Human Resource Management Service Research Articles

Exploring the performance effect of HPWS on professional service supply chain management

PurposeThe aim of this study is to better understand service supply chain management by analysing the professional service supply chain in professional service firms (PSFs) and exploring how the high performance work systems (HPWS) influence professional service supply chain performance. In addition, this study seeks to examine the relationship between professional service supply chain performance and the overall organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachAnalysis of PSF suggests a three‐step of professional service supply chain as the clients' requests, partners forming working teams or so‐called team formation and utilization, and delivering of solutions or services to clients. Based on extensive literature review, the authors hypothesize that HPWS have a positive impact on the professional service supply chain performance and the team formation and utilization mediates the link. They also hypothesize the positive link between the professional service supply chain performance and the overall organisational firm performance. Employing survey method, data was collected from 93 accounting firms at two time points. In May 2010 (Time 1), a survey including questions on HPWS, team formation and utilization and professional service supply chain performance were sent out to the managing partners and HR directors in accounting firms based in Ireland. Around one year later (Time 2), another survey measuring firm performance was sent out. This data allowed the authors to establish causal pattern in their results. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyse data to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate the positive link between HPWS and the professional service supply chain performance. The team formation and utilization mediates the above relationship. In addition, professional service supply chain performance was found to be positively linked to the firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study is limited in terms of sample size, single industry and self‐report data. Future research also needs to examine more mediators or moderators – the mechanisms through which HPWS work on the professional service supply chain.Practical implicationsFirms using higher level of HPWS experience better professional service supply chain performance. Human resource management practices that promote employees' ability, motivation and opportunities which allow teams to be formed more effectively to work with clients enhance organizational performance and higher profit levels. Managers able to effectively adopt and implement these teamwork‐based HR practices and encourage and support employees' collaboration through such practices enhance the firm's professional service supply chain effectiveness and its organisational performance.Social implicationsThe authors' study focuses on the service supply chain management operations within the professional service firms. In doing so, their research answers the call by Ellramet al.for more supply chain management research with respect to the service sector. It addresses a significant research gap identified by Rahman and Wu, namely, “relatively little attention has been given to the service suppliers' perspective”. By linking service supply chain management and human resource management, this study also answers a few calls for more research on the interaction of human resource management and supply chain management, service supply chain and human resource management in professional service firms.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies to analyse the professional service supply chain management and assess the human resource management and supply chain management link. Moreover, it is the first study which empirically establishes the link between human resource management and professional service supply chain performance in PSFs.

Does Increased Civil Service Pay Deter Corruption?: Evidence from China

The temporal persistence and geographical prevalence of corruption in the world have provoked a vast amount of research into its causes. Low civil service remuneration, especially in less developed nations, is believed to be an important contributing factor to corruption. The assumption is that when salaries are low but expectations for service remains high, government officials may demand more compensation from informal or even illegal channels than what is officially sanctioned; hence, corruption arises. Accordingly, increased pay level is assumed to be effective in deterring corruption. Using China as a case, we argue that the relationship between civil service pay and corruption is not as simple as suggested. The empirical evidence gathered from China casts doubt on the assumed connection between the two to debunk the myth that increasing civil service pay contributes to the control of corruption. The article also presents the policy implications of the above analysis for human resource management and civil service governance.

Human Resource Management Practices, Service Climate and Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Review and Proposed Model

Human Resource Management Practices, Service Climate and Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Review and Proposed Model

Does Increased Civil Service Pay Deter Corruption? Evidence from China

The temporal persistence and geographical prevalence of corruption in the world have provoked a vast amount of research into its causes. Low civil service remuneration, especially in less developed nations, is believed to be an important contributing factor to corruption. The assumption is that when salaries are low but expectations for service remains high, government officials may demand more compensation from informal or even illegal channels than what is officially sanctioned; hence, corruption arises. Accordingly, increased pay level is assumed to be effective in deterring corruption. Using China as a case, we argue that the relationship between civil service pay and corruption is not as simple as suggested. The empirical evidence gathered from China casts doubt on the assumed connection between the two to debunk the myth that increasing civil service pay contributes to the control of corruption. The article also presents the policy implications of the above analysis for human resource management and civil service governance.

Role of Employment Services in the Economy of Franklin County

The Penn State Workforce Education and Development Initiative conducted an analysis of the economic impact of employment services in Franklin County in Pennsylvania. The analysis was designed to help understand the impact of the loss of 200 jobs as a result of a layoff at RAMTECH Support Services announced in March on the WARN website, effective April 19, 2010.The Economic and Workforce Brief produced from this analysis provides a benchmark for measuring the total employment, employee compensation, and property taxes associated with every 100 workers employed in Franklin County's employment services industry.RAMTECH Support Services, headquartered in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, provides blue and white collar skilled labor mainly through contract work primarily to the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies according to the RAMTECH corporate website. The layoff was due to the U.S. military's unexpected cancellation of the HMMWV (Humvee) Recap Program according to a report in The Patriot-News on March 3, 2010.Services provided by RAMTECH Support Services classified in the North American Industrial Classification System code 561330. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, establishments in this industry are primarily engaged in providing human resources and human resource management services to staff client businesses.

The Economic Impact of Medical Migration: An Overview of the Literature

This paper provides an overview of the evidence and applied literature on medical migration. The economic impacts of medical migration have been little researched, causing a polarisation in the debate between its critics and its proponents. The paucity of quantitative studies may be explained by the lack of comprehensive and consistent data. Investments in statistical resources on medical migration are therefore a major priority. The available evidence suggests that particularly English‐speaking countries in Sub‐Saharan African countries and the Caribbean with relatively few health workers and a high disease burden suffer most from the medical brain drain. However, the exodus of health workers is not the main cause of the health status crisis, but rather a symptom of deeper underlying problems, which often extend beyond the health sector towards the broader economic and political environment. In such situations, medical brain drain does pose challenges for human resource management and health service delivery. The only effective and long‐term sustainable policy is one that addresses the underlying push and pull factors. Reforms have to be country‐led, but may be supported via temporary migration schemes, remittances, enhancement of diaspora networks, and financial aid for which a strong moral case exists.

ISS rises to the challenge of effective HR management

Purposethis paper aims to describe how UK facility‐services company ISS has improved its human resource management and client service using a new time and attendance management system.Design/methodology/approachThe paper outlines the particular HR management challenges facing ISS – which has more than 42,000 employees, working for a wide range of geographically dispersed clients, often to different service‐level agreements, on tasks that range from office cleaning to catering, from pest control to internal‐mail delivery, and from building and grounds maintenance to staffing the help desk – and how the new time and attendance system is helping to overcome them.FindingsThe paper reveals that productivity has improved since ISS implemented the system. The company now has more accurate records of employees' working hours and so can manage its labor budget more effectively.Practical implicationsThe paper advances the view that, with improved management information, ISS can deliver an enhanced service by demonstrating precisely where its employees have been and what they have done.Originality/valueThe paper highlights other benefits from the system, including monitoring conformance with health and safety regulations, visa and other requirements.

Civil Service Reform

Because of the splintered nature of public human resource management in the United States, civil service experimentation at lower levels of government, particularly the states, may be influencing personnel policy at the federal and local levels. Four models of human resource management service delivery are utilized as an organizing point for discussion of six state and local cases. The article draws implications for the design and reform of civil service systems and suggests that strategic modernization of civil service systems may be more effective than radical reform.

Outsourcing of human resource management services in Greece

PurposeOutsourcing is gaining considerable popularity in the field of business services and management. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the practice of outsourcing human resource management (HRM) functions, such as training, staffing, rewards and restructuring, in Greece.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis draws upon both primary and secondary data. The findings of the 1999 CRANET survey and a study on the companies that offer HRM services in Greece are used to set the frame of analysis. A series of in‐depth interviews with HR managers and senior HRM consultants are used to support the quantitative data.FindingsThe analysis suggests that the Greek market of HRM services is still at an initial stage of development, with limited credibility, while the customers lack the experience of managing outsourcing relations and are reluctant to establish a partnership‐ type HRM outsourcing agreement. Considerable differences are identified between the Greek market for HRM services and those of more developed markets.Originality/valueThe description of the Greek market of HRM services can be useful to vendors and users of HRM services, as well as researchers dealing with outsourcing in small markets.

Generating Dynamic Capabilities through a Humanistic Work Ideology

Strategic management research overlooks dynamic capabilities generated from the “humanistic side” of organizational life, such as relationships, compassion, virtuous actions, and honorable behavior. However, exploring these dynamic capabilities can provide the field of strategic management with a different viewpoint of how organizations create value through human processes. To examine this issue, the article presents results from a case study of a nurse-midwife practice within a large research hospital. The study explores how the humanistic work ideology of the nurse-midwife practice creates dynamic capabilities. Through theoretical analysis of the case study data, the authors develop a framework to explain the humanistic work ideology of the midwives and its linkages to human resource management and patient service capabilities. Last, the authors conclude with a discussion proposing that institutional pressures legitimize the humanistic work ideology of the midwifery practice.

Promoting service quality in tourist hotels: the role of HRM practices and service behavior

Tourist hotels in Taiwan are focusing their attention on improving customer service quality. In general, a firm's human resource management (HRM) practices can create an environment that encourages positive employee behavior, thereby enhancing service quality. This conceptualization is grounded in an extensive review of the literature, pooling together previously disparate research strands. The purpose of this study is to empirically explore the relationship among human resource management practices, service behavior and service quality in the tourist hotels. The results indicate HRM practices had partially a direct effect on customer perceptions of service quality and an indirect effect through employees’ service behavior. This means that service behavior only partially mediates the relationship between human resource management practices and service quality. The implications for HRM and future research implications of this finding are discussed.

Job characteristics, physical and psychological symptoms, and social support as antecedents of sickness absence among men and women in the private industrial sector

Most longitudinal studies on the relationship between psychosocial health resources and risks, and the employees’ subsequent sickness absences have been conducted in the public sector. The purpose of this study was to find out psychosocial antecedents of sickness absenteeism in the private industrial sector. The effects of job characteristics (job autonomy and job complexity), physical and psychological symptoms, and social support (from coworkers and supervisors) on sickness absenteeism were investigated. The number of long (4–21 days) and very long (>21 days) sickness absence episodes of 3895 persons (76% men and 24% women, mean age 44 years) was obtained from the health registers of a multinational forest industry corporation in 1995–1998. A questionnaire survey on the working conditions and health of the workers was carried out in 1996. The follow-up time of the sickness absences was 1-year 9-month. Job autonomy was found to be associated with long and very long episodes in men (rate ratio (RR) in the lowest autonomy group approximately 2 times higher than the highest autonomy group), and with very long episodes of absence in women (2–3 times higher RR between the low vs. the high category). Low job complexity predicted men's very long absences (RR 1.4). Long and very long episodes were associated with physical and psychological symptoms (RR 1.2–1.7) among men and women. Lack of coworkers’ support increased the frequency of very long sickness absence among men (RR 1.4), and lack of supervisor's support among women (RR 1.6). Also, some interaction effects of social support variables were observed among both genders. We conclude that the studied psychosocial factors are associated with subsequent sickness absence, and that the associations are partly gender-specific. The results showing which variables are related to employees’ sickness absenteeism in the private industrial sector can be applied in human resource management and health service planning.

Reinventing State Civil Service Systems

This article explores the first 5 years of the State of Georgia’s reform of its centralized civil service system, including an assessment of the environment leading to the reform. Additionally, the article explicates three organizing models for the delivery of public human resource management services and suggests that the state should have moved toward a strategic model that shared real personnel authority between the central personnel agency and the respective departments. The article concludes that the Georgia reform is an anomaly, not a trend.

Promoting Employee Service Behaviour: The Role of Perceptions of Human Resource Management Practices and Service Culture

AbstractIn this study we shed light on the relationship between satisfaction with human resource management (HRM) practices and employee performance. We examined the proposition that employee perceptions of HRM practices predict their behaviour toward customers. Previous writers have based such hypotheses on theory formulated at the level of individual employees, but have used analyses at organizational or aggregate levels. We therefore sought to demonstrate individual‐level relationships between employee perceptions and service behaviour. We also sought to contrast the role of satisfaction with HRM practices with that of employees' perceptions of how service‐oriented their organization's culture was, based on the position of marketing theorists that a service culture is fundamental to promoting service behaviour. Our study of airline service employees showed that service culture had a direct effect on self‐reported service behaviour, and that HRM practice perceptions had both a direct effect on self‐reported service behaviour and an indirect effect through service culture. Specifically, satisfaction with leadership and with work demands were the strongest predictors of service behaviour. Service culture did not moderate the relationship between perceptions of HRM practices and service behaviour. Discussion focused on alternative explanations for the relationship between organizational practices and service behaviour and on the implications for organizations wishing to promote service behaviour.RésuméCette étude tente d'éclaircir la relation qui existe entre la satisfaction des employés face aux pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines (GRH) et leur rendement professionnel. Nous avons examiné l'hypothèse selon laquelle il est possible de prédire le comportement des employés d'après leurs perceptions de la GRH. Les auteurs précédents ont émis cette hypothèse en se basant sur une théorie formulée au niveau individuel de l'employé mais en utilisant une approche analytique plutǒt organisationnelle ou collective. Par conséquent, nous avons cherché à démontrer la relation qui existe au niveau individuel entre la perception des employés et leurs comportements à l'égard du service à la clientèle. Nous avons aussi tenté de faire ressortir le rǒle qui existe entre la satisfaction des employés face à la GRH et la perception qu'ils ont de l'importance que la culture de l'entreprise met sur le service à la clientèle. Pour cela, nous nous sommes basés sur les fondements mis de l'avant par les théoriciens du marketing, voulant qu'une culture de service soit essentielle pour favoriser ce ≪comportement‐service ≫ parmi les employés. Notre étude réalisée avec les employés du service à la clientèle des compagnies aériennes a révélé qu'une ≪ culture de service ≫ a un effet direct sur l'autocritique des employés de leur comportement‐service. De plus, elle nous a démontré que la perception que les employés ont de la GRH a un effet direct sur cette měme autocritique ainsi qu'un effet indirect par le biais de la culture de service de leur entreprise. Plus spécifiquement, la satisfaction liée au ‘leadership’ et aux exigences de travail sont les indicateurs les plus significatifs pour prédire le comportement‐service. La culture de service n'a pas eu comme effet de tempérer la relation qui existe entre la perception de la GRH et le comportement‐service. Les discussions se sont concentrées sur l'élaboration d'autres explications sur la relation entre les pratiques des entreprises et le comportement lié au service à la clientèle ainsi que leurs répercussions pour les entreprises qui désirent favoriser un comportement‐service chez leurs employés.