The HR competency requirements for strategic and functional HR practitioners

HR competency research has predominantly focused on identifying generic HR competencies for HR practitioners using a universalist approach. This approach has led to the distinction between strategic and functional HR competencies, and a belief that the former is superior to the latter for successful performance in the HR domain. However, little attention has been paid to the interrelationships between strategic and functional HR competency dimensions, and their perceived relevance to strategic and functional HR roles. Drawing on a situationalist perspective and using a mixed-method approach, seven HR competency concepts are identified and examined for their perceived relative importance to strategic and functional HR roles. The findings indicate that Business Awareness competencies are important differentiators between strategic and functional HR roles, whereas Leadership and Relationship Building and Self-Belief and Social Factors are generic to all HR practitioners. The findings also indicate that there is a wider range of HR attributes required for HR job success than those espoused in the HR literature. Theoretical implications and recommendations on selection and development programmes for HR practitioners are also discussed.     

Is there a bigger and better future for employer branding? Facing up to innovation,corporate reputations and wicked problems in SHRM

Employer branding is becoming an increasingly important topic for research and practice in multinational enterprises (MNEs) because it plays directly into their corporate reputation, talent management and employee engagement agendas. In this paper, we argue that the potential effects of employer branding have yet to be fully understood because current theory and practice have failed to connect this internal application of marketing and branding to the key reputational and innovation agendas of MNEs, both of which are at the heart of another strategic agenda – effective corporate governance. However, these agendas are characterised by ‘wicked problems’ in MNEs, which have their origins in competing logics in strategic human resource management (SHRM). These problems need to be articulated and understood before they can be addressed. This paper proceeds by (1) setting out a definition and model of employer branding and how it potentially articulates with corporate governance, innovation and organisational reputations, (2) discussing and analysing the ‘wicked problems’ resulting from the sometimes contradictory logics underpinning innovation and corporate reputations and SHRM in MNEs and (3) evaluating the potential of employer branding as a contribution to the third SHRM approach – HR strategy-in-action – as a way of resolving three particularly wicked problems in MNEs. We conclude with some ideas for research and practice on the future for employer branding.     

Flexible global working arrangements: An integrative review and future research agenda

The topography of global mobility within multinational enterprises (MNEs) is evolving where we now have a portfolio of flexible global working arrangements (FGWAs) including: international business travellers, flexpatriates, short-term international assignees, international commuters, and rotational assignees. The need for more agile structures and more efficient mechanisms to transfer globally dispersed knowledge are two key enablers in this evolution. With increased interest, this paper offers the first systematic, integrative review of 100 articles on FGWAs. The review indicates that these forms of global work appear to be a somewhat overlooked double-edged sword in that they may confer significant but unrealised value for MNEs alongside hidden, adverse consequences for individuals. Notable was the lack of insight into the HR function's input or oversight at either a strategic or operational level. We find that there is a distinct lack of strategic linkages to global mobility and/or HR functions. We propose a research agenda that centres on better understanding the international HR function's role and responsibility in providing a more strategic and sustainable perspective of these increasingly common FGWAs alongside virtual work. The COVID-19 pandemic may offer a critical juncture point in which there is greater strategic consideration on the utilisation and support of such arrangements.     

Out of India: Towards a conceptual framework on internationalization motives,parenting styles and human resource management practices among Indian MNE subsidiaries in Ireland

The significant growth of Asian multinational enterprises (MNEs) in western economies in recent years, in particular in smaller advanced economies such as Ireland, has led to calls for a deeper understanding of the drivers of location choice among these MNEs and for more compelling accounts of the parenting and management of the subsidiaries being established. In this conceptual contribution, we focus on the specific case of Indian MNEs with subsidiaries in Ireland. Assembling theoretical insights from the literature on parenting styles and headquarter-subsidiary interactions, coupled with practice-led observations garnered from Indian MNEs, we develop a conceptual framework elucidating key variations in headquarter-subsidiary relationships and the HR policy and practice mix. We reason that the preferred approach to corporate parenting, vested in adding value to the subsidiary, extracting value from it, or seeking a balance in the overall exchange, results in a range of interactions between headquarters and subsidiaries, encompassing integration, collaboration or local responsiveness. Furthermore, we postulate that the preferred headquarter-subsidiary interactions influence the subsequent HR recipes adopted in the subsidiary setting as it seeks to build its strategic position within the broader MNE network. In order to deepen lines of inquiry around these different interactions, we advance a series of propositions for testing.     

An integrative framework of strategic international human resource management

The globalization of business is making it more important than ever to understand how multinational enterprises (MNEs) can operate more effectively. A major component of this understanding appears to be the field of human resource management and, in particular, the field of international human resource management (Brewster, 1991; Hendry, 1992; Desatnick and Bennett, 1978; Dowling, 1986; Dowling and Schuler, 1990; Evans, 1986; Evans, 1989; Laurent, 1986; Tung, 1984). The trend over the past few years has been to identify the linkage of human resource management with strategy and offer an understanding of how single country or domestic human resource management can facilitate organizational understanding and effectiveness (Wright and McMahan, 1992). In this article we attempt to extend this line of work into the international arena. We do this by offering a framework of strategic international human resource management (SIHRM). Anchoring SIHRM in the strategic components of MNEs, namely their interunit linkages and internal operations, strategic aspects of international human resource management are described. Using several theoretical bases, numerous propositions are offered. These propositions reflect the single and multiple influence of the strategic components of MNEs and several exogenous and endogenous factors on SIHRM. The intention is to offer a framework that can serve both academics and practitioners in furthering our understanding of strategic international human resource management.     

Are top human resource specialists 'strategic partners'? Self-perceptions of a corporate elite

Despite the existence of various large-scale surveys of human resource specialists, there has been little research focusing specifically on the top cohort of HR practitioners. In addition, the surveys offer little insight into the ambiguous, but important questions associated with the strategic management process in large, complex corporations. This article reports a study of the qualifications, work histories, role orientations and strategic contributions of the most senior HR specialists in the New Zealand business sector. These elite practitioners typically demonstrate a 'dual background' in specialist HR activities and line management, and strongly subscribe to Legge's notion of 'conformist innovation'. As in the United Kingdom, they tend to focus primarily on the management of managers and, to a lesser extent, the management of industrial relations. Their work is increasingly integrated with other spheres of the business such as quality management. Whether their contribution is regarded as 'strategic' depends on the model of strategic management that informs the question. This paper argues that the survey-based studies have inappropriately adopted 'outside-in' models of strategic management which privilege marketing notions and assume that 'formulation' is more strategic than 'implementation'. The work of these senior HR specialists is more fairly assessed under a conception of the strategic problem which balances external and internal concerns. Given the present realignment of strategy theory, the challenge facing these HR specialists is that of developing frameworks for corporate planning and performance analysis which attribute a more central role to the critical elements of HRM.     

Factors affecting international staffing in Chinese multinationals (MNEs)

While the existing models explain factors determining approaches to international staffing of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from developed countries, there is little known about MNEs of developing and transforming economies. This qualitative empirical research explores the factors determining international staffing in Chinese MNEs and argues that Western models are generally applicable to the Chinese context. However, the same categories of determining factors have sometimes different underlying meanings or varied contents. Contrary to the prevailing literature, this study shows international experience is a catalytic agent of change rather than a determinate of international staffing approach. Moreover, some factors that have not been much considered in the literature have been evidenced to be important factors affecting international staffing particularly in Chinese MNEs. Further study directions and implications for practitioners are also discussed.     

What role do HR practitioners play in developing countries: an exploratory study in an Indonesian organization undergoing major transformation

In spite of the abundance of research on HRM in developing countries, there is a dearth of knowledge of what human resource (HR) practitioners actually do in developing countries. With the aid of Conner and Ulrich's widely reported framework for HR roles, we investigated the roles played by HR practitioners in a state-owned oil and gas company with a workforce of 15,000 employees. The study was based on a survey of 140 HR and line managers in the company. The main finding of the study is that even in a developing country such as Indonesia, Conner and Ulrich's (1996) model of HR roles has some validity. Our findings indicate that all the four roles are practised by HR practitioners in the company. The finding lends support to similar studies in the USA (Wright, McMahan, Snell and Gerhart 2001; Simpkins 2005), the UK (Caldwell 2003), Denmark (Lemmergaard 2009), Finland (Antila 2006) and Lithuania (Zuzeviciute and Margarita 2010). Another significant feature of the study is the revelation that HR practitioners play more strategic roles than operational roles. This is entirely unexpected. The theoretical/research and practical implications of the findings have also been discussed.     

Perceptions of the value of the HR function

This article explores the added value of the HR function as it is perceived by three groups of managers: top managers, HR managers and line managers. Despite the fact that literature about strategic HRM focuses almost exclusively on the value of the HR function as a strategic partner, it was assumed that its perceived value for the business would not be restricted to the area of strategy formulation and implementation. Several 'result domains' can be distinguished in which the HR function can deliver value to the business. Based on our review of the literature, the degree of strategic involvement of the function was used as a second perspective to investigate its perceived added value. To examine our propositions, a qualitative study was carried out in which 97 HR managers, 38 top managers and 178 line managers participated. The results confirm our thesis that the perceived value of the HR function contains more than just the fulfilment of its role as a strategic partner. Based on our results, an integrated model for the perceived value of the function has been developed.     

Too hot to handle? Trust and human resource practitioners' implementation of anti‐bullying policy

In this article, we examine the dynamics of trust in the triadic relationship between HR, employees and managers when dealing with allegations of workplace bullying. Previous research has shown employees to be dissatisfied with HR practitioners' responses to complaints of workplace bullying, and we explore the novel angle of the HR practitioners' perspective through semistructured interviews. Paralleling extant employee accounts, the findings suggest that HR practitioners rarely judge situations as bullying where a manager is accused. Trust between employee, manager and HR practitioner is essential for the successful resolution of bullying claims, yet this study suggests multiple directions of distrust. By virtue of their role alignment and previous experiences of handling bullying, HR practitioners were found to prioritise their relationships with managers, automatically distrusting employees' bullying claims. Despite also distrusting managers to effectively deliver HRM practices, it appears that bullying complaints are ‘too hot to handle’ for HR practitioners given the risks to their relationships with managers.     

Agile for HR: Fine in practice,but will it work in theory?

Agile HR is a topic of growing interest among HR professionals, reflecting pressures for greater organisational agility in response to environmental uncertainty. However, agile HR has received virtually no attention in the academic HR literature, typifying a divergence between the interests of HR practitioners and strategic HRM research, something which has been a recurring concern in recent reviews of SHRM literature. In this paper we offer a definition of agile HR as a HR operational strategy and assess how the relationship between organisational strategy, HR strategy and HR operational strategy has evolved over four waves since the 1950s. Our analysis highlights the neglect of HR operating models in SHRM research, and we propose a research agenda incorporating agile as a HR operational strategy in models of SHRM. We propose that this has the potential to mitigate some of the limitations highlighted in recent reviews of this literature.     

Emerging issues and challenges in global staffing: a North American perspective

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) recognize that human resources play an important role in gaining a competitive advantage in today's highly competitive global business environment. While all aspects of managing human resources are important, staffing, continues to be an essential IHRM activity that helps MNEs in their need for coordination and control across widely dispersed units. As such, researchers and practitioners alike are interested in addressing the key issues and challenges in staffing the several types of employees that comprise the global or multinational workforce. We focus on three issues that have emerged in recent years regarding how MNEs staff their multinational workforce including: 1) managing different types of employee groups; 2) selection and management of employees posted to international assignments; and, 3) receptivity to international careers among early career individuals. We review these and then describe an empirical study conducted on the third issue.     

The role of change agent as mediator in the relationship between HR competencies and organizational performance

Human resource (HR) practitioners, as change agents, are responsible for easing the impact of changes in their organization and to protect employees against the side effects of these inevitable changes. Sometimes, the change helps to produce a significant increase in performance and the company can boost sales and production without additional cost. Several vital competencies that are reviewed in this paper include business knowledge culture management, effective relationship and human resource development skills. Based on the findings of this study, not all competencies are related to the role of change agent. HR practitioners who are unable to function as change agents will inevitably create a barrier against their becoming a well-integrated strategic partner. Therefore, the role of change agent also mediates the relationship between certain HR competencies and organizational performance.     

A comparative study of performance appraisals,incentives and rewards practices in domestic and multinational enterprises in the country of Brunei Darussalam

Very little work in the past has focused on the comparative analysis of human resource management (HRM) practices between domestic and multinational enterprises (MNEs). The majority of the work in this area has instead concentrated on comparing the HRM practices utilised by the subsidiaries of MNEs, and has mostly been conducted in the context of developed countries. In this paper, we examine how the HR practices of appraisals, rewards and incentives are offered, explained and monitored in domestic enterprises (DEs) versus MNEs, and how they are similar or different in nature. This paper is based on primary data collected from a cross-section of firms operating in the country of Brunei Darussalam – a context within which no previous work of this nature has been undertaken. An analysis reveals several interesting results: HR practices are more advanced and better structured in MNEs that conduct performance appraisals (PA) more frequently than DEs, and their feedback system is also rapid; incentives and rewards systems in MNEs follow market ethos and principles; the HR directors and employees of MNEs are more receptive to PA than those in DEs whilst, in contrast to DEs, incentives and rewards systems in MNEs follow market ethos and principles. Furthermore, with regard to size, younger firms are more likely to be following market principles in terms of explaining incentives and rewards systems to their employees, whilst older firms claim that working for them carries social and psychological benefits for employees.     

Concurrent and disconnected change programmes: strategies in support of servitization and the implementation of business partnering

For many leading engineering companies, the integration of services into product offerings is seen to comprise an important shift in the underlying business model. This movement has been termed the ‘servitization of business’. Within this debate, however, scant attention has been given to the human resource (HR) implications of servitization. An exploratory case study illustrates the HR challenges associated with servitization and the way in which these interact with a concurrent change programme concerned with the implementation of ‘business partnering’. The findings highlight the emergent complexities resulting from these two change programmes being rolled out simultaneously. Although contested across different divisions, the shift to servitization continuously disrupts the implementation of business partnering with little alignment between the two espoused initiatives. Furthermore, the rate of strategic change within the company in response to changing markets continuously acts to erode the coherence of the acclaimed move to business partnering. In consequence, the HR policies and practices struggle to maintain contact with the company's strategic direction.     

Is Ulrich's model useful in understanding HR practitioners' roles in non-western developing countries? An exploratory investigation across private and public sector organizations in the Sultanate Kingdom of Oman

This study set out to explore whether Ulrich's model is useful in understanding HR roles in non-western developing countries such as Oman. The study surveyed a random sample of 780 HR practitioners, line managers and employees from public and private sector organizations. In addition 12 HR practitioners and managers were interviewed to supplement the data collected from the survey. The findings indicate that HR practitioners in Oman perform all the roles. However, ‘strategic partner’ is the least performed role. The findings also indicate that HR practitioners in the private sector are more likely to perform all the five roles to a greater extent than their counterparts in the public sector. We also found partial support for our proposition that HR practitioners in the public sector would play more ‘operational’ roles (e.g. employee advocate or functional expert) than ‘strategic’ roles (i.e. strategic partner or HR leader). The study revealed that Ulrich's model is robust enough to help in the understanding of HR roles in a non-western, developing country context. The findings are discussed within the context of institutional and cultural frameworks. The paper argues for more research to improve the understanding of how socio-economic and cultural factors influence HR roles and how they are performed.     

Change agency in occupational context: lessons for HRM

Change agency is seen as a key route to reducing the occupational vulnerability of human resource management (HRM). However, few look outside of the HRM context to consider change agency more broadly in organisations. Drawing on a study of change agency units in British organisations, we argue that challenges to occupational credibility and competing jurisdictional claims have wider implications for the role of HR practitioners. In particular, change agency is better seen as replaying rather than resolving the ambiguity of HRM's role and identity in organisations.     

What is the value of human resource certification? A multi-level framework for research

We make a contribution to narrowing the science–practice gap by adopting a multi-level theory-based approach to investigating an important issue for practitioners in human resource management: human resource (HR) certification. Despite the facts that more than 150,000 individuals in more than 70 countries have become certified and that HR certification has turned into a million-dollar industry, there is no scholarly evidence regarding the impact of certification on any important individual- and organizational-level outcomes (e.g., individual's career progression and HR department-level effectiveness). First, we distinguish among certification and licensing. Second, we describe the purported benefits of HR certification. Third, we review the existing literature on perceptions of HR certification; including a survey we conducted with 189 HR professionals. Finally, we present a research agenda, including 14 testable propositions, to guide future scholarly research on HR certification with the goal to gather evidence, which to date is not yet available, regarding the value of HR certification for individual practitioners, organizations, and the HR profession.     

Managing ward managers for roles in HRM in the NHS: overworked and under-resourced

Drawing on case study research in seven NHS Trusts, this article considers the role and management of ward managers and paramedic supervisors, focusing on their human resource management (HRM) responsibilities. In the National Health Service (NHS), these front-line managers are critical to the delivery of effective HRM and thereby strongly influence organisational performance and service delivery. However, despite the mounting literature on leadership and performance in health care, little is known about this body of managers who have been generally neglected by academics and practitioners. This article seeks to address these shortcomings by considering the content and practice of these junior managers' role, their work experiences and factors that influence their ability to deliver effective HRM. The findings reveal that the roles of these managers have been enhanced and extended to include an extensive portfolio of HR duties but is subject to considerable constraint. The multiplicity of roles these managers are required to perform has magnified issues of role conflict and ambiguity, heavy workloads and stress. Fundamentally, however, these managers lacked support from senior managers and the HR function.     

Indigenous management

Much of the existing literature on the co-ordination and control of HRM in MNEs is written from the perspective of the 'view from above' that often ignores or plays down the politics and changing nature of the relationships between the centre and its subsidiaries. In this paper, we take a 'view from below' in exploring the politics of change in CASHCO, a well-known US MNE. The case study documents the motivation and ability of a UK subsidiary of CASHCO to respond positively to the centralized control of HRM through the near-constant transfer of US 'best practice' over a period of two decades. During this time, the UK subsidiary transformed itself from a loss-making, resource-dependent manufacturer to one that is a world leader in its particular field. In doing so, it had much less incentive to follow the lead of its less successful US headquarters and responded accordingly to ethnocentric control from the US through a range of political strategems. We conclude, first, that different strategies of HRM control used by corporate headquarters of MNEs will work effectively only when the assumptions underlying these strategies reflect the history, context and power base of particular subsidiaries. Second, we conclude that the effectiveness of control strategies will be influenced significantly by the incentive and ability of subsidiary managers to comply with centralized control. Finally, the case has some practical lessons for US managers who seek to transfer best practice to overseas subsidiaries, especially in the form of radical programmes of corporate culture change.