This book is a strategic gem for managers, integrating core principles of organizational design and development with strategic questions in human capital management so that organizations can unleash the full potential of its people. Covering topics from organizational architecture to change, strategic human capital management, thrilling material on employee engagement, and how to deal with workplace conflict, the text is a cornucopia of ‘how to’ wisdom for leaders and managers rooted in strong organizational research.

The book does to some extent assume that the reader has some introductory knowledge about organizations and human capital management. For example, it does not seek to cover the basic principles of HRM functions, even though it reviews them. Readers with little knowledge regarding the foundational principles of these topics should consider reading introductory texts first. For this reason, when used as a textbook in university courses this book is suited most as a postgraduate or upper undergraduate text.

A note on terminology when it comes to human resource management, people management, human capital management, and similar terms. Although there are arguments that they differ, I largely think of this as semantic. In the book I largely use the term human capital management (HCM), intending that it be largely interchangeable with these other terms.

A feature of this book is that it seeks to work with specific suggested frameworks that carry with them normative guidance for managers, in other words to work towards concrete recommendations. This is different to many management books which seek to summarize a wide variety of research in a field without making specific suggestions for a final route managers could follow.