The Managing Human Capital

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

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Individual research concerned with the international students approach to the contextual issues of Human Resource Management.

MODULE TITLE: Managing Human Capital

JACKSON ANNOR

STUDENTS NUMBER: B0379SBSB0812

Word Count Excluding Bibliography and Footnotes:3381

Lecturers: David Hall and Rajendra Kumar

London School of Commerce

Table of Contents

1.Executive Summary ……………………................................3

2.Business Description…………………………………………4

3.Business Opportunities ………………………………………6

4.Marketing Strategy…………………………………………...8

5.Business Operations ………………………………………...10

6.Technology………………………………………………….11

7. Finances ……………………………………………………12

8. References…………………………………………………….

9 .Appendices……………………………………………………

1. Abstract

2. Introduction

The objective of this research is to produce a discussion paper which will form the basis of advice to be given to the Human Resources Director of XYZ Corporation (a failing multinational manufacturer) who is trying to penetrate the Ghanaian market. The advice concerns the why and how XYZ is to restructure its Human Resource Department (HRD) in a developing country like Ghana. Presently this is not only necessary but also of immense strategic importance. In so doing, a number of the prevalent Human Resource Management (HRM) perspectives and models are looked at and deliberated upon in the light of the work of Audrey Collins and other researchers to see how they can they can be applied in the management of people in international context. This is necessary for Multinational National Corporations’ (MNC) like XYZ operating an emerging economy such as Ghana. Ghana is used because of its dynamism at present seen as one of the few economies who are emerging on the third world.

I will show that the arena Human Resources Management (HRM) is cluttered with quite a number of theories of which include the configurational, contingency, the universal theories. In Collins’ view this is because our view of HRM is coloured by several factors. It is these theories and perspective or differing and divergent views or ways of seeing HRM and how its impact the organization and management that this discussion paper explores.

In so doing I will first define what HRM is and proceed to show that what constitutes HRM is not easy to grasp and for that matter its very nature is quite protean constantly changing: hence the evolution or change of name first from Personnel Management first to Human Resource Management (HRM) and now Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM) (Mullins 2005). This gradual change has been well documented. Reviewing Collins’ work I will proceed to show that the change in HRM still continues and this changing nature has given birth to so many contesting voices and debates. In the light of Collins’ work and other researchers including Debrah(2001), the sources of the contesting voices about how people are to be managed and its relevance to the international manager will be examined. Despite the numerous literature about the concept of Human Resource Management (HRM) and how it affects the organization, most of the literature is centred on HRM as taught and practiced in the western world particularly the United States (US) and United Kingdom(UK) as opposed to Asia and much less of Africa. This is because not much has been written on the practice of HRM in the developing world. As result how the issues and theories explored can be utilized in a MNC operating in a developing country like Ghana is explored. This is will be done by examining the work of Debrah (2001). Debrah’s work gives a broad perspective of key HRM duties such as recruitment, training of staff and how performance appraisal and reward and how they are carried out in Ghana and a number of developing countries.

As Collins’ tapestry suggests, the picture of HRM is a bit marred resulting in a lot of debates diverse views and perspectives. However, recently the debate is centred on the best practice and best fit model. I will show that this debate is unhelpful and constitutes a misunderstanding. In accordance with that, the next part of the essay will focus on the Best Practice model of SHRM, which is essentially the concept that there is a single best way of organizing and treating people. I will then proceed to discuss the Best Fit model of SHRM which on the other hand suggest that Management have the right to manage suggests that ‘if it is successful then follow them’. The two models will be compared and contrasted and after having delineated their merits and demerits, suggestions as to how an MNC such as XYZ who is struggling in a developing country like Ghana should design its HRD will be offered. I will then summarize the work and relate my conclusion to my initial objectives and make the relevant recommendations.

3.1 The review of Collins and its relevance to the international manager

According to Collins, ‘The tapestry of which HRM forms a part is continually being woven, but we can now become aware of the sources of their differing approaches to the organization and management and the contesting voices about the management of people’ ( Beardwell 2007)

Collins’ quote above, cited by Beardwell (2007) in their book ‘Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach’ could not be more descriptive of the nature of Human Resources Management (HRM). From my perspective, the statement encapsulates the essence or true nature of Human Resources Management (HRM). The statement suggests that HRM has not always been what it is today. In Collins’ view the discipline of HRM has evolved and continues to do so or metamorphose. He captures the evolving nature of HRM by likening it to a tapestry whose development is still in progress. More so employing the tapestry metaphor the authors posits that our view of HRM is coloured by the warps of ideologies, assumptions, and the wefts of events, people, and ephemeral issues.

Again the authors show that HRM is not only interwoven and interrelated but it is also multilayered. They do so by demonstrating that HRM is akin to a multilayered onion. Collins employs this elaborate metaphor to demonstrate to HR practitioners and academics how interwoven and inter-related the seemingly disparate elements of HRM fit together when put in context. For Collins how to manage people is a function of context.

Collins work is very timely for the international Human Resource Management practitioner, in that if he or she fails to appreciate what Collins broadly calls ‘the immediate and wider issues’ which affects the organisation then, his work will be very frustrating. This is because it is in the understanding and appreciation of those issues that he will know or can make meaning of how to develop and make the best use of his or her organisation’s Human Capital and thus function well as international HRM manager.

Like Beardwell, Debrah (2001) sees the effect of national traditions and culture as colouring the practice of HRM in Ghana and most developing countries. For him, in the organisational context of most emerging countries, there is an entrenched conception that senior mangers knows everything or have all answers pertaining to management issues. Therefore there is a lot of looking up to, which may be traced back to the culture of autocratic leadership which most of the nationals had known until recently. Again in his view, recruitment and promotion tends to be more nepotistic or devolves to people with social capital. Therefore the international manger working in a developing country like Ghana must be aware of such issues and not be oblivious to them because it will invariably affect his work and performance. To depart from these nepotistic tendencies he or she will have design a system which brings in diversity of personnel regardless of ethnicity, race, religion and gender. He describes this unfolding picture of HRM by employing the tapestry metaphor. From his perspective, metaphorically speaking the warps and wefts of the HRM tapestry are diverse and has affected the different stages through which the discipline has been and how it is has been seen.

3.1.a What is HRM?

Human Resource management has been defined in several way by different authors, for instance Armstrong (1999:4) defines it

"as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization most valued assets which is its people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its goals".

In the view of Storey (1995:5 cited in Beardwell 2007) it is a unique perspective of ‘employment management which seeks to obtain competitive advantage through the strategic development of a highly committed and skilled work force, using on array of culture, structure and personnel technique.’

On the other hand the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development which is professional body who deals with the management and development of people defines Human Resources Management as

‘the design, implementation and maintenance of strategies to manage people for optimum business performance including the development of policies and processes to support these strategies.’ (Mullins 2005).

All the definitions above differ markedly; in Collins view these definitions exist because the authors are looking at the discipline from different perspectives and in different epochs. Some of them attempt to find a distinction between Personnel management and Human resources management. In the view of Beardwell the discipline is simply the management of the employer employee relationship. (Julie Beardwell 2007)

The development of human from Personnel Management to HRM

Collins’ in Beardwell (2007) shows that Human resource management has been called a dozen of names in the course of its development due to changes in social, economic and political order of the day. In 17th century for instance it was called industrial welfare inspired mainly by act of parliament. When the 1st world war broke, it took on the form of was more of personnel development driven largely by government initiatives aimed at maximizing its war efforts through best use of its people. This continued through to the Second World War but this time it was expanded to include other personnel activities which focused more on recruitment, training, discipline, motivation, remuneration, health and safety.

In the view of Beardwell, Frederick Taylor’s work was central to birth of human resources management in the early part of the twentieth century. This is because of his work which advocated the use of the scientific method in the recruitment of employees as well as incentivizing them when they meet deadlines or exceed performance targets. For the authors, Taylor's work served as the launch pad for future HRM development. Around the same time others researchers developed industrial psychology and it was employed in recruitment related testing for the army. This was done by the use of psychometric tests to match soldiers to specific tasks. The Hawthorne studies coupled with increase in collective bargaining compelled the personnel function of organizations to adopt the labour and human relations philosophy.

Besides the aforementioned, torrents of legislation has revolutionized the discipline by bringing changes in the demographics of the labour force. Moreover, Technological change coupled with globalization has since the nineteen-eighties changed the practice of HRM. Thus the present conception of HRM is a product whose development dates back to times immemorial and at present takes in to account inter alia globalization, technological advancement, the business or organization itself as well as the socio-economic and political order of the present day. Thus one will expect these changes to be reflected in the in the definition of the discipline and its resultant change of name from Personnel Management to Human Resources Management, but as Mullins (2005) and Beardwell (2007) points out Despite the acceptance of the term, some has derided the change in name as merely cosmetic: nothing more than ‘an old wine in a new bottle,’. For instance (Mullins 2005) draws the reader’s attention to the fact that besides the change of in title Torrington et al still stand by the extensive definition of hrm they gave in 1995. At that time they defined HRM as being synonomymous to Personnel Management.In 2002, wrote ‘with the exception of a shift in the title Personnel Management to Human Resources Management’ their 1995 definition which makes two things one and the same remains their philosophy. (Mullins 2005) For Collins, whichever way it is looked at the discipline has evolved to become what it is today. This implies that the acceptance of the use of the term Human Resources Management to describe the field is a very recent development which only gained currency within the last two decades.

More importantly, the distinction is irrelevant. However for him, all the diverse ways of seeing HRM is coloured by the context. They dwell more on context and how it affects what several ways of seeing HRM. Today the notion that HRM is of strategic importance in achieving the organisations objectives have taken hold and has given birth to a relatively new field called strategic human resources. This offspring of HRM is essentially an amalgam of strategy and human resource management. Consequently, the strategic management concept of ‘fit’ has become central to the way academics think about the practice of strategic HRM. Thus concerning the nature or what constitutes HRM the debate has moved on. The term HRM and SHRM are now more or less used interchangeably. In fact, Beardwell(2007) indicates that academics do not bother to distinguish them anymore. That attests to the evolving nature of the discipline.

The nature of the debate now does not concern the distinction between HRM and personnel management but on its value and strategic role in the organisation and more importantly the quest for the best model or if you like the preeminent model of HRM or the one best way of managing people.

Models of Strategic HRM

With regards to the concept of fit they fall broadly into ‘Internal and external fits’. the former is enjoins the organisation in question is develop a HRM policies and practices which are interconnected and mutually reinforcing in order to achieve improvement in its performance. The assumption underlying the theory is that there are a set of best human resources practices (hence the name best practice) that can be put together so that one practice complements the other perfectly and the set working together synergistically. Thus the claim is that this synergy could be effected if the total output of a set of human resources practices and policies out perform their individual output. The external fit, on the contrary requires the organisation to develop a range of HRM policies and practices which match business’s strategies to the outside the area of HRM. Unlike the internal fit, the assumption here is that performance will improve if the business strategy matches the HRM policies and practices. Here, detailed practices and policies need to be developed to buttress the broad organisational strategy such as innovation, or Porter’s cost leadership, (Fombrum et al., 1984).

As intimated earlier, since the advent of Strategic HRM, a number of competing models have emerged. All these models of which include, the configurational, the resource-based view and the best-practice, the best-fit approaches to SHRM attempts to capture the ways in which organisations can align HRM functions with their business strategy.(Loosemore 2003) (Armstrong 2002, p. 66). It is these models of SHRM that will be discussed next focusing more on the best practice and the best fit approaches.

Best Practice Model SHRM

The best practice model is also called high-commitment. It has its origin in the United States schools conception of HRM. This school of thought advocates the view that following or adopting some established human resource practices will help the organisation to improve its performance which will reflect in among other things

‘improved employee attitudes and behaviours, lower levels of absenteeism and turnover, higher levels of skills and therefore higher productivity, enhanced quality and efficiency’ (Beardwell, 2007).

As a result of this proposition it has been dubbed universalistic. The key theme in here is universalism. Thus any organisation irrespective of the business they are in can improve their organisational performance provided they are able to identify, and persuade management to adopt and implement a set of best human resources management practices. A lot of work has been done in this area in an attempt to identify or define the sets of HR practices that achieve this objective, since it was pioneered by Guest (1987) and Beer et al. (1984). It has been found is that the models of best practice vary: for instance, some focuses on high-commitment and others on high-involvement practices. Formulating a conclusive decision about it remains difficult, despite the availability of a large amount of studies supporting the best practice approach. This stems from conflicting views on what the ideal set of Human Resources best practices are and whether they should be horizontally integrated into ‘bundles’ or not.

The seven practices for ‘building profits by putting people first’ (Pfeffer’,1994) throws more light on how the changes in the outside business environment have rendered the conventional means of achieving competitive advantage ineffective, and heightened the necessity of identifying alternative means of staying ahead of the competition. In his view, the new way is a human resources management approach which makes it possible for an organisation to adapt and innovate. The relevance or the applicability of this is key to success in the global economy. With regards to Guest’s (1997) universal approach, it is thought that the closer the business entity matches the ideal set of best human resources practices, the better its service, productivity and eventually profitability will be. Thus according to this model it is the Human Resources Manager’s responsibility to come up with strategies and persuade top management or the board to commit to those set of established best practices, and ensure its proper implementation.

This approach has its own demerits. To start with determining what constitutes a best-practice is not clear. Several lists of best practices, with a lot of variation in their composition as well as how they affect organisational performance abound.

Advocates of the best practice model including maintains that the alignment of human resources practices’ helps boost an organisation’s performance. At present most Human Resource practices that were thought to be distinct have now being bundled into this model (Higgs et al. 2000; Huselid 1995; Pfeffer 1998 ;)

Giving that the internal fit concept is pertinent to the understanding of the universal/ best practice model, the key question to ask is how to create a coherent human resource system, that produces better organisational performance. The way to do this is by the ‘additive relationship’ and ‘interactive relationship’ (see Delery, 1998). More importantly, it is worthy of note that several combinations of practices could produce the similar outcomes. That is also referred to as ‘equifinality’, which refers to achievement of identical outcomes can via different systems of Human Resources practices.

There is a mixed support for the best practice model. This stems from the ostensible differences pertaining to how to identify a best human resource practice. From the work of Boxall and Purcell (2003) and others three means by which the best practice approach can impact organisational performance have emerged. The first is the ‘human capital base’ which draws on skills, knowledge, and potential of the organisations personnel. Here the way organisation select or recruit and train, it people directly impact the organisations performance. The second hinges on ‘motivation’. Here, how the organisation recognises and reward its personnel is key to its success. The third means is by giving employees the ‘opportunity to contribute’, by encouraging involvement and empowering them through job design. Thus thet universal model or best practice if implemented properly can achieve competitive advantage through the building of a valuable and unique pool of personnel.

3.3 Best Fit Approach

According to (Armstrong 2006), the best fit approach which is also called the contingency approach states that human resources strategies should be contingent on the context, and circumstances of the organisation and its type.’ This model essentially challenges best-practice view and its assumptions. Instead it advocates a fit between the organizations stage of development and its human resources practices. Thus according to this model, an organisation which is operating a cost-leadership strategy should create narrow jobs and give little job security. In the same vein an organisation or business who is trying to develop a differentiation strategy must focus on the training and development of its employees. This approach is a counterpart to the "one strategy fits all" seen in Pfeffer's seven best practices. The 'best-fit' school, therefore, argues that all SHRM activities must be consistent with each other (i.e. horizontal fit) and linked to the organisations strategy (vertical fit). However, the ‘best-fit' approach has been criticised for the lack of alignment with employee interests, compliance with prevailing social norms and legal requirements. It is said to be too simplistic about business strategy (since the reality of business strategy is more complex goes beyond reducing cost, innovation and quality enhancement strategy as in the Schuler and Jackson model. It has also being criticised for being reactive by focusing too much on existing competitive strategy as opposed to being proactive by focusing on the changes occurring in the external environment.

The ‘contingency’ or best fit model which advocates strategic integration of HRM avers that a company’s set of human resources policies and practices will produce results if it is in line with other organisational strategies. Here the emphasis is on ‘external fit’ (Fombrum et al., 1984; see also Guest, 1997).This means that the adoption of best practice strategy is then associated with optimised organisational performance, where the how effective the individual human resources practices is dependent on the firm’s strategy. That is organisations which adopts human resources practices the fit or suit their stategy will see better performance (Katou and Budhwar, 2007).

The ‘configurational’ or ‘HRM as bundles’ model on the other hand advocates the combination of both ‘internal and external fits’. This follows ‘bundles’ of Human Resource practices, which suggest that there exist a specific combinations or configurations of Human Resource practices depending on corresponding organisational contexts, where the key is to find out which will be the most effective in terms of achieving greater organisational performance ( Huselid and Becker, 1996; Katou and Budhwar, 2006).

As indicated above, there are a number of strategies an organisation may choose to follow, such as Miles and Snow’s (1984) strategic typology that identifies the four ideal strategic types of prospector, analyser, defender and reactor.

Regarding the configurations of Human Resources practices, several theory driven ‘employment systems’ have been developed. One of such is , Delery and Doty’s (1996) ‘ideal type’ employment systems and the ‘market type system’which is characterised by hiring from outside an organisation, and the ‘internal system’, which is characterised by the existence of an internal market. Since an organisations adopting a defending strategy concentrate on efficiency in current products and markets, the internal system is more appropriate for this type of strategy. On the other hand, organisations pursuing a prospector’s strategy are constantly changing, and the market system is more appropriate for this type of strategy. A possible third type of configurational strategy can be the analyser, at the midpoint between the prospector and the defender.

3.4 Discussion.

We have seen that SHRM is broadly used to describe the strategic linking of people with the business or organisation. Which is essentially the integration of HRM fucntions into corporate strategies. These HRM strategies refers to plans and programmes designed to deal strategically with the personnel aspect of the organistaion. The primary aim here is to syncronize the organisation’s corporate strategy with its human resources policies, programmes and practices. If this linkage between business strategy and HRM is done correctly it will result in the development of a peculiar human resource system difficult of imitate by competitors which will give the organisation a competitive advantage. To achieve this objective this school of thought suggests that, HR manager should design strategies that is not only congruent but a part of the business plan. This makes SHRM proactive as opposed to being responsive.

At the heart of the SHRM concept is the centrality of thoughtful integration of human resources planning into the business strategy or plan and the devolvement of human resources management to line managers as opposed personnel specialists. Integration here refers to the degree to which the human resources policies are thought out and formulated as part of the business plan and not as an after-thought or an appendage’. Such plan should devolve or acquire specialist line managers and charge them with them overseeing the HRM functions. Advantages of devolving HRM duties to line mangers have been detailed in the work of Sisson and Storey, (2000) In their view, it will help bring to the fore problems requiring specialist attention which senior management may need help with. These may embrace how to control motivate employees. It will also enable local managers to respond much quicker to problems within their area of responsibilities. By doing so, most recurrent problems will not only be dealt with quickly but effectively by the local personnel. Devolvement of HRM to line mangers will free up HRM personnel specialists to handle issues of strategic importance. Again devolving HRM function in the view of Storey, will help personnel specialist to monitor the management styles of line managers and help in training future managers as they are allowed take decision. Overall this will have the effect of bringing down operational cost.

Here it is important for international managers, to determine the extent to which integration and devolvement are carried out. This can be achieved by among other things putting an HRM specialist on the board. As Stephen Covey suggests, personnel can be made to read the organisation mission statement from that write their own personal mission statement which guide their actions. He believes that is a sure way of getting employees to feel as part of the business. Guidelines emphasising the importance and priorities of human resources in all parts of the business should be issued as when necessary and also by the use of participative management processes and committee meetings and Human Resources audits.

When certain element of HRM are devolved to line managers they can be evaluated on the basis of their responsibility for making low key decisions regarding pay, recruitment. training and development, industrial relations, health and safety, and workforce expansion and reduction.

Presently HRM is central to the sweeping expansion of businesses internationally. Technological innovations and fierce competition is fast shaping the environment in which cooperation and organisations operate today and the Ghanaian business environment is no exception to this international development. Ghana, a country which was in the past troubled by political and economic instability has recently emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in Sub Sahara Africa. It was therefore a step in the in right direction for an organisation such as XYZ to move into Ghana to establish its presence. However, since Ghana is still developing there are a number of factor which the organization have to bear in mind in its recruitment process and the management of people in Ghana. As we have seen all theories have their merits and demerits. So the issue is not whether one is better than the other but when and under what circumstances should a certain model be adopted. That is why in my perspective the best practice versus best fit debate is null and void. It is an unhelpful debate which demonstrates the misunderstanding of human resources. The to adopt the best practice in the early stages of life in Ghana. This is because the context is key and explains the need to change and adopt new HRM practices. This is because as Audrey Collins tells us HRM practices are not only rooted in the history of organization but also is affected by its environment. Again, moving away from the norm and pursuing the best fit model will do away with the tendency to fall a victim of "institutional isomorphism" which refers to a: "a constraining process that forces one unit in a population ( or organizational field) to resemble other units that are exposed to the same set of environmental conditions". (Boxall et al. 2007: 174)

The suggest that there tend to be increasing similarities in managerial and organisational practices worldwide, which is premised on the argument that the common requirements of management and industries surpass the importance of cultural differences should not distort the picture. Despite Collins work proponents of the convergence theory claim that contextual issues usch as culture are now irrelevant due to the growth in worldwide communications and travel, adoption of capitalism and greater interdependence resulting from globalization. For them those factors are eroding differences between organisations and management practices. Accordingly the they maintain that HRM practices irrespective of culture will over time tend towards standardization and universal management practices, (Ralston et al. 1993; 1995). This view can be criticised for not only being too optimistic but also very simplistic (Leung et al. 2005). In agreement with Collins who aver that context is important I will suggest that in Ghana and most developing countries and cultural differences shape HRM. I therefore suggest that the XYZ HRM managers need to be act differently in different nations and cultures because the local culture and institutional factors country in which they work does matter. Following the divergence perspective which is akin to the cross cultural or best fit view., I aver that to a large extent for now their managerial practices should be culturally determined (Hofstede,1980 ;Adler,1997).

Thus the context in which HRM operates of uttermost importance as it doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Since HRM does not operates in a vacuum, strategies and policies must reflect the organizational circumstances and should acknowledge the impact of technology, competitive pressures, goals, culture, company size and strategy employed in creating a distinctive management practice suitable for the organization and also serves as a source on distinction from others. The need to create a fit between HRM and organizational specifics is the focus of this theory, (Armstrong 2001).

Collins work calls for the awareness of context and how they shape theories as well as practice. When this is applied to the Ghanaian contest, as an international manger operating in Ghana, the institutional and convergence theory suggest that national and institutional effects will lead to common HRM practices in Ghana whereas the Contingency theory or best practice will create diverse HRM practices in the country. For instance, the Ghanaian constitution impacts HRM practices and policies of all businesses operating in the country. This creates the situation of organisational interest against binding institutions in shaping HRM which is the focus of this woek. In analyzing the various HRM practices in Ghana,. This coupled with the rapid economic growth the country is caught between shedding deepening old economic practices and embracing modern practices, Debrah (2001) points out that Ghana is at a critical stage in its attempts to modernisation and so are other developing countries Consequently socio economic conditions seriously impacts the employer- employee relationship and human resource management in the country.

One thing worthy of note is that Ghana and ther stable third world countries are quickly attracting MNCs therefore the competition is becoming more keen therefore it is essential that xyz creates a competitive advantage by choosing a unique model which will set him apart. And this will mean developing its own best practice model however it will have to start with the best fit or contingency approach and as the organisation becomes more established it can move to the best practice.

5. Conclusion

In summary, according to this approach, if consistency within the configuration of HR practices and between the HR practices and strategy is achieved, then the organisation will achieve better performance.

With respect to these three models, there is no clear picture of which of these three key broad areas is the predominant one. It is worth repeating the words of Wood (1999: 409):

If one’s arm were twisted to make an ‘overall’ conclusion on the balance of the evidence so far, one in favour of contingency hypothesis would be just as justified as the universal hypothesis. This is because any such conclusion would be premature because of conflicting research results but, more importantly, because the debate is still in its infancy (also see Katou and Budhwar, 2006; 2007).

4.1 Summary and Conclusions. Relate this to your opening statements and offer relevant conclusions (15%) (900 words)

References

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Kleiman, Lawrence S. Human Resource Management: A Managerial Tool for Competitive Advantage. Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing, 2000.

Lado, A.A., and M.C. Wilson. "Human Resource Systems and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Competency-Based Perspective." Academy of Management Review 19, no. 4 (1994): 699–727.

Noe, Raymond A., et al. Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006.

S HRM Online. Society for Human Resource Management. Available from http://www.s HRM.org.

Simon, H.A., The New Science of Management Decision, New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1960.

Swanson, E. B. and M. J. Culnan, "Document-Based Systems for Management Planning and Control: A Classification, Survey, and Assessment", MIS Quarterly, 2, 4, Dec. 1978, 31-46.

Urban, G.L., "SPRINTER: A Tool for New Products Decision Makers," Industrial Management Review, 8, 2, Spring 1967, 43-54.

The recent Libyan intervention, which has brought this issue to the forefront of international law discourse, touches on all the aforementioned principles.