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The management of the job‐loss situation is becoming of central importance to top management and human resource executives in the current climate of redundancy. The current nature of severance packages and the provision of outplacement may be interpreted as a move towards normative practices within the policy making of many UK organizations. Reports on the results of a recent survey of over 600 UK organizations. The survey covered organizational perspectives on redundancies and the use of outplacement in the event of redundancy. The results indicated a change in corporate values in the 1990s. There appeared to be a move towards normative practices in the management of redundancy and in particular in the use of outplacement as a moderator of the potentially detrimental impact of the redundancy situation.

Research undertaken to examine the relationship between personality and careers is reported. A study of the personality characteristics of 204 executives who had been made redundant compared 16PF profiles with those of similar populations and it is argued that there are identifiable characteristics amongst the redundant sample, which show them to be more creative and unconventional, but that they also possess a lack of social skills and poor organisational survival abilities. This suggests it is both personality and “social fit” which are significant in suffering an enforced job change. Further research drew on the experiences of 299 executives who had been made redundant. This study explored their reactions to the job loss event and their subsequent learning from experience, in terms of “psychological growth” and the changing patterns of their careers. This suggested that there is a wide variation in the response to the enforced job change and that the personality factors associated with this type of executive may strongly influence their subsequent career paths.

This paper describes part of a research project into personnel management as an occupation, and argues for the study of personnel managers in the context of the organisations in which they work. The research draws on Kelly's personal construct theory by examining the way 20 personnel specialists in four organisations interpret and make meaningful the roles of others encountered in their working world. These ‘interpretations’ or constructs were discovered by using a repertory grid technique, and the results are compared between each of the four organisations. Some possible explanations are offered of the ways in which the personnel specialists studied cope with values that conflict with their own, and of how they are able to integrate within their organisations' cultures.

This paper aims to examine the practice of human resource management (HRM) in voluntary sector organisations providing substance misuse treatment services and to compare these findings with similar organisations in the public sector.

HRM practices are examined using a survey of voluntary and public sector drug and alcohol treatment provider organisations. The survey data are supported with a number of case studies and qualitative interviews with the HR managers of such organisations.

The data show that in many areas practice is broadly similar in the voluntary and public sectors. However, there are also a number of important differences, influenced by both their relative financial positions and the value‐led nature of the voluntary sector.

Recent estimates suggest that over half a million people are in paid employment in the UK voluntary sector; however, relatively little is known about HRM within this sector. This paper provides a valuable insight into HRM within this sector and highlights the similarities and differences between this and the public sector.

The purpose of this paper is to use neo‐institutional theory to examine organizational responses to the age discrimination at work legislation, recently introduced in the UK. The paper examines reasons managers advanced for the introduction of human resource (HR) policies about age discrimination, in addition to legal compliance.

A longitudinal survey of HR managers and four case studies within a range of UK organizations are used to elicit data on organizational responses.

Unsurprisingly, the introduction of the new legislation has created strong coercive pressure on organizations. However, the results also provide evidence of mimetic and normative pressures within organizations. There is a complex range of factors that influence changes to policies and practices. In addition, the impact of organizational context, manager stereotypes and public and private sector differences are examined. The implications for explaining coercive change in organizations in terms of different legal philosophies and for future research are discussed.

This paper adds to a currently sparse literature on the introduction of age discrimination policies by organizations and uses a neo‐institutional framework to examine the forces that may affect the introduction of these policies over and above legislation.

There are continuing pressures to improve administrative efficiency in human resource management (HRM). Following the professional and academic literature, proposes “payroll” as an ideal candidate for outsourcing in order to drive costs down.

The research uses a transaction‐cost‐economics perspective to identify efficiency implications of varying governance decisions. Ten distinct payroll activities that account for a generic payroll workflow are identified. Then the costs of carrying out these distinct payroll processes, either market‐ or hierarchy‐based, are analysed in 20 case studies of UK‐based organisations.

While key payroll activities were more costly when outsourced, there were efficiency gains in supplementary activities and lesser investment in IT software and maintenance.

These insights are important for cost‐based make‐or‐buy decisions. Influence factors on governance decisions, however, went beyond considerations of transaction costs, quality and risks to include historical, political and individual rationales. They are depicted in a framework of outsourcing motivations.