Barriers to effective HRM

lit this study scales were developed to measure the extent to which organis ations exhibited 'Soft" or "hard" approaches to HRM, and the extent to whic h potential barriers to the effective operation of HRM were present The sam ple comprised 549 employees, managers and HRM staff across a wide range of types of organisations in Australia, New Zealand the USA, the UK and Canada . While the results supported the contention that HRM effectiveness can be achieved via both ''soft" and "hard" approaches, several barriers to HRM ta ke-up were identified and there was little evidence that organisations gene rally operated HRM policies and practices that were seen as effective. Alth ough very few differences between countries were found, the authors Suggest the barriers identified and related ineffectiveness of HRM may be all the more detrimental to the competitiveness of Australian and New Zealand organ isations in light of the recent economic downturn in the Asia-Pacific regio n.