Chris Hendry

Understanding and Creating Whole Organizational Change Through Learning Theory

The management of change has become characterized by an atheoretical pragmatism, overfocused on the political aspects of the change process. Emerging interest in the learning organization provides an occasion to remedy this, by developing a theory of change which is more congruent with the requirement to build learning capacity within organizations. The result should be to place learning theory more centrally within the theory of planned organizational change. This should also reinvigorate action research by defining a wider range of learning technologies and perspectives. The argument is developed by first reviewing theories of learning employed in organizational change. The notion of communities-of-practice is then developed as a core concept to highlight the paradoxical processes of inertia and change centered on groups. A series of examples is then drawn from a recent action research project in order to illustrate the possibilities for applying learning theory. Finally, a research agenda is set out for exploring the role of communities-of-practice, with some preliminary observations from a study of small-medium enterprises.

Human Resource Management: An Agenda for the 1990's

In keeping with an inaugural issue, we seek in this paper to do four things: to trace the origins of human resource management (HRM); to provide an explication and critique of it as a conceptual model; to outline the perspective which characterizes our own research programme at Warwick University, and in the process identify a range of themes and issues which the study of HRM ought to address; and finally, given the centrality of the strategic concept to HRM, to argue for an adequate treatment of strategy. in conclusion, we suggest a number of ways forward for research in the 1990s.

Leading and coping with change

Change process models, developed in the tradition of Lewin, tend to emphasize people as resisting change, portray leading and coping with change as discrete entities, and reify the organization. In contrast, this article reports on findings from two descriptive surveys examining leading and coping processes. Attitudes, opinions and organizational practices were investigated to identify and describe variability in change in financial service institutions in the City of London as led by top managers and as experienced by employees. A ‘leading and coping with change’ framework that emphasizes the social process dynamics of change is developed which managers can utilise as a conceptual tool to guide action. This is built around the finding that change leaders are themselves part of the process, and that the judgmental and cognitive processes which employees engage in, in their relationship with those leading change, is crucial.

The Development and Diffusion of Radical Technological Innovation: The Role of Bus Demonstration Projects in Commercializing Fuel Cell Technology

Abstract North American, European and Japanese governments have legislated to control Greenhouse Gas emissions and have promoted alternative technology as part of strategies to address climate change. Governments worldwide have sought to encourage adoption of alternative automotive technology by funding demonstrations and in-service trials. Among other initiatives the automotive industry has explored applications of a radical technological innovation—fuel cells—to power a range of vehicles from forklifts to buses. This paper examines the rationale and actions of various stakeholders to facilitate adoption of fuel cell technology in vehicles through a specific market segment—that of fuel cell buses (FCBs)—and explores the progress of FCB projects in North America, Europe and Japan. It examines the role of demonstration projects and highlights the complexity of the relationship between government and developers, and the multifarious and conflicting objectives of industry players that inhibit progress.

International comparisons of human resource management

C. Brewster and S. Tyson (eds) (1991) International Comparisons in Human Resource Management. London: Pitman. P. J. Dowling and R. S. Schuler (1990) International Dimensions of Human Resource Management. Boston, MA: PWS-Kent. R Pieper (ed.) (1990) Human Resource Management: An International Comparison. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. This review article assesses three major recent works in international human resource management. The author argues that the international character of human resource management can be said to rest on three things: (1) the increasing internationalization of business, which brings organizations into contact with different national cultures and promotes the spread of management practices across national boundaries, (2) underlying economic and technological trends, arising in part from the activity of multinational firms but mediated also by international institutions, which may produce similar patterns of adjustment in the organization and management of employment at the national, s...

Niche Entry as a Route to Mainstream Innovation: Learning from the Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell in Stationary Power

The paper charts the efforts to establish a successful niche position for the phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) in stationary power generation, as a precursor to wider technological system and regime change. Market entry depends on matching price/performance characteristics to a niche, and improving performance through increasing returns, the most important and immediate of which are ‘learning effects’. The paper identifies five types of learning effect: (i) migrating the technology to other niches and into the mainstream; (ii) opening the way for other technologies that may have greater scope for migration; (iii) transferring learning within the pioneering company to other technologies or products; (iv) transferring experience to others in the industry; and (v) enabling users to learn. Although PAFC may be perceived as a failure in some respects, a wider perspective suggests it has made a positive and useful contribution to learning.

UNDERSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES AND SMEs IN EMERGING HIGH TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIES: THE CASE OF OPTO-ELECTRONICS

It has long been recognised that the innovative and entrepreneurial capabilities of the small medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector can make an important contribution to the commercialisation of emerging technologies. In their role as centres of expertise and originators of new technical knowledge, universities are vital contributors to this process. Understanding the nature of relationships between universities and SMEs is therefore important, particularly in view of the fact that current theories on regional development suggest that concentrations of SMEs in certain regions, clustered around one or more university centres, can be effective locations for accelerating this process. As a counter to regional development theory, an alternative viewpoint is that the way emerging industries develop is affected more by the dynamics of industry life-cycles. The opto-electronics sector, which is characterised by regional clusters in the UK and USA, offers lessons for how SMEs and universities interact against a backdrop of these theories.

Skill Supply, Training and Development in the Small-Medium Enterprise:

Dr. Chris Hendry is a Principal Research Fellow in the Centre for Corporate Strategy and Change, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, and Mr. Alan Jones and Dr. Michael Arthur are Senior Research Fellows. The authors have recently completed a study of human resource development in small-medium enterprises for the UK Department of Employment.

Applying employment systems theory to the analysis of national models of HRM

The paper presents a model of employment systems as the basis for a systematic comparative analysis of HRM. Such a model has particular value for international HRM, where a stronger theoretical anchor would allow for better explanations concerning the origins and impacts of emerging practices and trends. Having established a typology of employment systems, which describes how organizations all over the world manage employment, the paper highlights a series of characteristic ‘boundary tensions’, around which change in employment practices takes place. These change processes can also be seen all over the world, driven by economic and institutional influences. By focusing on these boundary tensions, we can see how changes in the external environment act as a lever to change approaches to employment. The paper argues that comparative international HRM should look at the impacts of change on groups of employees managed through particular models and at the adjustments firms make in relation to these. The focus for explanation and research is then on developments that reinforce, weaken or reframe archetypal systems of employment. The paper concludes by identifying three ways in which this can be done – focusing on change in particular elements of employment practice, change in the psychological contract and employee behaviour and change in the institutional environment.

Employment strategy : comparing Japanese and British retail companies in Hong Kong.

This study examines and compares the employment strategy used by Japanese and British retail companies in Hong Kong. Hendry’s structured employment systems model is adopted as the theoretical framework for this research. Three case companies – Morioka and Okadaya (Japanese‐owned) and Supercom (British‐owned) – are studied regarding what employment strategies they have adopted to expand in Hong Kong, and to adjust to the changing consumer market. The evidence shows that the Japanese companies adopt more structured employment systems, employing more employee groups than the British company. Both Japanese companies vary employment practices to different employee groups on the basis of national origins, hierarchy, employment status and gender. Furthermore, skills/profession is also used in Okadaya to differentiate employment practices. Supercom mainly varies employment practices on hierarchy and employment status. Therefore, five to six groups of employees are identified in the Japanese companies, while two to three employee groups are identified in Supercom.