Contribution Of Human Resource Management Research Articles

Researching on SHRM: An Analysis of the Debate over the Role Played by Human Resources in Firm Success

Many different models have been recently proposed to explain the contribution of human resource management to organizational performance, drawing on diverse theoretical frameworks and using many different methodologies. Trying to shed light on the complex state of the art in this field of research, this paper proposes an analysis of the discipline, drawing both on a review of the literature and data obtained from an online questionnaire distributed to human resource management scholars. Key words: Strategic Human Resource Management, Performance, Review of the Literature, State of the Art, Theories, Methodologies Introduction Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), and its contribution to organizational success, is now consolidated as one of the most important research questions in the field of human resources. Since the traditional personnel management approach was replaced by strategic models oriented to internal aspects, academic interest shifted from administrative and bureaucratic issues to a much more integrative and proactive approach, directly related to human resource strategies and overarching philosophies (Drucker 1968; Foulkes 1975; Burack/Smith 1977; Watson 1977; Legge 1978; Rowland/Summers 1981; Russ 1982; Galosy 1983; Baird/Meshoulam 1984). Although the development of the field in these first years was criticized because of the lack of solid theoretical foundations (Zedeck/Cascio 1984; Dyer 1985; Bacharach 1989), SHRM research grew progressively, mainly after some crucial theoretical revisions such as those presented by Wright and McMahan (1992), Jackson and Schuler (1995) or the monographic issues of the International Journal of Human Resource Management (1997) and the Human Resource Management Review (1998). In this process, several SHRM models were proposed from diverse research perspectives, incorporating inputs from such very different disciplines as organization theory, sociology, organizational psychology, and management or strategic thinking (Jackson/Schuler 1995; McMahan/Virick/Wright 1999). This continuing explosion of the literature makes it necessary to undertake a systematic analysis of the different explanations that have been offered. The objective of this paper is to review the present state of the art in the field of SHRM research, drawing on a review of the literature and on data obtained from 223 responses to an online questionnaire to Human Resource Management (HRM) scholars from different nationalities and academic contexts. Using the terminology presented by Jackson, Schuler, and Rivero (1989), Brewster (1995, 1999) and Delery and Doty (1996), four research perspectives have been defined to classify the literature: universalistic, contingent, configurational and contextual. These modes of theorizing (Delery/Doty 1996) represent four different approaches to the same research question, each emphasizing a specific dimension of the reality of SHRM. This criterion allows a systematic classification of the literature, because the definition of the four perspectives is based on the same principles, and together they show a spectrum that encompasses all possible approaches. Drawing upon data obtained from an online questionnaire distributed to scholars all over the world, this paper tries to analyse the actual landscape of SHRM research. The study focuses on the extent to which each perspective is used today, and which theoretical frameworks and research methodologies are fostering the development of a universalistic, contingent, configurational and contextual approach. The survey also included questions to determine their research objectives (Snow/Thomas 1994), and the particular areas of interest on which they have focused. The Study: sample and measures To develop this empirical analysis of the state of the art, an online questionnaire was distributed to HRM scholars from all over the world. It contained eight sets of items that respondents were asked to evaluate in a 0 to 5 scale, thinking about their academic activity in the past, present and future. …

Editorial: Human Resource Management and Economic Success

Human resource management has long been perceived as an ugly duckling within the wider field of business administration. The perception's roots are manifold. A critical issue, however, has always been that the utility of human resource management to a company's business success has been insufficiently demonstrated. In contrast to other business sub disciplines with deeper roots in classical micro-economic theories of the organization, human resource management could not acquire legitimacy through connectivity to production or sales functions. Although human resource management's practical utility has long been assumed, it requires empirical demonstration. Empirical evidence of an association between human resource management and company economic success has proved difficult. As long as human resource management has not been seen as a coherent pattern or system - in contrast to individual HR practices or loosely tied bundles of instruments - performance may only be ascribed to the specific effects of single instruments or measures. An example is increased employee satisfaction as a result of particular leadership styles, improved motivation due to different compensation packages or work tasks, decreased employee turnover because of enhanced selection procedures, etc. These empirical arguments may be of great interest within the particular field of research, but they do not satisfy, for example, economists. Only the development and implementation of coherent patterns or systems of human resource management practices - following HR's struggle for a strategic orientation - will ensure that the discipline of human resource management faces other sub disciplines on equal terms. Henceforth, proof of single HR instruments' relevance moved from the centre of attention, giving way to examination of the functionality of selected human resource systems for a company's economic success. This change in perspective - from the efficiency and effectiveness of specific instruments to the contribution of human resource management as a whole on an organizational level - has required different data sets than hitherto. Institutions rather than employees are the subject under analysis. In the European context, the Cranfield Network on International Human Resource Management (Cranet) provides longitudinal data on the organisational level since 1989. This dataset allowed, for the first time in Europe, analysis of the association of selected systems of human resource management practices (empirically identifiable as bundles/clusters of human resource measures) with a company's economic success. Cranet, starting with five European countries in 1989, now allows comparative international analysis of 39 (mostly European but also selected non-European) countries. As is often the case when looking at evidence-based research, audience receptivity is more important than advances in theoretical and empirical instruments. In this specific case - as hypothesized by the guest editors - company demand for human resource management has risen. The attraction, development, and retention of specific human capital has moved decisively to centre stage. In short, it is obvious that in the age of post-fordism, human resource management is a major focus of attention for practitioners as well as academics. This issue presents results from an international symposium organised by the guest editors in February 2004 to honour Wolfgang Weber's academic work on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Wolfgang Weber's work has been intimately connected with the discipline's strategic orientation as well as comparative international human resource management's organization and institutional anchoring. It is to our great pleasure that in total eight out of fourteen manuscripts successfully passed through the review process for this special issue, generating a considerable contribution to the research field. Following the standard procedure for each special issue of Management Revue, the first contributions attempt a critical overview of the state-of-the-art, and are followed by empirical studies addressing selected issues exploring the link between human resource management and economic success. …

Standing in for King Solomon: The Potential Contribution of Human Resource Management to the Implementation of the Stakeholder Approach

Abstract Most contemporary theorists are in agreement that human resource management (HRM) has a special role to play in affecting the direction of organizational philosophy at the enterprise strategy level. Accordingly, the suggestion is made in this paper that HRM should spearhead the introduction of stakeholder management strategy concepts into organizational thinking and practices. Stakeholder management strategy can be defined as matching the organization's ‘values’ to the ‘values’ of its stakeholders and maximizing, over the long term, the net (social and economic) value added to society. The paper argues that HRM is potentially the best equipped, and strategically the best positioned, to anticipate, monitor and co-ordinate the effects of corporate policy on stakeholders' interests. It may thus serve as a major vehicle for mobilizing and maintaining the support of groups and individuals in the organization's internal and external environment who are parties to the social contract that legitimizes it...