Strategic human resource management: where have we come from and where should we be going?

Strategichumanresourcemanagement(SHRM)impliesaconcernwiththewaysinwhichHRM iscriticaltoorganizationaleffectiveness.Thisstraightforwardassertionisexaminedintheory andthroughresearchevidencetorevealhighlevelsofcomplexityinrelationtohow,whenand why the interconnection between HRM and organizational outcomes is achieved. The two dominant normative models of ‘best fit’ and ‘best practice’ are considered. The paper concludes that the HR strategies of firms are heavily shaped by contextual contingencies, includingnational,sectoralandorganizationalfactors.However,suchaconclusiondoesnot invalidate all ‘best-practice’ thinking. Although constrained in certain ways, underpinning principles of labour management still have relevance to practice as essential attributes of a firm’sabilityto competeinitschosenmarkets.Thepaper thenconsiderstheresource-based view (RBV) of the firm and asks whether this provides a better basis for the development of theory in SHRM and in understanding the contribution of HRM to the achievement of sustainedcompetitiveadvantage.WhilelimitstotheutilityofRBVinrespectofSHRMtheory are identified, important implications for research are signalled. Trends in the RBV literature are pushing all those interested in strategy towards studies of intellectual capital, learning processes and organizational adaptability. Researchers in HRM could, if they wished, play a centralroleinthesedevelopmentsbecausequestionsofhowtoattract,motivateanddevelop workerswithcriticalandscarceabilities,anddevelopeffectiveprocessesofworkorganization, mustbefundamentaltoanymodelofknowledge-basedcompetition.Greaterprogresswillbe madewhenorganizationsarestudiedinamuchmoreinterdisciplinaryorsystemicway.

[1]  Joseph T. Mahoney,et al.  The resource-based view within the conversation of strategic management , 1992 .

[2]  Frank Mueller,et al.  HUMAN RESOURCES AS STRATEGIC ASSETS: AN EVOLUTIONARY RESOURCE‐BASED THEORY* , 1996 .

[3]  Jeffrey Pfeffer,et al.  The human equation : building profits by putting people first , 1998 .

[4]  Paul Osterman,et al.  Choice of Employment Systems in Internal Labor Markets , 1987 .

[5]  E. Penrose.  The theory of the growth of the firm twenty-five years after , 1960 .

[6]  Casey Ichniowski,et al.  The Effects of Human Resource Management Practices on Productivity , 1995 .

[7]  C. Prahalad,et al.  Strategy as stretch and leverage. , 1993, Harvard business review.

[8]  Rita Gunther McGrath,et al.  IMPROVING LABOR PRODUCTIVITY: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT POLICIES DO MATTER , 1996 .

[9]  Mark A. Huselid.  The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance , 1995 .

[10]  R. Kaplan,et al.  The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action , 1996 .

[11]  P. Boxall.  STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: BEGINNINGS OF A NEW THEORETICAL SOPHISTICATION? , 1992 .

[12]  John E. Delery,et al.  Modes of theorizing in strategic human resource management: Tests of universalistic, contingency, and configurational performance predictions , 1996 .

[13]  R. Reed,et al.  Causal Ambiguity, Barriers to Imitation, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage , 1990 .

[14]  T. Jones,et al.  Stakeholder‐Agency Theory , 1992 .

[15]  Ken Kamoche,et al.  Human Resource Management and the Appropriation-Learning Perspective , 1998 .

[16]  M. C. Jensen,et al.  THEORY OF THE FIRM: MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOR, AGENCY COSTS AND OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE , 1976 .

[17]  Michael A. Hitt,et al.  Theory and research in strategic management: Swings of a pendulum , 1999 .

[18]  Lloyd Baird,et al.  Managing Two Fits of Strategic Human Resource Management , 1988 .

[19]  R. Nelson.  Why do firms differ, and how does it matter? , 1991 .

[20]  David Grant,et al.  HRM, rhetoric and the psychological contract: a case of 'easier said than done' , 1999 .

[21]  Stephen Wood,et al.  Human resource management and performance , 1999 .

[22]  Danny Miller,et al.  TOWARD A NEW CONTINGENCY APPROACH: THE SEARCH FOR ORGANIZATIONAL GESTALTS , 1981 .

[23]  John E. Delery.  Issues of fit in strategic human resource management: Implications for research , 1998 .

[24]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[25]  R. Coff.  Human Assets and Management Dilemmas: Coping With Hazards On the Road to Resource-Based Theory , 1997 .

[26]  David P. Lepak,et al.  Human Resource Management, Manufacturing Strategy, and Firm Performance , 1996 .

[27]  P. Osterman.  How Common is Workplace Transformation and Who Adopts it? , 1994 .

[28]  D. Guest.  HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS[1] , 1987 .

[29]  K. Legge,et al.  Power, innovation, and problem-solving in personnel management , 1978 .

[30]  Karel Cool,et al.  Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage , 1989 .

[31]  S. Wood.  High Commitment Management and Payment Systems , 1996 .

[32]  John Paul Macduffie.  Human Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry , 1995 .

[33]  M. Porter.  Towards a dynamic theory of strategy , 1991 .

[34]  C. Oliver.  SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: COMBINING INSTITUTIONAL AND RESOURCE- BASED VIEWS , 1997 .

[35]  Alan Fox,et al.  Beyond Contract: Work, Power and Trust Relations , 1975 .

[36]  J. Pfeffer.  Competitive Advantage Through People , 1994 .

[37]  Rajaram Veliyath,et al.  Gestalt Approaches to Assessing Strategic Coalignment: A Conceptual Integration1 , 1995 .

[38]  Edgar H. Schein,et al.  Increased organizational effectiveness through better human resources planning and development , 1976 .

[39]  Thomas Bailey,et al.  The Performance Effects of Modular Production in the Apparel Industry , 1996 .

[40]  Margaret A. Peteraf,et al.  GETTING TO KNOW YOU: A THEORY OF STRATEGIC GROUP IDENTITY , 1997, Strategic Management Journal.

[41]  M. Porter.  Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1985 .

[42]  John Paul Macduffie,et al.  The Adoption of High‐Involvement Work Practices , 1996 .

[43]  Michael H. Zack,et al.  Developing a Knowledge Strategy , 1999 .

[44]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[45]  P. Boxall,et al.  Human Resource Strategy and Competitive Advantage: A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Consultancies , 1999 .

[46]  Peter J. Dowling,et al.  Strategic Human Resource Management in Multinational Enterprises: Theoretical and Empirical Developments , 1999 .

[47]  P. Boxall.  The Strategic Hrm Debate and the Resource‐Based View of the Firm , 1996 .

[48]  John Purcell,et al.  MAPPING MANAGEMENT STYLES IN EMPLOYEE RELATIONS , 1987 .

[49]  K. Cameron.  Effectiveness as Paradox: Consensus and Conflict in Conceptions of Organizational Effectiveness , 1986 .

[50]  Peter Boxall,et al.  Achieving competitive advantage through human resource strategy: Towards a theory of industry dynamics , 1998 .

[51]  Mark S. Granovetter.  Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness , 1985, American Journal of Sociology.

[52]  C. Prahalad,et al.  Competing for the Future , 1994 .

[53]  D. Rousseau,et al.  Violating the psychological contract: Not the exception but the norm , 1994 .

[54]  K. R. Conner.  A Historical Comparison of Resource-Based Theory and Five Schools of Thought Within Industrial Organization Economics: Do We Have a New Theory of the Firm? , 1991 .

[55]  B. Gerhart,et al.  The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance: Progress and Prospects , 1996 .

[56]  L. Dyer,et al.  Human resource strategies and firm performance: what do we know and where do we need to go? , 1995 .

[57]  David P. Lepak,et al.  The Human Resource Architecture: Toward a Theory of Human Capital Allocation and Development , 1999 .

[58]  P. Boxall.  Building the Theory of Comparative Hrm , 1995 .

[59]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation , 1995 .

[60]  Jeffrey B. Arthur,et al.  Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover , 1994 .

[61]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[62]  Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld,et al.  Strategic Negotiations: A Theory of Change in Labor-Management Relations , 1994 .

[63]  K. S. Wever.  Negotiating Competitiveness: Employment Relations and Organizational Innovation in Germany and the United States , 1995 .

[64]  Stan Lees,et al.  HRM and the legitimacy market , 1997 .

[65]  Abagail McWilliams,et al.  Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based perspective , 1994 .

[66]  Henry Mintzberg.  Patterns in Strategy Formation , 1978, International Studies of Management & Organization.

[67]  Nick Oliver,et al.  High-Performance Manufacturing: Evidence from the Automotive Components Industry , 1997 .

[68]  M. Marchington,et al.  'Best practice' human resource management: perfect opportunity or dangerous illusion? , 2000 .

[69]  J. Child.  Strategic Choice in the Analysis of Action, Structure, Organizations and Environment: Retrospect and Prospect , 1997 .

[70]  David L. Deephouse.  To Be Different or to Be the Same? It's a Question (and a Theory) of Strategic Balance , 1998 .

[71]  Patrick M. Wright,et al.  Toward a Unifying Framework for Exploring Fit and Flexibility in Strategic Human Resource Management , 1998 .

[72]  John Purcell,et al.  Best practice and best fit: chimera or cul‐de‐sac? , 1999 .

[73]  M. Porter.  The Competitive Advantage Of Nations , 1990 .