Strategy, human resource management and performance: Sharpening line of sight

This paper builds on previous theory and research on strategy and human resource management to identify important linkages between the firm's strategy, its human resources, and performance outcomes. First, we review the relevant literature focusing in particular on the role of human resources in creating competitive advantage. We then present a multi-level model illustrating how human resource management practices can effectively align organizational, group and individual factors with the organization's strategy. We redefine line of sight as the alignment of organizational capabilities and culture, group competencies and norms, and individual KSAs, motivation and opportunity with one another and with the organization's strategy. Further, we propose that such alignment contributes to the creation of human capital and social capital, both of which are necessary to achieve and sustain superior performance. We conclude the paper with some implications for future research and practice.     

Age diversity and firm performance in an emerging economy: Implications for cross‐cultural human resource management

This study tests the effect of age diversity on firm performance among international firms. Based on the resource‐based view of the firm, it argues that age diversity among employees will influence firm performance. Moreover, it argues that two contextual variables—a firm's level of market diversification and its country of origin—influence the relationship between age diversity and firm performance. By testing relevant hypotheses in a major emerging economy, that is, the People's Republic of China, this study finds a significant and positive effect of age diversity and a significant interactive effect between age diversity and firm strategy on profitability. We also find a significant relationship between age diversity and firm profitability for firms from Western societies, but not for firms from East Asian societies. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this study's findings. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategic integration of HRM and firm performance in a changing environment in China: the impact of organisational effectiveness as a mediator

In the context of dramatic changes in China, this paper investigates the role of organisational effectiveness as a mediator in the relationship between the strategic integration of human resource management (HRM) and firm financial performance. Our study is based on the survey responses of 618 managers in state-owned and private (domestic and foreign-invested) enterprises in China. While most studies of the linkage between HRM practices and firm performance in China have measured firm financial performance or used an ad hoc combination of financial and non-financial indicators, we argue for a distinction to be made between non-financial organisational effectiveness and financial performance. As hypothesised, controlling for sector (state-owned vs. private), we find positive relationships between perceived changing business environment and strategic integration of HRM, and between strategic integration of HRM and organisational effectiveness. Our research adds an important conceptual link by showing that organisational effectiveness plays an important role as a mediator in the HRM and firm financial performance relationship and reinforces the importance of the organisational and environmental context for HRM.     

Introduction: globalizing international human resource management

In this Introduction, we have sought to explain the rationales in putting together a ‘Special Issue’ on Globalizing International Human Resource Management (IHRM). These include, first, coverage of as wide a range of regional and national cultures as possible; second, presentation of as wide a set as perspectives as possible; and last, discussion of how these may shape both theory and practice in the field.     

Human resource management in China revisited: introduction

This introduction attempts to provide an overview of the Special Issue of the IJHRM on ‘Human Resource Management in China Revisited’. It deals first with the economic background of the recent changes in the PRC from 1978 to the present day, exploring the change from a command economy to a more market-led one, as well as the demise of ‘iron rice bowl’ policy dominated by a model to Soviet-inspired personnel management in favour of one gradually being characterized by possibly Japanese-/Western-influenced human resource management (HRM), albeit with ‘Chinese characteristics’. It then introduces the main debates in the field before summing up, at some length, the empirical contributions based on ‘state of the art’ field research contained in the papers submitted. Last, it deals with the comparative setting of the contributions on China vis-à-vis the national HRM systems of Japan and South Korea.     

Strategic human resource management: integrating the universalistic,contingent, configurational and contextual perspectives

From its origins at the end of the 1970s, strategic human resource management has developed quickly. After its uncertain first steps, the number of models and explanations proposed grew exponentially, especially after some theoretical revisions presented in the 1990s. The present explosion of literature requires a systematic revision of the state of the art in this field of research. This is the objective of this paper, which classifies the literature theoretically into four generic perspectives. The principal conclusion derived from this analysis is that, despite the differences among the universalistic, contingent, configurational and contextual approaches, it is possible to make their contributions compatible balancing their limitations. Finally, to illustrate this, we present an integrative exploratory model representing our actual understanding of the complex phenomenon of strategic human resource management.     

Human resource management and organizational performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria

The link between human resource management (HRM) and firm performance of organizations has received significant research attention, generally focused on large firms from developed countries to the omission of studies focused on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and those from developing countries. This study partially addresses this gap in the literature. We investigated the relationship between HRM practices and the financial (FIN) and non-financial performance (NONFIN) of SMEs in Nigeria. A survey design with 236 respondents was used to test the hypotheses. Multiple regression results showed that human capital development and occupational health and safety had a direct relationship with NONFIN, and employee performance management and NONFIN on FIN performance. HRM practices as a group accounted for 16% of the variance in NONFIN and 12% of the variance in FIN. Regression analyses controlled for size and age of the firm. This study partially supports a model of positive relationships between certain HRM practices and firm performance.     

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.     

The impact of human resource management practices and corporate entrepreneurship on firm performance: evidence from Turkish firms

This paper outlines the important role of human resource management practices with a link between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance. Data were collected from a survey of 124 firms operating in different industries in Turkey. The findings of this study indicated that human resource management (HRM) practices partially mediated the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance. In other words, corporate entrepreneurship affects firm performance, both directly and through its effects on HRM practices. In addition to corporate entrepreneurship, it is found that HRM practices explain a significant level of additional variance (9 per cent) in firm performance. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Exploring the reality of educated middle managers' capability and involvement in human resource management in China

Since the recent global financial crisis, human resource management (HRM) policies may be seen more than ever as one of the cornerstones for building an appropriate organizational culture to better promote effort and cooperation between human resource (HR) managers and other middle line-managers. This article is designed to explore the reality of educated middle managers' capability and involvement in HRM in China, given that the concepts of HR roles in general and middle managers in particular are relatively new there. By analysing the results from more than 300 middle managers who had been educated at MBA programmes in different parts of China, our findings, we argue, have important implications for both the HRM literature and management practice in emerging economies.     

Integrating strategic human capital and strategic human resource management

Abstract

Human capital is an important construct in a variety of fields spanning from micro scholarship in psychology to macro scholarship in economics. Within the various disciplinary perspectives, research focuses on slightly different aspects and levels of human capital within organizations, which may give opportunities for integration. The current paper aims to increase knowledge about human capital within organizations by integrating two streams of research which focus directly on human capital, but have approached human capital in different ways: strategic human capital (SHC), and strategic HRM. We describe both SHC and strategic HRM research streams and propose areas of integration, and directions for future research on human capital in organizations.     

Managing diversity through human resource management: an international perspective and conceptual framework

This paper critically reviews the literature on managing diversity through human resource management (HRM). We discuss the major issues and objectives of managing diversity and examine the state of human resource diversity management practices in organizations. Our review shows that inequality and discrimination still widely exist and HRM has focused mainly on compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action (AA) legislation. Less attention has been paid to valuing, developing and making use of diversity. Our review reveals limited literature examining how diversity is managed in organizations through effective human resource management. We develop a framework that presents strategies for HR diversity management at the strategic, tactical and operational levels. Our review also discusses the implications for practice and further research.     

Stages,Content, and Theory of Strategic Human Resource Management （SHRM）： An Exploratory Study

This study discusses ＂theory of strategic human resource management （HRM） has an impact on research topic of this study is to discuss SHRM resource management （SHRM）＂. Theory of SHRM is that human firm performance through employee performance. Therefore, the theory. Research method is literature scanning. Research findings are, firstly, that strategic HRM can be defined with employee/firm performance relationship. Secondly, this study depicts its own SHRM model. In this model, HRM practices develop individual performance of employees in organizations, and individual performance increases performance of business departments, such as supply department, finance department, marketing department, logistics department, etc., and performance of business departments has an impact on firm performance. Furthermore, this study makes its SHRM definition. So far, there have been two definitions of SHRM in literature studies. The first definition identifies SHRM with corporate strategies and competitive advantage. The second definition describes SHRM with HRM-firm performance relationship. This study makes the third definition, namely, SHRM is employee/firm performance relationship, and this definition is figured in an SHRM model in this study.     

新木桶原理与人力资源管理

文章介绍了新木桶原理及在人力资源管理方面的应用,分析了该原理运用于人力资源管理过程中存在的典型误区,并指出应该将提升人力资源管理水平视为一项系统工程,执行中要主要操作的艺术性,并灵活地与新木桶原理相结合。     

Human resource management control system and firm performance: a contingency model of corporate control

This study explores how corporate controls used by the parent company of a conglomerate affect subsidiaries' human resource management (HRM) control–performance relationship. Empirical results from 93 firms reveal that the appropriate use of HRM control systems was a contributing factor to firm performance. When a subsidiary's approach to HRM was based on behavior control, performance was lower when the parent company emphasized financial control. When a subsidiary's approach to HRM was based on output control, performance was higher when the parent company emphasized either strategic or financial control. When a subsidiary's approach to HRM was based on input control, performance was higher when the parent company emphasized strategic control.     

A problematic transition to a strategic role: human resource management in industrial enterprises in China

The Chinese government has launched extensive reforms to encourage integration with the global economy. Our research investigates the implications for human resource management practices of the changing business environment in China, ownership of organizations, organizational strategies and strategic integration of the HR function. We conducted two surveys in major Chinese cities in 1994/5 and 2001/2, with managers of state-owned, privately owned, collectively owned and foreign-invested enterprises.

Regression analyses showed that organizational strategy and organizational ownership, in contrast with earlier research, were not found to be strong predictors of HRM practices. The changing business environment in China and participation by the HR function in strategic decision-making were the strongest predictors of HRM practices. Overall, a strategic role for the HR function and implementation of ‘Western’ HRM practices are becoming more prevalent in China, although the legacy of traditional practices endures and new challenges are emerging.     

Strategic supply management,quality initiatives,and organizational performance

Researchers in supply chain management have found over the past two decades that supply management should be not merely a purchasing function but a strategic tool for supply chain integration. Supply management, the cornerstone of the integration of industrial supply chains, has evolved as a key research area. Based on quantitative and qualitative investigations of 225 electronics manufacturing firms, we examine the organizational impacts of strategic supply management (SSM) and the contexts of company size, process type, ISO 9000 certification, and quality management (QM) implementation that facilitate such an endeavor. We reveal that SSM is essentially a quality management initiative that requires bilateral efforts for continuous improvement and thus is not associated with the basic requirements of ISO 9000. We find that SSM improves on-time shipments, reduces operational costs, and leads to customer satisfaction and improved business performance. Developed based on contemporary premises in supply chain and QM, this research refines our understanding of the relationships among quality initiatives, SSM, and organizational performance.     

浅谈企业人力资源人本管理

文章简要分析了企业人本管理的概念及其优点,讨论了传统人事管理与现代人力资源管理的差异,阐述了实现企业人本管理所需的各种管理机制、用人机制和激励机制,探讨了以"人本管理"为中心的企业文化的建立。     

战略人力资源管理与跨国公司在中国的绩效

通过比较跨国公司在中国两个行业中的人力资源管理实践与相关绩效,本研究验证战略人力资源管理的不同理论观点。笔者分析了取自中国的软饮料产业与电子产业的实证数据,研究的结果验证了一系列有关战略人力资源管理的基本假设,如企业环境、企业战略、企业人力资源实践与企业绩效之间的关系。     

From a labour-surplus to a labour-scarce economy: challenges to human resource management in Hong Kong

In this paper, the acute problems faced by the market economy of Hong Kong are assessed. These are seen to arise from the shift in the labour market from labour surplus to labour scarcity. The major geo-political role of Hong Kong both in servicing the extendal capital requirements of South China and as a key state within the conurbation of ‘little dragons’ is also examined. The consequences of this structural shift in terms of the challenges being mounted to HRM both strategically and functionally are also evaluated and are interpreted as an evolutionary process.