"The book successfully raises conceptual, theoretical, and some practical issues key to management practice, human resource management, and trade unionism. For the critical practitioner and the student of human resources the book advances many notable arguments." --International Journal of Career Management "So well does the book succeed that the reader is left wondering who set this hare running and why are we all chasing it? . . . The book is well researched, well illustrated, and thought provoking. As such, it is a welcome antidote to the grossly hyped popular literature and the less critical academic treatments of the subject." --The Times Higher Has the rhetoric of human resource management (HRM) outstripped the reality? Are the various contradictions of an HRM perspective conceptually and practically sustainable? Drawing on a rich vein of case study material, this volume examines the emergence of HRM, its core assumptions and dimensions, the extent to which it represents a coherent strategy for employee management, and the contexts and conditions under which it will tend to prevail as a preferred approach. The contributors address such vital topics as HRM and competitive success; issues and contradictions in HRM approaches to flexibility; decentralization; "reward management;" supervision; such production systems as "Just-in-Time" manufacturing and new technology; HRM and trade unions; and, HRM rhetoric as the management of managerial meaning.