Strategic HRM and Organizational Behavior: Integrating Multiple Levels of Analysis

[Excerpt] A few trends have emerged in the field of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) over the past few years. First, and most obviously, has been the extensive effort to demonstrate a link between HRM practices and firm performance (Becker & Gerhart, 1996). Researchers such as Huselid (1995), MacDuffie (1995), Delery and Doty (1996), and Guthrie (2000) have published empirical studies showing a statistically significant linkage between HRM practices and some measures of organizational performance. A second trend has been to try to understand the mechanisms through which this relationship takes place. Authors such as Becker & Gerhart, (1996), Dyer and Reeves (1995), Guest, (1997) and Wright and Gardner (2003), have all called for research that uncovers some of the mediating relationships that must exist between the HRM practices and organizational performance. A final trend has been the recent interest in taking a multi-level approach to understanding SHRM. Wright and Boswell (2001) reviewed the SHRM literature and categorized this research as being differentiated along one dimension representing whether the focus was on single or multiple practices, and along a second dimension dealing with the unit of analysis, specifically the individual versus the group or organization. Ostroff and Bowen (2000) and more recently Bowen and Ostroff (2004) have developed the most extensive multi-level model of SHRM to date. Their theoretical approach argues that HR practices serve as communications mechanism signaling employees to engage in certain behaviors; relying on communications theory they contend that different aspects of HRM systems impede or facilitate this communication process. The purpose of this paper is related to these last two trends: we conceptually examine some of the mediating processes that might occur in the HRM – performance relationship, and try to make explicit their multilevel nature. In order to accomplish this, we will first explore the concept of variance, which is crucial to the analysis of any phenomena across multiple levels. We will show how virtually all existing SHRM research focuses on variance at one level of analysis while assuming constancy at other levels. We will next discuss the process through which HRM practices must act, and identify some of the relevant variables that have heretofore been virtually ignored in the empirical SHRM literature, specifically focusing on variance at different (unit vs. individual) levels of analysis. Finally, we will present some implications for theorizing and research in this area

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

Handedness and social anxiety:using Bryden's research as a catalyst to explore the influence of familial sinistrality and degree of handedness

Phil Bryden's work has impacted on many areas of laterality, including degree and measurement of hand preference, as well as influences of familial sinistrality (FS). For example, Bryden[(1977). Measuring handedness with questionnaires. Neuropsychologia, 15, 617–624] is a well-cited and influential paper that remains relevant to this day. Inspired by this we extended our analysis of the relationship between handedness and anxiety in a number of ways. We used familial handedness and strength of handedness to examine their potential influences on anxiety, and extended our research by exploring their relationship to social anxiety, using the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN). Inconsistent left-handers (ILH) were found to be more socially anxious. In all categories of SPIN except avoidance, ILH were significantly more anxious than consistent right- and left-handers. There were FS differences between ILH with a first degree left-handed relative (FS+) compared to ILH with no first degree left-handed relative (FS−) on all categories of anxiety scores. Within FS+ participants, ILH had significantly higher anxiety scores, compared with consistent handers across all categories. This suggests that ILH's social anxiety may be influenced by a close left-handed relative. Inspired by examining Bryden's work for this special issue, we will continue to add both strength of preference and familial handedness to our work

ILR Impact Brief - Affective Commitment Links Human Resource Practices and Voluntary Turnover

[Excerpt] Motivation- and empowerment- enhancing human resource (HR) practices are positively associated with employees’ collective emotional attachment to, and identification with, a company and its goals; this affective commitment, in turn, is negatively associated with the aggregate of employee decisions to exit an organization. Thus, collective affective commitment mediates the relationship between these two sets of HR practices and voluntary turnover. Practices that enhance workforce skills, however, are not mediated by collective affective commitment; rather, they are directly and positively associated with increased voluntary turnover

Mallea, Paula. 2011. Fearmonger: Stephen Harper's Tough-on-Crime Agenda.

Mallea, Paula. 2011. Fearmonger: Stephen Harper's Tough-on-Crime Agenda

USING THE SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL MODEL TO BETTER UNDERSTAND SEXUAL ASSERTIVENESS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE WOMEN AT AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

This study examined sexual assertiveness among female undergraduate students at an institution of higher education in the southeastern United States from the context of the social-ecological model. An online survey instrument examined sexual assertiveness, sexual communication self-efficacy, campus climate, and sexual scripts. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between these variables and all variables significantly predicted sexual assertiveness individually, but when examining the relationships collectively, only sexual communication self-efficacy and campus climate remained significant predictors of sexual assertiveness

Merits and Limitations of Distributed Leadership: Experiences and Understandings of School Principals

Although claiming leadership to be critical to school improvement, few studies seek the informative voice of principals regarding their understandings of roles and sources of leadership. Using a distributed perspective as a theoretical lens to reconceptualize leadership, this article explores principals’ perspectives of leadership in relation to their roles as defined by legislation and policy. By examining the primary merits and limitations of Spillane’s (2006) distributed framework, consideration is given to persistent issues yielding implications for the practice and study of educational leadership. Lastly, I urge further investigation into the extent to which distributed forms of leadership may contribute to school improvement.

What Does the Term 'Gay Community' Mean to You - Understandings Among Gay Men in Glasgow and North Lanarkshire

No abstract available

The Impact of Human Resource Practices on Business-Unit Operating and Financial Performance

This study examined the impact of HR practices and organizational commitment on business-unit operating performance and profitability. Using a predictive design with a sample of 50 autonomous business-units within the same corporation, the study revealed that both organizational commitment and HR practices were significantly related to operational measures of performance as well as operating expenses and pre-tax profits

High Performance HR Practices And Customer Satisfaction: Employee Process Mechanisms

This research examined organizational commitment and customer focus as mediators between HR practices and customer satisfaction of seventy-one work units from twenty-five business units from a single firm in the food service industry. Customer satisfaction was assessed by ratings from multiple customers eighteen months after HR practices and process mechanisms were assessed from unique groups of employee respondents. Results suggest that employee commitment and customer focus partially mediate the relationship between HR practices and customer satisfaction