Integrating Hybrid Work in Organizations: A Strategic HRM Perspective to Pursue Vertical and Horizontal Alignment

Twenty years ago Guest (1987) published his normative framework describing the essence of HRM. He presented HRM as a new approach to personnel management, emphasizing its strategic contribution, its closer alignment to business, the involvement of line management, and focusing on HRM outcomes like commitment, flexibility and quality. The achievement of these human resource outcomes was, in turn, expected to contribute to a range of positive organizational outcomes, including high job performance, low turnover, low absence and high cost-effectiveness through the full utilization of employees, now relabelled as human resources. Put this way, it is not difficult to understand the wide appeal that the notion of HRM had (and still has) to academics and practitioners alike. It led to the renaming of chairs/departments within universities and to changed job titles in the business community. The attractiveness of the concept of HRM increased considerably when Huselid, in 1995, published a ground-breaking paper in the Academy of Management Journal in which he demonstrated a correlation between the degree of sophistication of HR-systems and the market value per employee among a range of publicly quoted companies in the USA. The paper generated admiration, criticism and an abundance of 'me too' research, trying to replicate the proclaimed relationship between HRM and Performance (Delery and Doty, 1996; Guthrie, 2001; Koch and McGrath, 1996; Wright et al., 2003). Since then many academics on both sides of the Atlantic have become active in this field, with a special focus on the relationship between HRM and Performance. Within this rapidly expanding field of study, the HRM–Performance relationship has been approached from a variety of perspectives rooted in organizational behaviour, sociology, economics, industrial relations and organizational psychology, with a particular emphasis placed on the impact of various combinations of human resource practices on a range of performance outcomes at the individual and organizational level of analysis.

The last decade has seen a burgeoning research literature emerge investigating the link between high commitment work systems and organisational performance. Encouraged by numerous reports of a substantive statistical association between high commitment management (HCM) practices and enhanced organisational performance, HRM researchers have become increasingly assertive in their claims that HRM contributes to a firm's bottom line. However, despite the strong empirical evidence to support such claims, there remain significant gaps in our understanding of the HRM-performance relationship. In particular, the research leaves a number of questions unanswered in terms of when and how HR impacts on the performance of the firm. The current program of research investigated four such questions in particular: the potential for high commitment management to impact change in firm performance, the universal versus contingent conditions under which high commitment work systems impact firm performance, the mechanisms or processes through which high commitment work systems influence performance, and finally, the role that employees' shared perceptions of HRM play in HRM-outcome relations. To examine these extant issues, five empirical studies conducted at the organisational, group and individual levels of analysis were conducted, the results of which are presented in this thesis. Study 1 investigated whether high commitment management practices are related to changes in firm performance in a sample of 275 Australian companies. The study used both subjective and objective indicators of proximal and distal outcome variables, as well as both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Using objective indicators of performance, greater use of HCM was associated with lower labour turnover and higher labour productivity and firm profitability. The association between HCM and labour productivity remained statistically significant after controlling for prior years' productivity. Using subjective indicators of performance, HCM was associated with HR, organisational, and financial outcomes. Moreover, the pattern of results for both subjective and objective performance indicators support theoretical accounts of the HRM-firm performance causal chain in that HRM was most strongly related to proximal outcomes like labour turnover, next most related to intermediate outcomes like labour productivity, and least related to distal outcomes like firm profitability. Study 2 investigated the potential moderating effects of a firm's capital structure on the relationship between high commitment work systems and firm performance in a sample of I 04 UK manufacturing firms. Hypotheses were drawn from a resource-based perspective on human resource management and a financial theory perspective on capital structure. Results show that a high commitment work system is significantly related to economic performance. However, this relationship was moderated by the firm's financing strategy. Firms obtained higher returns from a high commitment approach to employee management when pursing a low leveraging (debt) financing strategy, a finding consistent with modem finance theory notions that firm-specific strategic assets provide greatest value when financed primarily through equity as opposed to debt. Study 3 was conducted to examine the mediating role of perceived organisational support in the relationships between nine high commitment work practices and employee commitment. Results obtained from a sample of 246 employees from a large Australian machinery supplier indicate that relationships between selectivity in hiring, teamworking, and information sharing, on the one hand, and organisational commitment on the other, were all fully mediated by perceived organisational support. The relationship between organisational commitment and participative decision making was partially mediated by perceived organisational support. The study indicates perceived organisational support may be an important explanatory mechanism in HCM-outcome relations. Study 4 was conducted to examine a full model of the high commitment-employee outcomes relationship. Using a sample of 619 employees from a diverse range of organisations, it was found that perceived organisational support mediated the relationship between employees' perceptions of HCM practices and their affective organisational commitment. Affective commitment, in turn, mediated the relationship between perceived organisational support and employees' withdrawal intentions and proactive job performance. In terms of work performance, affective commitment was found to be predictive of proactive work performance but not in-role work performance, suggesting high commitment work practices may be particularly suited to those organisations who base their competitive strategy on a flexible and self-directed work force. Study 5 was designed to assess work unit members' shared perceptions of their organisation's HRM system, or HRM climate, as well as the effects of these perceptions on members' aggregated outcomes. Results from a sample of 66 work units showed that a more favourable HRM climate was associated with higher levels of perceived organisational support, in-role performance and citizenship behaviour, and lower levels of quit intentions and workplace deviance. Moreover, the effects of climate level were moderated by climate strength, such that the influence of work units' climate on the criterion variables was most favourable under strong climate conditions. Additional analyses revealed that trust in management and leader informing behaviour were significant predictors of climate level, whilst leader informing behaviour was a significant predictor of climate strength. Overall these findings add to our understanding of the high commitment approach to managing employees and its effect on employee outcomes and firm performance. Firstly, this research adds to what is in effect a small body of empirical research suggesting that HCM has a demonstrable effect on changes in financial performance as opposed to a simple bi-variate correlation alone. Secondly, whilst almost all research examining potential moderators of the HRM-firm performance relationship has relied upon the firm's business strategy as a key contingency variable, results of the current study suggest capital structure may be another important contingent variable in the HRM-firm performance relationship. Third, the results of this research exemplifies the need to delve into lower levels of the organisation to help explain how commitment enhancing approaches to human resource management may work to influence work outcomes. Through the use of employee surveys, employee reactions to high commitment work practices suggest such practices influence perceptions of perceived organisational support, which in turn influence employee commitment to the organisation, which ultimately influence organisationally beneficial outcomes like reduced employee propensity to quit the organisation and proactive performance. Finally, the present program of research expands on previous accounts of employee reactions to HRM by considering employees' collective experience, or climate for high commitment management practices. Findings indicate that climate for HCM can be conceptualised as a group level construct, and this construct has implications for aggregated work-unit outcomes. At a practical level, the present program of research highlights some important considerations for those attempting to improve individual, group and organisational level outcomes through the high commitment approach to managing people. Research at the organisational level, for example, highlights the need for proposed HR interventions to be considered in the context of contingent variables that go beyond a business's competitive strategy alone. Rather, support is found for the argument that for a firm's human resource investments to be value-adding, they must be integrated with other organizational functions, such as marketing, production, R&D, and, based upon the results of the present program of research- the finance function. In addition, findings at the individual and group level of analysis suggest that HRM practices, apart from serving a functional role, also play a non-instrumental role of communicating to employees that they are valued by the organisation. In effect, this suggests that HRM practices might thus serve as one means by which organisations can demonstrate their support for, or commitment to, their employees and, in tum, foster reciprocated attachment from employees. Finally, investigations conducted at the work unit level of analysis provide evidence that organisations may benefit from considering employees' shared experience of HRM. Results suggest that organisations able to create stronger climate for HRM may be able to harness greater utility from their HRM policies and practices. In the present program of research, evidence was found to suggest that both leader informing behaviour and trust in management play important roles in influencing both the favourability of employees' perceptions of HRM, as well as the extent to which such perceptions are similar across employees. The more favourable and the more similar employees' perceptions of HRM are, then the more likely an organisation is able to harness positive attitudinal and behavioural responses from employees.

This paper seeks to explore a model of banking service orientation in strategic human resource management and system dynamic perspective, theoretically. As a scientific effort to develop a study of strategic human resource management. So far, the relationship between elements in strategic human resource management perspective as a system is only analyzed linearly. This article is the result of a literature study. An analysis is done narratively, to answer research problems. Research finding in the form of banking service-orientation model in strategic human resource management and system dynamic perspective, that illustrates the interaction between marketing differentiation strategy, commitment-based human resource system, service-oriented role behaviors to achieve banking performance.

The impact of development perspective of human resource management and lesson learned system of knowledge management on project success with the mediation of project management competency retention is examined by collecting the data from the regular employees of telecommunication sector (PTCL, Ufone, Warid, Zong and Mobilink), GEPCO and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline limited of Gujranwala District of Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose 380 questionnaires were distributed out of which 321 questionnaire were returned and the study gains an actual response rate of 84.4%. Some questionnaires were excluded because of missing values by using list-wise deletion method which includes particular statistical analysis and after that 310 complete questionnaires were selected for further proceeding. The relationship of Development Perspective of Human Resource Management, Lesson Learned System of Knowledge Management and Project Success with mediation of Project Management Competency Retention is examined by using the statistical techniques such as “Pearson’s Correlation”, “Descriptive Statistics” and “Factor Analysis”. The results confirmed that development perspective of human resource management and lesson learned system of knowledge management has insignificant positive relationship with project management competency retention and project success. There is no mediation of project management competency retention has been proved between development perspective of human resource management, lesson learned system of knowledge management and project success. A significant positive relationship has been proved between project management competency retention and project success. Finally the results suggested that it is crucial for the organizations to retain competency to achieve project success.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to raise awareness that despite many calls for attention to a firm’s context in considering consequences for human resource management (HRM) and performance, research progress to date has been limited at best, although promising signs of change are emerging. Moreover, what has been defined as “performance” is coming under increasing scrutiny, with a more holistic concept emerging that balances both a firm’s financial performance and employee well-being. The question remains whether this is a mutual gains or conflicting outcomes situation for the firmvis-á-visthe employee.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a framework that facilitates a broader context-centric analysis of the HRM and performance relationship. In so doing, the authors posit that context should no longer merely be an obligatory control variable in a research design, but instead should be explicitly incorporated in both theory development and empirical model testing.FindingsThe Contextual SHRM Framework demonstrates how key organizational actors can balance competitive, heritage and institutional mechanisms to create an appropriate strategic HRM (SHRM) system capable of delivering organizational outcomes that balance financial and employee well-being outcomes, which in the long run impact societal well-being that, in turn, recreates the firm’s operating context. At the heart of the framework is an iterative process between context and the SHRM system, achieving an appropriate level of dynamic fit across the various components.Practical implicationsIn addition to empirical research, the framework has to date been widely used in executive development training, serving as a force field analysis tool allowing simultaneous consideration of the external and internal elements of a firm’s context, key organizational actors and SHRM system outcomes. HR professionals applying the framework to their organization can add value by demonstrating the clear linkage between the business strategy, the HRM system and the firm’s operating context.Originality/valueThis paper is designed to encourage new directions in future research and practice. The Contextual SHRM Framework is presented as a novel tool to facilitate advancement of the HRM and performance field of study.

Since the early 1990s, human resource management (HRM) scholars have sought to specify the link between high performing HRM practices and both individual and firm performance (Becker and Huselid, 2006; Huselid, 1995). This strategic HRM (SHRM) literature has found that organizations practicing SHRM not only increase performance but also decrease turnover (Arthur, 1994; Huselid, 1995; Lepak and Snell, 2002). At the organizational level, the dollars saved and earned through reduced turnover and increased productivity demonstrate the utility of SHRM systems (Ichniowski et al., 1997). When organizations utilize SHRM, integrating HRM systems, and aligning HRM systems with organizational (Huselid, 1995), they place a premium on developing cutting edge practices that retain employees with the best skills and highest levels of motivation (Barney, 1991). Arthur outlines differences between SHRM perspectives, finding that SHRM control systems, which are designed to enforce employee compliance with specified rules and procedures (1994: 671), lead to increased turnover and decreased performance. On the other hand, SHRM systems, which shape desired behaviors and attitudes by forging psychological links between organizational and goals (Arthur, 1994: 671), result in decreased turnover and increased performance. As further empirical research has bolstered these findings (i.e., Huselid, 1995; Ichniowski et al., 1997; Lepak and Snell, 2002), it becomes increasingly important to understand how SHRM effectiveness enhances the critical psychological links between employees and organizations. Moreover, several SHRM researchers have called for explicit examinations of these psychological links not only at the organization level but at the individual level (Becker and Huselid, 2006; Gerhart, 2005). One individual-level factor that can help to explain the psychological impact of SHRM practices is job embeddedness (JE), which Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, and Erez (2001b) validate and use to explain how employees become psychologically and socially enmeshed within the organization and community in which the organization operates. Hailed as an anti-withdrawal theory (Holtom et al., 2006; Mitchell et al., 2001b), JE describes the psychological forces that act like a net or a web in which an individual can become stuck (Mitchell et al., 2001b: 1104); moreover, the process of becoming embedded influences turnover intentions that lead to voluntary turnover (Allen, 2006). Importantly, JE explains unique variability of these important outcomes beyond the effects of job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Mitchell et al., 200lb; Lee et al., 2004). However, because JE has emerged as the most recent construct to explain turnover decisions, researchers have much to discover about the full potential of JE as an important variable in HRM. That is, HRM scholars have yet to determine how SHRM effectiveness can build JE as a means to develop the critical psychological links between employees and organizations. Although a direct relationship between H RM practices and J E appeals intuitively to many HRM scholars (Allen, 2006), proponents of social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) consistently demonstrate the important role that individual-to-individual interactions play in human behavior at work (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). In terms of organizations, researchers consistently find that leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships more proximally predict turnover intentions (Gerstner and Day, 1997) than does support from the organization (e.g., HRM), which tends to predict job satisfaction and commitment (Settoon et al., 1996). In terms of understanding how HRM effectiveness influences JE, the inclusion of direct LMX relationships should either enhance or inhibit the effectiveness of an organization's HRM processes to capitalize on the benefits of JE. …

How do we further enrich our understanding of multilevel dynamics, particularly in strategic human resource management (HRM) research? Organizational policies and practices, such as strategic HRM practices, are subject to influence from internal organizational factors and external factors, affecting organizational outcomes at various levels, including individual, team, organizational, and societal levels of analysis. Therefore, the field of strategic HRM is inherently multilevel. However, how HRM systems are conceptualized in multilevel studies, and how such studies attempt to theoretically connect HRM systems to their antecedents and outcomes at different levels of analysis, is still unclear. The present paper poses the question: to what extent do multilevel HRM system studies provide a coherent theoretical justification for the HRM system conceptualization, and are the proposed HRM system multilevel linkages coherently explained with theoretical reasoning? This question is answered through a systematic review of 112 studies. The results reveal strong theoretical diversity in explaining the HRM system construct, primarily at the organizational level, and its predominantly multilevel situational mechanisms. Moreover, the analysis indicates great potential for enhancing the quality of multilevel theorizing in strategic HRM. This paper advances strategic HRM research by systematically mapping and advancing theoretical discourses on the multilevel nature of HRM systems.

Deciding which HR-practices to select, and how to design them to be effective is challenging. Currently there is a lack of tools that aid HR-professionals in the design of effective HRM. A simulation model can fill this void. In this paper we present the design of, and first experiences with, a strategic HRM game-based simulation model that sets out to provide HR-professionals with insight into the quality of their selection of HR-practices while reflecting the complexity faced when designing HRM. The simulation model was built by specifying configurational HRM to a new level of detail using the competing values model and its suggested organizational change process as a framework. The game-based simulation model provides insight into the degree of alignment between strategy and HRM (vertical alignment), and between individual HR practices (horizontal alignment). Specifically, the model calculates how employee behavior changes over multiple years due to alterations in vertical and horizontal alignment. Results based on trial runs and application of the game-based simulation model in 31 serious game workshops (N= 423) show that the game-based simulation model is able to provide players (i.e. students, HR-professionals, general managers) with relevant insight into the vertical and horizontal alignment through fit scores. These fit scores enable players to tailor the HRM configuration to the organizational situation at hand. Furthermore, the game-based simulation model enables players to run the effects of HR practices on employee behavior over multiple (simulated) years. By doing so the model does not only represent a valuable tool to learn about HRM design, it presents a new level of detail in configurational HRM theory.

Human resource management (HRM), innovation, and regulation are widely acknowledged as critical determinants of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) performance. Yet, their interplay in the context of halal-certified SMEs remains fragmented. This study systematically reviews empirical evidence to integrate the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) perspectives, examining how HRM practices, innovation, and regulatory compliance jointly shape halal SME performance. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a Scopus-based search (2015–2025) identified 1,572 records. After screening and appraisal using JBI and CASP checklists, 106 studies were included for synthesis. A convergent approach combined descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. HRM practices grounded in the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) framework and green HRM consistently foster innovative work behaviour and digital readiness. Innovation across products, processes, and business models enhances performance, while halal certification and broader regulations serve a dual role: creating compliance costs yet strengthening legitimacy and market trust. Evidence integrating the HRM–innovation–regulation triad remains scarce but reveals promising avenues for SME competitiveness. The findings highlight regulation as a strategic capability rather than a constraint. For halal SME managers, aligning HRM practices with digital innovation and regulatory compliance is essential for sustainable growth. For policymakers, designing enabling regulations is critical to strengthening SME resilience and legitimacy. This review is among the first to map the integrative mechanisms linking HRM, innovation, and regulation within halal SMEs, advancing RBV–SHRM scholarship and offering actionable insights for practice.

The impact of the development perspective of human resource management and lesson learned system of knowledge management on project success. The mediating role competency retention is examined by collecting the data from the regular employees of the telecommunication sector. A total of 380 questionnaires distributed, out of which 321 questionnaires were returned, and the study gained an actual response rate of 84.4%. Some surveys were excluded because of missing values using the list-wise deletion method, which includes a statistical analysis, and after that, 310 complete questionnaires were selected for further proceedings. The results confirmed that the development perspective of human resource management and lesson learned system of knowledge management has an insignificant positive relationship with project management competency retention and project success. There is no mediation of project management competency retention that has been proved between the development perspective of human resource management, and lesson learned system of knowledge management, and project success. A significant positive relationship has been shown between project management competency retention and project success. Finally, the results suggested that the organizations must retain competency to achieve project success.

This article embeds employee ownership within a strategic human resource management (SHRM) framework, and in so doing, aims to redress in part a lack of attention in previous employee ownership and SHRM literatures. The study extends the configurational approach to SHRM to include the construct of the workforce philosophy as the factor that determines the coherence of HRM systems. Companies that have employee ownership as a central element and core HRM practice should do two things in order to ensure that their HRM system is coherent and potentially a high-performance work system (HPWS). First, these firms should propagate the idea that employees deserve to be co-owners and take employees seriously as such. Second, the HRM system should reflect this workforce philosophy: the HRM system should contain HRM practices that mirror the rights that make up the very construct of ‘ownership’. The core HRM practices of the ‘ownership-HPWS’, in addition to employee ownership, are: participation in decision-making, profit sharing, information sharing, training for business literacy and mediation.

This chapter addresses employee ownership within a strategic human resource management (SHRM) framework that has gained increased attention. The study extends the configurational approach to SHRM and argues that the construct of the workforce philosophy is the primary factor that determines the coherence of HRM systems. In other words, the workforce philosophy propagates the idea that employees both deserve to be co-owners and must be taken seriously as such. In addition, the chapter argues that the HRM system should reflect this workforce philosophy: the HRM system should contain HRM practices that mirror the rights that comprise the very construct of “ownership.” We present the possible core HRM practices of the “ownership high-performance work system (O-HPWS),” which, similar to employee ownership, produces favorable outcomes. The chapter also addresses the important mediating role of employees’ perception and attributions related to employee share ownership in the relationship of the HRM system (with employee share ownership) to favorable outcomes.

The popularity of remote work underscores its importance as a key strategic priority for organizations. This calls for new theory on how organizations effectively control work–nonwork boundaries while balancing employees’ demands for flexibility. We draw upon boundary control theory and the strategic human resource management (SHRM) perspective to posit that organizations will seek to influence where work occurs, when work occurs, and remote employees’ attention, based on strategic choices associated with (a) the organization’s view of its human capital and (b) the degree of work interdependence. We theorize how each strategic choice influences the configuration of HRM systems for remote work, encompassing remote work policies (allowing organizations varying degrees of control over where and when work occurs) and technology processes (allowing organizations varying degrees of control over remote employees’ attention). Further, we theorize how different combinations of remote work policies and technology processes enhance organizational performance, including how organizations resolve emergent tensions when considering the two strategic choices together. Taken together, we offer a framework for understanding how contemporary organizations strategically design HRM systems to establish where, when, and how work occurs.

Some models of strategic HRM promote the idea of linking HRM's practices so they “fit” line managers' needs for implementing their strategies and objectives. We tried to apply the idea of “fit” by using the HR Scorecard in two public sector organizations: the Victoria Cool Aid Society and the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. In our applications, we took each of the organization's strategic themes and asked a series of questions to identify HRM objectives, activities, initiatives, and measures to respond to internal client needs. The projects focused on the long range outcome of helping each organization achieve its strategies and objectives in an effective and efficient way. It did this by helping develop a better “fit” between HRM's systems, procedures and practices and what various line departments needed.

Recruiting influences employees’ motivation, performance, and retention. Because an organization’s talent influences its capabilities, strategic execution, and competitive advantage, recruiting is a foundation of organizational performance. Strategic recruitment refers to recruitment practices that are connected across levels of analysis and aligned with the goals, strategies, context, and characteristics of the organization. It differs from traditional recruitment perspectives by explicitly connecting firm strategy and context to recruitment practices and activities within that firm. Strategic recruitment lies at the nexus of four important topics: resource-based theory, strategic human resource management, human capital, and levels of analysis. In this review, we first define strategic recruitment and explain its importance. Next, we briefly review why strategic recruitment is a critical yet underexplored area of research despite decades of research on strategic human resource management in general and recruitment in particular. Finally, we introduce a model that advances our understanding of strategic recruitment. We introduce two new concepts, horizontal strategic recruitment and vertical strategic recruitment, which connect to the ideas of horizontal and vertical alignment in the strategic human resource management literature but focus explicitly on the notion of strategic recruitment. This model highlights a variety of opportunities for future recruitment research relevant to resource-based theory, strategic human resource management, human capital, and levels of analysis.