Total quality management and human resource systems: an international comparison

This paper takes advantage of a unique international data set to examine the determinants of the adoption and sustainability of total quality management techniques, focusing in particular on the role played by human resource professionals and practices. The data come from a 1991 survey conducted by Ernst and Young and the American Quality Foundation covering the use of TQM tools in the computer, auto, health care and banking industries in Japan, the United States, Canada and Germany.

The research distinguishes between two ways of implementing total quality management – one approach conceptualizes TQM as a relatively limited set of technical engineering changes while the second implements these technical changes as part of a larger transformation of the organization of work. We find support for the second approach in that the number of employees using quality tools and the number of quality tools in use is greater and lasts longer in firms that also have team-based human resource systems for frontline employees, with team structures, suggestion systems, meetings and group rewards. This central finding holds across all countries and industries studied.

We also find that achievement of these changes requires the commitment of organizational stakeholders to incorporate the interests of employees in strategic decision making. Though union presence alone does not predict the adoption or sustainability of these innovations, partnership between management and union does have a positive effect. The level of strategic influence of the human resource department also influences innovation, though in ways that differ across countries and industries.

The findings suggest the value of comparative studies and of research focused at exploring sub-national variation. The findings also suggest the value of a longitudinal study of the sustainability of innovation.     

Human Resource Management Practices and Trust in Public Organizations

Abstract

Trust has been acknowledged as a valuable managerial resource within organizations. Working as a lubricant of organizational functioning, trust reduces opportunistic behaviours while it increases voluntary compliance to organizational norms and rules as well as enhancing individual and organizational performance. Considering the importance of trust, it is worthwhile to explore what factors may help build trust within organizations. This research investigates whether perceptions of several human resource management (HRM) practices are associated with trust in government organizations. According to social exchange theory, HRM practices signal management's commitment to employees which in turn leads to greater trust in the organization. Using data from an employee survey conducted for the Georgia Department of Transportation in 2007, this research tests how employee perceptions of HRM practices are related to trust in three distinct levels of management in a large department of state government: trust in department leadership, trust in one's leadership team, and trust in one's supervisor. Binary logit analyses suggest that perceptions of HRM practices focusing on autonomy, compensation, communication, performance appraisal, and career development are associated with trust in public organizations. According to the result, those practices present variation in their leverage on trust in leadership at different levels.     

Measuring the impact of work reorganization on firm performance: evidence from French manufacturing, 1995–1999

In this paper, we apply the method of selective matching to estimate the causal effect of organizational changes on employment, stock of capital, value added, and factor productivity. Derived from a panel of 2404 French manufacturing firms in 1997, our estimates show that work reorganization improves firm performance overall through a more efficient use of labor and capital, without requiring any increase in the factors of production.     

The ‘science’ and ‘practice’ of HRM in small firms

This paper looks at the ‘science’ and ‘practice’ of human resource management in small firms. While there is growing evidence that the practice of human resource management in small firms is characterized by informality, there is less evidence about the science, or explaining why this is the case. We look to writing on strategic human resource management, which has at its heart the resource based view of the firm, for possibilities offered to understanding the science of human resource management in small firms.     

基于价值链和BCG方法的人力资源管理策略研究

随着信息技术的发展,企业价值的评估模型逐渐改变,并由传统强调实体资产转变为看不见的无形资产。文章旨在分析人力资源管理实务的价值链如何创造企业的竞争优势与价值,并以价值链模型为主,探讨企业人力资源管理实务的价值活动,同时分别从专业才能观点(Competency-Based Approach)与波士顿顾问群的BCG策略定位模型,建立企业策略与核心人力资源需求的关联模型,并进一步整合上述3种模型观点,提出人力资源管理决策模型的架构,建立人力资源管理策略评估模型,提供管理者对于人力资源管理决策的参考架构。     

Workforce diversity and firm performance: Relational coordination as a mediator and structural empowerment and multisource feedback as moderators

Workforce composition in organizations has become increasingly diverse. As an important step in determining how workforce diversity leads to firm performance, we proposed relational coordination as a mediator through which diversity in age and education indirectly affects firm performance. We also highlighted two human resource management practices (structural empowerment and multisource feedback) as critical contingencies that moderate the effects of workforce diversity on relational coordination and firm performance. We conducted hierarchical multiple regression on multisource data (including responses from senior directors, department directors, managers, and employees, as well as financial performance) from 189 Korean firms in the manufacturing sector, which yielded support for our hypotheses. These findings offer novel theoretical and practical insights into the effective management of workforce diversity.     

数字信息时代图书馆资源共享与知识产权保护

数字信息时代图书馆数字化建设为资源共享提供了前所未有的技术条件,但同时又面临着知识产权的严峻挑战。本文论述了数字图书馆建设中涉及的知识产权法律问题、信息资源共享与知识产权的关系,以及信息资源的合法使用与知识产权保护的统一。     

A multilevel perspective on organizational buying behavior in coopetition–an exploratory case study

This article offers a new and interesting perspective on organizational buying behavior by focusing on the simultaneous existence of both cooperation and competition, that is, coopetition. Coopetition may bring undesired knowledge leaks, opportunism, and weakened competitive advantage, and it is therefore important to understand how coopetition develops over time through interrelated activities on multiple levels. The article aims to improve our understanding of the development of organizational buying behavior through adopting a multilevel perspective on coopetition. The empirical study is based on exploratory case study research involving a single case from the manufacturing sector featuring a large multinational buyer and its supplier. The findings of the study show that organizational buying behavior in coopetition develops through interrelated activities on the individual, the organizational, and the relational level. Over time, dominating activities evolve from being ambivalent on an individual level to become authoritative on a company level and finally to being opportunistic on a relational level. Theoretically, this study contributes to organizational buying behavior literature by examining coopetition from a multilevel perspective. From a managerial perspective, the findings establish the importance of recognizing individual-, and organizational-level activities.     

从团队凝聚力建设谈船舶机舱人力资源管理

如何有效地防范已认定的风险和（或）将海运生产的风险降到最低,是航运界一直在探索的课题。文中将从机舱团队建设的角度来谈人力资源,从而降低人为因素对船舶安全的影响。机舱人力资源管理的目的是保证机舱人力资源发挥其应有的作用,实现机舱团队的价值,开发轮机人员的潜力,使轮机设备安全、高效、低耗的运行。