Human Resource Management

by Leon C. Megginson

The purpose of this text is to show that events of the past few decades have revolutionized human resource management. In essence, a "people revolution" is under way, and it is changing the very nature of organizational life and human resource management. The approach used in the text is to integrate the concepts of teachers and researchers with the existing pragmatic and practical experience of human resource practitioners. That approach emphasizes (1) human resource management is now a dynamic, high-level, forceful, and integral part of management; (2) there is a well defined body of generally useful knowledge that future managers should know in order to perform human resource management most successfully; and (3) there is a promising future for capable people interested in entering the field. The authors examine in-depth subjects, such as the important role of human resource management, the effects of the environment on organizations and their employees, how the legal environment affects the performance of human resource management, maintaining health and safety, improving the quality of work life, assistance with career management, and the effect of unions on personnel. Other subjects covered include computerized personnel information systems, employment-at-will, the growing role of women and minorities, social responsibility and managerial ethics, job burnout, dual careers, leased manpower, networking, quality circles, comparable worth, phased retirement, codetermination, concessionary bargaining, global aspects of human resource management, quality improvement and productivity gains, and technology and technological developments.

Hardcover

First published April 30, 1999

About the author

Megginson stayed on the LSU faculty, rising to Full Professor in 1960, before being named Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 1977. While at LSU, Leon published some 100 articles and won numerous awards for teaching and research.
Leon served as President, Southwestern Social Science Association (1962); President, Southern Management Association (1973-1974); Founding President, North American Case Research Association (1980); and Chair, Management History Division of the Academy of Management (1983). A member of several honor societies, including Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma, and Pi Gamma Mu, Leon was a Fellow of the Academy of Management (1973), the North American Case Research Association (1990), and the Southern Management Association (1995).