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Discusses some of the implications of Islamic values for management of the workforce in organizations in Muslim countries in the light of the rise of Islamist movements in many of these countries. Discussion is placed within the context of the debate about the influences of national culture on organizations in general and employee‐management relationships in particular. Argues that there are differing manifestations of Islamic values in the countries concerned, which could lead to differing implications for human resource management (HRM). Highlights difficulties in trying to isolate the influences of Islam on organizations from those of other institutions, such as the economy, politics and business imperatives. As a result, and also given the limited available comparative studies into the issue, it would be unwise to suggest an Islamic HRM model. However, Islam, as an all‐encompassing religion, is bound to have implications for certain aspects of organizations, especially in those countries which are organized and run in accordance with an Islamic ideal. Attempts to explore, therefore, the likely relationship between Islamic values and certain HRM features in Muslim countries.

Two landmark studies of national culture undertaken approximately a quarter century apart present a unique opportunity for a longitudinal analysis of the shift in cultural values in work organizations over time. Using comparable data from Hofstede and GLO BE, we investigate the hypothesis that, in the rapidly developing nations of Asia, there has been a convergence of collectivist values in work organizations toward the level of collectivist values found in work organizations in the highly developed nations of the major economies. Findings suggest that collectivist values in rapidly developing nations are converging towards collectivist values of highly developed countries. This convergence is not exclusively due to economic growth or wealth but rather due to the speed of the economic growth. Specifically, periods of prolonged rapid economic transformation appear to also have a transforming effect on national cultural values. Implications of this finding and directions for future research are discussed.