chapter 5
....................................................................................................................................................STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT
AND HRM
....................................................................................................................................mathew r. allen
patrick wright
5.1 Introduction
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
Ithas been said that the most important assets of any business walk out the door at
the end of each day. Indeed, people and the management of people are increasingly
seen as key elements of competitive advantage (Boxall and Purcell 2003 ; PfeVer
1998 ; Gratton et al. 2000 ). Spurred on by increasing competition, fast-paced
technological change, globalization, and other factors, businesses are seeking to
understand how one of the last truly competitive resources, their human resources,
can be managed for competitive advantage.
This idea that the human resources of aWrm can play a strategic role in the
success of an organization has led to the formation of aWeld of research often
referred to as strategic human resource management (SHRM). This relatively
youngWeld represents an intersection of the strategic management and human
resource management (HRM) literatures (Boxall 1998 ; Boxall and Purcell 2000 ).
Wright and McMahan ( 1992 )deWned strategic human resource management as
‘the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to
enable theWrm to achieve its goals’ ( 1992 : 298 ).