This volume is the proceedings of a symposium entitled "Creating the Competitive Edge Through Human Resource Applications" which was held at Salve Regina College, Newport, Rhode Island on Jtm.e 16-19, 1987. The meeting was sponsored by the Research Coomi ttee of the Human Resource Plarming Society (HRPS). In developing the agenda, the Research Committee built upon the format of the first HRPS research symposium on "Strategic Human Resource Plarming Applications" held at the University of Pennsylvania in 1985. The intent in both meetings was on the linkage of the state-of-practice with the state-of the-art. Particular attention was placed on research studies which were application oriented so that member organizations can see examples of ways to extend current practices with the knowledge presented by the applications - The meeting has sessions on: (1) Reshaping the Organization for the Twenty-first Century, (2) Coping with Major Organizational Change, (3) Organization Downsizing, (4) Evaluating the Human Resource Function and (5) The Impact of Corporate Culture on Future Human Resource Practices. Thirty papers were presented with discussion sessions at appropriate points in the meeting. This volume contains twenty one of these papers along with an introductory paper. A short summary is also provided at the begirming of each major subdivision into which the papers are arranged.