ABSTRACT
Human Resource Management has become the predominant term to describe the theory and practices relating to the way people are managed at work. The arguments relating to the importance of strategic human resource management (SHRM) tend to be constructed around the claim that ‘people make the difference’. In contrast to the best practice models considered in the previous section, contingency models of SHRM are based on the premise that what is required is a skilful alignment between human resource policies and various organisational and contextual characteristics. The importance of dynamic capabilities and a strategic mind-set in an innovation-oriented economy heightens the need to attend to the management of human resources and other intangible assets. The chapter summarises three main types of contingency model which link HR strategy to different ways of thinking about context. The three types are: linking SHRM to business strategy; linking SHRM to business life-cycle; linking SHRM to strategy and structure.
