Research and practice in HRM: A historical perspective

The field of Human Resource Management began, formally, in the early days of the 20th century. At the outset, research and practice in the field were virtually synonymous, and there were clear links between the two. But there seems to be consensus that research and practice have diverged over recent decades and there have been numerous papers that have pointed this out, and which have also suggested ways to bring the two sides into better alignment. The present paper joins the ranks of those who have noted this divergence, but we also propose a model of the forces leading to that divergence that deal with forces operating on both researchers and managers. This analysis results in some different conclusions about the nature of the divergence, as well as suggestions for how to bring the two sides back together.