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

Rethinking utility analysis: a strategic focus

Utility analysis is a technique which allows for the estimation of the financial impact of human resource (HR) interventions. While utility analysis methods have been available for decades, their application is still not widespread. Some argue that this is because managers do not understand the techniques and suggest that allowing managers to participate in the analysis would increase understanding and, as a results, use and acceptance of utility analysis. The current work posits that translating the value of HR interventions into financial terms may not be necessary. It may be more useful to determine the direct impact of HR programs on employee behaviors and attitudes. The impact of these changes on the bottom line may then be determined. Building upon the recently proposed multi-attribute utility analysis and the strategic perspective offered by the Balanced Scorecard, this paper presents a strategic utility analysis method. Strategic utility analysis requires that multiple outcomes, not only financial, be considered in order to determine the utility of a given HR intervention. It further stipulates that these outcomes should come directly from the company's business strategy. The strategy should imply certain organizational capabilities and strategic utility analysis should measure the contribution of HR interventions towards building these specific capabilities

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.

Opting out and opting in : understanding the complexities of women's career transitions.

Purpose This study aims to explore the reasons why women are leaving the workplace. Are they opting out of the workforce to stay at home with their children as current media reports suggest, or are the reasons more complex as the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) suggests? A second objective is to examine whether or not women’s primary career motives change over time as predicted by the KCM. Lastly, the potential barriers or boundaries faced by women pursuing boundaryless careers will be identified. Design/methodology/approach A survey was sent to 2,000 randomly selected women graduates of an international business school located in the USA. The response rate was 25 percent, or 497 women. Findings The results revealed that 47 percent of the women surveyed had stopped working at some point in their career. Numerous reasons were cited for leaving. Only 35 percent of the women who stopped working cited rearing children as their sole reason for opting out. Sixty two percent of the women reported that their career focus had changed. In line with the KCM predictions, mid career women were most interested in finding balance in their lives and the desire for authenticity increased across the lifespan. Finally, 70 percent of the women who left eventually returned to work, debunking the myth that women opt out and do not return to the workforce. Our findings show that there are barriers that make it difficult to move across organizations, especially if time is taken off between jobs. Research limitations/implications All of the respondents in this study have a graduate degree in international business; thus, the results may have limited generalizability to other populations. Nonetheless, this study provides valuable data that helps us to better understand the complexities of women’s career paths. Originality/value This study makes contributions to two different areas of career theory. First, it provides one of the first empirical tests of the KCM. In addition to showing that women are leaving companies for more complex reasons than for family reasons alone, it also shows that women’s primary career motives shift over time in the manner predicted by the KCM. Second, the study contributes to the literature on boundaryless careers by showing that there are in fact barriers or boundaries faced by women attempting to pursue careers across organizationsWomen workers; Careers;

Protean organizations : reshaping work and careers to retain female talent.

Purpose – This paper aims to understand women’s careers better in order to help organizations make changes to increase female retention. Two specific questions are addressed: Are women adopting a protean career orientation by becoming career self-agents?; and Are women’s career decisions guided by the kaleidoscope values of challenge, balance, and authenticity? Results are used to discuss changes that organizations can make to better attract and retain female talent. Design/methodology/approach – Open-ended semi-structured interviews were conducted by telephone with 25 women graduates of a top ranked international business school located in the USA who had voluntarily left the workforce at some time in their career and had since returned to work. Findings – Results show that 17 of the women interviewed followed a protean career orientation when they returned to the workforce, finding part-time or reduced-hours positions or completely changing careers. Of the women, five returned to work following a traditional career orientation and three chose to return to a job rather than reinitiating their careers. The vast majority of the women who adopted a protean career were driven to do so in order to satisfy their need for balance in their lives. Overall, eight of the women expressed a need for authenticity in their careers and only two mentioned a desire for challenge. Many of them felt they had already satisfied their need for challenge earlier in their career, as the KCM suggests. Practical implications – As with protean careers, protean organizations adapt to evolving circumstances. Companies that recognize and respond to the need to reshape how work gets done and how careers are built will achieve a competitive advantage by attracting and retaining valuable female talent. Organizations should shift their focus from an emphasis on face time to an emphasis on results, giving employees more control over how, when, and where they work. They also need to move away from the traditional career model that emphasizes full-time, continuous employment and instead embrace arc-of-the-career flexibility that allows women to adopt a protean orientation, managing their own careers in order to align them with their personal values. Originality/value – The paper helps to explain the motives behind professional women’ career moves and makes suggestions on how organizations can better attract and retain female talent.Women; Careers; Multiskilling; Job satisfaction; Quality of life; United States of America;

The key role of organizational culture in a multi-system view of technology-driven change.

Organizations undergoing technology-driven change must understand that technology is only one of several inter-related components which drive organizational performance. A multi-system perspective of organizations highlights the interdependencies between an organization's technology, structure and culture and how these affect organizational processes and behaviors. Successful technological innovations require that either the technology be designed to fit the organization's current structure and culture or that the organizational structure and culture be reshaped to fit the demands of the new technology. Thus, the desired effects of new technology are most often realized in organizations able to implement the additional changes that are required to maintain overall fit. To illustrate these issues, this paper presents a case study based on a technology-driven change in a Turkish financial organization. Special attention is given to the role of organizational culture, which is often cited as the most critical factor in successful technology assimilationOrganizational culture; Organizational strategy; Technology-driven change; Technology assimilation;

EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION IN EUROPE

The goal of this study was to identify the determinants of employee participation in organizations across Europe. Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, competition, unionisation, sector, organizational size and business strategy were all expected to influence amount of employee involvement. The hypothesised relationships were contrasted using data from the EPOC survey, a representative survey of over 5,700 organisations located in 10 European Union countries. The results supported all but two of the expected relationships. Power distance and organisational size did not predict amount of participation. A closer look at the relationship between organizational size and employee involvement revealed a significant relationship when type of participation, consultative or delegative, was included in the analysis.

An exploration of the factors that influence employee participation in Europe.

Employee involvement; Employee participation; Delegation; Consultation;