HRM at a Crossroads: Comments on “Evolution of Strategic HRM Through Two Founding Books: A 30th Anniversary Perspective on Development of the Field”

• Author: Michael Beer
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21734
• Date: 01 May 2015
• Published date: 01 May 2015

Human Resource Management, May–June 2015, Vol. 54, No. 3. Pp. 417–421

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21734

Correspondence to: Michael Beer, Harvard Business School, Soldiers Field, Boston, MA, 02163, Phone:617-495-6655,

Fax: 617-495-8736, E-mail: mbeer@hbs.edu

HRM AT A CROSSROADS:

COMMENTS ON “EVOLUTION

OF STRATEGIC HRM THROUGH

TWO FOUNDING BOOKS: A 30TH

ANNIVERSARY PERSPECTIVE ON

DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIELD”

MICHAEL BEER

I agree with Bruce Kaufman’s evaluation of the HRM fi eld and the danger to its

relevance if change does not take place in the fi eld’s almost exclusi ve use of

normal science, lack of focus on organizational change and development and

indifference to the development of useful and usable knowledge. I use the devel-

opment of the Harvard Business School’s fi rst-ever required course in HRM and

Managing Human Assets, the book that grew from the course, to illustrate why

and how the strategic HRM perspective of the book emerged. I go on to argue

that we do not need more proof that HRM practices are associated with fi nancial

performance. The best CEOs already believe this, though they need knowledge

and practices that will enable them to develop a positive sustainable HRM sys-

tem. HRM research, both normal and action science, must answer the question

of how a “great” HRM system—practices, leadership, organization design, cul-

ture, and change processes—might be developed over time (its takes years) and

how great companies can avoid the liquidation of intangible assets in the face

of pressures for short-term performance. I describe my own work to illustrate

the future direction HRM should take methodologically and conceptually. ©2015

Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: management history, resource-based view, strategic HR

I

am honored that Professor Kaufman recog-

nized Managing Human Assets (MHA) as a

seminal book in our field of human resource

management, along with Strategic Human

Resource Management (SHRM). It is hard to

believe that it was 30 years ago the book was

published. John McArthur, then dean of the

Harvard Business School, gave rise to the book

when he asked me to lead the development of a

required first-year MBA course in HRM, the first

of its kind in a business school. The development

of the course enabled Bert Spector, the late Paul