Evolution of Strategic HRM as Seen Through Two Founding Books: A 30th Anniversary Perspective on Development of the Field
Human Resource Management · 2015 · Volume 54 · Issue 3
Abstract
Two pioneering books published in 1984 arguably launched the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM). The first isStrategic Human Resource Managementby Fombrun, Tichy, and Devanna; the second isManaging Human Assetsby Beer, Spector, Lawrence, Mills, and Walton. This article provides a 30th anniversary review of the two books, partly to honor their pioneering contributions but also to use them as a lens for examining how the field has subsequently evolved and developed. Two recently published SHRM books are used as a benchmark for this analysis. The review identifies areas of SHRM constancy and change, major theoretical and empirical innovations, and newly developed research questions and directions, largely in an American context. Diagrammatic models of SHRM are synthesized and compared from the four books; also, nine specific dimensions of evolution in the field are highlighted with discussion of advances and shortcomings. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Keywords
strategic HRM, management history, human capital, resource-based view, employee relations, organizational development
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