Key human resource strategies in an organization downturn

Increasingly often, executives are being called upon to manage organizations through downturns. Of critical importance to the long-term health of a firm is how its employees are treated during these stressful periods. Human resource strategies must minimize the loss of key personnel needed for organizational survival and turnaround. The purpose of this article is to discuss why key employees leave organizations following a downturn. We propose two reasons: Either employees abandon a sinking ship or upon considering a lack of career opportunities, they take well-timed exits. Then, by considering individual career issues that arise from an organization downturn, ways to counteract ill-timed employee exit are identified. These human resource strategies either reduce organizational uncertainty or increase career opportunity.     

Human resource competencies: An empirical assessment

With data from 12,689 associates of human resource (HR) professionals in 1500 businesses in 109 firms, this research represents an extensive assessment of HR competencies. It extends current HR theory and practice in two ways. First, it proposes specific competencies HR professionals may demonstrate to add value to a business. Second, it offers an empirical assessment of how these competencies affect the performance of HR professionals as perceived by their Associates. The results indicate that when HR professionals demonstrate competencies in business knowledge, delivery of HR, and management of change, then HR professionals are perceived by their associates as more effective. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Managing human resource for competitive advantage: a study of companies in Singapore

We see two major streams of research in the strategic human resource management literature: (1) the link between strategy and human resource (HR) practices and (2) the link between HR practices and firm performance. There is a plethora of theoretical perspectives on the first link. Unfortunately, there is not much empirical work. The second link has seen a spate of empirical studies. However, most of them embrace the universal perspective and the role of strategy as a contingency has not been adequately addressed. This could potentially result in the underestimation of the impact of HR practices on organizational performance. This study addressed the above two weaknesses in previous research in the strategic HR management field. Using a sample of about 200 of the largest companies representing all major industries in Singapore, we found that organizational strategy affects HR practices. Moreover, findings suggest that the strategy-HR interaction accounts for more variation in firm performance than the main effect of HR. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

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.     

Fostering and facilitating entrepreneurship in organizations: Implications for organization structure and human resource management practices

Two particularly important factors involved in successful corporate entrepreneurship are organization structure and human resource management practices. By selecting and implementing the appropriate structure and practices, human resource professionals can systematically foster and facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship within their organizations. The more that new and different entrepreneurial activities are needed, the more that complete structural arrangements as well as policy and procedure flexibility are needed. In this article, structural practices appropriate for different degrees of entrepreneurial activity are described. But because appropriate structural practices alone are not sufficient for effectiveness, necessary human resource management practices are also described in detail. Throughout, implications for structural and human resource management practices in advancing entrepreneurship are considered.     

A clash of human resource management cultures: a micro-state case study

When resorting to Greek divine mythology to purchase original insights on management styles, Handy (1991) identifies Apollo and Dionysius as representative of two ideal types which can be developed and fine-tuned to highlight one relatively under-explored area of inter-cultural human resource management. This concerns the cultural interface between alien, imported management styles and local, home-grown practices in the context of small and island states. This paper argues that indigenous behaviour patterns in the unfolding of labour-management relations cannot be discounted. Indeed, these home-bred practices will both place imported 'textbook' management strategies in sharp relief as well as debilitate their purposed efficacy. Such a proposition suggests that this is one expression of how globalization will necessarily find itself textured and infected by indigenous cultural material, even that forthcoming from possibly the least expected quarter: that of micro, insular jurisdictions. Case-study material exploring and illustrating this cultural clash is drawn from seminal, empirical fieldwork carried out in the Indian Ocean island state Republic of the Seychelles.     

Framing the field of international human resource management research

This article presents an overarching framework of the international human resource management field. The framework has four different levels: Macro (encompassing countries, regions and industries), the Multinational Corporation, Unit (typically subsidiary) and Individual (including teams, employees and their family members). At each level, we make a distinction between Influencing Factors, the HRM Function (encompassing both the HR department and HR policies and practices), Proximal Outcomes and Distant Outcomes of HRM. The framework allows us to examine existing research and suggest avenues for future work.     

The allocation of a shared resource within an organization

Many resources such as supercomputers, legal advisors, and university classrooms are shared by many members of an organization. When the supply of shared resources is limited, conflict usually results between contending demanders. If these conflicts can be adequately resolved, then value is created for the organization. In this paper we use the methodology of applied mechanism design to examine alternative processes for the resolution of such conflicts for a particular class of scheduling problems. We construct a laboratory environment, within which we evaluate the outcomes of various allocation mechanisms. In particular, we are able to measure efficiency, the value attained by the resulting allocations as a percentage of the maximum possible value. Our choice of environment and parameters is guided by a specific application, the allocation of time on NASA's Deep Space Network, but the results also provide insights relevant to other scheduling and allocation applications. We find (1) experienced user committees using decision support algorithms produce reasonably efficient allocations in lower conflict situations but perform badly when there is a high level of conflict between demanders, (2) there is a mechanism, called the Adaptive User Selection Mechanism (AUSM), which charges users for time and yields high efficiencies in high conflict situations but, because of the prices paid, in which the net surplus available to the users is less than that resulting from the inefficient user committee (a reason why users may not appreciate ‘market solutions’ to organization problems) and (3) there is a modification of AUSM in which tokens, or internal money, replaces real money, which results in highly efficient allocations without extracting any of the users' surplus. Although the distribution of surplus is still an issue, the significant increase in efficiency provides users with a strong incentive to replace inefficient user committees with the more efficient AUSM.     

Chinese multinationals’ approach to international human resource management: a longitudinal study

Abstract

This study explores how emerging market service firms, operating in developed markets, approach human resource management (HRM). Data analyzed in this article were drawn from a longitudinal case study of the Australian subsidiary of a Chinese multinational bank. We find that subsidiary HRM follows host country and global best practices. However, the way that this hybrid HRM system was implemented shows traces of Chinese origin. A key finding from this study is that although our case bank officially adopted a polycentric approach to subsidiary staffing, employing host country nationals, the subsidiary predominantly employed locals with a Chinese ethnic background. We also find the case bank’s strategy in international HRM has evolved from a focus on localization to global standardization. This global standardization, however, is shaped in line with global best practices rather than home country management model. These findings highlight the need for future studies to adopt a more nuanced approach to examining international HRM strategies, especially when analyzing host country effect or localization strategy.     

Assessing the value of human resource certification: A call for evidence-based human resource management

We are delighted that our article on the value of human resource (HR) certification (Lengnick-Hall & Aguinis, 2012) has generated so much interest. In this brief response, we identify two key similarities across all of the articles published in this special issue (including our own). First, all commentators care deeply about the field of human resource management (HRM). Second, all commentators believe that additional empirical research is needed to assess the value of HR certification for stakeholders inside and outside of the field of HRM. We offer a concrete course of action. Specifically, we issue the following challenge to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation: Issue a call for proposals for empirical research on the value of HR certification. Such a call would provide funding so that teams including both researchers and practitioners are encouraged to conduct research on this topic. Moreover, such a collaborative approach involving the SHRM Foundation, the HRM scholarly community, and the HRM practitioner community is likely to elevate the field of HRM and produce valuable knowledge about the value of HR certification for stakeholders inside and outside of the field, which in turn will also help narrow the much-lamented science–practice gap.     

Managing electronic communications: a new challenge for human resource managers

Advances in information and communication technology are not only changing the way work is conducted but also influencing the development of human resource management (HRM) as a field of practice. In order to understand how HR managers are grappling with this issue we review the misuse of electronic communication in the workplace through the international literature and also recent court and tribunal cases in Australia. In particular, we consider the impact of new communication technologies in blurring of the boundaries between home and work and the way in which this is being dealt with by HR managers. In this paper we draw out the challenge of balancing the interests of employees and organisations, and outline the tension between HR as a strategic partner and employee champion. While not advancing a dystopian view, we argue that in many workplaces new surveillance technologies are being routinely utilised to increase employer control and that such low-trust practices are likely to be counterproductive and may undermine the profession of human resources management.     

Strategic human resource management: a conceptual approach

In this paper conceptual issues associated with strategic human resource management are addressed. The rapidly expanding international interest in strategic human resource management is first highlighted. The article then explores some of the broader issues around the debate on SHRM that can inform thinking at a macro level. Firstly, the progress made towards understanding the meaning of SHRM is analysed, then a brief overview of the major models of SHRM to date is presented. This overview is used to highlight the key variables and interrelationships that need to be included in a model of SHRM, and a more detailed critical analysis of the contribution of the literature in each of these areas follows. A summary of the most important research questions arising out of the literature is followed by a model of the SHRM process, which attempts to remedy the major weaknesses in existing models of SHRM. The ways in which this model may be used as a basis for empirical research are then noted.

Strategic human resource management     

Implicit human resource management theory: a potential threat to the internal validity of human resource practice measures

Since the publication of Huselid's (1995) paper examining the relationship between HR practices and firm performance, there has been an explosion of published papers examining the empirical relationship between HR practices and various measures of firm performance. This study examines the possibility that informants typically providing data about organizational HR practices may be biased by an implicit theory of human resource management. Our findings suggest the responses from subjects typically providing data about HR practices may be biased in their reporting by the performance of the organization. The generalizability of these results is considered and implications for future studies of the HR-firm performance relationship reviewed.     

Study on human resource management in Korea's chaebol enterprise: a case study of Samsung Electronics

Korean chaebol firms have taken advantage of the owner–management system and to date are still enjoying its strength. I discuss the characteristics of human resources management (HRM) systems in the context of Samsung Electronics, Korea's largest chaebol following the Asian crisis of 1997, explaining why the SEC HRM system should be changed and what recent changes have been made, as perceived by both respondents and HR manager interviewees. The study of SEC HRM practices can provide real value to Western companies because it incorporates firm-specific advantages such as network strength, emperor-like power over group-wide management, and an agile decision-making process.     

Building flexibility into multi-national human resource strategy: a study of four South African multi-national enterprises

The study describes four approaches for configuring corporate HR strategy by firms from an emerging market when dealing with the integration-differentiation dilemma. Most research on strategic international HRM is on the perspective of the affiliate or discusses the degree of isomorphism between the HRM practices of the parent and affiliate. The authors apply a cross-case analysis of the cases of Nando's International, MTN International, Sasol and SABMiller, focus on the implementation of corporate HR strategies from the parent's perspective and show that MNEs differ in the scope and level of abstraction of their corporate HR strategies. It is further suggested that this is primarily due to differences in business model, the need to accommodate national culture, the type and role of organizational culture in the MNE, which impact on the level of convergence of HR management practices. In all of the cases, there is a large degree of variance in these factors.     

Global virtual teams: a human resource capital architecture

As organizations continue to globalize their operations, it will become evident that most organizations do not have the resources to ‘fully man’ operations throughout the world. Therefore, management will be examining organizational options that reduce the demand on an already depleted pool of global managers. One of the options being examined by companies is the global virtual team (GVT). These complex teams are being considered as a bridge mechanism to allow multinational organizations to expand rapidly without taxing present global managerial skills. This paper uses a theoretical foundation based upon competency theory as the motivation for the formation of GVTs and to explain how they function. Four critical capitals (i.e. human, social, political and cross-cultural) are deemed to be essential for effectiveness of GVT and are discussed in the paper. In addition, a process for assessing the stock of capital in a GVT team is also developed in the paper.