A small, highly automated chemical plant needed blue collar workers for seven‐man teams in an ‘enriched’ work environment: no foreman, 100% job rotation, and a rotating lead‐man position. A mini‐assessment center helped to identify the candidates to meet such unusual blue‐collar requirements.

The controller is in the best position to evaluate the costs of proposals and counter‐proposals in bargaining sessions; he should be a regular member of the negotiating team.

There are two keys to picking the right man for a job: knowing the results the man has achieved on past jobs (not only the names of those jobs) and knowing the objectives of the job to be filled. If he has in the past achieved the results the present job is aiming for—he's the right man.

A strategic model of human resource management is proposed as a framework to support sustainable adaptation to the disruptive and dynamic challenges in the business context related to environmental sustainability. The implications of a whole‐systems ecological approach to the design and implementation of human resource systems are explored, and the literature on best HR practices to support environmental sustainability is summarized. Implications for practice and research are presented.

Most research on selection processes and organizational fit deals with existing, unfilled positions where expectations and tasks are known and measurable. This article instead evaluates the reasons, processes, and implications of opportunistic hiring—hiring employees before their jobs exist. Examples from an exploratory study show how “fit” factors into selection decisions. A typology is offered along the dimensions of whether opportunistic hiring is used to meet immediate or anticipated needs and the extent to which these needs are articulated prior to selection.

Research findings from industrial and organizational psychology and other disciplines cast doubt on the simple assertion that a diverse workforce inevitably improves business performance. Instead, research and theory suggest several conditions necessary to manage diversity initiatives successfully and reap organizational benefits. This article reviews empirical research and theory on the relationship between workforce diversity and organizational performance and outlines practical steps HR practitioners can take to manage diversity initiatives successfully and enhance the positive outcomes.

This article describes a high quality human resource management curriculum as perceived by one group of customers–senior human resource executives who hire, train, and work with university and college graduates. A Delphi research methodology was used to survey the opinions of 24 members of the Human Resources Council, an advisory body to the American Management Association. The study confirms that the major topics taught in most HRM curricula at the bachelor and masters levels are perceived by HR executives to be just about right. It also presents their views about the relative value of the topics and shares specifics about their conviction that graduates need a much deeper understanding of how and where the HR function fits into the overall business strategy of an organization.

This article describes a high quality human resource management curriculum as perceived by one group of customers–senior human resource executives who hire, train, and work with university and college graduates. A Delphi research methodology was used to survey the opinions of 24 members of the Human Resources Council, an advisory body to the American Management Association. The study confirms that the major topics taught in most HRM curricula at the bachelor and masters levels are perceived by HR executives to be just about right. It also presents their views about the relative value of the topics and shares specifics about their conviction that graduates need a much deeper understanding of how and where the HR function fits into the overall business strategy of an organization.