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Project risk management (PRM) and human resource management (HRM) are the two critical success factors (CSFs) for international project management. This paper aims to correlate these two CSFs, identify the human resource (HR) barriers, develop a hybrid model for risk management and develop strategies to overcome the HR barriers to effective risk management in international projects.

In total, 20 key HR barriers have been identified through a literature survey and verified by project professionals. These HR barriers are ranked according to their ability to trigger other barriers by analysing their interactions using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. Based on Ulrich’s revised model for HR functions, a hybrid framework for international PRM has been proposed.

DEMATEL analysis categorized nine barriers as cause barriers and 11 as affected barriers. The “PROJECTS” model proposed for HR strategy development suggests eight strategies to overcome these nine cause barriers. The hybrid PRM framework developed includes the effect of the HR dimension.

This paper presents the generalized prioritization of HR barriers to international PRM. For a specific international project, the HR barriers and their prioritization may change slightly. The hybrid framework for PRM and the strategy development model suggested are yet to be validated.

Correlating two CSFs in international project management, i.e. HRM and PRM and ranking the HR barriers using the DEMATEL method is the uniqueness of this research paper. The hybrid framework developed for PRM based on HR functions in Ulrich’s revised model and the proposed new HR strategy development model “PROJECTS” are unique contributions of this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on graduate work-readiness challenges in three Asia Pacific economies (Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia), and the roles of three main stakeholders (government, employers and industry) in the process. The intention of the paper is to design a stakeholder-oriented HRM model to address the identified graduate work-readiness challenges.

A qualitative triangulation method comprising interviews and focus groups was used with participant samples for each country – Australia (19), Indonesia (19) and Malaysia (15). Stakeholder-oriented HRM theory underpins the conceptual framework for the paper.

All three countries are currently experiencing difficulties attracting graduates with the required portfolio of qualifications, skills and personal capabilities. The reported effects include: constraints on national economic growth, future production structures, and long-term socio-economic development. Based on a review of the work-readiness and stakeholder-oriented HRM theory literature, it is posited that graduate work-readiness challenges can be effectively addressed by HR professionals in partnership with other key stakeholders.

The study sought the input of only three stakeholder groups for ascertaining graduate work readiness challenges, there is a strong case to include other groups including students/parents and secondary schools.

Bridging the graduate skills gap between government, employers and educational institutions is an important area in which HR professionals can contribute by reducing the mismatch between demand and supply through influencing and balancing the interests and goals of key stakeholders.

This study makes a contribution to the extant literature as it explores the role of HR professionals in relation to a multiple stakeholder strategy to address these challenges in the less-explored Asia Pacific region.

The goal of this chapter is to explore the requirements modern companies expect of HR professionals’ competences.

Departing from the widely acknowledged HR competence studies of Ulrich and associates, we extended them with the continuous learning competence profile and HR professionals’ individual job performance. The empirical study is built on open interviews with HR leaders of ten large Dutch companies.

The study offers a new set of HRM competences. This set includes six HRM profiles: Business Focus, Learning Focus, Strategic Focus, HR Technology, HR Delivery, and Personal Credibility. Several contingency factors are thought to play a role in supporting these HRM competences: company culture, strategy, size, sector, scope, and position of HR professionals.

Based on these contributions, we recommended conducting a quantitative study to gain understanding of the relevance of the individual HRM job performance and to find associations between the HRM competences and the individual HRM job performance.

The focus of this chapter is a combination of HRM competences and the individual job performance of HR professionals.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify how human resource professionals (HRPs) in the United States (US) understand their roles in bullying situations and how they perceive others (targeted employees and senior management) understand their roles. It is important to understand these role expectations as HRPs are integral actors in bullying situations and are often evaluated negatively by those in bullying situations.

Strauss & Corbin’s grounded theory approach was used to uncover HRPs role perceptions. Narrative and respondent in-depth interviews were conducted with HRPs and revealed an evolving HR role that clashed with perceived target and senior management role expectations.

This research has revealed a theoretical model of the progressive role HRPs play in bullying situations. The authors discovered HRPs play several important roles in bullying situations and they link these roles in a temporal and situational manner. They first play the role of first, a trust listener; second, an objective, neutral third-party investigator; third, a management advisor; and fourth, a mediator/trainer/coach. Throughout this role execution they also became an emotional laborer. This model was often in contention with the HRP’s perceptions of targets and senior management expectations in bullying situations.

This research revealed a more detailed, nuanced view of the roles HRPs play in bullying situations and called existing research on US HRPs and their roles in bullying situations into question. How HRPs view their roles and role expectations is revealing of why and how they deal with allegations of bullying the way they do. This research has practical value for HR, management, targets, and organizations in general.

This paper aims to propose that a new approach to human resource (HR) audit is needed. It also aims to explain the new approach and introduce a range of tools to support it.

The paper reviews traditional and existing common approaches, identifies the shortcomings of these, and proposes a new framework based on business contribution.

Existing approaches to HR audit do not reflect the current aspirations and rhetoric on HR practices as promoted by Holbeche, and Ulrich et al.This emphasises the need for a new approach.

The work proposes a new framework to assess HR activity against alignment and contribution to organisation strategy and goals, as well as the prevailing culture, thus forcing HR audit to move beyond legal compliance of HR practices. A range of processes, tools and techniques are identified.

The paper contains a completely new approach (the authors assert) to HR audit which is more rigorous and wide ranging in scope. It moves HR audit away from legal compliance to increasing the HR contribution to the organisation, thereby creating improved business performance.

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and validate a scale to capture entrepreneurship behaviour at the human resource management (HRM) functional level.

Drawing from the HRM and entrepreneurship literature, this paper first conceptualises and operationalises entrepreneurial behaviour at the human resource (HR) functional level. Second, it uses a multi-phase, systematic scale development procedure to design a two-dimensional scale of entrepreneurial HRM. Finally, the scale is validated by testing its relationship with HRM innovation.

The findings suggest that entrepreneurial behaviour at the HRM functional level is characterised by innovativeness, pro-activeness, risk-taking and consensus-building behaviour. The scale shed new light on the roles of HR professionals.

This paper highlights the need for HR professionals to demonstrate entrepreneurial behaviour in HRM value addition. The scale development process, while providing a detailed understanding of the entrepreneurial behaviour at the HR functional level, will facilitate future research.

This scale provides HR professionals with the means to measure and improve entrepreneurial HRM, leading to higher levels of HRM-based value addition.

This is the first known attempt to capture entrepreneurial behaviour at the HRM functional level.

This chapter introduces the issue of language into the already complex nature of e-HRM system implementation in multinational corporations (MNCs). In the light of scant empirical research on language in international business in general and e-HRM in particular, this chapter reviews the research on language issues in the MNC context. The chapter then illustrates the challenges presented by language by reporting findings from a qualitative study into the effects of language standardization on e-HRM system acceptance and use in the foreign subsidiaries of a Finnish MNC.