Trends in Australian human resource management: what next?

Abstract

This article examines the trends in Australian human resource management (HRM) policies in the last fifty years. It briefly reports on the practices used in the period from the 1960s to the early 1990s and provides a brief description of the characteristics of the concept of strategic human resource management (SHRM). The article then examines the results of four surveys co‐ordinated by the Cranet Network and conducted in Australia between 1996 and 2008–09. These surveys show there have been strong trends of HRM policies becoming more calculative and individual, a reduction in the role of collective organisations, the adoption of some HRM policies regarded as more effective than others and the development of the roles of HRM managers and HRM departments. There was increasing use of flexible working practices, greater use of performance appraisals, the development of policies such as career planning methods, career break schemes and targeting older workers and women. The representation of human resource managers on boards increased between 1996 and 2008–09.