Chief human resources officers on top management teams: an empirical analysis of contingency, institutional, and homophily antecedents

Having the director of human resources (HR) as a member of the top management team (TMT) and giving him/her the title of chief human resources officer (CHRO) indicates an important strategic and symbolic choice. Such decisions not only determine who participates in controlling an organization and setting its strategic direction, but also reflect the organizational structure. In this paper, we examine the antecedents of CHRO presence according to the contingency, institutional, and homophily theories. Based on a multi-industry sample of 215 firms that considers a 10-year period, we find that the presence of a CHRO is influenced by the rates of unionization, rapid declines or increases in numbers of employees, the employment of a new or outsider chief executive officer (CEO), and the institutionalization of the CHRO position in the industry or firm. However, we find no evidence of the presumed influence of knowledge intensity or the CEO or TMT human resource management (HRM) experience. Overall, we find that the institutional theory has the highest explanatory power regarding the existence of CHRO positions

Unbundling strategic change in family firms: The influence of familiness on thw strategic change process

The viability and adaptation of family firms is a key research area owing to the longevity and transgenerational vision of the family. Throughout their development, firms transition through strategic change episodes with a potentially significant impact on their performance and survival. In this article, we combine family firm with strategic change research to propose how familiness supports or limits strategic change. We put forward three tendencies of family firms in their ability to deal with strategic change. First, familiness creates an overemphasis on the cognition of gradual change triggers but limits the cognition of radical change triggers. Second, familiness creates a tendency to inappropriately scope and dimension strategic change in radical change episodes to protect the value of legacy resources. Third, familiness supports endurance during strategic change implementation while also creating a tendency to be too slow or stubborn when implementing an insufficient change decision.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 202

Towards a New Training Transfer Portfolio: A Review of Training-Related Studies in the Last Decade

This study updates and expands the reviews of empirical studies on training transfer published by Salas and Cannon-Bowers (2001), Cheng and Ho (2001) and Cheng and Hampson (2008). The authors identified 58 empirical studies since 1998 and integrate all transfer variables that have been subject of relevant studies. This is done by moving towards a new training transfer portfolio that is comprised of 13 categories of 36 subtransfer variables. The purpose of this new training transfer portfolio is to facilitate the company's investment decision into transfer variables which (1) can be influenced by the company itself (sphere of control) and (2) which are worth the organizational and financial effort (cost-value ratio).Dieser Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über empirische Studien zum Erfolg von Schulungsangeboten in Unternehmen und aktualisiert und erweitert damit frühere Reviews von Salas und Cannon-Bowers (2001), Cheng und Ho (2001) sowie Cheng und Hampson (2008). Berücksichtigt werden 58 Studien, die seit dem Jahr 1998 erschienen sind, und die in diesen Studien auftauchenden 36 Transfervariablen, die 13 Kategorien subsumiert werden können. Die Ergebnisse werden in einem Schulungstransferportfolio zusammengefasst, das die Entscheidung, ob ein Unternehmen in Schulungsmaßnahmen investieren soll oder nicht, zu unterstützen vermag. Im Vordergrund stehen dabei Variable, die (1) durch das Unternehmen beeinflusst werden können, und (2) Maßnahmen, die den damit verbundenen organisatorischen und finanziellen Aufwand rechtfertigen

Managing Multiple Business Models: The Role Of Interdependencies

How can a firm manage multiple and interdependent business models in the same industry? The literature has identified several possible strategies to do this, but we still do not know under what circumstances one strategy may be better than others. Our paper identifies (substitute and complementary) interdependencies among business models as a key contingency and demonstrates through simulation modelling that the number, type and magnitude of these interdependencies, as well as their visibility and the pre-specification of strategic choices, determine which organizational structure is optimal in managing multiple business models

Outsourcing von Personalfunktionen: Eine (erneute) Bestandsaufnahme

Das Personalmanagement befindet sich im Umbruch, da immer mehr Unternehmen dazu übergehen, ihre Personalfunktionen an professionelle Dienstleister auszulagern. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht auf Basis einer durchgeführten schriftlichen Befragung von 45 deutschen Unternehmen deren Outsourcingverhalten hinsichtlich ihrer Personalfunktionen. Im Ergebnis wird gezeigt, dass bereits eine Vielzahl von Unternehmen einzelne Personalfunktionen auslagern und die Unternehmen zum großen Teil auch bereit sind, über die bisher ausgelagerten Bereiche hinauszugehen und noch weitere Personalfunktionen auszulagern. Im Vergleich zu anderen Studien ist auffällig, dass Unternehmen sich von einer reinen (transaktions-)kostentheoretischen Betrachtung der Outsourcingentscheidung lösen und verstärkt ressourcenorientierte Überlegungen in ihr Kalkül einbeziehen. Daher werden in diesem Beitrag sowohl Transaktionskostentheorie als auch Ressourcenansatz als theoretisches Fundament zugrunde gelegt.Based on a survey among 45 leading German companies, this paper analyses their outsourcing activities in the human resources management function. This paper reports that a lot of HR activities have already been outsourced and that companies are willing to extend outsourcing to further HR activities. This study shows that companies do not rely only on transaction cost theory, but increasingly also on resource-based analyses to make their outsourcing decisions

Organizational transition management of circular business model innovations

Scholars and practitioners across fields increasingly recognize that business models for the circular economy may be an effective lever for solving ecological persistent problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and growing natural resource scarcity. Despite a growing interest in the potential of circular business models, interconnections between the organizational dimensions of firms and their business model innovation processes remain underexplored. Based on problem‐centered expert interviews with business consultants experienced in circular business development, this study creates a conceptual model that offers structured knowledge about why firms steadily reproduce linear BMs and how incumbents manifest themselves as a constant linear‐oriented value creation system. The model also demonstrates organizational conditions and management strategies that frustrate the reproduction of linear BMs and, thus, enable initial moves towards CBM innovation. Building on this, the article provides a set of propositions on how an organizational transition management may be configured and what incumbents require to successfully navigate circular business model innovation. The findings provide a foundation for a contemporary understanding of circular business model transition management, which simultaneously serve as impulses for future research investigations.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel – 202

Unternehmungen als evolutionsfähige Systeme : Überlegungen zu einem evolutionären Konzept für die Organisationstheorie

Zugl.: München, Univ., Diss