Professional Associations and their Influence on Personel Management:a Comparison between the IPM/PPD in Britain and the DGFP in Germany

Abstract

This thesis compares the approaches that the two personnel associations, the Institute of Personnel Management (IPM), which is now the Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD) in Britain and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Personalfuehrung (DGfP) in Germany take to support and promote personnel management in their country. Also the study examines the extent to which these associations impact upon the work, education and status of personnel managers. The literature review considers the concepts of a profession and professional associations in the context of the personnel management process in the two countries and outlines the origins and development of the IPD and the DGfP. An empirical investigation is undertaken using secondary sources, interviews with officers and members of each association and an analysis of their journals in order to examine in what ways and to what extent the IPM/IPD and the DGfP influence personnel management in their country. The findings show that each association has its own ways of serving the membership, according to the specific national features of personnel management in the two countries. Whereas the IPD takes a more proactive approach, as a qualifying association and a pressure group, the DGfP acts as a personnel practitioners’ society and does not engage in lobbying. Due to these different approaches they have different potential influence on the work, the education and the status of personnel managers. The study makes a small contribution to the argument that the cultural context in which personnel managers operate has to be carefully considered in international comparisons.