The role of human resource management in implementing a 'new agreement' between employers and employees

When quality in an organisational context includes more employee-oriented arrangements and systems, the introduction of a new relationship pattern between employers and employees can rightly be considered a quality program. In this article we describe the shifting roles of HRM and 'people management' in general within a changing environmental and organisational context. We present an original 'FIT' organisational model, in which the role of HRM as 'partner-champion' is highlighted, and which was implemented during the 1990s in a multinational company. More specifically, we describe the company background, the motives for this new approach, the basic principles and the main phases of implementation of this new 'social contract'.