Human Resource Management: Theory & Practice written by Prof. M A Akkas is going to be published very soon. The preface of the book is posted for your understanding.

Preface

Human resource is the lifeblood and the most valuable asset of an organization. Without this valuable resource, other factors of production (land, capital, technology) are useless. It is an employee who makes other factors productive. Considering the importance of human resource, we have written a book on Human resource Management in the context of Bangladesh.  In the present work, almost all the common and traditional functions of HRM have been discussed sequentially.   This book has many salient features compared to a number of books published both within and outside the country.   It contains many new and contemporary issues which are multidimensional covering such as green HRM, Digital HRM, Human Resource Accounting, HRM practices in  the advanced countries (USA, Germany, Japan, China, and India), HRM practices in Bangladesh, productivity through people, Labor-management cooperation, etc. These new issues are the unique addition of this book.

The government of Bangladesh is trying hard to digitize our country. We have tried to write a new chapter on E-HRM in order to build a digital Bangladesh. We have explored the benefits and limitations of E-HRM and suggest guidelines to make E-HRM effective in our country.

We also focus on maintaining and sustaining an environment- friendly management system in our country. To this end, we have written a chapter on Green Human Resource Management. The reserve of non-renewable natural resource is declining due to over consumption and mismanagement. We hope that Green HRM practices make our students, employees and managers, and the public at large aware of environment management. 

Our book contains a chapter entitled Human Resource Accounting. Although human resources are the most valuable asset, they are not shown in the traditional accounting system. Investment in human resource should be considered as a capital expenditure, which yields benefits for a long time. We have reviewed methods and models so far developed about human resource accounting, although it is difficult to make valuation of human resources.

Bangladesh is facing a stiff competition due to globalization. The developed countries are monopolizing the benefits of globalization and the developing countries like Bangladesh are becoming marginalized. Globalization creates both challenges and opportunities for the developing countries like Bangladesh. To meet the challenges and reap the benefits of globalization, we have to improve our employee productivity. Our book contains a chapter on productivity through people in the age of globalization. We try to provide arguments about how productivity in an organization can be improved through the utilization of human resources- the best creature of Almighty Allah, in an efficient and effective manner. Although there are different strategies to improve productivity, we focus on people –driven strategy because of its unique emphasis on the utilization of the unlimited potential of human beings.  We conclude that wisely managed human resources could be a competitive advantage for Bangladesh leading to increased profit.

We selected a few advanced countries and tried to explain their HRM practices. Economically advanced countries have their own unique HRM systems and these countries are enjoying a competitive advantage because of managing their human resources properly. Our students and employees can take many lessons from the superior HRM system of the advanced countries.

We wrote a chapter on labor-management cooperation because without a sound and cooperative relationship between the employees and managers, Bangladesh could not attain its desired goals. Labor unrest is a serious threat to our economy. Our managers should be leaders, role models and heroes, not masters/ bosses. Both managers and workers should work together as a partner in progress. A cooperative attitude and relationships between the union and management can contribute materially to discipline and productivity within the organization. Many sensible union leaders and employer representatives realize the fact that cooperation between management and labor unions is essential if organizations are going to compete in a global economy.

This book has covered the syllabus of all the universities- public, private, Open and National, of Bangladesh. HRM as a discipline is gaining popularity in Bangladesh. That’s why; HRM has been introduced at the BBA and MBA levels in the universities and colleges in our country. But unfortunately, the standard textbook in our cultural context is very scarce.

Most of the Western books have been written from their cultural and social context, which may not be compatible to our cultural context. In those books, examples and cases are cited from their organizations and cultural perspectives. Our students find it difficult to understand those examples and cases. We have tried to cite local stories, examples, and cases to make our students and readers understand easily the basic concepts of HRM. We have tried our best to explain the terms and concepts of HRM in a lucid and simple language.  We believe that our students will feel comfortable to read our book. Our long teaching experience helps us to determine the needs of our students and we have tried to meet  their needs.

There is no denying the fact that we have drawn immense materials from many standard books, both published and on-line articles on this subject. Yet, the book is original in the exposition and presentation of the subject matter.  In our work, our goal is to produce the most complete and useable book on the market.

We are grateful to some of four colleagues at the Department of Management, University of Dhaka, especially Prof. Dr. S.G. Maola and Prof.Dr. Faruq Ahemd, who have made extremely helpful comments on the various parts of this manuscript and we made good use of their advice. We are also  thankful to some of our colleagues at the Department of Management, Univeristy of Dhaka, specially Manika Chakraborty, Mohammad Abdul Jabber, Nadia Ahmed, Tanuja Nath, Ethica Tianjin, Kazi Md Moinuddin who have helped us a lot in proofreading. Mr. Shariful Alam Khandakar, Assist Professor, Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Dhaka , also has encouraged us to write a book on HRM. He must deserve our thanks. We are also thankful to Masud Rana, faculty member, Kobi Nozrul University and Tamanna Parveen faculty member, East West University.

Lastly, and most importantly, we acknowledge the personal contributions of four families. On the Akkas side, sincere gratitude goes to my wife Rawshonara and my two beloved sons-Amit and Sumiot. The patience and love of those people most dear to me provided the positive climate to complete this task. Through their support this book ‘ Human resource Management: Theory and Practice’ have become a reality.