The Lack of Impact of Dissensus Inspired Analysis on Developments in the Field of Human Resource Management* Anne Keegan and Paul Boselie Amsterdam Business School; Tilburg University  Mainstream HRM journals have largely ignored critical perspectives on HRM. This is the main finding from our study examining trends in publishing on HRM through an analysis of published work in the period 1995 to 2000. Using the ‘dissensus–consensus’ dimension of a framework developed by Deetz (1996) we examine the role of academic journals in constructing HRM knowledge in what turns out to be largely consensus oriented ways. We survey HRM articles in nine journals over a six year period, and conclude that HRM is primarily constituted from a consensus perspective in the mainstream HRM journals while European based general management and organization theory journals construct HRM in both dissensus and consensus oriented ways. We propose reasons why the critical debates in HRM have largely been ignored in the mainstream journals as well as what this might mean for HRM theory and practice given the lack of critical and dissenting voices so evident in leading HRM journals. INTRODUCTION Since the early 1980s, critical theorizing has featured prominently in discussions on human resource management (HRM) among UK based academics who challenged aspects of how HRM was conceptualized with respect to its forerunner, personnel management. Of particular concern was the tendency to promote HRM within a unitarist framework suggesting no necessary role for trade unions in representing workers’ interests (Guest, 1987). Some challenged the claim that HRM style practices could create conditions under which care and concern for employees goes hand in hand with the optimization of profits (Blyton and Turnbull, 1992) whilst evidence suggested a substantial gap between the rhetoric of ‘soft’ HRM and the reality of labour force reductions and evidence of work intensification in workplaces touted as exemplars of HRM-style practices (Keenoy and Anthony, 1992; Sewell and Wilkinson, 1992). Some writers argued that HRM is shaped by patterns of societal, corporate and financial Address for reprints: Anne Keegan, Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam, Room E370, Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands (A.E.Keegan@UvA.nl). © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Journal of Management Studies 43:7 November 2006 doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00638.x