ABSTRACT
This chapter explores HRM from a comparative angle, an intrinsically critical approach in that it raises questions about whether the notions of HRM that we have, which have generally been developed in the United States of America, need adaptation as they are translated around the world. The chapter notes that it is not just HRM practices that differ in different countries, but how HRM is conceptualized, what it includes and what ‘good’ HRM looks like that differ. It is argued that there is limited evidence that HRM is becoming more alike across the globe and that, indeed, to understand HRM in any country you need to understand how it is embedded in that country. National and regional differences are created by differences in cultural and institutional context, perhaps more clearly by the latter, but the chapter also discusses diffusion of ideas about HRM around the globe. It is argued that any understanding of HRM that ignores the comparative element will inevitably be partial.
