Research and Personnel Management

Abstract

Increasingly, personnel specialists regard themselves as professionals working in organisations and expect to have their expertise recognised in much the same way as that of other professional workers. As Karen Legge¹ has pointed out, however, the personnel officer is not normally perceived in this way by line managers, who generally regard themselves as responsible for making the important personnel decisions. Such role ambiguity is likely to cause considerable difficulties for all those involved and needs to be resolved if the personnel function is to be performed effectively. It is hoped that this paper, which will review the contribution of the social sciences to personnel management, will be of some assistance in clarifying the role of the personnel specialist.