Management of human capital: discipline, security and controlled circulation in HRM

Abstract

This article provides a contribution to the Foucauldian problematization of HRM. It draws particular attention to Foucault’s lectures that were devoted to re-conceptualizing power relations to accommodate transformations that have arisen from the emergence of liberal and neoliberal forms of government. Whilst Foucauldian approaches to HRM have mainly focused on the centripetal elements of disciplinary power in modern management, they have tended to neglect the centrifugal mechanisms aimed at the controlled circulation of flows within networks. The article shows how these mechanisms gain in importance along with HRM’s reframing in terms of human capital. Our analysis outlines a number of modifications in the apparatus of power that emerge as a consequence of this reframing, showing how human capital management operationalizes a specific style of governmental rationality.