Job satisfaction in aging workforces: an analysis of the USA,Japan and Germany

In light of the dramatically aging workforces in many industrialized countries, age diversity management will become a major challenge in human resource management. To successfully handle an age-diverse workforce, it is crucial to understand how employees of different ages can be motivated. This paper analyzes age's moderating role in the relationship between situational job characteristics and job satisfaction. To control for the potential influence of the cultural and institutional context, we use data from the USA, Japan and Germany. Findings show that older employees' job satisfaction is driven by different factors than younger employees: older employees put more emphasis on good relationships with colleagues, while income, advancement opportunities, job security and having an interesting job are less important. However, these effects are mostly nation-dependent, which underlines the importance of conducting cross-cultural or cross-national aging research.     

美日德制造业物流发展对我国的启示

制造业是国民经济的基石,可以体现一个国家的综合竞争实力。而现代物流为制造业发展提供了强有力的支持,是制造业走向成功的关键,文中介绍了美、日、德三国制造业物流的成功经验,对比我国制造业物流现状,找出存在的问题,提出了对我国制造业物流发展的几点启示。     

Sustainability reporting in Norway – an assessment of performance in the context of legal demands and socio‐political drivers

This article explores the influence of societal, political and regulatory characteristics and developments on the quality of corporate sustainability disclosures in Norway. The paper presents an assessment both of mandatory reporting under the Norwegian Accounting Act, and of voluntary reporting in annual and separate non‐financial reports, by the 100 largest firms in Norway. Our results reveal that only 10% of the companies comply with the legal requirements on environmental reporting, while only half of the firms comply with the legal reporting provisions on working environment and gender equality. The vast majority of firms also report unsatisfactorily on non‐financial issues in the voluntary disclosures assessed. Analysing the causes of these results, we contend that the situation is characterized by (1) an apparent lack of political and social drivers for sustainability reporting in Norway and (2) an absence of sufficient monitoring and enforcement of the environmental reporting legislation on the part of Norwegian authorities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

HRM professionals and their perceptions of HRM and firm performance in the Philippines

This paper reports the findings of a study conducted in the Philippines that examines the extent of adoption of human capital-enhancing human resource (HR) and industrial relations (IR) practices. Differences between locally owned and other organizations in these practices and their relationship to firm performance were also investigated. Questionnaire responses were obtained from managers and union representatives from 128 organizations located in the Philippines. The results indicated that there was, on average, a fairly high level of adoption of practices consistent with a strategic approach to human resource management (HRM), with foreign-owned firms tending to show a slightly higher level of adoption of such practices. A scale representing the adoption of a more conciliatory and union-friendly IR approach was found to be a significant predictor of perceived firm performance. Surprisingly, the level of strategic integration between HRM and business planning and most human capital-enhancing HR practices were not significant predictors of perceived firm performance. Research and practical implications in relation to the role of HRM in enhancing firm performance are discussed.     

Employee experiences of HRM through daily affective events and their effects on perceived event‐signalled HRM system strength,expectancy perceptions,and daily work engagement

The importance of events to individual experiences and behaviour within organisational research is increasingly acknowledged. This research examines whether daily positive and negative affective HRM events signal employee perceptions of HRM system strength, which are expected to relate to daily work engagement via clear performance–reward expectancies. Employees completed a daily diary over ten working days and reported positive and negative daily HR events as they arose. Positive HR events associated with higher perceived event‐signalled HRM system strength compared with negative HR events, and expectancy perceptions partially mediated the effects of perceived HRM system strength on daily work engagement. The study's novel contributions include documenting the common occurrence of affective HRM events, identifying such events as an important antecedent to perceived event‐signalled HRM system strength, and extending understanding of the daily consequences of perceived HRM system strength by showing how their effects on daily work engagement are mediated by expectancies.     

HRM Practices,Organizational Citizenship Behaviour,and Performance: A Multi‐Level Analysis

We examine the relationship between HRM practices, conceptualized at the workplace level, and individual employee attitudes and behaviour. We focus on two possible explanations for the relationship: social exchange and job influence/employee discretion. Findings from a study of employees in North‐East England suggest that there is a positive impact of HRM practices on organizational citizenship behaviour, through an effect on perceived job influence/discretion. There was no such effect for perceived organizational support. These findings provide support for a job influence and opportunity explanation of HRM effects on employee attitudes and behaviour.     

Alignment,integration, and consistency in HRM across multi‐employer networks

Most studies of human resource management (HRM) have been conducted within the context of the single employing organization, which is strange given the recent growth in multi‐employer networks. In this study, the authors examine whether alignment, integration, and consistency—concepts central to or implicit in most analyses of HRM—has meaning and relevance in the multi‐employer context. They focus specifically on networks in which collaboration is intended to deliver high levels of product quality or customer service, precisely where one might expect employers would be attracted to “strong” HRM systems. Data was collected via interviews and document analysis in four networks, spanning both the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom. Despite a set of potentially favorable conditions within these networks to promote alignment, integration, and consistency, implementation was impeded by other equally powerful forces, including differences in employer goals within networks, especially between public and private sector organizations; intraorganizational tensions within internal labor markets for organizations involved in networks; using divergent HR policies between organizations within multi‐employer networks; and contradictions between the pursuit of “among employee” or “temporal” consistency for workers. Rather than prescribing a one‐size‐fits‐all solution for these problems, it is argued that detailed analysis of each network is necessary. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Urban shrinkage in Germany and the USA: a comparison of transformation patterns and local strategies

Many American and European cities have to deal with demographic and economic trajectories leading to urban shrinkage. According to official data, 13% of urban regions in the US and 54% of those in the EU have lost population in recent years. However, the extent and spatial distribution of declining populations differ significantly between Europe and the US. In Germany, the situation is driven by falling birth rates and the effects of German reunification. In the US, shrinkage is basically related to long-term industrial transformation. But the challenges of shrinking cities seldom appeared on the agendas of politicians and urban planners until recently. This article provides a critical overview of the development paths and local strategies of four shrinking cities: Schwedt and Dresden in eastern Germany; Youngstown and Pittsburgh in the US. A typology of urban growth and shrinkage, from economic and demographic perspectives, enables four types of city to be differentiated and the differences between the US and eastern Germany to be discussed. The article suggests that a new transatlantic debate on policy and planning strategies for restructuring shrinking cities is needed to overcome the dominant growth orientation that in most cases intensifies the negative consequences of shrinkage.     

A meta‐analytic investigation of the relationship between HRM bundles and firm performance

Human resource management bundles consisting of multiple complementary practices are typically considered superior to individual best practices in influencing firm performance. This study investigates the relationship between three such bundles (empowerment, motivation, and skill‐enhancing) and business outcomes (retention, operating performance, financial performance, and overall performance ratings). A meta‐analysis of 239 effect sizes derived from 65 studies reveals that HRM bundles have significantly larger magnitudes of effects than their constituent individual practices, are positively related to business outcomes, and display effect sizes that are comparable to or larger than those of high‐performance work systems. These findings reaffirm the case for firm‐level investments in synergistic HRM combinations and highlight the importance of investing in complementary practices. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Beyond the line: exploring the HRM responsibilities of line managers,project managers and the HRM department in four project-oriented companies in the Netherlands,Austria, the UK and the USA

The topic of what human resource management (HRM) responsibilities are devolved from the HRM department to line managers has attracted much interest in recent years. We report findings from a study on the devolution of HRM practices in four project-oriented companies (POCs) and argue that although HRM practices are carried out beyond the HRM department, they are also carried out beyond the line. While the literature on devolving HRM responsibilities to line management is burgeoning, the HRM responsibilities of managers beyond the line organization are neglected. We make two contributions to the literature. Firstly, our study reveals that some HRM practices are the domain of the project manager rather than either the line manager or the HRM department. The complex interplay of the roles of the HRM department, line management and project management creates challenges and pitfalls where people are managed across the boundaries of the permanent and temporary organization. We identify a potentially powerful role for the HRM department in both monitoring and guiding the different players from the line and the project organizations, and in protecting the well-being of employees whose work traverses these organizational boundaries. Our second contribution is that we map the diversity of practices in different POCs for managing the interplay between the three main parties delivering HRM practices and offer project orientation as a contextual indicator that contributes to diversity in HRM practices.     

Conducting Mode 2 research in HRM: A phase‐based framework

Recent studies in the field of human resource management (HRM) have highlighted that current research is mostly performed and consumed by academics, and is driven by theoretical and disciplinary concerns rather than practical ones. This debate has invoked the need to produce more Mode 2 research in the HRM field, that is, research driven by practical problems that integrate collaborative efforts by academics and practitioners. Yet, guidelines on how academics and practitioners may implement Mode 2 research remain disjointed and incomplete. Our study provides a phase‐based collaborative‐based framework for the implementation of Mode 2 research in the HRM field, in ways that both academic rigor and practical relevance are achieved. Our framework is informed by a comprehensive review of previous Mode 2 research, within and outside the HRM field. The proposed framework details four macro‐phases: the codevelopment of research questions with practitioners; the design of collaborative spaces and mechanisms; the design and management of double‐loop iterative research processes; and finally the academic and practice legitimization of Mode 2 outcomes. Our framework has the objective to support HRM researchers and practitioners, as well as relevant institutions and gatekeepers in the design, implementation, education, and assessment of Mode 2 research.     

Desired goals and actual outcomes of e‐HRM

Much discussion exists in the academic literature about the potential goals of e‐HRM, but few scholars have looked at whether these goals are actually realised and what factors have an impact on this. This study examined the goals stated by organisations for the introduction of e‐HRM, whether these goals were actually achieved, and the factors affecting this through ten case studies in a range of UK organisations. The results demonstrated that e‐HRM is introduced in order to improve efficiency, service delivery, standardisation and organisational image, to empower managers and transform HR into a more strategic function. Efficiency, service delivery and standardisation goals were commonly realised. Some evidence of a transformational impact of e‐HRM was found, as the HR staff had more time and information to support the organisation in achieving its business strategy. However, no evidence was found of an actual increased involvement of HR in business decision making.     

HRM in project‐intensive firms: Changes and challenges

One of the most profound organizational changes currently under way is the application of project‐based structures within and between firms. This change is happening in both growth and mature industries. Several management scholars have taken interest in the reasons why firms adopt proj‐ect‐based ways of working. However, the effect of project‐based organizing on the firm's HRM is a recurrent problem and a challenge to many companies. We develop a framework for the analysis of HRM in project‐intensive firms. Based on a study of four companies and the transformation of their organizational structures and processes, we identify four managerial issues and a number of questions that must be addressed to improve HRM in proj‐ect‐intensive firms. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Cross‐boundary working: Implications for HRM theory,methods, and practice

Major changes have taken place in work organisation, which originate predominantly from working across organisational boundaries. This paper argues for a more sophisticated approach to HRM that includes three types of cross‐boundary working, that is, intraorganisational, interorganisational, and transorganisational. Herein lies the contribution of our paper; we argue that we cannot assume a transition from one type of working to another because cross‐boundary forms of working coexist. We also need to understand the tensions of this simultaneity at the levels of the organisation/network, HRM systems, and the individual. We consider the impact of the simultaneous existence of these types of cross‐boundary working for the following: (a) theory, especially the development of HRM systems; (b) methods, including an activity‐based unit of analysis; and (c) practice, where we pay attention to the challenges of control, collaboration, and consistency.     

The making of twenty‐first‐century HR: An analysis of the convergence of HRM,HRD, and OD

Twenty‐first‐century HR is emerging to uniquely combine activities and processes of human resource management (HRM), human resource development (HRD), and organization development (OD)—three fields that “grew up” distinct from each other. Contributing strategically to organizations demands that HRM, HRD, and OD coordinate, partner, and think innovatively about how they relate and how what they do impacts people and organizations. An analysis of the evolutions of these fields helps to explain why the distinctions between them continue to blur and how the similarities among them provide the necessary synergy for HR to be a truly valued organizational partner. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Post‐Reunification Restructuring and Corporate Re‐bundling in the Bitterfeld‐Wolfen Chemical Industry,East Germany

While earlier research has shown that regional restructuring after reunification has led to broad de‐industrialization processes in eastern Germany's chemical industry, this article focuses on how re‐bundling processes at the corporate level have stimulated adjustments to the changing economic and political environment leading to a renewed regional development trajectory. The analysis is based on a conceptualization that assesses diachronic processes of rupture and re‐bundling by applying a bottom‐up perspective of how corporate adjustments and restructuring processes generate re‐bundling types that manifest themselves in broader regional re‐bundling scenarios. The empirical analysis focuses on a qualitative case study of Bitterfeld‐Wolfen, the eastern region with the largest chemical industry. The research provides evidence that, although new firm formation has remained weak and acquisitions of chemical multinationals have generated structures only tenuously embedded in the regional economy, modernization and re‐bundling process have contributed to a renewed, smaller yet stable, regional chemical industry. The analysis further shows that the associated processes depended on the roles of individual industrial leaders in the region, who acted as network builders, mobilized joint action and stimulated the development of a collective regional spirit.     

Wages,work intensity and unemployment in Japan,UK and USA

This paper focuses on the impact of excess labour supply on wage inflation in Japan, the US and the UK. Excess labour supply is not simply measured as officially registered unemployed persons but includes a measure of excess supply within the firm, i.e. work intensity. The empirical analysis confirms the importance of broadening the unemployment definition. Interesting differences arise in the cross-country comparison. Our key conclusions are that work intensity is an important factor in determining wage inflation, and that results based on recorded unemployment rates alone seriously underestimate the flexibility of real wages.     

Country‐of‐origin,localization, or dominance effect? An empirical investigation of HRM practices in foreign subsidiaries

This article contributes to two recurring and very central debates in the international management literature: the convergence vs. divergence debate and the standardization vs. localization debate. Using a large‐scale sample of multinationals headquartered in the United States, Japan, and Germany, as well as subsidiaries of multinationals from these three countries in the two other respective countries, we test the extent to which HRM practices in subsidiaries are characterized by country‐of‐origin, localization, and dominance effects. Our results show that overall the dominance effect is most important (i.e., subsidiary practices appear to converge to the dominant U.S. practices). Hence, our results lead to the rather surprising conclusion for what might be considered to be the most localized of functions—HRM—that convergence to a worldwide best practices model is clearly present. The lack of country‐of‐origin effects for Japanese and German multinationals leads us to a conclusion that is of significant theoretical as well as practical relevance. Multinationals might limit the export of country‐of‐origin practices to their core competences and converge to best practices in other areas. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.