Toward a Unifying Framework for Exploring Fit and Flexibility in Strategic Human Resource Management

This paper presents a framework for studying the concepts of fit and flexibility in the field of Strategic Human Resource Management (Strategic HRM) focusing on HRM practices, employee skills, and employee behaviors and reviews past conceptual and empirical work within that framework. A model of Strategic HRM is presented and this model is used to explore the concepts of fit and flexibility as they apply to Strategic HRM. The concepts of resource and coordination flexibility are applied to Strategic HRM, and the implications of the framework for both the practice of and research on Strategic HRM are discussed

On Becoming a Strategic Partner: The Role of Human Resources in Gaining Competitive Advantage

Although managers cite human resources as a firm\u27s most important asset, many organizational decisions do not reflect this belief. This paper uses the VRIO (value, rareness, imitability, and organization) framework to examine the role that the Human Resource (HR) function plays in developing a sustainable competitive advantage. We discuss why some popularly cited sources of sustainable competitive advantage are not, and what aspects of a firm\u27s human resources can provide a source of sustainable competitive advantage. We also examine the role of the HR executive as a strategic partner in developing and maintaining competitive advantage within the firm

Global integration without expatriates.

A paper provides a case study of a company that, while it has a fully international operation, makes no use at all of expatriates. The global activities of the giant retail clothing company Zara, and the way in which it adapts to cultural differences, are outlined. By exploring why the company does not use expatriates, and how it develops organizational learning without them, the example provides a challenge to many of the assumptions on which international staffing are basedCase studies; Retailing industry; Multinational corporations; Employment policies; Expatriate employees; Corporate planning; Multiculturalism & pluralism;

The state of strategic human resource measurement in Spanish banks

The new strategic role of Human Resource (HR) management that many academics and practitioners have been calling for requires that HR systems not only achieve operational excellence in performing their traditional activities but that they also contribute to developing the strategic capabilities needed by the organization to maintain its competitive advantage. This new orientation has important implications for the evaluation of an organization's HR system. Traditional measures of the HR function tend to focus on internal efficiency. In order to determine the success of an HR system in achieving its new role as strategic partner, the strategic impact of HR practices must be evaluated. This requires measuring the contribution of the HR system toward building organizational capabilities, including employee skills, behaviors and attitudes, and the impact that changes at this level have on organizational results. This study presents a strategic HR measurement framework and investigates the current state of HR measurement in five large Spanish banks

IS Support For Strategic Flexibility, Environmental Dynamism, And Firm Performance

Increasingly, strategic flexibility has been viewed as a critical organizational competency that enables firms to achieve and maintain competitive advantage and superior performance. In this study, the relationship between IS support for strategic flexibility and the bottom-line performance of firms is investigated, as well as the moderating effects of environmental dynamism on that relationship. Using both survey and archival data, IS support for strategic flexibility was positively associated with profitability and labor productivity only when there was a high degree of environmental changes and uncertainty

CONTRIBUTION AND REWARD OF SENIOR IT EXECUTIVES IN IT CAPABLE FIRMS

The main objective of this study is to propose and test a pattern of positive reciprocity between senior IT executives (sITes) and firms with superior dynamic IT capability (ITC). Results based on panel data of 1326 large US firms from a wide spectrum of industries over a 13 year period (1997-2009) support the following positions: 1. There is a positive association between accrued sources of managerial power of sITes, such as structural and expert power, and a firm\u27s ability to develop superior ITC. 2. Firms that achieve such ITC superiority are more likely to signal their appreciation and reward their sITes with more structural power (a proxy for higher compensation). If sITes value these rewards, they are more likely to stay longer with their firm. 3. There is a positive association between continuity of an already successful IT leadership and a firm’s ability to sustain its ITC superiority (durable ITC heterogeneity), thus setting in motion a virtuous cycle of positive reciprocity between sITes and IT capable firms. These findings have several and significant implications for top management teams, directors, and sITes

The state of strategic human resource measurement in Spanish banks.

The new strategic role of Human Resource (HR) management that many academics and practitioners have been calling for requires that HR systems not only achieve operational excellence in performing their traditional activities but that they also contribute to developing the strategic capabilities needed by the organization to maintain its competitive advantage. This new orientation has important implications for the evaluation of an organization's HR system. Traditional measures of the HR function tend to focus on internal efficiency. In order to determine the success of an HR system in achieving its new role as strategic partner, the strategic impact of HR practices must be evaluated. This requires measuring the contribution of the HR system toward building organizational capabilities, including employee skills, behaviors and attitudes, and the impact that changes at this level have on organizational results. This study presents a strategic HR measurement framework and investigates the current state of HR measurement in five large Spanish banks.

Determinants and Consequences of IT Capability: Review and Synthesis of the Literature

As IT spending continuously increased over the past years, it nowadays accounts for a significant amount of total corporate spending. However, firms require the ability to transform these investments into daily operations. Research shows that the organizational IT capability is the key to leverage IT investments and achieve desired outcomes. Research on IT capability thereby evolved as a major stream in the IT business value debate and the number of research articles on IT capability increased constantly over the years. The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of current findings on antecedents and consequences of IT capability and to identify directions for further research. This review synthesizes a collection of 30 research articles and thereby contributes to the literature on IT capability by identifying current gaps in the literature and offering new perspectives for future research

The Value Creation Cycle: Moving Towards a Framework for Knowledge Management Implementation

Researchers have emphasized on the need for advances in knowledge management (KM) research to better understand how organizations accrue benefits from their knowledge resources. Thus, an integrated approach, rooted in the theoretical streams of knowledge-based view, KM and institutional theory, is proposed to explain how a successful KM program creates value. The approach discusses four organizational capabilities that firms need to develop simultaneously to create KM-enabled value, and identifies possible organizational actions to develop these capabilities. Various feedback and feed-forward processes, originating inside as well as outside the firm, integrate these capabilities into a KM-enabled value creation cycle (VCC). Key propositions were developed, and were examined with the help of three case studies