The making and remaking of HRM: the practice of managing people in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

This paper explores the nature of human resource management (HRM) practice in the Border region of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, located wi thin contemporary local and international debates regarding the content and nature thereof Four distinct patterns of practice were identified. The fir st represented a simple changing in nomenclature of the relevant personnel sections, with, in several cases, staff being seen not as managers, bur rat her as a distinct, and somewhat junior, category of employee. In the second category, the traditional personnel function was broadened to encompass cl early delineated areas such as training and development. In the third categ ory, while HRM practitioners did play an important strategic role, this was more in terms of facilitating the adoption of progressive industrial relat ions policies, than in developing a vision for managing human resources acr oss the organization. In all cases, what human resource practitioners did s eemed somewhat removed from the 'conventional wisdom' definition of HRM. In part this was a result of the persistence of effective and militant trade unions, necessitating the adoption of hybrid HR-industrial relations practi ces. However. it also represented a product of particular managerial tradit ions, and the fact that HRM represents a complex package of concepts and pr actices, which, inevitably, are subject to adjustment in the light of preva iling realities. This study sheds further light on the diverse and multi-fa ceted area of HRM practice, and underscores the need for flexibility and pr agmatism in both transitional, and, indeed, mature economic contexts.