The recognition of human resource management (HRM) as a key source of competitive

advantage provides professionals working in the human resources (HR) function with
elevated organizational status (Boxall and Purcell 2003; Wright et al., 2001). In Australia,
significant changes to the industrial relations legislation have also brought attention to the HR
role. In order to provide insights into the response of the HR function in Australia to the
range of HR responsibilities that the function is expected to deal with, the main objectives of
the current research is to review the developments in HRM in Australian organizations
through an examination of both the HR role and HRM policy initiatives in respect to vital
human resource applications notably Compensation practices and procedures, Training and
development, Occupational health and safety procedures and Job security.
Many works have chosen several theories and strategies as their theoretical framework in
order to characterize the compensation processes in businesses (Gomez et al., 2003). The
analysis is of even greater interest in family businesses, where lower levels of management
hierarchy exist (Galve & Salas, 2003; Van Steel & Stunnenberg, 2006), and the
compensation costs at the operational level are consequently even higher. Only a small
number of general empirical studies have dealt with employee compensation contracts. The
researcher might mention the work of Werner et al. (2005), who investigate how the
ownership structure is related to the firms overall compensation strategy. The public sector
can rarely compete with the private sector when it comes to paying high wages, and as
private companies also seek to attract high-quality employees, public sector managers have to
compete along other dimensions (Anderson et al., 2012). Compensation can be many things.
Some studies have already explored the relationship between public service motivation and
monetary incentives (Bright, 2005; Perry et al., 2009), but less tangible benefits such as
health care packages can also be part of the compensation package. For this purpose, a webbased survey has been carried out among 3094 Australian public and private sector
employees. The results regarding the expected negative association between public service
motivation and bonuses, which has been found in earlier studies using one-dimensional
public service motivation measures, is only statistically significant for employees with high
compassion (strong emotion-based motivation to provide services to others).
There is a strong and persistent belief in Australian training policy circles that Australia is a
poor performer by international standards in the provision of training. This view is
particularly strongly held in relation to employer training where it is commonly assumed that
Australian employers chronically under invest in the training of their employees and show
little inclination to increase their training effort in response to government initiatives (Smith,
2006). Since 1989 the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has conducted five surveys of
employer training expenditure (ABS, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2003). The original survey
conducted as a pilot in 1989 indicated that only 22 per cent of Australian employers carried
out any form of training for their employees and that an average of 2.2 per cent of payroll
costs was invested in training activities with employees receiving, on average, 22 hours of
training per annum. This research built on the model of employer training and investigated in
more depth the relationship between employer training and organizational change in
Australian enterprises (Smith et al., 2003). As per the recent researches on the Australian
firms, the majority of the employees in most of the multinational and local Australian
companies provide proper on-the job and off-the job training to their employees. Moreover,
shifting responsibilities has been observed for training operatives from owner-managers to
middle management is consistent with increasing delegation of operations with middle
management as the firm grows (Kotey and Sheridan, 2004).

Today unemployment is an important problem almost every country suffers from. Although
the reasons may show variety, job security seems to be in decrease in every part of the world.
The most prominent reasons for decreasing job security can be cited as technology,
internationalization of capital, demographic change and government policies (Smith, 1999, p.
196-198). From this aspect, todays business world is experiencing a difficult period in terms
of both employees and employers. Job security, which is crucial for an employee in terms of
keeping his or her job or finding a new job, is also important for the employers since it
enables them to keep their employees or find new ones. Therefore, job security is one of the
most significant variables of employee satisfaction, which expresses the general attitude of
the employee towards his/her job (Bakan and By be e, 2004). Van (2004) identified many
proofs that organizational identification predicts turnover rate but the bond was partly
mediated by satisfaction of the job. Employee turnover rate not only affect those employee's
behavior that are leaving the organization because of the dissatisfaction but also leave a
negative impact in the behaviors of those who are staying in the organization.
In Australia, the regulation of OHS has predominantly been a matter for state and territories
rather than the federal government, although the latter has taken a more prominent role in the
last five years. There is also a growing body of research indicating that these work
arrangements have wea ened or bypassed existing OHS and wor ers compensation
regulatory regimes (Lippel, 2005; Rawling, 2007). This includes studies of downsizing
(Quinlan, 2007), subcontracting and home-based work (Bernstein et al., 2001; James et al.,
2007; Johnstone et al., 2001; Quinlan and Bohle, 2008), labour hire/agency workers
(Johnstone and Quinlan, 2006) and direct- hire temporary workers (Aronsson, 1999). Studies
have examined the impact of workplace changes on specific provisions within OHS
legislation, such as requirements for workplace OHS committees and health and employee
safety representatives (Johnstone et al., 2005). There is also research into effective limitations
on the rights and entitlements of foreign-born workers, especially temporary/guest workers
and illegal/undocumented immigrants who tend to be concentrated in contingent jobs
(Guthrie and Quinlan, 2005). Other research has examined the impact of contingent work on
wor ers compensation regimes (Quinlan, 2004). OHS inspectorates in Australia have been
aware of the challenges posed by changed work arrangements for some time (Guthrie and
Quinlan, 2005).

References
1. Lippel, K. (2005) Precarious Employment and Occupational Health and Safety
Regulation in Quebec, in L. Vos o (ed.) Precarious employment: Understanding
labour market insecurity in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.
2. Rawling, M. (2007) The Regulation of Outwork and the Federal Takeover of Labour
Law, Australian Journal of Labour Law 20: 189206.
3. Quinlan, M. (2007) Organizational Restructuring/Downsizing, OHS Regulation and
Wor er Health and Wellbeing, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 30(45):
38599.
4. Bernstein, S., Lippel, K. and Lamarche, L. (2001) Women and Homework: The
Canadian Legislative Framework, Status of Women Canada: Ottawa,
http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/ pubs/pubsalpha_e.html
5. Johnstone, R., Mayhew, C. and Quinlan, M. (2001) Outsourcing Risk?: The

Regulation of OSH where Contractors are Employed, Comparative Labor Law and
Policy Journal, 22(23): 35193.
6. James, P., Johnstone, R., Quinlan, M. and Walters, D. (2007) Regulating Supply
Chains for Safety and Health, Industrial Law Journal 36(2): 16387.
7. Quinlan, M. and Bohle, P. (2008) Under Pressure, Out of Control or Home Alone?:
Reviewing Research and Policy Debates on the OHS Effects of Outsourcing and
Home-based Wor , International Journal of Health Services 38(3): 489525.
8. Aronsson, G. (1999) Contingent Wor ers and Health and Safety, Work, Employment
and Society 13(3): 43960.
9. Johnstone, R. (2006) Regulating Occupational Health and Safety in a Changing
Labour Mar et, in C. Arup, P. Gahan, J. Howe, R. Johnstone, R. Mitchell and A.
ODonnell (eds) Labour Law and Labour Market Regulation, pp. 61736. Sydney:
Federation Press.
10. Guthrie, R. and Quinlan, M. (2005) The Occupational Health and Safety Rights and
Wor ers Compensation Entitlements of Illegal Immigrants: An Emerging
Challenge, Policy and Practice in Safety and Health 3(2): 6989.
11. Quinlan, M. (2004) Wor ers Compensation and the Challenges Posed by Changing
Patterns of Wor : Evidence from Australia, Policy and Practice in Health and Safety
2(1): 2552.
12. Van Dam, K. (2004), Antecedents and consequences of employability-orientation.
European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, (13): 29-51.
13. Smith, L. (1999). An Evaluation of Programs for Staff in NHS and Hotel Ancillary.
Staff Facilities, 17 (7/8), 264-271.
14. Ba an, .,
B y be e, T. (2004). al anlar n
G vencesi Ve Genel
Davran lar li isi: Bir Alan al mas .
Bilimler Fakl- tesi Dergisi, Temmuz-Aral , (23), 35-59.
15. Kotey, B., & Sheridan, A. (2004). Changing HRM practices with firm growth. Journal
Of Small Business And Enterprise Development, 11(4), 474-485.
16. Smith, A., Ocz ows i, E., Noble, C. and Mac lin, R. (2003), New management
practices and enterprise training in Australia, International Journal of Manpower,
Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 31-47.
17. Smith, A. (2006). The development of employee training in Australia. Emerald Group
Publishing Limited, 48(4), 252-261.
18. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1990), Employer Training Expenditure
Australia, July to September 1989, AGPS, Canberra.
19. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1991), Employer Training Expenditure
Australia, July to September 1990, AGPS, Canberra.
20. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1994), Employer Training Expenditure
Australia, July to September 1993, AGPS, Canberra.
21. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1997), Employer Training Expenditure
Australia, July to September 1996, AGPS, Canberra.
22. Australian Bureau of Statistics (1999), Business Longitudinal Survey.
Confidentialised Unit Record, AGPS, Canberra.
23. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003), Employer Training Expenditure and Practices,

Australia, AGPS, Canberra.

24. Anderson, L.B., Eriksson, T., Kristensen, N., & Pederson, L.M. (2012). Attracting
public service motivated employees: how to design compensation packages.
International Review Of Administrative Sciences, 78(4), 615-641.
25. Bright L (2005) Public employees with high levels of public service motivation: Who
are they, where are they, and what do they want? Review of Public Personnel
Administration 25: 138154.
26. Perry JL, Engbers T and Jun SJ (2009). Back to the future? Performance-related pay,
empirical research, and the perils of persistence. Public Administration Review 69(1):
3951.
27. Galve, C., & Salas, V. (2003). La empresa familiar en Espaa. Bilbao: Fundacin
BBVA.
28. Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Larraza, M., & Makri. M. (2003). The determinants of CEO
compensation in family- controlled public corporations. Academy of Management
Journal, 46, 226237.
29. Van Steel, A., & Stunnenberg, V. (2006). Linking business ownership and perceived
administrative complexity. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development,
13, 723.
30. Werner, S., Tosi, H., & Gomez-Mejia, L. R. (2005). Organizational governance and
employee pay: How ownership structure affects the firms compensation strategy.
Strategic Management Journal, 26, 377384.
31. Boxall, P. and J. Purcell. 2003. Strategy and human resource management.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
32. Wright, P.M., B. Dunford, and S. Snell. 2001. Human resource and the resourcebased view of the firm. Journal of Management 27(6): 70112.