all within a notable lack of clarity in terms of environmental influences and
objectives.'
Alternatively, strategic decision-making may be conceptualized as a
'discourse' or body of language-based communication that operates at
different levels in the organization. Thus, Hendry (2000)^50 persuasively argues
that a strategic decision takes its meaning from the discourse and social
practice within which it is located, so a decision must be not only effectively
communicated, but also 'recommunicated' until it becomes embodied in
action. This perspective reaffirms the importance of conceptualizing
management in terms of functions, contingencies and skills and the leader-
ship competence of managers. Whatever insights the different perspectives
afford on the strategic management process critical organizational theorists
have suggested that 'strategic' is no longer fashionable in management
thought and discourse, having gone from 'buzzword to boo-word' (Thompson
& McHugh, 2002, p. 110).
A second limitation of SHRM and HR strategy theory is the focus on the
connection between external market strategies and HR function. It is argued
that contingency analysis relies exclusively on external marketing strategies
(how the firm competes) and disregards the internal operational strategies
(how the firm is managed) that influence HR practices and performance
(Purcell, 1999). In an industry in which a flexible, customized product range
and high quality are the key to profitability, a firm can adopt a manufacturing
strategy that allows, via new technology and self-managed work teams, for far
fewer people but ones who are functionally flexible, within a commitment HR
strategy regime. This was the strategy at Flowpak Engineering.
Microelectronics and the use of plastic changed the firm's manufacturing
strategy from their being a manufacturer of packaging machinery to an
assembler. The technology and manufacturing strategy in this case became
the key intervening variable between overall business strategy and HRM.
The major limitation of a simple SHRM model is that it privileges only one step
in the full circuit of industrial capital. To put it another way, the SHRM