Human Resource Management in the Latin European Context

This chapter provides an overview of the current human resource management (HRM) landscape in Latin Europe. Latin European countries are commonly associated with lower levels of active population, weaker systems of social protection, higher rates of self-employment, and a dualistic labor market. On the basis of data collected in the last round of the Cranet Survey on Comparative Human Resource Management (2014/15), we investigate the extent to which we can also talk of an idiosyncratic Latin European model in terms of HRM. Similar to previous analyses, we can observe significant variance in terms of HRM among Latin European countries. At the same time, however, there seem to be some distinguishable traits. According to companies surveyed, the HRM department has a low degree of influence on strategic decision-making, and investment in training and development of employees is lower than in other European countries. The Latin model also reveals a greater level of labor unrest vis-à-vis continental Europe, which gives unions a prominent role in decision-making (with special emphasis on pay) and results in the primary objective of the HRM department being labor relations. Finally, there is less involvement by line management in the management of employees, partly as a result of their own lack of training.