The (ir)relevance of human resource management in independent work: Challenging assumptions
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Date
2021
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Abstract
We challenge the assumption that independent workers
are not relevant to or within the remit of HRM practice
and theory. Traditionally, HR focusses on the management
of employees within the boundaries of the organisation.
Yet, this neglects the wider role that HR can and must
have in the management of human work that the orga nisation needs yet exists beyond these boundaries. We
argue for the ‘Human’ in HRM to include independent
workers. We first contextualise them, highlight the rea sons for neglect, and examine and provoke three key
areas. We set out the taken for granted, problematise, and
then show how they are relevant, look different, or could
be. Through this, we provoke exactly what HR does,
where it starts and finishes, and its role in a network or
ecosystem rather than purely an organisation. We close
by offering ways of making this happen for both theory
and practice
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Keywords
HR practices, HR profession, boundaries of control