Editor\u27s Note

As another year draws to a close, and another publishing cycle reaches completion, it is incumbent upon those of us here at the journal to recognize and thank several people

Developing a culture for innovation: what is the role of the HR system?

Research on Human Resource Management and innovation has to date relied on a theoretical assumption that there exists an identifiable set of HR practices which organisations seeking to be innovative should adopt. However, analysis of the various prescriptions of HR practices for innovation reveals a high level of internal inconsistency, leading to conflicting advice for practitioners. Furthermore, a review of empirical research on the topic indicates that HR practices within innovative organisations are remarkably similar to those found in the best practice literature This raises questions about the link between strategy and HRM, and about the theoretical foundations of research on HRM and innovation. Drawing on recent research on HRM and firm performance, we suggest that research on HRM and innovation can benefit from incorporating elements from both contingency theory and best practice approaches into the existing configuration theory approach. A change in direction for both theoretical and empirical research on HRM and innovation is proposed. What type of HR system is most appropriate for a firm wishing to pursue a strategy of innovation? This question has attracted attention from researchers since the early 1980s. In fact, it can be argued that this stream of research predated by as much as a decade a much wider interest in the links between HRM and organisational performance which Guest (1997, p. 263) argues is now “the dominant research issue in the field (of HRM)”. Interest in the topic of innovation is also growing rapidly. Global dissemination of information via technology has ensured that competitive advantage based on a particular product or process is no longer sustainable. In the information age, sustainable competitive advantage belongs to those firms who continually reinvent themselves at a pace which is consistent with the rapid pace of change in the environment. The result is that the pressure on firms to innovate in order to survive is greater than ever before (see, for example, Tushman & O’ Reilly, 1997). These parallel developments in HRM research and the broader business environment ensure that both academic and practitioner interest in the topic of HR systems for innovation is likely to grow. The question of how research on this topic should proceed is therefore an important one, and is the subject of this paper

Designing a HR system: pitfalls, possibilities and performance

strands and themes as researchers wrestle with the issues that emerge and the questions that are raised by the various studies that have now been conducted. The problems and difficulties- both methodological and conceptual- that are intertwined within this debate have been well documented (Purcell, 1999; Legge, 2001) and many unresolved issues still remain. At the same time, while much more is now known about HRM and performance issues, 'there appears to be a major "disconnect " between what the research literature says that firms should do and what firms actually do ' (Becker and Gerhart, 1996:796). Becker and Gerhart argue that 'there needs to be better communication between the academic and management communities so that research findings can have a greater influence on actual policy'. They also suggest that 'more effort should be devoted to finding out what managers are thinking and why they make the decisions they do ' (p.796). One manager who is a key player in this debate is the HR manager who has a critical role in the design of the HR system and who may have to shoulder the blame if that system does not operate successfully4. While the HR manager generally inherits th

Leading through paradox in a Covid-19 world: human resources comes of age

The impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic is unprecedented. At an organisational level, the crisis has been hugely disruptive, complex and fraught with ambiguity for leaders. The crisis is fundamentally a human one, making human resource (HR) leaders central in enabling organisations to manage through and ultimately exit the crisis successfully. We apply a paradox lens to understand the HR leadership challenges posed by the COVID‐19 crisis. We argue that how the HR function responds to the challenges ofthe crisis and its role in mapping the exit route from the crisis are likely to shape the trajectory of the function for decades to come. The pandemic creates an unprecedented opportunity to elevate the status of the HR function in organisations where it has struggled to gain status and to reinforce the influence of the function in those where it already enjoys legitimacy. The value of this is likely to be reflected in more sustainable performance through the alignment of people and purpose and balancing the short and long term objectives of the organisatio

A skills-matching perspective on talent management: developing strategic agility

Despite two decades of evolution as an area of research and practice, talent management faces ongoing criticism for being overly static in its approach, offering little in terms of enabling strategic agility. This is problematic as organizations increasingly rely on strategic agility to manage their dynamic business operations. Drawing on matching theory and adopting an agility lens, we explore the link between talent management and strategic agility. Through a qualitative research design, encompassing 34 interviews in 15 organizations, we explicate a skills-matching perspective on talent management, including initial and dynamic skills-matching in external and internal labor markets. Through this process, organizations can build a set of dynamic capabilities, underlying two meta-capabilities, strategic sensitivity and resource fluidity, which enable strategic agility. In doing so, we portray skills-matching as an illustration of a processual view on talent management and create a model of developing strategic agility through skills-matching, responsive to external and internal demands

Towards agile talent management: the opportunities of a skills-first approach

Awarded Best Conference Paper: In honor of being designated one of the top 10% best HR division conference papers. 83rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM 2023), Boston, 4-8 August 2023Despite its evolution over the last two decades, talent management has been criticised for being too static in its approach. Drawing on matching theory and adopting an agility lens, we show how a skills-matching perspective on talent management fosters the development of strategic agility, responsive to external and internal demands. Through qualitative research encompassing 34 interviews in 15 multinational enterprises, we illustrate how a skills focus required revisiting talent strategies to facilitate initial and dynamic matching in external and internal labour markets, and we highlight key boundary conditions for skills-matching. We reveal a set of dynamic capabilities, underlying two meta-capabilities, strategic sensitivity and resource fluidity, which underpin the skills-matching process and enable strategic agility. In doing so, we shift the focus of talent management towards skills acquisition and development, and emphasise the need to look beyond traditional learning and development to alignment across the wider talent function

Managing a mega-project to explore and enhance careers: insights from Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management 3

Contemporary careers are changing and face many challenges. This creates a need for innovative cross-cultural and multidisciplinary research. In this chapter, twenty-three participants in a European/South Korean research mega-project provide an overview of their diverse experiences of trans-national, trans-sectoral, and trans-generational work. First, the project’s architects explore the context and rationale in five countries, selection of partners, securing funding and the underpinning principles of ‘strategic entrepreneurship’ and ‘multi-sociation’. Key workstream leaders then outline the project content, including diplomacy in research design, reflecting gender, ensuring impact, capturing learning, communicating to various audiences. Major aspects of Implementation are described: quality management, managing academics and risk, transnational and trans-sectorial working (between academia and industry), novel methodologies and finally the career implications for PhD students involved. These are honest and pragmatic reflections on the way to best practice

Editor\u27s Note

As another year draws to a close, and another publishing cycle reaches completion, it is incumbent upon those of us here at the journal to recognize and thank several people