Until now, no book has documented well the contemporary nature of HRM in Central and Eastern Europe. Authored by leading names in the field, this long-awaited volume charts the landscape of HRM in this region.

Against the backdrop of ancient cultures, a communist legacy and eventual institutional atrophy, many of the societies of Central and Eastern Europe have pursued aggressive development trajectories since the early 1990s. This part of Europe is now characterized by a rising economic heterogeneity and a rapidly changing socio-cultural context, underscored by waves of restructuring, privatization, increasing foreign direct investment and an emerging individualism. While there has been a growing interest in the transition economies in the past number of years, the contemporary nature of human resource management in these societies is not well-documented. This long-awaited text seeks to chart the contemporary landscape of HRM in this region. In doing this, it describes key aspects of the transition process as experienced in each of the economies under consideration, as well as describing key legislative and labour market developments and reforms. Finally, it discusses key trends in HRM policy and practice.

The aim of this monograph is to provide a comprehensive overview on the International HRM in Central and Eastern Europe supported by qualitative research results. It is the first available publication on contemporary tendencies in IHRM in Central and Eastern Europe, published and based on the CRANET (the Cranfield Network on International HRM) cooperation. Therefore, there are contributions of experienced and relevant authors active in research and publishing in Central and Eastern Europe. This book consists of three sections. The first focuses on the major impact of internationalisation of HRM in Central and Eastern Europe, identifying impacts of foreign investments, explaining emerging HRM models in the international business environment, introducing evolution of international HRM, including relevant factors of labor market changes and cultural diversity influences. The second section introduces a reflection of business aspects and internationalization in partial HRM functions. The third section contains qualitative research results performed in international companies and delivers an empirical background in the form of case studies. This predetermines the monographs valuable material for researchers in the field of HRM-related disciplines, as well as for teachers and students of graduate programs in business, economics and management.

Provides an understanding of how HRM policies and practices differ across countries and how the development of management practice may be affected by different institutional and cultural contexts. Containing contributions from a range of well-respected HRM scholars across the world, this collection is based upon data from a unique research project.

Future growth in the countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) will increasingly depend on innovation. And innovation requires skills. This makes it important, as countries plan for recovery, to undertake reforms to reduce the skills shortages that the previous growth episode exposed. Education systems have a very important role to play in creating the right skills. But education systems in the region fall short of the demands of their economies in two major ways. The first is that despite high levels of enrollment they do not produce enough graduates with the right skills. Students graduate with diplomas, not with skills, because the quality of the education for many students is poor. In large part this is because education systems remain focused on providing an excellent education to a few at the expense of improving the quality of learning for the majority. Moreover, the systems are still making the transition from teaching the basics to inculcating higher order skills such as critical-thinking and problem solving. The second way in which education systems fall short is that outside of a few countries in the EU there are few opportunities for adults to retrain, or acquire new skills. This book argues that generating more of the right skills requires a fundamental change of approach in the education systems in the region so that they aim for, and deliver, higher quality education for the vast majority of students (“not just diplomas but skills”). To start with, education systems need to “turn the lights on” and take seriously the measurement of what students actually learn as opposed to measurement of the inputs into the education process on the implicit assumption that learning follows. Policy makers also need to move away from the focus on inputs and processes and increase the emphasis on incentives.

International Human Resource Management provides a concise overview of the rich HR landscape in Europe to help students develop cutting-edge people management approaches. The innovative, multi-disciplinary approach of the book provides a holistic picture of the key issues on the individual, organizational and societal levels. The book is divided into three parts: Part I explores the institutional and economic contexts that organizations face in different European countries. This section goes beyond exploring issues of diversity to include a discussion of the impact of the recent financial crisis. Part II concentrates on the key challenges and trends facing HR, including an aging population, migration, and sustainability, and analyzes the unique and inventive ways these are addressed in different countries across Europe. Part III focuses on the fundamental HR areas – recruitment and selection, performance management and rewards, employment relations, global careers, and so forth – and the ways in which these policies and practices are shaped by the European Union. With broader coverage, the latest thinking in the field, and cutting-edge cases, examples and insights, this book will prove a highly valuable resource for students, researchers and practitioners working in human resource management, and international business.

In recent years scholars and practitioners have increasingly recognized that human resource management (HRM) has paid insufficient attention to the impact of context. While research has been devoted to examining the impact of national context on HRM systems, this literature has been largely separate from that focused on other levels of context affecting organizational choices in HRM strategies, such as the impact of the organizational environment, industry sector, occupation or workforce characteristics. In addition, research has tended to consider elements of context in isolation rather than considering its impact at different levels. The goal of The Oxford Handbook of Contextual Approaches to Human Resource Management is to provide a more holistic approach to developing a contextual understanding of HRM. This Handbook offers a comprehensive understanding of the influence of contextual characteristics on the design and implementation of HRM systems. Rather than focusing on a single level or approach to examining context, the Handbook provides both conceptual and empirical analyses of different elements of context using a range of different lenses and measures. In order to explore the influence of contextual factors at multiple levels, the volume assembles a range of detailed accounts of how context affects the design, implementation and impact of HRM activities.