REDEFINING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Today, global competition and rapid market developments preoccupy top management. They have less time for internal issues. If not checked, this preoccupation with the external world will leave top management in the same position as the military commander who may have a brilliant battle plan but does not know or understand the nature of his own troops. To be successful, top management requires in‐depth and quality knowledge of the company′s people and the corporate culture which binds them together. Typically, top management does not get quality information. They work on unchecked hunches and shallow, filtered information. By retooling the frequently underutilized human resource manager with the analytical skills for cultural analysis, general management can be strengthened with skilled and knowledgeable co‐pilots and internal change agents. Discusses these issues and some of the basic concepts of cultural anthropology useful for analysis in both domestic and multinational corporations.