2000 Boole Reviews 677

impact that these pitfalls might educe. How are are insightful and intelligent. Secuiing Piospei-
layoffs impacting the welfare of the victims and ity has much to offer to academicians, policy
their families? What are the effects of plant clos- makers, and the community at large. Readers
ings on the communities in which they are lo- identifying with its concerns can only hope it is
cated? Are any societal changes occurring as a a starting point for addressing the current ills of
result of the changing nature of the labor mar- the new labor market.
ket?
Cooper (1999), for example, decries the effects
of corporate restructurings and contingent work REFERENCES
on the quality of life in the United Kingdom. He Barney, J. 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive
states that the price being paid by employees is advantage. Joumal of Management. 17: 99-120.
high and has adversely impacted their relation- Barney, J. 1995. Looking inside for competitive advantage.
ships with children and spouses and has nega- Academy of Management Executive, 9{4): 49-61.
tively affected their health and productivity at Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. 1990. Absorptive capacity: A
work. Cooper also cites research findings to il- new perspective on learning and innovation. Adminis-
lustrate that there are huge differences between trative Science Quarterly, 35: 128-152.
senior-level management and other employees Cooper, C. 1999. Hard decade at the office. Director, August:
in their perceptions of the consequences of these 34-35.
changes.
These differences in perceptions should not
be surprising. Osterman acknowledges in his
book that those highly skilled, mobile winners
Strategic Human Resource Manage-
in the new labor market are more individualis- ment, edited by Randall S. Schuler and
tic. Prosperity allows more independence, and, Susan E. Jackson. Oxford: Blackwell,
consequently, prosperous individuals and soci- 1999.
eties historically (e.g., Greece and Rome) tend to
move toward the more individualistic end of the Reviewed by Augustine A. Lado, Cleveland State Uni-
spectrum and away from the collectivist end. As versity, Cleveland, Ohio.
is the case with natural disasters, people are
much less likely to join in a collective effort to The field of strategic human resource man-
improve the welfare of all until and unless they agement (SHRM) has grown extensively in the
are confronted with conditions that compel such last 15 years, as reflected by the contributions in
behavior. this book. If there is any duo that has become
Osterman's recommendations for ameliorat- synonymous with this field, it is Susan Jackson
ing the effects of the new labor market require and Randall Schuler, the editors of this volume.
collective effort. Given the foregoing discussion, This duo could have just as easily assembled
however, his attempt to spur employees, com- their own work into a book on this subject and of
munities, and government officials into proac- this size. Nonetheless, because administrative
tive action might have been well served by in- science is a "socially constructed truth" (Astley,
cluding more information answering questions 1985), Schuler and Jackson have assembled "the
(similar to those above) about societal and eco- work of authors throughout the world" (p. xviii)
nomic effects of the new labor market. The ab- who have contributed to the development of the
sence of this information was disappointing. SHRM discipline. In doing so, they have pro-
Perhaps we can expect to see such compelling vided an extensive coverage of—and wide-
evidence in an upcoming book by Osterman. Its ranging perspectives on—this emerging field.
publication would be eagerly awaited. In a brief preface the editors highlight the
However, no one work can be so comprehen- two-phased transformation of the discipline:
sive as to address every aspect of any given from personnel management to HRM, and from
phenomenon. Osterman's concern and unease HRM to SHRM. The main theme running through
about current conditions are admirable, as is his the book appears to be the idea that the man-
effort to bring them to public attention. The in- agement of people in organizations as "strategic
formation presented is well documented and assets" critically drives the formulation and im-
well balanced, and the arguments of the book plementation of value-enhancing strategies and
678 Academy of Management Review July

the achievement of (sustained) competitive ad- cifically, authors a d d r e s s the question of

vantage. whether the HR function (and department) is in
The book is organized into five parts. Part I crisis in light of contemporary realities of organ-
consists of six chapters in which several authors izations, as well as the role of the HR function in
describe the dynamic nature of the organiza- fostering strategic business partnerships within
tion-environment relationship, review the vari- and between organizations and networks of or-
ous theoretical perspectives for understanding/ ganizations. The book concludes with a pre-
researching SHRM issues, discuss a typology for scription for how HR policies and procedures
linking HRM issues to corporate growth expec- contribute to the firm's bottom line.
tations and organizational readiness, analyze Although the book represents a collection of
the extent to which HRM systems foster dynamic solid work that establishes SHRM as a legiti-
capabilities and engender sustained competi- mate discipline for research and managerial
tive advantage, and examine SHRM issues practice, I was somewhat disappointed that it
within the traditional strategy content-process did not really break new ground. It would have
debate. Taken together, the chapters in this part been helpful if the editors had devoted an intro-
provide the foundation for the challenges in the ductory chapter to identifying the key themes
SHRM field that academics and practitioners reflecting progress within the SHRM field. Also,
face. a concluding chapter, providing a critical, inno-
In Part II, also consisting of six chapters, au- vative appraisal of the field and the issues more
thors take a closer look at how people are linked likely to engage researchers and practitioners
with the firm and address the strategic implica- in this area within the next decade or so, would
tions of the different approaches to the people- have provided guidance beyond the contribu-
organization fit. Specifically, they analyze the tions in Part V of the book.
extent to which firms manage their human re- I believe that the development in the SHRM
sources to enable effective implementation of field can be understood in terms of at least three
competitive strategy, develop and leverage dis- overlapping research streams: (1) SHRM within
tinctive competencies, and achieve effective the traditional SWOT framework of strategic
tradeoffs between strategic "fit" and "flexibility." management, (2) SHRM within the resource-
In Part III the authors closely examine the based view of the firm, and (3) SHRM in the
external context of firms and the implications of context of the "relational view" of the firm (Dyer
managing human resources to address the & Singh, 1998). The third research stream em-
needs of a firm's stakeholders. In four chapters phasizes the development and deployment of
authors analyze the extent to which HRM is the people-embodied knowledge assets as crucial
source of shareholder value, address the com- to the attainment of strategic goals through in-
peting pressures of the firm's constituencies, terfirm partnerships. Also, the emphasis on
and examine how HRM enhances customer ser- managing human resources as "strategic as-
vice and satisfaction through employee service sets" (the main theme of the book) must be coun-
fairness. Also, the nature of the employment terbalanced by alternative perspectives that
contract is examined in the context of the chang- show how HRM systems can inhibit the devel-
ing workplace in the United States. opment of organizational competencies (Lado &
In Part IV (four chapters) the contributors ad- Wilson, 1994) and frustrate the achievement of
dress "global dimensions" of SHRM. Specifi- sustainable competitive advantage (Coff, 1997).
cally, several authors examine SHRM issues in Furthermore, inasmuch as those in the field of
the context of multinational companies' head- strategic management should beware of becom-
quarters-subsidiary relationships; international ing increasingly "ideological" (Shrivastava,
strategic alliances and joint ventures; multina- 1986), SHRM researchers and practitioners
tional/global strategies reflecting integration- should be sensitive to the field's ideological un-
responsiveness tradeoffs; and regional trading derpinnings (e.g.. Guest, 1987; Legge, 1995).
blocks, such as the European union. Also, I believe the editors could have done a
Finally, in Part V (four chapters) the authors better job of reflecting the book's "international"
address various issues concerning the role of scope. Unfortunately, the book might convey (or
the HR department and HR professionals in an reinforce) the perception of SHRM as being pa-
increasingly complex and turbulent world. Spe- rochial, reflecting an Anglo-American mind-
2000 Book Reviews 679

set (twenty-six of the forty authors are affiliated REFERENCES

with institutions and companies in the United
Astley, W. G. 1985. Administrative science as socially con-
States, and at least seven other authors are res- structed truth. Administrative Science Quarterly, 30: 497-
ident in the United Kingdom). Work on strategic 513.
management of human resources in developing Coff, R. W. 1997. Human assets and management dilemmas:
countries (e.g., Kanungo, 1995), in the so-called Coping with hazards on the road to resource-based the-
planned economies in transition (e.g., Peng & ory. Academy of Management Review, 22: 374-402.
Heath, 1996; Sharma, 1993), and in Japan and Dyer, J. H., & Singh, H. 1998. The relational view: Cooperative
other more "developed" Asian economies (e.g., strategy and sources of interorganizational competitive
Nonaka, 1988) represents a curious omission advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23: 660-679.
from this book. Finally, the editors could have Guest, D. 1987. Human resource management and industrial
provided their rationale for the choice of the relations. Joumal of Management Studies, 24: 503-521.
chapters/readings. Without a clear rationale, Kanungo, R. N. 1995. Employee management in deveiopiny
some readers might (wrongly or rightly) con- countries. Greenwich. CT: JAI Press.
clude that the choice of chapters was rather ad Lado, A. A., & Wilson, M. C. 1994. Human resource systems
hoc, especially since there are many other works and sustained competitive advantage: A competency-
of scholars in the field that equally compete for based perspective. Academy of Management Review,
attention. 19: 699-727.
Nevertheless, I feel that Schuler and Jackson Legge, K. 1995. Human resource management: Rhetorics and
realities. London: Macmillan.
have done a masterful job of assembling read-
ings and chapters that reflect the current state of Nonaka, I. 1988. Self-renewal of Japanese firm and the hu-
man resource strategy. Human Resource Management,
knowledge in the field of SHRM. This book could 27: 45-62.
easily be adopted as a set of readings for an
MBA-level course in SHRM. It contains a useful Peng, M. W., & Heath, P. S. 1996. The growth of the firm in
planned economies in transition: Institutions, organiza-
blend of theoretical and practitioner-related tions, and strategic choice. Academy of Management
chapters, reflecting the importance of balancing Review, 21: 492-528.
rigor and relevance both in researching and Sharma, A. 1993. Management under fire: The transformation
teaching SHRM topics. The book's intemational of managers in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
flavor also makes it easily adaptable as an in- Academy of Management Executive, 7(1): 22-35.
structional resource in institutions in various parts Shrivastava, P. 1986. Is strategic management ideological?
of the world. Joumal of Management, 12: 363-377.