Power, Innovation and Problem‐Solving: The Personnel Managers’ Three Steps to Heaven?
Authors:
- 16 April 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Management Studies
- Vol. 41 (3) , 401-423
Abstract
ABSTRACT Legge's seminal book on personnel managers (Legge, 1978) identified ambiguities in their role, vicious circles that limited their power and possible strategies to improve their effectiveness. This paper explores how far the advent of human resource management has altered the circumstances in which they find themselves and how far it offers a new basis for power and influence. Analysis of interviews with 48 senior executives indicates that although there have been changes in features of the ambiguities and vicious circles, personnel managers have failed to overcome many of the problems identified by Legge 25 years earlier or to seize the opportunities outlined by Ulrich (1997) to become human resource champions.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Getting to the top: career paths of personnel directorsHuman Resource Management Journal, 2000
- Britain At Work1999
- TECHNICAL AND STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS AS DETERMINANTS OF FIRM PERFORMANCE.Academy of Management Journal, 1997
- Looking inside for competitive advantageAcademy of Management Perspectives, 1995
- Human Resource Management1995
- Reaching Corporate Executives1995
- Human Resource Management: the Views of Personnel Directors1Human Resource Management Journal, 1994
- HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND THE AMERICAN DREAM*Journal of Management Studies, 1990
- Designing strategic human resources systemsOrganizational Dynamics, 1984
- The art of Japanese managementBusiness Horizons, 1981