HRM in Development: Lessons and Frontiers
| Author | Evan M. Berman |
| Date | 01 May 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1706 |
| Published date | 01 May 2015 |
HRM IN DEVELOPMENT: LESSONS AND FRONTIERS
EVAN M. BERMAN*
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
SUMMARY
This article discusses contributions of human resources management (HRM) to strengthening state institutions in development
settings. It also identifies leading practices and frontiers in HRM practice and research. “Technical”HRM expertise in develop-
ment exists in matching organizational performance with staffing, advancing decentralization, international project manage-
ment, and training, and research also shows extensive concerns with patronage and anti-corruption. Frontiers are discussed in
connection with strategic HRM, notably improved leadership development/talent management, workforce engagement in
developing settings, re-thinking/professionalization of appointee–executive relations, comprehensive HRM strategies, and
increased leadership for HRM itself. Although development studies often raise HRM implications, relatively few focus on
HRM in development in a comprehensive fashion. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
key words—human resources management; frontiers; assessment; development
INTRODUCTION
Human resources management (HRM) is critical to strengthening state institutions and performance by attracting
and retaining well-qualified and talented people to work on key issues and ensuring that leaders’efforts contribute
to organizational and worker performance (UN, 2005; Rauch and Evans, 2000). Developing countries face many,
oft-discussed challenges of poverty, environmental degradation, security, regulation, corruption, and racial and eth-
nic integration, and all of these require civil servants and leaders who are capable and well motivated to make prog-
ress. They also require effective, ‘rightsized’organizations that use appropriate technology and work processes.
Examples of HRM supporting progress towards development goals include selecting capable public leaders,
linking managerial performance to results, strengthening anti-corruption regimes, increasing employee engage-
ment, providing personnel exchanges with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that build capacity, integrating
former militants into public service, and more (Bardill, 2000; Tessema and Soeters, 2006; World Bank, 1997).
This article focuses on HRM and addresses the following questions. What is the impact of the development con-
text on the purpose and content of HRM? What are some distinctive areas of “technical”expertise of HRM in de-
velopment? What are the contributions of HRM addressing patronage? What is the use of strategic HRM (SHRM)
in development contexts, focusing on leadership and performance? Examples are drawn from very-low-income to
middle-income countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and, where illustrative, formerly develo-
ping countries (e.g., Singapore and South Korea). Development studies often raise HRM implications, but few
focus on HRM in development in a comprehensive fashion. The sections of this article address the preceding ques-
tions in order in ways that have relevance for academics and practitioners alike.
The centrality of HRM to development has surely varied over time. HRM was once core to development efforts
in the 1950s and 1960s, building up agency capacity in newly formed nations through training, selection, and orga-
nizational design of public agencies. However, disillusionment with bloated bureaucracies, rent seeking , and failure
to ensure economic “takeoff”in the 1970s caused increased focus on market forces since the 1980s as a main driver
*Correspondence to: E. Berman, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
E-mail: evan.berman@vuw.ac.nz
public administration and development
Public Admin. Dev. 35, 113–127 (2015)
Published online in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pad.1706
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
To continue reading
Request your trial