The role of HRM in supporting innovation strategies: recommendations on how R&D managers should be treated from an HRM perspective

In recent years, consultants and academics have encouraged managers to use Human Resource Management (HRM) practices to help implement their competitive strategies. In particular, there has been enthusiasm for tailoring HRM practices to fit innovation strategies since achieving a competitive advantage based on technological superiority is very much associated with the quality of the firm's human resources. Unfortunately, there is little empirical research that examines how HRM can best support innovation strategies, and even less that evaluates the effectiveness of HRM practices in encouraging innovation in various functional settings, such as R&D departments. This research is an attempt to bridge this gap. Data were gathered from 115 divisions (SBUs) in 89 Fortune 500 companies in the US, and analyzed to identify which HRM practices used with R&D managers were most strongly associated with innovation and SBU performance. This article, which also includes descriptive data on how R&D managers are selected, compensated and evaluated, concludes with the authors’ recommendations on how R&D managers should be treated from an HRM perspective.