Abstract
Arguing for the necessity to re-think human resource management (HRM), as human resources are becoming scarce, HRM practices themselves can be even harmful for employees, and the mainstream HRM is more interested not in the employee well-being, but in the search for the link between HRM and performance, the paper introduces sustainable HRM as an alternative approach to people management. Sustainable HRM is seen as a design option, which allows one to maintain, renew and restore human resources. Although previous works have broadened the understanding of the meaning given to sustainable HRM and its core characteristics, research into how sustainable HRM translates into practice is still lacking. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to reveal the practices through which 11 characteristics of sustainable HRM are expressed in real people management in organizations. In doing this, qualitative data were collected from Lithuanian organizations using semi-structured interviews with 19 human resource (HR) managers. The research indicated a variety of applied practices, which differ by maturity. Care of employees, profitability, external partnership, fairness and equality, and employee development were revealed as the characteristics of sustainable HRM most explicitly expressed through HRM practices. Nonetheless, the organizations need more heterogeneous HRM activities, which simultaneously consider the economy, environment, society, and human aspects.
Highlights
Over the last three decades, the field of human resource management (HRM) has made a significant progress as a core business function [1] and as an academic discipline [2]
The purpose of the paper was to increase the knowledge of sustainable HRM by revealing the practices through which the 11 characteristics of sustainable HRM are expressed in real people management in organizations
Irrespective of the short history of sustainability in HRM debates, sustainable HRM represents a new approach to people management by recognizing multiple, potentially contradictory economic, ecological and social goals and by admitting complex interrelations between the HRM systems and their internal and external environments with emphasis on relationships, which allow the long-term reproduction of resources and control externalities
Summary
Over the last three decades, the field of HRM has made a significant progress as a core business function [1] and as an academic discipline [2] Despite these achievements, recently, the debate about the future of HRM has widely expanded [3,4] calling to re-think the main direction of HRM. The debate about the future of HRM has widely expanded [3,4] calling to re-think the main direction of HRM Such call relies on previous studies, which typically were focused on the search for the link between HRM and performance [5,6,7,8,9]. Recently the situation has been changing as internal and external challenges impel the organizations to re-think strategies and practices of HRM [11]
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