Off the Mark: Response to Kaufman's Evolution of Strategic HRM

• Author: David Guest,Patrick M. Wright,Jaap Paauwe
• Date: 01 May 2015
• Published date: 01 May 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21723

Human Resource Management, May–June 2015, Vol. 54, No. 3. Pp. 409–415

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21723

Correspondence to: Patrick M. Wright, Darla Moore School of Business, Department of Management,

University of South Carolina, 1705 College Rd., Columbia, South Carolina, 29208, Phone: 803-777-5955,

E-mail: patrick.wright@moore.sc.edu

Boudreau’s Short Introduction to Strategic Human

Resource Management (2012; hereafter CB) and ours

(Paauwe, Guest, & Wright, 2013; hereafter PGW),

HRM and Performance: Achievements and Challenges.

We acknowledge that if one limits one’s reference

points to two books that came out exactly 30 years

later in the area of strategic HRM, then these two

fit that narrow criterion. However, we question

why one would want to place such artificial con-

straints on a field that has exploded over the past

30 years. While we would not expect an exhaus-

tive review (a simple Google search of the term

strategic HRM reveals over 28 million hits), numer-

ous reviews over the past five years might provide

a more suitable knowledge base.

In addition, if, for the sake of balance one

wants to choose two books, we can think of a

number of books that might be more represen-

tative of the field of strategic HRM than ours.

Our edited volume was aimed at a narrow aspect

(the relationship between HR practices and per-

formance) of the broader field of strategic HRM

and sought to provide rigorous reviews of the

academic research on that narrow topic. While

we would encourage all readers of this to rush

Professor Bruce Kaufman’s celebration of

the anniversary of the field of strategic

HRM provides an opportunity to look at

the field’s origins, evolutionary path, cur-

rent status, and future directions. His focus

on two seminal books Strategic Human Resource

Management by Fombrun, Tichy, and Devanna

(1984; hereafter FTD) and Managing Human Assets

by Beer, Spector, Lawrence, Mills, and Walton

(1984; hereafter BSLMW), while limited, serves

as a reasonable foundation for representing the

thinking at the appearance of the field. Many of

the directions and trends he identifies seem to

us to be reasonable descriptions of how the field

has evolved over the past 30 years. However, we

differ from Professor Kaufman in two respects: his

choice of two books as the current referent, albeit

he wanted to choose two published 30 years later,

and his implication that these trends are neces-

sarily problematic. In essence, he takes aim at the

wrong target and, consequently, misses the mark.

Aiming at the Wrong Target

Professor Kaufman chose two books as represent-

ing the current state of strategic HRM: Cascio and

OFF THE MARK: RESPONSE

TOKAUFMAN’S EVOLUTION

OFSTRATEGIC HRM

PATRICK M. WRIGHT, DAVID GUEST,

AND JAAP PAAUWE

Professor Bruce Kaufman’s look back at two seminal books published at the

beginning of the strategic HRM fi eld and examination of two recent books to

trace the evolution of the fi eld identifi es some issues, but ones with which the

fi eld has dealt for a number of years. His choice of our book HRM and Perfor-

mance provided the wrong target, and consequently his analysis seemed to miss

the mark. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: management history, resource based view, strategic HR