The theory and practice of people management: a critical review of the British experience

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on industrial relations in order to consider how the theory and practice of people management has changed in Britain during the last 35 years. It commences with a discussion of the theoretical unitarist/pluralist debate on the nature of organisations and considers the implications of each theory for how people should be managed. The paper then illustrates the nature of people management by examining the shortcomings of both labour economics and labour law perspectives on the employment relationship. Changes in the practice of people management after 1979 are examined by considering the statistics on trade union membership and the coverage of collective bargaining. This is followed by a discussion of the rise of Human Resource Management (HRM) and the extent to which it has been adopted, and whether the ‘financialisation’ of business has led to the marginalisation of people management. The paper concludes with a discussion of how people should be managed and the changes needed for its introduction.