A variety of factors influenced the birth and evolution of HRM in Italy: the peculiarities of the Italian industrial takeoff, which occurred later than in the other Western Countries; the specificities of the Italian political, institutional and labor relations systems; a dual business environment characterized by a few large industrial groups and banks and by a multitude of entrepreneurial, family- owned-and-run, small and medium sized enterprises; an inefficient public administration; the divide between the North and the South; a society strongly characterized by local communities and territorial identities; a managerial profession that, because of ineffective selection and development processes, lacks the legitimacy and at times the competencies to drive economic and social change in the face of globalization. This chapter provides an account of the development of human resource management in Italy adopting a historical, neo-institutional perspective and analyzing the co-evolution of the theory and practice of HRM in Italian firms during the last century of the Italian economic, social and political history. This historical account of HRM in Italy shows that HRM practices have been shaped not only by economic factors and labor market dynamics, but also by the industrial relations system and the institutional environment. The history of HRM in Italy has been characterized by alternative phases of incremental evolution and radical upheaval at times deriving from exogenous shocks and at times triggered by social actors’ interests, power and strategies.
The evolution of human resource management in Italy: a historical-institutional perspective
CAMUFFO, ARNALDO
2014
Abstract
A variety of factors influenced the birth and evolution of HRM in Italy: the peculiarities of the Italian industrial takeoff, which occurred later than in the other Western Countries; the specificities of the Italian political, institutional and labor relations systems; a dual business environment characterized by a few large industrial groups and banks and by a multitude of entrepreneurial, family- owned-and-run, small and medium sized enterprises; an inefficient public administration; the divide between the North and the South; a society strongly characterized by local communities and territorial identities; a managerial profession that, because of ineffective selection and development processes, lacks the legitimacy and at times the competencies to drive economic and social change in the face of globalization. This chapter provides an account of the development of human resource management in Italy adopting a historical, neo-institutional perspective and analyzing the co-evolution of the theory and practice of HRM in Italian firms during the last century of the Italian economic, social and political history. This historical account of HRM in Italy shows that HRM practices have been shaped not only by economic factors and labor market dynamics, but also by the industrial relations system and the institutional environment. The history of HRM in Italy has been characterized by alternative phases of incremental evolution and radical upheaval at times deriving from exogenous shocks and at times triggered by social actors’ interests, power and strategies.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.