A shift from practical reality into the realm of theoretical frameworks of HR discipline can help practitioners appreciate the demands made on the profession better.
In 1992, Mike Noon wrote an article titled “Human resource management: a map, model or theory?” from where the title of this article is borrowed. Fourteen years later, I believe that it is important to revisit the field of human resource management in the Indian context. There has been a felt need for some years now to understand human resource management in context. What this essentially means is that the internal and external context of the firm impacts the nature of human resource management in organizations. The internal contextual factors like technology, structure, size, strategy and organizational life cycle stage have been significant influencers of human resource management practices in organizations. The external factors such as the legal, political, social environment, labour market conditions, industry characteristics and the national cultures have significant impact on the manner in which human resource management policies are structured. Many organizations from emerging markets like India straddle with not just the challenges arising out of their internal and external contexts but also those created by the globalization challenges. It is against this backdrop that the challenges of human resource professionals need to be addressed.
