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Human Resource
Management
Theory & Practice

John Bratton and Jeff Gold

 contents in brief

I the arena of contemporary human resource management 1

â•⁄ 1 the nature of contemporary HRM 2

â•⁄ 2 corporate strategy and strategic HRM 37
â•⁄ 3 HRM and performance 69

II the micro context of human resource management 105

â•⁄ 4 work and work systems 106

â•⁄ 5 organizational culture and HRM 143

III employee resourcing 173

â•⁄ 6 workforce planning and talent management 174

â•⁄ 7 recruiting and selecting employees 211

IV employee performance and development 247

â•⁄ 8 performance management and appraisal 248

â•⁄ 9 human resource development and workplace learning 281
10 leadership and management development 328

V the employment relationship 361

11 reward management 362

12 industrial relations 398
13 employee relations and involvement 430
14 health and safety management 463

VI the global context of human resource management 499

15 international HRM 500

16 recession, sustainability, trust: the crisis in HRM 530

vii
 contents

List of figures xviii

List of tables xx
About the authors xxi
About the contributors xxii
Preface xxv
Authors’ acknowledgements xxxiii
Tour of the book xxxiv
HRM as I see it: video and text feature xxxvi
Publisher’s acknowledgements xxxviii
Key topics grid xl

I the arena of contemporary human resource management 1

1 the nature of contemporary HRM John Bratton 2

Outline 2
Objectives 2
Introduction 3
The development of HRM 3
Keynesianism: collectivism and personnel management 3
HRM in practice 1.1: A new role for HR professionals 4
Neo-liberalism: individualism and HRM 5
Management and HRM 6
The meaning of ‘human resource’ 8
The meaning of ‘management’ 9
The nature of the employment relationship 9
Scope and functions of HRM 13
Theoretical perspectives on HRM 16
HRM in practice 1.2: Twenty-first-century senior hr leaders have a
changing role 17
The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna model of HRM 18
The Harvard model of HRM 18
The Guest model of HRM 20
The Warwick model of HRM 22
The Storey model of HRM 22
HRM and globalization: The HRM model in advancing economies? 24
Ulrich’s strategic partner model of HRM 25
Studying HRM 27
Critique and paradox in HRM 30

viii
 contents ix

Case study: Canterbury Hospital 33

Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 34

2 corporate strategy and strategic HRM John Bratton 37

Outline 37
Objectives 37
Introduction 38
Strategic management 38
Model of strategic management 39
Hierarchy of strategy 41
Ethics and corporate social responsibility 44
Business ethics 44
Corporate social responsibility 45
HRM in practice 2.1: Killer chemicals and greased palms 46
Exploring corporate sustainability 48
Strategic HRM 50
HRM and globalization: Business urged to keep on eco-track 52
HRM in practice 2.2: More women leaders: the answer to the financial
crisis? 54
The matching model 55
Human resources strategy models 56
The control-based model 56
The resource-based model 58
An integrative model of human resources strategy 60
Critiquing SHRM and models of human resources strategy 62
Case study: Zuvan Winery 65
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 66

3 HRM and performance John Bratton 69

Outline 69
Objectives 69
Introduction 70
Rationale for evaluating HRM 70
Modelling HRM and performance 71
Human resource management 72
Employee performance measures 72
Organizational performance measures 73
Other factors 73
Demonstrating the HRM–performance relationship 74
Embedding performance 77
HRM in practice 3.1: HR ‘can lower NHS death rates’ 78
Questioning research on the HRM–performance relationship 80
Research design issues 81
HRM and globalization: Evaluating HR practices: the role of qualitative
methods 88
Context, people and the social relations of performance 92
x contents

Case study: Vogue Apparel 100

Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 101

II the micro context of human resource management 105

4 work and work systems John Bratton 106

Outline 106
Objectives 106
Introduction 107
The primacy of work thesis 107
The nature of work 110
HRM in practice: 4.1: Emotion at work 112
Job design 114
Classical work systems: scientific management 115
Scientific management 116
Fordism 117
HRM and globalization: Bureaucracy 118
Sociotechnical work systems: the neo-human relations movement 119
Post-bureaucratic work systems: the self-management movement 125
Team-based systems 125
HRM in practice 4.2: The home office 126
Japanese work systems 127
High-performance work systems 128
Business process re-engineering 129
Knowledge-based work systems 130
Work redesign, sustainability and HRM 131
Tension and paradox 135
HRM in practice 4.3: Technology and HR 136
Case study: Currency, Inc. 139
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 140

5 organizational culture and HRM John Bratton 143

Outline 143
Objectives 143
Introduction 144
Culture and modernity 144
Organizational culture 148
HRM and globalization: Multiculturalism’s magic number 149
HRM as I see it: Keith Stopforth, Bupa Health and Wellbeing 153
Perspectives on organizational culture 153
Managerially oriented perspectives 153
Critically oriented perspectives 155
HRM in practice 5.1: Management surveillance: someone’s
watching you … 158
Managing culture through HRM 159
Leading cultural change 161
 contents xi

Reframing of social networks and meanings 161

HRM practices to change culture 161
Sustainability and green HRM 162
HRM in practice 5.2: Can we measure changes in organizational culture? 164
Paradox in culture management 167
Case study: Big Outdoors 170
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 171

III employee resourcing 173

6 workforce planning and talent management Jeff Gold 174

Outline 174
Objectives 174
Introduction 175
People and planning 175
Manpower planning 176
Diagnosing manpower problems 178
Employee turnover 179
Human resource planning 180
Workforce planning 182
HRM in practice: 6.1: Planning the headcount on the policy roller-coaster 183
The use of ICT in workforce planning 184
Flexibility 186
Flexible working today 187
Teleworking 188
Offshoring and outsourcing 190
Attitudes to work 192
Redundancy 193
Talent management 194
Succession planning 196
HRM as I see it: Sarah Myers, Sky 197
Career management 198
Diversity management 201
HRM and globalization: What to do about macho? 202
Human resource accounting 204
Case study: TNNB Ltd 207
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 208

7 recruiting and selecting employees Jeff Gold 211

Outline 211
Objectives 211
Introduction 212
Recruitment and selection policies 212
HRM in practice 7.1: Employer branding and the employment ‘deal’ 214
Recruitment and attraction 215
HRM as I see it: Tania Hummel, Macmillan Publishers 215
xii contents

Fitting the person to the environment, organization and job 216

Recruitment channels 221
Internships or placements 223
Job descriptions 223
Selection 226
HRM in practice 7.2: Trapped in the ‘marzipan layer’ 227
Reliability and validity issues 229
CVs and biodata 229
Selection interviewing 230
HRM and globalization: Unpacking the meaning of credentials 231
Psychometric testing 234
Online testing 237
Assessment centres 239
Pre-employment activities 240
Case study: Watson and Hamilton Lawyers 242
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 243

IV employee performance and development 247

8 performance management and appraisal Jeff Gold 248

Outline 248
Objectives 248
Introduction 249
Performance measurement and human resource management 249
The purpose and processes of performance management 252
Performance, judgements and feedback 256
HRM in practice 8.1: Performance target culture: ‘I have been near
breaking point …’ 258
Appraisal interviews 259
Performance and development 263
HRM and globalization: Mindset: how views of ability influence the quality
of performance appraisals 265
Approaches to rating performance 270
Self-appraisal 272
Multisource feedback 273
Case study: Robertson Engineering 277
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 278

9 human resource development and workplace learning Jeff Gold 281

Outline 281
Objectives 281
Introduction 282
The meaning of HRD 282
Strategy and HRD 283
Diversity and HRD 287
 contents xiii

National HRD 288

Investors in People 292
Union learning 293
The vocational education system 293
Apprenticeships 296
Implementing HRD 297
A systematic training model 298
An integrated and systemic approach 301
Coaching 303
HRM as I see it: Helen Tiffany, Bec Development 306
Evaluation and transfer of training 306
Workplace learning 309
The learning organization 310
Understanding learning 311
Organizational learning 314
HRM and globalization: Learning in a global context 315
Knowledge creation and management 317
HRM in practice 9.1: Managing knowledge 318
e-Learning 321
Case study: Volunteers Together 324
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 325

10 leadership and management development Jeff Gold 328

Outline 328
Objectives 328
Introduction 329
Meanings of leadership, management and LMD 329
The reality of leadership and management work 330
Defining LMD 331
HRM and globalization: Leadership at Starbucks 332
Strategic LMD 333
HRM in practice 10.1: Much too macho? 334
Strategy and LMD in organizations 336
Evidence for LMD 337
Implementing LMD 339
Models of leaders and managers 339
Assessing the need for LMD 343
Approaches to learning in LMD 344
Providing activities for LMD 346
Can LMD activities add value? 352
Developing leaders and managers in small and medium-sized enterprises 354
LMD in SMEs 354
LMD provision for SMEs 355
Case study: The City of Sahali 357
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 358
xiv contents

V the employment relationship 361

11 reward management John Bratton 362

Outline 362
Objectives 362
Introduction 363
The nature of reward management 363
A model of reward management 366
HRM in practice 11.1: ‘Duvet days’ or ‘presenteeism’? 367
Pay and work motivation 368
HRM and globalization: Building a hybrid at Samsung 373
The strategic pay paradigm 374
HRM in practice 11.2: Performance-related pay 376
Variable payment schemes in UK workplaces 378
Job evaluation and internal equity 380
Gathering the job analysis data 382
Selecting compensable factors 382
Evaluating the job 382
Assigning pay to the job 384
Establishing pay structure and levels 384
The role of collective bargaining and government in determining pay 387
Equal pay legislation 388
Regulation of low pay 390
Tension and paradox 391
HRM as I see it: Ruth Altman, Freelance HR Practitioner 393
Case study: Cordaval University 394
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 396

12 industrial relations John Bratton 398

Outline 398
Objectives 398
Introduction 399
The nature of industrial relations 399
Understanding why employees join trade unions 401
Trades unions in action 401
HRM and globalization: The role of unions in South Africa 403
The legal context of industrial relations 404
Management strategies 406
Trade unions 409
HRM in practice 12.1: BA told to hit union ‘where it hurts’ 410
Union membership 411
Interpreting union decline 412
Union structure 413
HRM as I see it: Ray Fletcher OBE, Unite the Union 415
Collective bargaining 415
Collective bargaining structure 416
The collective agreement: an overview 419
 contents xv

Trade unions and HRM 419

Union strategies and paradox 421
HRM in practice 12.2: Partnership arrangements: the end of an era? 425
Case study: Rama Garment factory 426
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 427

13 employee relations and involvement John Bratton 430

Outline 430
Objectives 430
Introduction 431
The nature of employee relations 431
Employee communication 434
HRM as I see it: Keith Hanlon-Smith, Norland Managed Services 435
A communications model 436
HRM in practice 13.1: Creating union-free workplaces 438
Direct communication methods 439
Information disclosed by management 440
Employee involvement and participation 441
HRM and globalization: A warm welcome to the kooky and the wacky 442
A general theory of employee involvement 444
Indirect employee participation 447
Models of joint consultation 447
Extent of joint consultation 448
The structure and operation of joint consultative committees 449
European Works Councils 451
Employee involvement and paradox 452
Employee rights and grievances 453
Employee rights 453
Employee grievances 454
Sexual harassment as an employee relations issue 454
Employee discipline 456
HRM in practice 13.2: Bullying at work: ‘My life became a living hell …’ 457
Disciplinary concepts 458
Case study: Hawthorne Pharmaceuticals 459
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 460

14 health and safety management John Bratton 463

Outline 463
Objectives 463
Introduction 464
Sustainable health, wellness and human resource management 464
The changing approach to workplace health and safety 466
The importance of health and wellness 468
Economic considerations 468
Legal considerations 469
Psychological considerations 469
Ethical considerations 470
xvi contents

Health and safety legislation 470

The Robens Report 471
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 472
European Union health and safety legislation 472
Workplace health and wellness issues 474
Health issues 474
HRM in practice: 14.1: Juggling work and life 477
HRM in practice 14.2: Work-related stress 482
Workplace wellness 488
Workplace and community health 489
HRM and globalization: Food and eating at work: a matter of taste, politics
or basic human rights? 490
Paradox in workplace health and wellness 491
Case study: The City of Kamloops 494
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 495

VI the global context of human resource management 499

15 international HRM John Bratton 500

Outline 500
Objectives 500
Introduction 501
Global capitalism 501
Typologies of global business strategy 503
The integration–responsiveness grid 504
International human resource management 507
Global capitalism and employment relations 507
HRM and globalization: Is ‘the race to the bottom’ an inevitable
consequence of globalization? 508
IHRM and SIHRM 509
HRM in practice 15.1: ‘We are disposable people …’ 510
A model of SIHRM 511
HRM as I see it: Lesley White, Huawei Technologies 513
The internationalization of HRM practices 514
International recruitment and selection 515
International rewards 517
International training and development 518
International performance appraisal 518
Repatriation 520
The convergence/divergence debate 521
HRM in practice 15.2: Japanese CEO breaks stereotype by firing
14,000 staff 522
Case study: ICAN 526
Summary, Vocab checklist for ESL students, Review questions and
Further reading to improve your mark 527
 contents xvii

16 recession, sustainability, trust: the crisis in HRM

John Bratton and Jeff Gold 530
Outline 530
Objectives 530
Introduction 531
Post-crisis recession and sustainability 531
The profession of HRM and trust 534
The crisis in HRM 535
Towards a practice perspective in HRM 540
Towards critical HRM pedagogy 543
Final comment 545

Appendix A: the European Union Social Charter 546

Bibliography 547
Name index 606
Subject index 616
 list of figures

1.1 The employment and psychological contract between employees and employers 12
1.2 HRM functions, contingencies and skills 16
1.3 The Harvard model of HRM 19
1.4 Ulrich’s human resources business partner model 26

2.1 The three traditional poles of a strategic plan or ‘game’ 39

2.2 The strategic management model 40
2.3 Hierarchy of strategic decision-making 42
2.4 The four pillars of sustainability 50
2.5 The relationship between resources and capabilities, strategies and sustained
competitive advantage 59
2.6 Categorizing HRM strategies 60

3.1 Modelling the HRM–performance link 72

3.2 Performance implications of complementary HR practices 76
3.3 The positivist view of causation 91
3.4 Critical realist view of causation 92
3.5 Social relations, HRM and organizational performance 98

4.1 The core dimensions of job design for individual employees 114
4.2 Alternative job designs for an employee 115
4.3 An example of job rotation 120
4.4 An example of job enlargement 121
4.5 An example of job enrichment 121
4.6 The job characteristic model 122
4.7 The work design–human factor paradox 137

5.1 The dynamics of culture 145

5.2 The three levels of organizational culture 151
5.3 A strategy for changing organizational culture 163
5.4 A framework for analysing green HR practice–sustainability linkages. EI,
employee involvement; PRP, performance-related pay 166

6.1 Reconciling demand and supply 177

6.2 The diagnostic approach to manpower planning 179
6.3 Approaches to TM 195
6.4 A performance/potential chart 197

7.1 The stages of recruitment and selection 213

7.2 An attraction–selection–attrition framework 220
7.3 Job description format 224
7.4 Rodger’s seven-point plan 224
7.5 Munro-Fraser’s fivefold grading system 225

xviii
 list of figures xix

8.1 A performance management cycle 254

8.2 Responses to feedback on performance at work 257
8.3 Performance control in appraisal 261
8.4 Summary of findings from Meyer et al.’s (1965) study 261
8.5 Performance as a transformation process 266
8.6 Contingencies in performance management 268
8.7 BOSs in a financial services company 272

9.1 Voluntarism versus interventionism in HRD 288

9.2 Key elements of a VET system 294
9.3 A four-stage model of training 298
9.4 Changing HRD roles 301
9.5 A framework for the transfer of training 307
9.6 Levels of evaluation for training 308
9.7 Kolb’s learning cycle 313

10.1 Planned versus recognized LMD 333

10.2 A model of impacts on organizational performance 335
10.3 How LMD links to organizational performance 338
10.4 A framework of management and leadership abilities 340
10.5 Boyatzis’ competency clusters 341
10.6 Functional areas of management and leadership standards 342
10.7 Learning and problem management cycles 346
10.8 Concentration and distribution in LMD 347
10.9 A typology of LMD activities 348
10.10 Holistic evaluation 353

11.1 Objectives of the reward system 364

11.2 A model for reward management 368
11.3 The construction of a pay level 386

13.1 Four important dimensions of employee relations 434

13.2 Key issues related to communication in the workplace 436
13.3 The communications process model 437
13.4 Framework for analysing EI 444
13.5 The involvement–commitment cycle 445
13.6 Example of joint consultation and collective bargaining in municipal
government 450
13.7 The European code on sexual harassment 455

14.1 A trade union view of workplace health and safety 468

14.2 The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, Section 2: Duties on Employers 472
14.3 Typical systems of workplace stress 476
14.4 Stress caused by the ‘dual-role’ syndrome 480
14.5 Some causes of work-related stress 481
14.6 Smoking-related costs 487

15.1 Demands for integration and local responsiveness 505

15.2 An integrated framework of SIHRM 512
15.3 Globalization and HRM models 524
 list of tables

1.1 Selective UK Employment Statutes and Statutory Instruments, 1961–2007 11

1.2 The Storey model of HRM 23

2.1 Strategy implementation and the four-task model of HRM 53

3.1 The two dimensions of high-performance HR practices 75

3.2 Correlations between HR practices, outcomes and cultural orientations 79
3.3 Selective HR practices for enhanced performance according to Pfeffer and
Den Hartog and Verburg 82

4.1 The re-engineered organization 129

4.2 The nature of traditional work and knowledge work 131
4.3 Four approaches to work system design 132
6.1 Headings for a typical HR module within ERP 185

7.1 Competencies in a financial services organization 218

7.2 Reasons for poor results from selection interviewing 232

9.1 Traditions of learning 311

11.1 Types of employee pay 370

11.2 Employee statutory minimum holiday entitlement, 2011 374
11.3 Alignment of business strategy, work design and reward practices 377
11.4 VPSs in UK workplaces, 2004 379
11.5 Typical job-ranking 382
11.6 Point system matrixes 384
11.7 UK salaries for selective occupations and CEOs, 2010 385

12.1 Main UK legislative provisions related to industrial relations, 1980–2004 405

12.2 Union membership in the UK, 1971–2011 411
12.3 Union presence by broad sector, 1980–2011 412
12.4 Largest TUC-affiliated unions, 1979–2011 414
12.5 Coverage of collective bargaining in Britain, 1984–2004 417
12.6 The benefits and costs of a partnership strategy 424

13.1 Use of direct communication methods, 1998–2004, by sector ownership 440

13.2 Information disclosed by management, 1998–2004, by sector ownership 441
13.3 Incidence of joint regulation of terms and conditions, 2004 449

14.1 Action to reduce workplace stress 481

15.1 Examples of training and development interventions in MNCs 519

xx
 about the authors

John Bratton is Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Work and

Community Studies at Athabasca University, Canada, and a Visiting
Professor at Edinburgh Napier University Business School, Edinburgh,
UK. His research interests and publications have focused on the soci-
ology of work, leadership and workplace learning. John is a member
of the editorial board of Leadership, the Journal of Workplace Learning
and the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education.
In addition to co-authoring the present text, he is author of Japa-
nization of Work: Managerial Studies in the 1990s (1992) and co-author of the following
books: Workplace Learning: A Critical Introduction (2003, with J. Helm-Mills, J. Pyrch and
P. Sawchuk), Organizational Leadership (2004, with K. Grint and D. Nelson), Capitalism
and Classical Sociological Theory (2009, with D. Denham and L. Deutschmann) and Work
and Organizational Behaviour (2nd edn) (2010, with M. Callinan, C. Forshaw, M. Corbett
and P. Sawchuk).

Jeff Gold is Professor of Organization Learning at Leeds Business

School, Leeds Metropolitan University and Visiting Professor at Leeds
University, UK, where he coordinates the Northern Leadership
Academy. With Professor Jim Stewart, he is the founder of the HRD
and Leadership Research Unit at Leeds Business School. He has
designed and delivered a wide range of seminars, programmes and
workshops on change, strategic learning, management and leadership,
with a particular emphasis on participation and distribution. He is the
co-author of Leadership and Management Development (2010, with R. Thorpe and A.
Mumford), The Gower Handbook of Leadership and Management Development (2010, with
R. Thorpe and A. Mumford) and Human Resource Development (2009, with J. Beardwell,
P. Iles, R. Holden and J. Stewart).

xxi
 about the contributors

Chiara Amati is Lecturer in HRM at Edinburgh Napier University,

UK. Chiara is a chartered occupational psychologist who joined Edin-
burgh Napier University Business School in 2010; she teaches on the
MSc in HRM and on related undergraduate courses. Her main area of
expertise is the emotional experience of individuals and leaders at
work, which includes interest in aspects of job satisfaction, motiva-
tion, engagement and workplace stress. Chiara joined the university
after a number of years working in a successful commercial psychology
consultancy firm, primarily in the area of psychological health and
well-being at work.

Chris Baldry is an Emeritus Professor of the Stirling Management

School at the University of Stirling, UK. He has taught several courses,
including introductory HRM, international HRM, work and employ-
ment, and organizational behaviour. Chris’s recent research interests
have focused on the changing world of work and employment,
including the area of work–life balance. His work on occupational
health and safety has led to publications looking at ill-health in offices
and call centres, and safety trends for trackside rail workers. On the
basis of his work in the latter area, he was called as an expert witness to the Cullen Inquiry
on the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster. His other long-standing interest, in the interface
between technological change and work organization, is reflected in his editorship of the
journal New Technology, Work and Employment.

Norma D’Annunzio-Green is Subject Group Leader (HRM) at Edin-

burgh Napier University Business School, UK. She has significant
experience in teaching and learning at both undergraduate and MSc
levels and is currently programme leader for the part-time MSc in
HRM (CIPD-accredited). Her main research interests focus on
employee resourcing, performance management and talent manage-
ment for HRM specialists and line managers. She has had over 20
publications in a range of academic journals including Personnel
Review, Employee Relations, Human Resource Development International and the Interna-
tional Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. She co-edited the book Human
Resource Management: International Perspectives in Hospitality and Tourism and is on the
Editorial Board of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and
World Wide Hospitality and Tourism Trends.

xxii
 about the contributors xxiii

Karen Densky lectures in English as a second language and ESL

teacher education at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada.
Her research and teaching interests include curriculum theory and
methodology. She has worked in teacher training programmes in
Chile and Greenland. She is the author of Creativity, Culture and
Communicative Language Teaching (2008), and has written the Vocab
checklists for ESL students in this book, as well as comprehensive
notes on ESL teaching and learning on the companion website.

Lois Farquharson is a senior lecturer in HRM and Faculty Director of

Research Degrees at Edinburgh Napier University, UK. Lois is working
on research projects focusing on leadership behaviours, actions and
development interventions as evidenced within Investors in People
organizations. In addition, she has an ongoing interest in the health
sector and is engaged in developing knowledge exchange projects and
delivering work-based learning programmes tailored to this context.
Lois teaches employee resourcing and research methods, and super-
vises research students in the HRM, leadership and change manage-
ment fields.

Helen Francis is Professor and Director of the People Management

and Organisational Development Division, Edinburgh Institute, at
Edinburgh Napier University, UK. Since her early practitioner experi-
ence in personnel management, she has developed a strong profile in
the areas of HR transformation, organizational change, management
learning, critical discourse analysis and more recently employer
branding, and has published extensively in these areas. She is currently
leading the development of a forthcoming CIPD-commissioned text-
book on organizational effectiveness with Dr Linda Holbeche and Dr
Martin Reddington.

Lesley McLean (née Craig) is lecturer in HRM and Programme

Leader of the CIPD-approved MSc in HRM at Edinburgh Napier
University, UK, as well as being a member of the CIPD. She joined
Edinburgh Napier University in 2004, taking on the role of Programme
Leader and teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels,
with a focus on international HRM and workplace ethics. Lesley’s
recent academic research focuses on professional learning and devel-
opment, and she has further interests in the areas of sustainable lead-
ership and employer branding. Lesley has previously worked in the
luxury retail sector in a senior operations management role.
xxiv about the contributors

David MacLennan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of

Sociology and Anthropology at Thompson Rivers University,
Kamloops, Canada. One of his main research interests is the transi-
tion from craft to bureaucratic ways of organizing work and learning.
The geographical focus of his work is small cities. His most recent
publication is a co-authored paper on how small cities support child
development. He is also involved in research on real estate develop-
ment in the small city.

Anne Munro is the Business School Director of Research and

Professor of Work and Industrial Relations at Edinburgh Napier
University, UK. Anne is a member of the Employment Research Insti-
tute and Edinburgh Institute in the Business School, working on
research projects in the HR, work-based learning and equalities areas.
She teaches employment relations and research methodology, and
supervises research students in the HR field. Anne is a member of the
British Sociological Association, the British Universities Industrial
Relations Association (BUIRA), the Higher Education Academy and
the British Academy of Management, and is a Fellow of the CIPD.

Martin Reddington runs his own consultancy and is an Associate of

the Edinburgh Institute, Edinburgh Napier University, UK. Martin’s
co-authored book, HR Transformation: Creating Value Through
People (2nd edn), was published in 2010, and he is now co-editing a
forthcoming work, commissioned by the CIPD, which reimagines the
role of HR and organizational development in support of organiza-
tional effectiveness (scheduled to be published in 2012).

Lori Rilkoff is Human Resources Manager at the City of Kamloops in

Canada. She has an MSc in HRM and Training and is a Certified
Human Resources Professional. For her work on the City of Kamloops
Wellness Works program, she was selected as part of the City’s Inno-
vation Committee in 2008, having 4 years earlier been awarded a
Senior Management Award of Excellence for Wellness Works Program
Leadership. As a 2010 Innovation Award finalist, Lori was also recog-
nized by the British Columbia Human Resources Management Asso-
ciation for the encouragement and promotion of employer-based wellness programmes in
the community. She was recently selected to be a member of the Excellence, Innovation
and Wellness Advisory Committee for Excellence Canada (formerly National Quality
Institute of Canada).
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Not to speak of the difficulties of gaining information at a
period in which few written records can have existed, the
narrative of Herodotus is not unaffected by the special
influences to which the author was exposed. On the
question of evidence, it may be said that it would be in
Sicily and not in Greece that we should expect that written
records of the connection between the two expeditions
would exist,—records which Diodorus might have seen,
though they never came to the knowledge of Herodotus;
and, on the question of influence, it would not be in
disaccord with Greek practice if the fact that Gelo refused
to send aid to Hellas should, quite apart from the grounds
of his refusal, have led the Greek world to ignore his
participation in the great battle for Greek liberty. The
nature of his government could hardly fail to emphasize
such a tendency.
The animus of the tradition which Herodotus followed is
clearly shown by the motive attached to the reported
despatch of the treasure-ship to the Corinthian Gulf. Was
it likely that Gelo would worry himself about the distant
danger from Persia, when the more immediate and, to
him, greater danger from Carthage threatened? Why
should he attempt to buy off a doubly hypothetical Persian
attack when he was face to face with an enormously
powerful foe near at hand? If the treasure-ship was sent,
the sending of it looks like the act of a man who wished to
provide against possible disaster in Sicily. He had to place
it beyond reach of the Carthaginian fleet. He had to
speculate on the ultimate success of the Greeks. There
was absolutely no other place in the world where it was
likely to be more safe than in the Corinthian Gulf, though
that might not be an ideal place of security.
From Sketch by E. Lear.]
MOUNTAINS OF THERMOPYLÆ, FROM PHALARA.
1. Kallidromos (11 1⁄2 miles).
2. The Great Gable (Path of Anopæa).
3. Great Ravine at Thermopylæ.
4. Malian Gulf.
5. Mount Giona (28 miles).
6. Asopos Ravine.
7. Trachinian Cliffs.
8. Hot Springs.
[To face page 257.
 CHAPTER VII.
THERMOPYLÆ.
It was fortunate for the Greek cause that the council which met at
the Isthmus after the withdrawal from Tempe had at its disposal the
information necessary for forming a true estimate of the
circumstances of the time. It knew that no help was to come from
outside the mainland of Greece. It knew that Thessaly was lost, and
that Bœotia, East Locris, Phocis, and Doris, and last, though not
least, Eubœa, must be lost also, unless some prompt action were
taken to save the situation in those parts. And so, says Herodotus,
“the Greeks, on coming to the Isthmus, took counsel together, in
view of what Alexander had told them, as to where and in what parts
they should establish the defence.” The opinion which prevailed was,
that they should guard the pass of Thermopylæ, which they thought
was narrower than the pass in Thessaly, and nearer to their base.
“They determined therefore to guard this pass, and so prevent the
passage of the barbarian into Greece, and that the naval force
should sail to Artemisium in the land of Histiæotis.”
There is no part of Greece where the strategical situation is so
marked as in the line of defence which runs along Mount Œta. Malis
is verily the entering in of the gate of Greece. The barrier of Mount
Œta, the tremendous nature of which can only be appreciated by
those who have seen it and traversed it, formed in a very real way
the true boundary of the land, and was recognized as such by the
Greek historians of this and after time. The Hellenism of the lands
beyond it was a mere shadow of the reality. Thessaly, in that widest
sense which included in the name all that lay between Œta, Pindus,
and the Cambunian Mountains, was in respect to civilization a
debateable land, in which the “barbarism” of the outer world to a
great extent held sway. Nature had so ordained it by an immutable
decree when she raised Œta to be alike a defence and a barrier to
the Hellenism of the lands south of it.
Malis is separated from the plain of Thessaly by the range of
Othrys. This line of mountains is not of a uniform character. It
branches off from the backbone of Pindus in the West as a
comparatively low range, through which numerous paths, practicable
at any rate for an army without a large baggage train, lead into the
upper valley of the Spercheios,—the upper plain of Malis. As a main
line of communication, however, from the north, these paths are for
two reasons comparatively unimportant. In the first place, the two
great roads through Thessaly,—that from Larisa by way of Krannon
to Thaumaki, and that from Larisa to Thebes in Phthiotis,—afford but
an extremely circuitous route to their northern entrances; and, again,
when these paths do reach the upper plain of Malis, they are not
continued southwards by any direct routes across the chain of Œta;
and it is necessary to traverse the whole length of the Malian plain to
the neighbourhood of Thermopylæ before any practicable way
leading south can be found. They could only have been of strategic
importance in this campaign had the Greeks attempted to defend the
eastern passes of Othrys, in which case the Persians, by using
them, could without much difficulty have turned the defence.
 From Sketch by E. Lear.]
MOUNT ŒTA AND PLAIN OF MALIS.
[To face page 259.

The part of Othrys east of the longitude of Lamia is of a loftier and

much more difficult character. It is rather a mass of mountains than a
single range. Viewed from Thermopylæ it presents the appearance
of a series of cones and ridges rising towards a central point, where
it attains a height of over six thousand feet. There are only two
passes through it which are practicable for an army with baggage;
these may be called respectively the pass of Thaumaki, and the
pass of Thebes in Phthiotis. The pass of
MARCH OF THE
Thaumaki is a direct continuation of the great
PERSIANS.
route by way of Krannon. At Thaumaki itself it
is eminently defensible, as the rise from the Thessalian plain is
abrupt, and the road traverses a narrow ravine. From that point
southward the pass is not a difficult one. It enters the Malian plain at
Lamia.
The second of the two passages is more or less of a coast road,
skirting first the shores of the Pagasætic Gulf, and later those of the
Euripus and Malian Gulf. It debouched on the Malian plain at
Phalara, a small town which stood within half a mile of the modern
Stylida and about six miles from Lamia, by which latter town also the
road must have passed. It is possible that Lamia was not effectively
fortified in 480. Still, the occupation of it could only have harassed,
not stopped, the invading army, since, owing to the presence of the
fleet, the real line of communication was on the sea.

H. vii. 196.
From two incidents mentioned in Herodotus it is
evident that the Persians adopted both these lines of
H. vii. 196.
advance. He says that the numbers of the Persian
army were so large, that of the rivers of Achaia even
the largest, the Apidanos, barely sufficed for its purposes. This
indicates the use of the Krannon-Thaumaki route.
The visit of Xerxes to Halos indicates that he, with part of his
army, took the coast route.
It was after entering the Malian plain that the real difficulties of the
campaign began. Xerxes and his army were face to face with Mount
Œta. It may be well to realize in so far as possible the prospect
which would meet his eye when, after completing the passage round
Othrys, he arrived at Phalara From that point of view nearly the
whole length of Œta would be extended before him as he faced
southwards. Away to the south-west, at a distance of from twelve to
fifteen miles, stands the highest and most imposing mass of the
range, a great hummock crowned by four or five peaks. The
hummock itself rises some five thousand feet almost sheer from the
plain, and the peaks on it rise some fifteen hundred feet more. In full
view from Phalara, too, would be that tremendous ravine, a dark,
wedge-shaped cut in the side of the mountain, which a
comparatively small stream has hollowed out to a depth of four
thousand feet. As the eye travels eastward along the range there is a
decrease in the actual height of it, the general level of the ridge
being perhaps not more than four thousand feet. But the face
towards the plain is marked by the broad black band of those famous
rocks the Trachinian cliffs. They end suddenly towards the east,
where a thin, perpendicular, black streak in the mountain side marks
the exit of the great ravine of the Asopos.
 It is a magnificent picture; but the background is as magnificent as
the picture itself. High as the range is, there rises above it in the
distance, behind the four-thousand-foot ridge, the great peak of
Giona. Though it is one of the most impressive peaks in Greece, its
ancient name is unknown. It is far away among the confused mass
of the great ranges of Northern Ætolia; and yet it seems so near
when it is lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, while all the
foreground of the broad Malian plain, and even of Œta, is involved in
the deep blue shadow of the eastern twilight. It rises from the east
towards heaven in a long, gradually ascending ridge, becoming
steeper in the final effort of its climb. Then, the highest summit once
attained, it falls sheer down into a valley of misty gloom.

THE GORGE OF THE ASOPOS.

[To face page 261.
ASOPOS RAVINE.
[To face page 261.
 Immediately east of the Asopos defile the chain of Œta is at its
lowest, barely three thousand feet high, and it is over this part of the
range that the modern road is carried. The difficulties of passing it do
not, however, decrease in proportion to its height, and no military
109
way or path seems to have been practicable at this point. Farther
east the range rises again into peaks of nearly five thousand feet,
faced towards the north by the great cliffs which overhang the pass
of Thermopylæ. Here the Malian Gulf and not
MT. ŒTA AND THE
ASOPOS RAVINE.
the plain forms the foreground of the picture,
across which, at a distance of eight or nine
miles, a white line can be discerned at the base of the cliffs, the
great sulphur deposit of the warm springs. This part of the Œta range
was known as Kallidromos.
Away beyond Thermopylæ it extends towards the Euripus under
the name of Knemis, gradually bending in a more southerly direction
down the channel, until it is lost in the distance towards Atalanta.
Behind it and above it rises the great grey mass of Parnassus.
This very difficult range is rather turned than pierced by the pass
of Thermopylæ, the actual passage through the chain being many
miles south of the pass itself.
There is one point with reference to it which is not always
110
recognized. There was and is a second pass through it leading
direct to the Dorian plain by way of the great ravine of the Asopos, a
pass, too, of which the Persian army actually made use after
Thermopylæ had been won. It would seem strange at first sight that
the Persian generals, when they found Thermopylæ so hard to force,
did not nullify the defence of it by marching into Doris this way.
The defile of the Asopos issues abruptly on to the Malian plain
some three and a half to four miles west of the Western Gate of
Thermopylæ. Its bottom is merely formed of the stony river bed, at
first some fifty yards wide, but rapidly contracting, until a little farther
up the chasm it is only twelve feet wide between absolutely sheer
cliffs from seven to nine hundred feet high. This winding rift in the
mountains continues for some three and a half miles from the
entrance, and then suddenly broadens out into a wide upland valley,
behind the range of Œta, from which there is a long but not difficult
111
passage to the Dorian plain. This valley was, no doubt, the land of
those Œteans whom Thucydides mentions in his account of the
circumstances leading to the foundation of Heraklea Trachinia.
Another important point with regard to this route is, that it was not
merely the direct road to Delphi from the north, but the only direct
road. As such it must have been in frequent use, and, in the
flourishing days of the Delphi-Thermopylæ Amphictyony, of
considerable importance. It was, of course, by reason of its very
nature, liable to interruption by even a slight rise of the Asopos; and
the frequent storms which traverse the Malian plain even in summer
render such a possibility perennial. But even so it is a strange thing
that in Greek military history it is never used as a means of avoiding
112
direct assault on Thermopylæ.
 From Sketch by E. Lear.]
THERMOPYLAE, FROM BRIDGE OF ALAMANA.
1. Site of Upper Drakospilia.
2. Mount Kallidromos.
3. Cliffs of West Gate.
[To face page 263.

The true significance of the step which the

THERMOPYLÆ AND
ATREMISIUM.
council at the Isthmus took in deciding to send
a land force to Thermopylæ and the fleet to
Artemisium can only be appreciated if the intimate strategical
connection between the two places be realised. The dual nature of
the Persian advance necessitated a dual form of defence. Had the
invading force been merely a land army, the defence of the pass of
Thermopylæ alone would have been sufficient; but it is evident that
the Greeks fully appreciated the uselessness of attempting the
defence of that pass, if the Persian fleet were left free to land a large
body of troops in rear of it, and so turn the defence. Successful
defence of Thermopylæ was then absolutely dependent upon
successful defence of the Euripus.
VIEW FROM THERMOPYLÆ, LOOKING TOWARDS ARTEMISIUM.
1. Malian Gulf.
2. Mount Othrys (circ. 15 1⁄2 miles).
3. Northern Branch of Euripus.
4. Site of Alpenoi.
5. Hills of North-west Eubœa.
 CHANNEL OF ARTEMISIUM, FROM 1600 FEET ABOVE THERMOPYLÆ.
1. Malian Gulf.
2. Mount Othrys.
3. Northern Branch of Euripus.
4. Hills of North-west Eubœa.
5. Euripus.
[To face page 264.

But there were other reasons which pointed

DEFENCE OF THE
STRAIT A
not merely to the necessity of defending the
NECESSITY. Euripus, but of establishing the defence of the
channel at the point at which it was established
—at Artemisium.
 From Sketch by E. Lear.]
ON THERMOPYLÆ-ELATÆA ROAD (viâ MODERN BOUDENITZA).
1. Mount Othrys.
2. Malian Gulf.
3. Deposit at Mouth of Spercheios.
[To face page 265.

Paus. x. 21.
It was plainly important that the enemy’s fleet
should be excluded from the Malian Gulf. The road
eastwards from Thermopylæ runs by the side of the Gulf for a long
distance after it has issued from the east gate of the pass; and it
would have been fatal to the defenders had troops been landed
there, since they would have been within short striking distance of
the Greek position, and so have rendered any escape by way of the
mountain path which leads by the modern Boudenitza to the Phocian
plain at Elatea difficult, if not impossible. But there was a further
possibility of which the Greek commanders must have been aware,
and against which they would have to provide. If it was possible 200
years after this time for the Athenian galleys to sail close in shore
and attack the flank of the army of Brennus when it was assailing the
narrow part of the pass, there must have been a very much greater
possibility of this being done in the year 480. On this rapidly
advancing shore that which was done in 279 b.c. with difficulty, and
not without danger, must conceivably have been a comparatively
easy matter in 480.
There was a further danger to be feared, supposing the northern
bend of the strait had been left open. Landing on the north coast of
Eubœa, a Persian force might have made its way to Chalets, and so
have turned Thermopylæ. In the wars of later Greece this was a
measure recognized as possible and actually put in practice by
combatants commanding this part of the strait. The Greeks were
undoubtedly right in the choice of Artemisium. As a naval station it
possessed two further advantages: the strait was comparatively
narrow at that point, and, above all, it was within sight of
Thermopylæ.
From the hillside above the road through the pass, only 150 feet
above the level of the plain, the view extends right down this
northern bend of the Euripus. From a point still higher up, some 1600
feet above the road, the whole channel is extended like a map.
Signalling from one position to the other by means of the smoke and
fire signals then used must have been quite easy, and it would be
even possible from this higher position at Thermopylæ to observe
the movements of large bodies of ships in the neighbourhood of
Artemisium, though, owing to the distance, a single ship would
hardly be discernible to the naked eye. It is quite clear that
Herodotus was aware of the intimacy of the relation between the two
113
positions.
The strategic capacity of those who were responsible for the
Greek plans in the war of 480 was never more advantageously
displayed than in this design of the dual defence of the pass and the
strait. Had it been carried out with equal wisdom, or even with more
harmonious vigour, Greece might perhaps have been spared the
losses and anxiety of the year that followed.
On the general question of Greek strategy let it be remarked at
this, the outset of the story of the great events of the war, that it is
unquestionably wrong to judge of it on the mere evidence of the
direct statements made by Herodotus. What may be derived from
him is rarely more than the mere narrative of events as related to
him at the time, long subsequent to the events themselves, when he
made the collection of material for his history. It is only too easy to
imagine that the strategical motives underlying those events, which
cannot, even at the time at which they were operative, have been
known to many, must have vanished from the popular story, even if
they ever had any place in it. It may also be doubted whether
Herodotus would have been qualified to appreciate fully such
motives had the record of them survived until his own day. What he
has given to the world is the popular story of the Persian war,
distorted, it may be, at times by imaginative additions, but, in so far
as can be seen, drawn in the main from veracious sources. The
historian himself wanted to get at the truth about the war. He brought
to bear upon his material a certain amount of critical acumen which
the extreme simplicity of his language has a tendency to conceal. In
military history he seems to have been under
HERODOTUS AND
STRATEGIC
the disadvantage of lack of practical
QUESTIONS. experience; and consequently where he
makes statements of cause they are often
unconvincing, sometimes demonstrably wrong. But he made an
honest endeavour to correct such errors as might arise from his own
inexperience by visiting the scenes of the great events which he
describes. His descriptions of the regions of Thermopylæ and
Platæa are undoubtedly those of an eye-witness; Salamis he must,
Mykale he may well have seen. He supplies consequently a vast
accumulation of reliable facts which make it possible in many cases
to reconstruct the design which lay behind them; and by that means
it may be seen that the Greek Council of War, in spite of its divisions,
in spite of half-hearted compromise of plans, was composed of men,
some of whom, at any rate, were quite able to grasp the large
strategical considerations involved in a war far greater than any of
which they had had experience.

MAP SHOWING PASSES OF MOUNT OETA AND CONNECTION BETWEEN

ARTEMISIUM & THERMOPYLAE
London: John Murray, Albemarle St.
Stanford’s Geogl. Estabt. London.

The general design, then, in accordance with which the Greek

forces took up their position at Thermopylæ and Artemisium was in
conception admirable. For one of those mysterious reasons which so
often recur in Greek history, it was but half executed; and yet, in
114
spite of this, it only just fell short of a great success.
 If any criticism of the Greek plan of holding Thermopylæ is to hold
good, it must be based on the existence of the Asopos ravine, which,
in spite of the making of the new road, is still used by the natives as
a means of communication between the two plains.
Why did not Xerxes make use of this road?
The reasons for his not using it can only be stated conjecturally.
It is quite possible that he never discovered the existence of any
sort of road that way until Ephialtes led his men up it to reach the
path of the Anopæa. To one standing at the mouth of the ravine, it
has all the appearance of a mere torrent bed leading up among the
hills.
It is in any case hardly conceivable that any
THE ASOPOS
RAVINE.
considerable force could make its way through
it with the commissariat train which would be
its necessary accompaniment. There is only just room for a loaded
mule amid the great boulders which block its bed. The Greeks were
probably aware of this.
It is also probable that the supplies for the Persian army had run
somewhat low. It had executed a march of many days without the
possibility of direct communication with the fleet, and the taking of
the coast road may have become a necessity. Xerxes may well have
expected to be able to re-open communications with the fleet almost
immediately. He evidently supposed that it would have no difficulty in
forcing the channel of the Euripus.
In failing, then, to take measures for the defence of this ravine, as
well as for the passage of Thermopylæ, it is possible that the Greeks
were guilty of an error; but it was an error of a minor kind. The
excellence of the general plan of adopting the Thermopylæ and
Artemisium line is not affected by it.
From the little that is known of those who were responsible for the
general conduct of the war, it would seem highly probable that this
great design was the work of Themistocles,—a view which is
confirmed by Herodotus’ account of the events which happened at
Artemisium. This extraordinary man seems, according to the
practically unanimous verdict of his own and after times, to have
been endowed with unusual capacity, which, in so far as a judgment
can now be formed upon the matter, appears to have consisted
largely in a most marked and unusual power of insight into the
nature of the ruling factor in a great situation. It was combined with
an indomitable persistence in attaining the end in view. In the
present instance he had to exercise this latter quality to the full.
The fact which stands out with most prominence in the general
history of the war of 480–479, is that the Peloponnesian Greeks
were ever hankering after the Isthmus as the line of defence against
the huge Persian expedition. Not merely one, but apparently several
fortified lines had been already begun there.
On the other hand, there existed a party in the Council,
composed, it may well be imagined, almost wholly, if not exclusively,
of the representatives of Athens on that body, who insisted on the
necessity of adopting some stronger line, and one sufficiently far
north to save the Northern States from compulsory medism. The
advocates of this Northern policy made up for the smallness of their
numbers by their vigour and intelligence; but the decisive factor in
the situation was the Athenian fleet. The selfish Corinthian trader
and the ignorant Peloponnesian farmer were, from sheer
inexperience and want of knowledge, utterly impervious to any
argument founded on even the most elementary strategic
considerations, and do not even appear to have fully recognized
what the withdrawal of Athens and her fleet from the defence would
have meant to the patriot Greeks. Nothing within their own meagre
military experience could have taught them the full significance of the
dual nature of the Persian attack. Warfare as
THE
PELOPONNESIAN
they understood it meant putting on as much
POLICY. armour as a careful citizen could carry, and
meeting a similarly equipped foe on some
piece of level ground, where he was either ravaging or being
ravaged. It was fortunate for the Greek cause and for the advocates
of the Northern policy that the preponderant state in the
Peloponnese consisted of a body of soldiers. Stupid and dull of
comprehension as the Spartan was when compared with the quick-
witted Athenian, yet even he must, from the very circumstances of
his life, since he lived for the profession of arms, have acquired an
elementary knowledge of the art of war, sufficient to render him a
capable judge of strategic questions, where the issue was sufficiently
plain. The Spartans were forced at this time into an unwilling
recognition of the fact that without the Athenian fleet the defence
must collapse; and the Athenians for their part made it perfectly clear
that, unless some effort was put forth on behalf of Greece north of
the Isthmus, Athenians and Athenian fleet alike would vanish from
Greece.
The outcome of this contention of interests was the determination
to defend Thermopylæ and Artemisium.
Drawing his history largely from Athenian sources, Herodotus
brings the selfishness of the Peloponnesian policy into special
prominence. Selfish, indeed, it must have seemed to the Greeks
north of the Isthmus, who probably recognized the strikingly
defensible character of the line formed by Œta, notwithstanding that
their acquaintance with the region north of the Bœotian plain seems
115
to have been of an imperfect character.
But is it so strange that the Peloponnesian Greeks should have
preferred a defensive line which they did know, and in which they
believed, to one of which they had but imperfect knowledge? Some
of them had just been involved in what they must have regarded as a
fiasco,—that expedition to Thessaly.
Herodotus describes the decision to defend Thermopylæ as
having been taken immediately after the return from Thessaly.
Whether that was the case or not may be doubted. Herodotus
himself, in another passage, seems to imply that an interval
occurred, at any rate between the decision to defend Thermopylæ
and the actual despatch of troops thither. He mentions again the
decision, and then describes the despatch of troops from the
Isthmus as having been made when the Greeks “heard that the
Persian was in Pieria.” Xerxes was at Abydos when the expedition to
116
Thessaly took place. It is probable that not a little time was spent
in discussing the plan of defence. It is, at any rate, quite plain from