The main authors in the field of Human Resources Management (HRM), such as Guest (1987), Legge (2006), Armstrong (2009), Bohlander and Snell (2009) e Wilkinson et al. (2010), agreed that people have taken significant and strategic role in organizations. Therefore, the HRM field should not have traditional role of support, but rather provide organizational essential skills since human resources are responsible for the production of knowledge, providing a source of competitive advantage. That's why they should be valued and developed through HRM policies. Thus, the main objective of this paper was to present the scenario of studies on policies of HRM, showing the results of a literature review covering the international production and the scenario of the 108 studies published in national journals in the top-level (greater equal than Qualis B2) from the Management field in the past 10 years, i.e., in the 2000-2010 period. This review allowed the proposition of a research agenda. The results engendered in fact indicated the strategic importance for organizations of studies on HRM policies, however they noted the urgency to carry out more studies on the subject, since some policies, although strategic, are still very poorly investigated. There are also gaps in the literature regarding the development and validation of scales and for theoretical studies. In summary, it is suggested to relate the policies and practices of GP to other variables of organizational behavior and combine different methodological perspectives in order to analyze more accurately their effects on the welfare of employees and organizational outcomes.
Human resources management policies; Literature review; Management journals; Research agenda; Institutionalization of research in Brazil
