Rhetoric,facts and self-fulfilling prophecies: exploring practitioners’ perceptions of progress in implementing HRM

Although the virtues of ‘HRM’ are widely espoused by its proponents, evidence of its widespread uptake by UK companies has invariably been disappointing. Why? A survey using questionnaires completed by 98 personnel and HR practitioners in a sample of 350 major UK companies was used to explore perceptions of ‘progress’ in implementing HRM, and this was followed-up by interviews of 24 survey respondents. While the survey and interview evidence clearly indicate that progress towards HRM is a profoundly contradictory and unfinished process, it also raises serious questions about the ability of the HR function and role to facilitate, oversee or lead processes of implementation.     

Lean production and supplier relations: a survey of practices in the Aragonese automotive industry

This paper analyzes the main results of a survey to 28 automotive suppliers in the Spanish region of Aragón. It has been found in a regression analysis that the rotation of tasks and teamworking are positively correlated with the training and the use of modular components. Nearly half of the companies cooperate with customers, suppliers, and technological centers to improve their production processes but only two companies cooperate with their customers in component development and design which indicates an underinvolvement of the surveyed companies with the automotive manufacturers. The companies are much more integrated with the automakers in the delivery process, since more than half of the companies have daily deliveries and directly to the assembly line of the automaker.     

不做昙花一现的英雄，很难很难

只有精心培育一批CEO候选人,企业才能在变革来临时从容不迫1994年,美国费尔菲尔德市,58岁的杰克·韦尔奇在整整一年的时间里痛苦不堪,晚上失眠,清晨早醒。他回忆说,选择继任者的工作不仅是我职业生涯中最为重要的一件事,而且是我面临的     

Employee Shareholders Or Institutional Investors? When Corporate Managers Replace Their Stockholders*

During the past decade, the shares of publicly traded companies moved increasingly into the hands of institutional investors. As large investors pressed companies to restructure, companies were observed in turn to restructure their shareholder base. Drawing on a 1989 survey of 761 US publicly traded companies, firms facing a hostile takeover environment or with large institutional holdings are found to seek greater employee stockholding. Large firms and those that had adopted takeover defences are more likely when threatened with takeovers or short-term pressures to seek more employee and less institutional stockholding. Though managers are employed by owners, investor efforts to discipline their managers can lead the latter to replace the former.     

Spin-off companies from Chalmers University of Technology

A survey of companies which have been spun-off from Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden, has been made and compared to an inventory of patent activity at Chalmers. The results are compared to similar studies of spin-off companies in Boston and California. We find spin-off rates between those reported for California and those which can be calculated for MIT. The situation with regard to spin-off founders offers many similarities to the situation at MIT and Stanford. However, on the average the companies from Chalmers are smaller and newer.     

International human resource policies and practices in japanese,european, and united states multinationals

This article presents the results of a survey comparing international human resource policies and practices in Japanese, European, and United States multinational companies. The survey focused on the use of expatriates over local nationals in overseas management positions, adoption of nonethnocentric policies, and incidence of international human resource management problems. Regression analysis using the entire sample indicated that ethnocentric staffing and policies are associated with higher incidence of international human resource management problems. Also, Japanese companies as a group are shown to have more ethnocentric staffing practices and policies, and they experience more international human resource management problems than do American and European firms.     

International mergers and acquisitions in the UK 1985-94: a comparison of national HRM practices

The paper investigates HRM practices adopted by companies from the USA, Japan, Germany and France in UK companies that they have acquired. UK/UK acquisitions are used as a control. The research is based on a survey instrument applied to 201 companies and interviews with forty. It notes that there is some convergence of HRM practices, in that, for example, all countries researched employ performance-related pay and increase the amount of training in their new subsidiaries. It finds, however, that there is a distinct difference in the HRM practices employed by companies from each of the countries, influenced by the characteristic HR practices common to companies in the country of origin of the parent.     

A portfolio approach in the e-purchasing of materials

By improving the procurement process purchasing departments are becoming more and more strategic in order to increase overall companies performances. In the last years, web-based tools have effectively supported this trend by offering to buyers useful tools in order to help their activities. Purchasing departments have now to choose the right tool for the right purchase in the right supply market; for this reason it is important for them to adopt a portfolio approach exploiting all the different solutions offered by the technology according to the different situations.In this perspective, this paper identifies four most common purchasing approaches adopted by companies, which drivers are considered to choose among these, and which level of performances companies achieve through the identified approaches.Empirical evidence is based on a survey research involving 162 US companies.     

Employee involvement and group incentives in manufacturing companies: a multi-level analysis

The effects of employee involvement and group incentives on organisational commitment and turnover intention were examined using data from a survey of over 4,000 employees in 29 manufacturing companies. Using the mediated moderation model, we investigated the moderating role of capital intensity on the relationships between employee involvement and group incentives and these outcomes, and the mediating role of organisational commitment on the effects of employee involvement and group incentives on turnover intention. The findings revealed that employee involvement is more effective in capital-intensive companies than in labour-intensive companies, but group incentives are more effective in labour-intensive companies. The moderated effects on turnover intention were mediated through organisational commitment. Implications for company policies and future research are discussed.     

The Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index: A method to rank heterogenous extractive industry companies for governance purposes

The Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI) covers 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. It is based on an international expert perception survey among 173 members of the International Panel on Arctic Environmental Responsibility (IPAER), whose input is processed using segmented string relative ranking (SSRR) methodology. Equinor, Total, Aker BP, ConocoPhillips, and BP are seen as the most environmentally responsible companies, whereas Dalmorneftegeophysica, Zarubejneft, ERIELL, First Ore-Mining Company, and Stroygaz Consulting are seen as the least environmentally responsible. Companies operating in Alaska have the highest average rank, whereas those operating in Russia have the lowest average rank. Larger companies tend to rank higher than smaller companies, state-controlled companies rank higher than privately controlled companies, and oil and gas companies higher than mining companies. The creation of AERI demonstrates that SSRR is a low-cost way to overcome the challenge of indexing environmental performance and contributing to environmental governance across disparate industrial sectors and states with divergent environmental standards and legal and political systems.     

STATE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS AND INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES*

Because of the growth of new technology based economic development policies at the state level in recent years, this research project provides an assessment of the experiences of users of one such program: the technology research center in microelectronics. A survey of a large number of companies gave us results that should be of interest to decision makers in universities, private industry as well as the public sector. Access to students as future employees was seen as a major reason why companies get involved with universities, more so than research enhancement per se. A univerisity's inability to protect what companies see as confidential research is seen as a major disincentive to further university-industry relationships, while most companies did not see federal or state tax incentives as encouraging collaboration. Among companies who had direct experience with state-funded technology center programs, most reacted positively to their experiences. Such collaboration was seen to stimulate related research within many participating companies, while also leading to improvements in the quality of products and production methods. While the majority of companies thought that states should continue to fund technology development programs, particularly at universities, neither universities nor government were seen as important sources of technical knowledge by many companies. A lack of information about state programs was seen among many companies that responded to the survey.     

Can Agile Project Management Be Adopted by Industries Other than Software Development?

This research paper presents evidence from an exploratory survey on the use of agile project management (APM) practices and the presence of APM enablers in 19 medium‐ and large‐sized companies from different industry sectors considering innovative projects. The results show that these companies are possibly struggling to use their current management practices in the face of different project challenges. Additionally, the presence of some APM enablers indicates opportunities to adapt the APM theory for different companies other than those in software development. Future research should explore the correlation between APM practices and enablers in order to develop “hybrid” management models for different industries.     

Environmental Management Evolution: Empirical Evidence from Spain and Italy

This research is focused on a survey conducted among Spanish and Italian companies in order to define the environmental management evolution within firms. Through this survey, a number of maturity stages were defined and validated, and the identification of the relevant factors for each of the maturity stages was made. Survey results show that companies start with environmental management issues due to legislation requirements. Afterwards, firms go through a training phase, continuing with the systematization stage, then look for economic benefits through ecological improvements (ECO² stage) and finish with the eco‐innovation and leading green company stages. The survey has shown that the maturity stages have application in all types of industrial sector. These are useful for those firms that want to make progress in environmental matters, as it helps them to identify at which maturity stage they are and what are the factors that they need to take into account to move forward. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Management commitment and company policies on education and training

This article presents evidence from a 1991 survey of 406 large companies indicating that corporate education and training practices are shaped by four company characteristics: (1) human resource innovativeness, (2) management resistance to change, (3) work redesigns to enhance quality and involvement, and (4) firm downsizing. When managements create an innovative climate, their companies invest more in worker retraining and contribute more to public schooling; when they resist change, they find it more difficult to recruit entry-level employees. When managements redesign work, their companies place greater emphasis on training, development, and school relations. When managements downsize, their companies take more interest in entry-level training and apprenticeship programs. © 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

HRD practices in local private sector companies and MNC subsidiaries in Australia, 1996–2009

This study charts human resource development (HRD) practices in locally owned private sector companies (APS) and subsidiaries of overseas-headquartered multinational companies (MNCs) located in Australia from 1996 to 2009.Using data from three iterations of the CRANET Australia survey, the research analyses the degree of difference between APS and MNCs, tests whether HRD practices are increasing in sophistication and if there is convergence or divergence between the two groups. The influence of company size and industry category is also explored as separate independent variables. The results suggest a decreasing overall level of HRD sophistication, that MNC subsidiaries are generally operating at a higher level of sophistication than APS companies and that there is directional, but not final, convergence.     

Corporate sustainability,ecological modernization and the policy process in the South African automotive industry

In the past decade, the plea for corporate sustainability has gathered momentum and protecting the environment is one aspect for organizations to address if they are to conduct business in a sustainable manner. In this paper, we present the results of a questionnaire survey on the state of corporate sustainability within the South African automotive industry. The survey focused on the meaning and relevance of sustainability to South African automotive companies, and their use of different approaches to implement sustainability in corporate practice. On this score, the paper seeks to analyze and compare the levels of voluntary environmental initiatives between large and small and medium‐sized enterprises within the automotive milieu. Survey results reveal that a majority of automotive companies have sought to improve their environmental performance by integrating environmental considerations into their core activities. Although the majority of these companies have standardized EMSs, our analysis reveals considerable differences between companies' approaches to corporate sustainability. In particular, they varied in the extent to which procedures were formalized and documented behind the corporate rhetoric of a high commitment to sustainability. The paper concludes by prescribing a number of recommendations as to how to engage and promote more widely the South African automobile manufacturing companies in environmental change. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Engaging the stakeholders: corporate views and current trends

This paper is based on research conducted at Imperial College in 1996, in which the authors have reviewed the extent, purpose and motivation of evironmental stakeholder initiatives (ESIs). The research objective was to determine ESIs' impact on corporate environmental management through a survey of businesses engaged in such initiatives, and to propose a set of recommendations for successful implementation of ESIs. Previous research on the subject has mainly discussed the case for stakeholders' involvement, reviewing whom companies would target as stakeholders. This paper goes a step further by assessing the current ESI practices of the researched companies in terms of style, purpose and method of engagement, as well as the target audiences and timing of these initiatives. Five stages of ESI undertaken by companies are identified and the benefits, as well as limiting factors, are discussed. In addition to the research conclusions the key factors for successful ESIs and a set of recommendations for companies engaging in such initiatives are presented. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

A dominant archetype of the HRM system in Russian industrial companies in post-recession times

Russian human resource management (HRM) practices remain durable even with the onslaught of economic change and exposure to global HRM practices and international competition. Based on survey results of 201 CEOs of domestic industrial companies located in central regions of Russia we identify the resilient archetype of Russian HRM system. Even companies that have achieved high levels of profitability or those that engage in innovations continue to practice retrograde HRM techniques left over from an earlier era. We are able to identify strategic misfits that are a direct result of the continuation of rigid HRM system that prevents the development of an organizational climate to support innovative or dynamic firms.     

Strategic decisions regarding the vertical integration of human resource organizations: evidence for an integrated HR model for the financial services and non-financial services industry in Germany,Austria and Switzerland

We examine the drivers of vertical integration for an integrated and unified HR-process model for 42 large companies from the financial services (13 companies) and the non-financial services sector (29 companies). The basis of this paper is formed by the results of a survey analysing the structures, processes and sourcing activities of human resource organizations. We sent the survey to 500 companies in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The survey is based on an integrated process model that uses an employee life-cycle approach and differentiates between eight HR activities.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to gain insights into the current status of HR outsourcing and understand the differences between the financial services and the non-financial services industry. Second, to develop a theory-based framework (transaction-cost, resource-based, principal agent) enabling us to derive and test eight hypotheses using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)-regression analysis in order to examine the determinants of the vertical integration of HR processes. Third, to analyse the impact of the vertical integration of HR departments on company performance and characteristics. We find significant differences in the level of vertical integration between the HR subprocesses analysed. Even the processes with increased outsourcing activities (i.e. a lower degree of vertical integration) still show a relatively high proportion of in-house production.

Regression analysis reveals a significant negative interrelationship between the relative size of the HR department compared to company size and vertical integration. This finding holds for the HR subprocesses ‘Personnel Administration’, ‘Payroll and Benefits’, and ‘Off Boarding’. Second, we find a significant negative correlation between financial performance in terms of Return-on-Equity and vertical integration of ‘HR-IT’. We also find support for the theoretical framework for the subprocess ‘HR-Top Management’. Six hypotheses (out of eight) are supported by the analyses; two of these are highly significant.

Three major findings are noteworthy when analysing company performance and the vertical integration of HR departments. First, we find that large companies (in terms of total staff and total assets) display significantly high levels of vertical integration for subprocesses which include a large amount of manual work and crucial managerial, controlling and reporting tasks (‘HR-Top Management’ and ‘HR-Controlling and Reporting’). Second, large companies (in terms of total company staff) show lower levels of vertical integration for the HR subprocess ‘HR-IT’. Third, companies that show superior financial performance in terms of Return on Equity (RoE) display lower levels of vertical integration for the HR subprocess ‘HR-IT’.     

Preferred supplier programs for consulting services: An exploratory study of German client companies

Research has recently provided evidence that at least some companies have involved purchasing departments in buying professional services such as management consulting services. Some departments have established preferred supplier programs (PSPs) for consulting services, i.e., programs for consultancies with whom a company seeks to build up long-term relationships. While there are several studies that analyze such programs for suppliers of goods, research on business services is limited. Our aim is to present an exploratory analysis of PSPs for consulting services. Based on a survey of German client companies, we found that the most important reason for establishing PSPs is to reduce costs and transaction costs. Furthermore, our findings revealed that companies with and without PSPs for consulting services apply high significance to relational selection criteria. Moreover, in companies with PSPs, purchasing departments are more frequently involved in selecting consultancies compared to companies without PSPs. Finally, we found that companies with and without PSPs do not differ in their assessment of problems associated with the purchasing of consulting services. The study contributes to research on the purchasing of consulting services by indicating that the consultant–manager relationship should be extended to a service triad, involving purchasing professionals, managers, and consultants. Moreover, we contribute to research on PSPs by extending the focus to PSPs for knowledge-intensive service providers.