Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to HRM Practices Implementation: The Case of Chronic Ill Employees

Abstract

Although the literature acknowledges the importance of exploring the dynamic and complex nature of HRM practices implementation, our understanding of this process is still limited. Further, research has mainly focused on the “what” of implementation, with a minimal focus on the “how”. Drawing from strategic management theory and focusing on work adjustment practices for chronically ill employees, we examine the implementation of HRM practices as a situated process, looking at the continuous interplay among elements of the context and actors in shaping this process. We use a qualitative case study and adopt multiple perspectives, looking at the perceptions of all the actors directly or indirectly involved in the implementation of HRM practices. The findings demonstrate that there is not a unique way of implementing a practice but a variety of situations which result in different experiences of the same practice. This variation in how HRM practices are implemented and experienced across the organization depends on a process of collective enactment that unfolds at the local level, where multiple stakeholders intentionally and unintentionally contribute to the emergence of a shared meaning of the practice. Additionally, our findings show that diversity prevails when it comes to exactly who is involved in HRM implementation and how the actors' involvement takes shape, suggesting the existence of different models of HRM practices implementation and the emergence of interactions that go beyond the dyadic level. Implications for research and practices are discussed.