Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management

rationale to employment, envisaging it as a costly and purposeful human activity,
serving some kind of desired end. Whether, of course, all parties are enamored of
the same ends is another matter.

3.2 Goal Frameworks in HRM
.........................................................................................................................................................................................

As was widely noted in the late 1980 s and early 1990 s (e.g. Boxall 1992 ; Poole 1990 ),
the Harvard framework (Beer et al. 1984 ) provided one of theWrst major statements
in the HRM canon on the issue of employer goals (Fig. 3. 1 ). In this framework,
managers inWrms are encouraged to set their own priorities in HRM based on the
interplay of stakeholder interests and situational factors. HR outcomes, in turn, are
seen as having longer-term impacts on organizational eVectiveness and on societal

Stakeholder

interests

Shareholders

Management

Employee

groups

Government

Community

Unions

HRM policy

choices

Employee

influence

Human resource

flow

Reward systems

Work systems

HR outcomes

Commitment

Competence

Congruence

Cost

effectiveness

Situational

factors

Workforce

characteristics

Business

strategy and

conditions

Management

philosophy

Labor market

Unions

Task

technology

Laws and

societal values

Long-term

consequences

Individual

well-being

Organizational

effectiveness

Societal well-being

Fig. 3.1. The Harvard ‘map of the HRM territory’

Source:Beer et al. 1984.

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