Downsizing and the changing role of HR

This paper examines the changing role of HR in the specific context of downsizing. It highlights the key dilemmas facing HR professionals - on the one hand, the contribution of HRM to the achievement of business results has come under increasing scrutiny and, on the other hand, most of the challenges of downsizing are people-related issues that require sophisticated HR interventions. The paper reports the key findings of a pilot study conducted in sixty organizations in the UK that downsized in the last three years. The key conclusion of the study is that the role of HR has become wide ranging, covering the strategic as well as implementation aspects. The clear message from the study suggests that, unless there is alignment between the two aspects, the envisaged benefits of downsizing are unlikely take place. Key challenges facing HR professionals are managing middle managers, managing careers and managing employee expectations. There are indications to suggest that the process role of HR is likely to become more important in the medium and longer terms.     

The co-ordination of strategic initiatives within global organizations: the role of global teams

Given the growth in the globalization of organizations, the ability to co-ordinate initiatives of the headquarters and subsidiaries is rapidly becoming a major concern of management. The use of global task teams is explored in this paper to address co-ordination in global networks. A theoretical framework is developed to derive a model for the use of global teams as co-ordinating mechanisms of strategic initiatives in a global organization. The use of teams as a means to intervene between headquarters and subsidiaries is explored, illustrating the unique social capital of global teams. In addition, the potential issues in managing task teams in global organizations are discussed.     

Line and HR executives' perceptions of HR effectiveness in firms in the People's Republic of China

This paper examines the differences in perceptions of the importance and effectiveness of human resources (HR) practices in firms operating in the People's Republic of China. The major finding is that while there are no significant differences between HR and line executives' perceptions of the importance of each functional area in human resource management (HRM), there are significant differences between line and HR executives' perceptions of the effectiveness of these areas. Line and HR executives both view the issue of securing, developing and maintaining human resources as a critical issue for the execution of daily operations and long-term strategic plans. However, line executives perceive HR performance effectiveness as significantly lower in these functional areas than HR executives do. Therefore, HR departments are not meeting the performance expectations of line executives. There are three possible reasons for the poor performance of HR departments. First, government intervention may limit HR departments' ability to act strategically. Second, HR departments may not have enough power to act strategically. Third, HR departments may have few capabilities to respond to line executives' demands.     

In search of the changing role of the corporate human resource function in the international firm

There has been considerable research on the issues of board-level representation by personnel/HR directors and senior HR managers' involvement in strategic decision making. Since the early 1990s there has been a growing interest in international HRM, reflecting the growing recognition that the effective management of human resources internationally is a major determinant of success or failure in international business. There is also evidence that HR constraints often limit the effective implementation of international business strategies. More recently, it has been argued that the more rapid pace of internationalization and globalization leads to a more strategic role for HRM as well as changes in the content of HRM. Yet, while there have been some attempts to integrate international corporate strategy and human resource strategy, surprisingly, the role of the corporate human resources function has been neglected, particularly in the context of the international firm. This article seeks to redress the balance. The question addressed is: what is the role of the corporate HR function in the international firm? To answer these questions empirical research was conducted in thirty UK international firms. We found an emerging agenda for corporate HR in international firms which focuses on senior management development, succession planning and developing a cadre of international managers. We conceptualize this as a strategic concern with developing the core management competences of the organization, and argue that it can be usefully analysed from the perspective of the learning organization.     

Effectiveness of a corporate HR department in an Australian public-sector entity during commercialization and corporatization

This study examines the effectiveness of the strategic human resource management (HRM) function performed by the corporate human resource department of an Australian public-sector entity, before and after its corporatization. Multiple methods (including a survey of senior managers and semi-structured interviews) were used to collect the data. Despite an improvement in the overall level of strategic integration between HRM and strategic management, the rating of strategic HRM role effectiveness remained low. The results indicate that the strategic HRM function, as a corporate headquarters function, was more effective in its administrative role than in a value-adding function. The difficulty in balancing the dual roles of a corporate headquarter unit, together with the challenges of becoming a strategic business partner to line managers, provided the major impediments to effective strategic HRM.     

Strategic global human resource management research in the twenty-first century: an endorsement of the mixed-method research methodology

Global competition is rapidly becoming the norm in which nearly all business organizations must compete in one fashion or another. The complexity and value of strategic global human resource management (SGHRM) will continue to compound in significance as globalization becomes the predominate form of business. Both practitioners and researchers maintain the grapple with understanding the global phenomena and the resulting impact on the entire human resource management system.

Previously, researchers' maintained research programmes utilizing Western-style theories and methods, which were predominantly quantitative, to explore phenomena that may now be inappropriate. These methods and theories frequently do not capture the ‘fabric’ of global phenomena that include complex interactions of culture, institutions, societal norms and government regulations, among a few concerns.

The mixed methods approach is proposed to add the ‘fabric’ required, illustrating the depth and flexibility needed to explore the SGHRM issues. Mixed methods are a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches that maintain methodological rigour as well as measures for reliability and validity. This paper explores the current methods, the reasons for their lack of success in portraying the depth of the phenomena and why the mixed methods approach appears to be a superior method for research for the SGHRM field.     

A comparative analysis of corporate entrepreneurial orientation between selected firms in the Netherlands and the USA

Firms in turbulent or fast-changing environments must continually innovate to remain competitive. This study examined how a firm's strategic management practices influence its entrepreneurial behaviour as compared to an international competitor. Four firms in the Netherlands were each matched with a key competitor in the USA. Several survey measures related to the strategic management process were used along with an instrument related to corporate entrepreneurship practices. Both managers and employees participated in the study. Results revealed significant differences between the Netherlands firms and the US competitors in entrepreneurial orientation. Results also supported these comparative differences along three key dimensions of strategic management as they relate to corporate entrepreneurship. The final set of data revealed a relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and three measures of firm performance. The implications focus upon the key role that culture may play in facilitating corporate entrepreneurship and adaptable organizational practices. Suggestions for further research are also made.     

The role of corporate governance in forecasting bankruptcy: Pre- and post-SOX enactment

This paper contributes to the literature by documenting the improved performance of bankruptcy prediction models after including corporate governance variables. The empirical results demonstrate better predictive power for financial bankruptcy than previous bankruptcy prediction models, particularly in the post-SOX period. Our theoretical argument emphasizes the urgent need for such improvements to the bankruptcy prediction model following the introduction of the SOX Act, with the empirical results providing intuitive economic meaning for all relevant market participants. Policymakers may consider enacting laws to include designs for corporate governance monitoring mechanisms, entrepreneurs may use this model to improve their own governance structures and compensation mechanisms to avoid financial bankruptcy, and investors may refer to it to ensure that ‘losers’ are excluded from their investment portfolios.     

The role of the board and the audit committee in corporate risk management

This paper examines the impact of corporate governance on corporate risk-management activities in S&P 500 firms over the period 2004–2010 by measuring the characteristics of the board directors and audit committee. Our results show that the board of directors, especially the audit committee, plays an important role in the firm’s hedging decisions, including whether to hedge and to what extent. Such evidence is even stronger in high-leveraged firms with large risk-shifting incentives. These results are robust to the consideration of endogenous concerns, a board corporate governance index, and industrial effects. Our study contributes to the literature by showing the influential role of the audit committee on corporate risk management.     

The mediating role of speed in the global sourcing decision process

The principal aim of this study is to provide theory and testing to elucidate the role of decision-maker's decision process and speed during the global sourcing decision-making process (GSDP). In order to achieve this goal, we examine the behavior of a sample of 202 decision-makers belonging to Italian SMEs in the manufacturing sector. Our main finding suggests that faster decisions during the GSDP process lead to superior financial and non-financial performance of the selected supplier. Moreover, we find support for dual processing theory wherein rationality and intuition of the GSDP are associated with increased supplier performance both directly and through their effects on decision speed. Results are discussed in terms of the GSDP, SME and strategic decision-making literatures and practical implications for managers in SMEs.     

The relationships among corporate social responsibility,corporate image and economic performance of high-tech industries in Taiwan

The economic development of high-tech industries in Taiwan focuses on IC design, opt electrics, semiconductors, computer science and telecommunication. It is necessary for business to understand the relations and significance of the economic performance to take the responsibility and keep a positive corporate image, thus they can earn more admiration and trust from customers. How do they take the social responsibility to improve their corporate image and create the economic performance, and finally reach the top one of the whole world? This study discusses the subject concerning the continuing development of business and relevant issues stated above. We found that 68.1% of high-tech industries in Taiwan are in accordance with business ethics and norms of conduct. Businesses take their responsibility practically by participating in public welfare activities. The more responsibilities they fulfill; the better image they have. High-tech industries should target the social responsibility as their first goal and secondly improve their corporate image to increase the economic performance.     

The changing role of procurement: Developing professional effectiveness

The major objectives of this paper are to explore, from the perspective of 18 senior procurement professionals interviewed, the current status of their role and identify the skills they need to develop, in order to effectively manage the changes they are experiencing. The interviews revealed a schism in perception of the procurement role between professionals (strategic) and their organisations (transactional). Although skills have a direct impact on the ability of procurement professionals to fulfil their role proficiently, the degree of organisational support and internal acknowledgement of the role's importance, were found to be a major barrier to the development and progress of procurement professionals. A Procurement Skills Effectiveness Framework is presented to enable managers to assess the likely sophistication level of procurement and its impact, given a set of procurement skills and the degree and type of internal support for the role.     

The HR quadriad: a framework for the analysis of HRM in project-based organizations

This paper introduces the idea of the ‘HR quadriad’ as a framework for the analysis of HRM as a collective, configurational, and complementary system of roles and practices. The framework highlights the interplay between HR specialists, line managers, project managers, and project workers in the implementation of HR practices. On the basis of a multiple case study comprising six project-based organizations, two organizational factors are singled out as important for the design of the HR quadriad: (1) the nature of project work as either intra-functional or inter-functional, and (2) project participation as either focused or fragmented. The paper gives empirical support to recent research on HRM favoring the synergic integration of the elements of HRM systems designed in a way that acknowledges internal coherence and organizational conditions.     

Talent management and the HR function in cross-cultural mergers and acquisitions: The role and impact of bi-cultural identity

This paper examines bi-cultural talent in relation to human resource management (HRM) practices in cross-cultural merger and acquisitions (M&A). The intersection of HRM, bi-cultural talent management and cross-cultural M&A literature proposes a conceptual framework to capture the complexity of bi-cultural talent management and reveals the dominant macro-characterization of the extant HRM literature focussing on a more micro-orientated perspective. The paper develops a matrix by underlining spatial dimensions (spanning micro-aspects of the individual employee through to the macro-entity of firm and its location in the macro-national cultural context) and temporal dimensions (consisting of pre-merger, during merger and post-merger phases). This provides a template which examines the multi-level dynamics of bi-cultural talent management. The argument identifies ways in which extant cross-cultural lenses require deeper understanding of bi-cultural talent management in M&A settings. Future research directions and agendas are identified.     

The impact of corporate governance on state-owned and non-state-owned firms efficiency in China

The purpose of this paper is to expand the literature on the corporate governance of transition economies by analyzing the relationship between corporate governance and productive efficiency in China's publicly listed manufacturing industry firms. We use the principal component analysis and the hybrid meta-frontier DEA model, separating inputs into radial inputs that change proportionally and non-radial inputs that change non-proportionally to measure the technical efficiency and technology gap ratios of publicly listed Chinese firms in different manufacturing industries during 2010–2013. The input variables are the net value of fixed assets, staff number, and the characteristics of the corporate governance system, while the output variables are gross revenue and total profit. The empirical result shows that inefficiency due to corporate governance is the main reason for lower efficiency in most manufacturing firms. For the technology gap ratio (TGR), the metal and mineral and the machinery, equipment and instrument are the two highest efficient sectors, whereas the paper and allied products sub-industry has the lowest efficiency during 2010–2013. In addition, the ratio of state-owned firms whose inefficiency is mainly caused by corporate governance to total state-owned firms is greater than that of non-state-owned firms in each year. The TGR analysis shows that the efficiency performance of non-state-owned firms is greater than state-owned firms.     

Coordination in global R&D organizations: An examination of the role of subsidiary mandate and modular product architectures in dispersed R&D organizations

International research and development (R&D) operations require a significant amount of coordination between the headquarters and the subsidiaries in order to integrate the dispersed activities in one final product. This article explores what mechanisms multinational companies (MNCs) use to coordinate their overseas R&D units. Based on a multiple case study involving nine MNCs with overseas R&D subsidiaries of varying mandates, we find that R&D sites with high technology and/or market orientation tend to be coordinated by informal mechanisms while sites with little technology and/or market orientation tend to be coordinated by formal mechanisms. Furthermore, it appears that this relationship is strongly affected by the product’s architecture: while rather complex R&D activities are conducted at the systems level and at sites with high technology orientation, less complex R&D activities are conducted at the component level at sites with low technology and market orientation. Finally, the findings suggest that modular product architectures have a coordinating effect in global R&D activities which have the power to lower firms’ overall coordination effort. The findings bear important implications for the effective coordination of MNCs’ international R&D subsidiaries.     

Factors affecting corporate environmental disclosure in emerging markets: The role of corporate governance structures

This study seeks to examine whether internal corporate governance (CG) mechanisms affect corporate environmental disclosure (CED) in emerging economies. Using a sample of 500 firm-year observations, this study distinctively applies a linear panel quantile regression (PQR) model to examine the CG–CED nexus in Jordan. This technique is supplemented with conducting a two-step dynamic generalised method of moment (GMM) model to overcome any potential occurrence of endogeneity problems. This study reports an increasing trend in CED practice among the sampled companies over the period of analysis, yet it is still at an early stage as compared with their developed counterparts. Furthermore, this study suggests that board size, board independence, CEO duality and foreign ownership have positive associations with CED. In contrast, managerial ownership, institutional ownership and ownership concentration are negatively associated with the disclosed amount of environmental information in the Jordanian context. Theoretically, board structures appeared to be more efficient than ownership structures in reducing agency conflicts by addressing the asymmetric gap of information and promoting the disclosure of environmental information. These findings add to the debate about whether ownership structures detrimental to CED in developing economies. Specifically, when it comes to spending money on CED, owners seemed to be more concerned about any reductions in their share of the pie and may, therefore, be less motivated to disclose their companies' environmental information. This paper provides managers, owners and policymakers with a set of context-specific recommendations related to the crucial need for a more concerted effort to integrate governance and environmental regulations in order to ensure sustainability in emerging markets.     

The importance of HR practices and workplace trust in achieving superior performance: A study of public-sector organizations

This paper assesses the impact of bundles of HR practices on workplace trust, job satisfaction, commitment, effort and perceived organizational performance. A theoretical model is developed and tested using data collected through a postal survey of UK local government employees. The results support the hypothesis that HR practices are powerful predictors of trust and organizational performance. These findings demonstrate the need for public organizations to re-evaluate their current battery of HR practices in an attempt to improve overall performance.     

The impact of policy,political and economic uncertainty on corporate capital investment in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Turkey

This paper examines the impact of policy, political, and economic uncertainty on firm-level capital investment in Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Turkey. Our results indicate an insignificant relationship between uncertainty and investment in these countries. This finding is robust to six different uncertainty measures, including time-series uncertainty indices that track either local or global uncertainty and country-level electoral activities. The results are also robust to two different proxies for measuring corporate investment. Overall, the real-option mechanism in which firms delay irreversible investment in uncertain times does not hold in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Turkey.     

The central role of human resource management in the search for sustainable organizations

The aim of this article is to present the main contributions of human resource management to develop sustainable organizations. The relationship between human resources and organizational sustainability, which is based on economical, social and environmental performance, involves some important aspects concerning management such as innovation, cultural diversity and the environment. The integration of items from the triple bottom line approach leads to developing a model based on a strategic and central posture of human resource management. Based on this model, propositions and recommendations for future research on this theme are presented.