HRM summary and notes
Lecture 1
Hr theory : ‘lifetime of employee’
Entry (starting) -> work (progress and wellbeing) -> transition (moving to another job)
Evidence based approach: first doing research before supporting a programme. Different
organizations, contexts and issues demand for different HR practices.
Human resource management
Is the sum of all strategy, policy and day-to-day acts
Towards the goals of organizations
Hr practises
Are all policies and procedures used for managing employment relations
Used by managers, teams, project leaders and employees themselves
Knowledge Clip 1
Evidence- Based Hrm
An employment relationship is an reciprocal relationship between those who perform work or
services (employees or those self-employed) and those who offer employment (employers) in the
aim of realizing organizational goals.
The origins and science of today’s HRM
From early industrialization to digital era, and the role of scientific research.
Employee welfare and employer-initiatives at the end of 19 th century and the early 20th
century.
Around 1900: the rise of industrial relations
Research and employment relations around 1910: scientific management
Human relations school (1930 till ’50)
After world war 2 (1950 till ’70) growth and decline of the welfare state
1980: initiation of ‘human resources’
1995: breakthrough huselid strategic HRM
Why do more HR practises lead to better performance of organisations?
More HR ‘best practises’ employees work harder, smarter and collaborate better better
financial performance of the organisation.
HRM is a social phenomenon with many stakeholders who value different outcomes (HRM context is
sometimes complex)
,Each organisation has its own characteristics, needs and possibilities.
Different stakeholders have different interests in HRM
Some HR practises are unethical.
Evidence-based HRM
A decision-making method for practitioners
To find effective interventions to manage ‘human resources’
By taking the best research evidence into account
Together with understanding the needs and requirements of stakeholders
While upholding ethical standards for employees.
Equifinality: not one solution fits all, but equally effective solutions that lead to the same outcome in
different ways.
Lecture 2
Evidence based HRM is
A decision making process
About combining local and external evidence
About critically examining the quality of the evidence
Validity:
The evidence helps you understand the cause of the problem
Implication: ask the right questions to the right sources (people, data)
Check the quality of measures, research design and use good theory
Reliability:
The findings reported in the evidence would be similar if we replicated the research
The findings would be the same if we asked someone else (sample size!)
Generalizability: We can use this evidence to say something about the targeted employees for the
problem intervention
Ethicality: do no harm!
Local evidence = in the organization
What the practitioner already knows from previous training, experience and current
understanding of the particular context/problem. ( for example interviews, data from the
organization)
External evidence = research
The best available research evidence about the issues the organization is dealing with
, For effective interventions, you need to understand the causes of the issue. Manage that cause
effective and sustainable outcome. Have you found the right cause for the issue? = cause-effect
VALIDITY
Lecture 3 = not useful.
Knowledge Clip 3
Evidence- based HRM
Definition of human resource management: the sum of all strategy, policy, procedures and day-to-
day activities that together aim to guide employment relations in organizations
Towards the goals of organizations
While ensuring alignment with various contextual conditions such as organization characteristics,
industry dynamics, competition, labor markets, legal and institutional settings and societal
dynamics.
Organizational outcomes:
Operating performance: productivity, sales, quality…
Financial performance: profits, return on assets (ROA), return on investments (ROI)…
Employee performance: retention (opposite of voluntary turnover), employee productivity,
value added per employee.
Innovation indicators: new products of services, patents
Overall performance: ratings for ‘top’ lists.
Sources:
Physical capital: money, offices/factories, machines, computers …
Organizational capital = systems of routines that determine how the work is done.–
structural organizational capital: the organizations’ strategy, HR systems, planning and
control. – social organizational capital: internal and external relations
Human capital: the knowledge and skills the employees in the organization possess.
Social and human capital have the highest value for unique capability because
Social organized capital and human capital are ‘stored’ in the behaviour and the minds of
people
Individuals who leave, take their skills, knowledge and networks with them
Transfer of skills, knowledge and social relations is difficult.
Knowledge Clip 4
Human capital
