A Framework for Human Resource Management provides students and practicing managers with a brief and a lucid review of essential HR management concepts and techniques in a highly readable and understandable form. As expected, it has been used successfully in several situations: in modularized undergraduate and graduate courses that necessarily blend several topics (such as management and HR, or HR and OB); in college courses (such as those offered in quarters or shortened semesters) in which the professor wants a relatively brief treatment of HR; in more specialized HR courses such as "HR in high-technology companies"; and by practicing managers who want to update their HR skills with a brief and intensive review of the subject. The book's basic mission is to provide readers with a concise review of HR's core concepts and techniques, supported, for those who want it, by a complete multimedia and Internet-based learning package. Because all managers have personnel-related responsibilities, this book is aimed at all students of management, not just those who will someday be human resource managers.
The chapter titles are unchanged from the successful previous edition, but a number of other changes have been made. The research and topics throughout all chapters have, of course, been updated to reflect the latest findings and thinking in the HR field, and, in addition, a number of topics have been expanded in response to reviewer suggestions. Expanded coverage includes employment at will and dot-com company pay, for instance. Additional examples (including more small-business and global examples) have been added throughout the text. Because of the rapid deployment ofcomputerized techniques and information technology in HR, many more examples of HR technology, and Web-based HR are integrated throughout all chapters. Modern managers are constantly coping with an implementing change, and so the general topic of change and, specifically, examples of how HR management concepts and techniques can be useful in managing change have also been expanded.
I am, as usual, indebted to a great many people for their assistance and support in creating this book. At Prentice Hall, Natalie E. Anderson, editor-in-chief, first proposed this book to me, and was helpful in developing its basic content and theme. Melissa Steffens, managing editor, was very helpful in working with me as the writing progressed, and Shannon Moore, marketing manager, enthusiastically supported the project, provided important input from potential adopters, and gave me much-needed input and support. It is safe to say that I would not have even considered writing this book without the ongoing support and advice that I have always received from the professionals in Prentice Hall's sales representative organization. I appreciate my wife, Claudia, tolerating the many evening and weekend hours that I had to spend writing this book, and last, but by no means least, I appreciate the support and lessons learned from my son, Derek.
