Nina Hansen

HRM systems between control and commitment: occurrence, characteristics, and effects on HR outcomes and firm performance

In the literature, it is often assumed that traditional, control-oriented HRM systems are increasingly being replaced by commitment-based HRM systems because the latter generally result in higher firm performance. However, an HRM systems effectiveness may depend on an organisations external and internal context, and neither control nor commitment HR systems are without disadvantages. Thus, the empirical validity of this claim is not clear ex ante. This paper analyses the empirical diffusion and determinants of control and commitment HRM systems in Germany as well as their impact on HRM outcomes and firm performance. The findings indicate that between the two extreme forms of high-control and high-commitment HRM systems, there are two hybrid forms (long-term-oriented control system and regulated commitment system) that combine elements of both ‘pure’ systems. Commitment HRM systems outperform the high-control HRM system concerning many HRM outcomes and firm performance measures. However, in direct comparison, the high and the regulated commitment HRM systems do not show substantially different outcomes, indicating that there is no one best way.

Employment systems as governance mechanisms of human capital and capability development

In this article, we analyze how a transaction cost and information economic theoretical analysis of two archetype employment systems can enhance our understanding of a firms knowledge governance mechanisms and capability development. We especially analyze the question of how two distinctive employment systems – internal labor markets and high-commitment work systems – differently govern the availability and effectiveness of human capital, on the basis of their specific human resource management (HRM) practices (recruitment, training, staffing and rewards), as well as corresponding learning modes. We, therefore, seek to contribute to current research on organizational capabilities in three ways. We aim to foster the integration of a governance perspective and a capabilities-based perspective through our analysis of employment systems as knowledge governance mechanisms for human capital building and capability development. On the basis of a fully ‘macro-micro-macro’ analysis, we explicitly account for disregarded micro-mechanisms of current knowledge constructs and, furthermore, facilitate the link between capabilities-based and (strategic) HRM research for a better understanding of organizational capabilities and human capital pools.

HR in dynamic environments: Exploitative, exploratory, and ambidextrous HRM architectures

Abstract The current economic crisis has brought to the fore the need for firms to deal with ambiguity and complexity. Hence, firms need a specific balance between exploration and exploitation in order to keep pace with varying and changing environmental conditions. Hitherto, there is limited research that has examined the nexus of HR architectures, ambidexterity, and environmental dynamics. In this conceptual paper we ask: How do HR architectures serve as a means of balancing exploitative and exploratory learning in different dynamic environments? We explain how exploratory, exploitative, and ambidextrous HR architectures with their embedded HRM systems on the business unit level enable organizations to meet different environmental requirements. Thus, firms in which heterogeneous demands for flexibility and for innovation co-exist need to develop internally differentiated HR architectures. In particular, we elucidate how critical the organization’s ability is to connect different HRM systems to create an ambidextrous HR architecture to find an appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation.

Further Exploring the Links between High Performance Work Practices and Firm Performance: A Multiple-mediation Model in the German Context

In order to improve our understanding of the relationships between high-performance work systems and firm performance, several studies have analysed the mediating effects of motivation-related or human capital-related variables. However, most of these have concentrated on single aspects and are US-focused. We extend previous human resource management research by simultaneously analysing the relevance of four general mediating mechanisms: human capital, employee attitudes, employee performance and operational performance. We apply structural equation modelling with formative constructs to data of 1099 German firms. While our findings support the assumption of positive relationships between high-performance work practices, the four mediating mechanisms and firm performance, they also reveal some peculiarities attributable to the German context. Using formative constructs, we were also able to show that single high-performance work practices have different effects on firm performance.

Dynamische Kompetenz als reflexiv-kreatives Handeln

In diesem Artikel wird ausgehend von den Gedanken des Amerikanischen Pragmatismus und den Theorien sozialer Praktiken ein verandertes Verstandnis von dynamischer Kompetenz skizziert. Handeln von Akteuren wird dabei als in soziale Praktiken eingebettet betrachtet und ist durch interdependente und rekursiv aufeinander bezogene ostensive wie performative Bestandteile gekennzeichnet. Dynamische Kompetenz als bewusst-reflexiv sowie kreative Bezugnahme sozialer Akteure auf Regeln und Ressourcen (Struktur) dient dabei der Aufrechterhaltung der Handlungsfahigkeit von Organisationen in sich (radikal) verandernden Umwelten. Kompetenz und Routine hingegen verkorpern zwei, nur hinsichtlich ihres Beitrags zum Wettbewerbserfolg unterscheidbare Modi eines mehr oder weniger unbewussten Prozessierens. In einer ersten Annaherung wird ein Framework entwickelt, welches die verschiedenen Dimensionen dynamischer Kompetenz darstellt und bestimmte soziale Mechanismen mit Einfluss auf das Zustandekommen dynamischer Kompetenz als reflexives Handeln prasentiert.

Induction Practices and the Continuous Recreation of Organizational Memory

Research on organizational memory (OM) lacks a dynamic perspective that shows how OM is continuously recreated and enacted over the course of time. In this paper, we intend to fill up this research gap and integrate OM with knowledge of staff induction and organizational recreation. We provide a theoretical analysis of the continuous recreation of a firm’s OM by focusing on staff induction from an OM perspective. Staff induction serves as a means to enable newcomers to learn parts of the firm’s knowledge base with the aim of acting in accordance with the standards of the firm. We contribute to the existing research by explaining the continuous recreation mode of OM (adjustment pressure, demonstrative learning, and knowledge provision). Furthermore, we describe the integration into organizational routines by emphasizing the inductee’s learning of the firm’s knowledge architecture to integrate technical, social and cultural knowledge in a meaningful way. Finally, we investigate the role of a control-based and a commitment-based HRM strategy to govern staff induction, where the level of the newcomer’s background knowledge and the attempt to learn from inductees determine whether to use a control-based approach (transferring knowledge from the firm to the inductee) or a commitment-based approach (seize also novel ideas from newcomers).