The making and remaking of HRM: the practice of managing people in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

This paper explores the nature of human resource management (HRM) practice in the Border region of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, located within contemporary local and international debates regarding the content and nature thereof. Four distinct patterns of practice were identified. The first represented a simple changing in nomenclature of the relevant personnel sections, with, in several cases, staff being seen not as managers, but rather as a distinct, and somewhat junior, category of employee. In the second category, the traditional personnel function was broadened to encompass clearly delineated areas such as training and development. In the third category, while HRM practitioners did play an important strategic role, this was more in terms of facilitating the adoption of progressive industrial relations policies, than in developing a vision for managing human resources across the organization. In all cases, what human resource practitioners did seemed somewhat removed from the 'conventional wisdom' definition of HRM. In part this was a result of the persistence of effective and militant trade unions, necessitating the adoption of hybrid HR-industrial relations practices. However, it also represented a product of particular managerial traditions, and the fact that HRM represents a complex package of concepts and practices, which, inevitably, are subject to adjustment in the light of prevailing realities. This study sheds further light on the diverse and multi-faceted area of HRM practice, and underscores the need for flexibility and pragmatism in both transitional, and, indeed, mature economic contexts.

Keywords:

• International Hrm
• Hrm Practice
• Personnel
• International Business