Behrends 2007 review 1 
IMPORTANT!
This review is for guidance only. I have produced it in response to student questions about what a critical review looks like.
Please do not include headings in your assignments – I have included them here to aid navigation of the article.
On re-reading my review I wondered whether I had written too much on the methodological discussion at the expense of discussing the results. Having said this, perhaps my focus is justified given that the problematic research strategy has implications for the results.
You will see that I have cited around 15 papers in my review – you do not need this many references in your assignment to get a good mark. I have simply tried to demonstrate a few ways in which references might be incorporated into your work.
[Harvard Reference] Behrends, T. (2007) ‘Recruitment practices in small and medium enterprises. An empirical study among knowledge-intensive professional service firms’. Management Revue, 18(1):55-74.
[Introduction]In this paper it will be argued that Behrends’ (2007) study of recruitment practices in small and medium sized professional service firms is an interesting but problematic piece of research. The argument will be developed through a critical review of Behrends’ paper, discussing in turn its conceptual bases, research methods, main findings, and practical implications.
[Brief Summary / Synopsis] Behrends’ paper reports a study of 342 companies’ recruitment practices. In particular the research is concerned with small and medium-sized knowledge-intensive professional service firms (SMKIPSFs) in Germany. Behrends justifies the paper’s focus, of how SMKIPSFs manage recruitment, on the grounds that professional service firms are highly dependent on their employees for the quality of services sold by the company.
The study utilised a survey research strategy to understand the recruitment practices use in the focal firms. Behrends’ research findings suggest recruitment and selection practices in SMKIPSFs, while
This review is for guidance only. I have produced it in response to student questions about what a critical review looks like.
Please do not include headings in your assignments – I have included them here to aid navigation of the article.
On re-reading my review I wondered whether I had written too much on the methodological discussion at the expense of discussing the results. Having said this, perhaps my focus is justified given that the problematic research strategy has implications for the results.
You will see that I have cited around 15 papers in my review – you do not need this many references in your assignment to get a good mark. I have simply tried to demonstrate a few ways in which references might be incorporated into your work.
[Harvard Reference] Behrends, T. (2007) ‘Recruitment practices in small and medium enterprises. An empirical study among knowledge-intensive professional service firms’. Management Revue, 18(1):55-74.
[Introduction]In this paper it will be argued that Behrends’ (2007) study of recruitment practices in small and medium sized professional service firms is an interesting but problematic piece of research. The argument will be developed through a critical review of Behrends’ paper, discussing in turn its conceptual bases, research methods, main findings, and practical implications.
[Brief Summary / Synopsis] Behrends’ paper reports a study of 342 companies’ recruitment practices. In particular the research is concerned with small and medium-sized knowledge-intensive professional service firms (SMKIPSFs) in Germany. Behrends justifies the paper’s focus, of how SMKIPSFs manage recruitment, on the grounds that professional service firms are highly dependent on their employees for the quality of services sold by the company.
The study utilised a survey research strategy to understand the recruitment practices use in the focal firms. Behrends’ research findings suggest recruitment and selection practices in SMKIPSFs, while
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