The HRM field is entering smart businesses where the human,digital and high-tech dimensions seem to increasingly converge, and HRM needsto anticipate its own smart future. Technological developments andinterconnectedness with and through the Internet (often called the “Internet ofThings”) set new challenges for the HRM function. Smartness enacted by HRMprofessionals – notions of “smart industries”, “smart things” and “smartservices” – all put new pressures on strategic HRM. Since the 1990s,organisations have increasingly been introducing electronic Human ResourceManagement (e-HRM), with the expectation of improving the quality of HRM andincreasing its contribution to firm performance. These beliefs originate fromideas about the endless possibilities of information technologies (IT) infacilitating HR practices, and about the infinite capacity of HRM to adopt IT.This book focuses on the progression from e-HRM to digital (d-HRM) –towards smart HRM. It also raises several important questions that businessesand scholars are confronted with: What kind of smart solution can and will HRMoffer to meet the expectations of thelatest business developments? Can HRM become smart and combinedigitisation, automation and a network approach? How do businesses futureprooftheir HRM in the smart era? What competences do employees need to ensurebusinesses flourish in smart industries? With rapid technological developments and ever-greater automation andinformation available, the HRM function needs to focus on non-routine andcomplex, evidence-based and science-inspired, and creative and value-addedprofessionally demanding tasks.
Tanya Bondarouk is Professor of Human Resource Management and the head of the department of HRM at the University of Twente, the Netherlands. She also works as the Associate Editor for the International Journal of Human Resource Management and as the co-editor of the Advanced Series in Management (Emerald Publishers). She has been working on the research area of Electronic HRM, and has edited a number of special issues in international journals on this topic. Her main publications concern an integration of Human Resource Management and social aspects of Information Technology Implementations and appear in the International Journal of HRM, Personnel Review, European Journal of Management, European Journal of Information Systems. Her research covers both private and public sectors and deals with a variety of areas such as the implementation of e-HRM, management of HR-IT change, HRM contribution to IT projects, roles of line managers in e-HRM, implementation of HR Shared Service Centers.
Huub Ruël is Professor of International Business at The Hague Hospitality Business School, director of the International Business and Diplomacy Academy (IBDA) and a research affiliate at the University of Twente, The Netherlands. His research focuses on the intersection between international business and international relations in particular on export promotion and diplomacy, competences for international business and on business diplomacy competences and instruments. Furthermore, his research focuses on international human resource management and technology. Huub Ruël publishes in international journals and books and has guest edited several special issues for research journals.
Emma Parry is Professor of Human Resource Management at Cranfield School of Management, UK. She is also a Visiting Fellow at Westminster Business School, Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Employment Studies and an Academic Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Emma’s research interests focus on the impact of the changing context on managing people, in particular the influence of technological advancement, national context and demographic change. She is the author or editor of six books, numerous articles in high quality academic journals and speaks regularly at academic and practitioner conferences.
