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Firing Blanks? An Analysis of Discursive Struggle in HRM

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  • Bill Harley
  • Cynthia Hardy

Abstract

ABSTRACT We revisit Karen Legge's (2001) critique of HRM in which she argues that the attempt of modernist/positivist HRM research to show that HRM improves organizational performance is a ‘spent round’. We note that despite spirited challenges by Legge and others, the discourse of HRM is becoming increasingly dominant. Accordingly, we use discourse analysis to examine why this might be the case. Specifically, we analyse the texts produced in the engagement between Karen Legge and David Guest to show how modernist/positivist texts like those of Guest have been successful in constructing an identity for HRM and embedding it in the broader academic discourse concerning the employment relationship, while critical researchers like Legge face a number of difficulties in producing ‘counter‐texts’.

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  • Bill Harley & Cynthia Hardy, 2004. "Firing Blanks? An Analysis of Discursive Struggle in HRM," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 377-400, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:41:y:2004:i:3:p:377-400
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2004.00437.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David E. Guest, 1990. "Human Resource Management And The American Dream," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 377-397, July.
    2. Hugh Willmott, 1993. "Strength Is Ignorance; Slavery Is Freedom: Managing Culture In Modern Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 515-552, July.
    3. Tom Keenoy, 1999. "HRM as Hologram: A Polemic," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 1-23, January.
    4. John T. Addison & Clive R. Belfield, 2001. "Updating the Determinants of Firm Performance: Estimation using the 1998 UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 39(3), pages 341-366, September.
    5. William K. Roche, 2001. "The Individualization of Irish Industrial Relations?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 39(2), pages 183-206, June.
    6. Cynthia Hardy & Nelson Phillips, 1998. "Strategies of Engagement: Lessons from the Critical Examination of Collaboration and Conflict in an Interorganizational Domain," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 217-230, April.
    7. Harvie Ramsay & Dora Scholarios & Bill Harley, 2000. "Employees and High‐Performance Work Systems: Testing inside the Black Box," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 501-531, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Corbett & Joep Cornelissen & Andrew Delios & Bill Harley, 2014. "Variety, Novelty, and Perceptions of Scholarship in Research on Management and Organizations: An Appeal for Ambidextrous Scholarship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 3-18, January.
    2. Miguel Alzola, 2018. "Decent Work: The Moral Status of Labor in Human Resource Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(4), pages 835-853, February.
    3. Gilles Arnaud & Bénédicte Vidaillet, 2018. "Clinical and critical: The Lacanian contribution to management and organization studies," Post-Print hal-01591534, HAL.
    4. A. Venkataraman, 2015. "Evaluating Change Management in an Indian Commercial Vehicle Manufacturing Firm," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 40(1-2), pages 109-144, February.
    5. Muhamamd Zia-ur Rehman & Riasat Ali Khan & Noor Hassan, 2016. "Investigating the Role of Beliefs and Professional Values in HR Management," Global Regional Review, Humanity Only, vol. 1(1), pages 150-166, June.
    6. Maddy Janssens & Chris Steyaert, 2009. "HRM and Performance: A Plea for Reflexivity in HRM Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 143-155, January.
    7. Barbara Townley, 2004. "Managerial Technologies, Ethics and Managing," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 425-445, May.
    8. Eero Vaara & Janne Tienari & Rebecca Piekkari & Risto Säntti, 2005. "Language and the Circuits of Power in a Merging Multinational Corporation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 595-623, May.
    9. Lehtinen, Esa & Pälli, Pekka, 2011. "Conversational use of genres in managerial meetings," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 287-296, September.
    10. Lilie Chouliaraki & Norman Fairclough, 2010. "Critical Discourse Analysis in Organizational Studies: Towards an Integrationist Methodology," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(6), pages 1213-1218, September.

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