HRM and Workplace Motivation: Incremental and Threshold Effects

The HRM-performance linkage often invokes an assumption of increased employee commitment to the organization and other positive effects of a motivational type. We present a theoretical framework in which motivational effects of HRM are conditional on its intensity, utilizing especially the idea of HRM 'bundling'. We then analyse the association between HRM practices and employees' organisational commitment (OC) and intrinsic job satisfaction (IJS). HRM practices have significantly positive relationships with OC and IJS chiefly at high levels of implementation, but with important distinctions between the domain-level analysis (comprising groups of practices for specific domains such as employee development) and the across-domain or HRM-system level. Findings support a threshold interpretation of the link between HRM domains and employee motivation, but at the system-level both incremental and threshold models receive some support.Human resource management, high performance, organizational commitment

Organizational Commitment: Do Workplace Practices Matter?

Using nationally-representative linked employer-employee data for Britain this paper considers whether employers are able to influence the organizational commitment (OC) of their employees through the practices they deploy. We examine the association between OC and two broad groups of HRM practices emphasised in two different strands of the literature, namely "High-Performance Workplace Practices" (HPWPs) and practices associated with "Perceived Organizational Support" (POS). We consider their associations with mean workplace-level OC and individual employees' OC. Although employers may be able to engender greater OC on the part of their employees, the practices that do so are not those emphasized in the HPWP literature, with the exception of consultation and the involvement of employees in decision-taking. POS practices fare a little better but, again, the findings are far from unequivocal. Furthermore, those practices that are 'effective' in engendering higher OC such as tolerance of absence, recruiting on 'values' and allowing employees to make decisions, tend to have a fairly low incidence in British workplaces. There is, however, one finding which chimes with the ideas underpinning the HPWP literature, namely that there are returns to the use of practices in combination. Analyses of both mean workplace-level OC and individual employee OC find an independent positive association between OC and the deployment of multiple practices in combination. This evidence is consistent with practices having synergies, as emphasised in some of the HPWP literature.high performance, organizational commitment, perceived organizational support

Unions, Within-Workplace Job Cuts and Job Security Guarantees

Using data from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey 1998, this paper shows that unionisation increased the probability of within-workplace job cuts and the incidence of job security guarantees. As theory predicts, both are more prevalent among market-sector workplaces with higher union density and multi-unionism. Expectations that these effects would be more muted in the public sector were also confirmed.Job cuts, trade unions, job guarantees

Not so dissatisfied after all? The impact of union coverage on job satisfaction

The links between unionisation and job satisfaction remain controversial. In keeping with the existing literature we find strong statistically significant negative correlations between unionisation and overall job satisfaction. However, in contrast to the previous literature we find that once one accounts for fixed unobservable differences between covered and uncovered employees, union coverage is positively and significantly associated with satisfaction with pay and hours of work. Failure to account for fixed unobservable differences between covered and uncovered employees leads to a systematic underestimate of the positive effects of coverage on job satisfaction for both union members and non-members. It seems union coverage has a positive impact on job satisfaction that is plausibly causal

HRM and workplace motivation: incremental and threshold effects

The HRM-performance linkage often invokes an assumption of increased employee commitment to the organization and other positive effects of a motivational type. We present a theoretical framework in which motivational effects of HRM are conditional on its intensity, utilizing especially the idea of HRM ‘bundling’. We then analyse the association between HRM practices and employees’ organisational commitment (OC) and intrinsic job satisfaction (IJS). HRM practices have significantly positive relationships with OC and IJS chiefly at high levels of implementation, but with important distinctions between the domain-level analysis (comprising groups of practices for specific domains such as employee development) and the across-domain or HRM-system level. Findings support a threshold interpretation of the link between HRM domains and employee motivation, but at the system-level both incremental and threshold models receive some support

A Novel Thermal Gradient Design for Small-bodied Ectotherms

For ectothermic organisms, environmental temperatures can influence a variety of life history traits. Experimental thermal gradients created in the laboratory are useful tools to examine the thermoregulatory behaviors of these organisms. Here, we provide details on the construction of a novel, cost-effective thermal gradient to study thermoregulatory behaviors in small-bodied nocturnal ectotherms