventional wisdom. However the evidence, including primary research material, suggests that the claims for new technology homeworking, both regarding its extent...

The monograph analyses (a) the potential impact of information technology (IT) on organisational issues that directly concern the personnel function; (b) the nature of personnel’s involvement in the decision making and activities surrounding the choice and implementation of advanced...