The Power of Ideas in Managing People

This special issue examines a neglected topic in HRM – the role of ideas. It will explore the significance of ideologies, identities, beliefs, values, norms and world views in shaping the management of work and the behaviour of workers and managers. The goal of the special issue is to demonstrate the explanatory power of ideas in human resource management studies.

A key assumption motivating the special issue is that rational and material conceptions of actor behaviour are incomplete at best. Material structures such as markets, national HR institutions, geographic landscapes and organizational structures all influence HR actors; however, these contexts do not determine actor behaviour. Actors have to interpret material contexts, different possibilities exist and actors chart a course of action based on their ideas and ideologies. The latter provide roadmaps that are particularly important in periods of economic uncertainty, such as that faced today.

Specific questions that the special issue will address include: How do systems of ideas shape HR management and practices? How are HR ideas and ideologies socially constructed at the workplace? How do ideas change and lead to changes in HR? How and to what extent do cross-national and cross-organizational differences in ideas and ideologies explain HRM variation? How significant are identities in shaping the experience and management of work? How do ideas and institutions, agency and structure interact? What is the role of normative beliefs and values in directing the study of HRM itself?

Themes

• Management and union ideologies in HRM
• Ideologies of work and capitalism
• Subjectivity and language in HRM
• Ideas and ideologies of performance and productivity in HRM
• Identities and ethnicities at the workplace
• Identity work: changing ideas and collective beliefs and their role in reshaping HRM
• Analyzing employee well-being, preferences, attitudes or perceptions
• The notion of the ‘ideal worker’ and of ideas of justice and fairness in shaping work
• Gendered and feminist analysis of HRM
• Different research tradition and ideologies in the study of HRM
• Structure and agency: Combining material and ideational research in HRM

These themes should be seen as illustrative rather than exhaustive. However, in order to be considered for inclusion, articles should show how ideational factors shape HR management and practices. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed method approaches are welcome. Contributions to the special issue may be empirical, analytical or conceptual.

Review process
This call is open and competitive, and the submitted papers will be blind reviewed in the normal way. Submitted papers must be based on original material not under consideration by any other journal or outlet. The editors will select up to 10 papers to be included in the special issue, but other papers submitted may be considered for other issues of the journal.

Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted online using the International Journal of Human Resource Management ScholarOne Manuscripts site (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rijh) by April 15th 2011. New users should first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site submissions should be made via the Author Centre.

Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript. One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from files to allow them to be sent anonymously to referees. When uploading files authors will then be able to define the non‐anonymous version as “Complete Document with author information”, and the anonymous version as “Main document without author information”.

To submit your manuscript to the Special Issue on ‘The Power of Ideas in Managing People’ choose the title of the Special Issue from the Manuscript Type list when you come to submit your paper. Also, when you come to the ‘Details and Comments’ page, answer ‘yes’ to the question ‘Is this manuscript a candidate for a special issue’ and insert the title in the text field provided.

The editors of the Special Issue are happy to discuss initial ideas for articles via e-mail.

Edmund Heery

Marco Hauptmeier