(Journal of Management and Research., 2015) Aamir Abbas Chaudhry; Khadijah Saeed Khan; Atif Hassan
General System Theory (GST) has presented some key concepts that Strategic HRM
researchers use to link different HR Systems with organizational strategic goals and
performance. In order to apply General System Theory’s underpinnings in Strategic HR
literature and to establish the point that GST’s key concepts can be used to explore HR systems,
it is necessary to first prove that HR as a distinct function of any organization and can be
declared as a system. It is possible, if researchers can prove that all or most of the key concepts
presented by GST are present in organization’s HR function and thus Systems Theory/Thinking
principles can be applied to design and manage HR function. This conceptual paper takes a look
at literature and analyzes all related assumptions of general systems theory in the context of
HRM and concluded that HRM can be declared as a system.