International comparisons of human resource management

C. Brewster and S. Tyson (eds) (1991) International Comparisons in Human Resource Management. London: Pitman. P. J. Dowling and R. S. Schuler (1990) International Dimensions of Human Resource Management. Boston, MA: PWS-Kent. R Pieper (ed.) (1990) Human Resource Management: An International Comparison. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. This review article assesses three major recent works in international human resource management. The author argues that the international character of human resource management can be said to rest on three things: (1) the increasing internationalization of business, which brings organizations into contact with different national cultures and promotes the spread of management practices across national boundaries, (2) underlying economic and technological trends, arising in part from the activity of multinational firms but mediated also by international institutions, which may produce similar patterns of adjustment in the organization and management of employment at the national, sectoral and firm level, and (3) the processes whereby businesses become progressively international. After critically reviewing the books listed above the author argues that the validation of an international model(s) would benefit from cross-national comparisons of a number of features identified in the internationalization process.