Strategic human resource management: The evolution of the field

This review takes an evolutionary and chronological perspective on the development of strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature. We divide this body of work into seven themes that reflect the directions and trends researchers have taken over approximately thirty years of research. During this time the field took shape, developed rich conceptual foundations, and matured into a domain that has substantial influence on research activities in HR and related management disciplines. We trace how the field has evolved to its current state, articulate many of the major findings and contributions, and discuss how we believe it will evolve in the future. This approach contributes to the field of SHRM by synthesizing work in this domain and by highlighting areas of research focus that have received perhaps enough attention, as well as areas of research focus that, while promising, have remained largely unexamined.     

Contemporary knowledge and skill requirements in project management

This article provides an overview of some recent developments within the field of project management and presents metrics used to assess current trends within the discipline in order to identify its future direction. Graphical tools are introduced to measure the span and areas of emphasis within project management, such as radar diagrams and the recently introduced International Project Management Association (IPMA) “Eye of Competence.” The research shows that the discipline seems to focus increasingly on interpersonal competences, relationship management, resource management, and strategic alignment. The results are evaluated and discussed, and the article concludes with some ideas about the future development of project management.     

Employee lactation: A review and recommendations for research,practice, and policy

Recent social justice movements call for an increased focus on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion. Given the large proportion of working mothers who return to work after having a baby, research about lactation, work, and human resources issues is sorely needed to increase knowledge and understanding of working and lactating mothers' needs so that they feel welcome, respected, and supported in the workplace. For mothers who feed their baby breastmilk, concurrently managing work responsibilities and lactation demands can be a substantial source of employee stress and can create work-family conflict. Research on workplace lactation across a variety of disciplines has increased over the past decade. As attention to lactation is slowly increasing in the management and organizational behavior literature, synthesizing research from other domains into the organizational and managerial sciences is a critical precursor to facilitating future research in the field as well as translating that research into meaningful action in organizations. We contribute to filling this gap, by reviewing and coalescing research across relevant domains, grounding it in extant theory, and offering a conceptual model suggesting the critical antecedents that facilitate employee lactation behaviors, and the work-related moderators that meaningfully impact those relationships. Finally, we offer recommendations to guide future research both methodologically and substantively so as to advance management theory and research surrounding employee lactation at work, and offer practical implications for organizations as well as for public policy.     

An analysis of interrelationships between project management and student‐experience constructs

This article seeks to explore, through the utilization of correlational analysis, how the parameters that impact the student experience may be interrelated. We found that the experiences of students studying project management appear to be heavily influenced by e‐resource provisions and the actual experiences that the students are subjected to when using virtual learning environments (VLEs). These findings support previous research acknowledging that information and communications technology (ICT) plays an important role in teaching and learning project management. Students' experience of interpersonal skills also correlated uniquely and significantly with other constructs, supporting the premise that learning is integral to the development of interpersonal skills. Discussion surrounds the interdependency of student experiences adding to their learning and how future research should consider larger and more diverse samples to establish exactly what constructs detract and/or add to their learning in project management, which could then contribute to pedagogical discourse in other disciplines.     

Age discrimination: Potential for adverse impact and differential prediction related to age

The proportion of workers in their 50s, 60s, and 70s is larger than ever before. Current workforce trends indicate global increases in retirement ages and that many individuals are working until later ages than in decades past, and older people are applying for jobs and at later ages. Research to date on age discrimination in selection has focused primarily on disparate treatment or intentional discrimination. However, based on accumulated knowledge about age-related changes in cognitive and physical abilities as well as changes in personality and work motivation across the life course, we suggest that more attention be paid to the possibility of age-based subgroup differences on selection procedures, manifested as adverse impact and differential prediction. We provide recommendations to guide future human resource management research and practice.     

THE CAUSES OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY: A SURVEY

Childhood obesity rates are rapidly rising in many countries. Because it is highly likely that obesity will persist into adulthood, current rates undermine the health and future of people in developed as well as developing countries. This public health epidemic carries significant economic, social as well as individual‐level consequences and has become a research topic of significant interest in various disciplines including economics. We survey the literature in economics and related disciplines associated with the causes of childhood obesity and synthesize the results to provide a better understanding of the explanations for the rising childhood obesity rates. This is an important step in crafting effective policies to combat global childhood obesity trends.     

“Going to market”: Changing patterns in the organisation and character of process research

This paper explores a meta level question in process research: the implications of the move to a more market based mode of research now evident for the production of process knowledge. It first of all examines the implications for the changing organisation of process research. For example, there has been the emergence of a group of contract process researchers. These researchers may also form alliances with researchers from other disciplines within multidisciplinary teams. Second, it examines implications for the changing character of process knowledge in relation to criteria of internal and external validity. Different effects are evident at different stages at the research cycle, but it is argued that there is no inherent threat to concepts of validity. These trends are exemplified by a project on which the authors are currently engaged. The article concludes with a discussion about the possible future for process research.     

Developmental project management in emerging countries

Aid organizations, governments and even citizens in emerging/developing countries have long complained about the efficacy of developmental projects. Given the vast resources being plowed into developmental activities and the dire needs, it is imperative that such projects are cost-effective, finish on time and provide the specified deliverables. Unfortunately, the procedure to guide such projects is not well developed. In this research, we rely on qualitative case study methodology to provide possible insights to project managers. We examined a total of eight cases related to developmental projects in India. Through these cases, we identify five project management components including: project characteristics, external environment, internal project elements, project management process, and project outcomes. The constructs within each element and the relationships amongst them provide guidance to development agencies in terms of project size, project goals, resource availability, infrastructure, stakeholder variance and organizational flexibility. These constructs influence the internal elements of a project including the level of information, complexity and uncertainty/risk. In turn, the internal elements affect the project outcomes of duration, costs, and deliverables. This research provides guidance to agencies in their project management process in terms of team integration and interactions, communication, and networking with local communities and organizations, all of which can influence standard project outcomes (duration, cost and deliverables), while also helping to build reputation to garner additional funding.     

Transdisciplinary Research in Sustainable Operations – An Application to Closed‐Loop Supply Chains

This contribution provides implications for academic research and practitioners, as it identifies the lack, necessity and major benefits of transdisciplinary research and the collaboration of academics and industry in order to fulfill the goals of a sustainable supply chain. Closed‐loop supply chain management is a major contributor to implementing sustainable operations. An essential prerequisite for successful realization is the expertise and cooperation of representatives from engineering, management and natural sciences as well as practice. We identify a need for transdisciplinary collaboration within two steps. First, a literature review points out that various research disciplines as well as practice mostly operate in isolation. Second, we develop a framework that highlights the benefits of collaboration between these research areas. This paper provides an overview to better understand current trends in this complex field, which is a rich area for research that is still in its infancy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Value Management in Project Portfolios: Identifying and Assessing Strategic Value

Projects are expected to bring value to their constituents. Value management in project portfolios has centered on the maximization of commercial value and identification of future business prospects. In this study, the goal is increased understanding of the identification and assessment of strategic, non‐commercial value in project portfolios. We map the relevant dimensions of strategic value and supplement previous frameworks with the non‐commercial aspects. Ecological, societal, and learning values have only been studied conceptually and qualitatively in earlier research. We propose future research on these values in quantitative settings and exploring collective sensemaking as part of project portfolio value management.     

A global study of graduate management of technology programs

In the last decade, the field of technology management has attracted considerable attention from practitioners and scholars. The rapid emergence of powerful and innovative technologies in manufacturing, computing, telecommunications and the life sciences, such as biotechnology are making the strategic management of technology, a critical task in virtually all organizations. Reflecting this trend, several universities offer graduate programs in the management of technology (MOT). These programs have originated from various academic schools and disciplines (business, engineering, public policy) creating considerable diversity of focus, themes emphasized, courses, and student backgrounds. The rise of these programs, in part, reflects the growing need for managers and technologists who are able to understand, contribute to, and manage a wide variety of technology-based programs and organizations. This paper presents the results of a global study of graduate MOT programs. Over fifty (50) universities participated in the research reported in this paper. Findings related to research trends, curriculum developments, staffing, program implementation, and program emphases are examined. Several recommendations are advanced for universities considering initiating or further developing their MOT program. In addition, observations about the future direction of the field are made.     

Collaboration at work: An integrative multilevel conceptualization

The term collaboration has been used throughout a variety of research disciplines to describe multiple types of interaction; yet, a unified, comprehensive definition of the construct remains elusive. This lack of clarity regarding the distinctions and commonalities between collaboration and other interaction concepts has resulted in conceptual confusion that affects practice and research in human resource management. Practitioners see collaboration as more of a buzzword than as an effective human resource strategy. Previous theory development efforts have not yet taken a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach. This has resulted in failure to integrate key themes across disciplines into an overall view of collaboration, which is a commonplace practice in business and military sectors alike. This paper describes a multidisciplinary conceptualization of collaboration and discusses the implications of this integrative theory to human resource management and strategy development as well as future research efforts.     

A review on research in transportation of hazardous materials

Incidents that involve transportation have the potential of causing significant damages to the affected communities due to the release of hazardous substances. Therefore, it is important to reduce their impact as well as the risk of their occurrence. In this paper we review recent research in the field of transportation of hazardous materials. Our work extends a previous review from 2007. Based on our analysis, we identify current trends and research gaps as well as relevant future research directions.     

An interdisciplinary review of AI and HRM: Challenges and future directions

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to change the future of human resource management (HRM). Scholars from different disciplines have contributed to the field of AI in HRM but with rather insufficient cross-fertilization, thus leading to a fragmented body of knowledge. In response, we conducted a systematic, interdisciplinary review of 184 articles to provide a comprehensive overview. We grouped prior research into four categories based on discipline: management and economics, computer science, engineering and operations, and others. The findings reveal that studies in different disciplines had different research foci and utilized different methods. While studies in the technical disciplines tended to focus on the development of AI for specific HRM functions, studies from the other disciplines tended to focus on the consequences of AI on HRM, jobs, and labor markets. Most studies in all categories were relatively weak in theoretical development. We therefore offer recommendations for interdisciplinary collaborations, propose a unified definition of AI, and provide implications for research and practice.     

Simply the best? A systematic literature review on the predictive validity of employee performance for leader performance

Meritocratic promotion—promoting the best performing employees—is a pervasive strategy to fill leader positions. However, the predictive validity of this strategy is unclear due to diverging theoretical predictions from different research disciplines and due to inconsistent empirical results. Further, the different disciplines rarely acknowledge and refer to each other, thereby impeding a cumulative understanding of meritocratic promotion. With our systematic review, we intend to initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue by (i) providing an overview of pertinent theoretical approaches including their deviating predictions, (ii) proposing mediators and moderators of the relationship of employee performance and leader performance to improve future research on meritocratic promotion, (iii) assessing the study quality, and (iv) summarizing and discussing empirical findings to advance the understanding of the predictive validity of meritocratic promotion. We conclude by presenting theoretical conclusions, point towards future research directions, and provide guidance for future research, including a checklist. We also discuss practical implications for human resource management.     

项目管理研究综述

随着经济的发展,项目管理已成为管理科学的一个重要方面。对项目管理的内涵、发展、体系结构和未来的趋势等几个重要方面作了分析和总结,最后指出了我国项目管理的现状和问题。     

Intellectual property rights in innovation management research: A review

The issue of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is assuming increasing importance, especially for innovative firms seeking international growth. This leads to an increasing need for IPR research. Nevertheless, so far it is not known how well the current research answers to this emerging need. Hence, this study finds out how IPR research has evolved in the literature on innovation management and identifies the current trends. In order to do this we analysed articles published in the years 1970–2009 in the seven leading innovation management journals. We found 111 articles focusing on IPR issues for our systematic content analysis. The results indicate that IPRs are a fast-growing research field in innovation management, but there is a need to develop coherent constructs and conceptual frameworks that would strengthen the theoretical basis of the research. Most of the studies emphasise patents, rely on secondary data, and focus on North American and European contexts. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.     

从流程层面到组织层面的扩展:项目管理成熟度研究综述

本文将项目管理成熟度模型的研究分为三个阶段：流程层面的研究、项目层面的研究和组织层面的研究。分别对这三个层面的研究进行介绍，对一些重点的项目管理成熟度模型进行阐述，并对目前最新的基于组织的成熟度模型0PM3做一简单介绍，文章最后简述了国内项目管理成熟度研究的现状并对研究前景进行展望．     

Time is of the essence: Improving the conceptualization and measurement of time

We advance the understanding and measurement of the concept of time by offering a taxonomy of four distinct time constructs: duration, frequency, timing, and sequence. On the basis of a literature review of human resource management and allied fields (i.e., organizational behavior, industrial and organizational psychology, general management, entrepreneurship, and strategic management studies), we offer recommendations on how to measure each construct as well as illustrations drawn from different domains and theories on how these recommendations can be implemented. In addition, for each construct, we offer specific, practical, and actionable recommendations regarding critical design choices, dilemmas, and trade-offs that must be considered when investigating time conceptually and empirically. We discuss these recommendations in the form of a sequential decision-making process that can be used as a roadmap by researchers. We hope our conceptualization and recommendations will serve as a catalyst and useful resource for future conceptual and empirical research that aims to formulate better time-sensitive and temporally falsifiable theories.     

Finding an academic home for fundraising: a multidisciplinary study of scholars' perspectives

• The high‐demand, high‐paying field of fundraising does not have an academic home in higher education, which hampers fundraising research and education. Recent advances in fundraising education and research can be attributed to four different disciplines: public relations, marketing, nonprofit management, and higher education administration. This disjointed approach has impeded the empirical study of fundraising, the development of theory in the field, and the education of future fundraisers. The purpose of this study is to begin the process to scientifically identify an appropriate academic home for fundraising that benefits fundraising practice, advances scholarship, and strengthens America's nonprofit sector. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 15 scholars from multiple disciplines who had published articles on fundraising in the three major nonprofit management and philanthropy journals. Findings show that there is no consensus among scholars about whether fundraising belongs in public relations, marketing, or nonprofit management. Although this study found no consensus among fundraising scholars about the appropriate academic home for fundraising, it does identify areas of agreement and disagreement on pertinent topics and provides a benchmark to guide further discussions about locating fundraising within an academic discipline.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.