SHRM: Progress and Return

Since the early 1990s, human resource management (HRM) scholars have sought to specify the link between high performing HRM practices and both individual and firm performance (Becker and Huselid, 2006; Huselid, 1995). This strategic HRM (SHRM) literature has found that organizations practicing SHRM not only increase performance but also decrease turnover (Arthur, 1994; Huselid, 1995; Lepak and Snell, 2002). At the organizational level, the dollars saved and earned through reduced turnover and increased productivity demonstrate the utility of SHRM systems (Ichniowski et al., 1997). When organizations utilize SHRM, integrating HRM systems, and aligning HRM systems with organizational (Huselid, 1995), they place a premium on developing cutting edge practices that retain employees with the best skills and highest levels of motivation (Barney, 1991). Arthur outlines differences between SHRM perspectives, finding that SHRM control systems, which are designed to enforce employee compliance with specified rules and procedures (1994: 671), lead to increased turnover and decreased performance. On the other hand, SHRM systems, which shape desired behaviors and attitudes by forging psychological links between organizational and goals (Arthur, 1994: 671), result in decreased turnover and increased performance. As further empirical research has bolstered these findings (i.e., Huselid, 1995; Ichniowski et al., 1997; Lepak and Snell, 2002), it becomes increasingly important to understand how SHRM effectiveness enhances the critical psychological links between employees and organizations. Moreover, several SHRM researchers have called for explicit examinations of these psychological links not only at the organization level but at the individual level (Becker and Huselid, 2006; Gerhart, 2005). One individual-level factor that can help to explain the psychological impact of SHRM practices is job embeddedness (JE), which Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, and Erez (2001b) validate and use to explain how employees become psychologically and socially enmeshed within the organization and community in which the organization operates. Hailed as an anti-withdrawal theory (Holtom et al., 2006; Mitchell et al., 2001b), JE describes the psychological forces that act like a net or a web in which an individual can become stuck (Mitchell et al., 2001b: 1104); moreover, the process of becoming embedded influences turnover intentions that lead to voluntary turnover (Allen, 2006). Importantly, JE explains unique variability of these important outcomes beyond the effects of job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Mitchell et al., 200lb; Lee et al., 2004). However, because JE has emerged as the most recent construct to explain turnover decisions, researchers have much to discover about the full potential of JE as an important variable in HRM. That is, HRM scholars have yet to determine how SHRM effectiveness can build JE as a means to develop the critical psychological links between employees and organizations. Although a direct relationship between H RM practices and J E appeals intuitively to many HRM scholars (Allen, 2006), proponents of social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) consistently demonstrate the important role that individual-to-individual interactions play in human behavior at work (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). In terms of organizations, researchers consistently find that leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships more proximally predict turnover intentions (Gerstner and Day, 1997) than does support from the organization (e.g., HRM), which tends to predict job satisfaction and commitment (Settoon et al., 1996). In terms of understanding how HRM effectiveness influences JE, the inclusion of direct LMX relationships should either enhance or inhibit the effectiveness of an organization's HRM processes to capitalize on the benefits of JE. …

Abstract

<i>Managing Human Resources in China: The View from Inside Multinationals</i>, by Yu Zheng. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xx+287 pp. US$110.00 (cloth), US$49.99 (paper), US$36.00 (eBook).

Previous research has investigated the relationships between intellectual capital (IC) and human resource management (HRM). Others have described the link between IC and strategic initiatives in an organization including strategic human resource management (SHRM). However, little systematic work has been done to develop a holistic overview of connections between the three concepts. Through an analysis of the recent IC literature and the literature that discusses IC, SHRM and HRM, this paper argues that not only are the three concepts closely connected, but also IC should play a key role in SHRM processes and HRM practices in organizations. The strategic connections also demonstrate that IC can be conceptualized as a holistic partner to both SHRM and HRM; thus, adding strong support for the need to measure IC accurately. A theoretical framework is proposed to illustrate IC, SHRM and HRM connections. Finally, the paper suggests directions for future research.

One of the main features of human resource management (HRM) is the emphasis on aligning the organization’s employee management practice with its strategy. It is argued that the strategy pursued by an organization needs to be supported by a compatible form of HRM practices. Each strategy has to be supported by a specific form of HRM practice. The attainment of a strategy‐HRM fit is crucial in ensuring the effective utilization of the organization’s human resources engendered by this fit which are supposed to lead to improved performance. In spite of the relative popularity of the HRM concept and the strategy‐HRM fit thesis, there is little empirical evidence to show its presence in organizational practice. Seeks to examine this relationship in the Irish food industry. Finds that there was no evidence to support the proposition that strategy is the imperative in shaping HRM practice. The examination of the data showed that when other contingencies were taken into consideration the initial findings, showing an association between HRM practice and a competitive strategy, no longer holds. Instead, contingencies such as the presence of a HRM department and employment size are more important predictors of HRM practice.

Strategic human resource management and managerial practices directly link with the service design and delivery process. Recent studies and the based theories have discussed the interconnection of such human resource perspectives and service performance highlighting empirical and practice significance. However, studies found in the scope of strategic human resource management practices for service performance still suggest the need for further studies since service performance and strategic human resource management practices are transforming with different industrial dynamics. Having said, this paper also addresses the importance of reviewing strategic human resource management perspectives with the service performance by explaining related variables and concepts. Alongside, service performance, service climate, front line employee performance and service quality were reviewed to explain their interconnections. It has followed comprehensive literature review as the main research tool to produce a conceptual review. Alongside, journal articles, book chapters and case studies were mainly associated to explain the concepts, variables and key inputs of relevant theories as well to support for the conceptual review and discussions. This paper includes a discussion to navigate future research works by highlighting how service performance, particularly service quality, is influenced by the relevant variables found within the scope of strategic human resource management. In addition, the notion of internal marketing has also been reviewed and discussed to support the main insights presented in this paper. It has explained the relevant variables for the notions encouraging future researchers to steer empirical investigations. This study concludes the insights of new research avenues highlighting modern transformations that took place in the human resource management and market dynamics within the service sector. Additionally, the importance of revisiting the fundamental theories related to strategic human resource management, and the service management aspects were also posited as a conclusion remark.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how impacts from the labour market affect human resource management (HRM) practices in Croatian manufacturing companies. The goal of this paper was to find out do companies acknowledge labour market impacts; with what intensity mentioned impacts are related to HRM practices and do companies have developed practices of dealing with such issues. The research was conducted during 2021 and 2022 on the sample of 31 large Croatian manufacturing companies. Four labour market impacts were observed: population ageing, deficiency of vocationally educated employees, deficiency of highly educated employees in specific deficit occupations, automation and robotization, and young employees’ characteristics. The results showed that the companies did not acknowledge the presence of these impacts and/or did not react adequately to them by specially designed HRM practices. Since the research on relationship between labour market impacts and HRM practices are rare in the Croatian context, and wider, the insights of this paper could be a unique contribution to new knowledge enhancement. This paper showed that the companies’ acknowledgment of certain negative labour market impacts was poor and accordingly have undeveloped strategic HRM. The stated results are not in accordance with the theoretical assumptions and data on the unfavourable impacts from the labour market in Croatia. A pro-active approach of companies was expected in the application of various activities available to them, in the form of their independent practices, and in the use of stimulating legislation, which was also not determined by the results of this research. The reasons for this should be determined by some future research, with the expectation that there have been some recent changes in this area. The small research sample oriented only on one industry and only one country is the first research limitation. Additional limitation is the self-created questionnaire and self-reported measures. The cross-sectional analysis is also a research limitation. The awareness of these limitations could be additional base for further research in order to clarify the meaning and importance of strategic HRM.

Strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) plays a critical role in the success and sustainability of organizations, particularly in dynamic and competitive industries such as logistics and shipping. This review explores the challenges and opportunities inherent in implementing Strategic HRM practices within the logistics and shipping sector. In recent years, the logistics and shipping industry has witnessed significant transformations due to globalization, technological advancements, and evolving customer demands. Consequently, HRM strategies must adapt to these changes to effectively manage human capital and drive organizational performance. One of the primary challenges faced by HR professionals in the logistics and shipping sector is the recruitment and retention of skilled talent. The industry's high demand for specialized skills, coupled with a shortage of qualified professionals, intensifies competition among companies. Moreover, the transient nature of employment in this sector, characterized by seasonal fluctuations and contract-based arrangements, complicates talent management efforts. Strategic HRM approaches must address these challenges by implementing robust recruitment strategies, offering competitive compensation packages, and providing opportunities for continuous learning and career development. Additionally, the logistics and shipping industry operates in a highly regulated environment with stringent safety and compliance standards. HRM practices must ensure that employees are adequately trained and compliant with industry regulations to mitigate risks and maintain operational efficiency. This necessitates the implementation of rigorous training programs, safety protocols, and performance management systems to uphold organizational standards and ensure employee well-being. Despite these challenges, Strategic HRM in the logistics and shipping sector presents significant opportunities for innovation and growth. Advancements in technology, such as automation and data analytics, enable HR professionals to streamline processes, enhance workforce productivity, and make data-driven decisions. Moreover, strategic partnerships with educational institutions and vocational training centers can facilitate the development of a skilled workforce tailored to the industry's evolving needs. Strategic HRM in the logistics and shipping sector is vital for addressing challenges, optimizing workforce performance, and capitalizing on opportunities for sustainable growth. By adopting a strategic approach to human resource management, organizations can navigate the complexities of the industry landscape and achieve competitive advantage in the global market.

One of the most famous concepts in strategic human resource management (SHRM) is human resource management (HRM) practices. Various researches by famous scholars have shown that HRM practices have the potential to affect organizational performance. Besides, performance of an organization has different aspects for example balanced scorecard (BSC) considers four perspectives for performance and they are Financial, Customer, Internal Process and Learning and Growth.However, companies aim to balance performance of the HRM practices based on their goals, so they need to know the intensity of implementing each practice. In this regard, this study attempts to forecast the impact of each group of practices on organizational performance (BSC’s perspectives) before implementation. For this purpose, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Logic will be used in combination. In other words, this combination will highlight the most proper group of HRM practices for the desired performance.

Bridging Micro and Macro Domains: Workforce Differentiation and Strategic Human Resource Management

Tourism is a fast growing industry in Sri Lanka. Since gaining independence from the British in 1948, Sri Lanka has continued to attract foreign investors and tourists to the island. However it is the post war period that the sector has featured prominently a rapid growth. The arrival of tourists increased rapidly and passed the elusive one million mark in 2012 and increased further in 2014 and 2015. Consequently, the tourist earnings also increased and now the sector occupies the position as the third largest foreign exchange earner to the country after overseas remittances and textiles and apparel exports. It is expected to increase the number of arrivals up to 2.6 million by 2020. However, as a growing sector in the economy this sector faces several challenges and Human Resource Crises have been the top among others. The shortage of well-trained tourism personnel coupled with high rate of turnover continued to be a major issue for the industry with the situation worsening with many new hotels coming up in the country and absorbing the existing experienced personnel. Therefore, the broad objective of this study is to examine the role of Human Resource Management in finding suitable solutions to assist the industry to deal with HR issues successfully. In fact, as the first phase, this study attempts to develop a research model for action. Specifically, this study is designed to examine the role of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices in developing tourism sector in Sri Lanka and to propose a theoretical model that can be used to embark on a study to measure the real impact of HRM on the performance of tourism sector in Sri Lanka. The proposed model suggests a significant correlation that exists between HRM practices and firm performance in tourism sector. Further, the model will help better understand the missing link through which HRM practices will make the impact on firm performance in tourism sector in Sri Lanka.

1. Best HRM Practices in Latin America: An Introduction 2. Stakeholder Management: The Case of Aracruz Celulose in Brazil 3. The Strategic Importance of Close Employment Relations in Conflict-Ridden Environments: Three Cases from Colombia 4. Stakeholders' Perspective and Strategic Human Resource Management: Lessons from a Colombian Case Study 5. Learning Human Resources Management Best Practices from Spanish Multinationals in Latin America: A Case Study of Telefonica 6. Consistency of Business Strategy, Post-Acquisition Integration and Management of People: Developing a HRM Best Practice 7. Human Resource Practices And Business Performance: Grupo San Nicolas 8. HRM Systems in Mexico: Case Novo Nordisk 9. Performance Management in Knowledge-Intensive Firms: The Case of CompuSoluciones in Mexico 10. Walking the Talk of Safety in South America 11.Executive Staffing Practices in US-Mexican Joint Ventures: A Staffing Model for IJV Executives 12. Western Ethical Theories and their Relevance to HRM in Latin America 13. Business Schools in Latin America: Global Players at Last? 14. Theoretical Approaches for HRM in Latin America

Education has been shown to be the foundation of social equity and economic progress, underpinning individual and community, self-sufficiency and sustainability. The correlation between teacher quality and student education outcomes has been well-evidenced in previous research. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential use of Human Resource Management (HRM) theory and practice to identify and select quality teachers for the range of individual and contextually different schools that exist within education systems. The variance between schools in their context, sector, socio economic status and needs, is considerable, consequently individual schools have quite specific local needs when recruiting and selecting teachers. The ability to draw on consistent evidence-based practices may result in not only rigorous recruitment and selection processes but also teacher retention. Effective recruitment, selection and retention of teachers has emerged, in recent studies, to be one of the most crucial school improvement strategies. In order to understand how HRM practices might improve recruitment and selection of teachers in independent schools it was necessary firstly to identify the HRM practices being used. To this end an online survey of school leaders was conducted this was followed by six one on one interviews to enrich the survey data. The results of the survey indicated that a variety of HRM processes were being utilised by school leaders at the functional level with little cognisance of the strategic possibilities nor an HRM evidence-based structure of practices. The interviews supported these findings and also revealed that there is a growing awareness in school leaders that the adoption of HRM informed practices may indeed be beneficial in recruitment and selection of teachers. These results provide a compelling reason for further research and indicate there is great potential for use of HRM expertise and practices by school leaders for recruitment and selection of teachers as part of a suite of HRM practices which may indeed lead to school improvement and eventually to improved social and economic outcomes.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the social enterprises and human resource management (HRM) literatures by examining how institutional and cultural contexts influence human resources (HR) practices, i.e., recruitment practices (specifically, recruitment channels) and employee relations (ER) practices that are adopted in social enterprises in the developing country of Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies an embedded cross-case analysis of four social enterprises in Thailand across a variety of industries. The case study evidence in this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with each social enterprise’s representatives; field visits to each social enterprise in Bangkok and in other provinces in Thailand; and a review of archival documents and web-based reports and resources. This paper uses thematic analysis to pinpoint, examine and record the patterns or themes found in the data.FindingsBased on these four case studies, this paper proposes that the deficiencies in the Thai skill formation system, especially skill shortages, are associated with the adoption of alternative or substream recruitment channels among social enterprises. Additionally, the weak and highly fragmented ER institution and the cultural context that favor conflict avoidance and unassertiveness among workers within the workplace are associated with the adoption of a paternalistic ER practice in these enterprises.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper has only focused on the role of national skill formation system, ER system, and the cultural context that favor conflict avoidance and unassertiveness among workers within the workplace. Future research may explore how other institutional and cultural domains influence the adoption of HR practices in these enterprises in the context of emerging market economies. Additionally, because this research is based on the case studies of four social enterprises in a variety of industries in Thailand, the findings of this paper may not be generalizable to all social enterprises across countries. Another limitation of this research is that it did not include social enterprises in several other industries, including the entertainment and media industry and the printing and publishing industry, and it does not include other forms of social enterprises, such as community-led social ventures. Future research may explore how institutional and cultural contexts influence HR practices adopted in social enterprises in other industries or in other types of social enterprises. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of social enterprises across industries might be useful in deepening our understanding of a topic that is significant from the perspective of both social enterprises and HRM.Practical implicationsThis paper provides practical implications for HR professionals, founders and top managers of social enterprises not only in Thailand but also in other countries that face the problem of a skill shortage in the labor market.Social implicationsThis paper provides policy implications for the government of Thailand and the governments of several other emerging market economies in which the skill shortage is particularly severe. These governments should focus on solving this problem to alleviate severe competition among several types of organizations in the labor market. Furthermore, these governments should foster the implementation of a partnership model for employee–management relationships within the workplace. In this model, employees and management perceive each other as partners rather than enemies to sustain win–win solutions to any problems or disputes that may occur.Originality/valueThis paper aims to fill the gap in the literature regarding how social enterprises manage HR across contexts, especially in developing countries where institutional and cultural contexts might differ from those of developed countries. Batt and Banerjee (2012) suggested that the literature on HRM, including strategic human resource management (SHRM), should extend beyond the organizational context and examine how institutional contexts influence the adoption of organizations’ HR practices. Additionally, Batt and Banerjee (2012) noted that the majority of studies in the HRM literature focus on profit-oriented firms in the private sector and ignore other types of organizations such as non-profits or social enterprises.

In a rapidly changing competitive environment, human resources are one of the important sources of competitive advantage. Human resources tools can contribute to achieving a sustainable competitive advantage by facilitating the development of competencies for the organization. Strategic human resources management tools are concerned with finding a link between the overall strategic objectives of the business and the human resources strategy. And implemented in order to enhance the competencies of employees in the organization. The current research aims to demonstrate the impact of strategic human resources tools (strategic map, human resources management card, dashboard) in enhancing human competencies (knowledge, relationship management, work intelligence, capacity assessment) in the Salah al-Din Education Directorate. It includes variables and dimensions, according to the exploratory curriculum in the Salah al-Din Education Directorate, then formulating research hypotheses and testing them using appropriate statistical methods and using the statistical package (SPSS) program. In general, the descriptive approach was adopted in explaining the theoretical and analytical frameworks to test and analyze the research hypotheses, while the study community consisted of workers in the Salah al-Din Education Directorate at the three administrative levels, and the sample size was (85) individuals. The research reached several conclusions, the most important of which was the significant effect of the strategic human resources tools (strategic map, human resources management card, dashboard) in enhancing human competencies in the Salah al-Din Education Directorate. In conclusion, the researcher recommended the necessity of identifying the appropriate tools for strategic human resource management, by relying on academic research regarding the impact of strategic human resource management practices on the efficiency of human resource management in the directorate.