The post-Asian financial crisis: changes in HRM in Taiwanese enterprises

The changes in the macro-economic environment, due to the recent Asian crisis, have been an important stimulus to organizational and human resource management (HRM) changes in Taiwanese enterprises. This essay tackles these responses by looking at individual firms, using a case study approach. The pattern of organizational responses introduced in these companies has exhibited a variety of different characteristics. Most have implemented strategies towards enhancing the individual firms' competitiveness. The situation has changed since Chen's research in 1997, marked by differences between a period of economic boom and a period of economic recession. Consequently, key economic indicators and labour market conditions have changed, so HRM practices have evolved too. Generally speaking, the adoption of international standardized HRM practices is one such move that is now becoming more general in Taiwan.     

双因素理论在中小企业人力资源管理中的应用

如何解决好中小企业的人力资源管(HRM),关系到中小企业的发展与壮大。中小企业要改变以往的姿态,注重对人力资源管理的投入,解决好企业人才问题。在这里把双因素理论的观点应用到中小企业人力资源管理问题之中,从保健因素和激励因素两方面入手,提出了中小企业利用好人力资源管理的一系列有效措施。     

HRM in Thailand: a post-1997 update

This essay updates an earlier study of human resource management (HRM) practices in Thailand, focusing specifically on HRM in the post-1997 Asian financial crisis. HRM in Thailand has undergone gradual, but significant, change, with movement away from more traditional styles of HRM and management rooted in personalism and social relationships, toward more flexible employment systems in which employment opportunities are based on merit and performance rather than connections and personal characteristics. These changes are clearly more pronounced in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, particularly those based in Western countries.     

知识型企业人力资源管理策略研究

知识型企业主要由知识水平相对较高的知识型员工组成,对企业的人力资源管理提出了新的要求,人力资源管理在知识型企业成为知识管理战略的核心内容。弄清知识型企业自身的特点与要求,采用取新的人性化的人力资源管理策略已成为必然。     

Flexible labour markets and individualized employment: the beginnings of a new Japanese HRM system?

In an earlier study we reported that human resource management (HRM) in Japan was best characterized by continuity with some changes to assessment and pay practices. It is now over five years since we mapped out the changes taking place in Japanese HRM. This contribution reviews some of the changes over this period and considers the future directions of HRM. The essay commences with a discussion of the important contextual factors and issues underpinning HRM including employer proposals for reform. The next section then explores changes taking place in employment, remuneration and evaluation. This is supplemented by a more general assessment of the key changes occurring in Japanese HRM. The essay concludes with a discussion on why such changes are occurring, whether the changes constitute a convergence towards the Western model and the implications for HRM and theory development.     

HRM in Chinese privately owned enterprises

Using an in‐depth case study approach, this study investigates human resource management (HRM) practices in Chinese privately owned enterprises (POEs). While HRM practices in POEs are marketoriented, there is a lack of HR planning, commitment to training and development, and employee involvement and participation. The pragmatic HRM practices in POEs contribute to greater efficiency and rapid expansion of the private enterprise economy, but at the same time are associated with low employee job satisfaction, employees' organizational commitment, and their experience of disadvantages. These are issues that are all likely to cause labor disputes to occur. The findings of this study have significant implications for practitioners and further research. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

HRM in Singapore: change and continuity

This essay traces the development of human resource management (HRM) in Singapore from the mid 1990s until the present day, with particular reference to the impact of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In particular, it explores the changes in employment relations since the publication of Yuen (1997). National HRM concerns and strategies to maximize human capital as Singapore transforms itself and the knowledge economy is highlighted. The issue of convergence versus divergence in the management of human resources (HRs) will be touched upon. Current and future HR challenges that are most likely to impact on the country's competitiveness and economic performance are also explored.     

The 'Host' State and the 'Guest' Worker in Malaysia: Public Management and Migrant Labour in Times of Economic Prosperity and Crisis

In this contribution, the author reviews the current trends in HRM in the People's Republic of China. He then traces the impact of the post-1992 and 1995 economic reforms on Chinese personnel and industrial relations systems in both joint ventures and state-owned enterprises. Next, data from a recent field-investigation is reported vis-2-vis dimensions of HRM in these enterprises. The contribution particularly focuses on the problems of dimensionalizing HRM practices in such contexts. The author concludes that there may now be a growing but still limited overlap between joint ventures and state-owned enterprises in terms of their human resource policies and practices.     

Extending the investment development path model to include the human environment factor

This article aims to address Dunning's call to include the “human environment” (HE) as a new trend and trajectory for research in international business (IB). Dunning argues that the most important driver for economic advancement is knowledge, which arises from the HE. We extend Dunning's IB theory of the five stages of a country's investment development path (IDP) to include the HE factor. Further, we use China as an example in which to examine the role of human resource management (HRM). We identify and analyze an important link between foreign direct investment, multinational enterprises, and both domestic and global HRM. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Employees striving for innovation in social enterprises: The roles of social mission and commitment-based human resource management

Social enterprises, promising organizations for solving societal problems with innovative approaches, rely upon their members’ active roles for workplace innovation. However, we still have a limited understanding about how social enterprises can foster employees’ endeavors for innovation. By focusing on employee learning and innovative behavior, we investigate the influences of perceived social mission, value congruence, and human resource management (HRM) practices in social enterprises. We conducted two complementary studies to answer our research questions. In Study 1, with a survey of 369 employees from 68 social enterprises, we examined a multilevel moderated mediation model with firm-level and individual-level data. We found that perceived social mission promoted learning and innovative behavior by increasing value congruence, and that commitment-based HRM practices enhanced the overall process from mission to employee efforts for innovation. In Study 2, with 300 daily surveys from 60 employees participating in an experience sampling study, we found that those with high-value congruence showed a significantly more stable pattern with less variance in innovative behavior than in learning behavior. Our study adds novel implications to the underdeveloped literature on employee innovation and HRM in social enterprises by uncovering the positive effects of social mission and value facets for boosting learning and innovative behaviors. Our research also suggests that social enterprises should benefit from pursuing and emphasizing the social mission and commitment-based HRM bundle together, which will promote the prosperity and well-being of business and society.     

Japanese Production Strategies and Competitive Success: Mazda's Quiet Revolution

This contribution discusses the degree to which changes in human resource management (HRM) have taken place in the China since the Special Issue on HRM in the Asia Pacific Region came out in 1997. At that time, we spoke of ‘relative convergence’ as being the main feature of Chinese HRM; this remains largely the case. As the non-state owned sectors in the Chinese economy expand and state-owned enterprises shrink correspondingly, the impact of World Trade Organization entry will lead to more competition and a greater role for market forces. The greater the impact of these changes on Chinese firms, the more Personnel Management will be replaced by HRM year by year. How rapidly this pragmatic, step-wise path proceeds will depend on how far the new norms become institutionalized and how far managers' as well as workers' mind-sets absorb and integrate them.     

Human Resource Management Practices in a Transitional Economy: A Comparative Study of Enterprise Ownership Forms in Vietnam

This exploratory study compared human resource management (HRM) practices in four types of companies in Vietnam. It found, from a sample of 169 companies, that the adoption of HRM practices reflects the company's ownership traits. Overall, foreign-invested companies (FICs) are somewhat more developed in HRM practices than state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Conversely, local private companies, albeit more entrepreneurial, are often less receptive to adopting HRM practices than SOEs. It also revealed that transforming SOEs into equitized companies has brought about no significant changes in this regard. Together with an examination of the impact of management's perceived value of human resources (HR), union status, and company size, the study provides more insight into the variations in HRM practices and suggests some implications for initiating change in this area.     

HRM in Hong Kong since 1997

A diverse set of human resource management (HRM) practices became institutionalized during Hong Kong's industrialization from the 1950s through the 1970s within the context of an open economy, a government disinclined to intervene in business decisions or the labour market and a weak trade union movement. Economic restructuring, labour market changes and rising labour costs during the 1980s and 1990s pressured employers to find more effective ways of using their human resources. We focus on how the economic downturn following the Asian Financial Crisis has impacted on employment practices including employment security, compensation, skill formation, work reorganization and employment relations. We discuss changes in the public as well as private sector and argue that reforms in the former are loosening the rigidities of its highly structured internal labour market system. Public sector employment practices are thus likely to converge increasingly with the ‘best practices’ of private sector and overseas government HRM systems.     

中国企业在国际化进程中的人力资源管理战略

在国际化进程中,中国企业的人力资源管理将面临诸多新问题。如何在复杂的国际化环境下,进行企业的人力资源管理,促进企业国际化进程的发展,是中国企业面临的难题。国际性人力资源管理必须要在人才招聘、选拔、绩效管理及培训开发等方面与企业的国际化战略充分结合,同时还要注重跨文化建设在国际人力资源管理中的重要作用,从而使人力资源管理职能在企业国际化战略的实施过程中起到重要的战略支撑作用。     

Strategic Choice and Organisational Context in HRM in the UK Hotel Sector

Human resource management in the UK hotel industry is typically held to be informal, instrumental and associated with poor employment relations. Some studies, however, have identified incidences of more formal, high-commitment HRM indicating greater diversity in employment practices. Using original research undertaken in south-west England, this article examines this diversity and the influence of organisational context in the formation of HRM strategy. By identifying patterns of employee relations practice it is possible to examine the influence of market factors and establishment size and the extent to which there is scope for strategic choice in HRM. The research indicates that whilst larger hotels operating in stable product markets might be more likely to display formal or strategic approaches to employee relations compared to the industry as a whole, this sub-sector still appears significantly divided in the extent to which managers feel able, willing or compelled to invest in associated practices.     

The Impact of Socially Responsible Investment on Human Resource Management: A Conceptual Framework

Socially responsible investment (SRI) has increasingly assumed a major role in global equity markets. In this article we argue that the continued growth in investors seeking to align their ethical concerns with their investment strategies may influence the way in which the employment relationship is managed in publicly-listed corporations. After tracing the historical development of SRI, its implications for the conduct of human resource management (HRM) are examined. We conclude by analysing a number of the key problems associated with investor confidence in SRI funds and present a range of suggested techniques for improving screening methodologies.     

浅析家族企业人力资源管理现状

家族企业在我国经济发展的过程中发挥着重要的作用,不但为税收做出了贡献,而且解决了社会剩余劳动力的就业问题,更有优秀的家族企业在科技创新方面做出卓越贡献．然而随着企业的发展家族企业的不足也逐渐暴露,侧重表现在人力资源管理观念、员工招聘和激励措施等方面的不足及产生严重的人才流失。本文从人力资源管理角度分析了家族企业发展道路中的障碍,提出了人力资源管理优化之路．     

The Roles of HRM in CSR: Strategic Partnership or Operational Support?

As the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy requires promoting employee participation and initiating meaningful changes in organisational culture, the involvement of the human resource management (HRM) function in policy formulation and implementation is highly desirable. The relationship between the HRM and CSR functions is, however, under-investigated than other areas. Hence, there is a lack of clarity concerning HRM roles and the conditions under which they may be strategic or operational in nature. By drawing on data from interviews with 29 CSR and HRM professionals of large organisations in New Zealand, this paper argues that the role and contribution of the HR function in CSR is contingent on organisational variables such as the CSR structure, the scope and application of CSR and the nature of the HR functions. It concludes that in such contexts HRM is more likely to offer operational support in executing CSR rather than strategic input.     

Change in Asia: a review of management theory and research related to human resources

Many competing hypotheses have been advanced to account for human resource management (HRM) change. The present review examines the theoretical development and empirical study in HRM change in Asia in the early twenty-first century (2000–2006). Three research themes common to HRM change are discussed: (1) change context is about the issues of forces facilitating or hindering HRM change; (2) change process includes pace, sequence and magnitude of HRM change progress; and (3) change direction is about resultant change outcome. Comparisons of HRM change are made within Asian economies as well as between Asia and other regions. It is concluded that the interplay among different perspectives can produce a wide variety of more complex understanding of change context while a longitudinal approach can add value to explain dynamic process and resultant direction.