ABSTRACT
Studies of Philippine industrial relations (IR) and human resource management (HRM) practices tend to take on different tones depending on whether the focus of the study is on the older import substitution sector of the economy or the newer export oriented sector. This study takes the position that, over the past few decades there has been a substantial amount of divergence between HRM practices in firms engaged in the import substitution industrialization (ISI) sector and those in the export-oriented industrialization (EOI) sector. The former has traditionally been characterized by fairly rigid workplace structures and rules, while most firms in the latter sector, by virtue of being much more exposed to global competition have, for some time, employed practices to promote flexibility in the workplace. Recently, as a consequence of increasing exposure to global competition resulting from the persistent drive towards economic liberalization, managers in the former sector are now adopting practices more characteristic of the latter sector.
