Annotated Bibliography: HRM and Leadership Management

This annotated bibliography presents an analysis of three key articles related to Human Resource Management (HRM) and leadership. The first article examines the evolving concept of "quality of employment" and "decent work," comparing European Union standards with the International Labour Organization's approach, highlighting the EU's advanced data-driven methodology. The second article delves into Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), contrasting the "best fit" and "best practice" models, emphasizing the importance of aligning HRM with organizational goals and considering the resource-based view of the firm. The third article explores Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM), examining the integration of sustainability into HRM practices, stressing the importance of ethical considerations and stakeholder relationships for achieving organizational and social outcomes. Each article is summarized, evaluated, and followed by a reflection, providing a comprehensive overview of the key concepts and debates within HRM and leadership.

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Article 1
Burchell, B., Sehnbruch, K., Piasna, A., & Agloni, N. (2014). The quality of employment and
decent work: definitions, methodologies, and ongoing debates. Cambridge journal of economics,
38(2), 459-477.
Summary
The authors in this article have taken an exploratory research model to analyse the development
of thee various concepts related to the “quality of employment.” In the academic field, the study
of the quality of employment had been a debateable and much researched issue since there has
been an increasing amount of policies on the various aspects of employment. Taking the cue
from the basic motivation theories the authors are of the opinion that in present era it is nor=t
enough for an employee who have a decent job but the recruitment process is also an indicator of
the basic standard of living. Exploring the secondary data on employment, the understanding of
the mythological process the authors are of the opinion that the job and employment related
theories and definitions have evolved a more complex theory rather than being just employment
satisfaction. One of the major documents that the article explores is the international labour
organization’s concept of decent war that was launched in 1999. With the aim of analysing the
same in the light of work environment and employment satisfaction, the article takes a
comparative study between the employment measures in the European Union with the
international labour organization’s agenda of “decent work”. In conclusion the authors comes to
the opinion that the European Union is much advanced in terms of decent work agenda because
of their consistent approach for generating internationally comparable data about the labour
markets. This helps the European Union to remain updated as they are able to measure in detail

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the rising trends and can also compare their actions at an international scales. On the other hand,
the authors criticize decent work as being merely, broadly defined concept and something, which
is not measureable.
In analysing the theoretical approaches, the authors could stress on the seven dimensions
that the European Union member considers as the quality of employment. Those are “Safety and
ethics of environment, Income and benefits from employment, working hours and balancing
work and non-working life, security of employment and social protection, social dialogue, skills
development and training and workplace, motivation and retention.” By measuring the actions
against each of the scale, the European Union maintains a balanced approach.
Evaluation
The article published by the Cambridge journal of economics takes an exploratory stance and
address the polarities by not only identifying the literature reviews or definitions but also
bringing in the issue of on-going debate on the two differing methodologies applied in the two
different fields. This comparison has been totally based on the analysis of the past researches and
the close examination of the methodologies. The article starts with the basic theoretical concepts
of quality of working life. This gives a new reader a total overview of the basic concept so that
they also can engage themselves in the identification of the methodology of both the areas. The
author starts by defining the origin of quality of life that was an emerging issue in the late 1960s
and 1970s. In giving, an overview for methodologies for measurement and international
comparisons the authors introduces the methodologies to the readers before analysing the
methods used by ILO and EU. In defining broadly, the two contrasting institutional approaches
and showing their impact on the policy making process the authors have also provided ample
ground of justifying their conclusion.

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Reflection
With the emergence of the various employee oriented theories and concepts as a process of
globalization and liberalization there have been a trend of flexiblisation of the labour market
ensuring the job stability and the carer prospects and improving the condition of wages have
become the major concerns of employment. I found this article to be particularly engaging
because of its explanatory approach. I myself also found that the definition of decent work as
proposed by ILO that includes prospects like fair income, security in workplace etc to be broadly
scattered concepts since they did not define any measurement or scale which could be considered
as yardstick.
Article 2
Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2000). Strategic human resource management: where have we come
from and where should we be going?. International journal of management reviews, 2(2), 183-
203.
Summary
Peter Boxal and John Purcell in the article have taken an explanatory approach of analysing the
theories of strategic human resource management that has evolved as a result of the research
evidences. In reviewing the literature the authors defines the nature and scope of strategic human
resource management and then went on articulating the need of interconnection between HRM
and organizational strategies. In this respect, the authors have considered two dominant
normative model namely best fit and best practice. They have identified strategy to be a multi
dimensional concept that is used to set a direction in achieving the goals of the organizations.
The action of linking of these strategies to individuals who are empowered and accountable for

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achieving the strategist result will help the company in correlating the organizational goal with
the individual goal. Strategic human resource management thus according to the authors is the
way of relating the needs of the employees with the companies goals. By taking examples of
firms such as Price water house coopers, Mc kinsey etc the authors pointed out towards the fact
that their strategy of human resource management follows a selective recruitment process in
order to fulfil their aim of joining the elite cluster of firms. The authors probe deep into the
nature of SHRM by questioning the process of identification of the strategic choices in HRM and
the processes involved in analysing the needs of such choices. With the aim of answering these
questions, the article further develops into the debate between the best fit and bet practice
models. While analysing the best-fit model the authors argue that this model emphasises on
developing HRM policies according to the strategies of business. Such strategies involve
planning of the future activities, performance objectives etc. The best-fit approach questions the
universality of the assumption of the best practice school. This school however emphasis on the
activities of the HR and the various stages of the organizations development. the authors
suggested that this strategy focuses mainly on the HR activities to be dine into the line of the
needs of the business. The authors, however, took an analytical approach in discussing the model
whereby they brings into account several criticisms of the model since this model does not take
into consideration the firms current competitive goals and the aspects of training employees so
that they can fit in the goals. The best practice model according to the authors are the viewpoints
of those writers who argue that the organization should adopt the best- practice irrespective of
contexts. Keeping in mind the evolving nature of business the authors advocates for the best-fit
model yet, however, does not rule out the best-practice thinking. The paper then considers the
importance of the resource based view of the fir and correlates the effectiveness of the same with

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the SHRM. The authors limits their discussions on the utility of this RBV in the light of SHRM
theory, however, they also suggested important implications of future research.
Evaluation
The article is a valuable source of understanding the various concepts related to Strategic human
resource management where the authors view this field of management as an important sector for
the attainment of the organizational goals. To make their points clearer the authors correlated the
concept of strategy with the human resource management by means of exploring established
literature reviews and concepts from the examples of notable organizations to show how the HR
practices are done with the aim of meeting the organizational goals. In the critical review of the
two schools of approaches namely the best fit and best practice the authors have taken a critical
approach whereby they put forward the pros and cons of both the models. The article also
explores the assessment of the research evidences and conclude about the debate between best fit
and best practice from both the academic and managerial implication point of view. In analysing
the resource based view of the firms the authors focussed on the internal environment of firms
which is a great indicator of the strategic formulations.
Reflection
I found this article to be explanatory and deep enough for understanding the basic concepts of
strategic human resource management. The article according to me advocates the association of
the human resource practices with the organizational goals. According to the author, this linkage
helps in attracting and keeping talented as well as skilled employees. The matching of the HRM
activities with the policies and strategies of business defines the choice of executive leadership
and helps in forming positive labour relations. However, I feel that the article could have

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incorporated more insights upon showing the different correlations rather than explaining the
normative models.
Article 3:
Kramar, R. (2014). Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human
resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 25(8), 1069-1089.
Summary:
This article takes into account the issue of sustainability in the human resource management. The
article starts its discussion with the definitions and the concept of sustainability and its
importance in business. it further correlates the issue of sustainability with the human resource
practices. By examining the major features of strategic human resource management., the paper
discusses why the issue of sustainability is required for the human resource practices for the
gaining of the required organisational goal. The research further moves on to outline the major
characteristics of the sustainable human resource management. The paper by acknowledging the
supremacy of the organisational outcomes over financial outcomes stresses on the fact that it is
sustainability, which will help an organisation in attaining a social outcome. The author is of the
view that for the successes of a company it is required to have an effective and mutual
understanding with its stakeholders. In the research, the author points out towards the fact that
the concept of sustainable HRM is however, not a new one. Though the nomenclature has
been done later, the core concept of maintaing the effective relationship with the stakeholders
and having an eye on the ethical and social approaches has been one of the major key
considering factor since long. In the concluding part the article focuses on the new ways of

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implementing the issue of sustainability in the context of business. The author stresses on the
fact that it is necessary to check on the fact that while implementing the hr practices, it
reconciles with the sustainability issues even if there are tensions in doing so. The article
further stresses the fact that the corporate social responsibilities are not restricted only within
the domain of the organisation itself. It needs to be operated in every aspects in order to
achieve sustainability.
Evaluation:
The article gives an in detail overview of the concept of sustainable human resource
management. The author has followed an explanatory methodology of viewing the existing
literature critically. In the beginning he started with introducing the concept of sustainability
and then went on to analyse the importance of sustainability in business. Further, the article
takes a detailing of the concepts of SHRM and how it differs from HRM. Finally he showed
the relation between the SHRM and the sustainability issue. According to the author, “it has
been argued that environmental and human/social outcomes are interrelated and
contribute to organisational sustainability.” He stressed much on the ethical attitude of
the organisations to have a prominent place in business.
Reflection:
The article according to me is helpful in the understanding of the co relation
between sustainability and the strategic human resource management. It is to be
understood that for the benefit of an organisation and to ensure a longer stay in the
competitive market, it is essential for a company to strategise their goals and

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performances in a manner that it upholds their thoughts and implications towards the
ethical issues and betterment for the community. Hence, the idea of sustainability is
crucial in the strategic human resource management.

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Reference List:
Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2000). Strategic human resource management: where have we come
from and where should we be going?. International journal of management reviews, 2(2),
183-203.
Burchell, B., Sehnbruch, K., Piasna, A., & Agloni, N. (2014). The quality of employment and
decent work: definitions, methodologies, and ongoing debates. Cambridge journal of
economics, 38(2), 459-477.
Kramar, R. (2014). Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human
resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 25(8), 1069-1089.