ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the development, convergence and divergence of human resources management (HRM)-related practices in Europe, focusing on specific under-researched regions to illustrate and compare employee-related systems, policies and practices applied to European businesses. It demonstrates that while there are clear regional clusters in Europe that develop in similar manners, the questions of complete European conversion is premature. Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries are often combined in a single cluster, based on shared history and economic characteristics. All the models discussed uniformly see Nordics – Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway – as one specific cluster. Conventional wisdom and existing research suggest that HR-related practices are spread throughout Europe, and specifically to CEE, by multinational enterprises. The chapter concludes that there is no current evidence in literature that organisations in Europe are likely to converge towards one model of HRM that would stress a unitaristic and pragmatic approach, or focus mainly on performance, profit and return on investment.
