The business environment of human resource management

This chapter discusses the business environment of human resource management (HRM). It surveys the external environment and the influences on the organization that originate from outside its boundaries. The chapter aims to provide encouragement and guidance to explore the external influences, both actual and potential, that impact an organization. It begins by considering how to 'order' the various influences in the external environment using the STEEPLE framework. Then, working within this framework, the influences are grouped in order to investigate them and thereby emphasize the dynamic interrelations between the individual influences.