A Foucauldian exploration of human resource management practices in post-colonial, global-south contexts

TY - GEN

T1 - A Foucauldian exploration of human resource management practices in post-colonial, global-south contexts

AU - Umeh, Chidozie

AU - Jhatial, Ashiq Ali

AU - Pezet, Eric

AU - Cornelius, Nelarine

AU - Wallace, James

PY - 2022/6/22

Y1 - 2022/6/22

N2 - Although macro-social influences on managerial and international HRM practices have been extensively reported in the literature, the alignments between these practices in post-colonial states are, however, poorly understood. This paper examines the HRM role and practices of traditional and Western-informed non-traditional elite managers, implementing universal HRM practices and agendas, under a Praetorian regime in post-colonial Pakistan. In-depth interviews were conducted with HRM professionals, union representatives, and managers working in the public and private sectors and multinational organisations, in Pakistan. Through the lens of Foucauldian discourse, analyses of these interviews revealed the coexistence of managerial global-HRM orientated elite and Praetorian post-colonial elite managers, and how their HRM practices impacted employees’ experience of equality and inequality within their organisations. This ‘intertextual coexistence’ is predicated on the dynamics of hierarchical and heterarchical relations of power and resistance within the organisation, and the imbrication, or interleaving, of local history and culture, global culture, and influential HRM practices. Our findings suggest the need for greater consideration of social practices, including forms of subjectivity, meanings, and power relations, when managing human resources to achieve equality in organisations within post-colonial countries.

AB - Although macro-social influences on managerial and international HRM practices have been extensively reported in the literature, the alignments between these practices in post-colonial states are, however, poorly understood. This paper examines the HRM role and practices of traditional and Western-informed non-traditional elite managers, implementing universal HRM practices and agendas, under a Praetorian regime in post-colonial Pakistan. In-depth interviews were conducted with HRM professionals, union representatives, and managers working in the public and private sectors and multinational organisations, in Pakistan. Through the lens of Foucauldian discourse, analyses of these interviews revealed the coexistence of managerial global-HRM orientated elite and Praetorian post-colonial elite managers, and how their HRM practices impacted employees’ experience of equality and inequality within their organisations. This ‘intertextual coexistence’ is predicated on the dynamics of hierarchical and heterarchical relations of power and resistance within the organisation, and the imbrication, or interleaving, of local history and culture, global culture, and influential HRM practices. Our findings suggest the need for greater consideration of social practices, including forms of subjectivity, meanings, and power relations, when managing human resources to achieve equality in organisations within post-colonial countries.

M3 - Conference contribution

BT - 38th EGOS Colloquium, Vienna 2022

A2 - Amis, John

A2 - Mair, Johanna

A2 - Munir, Kamal

PB - European Group for Organisatuional Studies

ER -