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This paper provides a case study of a previously unresearched industry, Engineering Process Plant Contracting, it examines how a project management firm responded to heightened competitive pressures through a process of entrepreneurial innovation. A key component in this focused on the corporate human resource function as a full business partner in project management and its contribution to the “bottom line”, a clear recognition of its positive strategic significance. The evidence suggests that prevailing competitive conditions determine the nature and direction of HRM’s strategic integration with a firms entrepreneurial goals. Where cost reduction strategies prevail the function is likely to institutionalize entrepreneurial goals determined elsewhere. Where cost containment and the reduction of internal inefficiencies prevail a more positive integration between the function and the firms entrepreneurial goals is necessary.

This paper describes and explores an emerging integrated measure of effectiveness for human resource management functions. The emerging measure basically incorporates both the mission support and employee support goals as two criteria of effectiveness. The paper next analyzes the measures of effectiveness that an agency uses for its performance appraisal function. A questionnaire was sent to 298 members of the professional staff of a large state agency in the mid‐west. The objectives were to assess the need and feasibility for the application of this emerging measure of effectiveness. The study found that even though performance appraisal was widely practiced as a mission support function, there was strong support for the use of this integrated measure of effectiveness. The paper concludes with offering a design for a management development workshop session which focuses on developing a complementary relationship among different personnel functions.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Recognising that strategic planning decisions hold important implications for the personnel function, practitioners, consultants and academics have begun to look for a way to relate the personnel function more closely to the strategic management of the business. One solution which has attracted a great deal of attention is the concept of strategic human resources planning.

Examines the relationships and problems that exist between the theory and practice of human resource development in the public sector. Aims at enhancing the capability of human resource management systems to adapt and respond proactively to a constantly changing environment in the 1990s and beyond. Identifies and analyses the evolution and development of human resource management systems in the Barbados public sector with special reference to the role of the personnel agencies, systemic as well as sectoral problems, policy/political constraints and the relationships between management capability and national development.

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 aspect of this focused on the contribution of the corporate human resource function to “bottom line” performance. “Exbeck” made its corporate function a full business partner in project management. The paper suggests two conclusions. First, the human resource function can become a full business partner without losing integrity to line managers. Second, examining competitive conditions faced by a particular firm can reveal how unresearched competitive practices may inform and challenge well rehearsed academic positions. Moreover, in particular sectors practitioner perceptions on “best practice” and competitiveness may be ahead of those presented by the academic community.

Describes a process through which an organization moved from traditional personnel management towards a more strategically oriented human resource management. Focuses on tracking down, periodically, the actions taken by the human resource manager and his/her relationships with the strategic management team within the context of major structural and strategic changes. Suggests that the internal dynamism of the human resource function led by an innovative leader, serves as a critical mechanism to keep the change process going after its start under favourable organizational and strategic circumstances.

The purpose of this study is to explore the mechanism of digitalized transformation in organizations’ human resource management (HRM). This study summarizes three basic factors driving the digital transformation process in China: level of perception, level of application and speed of transformation.

This study analyzes the strategic transformation process of HRM in Haier, Hisense and Chambroad to explore the human resource digital transformation mechanism in Chinese enterprises.

The results of this study show that three HR value chain models can be constructed based on how well HRM deals with business: the efficiency-oriented HRM value chain, quasi-business-oriented HRM value chain and business-oriented HRM value chain. The basic factors – level of perception, level of application and speed of transformation – are observed in the entire HRM digital transformation process.

This study provides theoretical and empirical insights for enterprises to explore the value of digital technology in HRM and facilitate the digital transformation of HRM.

The purpose of the paper is to trace the historical perspectives in the development and evolution of human resource management as a field of study and profession.

The paper adopts a desk research to conduct a general review of literatures that are fundamental in tracing the historical routes, evolution, and professional development in the field of human resource management.

The literature reviewed reveals that human resource management is a product of the human relations movement of the early twentieth century, when researchers began documenting ways of creating business value through the strategic management of the workforce. The function was initially dominated by transactional work such as payroll and benefits administration, but due to globalization, company consolidation, technological advancement, and further research, human resource now focuses on strategic initiatives like mergers and acquisitions, talent management, succession planning, industrial and labor relations, and diversity and inclusion. In start-up companies, human resource’s duties are performed either by a handful of trained professionals or even by non-human resource personnel. In larger companies, an entire functional group is typically dedicated to the discipline, with staff specializing in various human resource tasks and functional leadership engaging in strategic decision making across the business. To train practitioners for the profession, institutions of higher education, professional associations, and companies themselves have created programs of study dedicated explicitly to the duties of the function. Academic and practitioner organizations likewise seek to engage and further the field of human resource, as evidenced by several field-specific publications.

The study contributes to the body of knowledge in human resource management and practices, professional development, history of human resource management and the future of human resource functions. Further attempt is made in the study to present historical perspective of the evolution of the field to prepare professional managers in managing the human resource function and disseminate the human resource development philosophy and values to improve human resource practice and recognition within the management agenda.

The study is an attempt to provide empirical evidence, in the context of acute hospital care, of the current human resource practices in the health sector of the Slovak Republic. Using a sample of 72 acute care hospitals the research explored the perceived functions, typical customers and priorities of hospital human resource departments, ownership of a workforce plan, and the relationships between ownership of a workforce plan and type of hospital, as well as the degree to which different human resource activities are given priority. Cross‐tabulation procedure revealed statistically significant relationships between ownership of a workforce plan and the degree of priority given to having a quick, efficient and cost‐effective recruitment and selection system and, not surprisingly, the degree of priority given to ensuring that the human resource department has a workforce plan. The study evidence also indicates that, although the human resource staff in hospitals seem to be aware of their role in assisting hospital management in decision making, the human resource function in the Slovak hospitals still rather resembles that of a personnel administration than that of an important strategic human resource activity.