by ProfessorBarbaraTownley (Author)
Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, this book reconceptualizes the field of human resource management (HRM) and explores an alternative politics and ethics of work.
The central thesis is that personnel/HRM techniques play a crucial role in constituting the self, in defining the nature of work, and in organizing and controlling the workforce. Human resource management, it is argued, comprises a nexus of disciplinary practices - a technology of power - aimed at making employees' behaviour and performance predictable and calculable, in a word, `manageable'.
The author analyzes a wide range of HRM procedures, including job evaluation and ranking, selection, appraisal and self-assessment, relating these to Foucauldian concepts of taxinomia, mathesis, examination and confession. The book concludes by linking Foucauldian and feminist ideas to sketch a potentially emancipatory and ethical agenda for HRM.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
Published: 05 Jul 1994
ISBN 10: 0803984960
ISBN 13: 9780803984967
`This reframing of HRM makes an important contribution to the debate on the philosophy of its function and contains an extensive review of the literature to support its claims. This book will be of primary interest to those engaged in this debate but will also provide food for thought for the professional practitioner.... this book presents a thoughtful and provocative stirring of the pot and is a most welcome addition to the HRM literature' - Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
`It is an interesting attempt to apply Foucauldian analysis to a particular aspect of organizational functioning, and a welcome addition to the critical literature on HRM' - Organization Studies