ABSTRACT

A number of authors (e.g. Heery and Frege 2006: 602; Delbridge and Keenoy 2011; Thompson 2011) have pointed out that studies on HRM have often focused on the organizational level, implicitly assuming the firm ‘as a strategic actor’ in its labour deployment. There is an increasing range of actors whose role in shaping industrial relations has largely escaped the attention of researchers (Heery and Frege 2006). These include the state institutions as well as private agencies such as management consultants and employment agencies. According to Heery and Frege (2006: 602), these institutions ‘promote isomorphism in employer practice, even in societies with flexible, lightly regulated labour markets, and weak employers’ associations’. There is therefore a need, as some authors have argued, to situate the discussion of HRM practices in a broad context (e.g. Kim and Wright 2010) and from a political economy perspective (e.g. Boxall and Macky 2009), rather than a strategic perspective that focuses narrowly within the organization, as a more insightful approach to make sense of the constraints and choices facing organizations.