Abstract
The Research aims on Human Resource Management and innovation has to date relied on a theoretical assumption that there exists an identifiable set of HR practices which organizations seeking to be innovative should adopt. However, analysis of the various prescriptions of HR practices for innovation reveals a high level of internal inconsistency, leading to conflicting advice for practitioners. Furthermore, a review of empirical research on the topic indicates that HR practices within innovative organizations are remarkably similar to those found in the best practice literature This raises questions about the link between strategy and HRM, and about the theoretical foundations of research on HRM and innovation. Drawing on recent research on HRM and firm performance, I suggest that research on HRM and innovation can benefit from incorporating elements from both contingency theory and best practice approaches into the existing configuration theory approach. A change in direction for both theoretical and empirical research on HRM and innovation is proposed. This paper is laid out as follows. In part one, I ask what a strategy of innovation is, and consider what employee behaviors are believed to be consistent with such a strategy. The second section compares and contrasts different authors’ prescriptions of HR practices for innovation, and also compares the findings of research on HRM and innovation with the findings of the best practice approach. In the final part I consider the implications of MY review for future research on this topic. I propose a broadening of the theoretical base on which research on HRM and innovation is founded, and discuss the particular challenges involved in conducting empirical research on HR systems for innovation.
Highlights
IntroductionThe organizations around the globe donate best need to innovations, as this leads them in becoming successful over long period of time, (Chen and Huang, 2009)
The organizations around the globe donate best need to innovations, as this leads them in becoming successful over long period of time, (Chen and Huang, 2009).What type of HR system is most appropriate for a firm wishing to pursue a strategy of innovation? This question has attracted attention from researchers since the early 1980s
Research on HRM and innovation is based on the idea that there is a unique cluster of HR practices which is most appropriate for firms pursuing a strategy of innovation (Schuler and Jackson, 1987); the underlying premise is that the adoption of these HR practices will enable any "innovative" firm to outperform innovative rivals who do not adopt them
Summary
The organizations around the globe donate best need to innovations, as this leads them in becoming successful over long period of time, (Chen and Huang, 2009). Global dissemination of information via technology has ensured that competitive advantage based on a particular product or process is no longer sustainable. Sustainable competitive advantage belongs to those firms who continually reinvent themselves at a pace which is consistent with the rapid pace of change in the environment. The result is that the pressure on firms to innovate in order to survive is greater than ever before. These parallel developments in HRM research and the broader business environment ensure that both academic and practitioner interest in the topic of HR systems for innovation is likely to grow. The question of how research on this topic should proceed is an important one, and is the subject of this paper
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