I hadmixedreactionstothisbook.Asa formeracademic,Iappreciatethetime andefforttheauthorexpendedincon-ductingthelongitudinalqualitativere-searchthatformsthebasisforthebook. Theinformationandinsightsheprovides advancearesearchagendathat,asnoted multiple times, just begins to scratch the sur-face of human resource management (HRM) practices in developing countries. As compa-niesmoveintounfamiliarterritories,they surely could benefit from research that sheds lightonhowtooptimizetheirperformance byadaptingtheirbusinesspracticestotheir new settings.Speakingasaconsultant,Iwasdisap-pointedinthebookfortworeasons.First, although the author identies his target au-dience as including managers, entrepreneurs, HRprofessionals,consultants,andpracti-tionersinvolvedinre-designinglocaland globalcorporations(inadditiontoacadem-ics and students), the books format and lan-guageareprimarilythoseofadissertation. Thisfactdissuadesallbuttheveryhardiest of practitioners from wading through exten-sive literature reviews and academic verbiage to uncover the gems that are so well hidden fromnonacademiceyes.Insteadoftelling the intended audiences only what they need toknow,theauthortellsthemeverything heknows,whichbecomesoverwhelming. Althoughthebookisdescribedasprovid-ing a theoretical framework, the fact that its intended audience is composed primarily of nonacademics suggests that the information beprovidedinwaysthatthoseindividuals canunderstandanduseeasily.Second,the phrase innovative HRM in the books title signaled to me that the author would reveal new,original,groundbreaking,and/orin-ventive HRM practices. I was disappointed to nd that this was not the case.Tryingtoservetwoverydifferentaudi-enceswithonebookdoesnotworkinthis case, primarily because the theoretical under-pinnings of the study that enthrall research-ersareofnointeresttomostpractitioners. Nordothelatterparticularlycareaboutfu-tureresearchandtheextenttowhichthis study achieves its stated goal of furthering a given research agenda. Even the case studies arenotveryreader-friendly,asindicatedby the authors own description of them as be-ing tortuously detailed (p. 34).Whatpractitionersdocareaboutis straightforward information about what was done,whatworkedandwhy,whatdidnt workandwhy,andhowtheymayapply otherspracticestoachievetheirownsuc-cesses. Unfortunately, while the author does provide this information eventually, it is too well hidden to attract much interest from the targetedpractitioneraudience.Evensome BOOK REVIEWPATLYNCHAshok Som (2008). Organization Redesign and Innovative HRM. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. 197 pages.Human Resource Management, JulyAugust 2010, Vol. 49, No. 4, Pp. 809811 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/hrm.20377810HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, JULYAugust 2010Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrmacademicsmayndthelevelofdetailand thenumberoftheoriescoveredinmultiple literature reviews daunting.Both the title of the book and the stated researchquestionseemsomewhatmislead-ing, resulting in unmet expectations. The au-thor denes the term innovative HRM on page 22 as follows: Any intentional introduction or change ofHRMprogram,policy,practice orsystemdesignedtoinuencethe employee,adapttheskills,behaviors, andinteractionsofemployeesand have the potential to provide both the foundation for strategy formulation and the means of strategy implementation that is perceived to be new and creates current capabilities and competencies. (Som, 2006)Giventhattheauthorisaddressingper-ceptions and is talking about organizational re-design (primarily) in India, one could say that HRM practices that seem run-of-the-mill in more developed countries are innovative in India and other developing countries. Be-cause the title does not indicate that the study isconnedtocompaniesdoingbusinessin India,however,theimplicationIdrewwas that the author would present new HR prac-tices. Indeed, while the books abstract raises questionsspecictochangesintheIndian businessenvironment(e.g.,theorganiza-tional and managerial changes that have oc-curred in response to environmental changes in India), the books purpose is stated broadly, thatis,tohelpmanagersandacademicians addressthisquestion:Giventhechanging businessenvironment,howdoweredesign the organization for superior performance? (p. 1). The qualitative research methodology theauthoruses,thoughappropriateforhis subject, does not permit the generalizability of the results even to companies doing busi-ness in developing countries, as they are not so big and so relatively advanced as India is. Theauthorspeciesthreepotentialcon-tributionsmadebythisbook(p.xii):(1)fur-theringaresearchagendathatexaminesthe rolesamongorganizationalredesign,HRM, and organizational performance; (2) providing critical information about context-specic or-ganizational redesign variables and the cross-national role of HRM; and (3) shedding some light on the role of HRM in emerging countries such as India. He is successful in all three areas, and that makes it even more unfortunate that the book is not more reader-friendly. The sum-mary of relevant theory provides a solid foun-dation for his research, and he provides what seems to be a comprehensive list of examples of the dramatic changes in the business envi-ronmentinIndiabeginninginthe1990sas the country opened its doors to outsiders. For those who have little or no knowledge of the transformation that began to occur, and those whomaycontemplatedoingbusinessinIn-dia, this book provides valuable and fascinat-ing background information.As promised, the ve case studies as pre-sentedinitially(Chapters37)aretortuous, providing in most instances more detail than evenacademicaudiencesmaytolerate.Asa result, the interesting and relevant informa-tion may be lost or overlooked. I found my-self dissatised at the end of four of the ve casesbecausethequestionsofmostinterest tomesuchasdetailsoftheimplementa-tionwere left unanswered.TheLafargecasewastheexception,and thus the most satisfying of the ve examples. At the other end of the spectrum, I found the Renault case to be disjointed, with large gaps that were disconcerting. For example, the nar-rativeinexplicablyjumpedfromspeculation about the likely success of 1990 changes in the re-design of the HR department, to the compa-nys 20062007 entry into the Indian market.On the other hand, I found the summa-ries described in Chapter 8, which are meant tointegratetheoryandpractice,tobecon-ciseandeasilyunderstandable.Theynally revealed the how to that is of great interest and value to many readers. Stripped of the lit-any of research results found in earlier chap-ters and providing just the facts (for the most part),thischaptereasilycouldstandonits own as an excellent guide for those who are mostinterestedinthelessonslearnedfrom this study, which are extensive. Once again, information about Lafarge stood out among the other four cases, though the Renault sum-BOOK REVIEW811Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrmmary shared information about what worked forthatcompanyandwhy,anditprovided theoutcomesmissingfromitsearlierwrite-up. Table 8.1 on page 137 provides a wonder-ful visual of the authors main points.Thissummarychaptercouldhavepro-vided a tting end of the book. The author, however,includedanotherchapterthat made me realizeagainthat I was reading a dissertation rather than a book. The litera-turereviewofthenineadditionaltheories containedinChapter9mighttaxthepa-tience even of academics who nd this topic of great interest.The sections on research implications, lim-itations, and scope for future work are those I expect to see in scholarly journal articles or dis-sertations, not in a bookespecially not in one intended for largely practitioner audiences. Al-though the author states that the results of the study are relevant to both academics and prac-titioners(p.154),hemakesitverychalleng-ing for these audiences to nd them easily. He doesprovideveimplicationsformanagers, thoughtheyseemrelativelygeneric,echoing comments made by others. Curiously, I do not recallreadinganythingabouthisfthpoint, whichistheimportanceoflinemanagersin usingHRMwithinanorganization.Because I know from my own experience how critical such participation is to organizational success, I would like to have seen something more spe-cic about this issue.There is no doubt that the book contains valuable insights for its intended audiences. WhileImightrecommendittoacademic colleagues, it would be with the caveat that it reads like a dissertation rather than a book. Despite its value for nonacademics, I would be unlikely to recommend the book to that (large)segmentoftheintendedaudience simplybecausemostwouldbeunableand/or unwilling to wade through the extensive amountofinformationthattheyndirrel-evant.WhatImightdoisrecommendthat they read Chapter 8, as the author provides usable information in a concise and relative-lyeasytounderstandformat.Iwouldlike to see this information made available in an alternative,easilyaccessibleformat(e.g.,a nonacademic article, a booklet, a Webinar or teleseminar), as it would be a shame for data collectedsopainstakinglyovertheyears, andtheprocessesandresultsthatcouldbe put to good use, to be left to gather dust on a shelf.PatLynchearnedherPh.D.inpersonneland employment relations from Georgia State Univer-sity. After teaching for a number of years in the CaliforniaStateUniversitysystem,sheleftaca-demiatostartherownmanagementconsulting business.SheservedasamemberoftheHRCI Item Writing Panel for the PHR and SPHR exams for six years and as a member of the HRCI Forms Review Panel for three years.