HRM and Performance: What’s Next?

The last decade of empirical research on the added value of human resource management (HRM), also known as the HRM and Performance debate, demonstrates evidence that ‘HRM does matter’ (Huselid, 1995; Guest, Michie, Conway and Sheehan, 2003; Wright, Gardner and Moynihan, 2003). Unfortunately, the relationships are often (statistically) weak and the results ambiguous. This paper reviews and attempts to extend the theoretical and methodological issues in the HRM and performance debate. Our aim is to build an agenda for future research in this area. After a brief overview of achievements to date, we proceed with the theoretical and methodological issues related to what constitutes HRM, what is meant by the concept of performance and what is the nature of the link between these two. In the final section, we make a plea for research designs starting from a multidimensional concept of performance, including the perceptions of employees, and building on the premise of HRM systems as an enabling device for a whole range of strategic options. This implies a reversal of the Strategy-HRM linkage

Evolving IT management frameworks towards a sustainable future

Information Technology (IT) Management Frameworks are a fundamental tool used by IT professionals to efficiently manage IT resources and are globally applied to IT service delivery and management. Sustainability is a recent notion that describes the need for economic, environmental and social development with- out compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs; this applies to businesses as well as society in general. Unfortunately, IT Management Frameworks do not take sustainability into account. To the practitioner this paper demonstrates sustainability integration thereby allowing CIOs and IT managers to improve the sustainability of their organisation. To the researcher this paper argues that sustainability concerns need to be provided to IT Management through its integration into the mainstream of IT Management Frameworks. This is demonstrated through the high-level integration of sustainability in Six Sigma, C OBI T, ITIL and PRINCE2

HRM and Performance: What’s Next?

The last decade of empirical research on the added value of human resource management (HRM), also known as the HRM and Performance debate, demonstrates evidence that ‘HRM does matter’ (Huselid, 1995; Guest, Michie, Conway and Sheehan, 2003; Wright, Gardner and Moynihan, 2003). Unfortunately, the relationships are often (statistically) weak and the results ambiguous. This paper reviews and attempts to extend the theoretical and methodological issues in the HRM and performance debate. Our aim is to build an agenda for future research in this area. After a brief overview of achievements to date, we proceed with the theoretical and methodological issues related to what constitutes HRM, what is meant by the concept of performance and what is the nature of the link between these two. In the final section, we make a plea for research designs starting from a multidimensional concept of performance, including the perceptions of employees, and building on the premise of HRM systems as an enabling device for a whole range of strategic options. This implies a reversal of the Strategy-HRM linkage

Using tactical and operational factors to assess strategic alignment: an SME study

The strategic use of Information Technology (IT), better known as strategic alignment, has significantly increased, as a result of the strong dependence of organisational activity on Information Systems (IS) and their related technologies. Strategic alignment is considered as a key element to improve performance on organisations, enhance efficiency and allow organisations to be more competitive in their respective industry. One of the first steps towards achieving strategic alignment is to have adequate means to measure it. Current assessment approaches, though, are mainly focused at the strategic level but provide little insight at tactical and operational levels, which are recognized as important areas for achieving strategic alignment. Furthermore, most of the existing approaches are tested in large organisations and there is little research on assessing the effectiveness of these approaches for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This paper proposes an alternative instrument that rather than focusing only at the strategic level it aims to have a better understanding by measuring alignment at tactical and operational levels. Finally this paper presents the findings of applying this instrument on an SME

Entrepreneurial Orientation In Management Buy-Outs And The Contribution Of Venture Capital

This paper focuses on the development of entrepreneurial orientation (EO)after a management buy-out (MBO) and on the role played by venture capitalfirms in enhancing EO. It presents results of two exploratory case studiesof divisional buy-outs with regard to their EO and the areas where theventure capital firm (VC) has been of greatest help. We discuss theircontribution to elements of the EO of the buy-out firm. The key output isexpected to be a better understanding of the functioning and operations ofthe VC with regard to their contribution to the EO of the firm after an MBO.This will also benefit the management team that seeks venture capitalsupport to improve the firm?s economic performance by using its upsidepotential.governance;venture capital;entrepreneurial orientation;management buy-outs

Comparing Line and HR Executives’ Perceptions of HR Effectiveness: Services, Roles, and Contributions

This study compared HR and line executives’ evaluations of the effectiveness of the HR function in terms of its service delivery, roles, and contributions to the firm. Survey responses from 44 HR and 59 line executives from 14 companies indicated that (a) HR executives consistently rated the functions effectiveness higher than did line executives, and (b) the greatest differences were observed on the more important and/or strategic aspects of HR. Implications are discussed

Variability Within Organizations: Implications for Strategic Human Resource Management

[Excerpt] Strategic human resource management refers to the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals (Wright & McMahan, 1992). It involves all of the activities that are implemented by an organization to affect the behavior of individuals in an effort to implement the strategic needs of a business. Over the last decade or so, the field of strategic human resource management has witnessed a progression through a number of stages, including a) initial excitement and energy around the convincing argument that HR practices should be considered as a system that, when implemented appropriately, can enhance organizational performance; b) empirical tests of this argument, and c) critiques of the growing field accompanied by propositions for how thinking on the topic can be expanded and improved. Of the critiques that have been levied at the field, the most common contend that the “black box” through which HRM practices are thought to impact organizational performance remains insufficiently specified. Less common, but no less valuable, are critiques surrounding the conceptualization and measurement of fit or alignment, and the need to identify the boundary conditions that influence the effectiveness of “high performance” HRM systems. Even more critiques and proposed theoretical extensions to the field are likely, as it is through such endeavors that we will improve upon and advance our science (cf. Reichers & Schneider, 1990). In this chapter, we introduce and discuss another potential critique of the SHRM field, and, in so doing, hope to illuminate a number of important research questions for the future. In particular, we are concerned with the lack of attention which has been paid to variability within SHRM research. By variability we mean variability at all relevant levels of analysis, but particularly variability within organizations (i.e., individual and group levels). It is our contention that by failing to examine the potential role of variability in SHRM research, we miss a very interesting and important part of the picture

Preparing for the Changing Climate: A Northeast-Focused Needs Assessment

Examines the needs of states, regional planning commissions, and local governments in mitigating climate change effects, including technical, communications, and financial assistance, as well as the need to coordinate, collaborate, and share resources

Innovating the delivery of individual services within Flemish cities: inventory of ICT-driven heterogeneity

Flemish cities are setting up large scale reform trajectories to make their transactional service delivery more customer orientated, customer friendly and integrated. The implementation of new ICTs plays a key role in these innovation processes; there seems to be a great, technological deterministic, belief in the possibilities offered by for example mid office technologies. In this paper, we explore and compare such innovation trajectories within two Flemish cities. We describe the context, the object, the process and the evaluation of change. Based on this inductive analysis, we reflect upon the dependent and independent variables that structure the processes of change. We make use of a ‘neo-institutional theoretical lens’ to identify relevant internal and external institutional factors that shape the implementation context for the organizational changes. The analysis generates interesting findings. Whereas the external environment to a large degree functions as a stable variable, the heterogeneity between both cities is much more determined by the organizational ‘path’, i.e. the management model, capacities, subcultures, existing ICT-infrastructure, etc. Further research is needed as important questions remain unanswered. For example: does the mixed set of organizational, technological and cultural changes also actually produces the outcomes that were formulated in terms of both increased effectiveness and efficiency