Strategy and Human Resource Management, 2nd edition, by Peter Boxall and John Purcell, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008, 351 pp., ISBN 978-1-403992-10-9.

Whilst this is a review of the above mentioned text, readers should be aware that an earlier edition was published in 2003. Super diligent and enquiring minds can commence a comparison of the two editions (outside the scope of this review) by reference to the Introduction section commencing at viii. Authors Boxall and Purcell open by declaring their mission in Strategy and Human Resource Management as being: “to explore the ways in which human resource management (HRM) is strategic to organizational success.” This requires an examination of how HRM affects organizations’ viability and performance. We are told by the authors that the book is not organized around the classical HRM functions of recruitment, pay, training, etc. but rather the focus is on the need for a critical overview of the importance of how management tackles HRM; hence part 1 is about connecting strategy and HRM, part 2 is on general principles for managing work and people and part 3 examines the management of people in dynamic and complex business contexts. The outlined approach in each chapter is based on three elements: theory, research and illustration, thus enabling a commitment to analysis and research which is then tempered with the inclusion of case examples – which in addition to linking with theoretical propositions contributes to the retention of reader interest. Significant themes of the book centre on human resource strategy being an essential element of business strategy and its criticality to the organization; that HRM goals are plural and prone to strategic tensions; managers adapt HR strategy to suit organizational context; lists of HR best practices can be unwise if imported and applied blindly but there is a role for adopting underpinning principles in HRM; and HR strategy is usefully understood as a cluster of HR systems. The book commences with definitional discussion of HRM and an example of small business expanding to take on employees, thus for the first time becoming involved in managing work and people and its attendant requirements. Importantly, the point is made that HRM can never be the sole province of human resources specialists and that line managers must be involved, with an inevitable variability of style and approach. HRM is described as a set of activities aimed at building individual and organizational performance and a model is set out based on AMO, where (A) = individual ability, (M) motivation and (O) the opportunity to perform. It is noted that it is not only HRM that influences the AMO variables. Reference is made to academic criticism of HRM studies being focused too much on the firm with insufficient attention paid to wider external environments. The authors accept this point and propose that HRM is profoundly affected by industry characteristics and societal differences. Additionally, the public sector is included in the dialogue, which ensures that a sometimes excluded segment of work activity is considered. There is a useful discussion on the meaning of strategic HRM and cautions about equating strategy with strategic plan documents. We are reminded that many small firms do not have strategic plans but this does not mean the enterprise operates without a strategy. An interesting point is made that it is not useful to make a hard distinction between strategy and tactics or operations because to do otherwise could lead to a conclusion that strategy is only driven from the top and tactics/operations are lower order mop up type activities. The discussion includes the notion that the strategic process involves key choices among stakeholder groups and that competitive and other forces impose a degree of constraint; the level of constraint integrated into the …