This document contains a summary of the recorded lectures, knowledge clips Q&A sessions and the elaboration of the exam preparation
It contains all the information on the five themes taught by dr Jeske van Beurden:
1. Black box debate
2. Contingency perspective
3. Dark-side perspective
4. ...
Strategic Human Resource
Management Summary
Theme 1: Black-box debate
Knowledge clip
The central idea for Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) = the idea that the adoption by
organization of a more sophisticated set of HR practices covering key aspects of the management of
people in the workplace, has a positive impact on the organizational performance.
The policies and practices involved cover a wide range of HR-functions in the area, such as:
- Recruitment & selection
- Training & development
- Performance management
- Pay & benefits
- Participation
- Communication
According to the SHRM theory: the more these HR practices are implemented in an organization, the
better the organizations performance. However, it is unclear how many steps there are between HR
and performance and what the content of each step is the black box debate
There have been a number of efforts to model the impact of HRM on organizational performance.
Central to these models is the idea that employees play a key role in explaining the impact of HR-
practices on organizational performance. There are three theories that dominate the field of SHRM:
1. RBV - Resource based view of the firm (Barney, 1991)
The main assumption is that organizations can build a competitive advantage based on
resources that are:
a. Valuable – capable of delivering superior competitive results
b. Rare – not easily obtained by competitors
c. Imperfectly imitable – hard to replace or copy
All organizations have different types of resources including:
o Organizational resources (structure, planning)
o Physical resources (plans, equipment)
o Human resources
Building upon this researched based view (RBV) paradigm, Boxall proposes that a human resource
advantage can consist of the following:
- A human capital advantage = a situation where there is a stock of exceptional human
talented workers within the organization, whose knowledge abilities and skills match the
strategic needs of the firm
- Human processes advantage = the presence of difficult to imitate historical evolved
processes within the organization, such as an intensive form of cooperation between people
The RVB logic provides a rational for how HR-practices positively effect organizational performance
by building a better human resource capital pool and by stimulating better processes within the
organization.
2. AMO framework (Appelbaum et al.)
, Refers to the idea that people perform well if they have the Ability, Motivation and
Opportunity to do so.
o Ability – employees can perform well on the job because he/she possess the
necessary knowledge and skills (linked to human capital theory).
These, in turn, can be influenced by HR practices, for example by providing
training opportunities
o Motivation – employees perform well on the job because they want to perform well.
HR practices such as internal career opportunities and extensive rewards
motive employees to perform well (linked to social exchange theory)
o Opportunity – having the opportunity to perform well.
HR practices such as enabling employee participation in decision making can
empower employees to show good performance
AMO provides a rationale for how HR practices impact organizational performance by
increasing employees’ ability, motivation and opportunity to produce high performance.
3. HRM process model (Wright and Nishii)
Highlights the distinction between HR practices that:
o Senior managers intend to implement in the organization
o The practices that are actually implemented by line mangers
o Employees’ perceptions of these implemented practices
Also explains why there is sometimes a disconnect between the three
e.g., line managers may fail to implement an intended HR practice because they lack the
time or skills to do so. Employees, for their part, may interpret the same practices in
different ways because of factors like their previous work experience
,Recorded lecture
Key aspects of HRM have significant impact on organizational success. Meta-analysis on the link
between performance and organizational success is positively related to operational and financial
outcomes:
- Recruitment and selection (staffing)
- Training and development (staffing)
- Performance management (practical)
- Pay and benefits (practical)
- Participation and communication (opportunities)
Staffing = the process of acquiring, deploying and retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and
quality. It focuses on employee development of knowledge skills and abilities of employees and on
getting the required skills in place
There is a moderately strong positive relationship between HRM and performance (operational and
financial outcomes)
Black-box debate
In search for the Holy grail: unique ways of managing people to gain organizational success.
There are two big questions
1. How many boxes should we take into account?
How many steps are there in the link between HRM and performance? Does HRM practices
influence performance via enhanced working behaviors? Or is it a longer chain, HRM effects
performance also via employee attitudes
2. What should be the content of each box?
HRM might be related via performance via attitudes, but there are a lot of attitudes
(satisfaction, commitment etc.)
Three theories dominate the SHRM field
1. Resource based view of the firm
A broad, general theory of why organizations are successful
2. AMO-framework
People perform well if they are able to do so, are motivated to do so and get the opportunity
to do so
3. SHRM process model
How employees experience HR and how employee policies are implemented by the line
manager
, Resource-based view
This theory is rooted in strategic management. The main question is strategic management is “why
do some companies outperform others?”
There are two different thoughts on this question
The resource-based view differs from traditional strategic viewpoints and examines the resources
within firms. The reasoning starts inside the organization, and not with the external factors around
the firm.
Within the organization, there are different kind of resources available such as
- Organizational resources
- Physical resources
- Human resources
all potential for organizational success
The main assumption is that organizations can build a competitive advantage based on resources
that are:
1. Valuable – capable of delivering superior competitive results
2. Rare – not easily obtained by competitors
3. Imperfectly imitable – hard to replace or copy
4. Inimitable
o Unique timing and learning
o Social complexity
o Causal ambiguity
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