Jaap Paauwe

Employee Well‐being and the HRM–Organizational Performance Relationship: A Review of Quantitative Studies

There is a lack of consensus on the role of employee well-being in the human resource management–organizational performance relationship. This review examines which of the competing perspectives –‘mutual gains’ or ‘conflicting outcomes’– is more appropriate for describing this role of employee well-being. In addition, this review examines whether study attributes such as the measurement of key variables, the level of analysis and the study design affect a studys outcomes. The review covers 36 quantitative studies published from 1995 to May 2010. Employee well-being is described here using three dimensions: happiness, health and relationship. The main findings are that employee well-being in terms of happiness and relationship is congruent with organizational performance (mutual gains perspective), but that health-related well-being appears to function as a conflicting outcome. Directions for future research and theoretical development are suggested.

The relationship between perceptions of HR practices and employee outcomes: examining the role of person-organisation and person-job fit

Human resource management (HRM) practices can play an important role in matching people with the organisations and the jobs they work in. However, little is known about how employees perceive and interpret HR practices and whether or how these perceptions relate to perceptions of person–organisation (P–O) and person–job (P–J) fit. This study aims to bridge strategic HRM and person–environment fit literature by examining possible mediating and moderating roles of P–O and P–J fit in the relationship between employee perceptions of a broad set of HR practices and employee attitudes and behaviours. Results from a sample of 412 employees support direct relationships as well as a mediating and moderating role of P–O and P–J fit in the relationship between perceived HR practices and employee outcomes.

Human resource management, institutionalization and organizational performance: a comparison of hospitals, hotels and local government

The relationship between human resource management (HRM) and firm performance has been a hotly debated topic over the last decade, especially in the United States. The question arises as to whether the domination of US-oriented models, however appropriate they might be for, say, the USA, holds in other, for example, more institutionalized contexts. Now we have the opportunity to study recent empirical data on the effectiveness of human resource management in the Netherlands, using control versus commitment HR theory (Walton, 1985; Arthur, 1994) in combination with New Institutionalism (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). We were able to include three different Dutch branches of industry, i.e. health care, local government and tourism. Empirical results suggest that the effect of HRM is lower in highly institutionalized sectors (hospitals and local government) than in a less institutionalized sector like hotels.

Human Resource Function Competencies in European Companies

This paper presents an overview of recent empirical research on human resource competencies in Europe. The data were collected in 2002 in the global Human Resource Competence Study, an initiative of the University of Michigan. The results suggest that personal credibility and HR delivery have a positive effect on the relative ranking of the HR function and its professionals. According to non-HRM respondents strategic contribution is the competency that will lead to financial competitiveness, while HR managers consider business knowledge to be crucial for added value of the HR function.

Best Practices…in spite of Performance Just a matter of Imitation?

In this paper the focus is on how organizations select, adapt and retain best practices in HRM. Based on recent developments in two streams of thyeoretical thinking, i.e., new institutionalism and strategic management (especialy co-evolution and absorptive capacity), this paper contrasts economic rationality with normative rationality in the selection, adaptation and retention process. In this way we are able to construct the life cycle of a HRM best practice, the way in which companies differ in their speeed of selection and adoption of best practices, and the consequences this has for whether or not being able to achieve a competitive advantage. After presenting and describing our framework for the adoption and life cycle of best practices in the field of HRM, a range of hypotheses is presented to be tested for in follow-up research.

In-sourcing HR: shared service centres in the Netherlands

Due to the impact of now widely-available technologies, new logics behind the organisation of the HR function through the in- and outsourcing of HRM activities have been emerging, particularly addressing issues of integration, cost-efficiency and competitive advantage. In particular, increasing numbers of HR shared service centres (SSCs) are being established, housing HRM activities under one roof for selected organisation domains. In practice many stories have been told about these changes, but little has been learned from them. This paper explores theory and practice and combines this with newly collected evidence from 15 companies in the Netherlands to see how HR delivery and professional logics are being impacted. The findings show that SSC models are largely instigated with the primary aim of increasing customer focus, and although companies are still challenged by being able to measure SSC performance, the contours of new HR delivery and professional logics are emerging.

EXPATRIATE CAREER SUPPORT: PREDICTING EXPATRIATE TURNOVER AND PERFORMANCE

This study aimed at explaining why multinational companies have difficulty retaining their repatriates as well as how multinational companies can improve in- and expatriate performance. In the study 100 in- and expatriates of a multinational company operating in the food and personal care industry reported the career support they experienced, their perceived career prospects within and outside the home organization, their intentions to leave, and their performance. As predicted, it was found that perceived career support negatively related to intentions to leave. Additionally, it was found that perceived career support positively related to perceived career prospects within the home organization and expatriate performance. Interestingly, no relationship was found between perceived career prospects outside the home organization and intentions to leave. Implications and directions for future research and HR practices in multinational companies are discussed.

In search of balance – managing the dualities of HRM: an overview of the issues

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the human resource management (HRM) literature that builds up to our current concern with dualities, paradoxes, ambiguities, and balance issues; and to introduce the six papers in this special issue on managing the dualities in HRM.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a literature review taking a historical look at the development of the HR field up to the present awareness of the complexity of the concept and practice of HRM.Findings – Almost 30 years on, is being found now increasing evidence of the dualities, paradoxes, and ambiguities entailed in HRM.Research limitations/implications – The literature review starts with the personnel management (PM)‐HRM and industrial relations‐HRM debates in the 1980s. Earlier work on traditional PM is not debated in this paper.Practical implications – After reading this general review practitioners might gain more insights in the potential tensions, ambiguities, and conflicts of interest tha...

Institutional pressures and HRM: developing institutional fit

Purpose – Research in strategic human resource management (HRM) has focused mainly on the effects of HRM practices or systems on organizational effectiveness. However, institutional theory argues that besides being financially successful, organizations also need legitimacy to survive. Owing to the tension between competitive and institutional pressures, organizations balance between the degree of conformity and the degree of differentiation from competitors regarding HRM. The purpose of this paper is to address how institutional pressures help shape HRM.Design/methodology/approach – Using the concepts of leeway, human agency and strategic choice, differences in three types of institutional fit are highlighted: innovative, conformist and deviant. A comparative case study approach is used in order to illustrate the framework, using document analysis and 43 interviews in three organizations in The Netherlands.Findings – This paper shows how balancing competitive and institutional pressures in organizations a...

Organizational learning: an exploration of organizational memory and its role in organizational change processes

Researchers and practitioners have shown a great deal of interest in the topic of organizational learning in the last two decades. The key dilemma, however, remains whether organizations as entities can do anything in their own right. Is it meaningful to think of organizations as having objectives, learning abilities, and memories, or do organizations only learn through their current members? The aim of this study is to shed light on what organizational memory is and what role it plays during organizational change. We report the findings of a study on organizational memory and learning in a large electronics firm. Using a variety of research methods we analyze mutations in organizational memory traces over a long period of time and discuss whether or not an organization can learn from previous change experiences, encapsulated in organizational memory traces, as it goes through a different, but related, change program. Finally, implications of this study for change management are described.