Scott A. Snell

Human Resource Management, Manufacturing Strategy, and Firm Performance

This study examines two alternative views—universal and contingency—of the human resources (HR)-performance relationship in manufacturing settings. Results from a survey of 97 plants primarily support a contingency approach to human resource management (HRM). An HR system focused on human capital enhancement was directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance (i.e., employee productivity, machine efficiency, and customer alignment), but subsequent analysis revealed that this main effect was predominately the result of linking human-capital-enhancing HR systems with a quality manufacturing strategy. Other manufacturing strategies also moderated the HR-performance relationship.

Examining the Human Resource Architecture: The Relationships Among Human Capital, Employment, and Human Resource Configurations

In this study we examined the characteristics of human capital as well as the human resource (HR) configurations used for employees in four different employment modes (knowledge-based employment, job-based employment, contract work, and alliance/partnership). Results from 148 firms show that the strategic value and uniqueness of human capital differs across these four employment modes. In addition, each employment mode is associated with a particular type of HR configuration (commitment-based, productivity-based, compliance-based, and collaborative).

Control Theory In Strategic Human Resource Management: The Mediating Effect Of Administrative Information

This study examined the relationship between strategic context, viewed in terms of product-market variation, work flow integration, and firm size, and executive use of human resource management con...

Toward an integrative view of strategic human resource management

Abstract This article presents an integrative perspective of the human resource system based on the notion of managing competencies and behavior. Six basic HR strategies are derived by juxtaposing the three fundamental elements of a system (input, process, output) with the two strategic foci of HRM (competencies and behavior). These HR strategies are referred to as Competence Acquisition, Competence Utilization, Competence Retention, Competence Displacement, Behavior Control, and Behavior Coordination. The implications and advantages of this reconceptualization are discussed.

Effects of Ownership Structure and Control on Corporate Productivity

This study developed and tested a model that attempts to describe the influence of ownership structure on productivity differences between firms. We theorized that diversification, investment in R&...

Integrated Manufacturing and Job Design: Moderating Effects of Organizational Inertia

This study investigated the relationship between integrated manufacturing, a new manufacturing paradigm comprising advanced technology, just-in-time inventory control, and total quality management,...

Intellectual Capital Architectures and Ambidextrous Learning: A Framework for Human Resource Management

Both researchers and managers are increasingly interested in how firms can pursue ambidextrous learning; that is, simultaneously exploring new knowledge domains while exploiting current ones. Ambidextrous learning is derived from intellectual capital architectures that underlie unique configurations of human, social, and organizational capital. We identified two distinctive architectures of intellectual capital that facilitate ambidextrous learning. Refined interpolation is an architecture comprised of specialist human capital supplemented by cooperative social capital, and complemented by organic organizational capital. Disciplined extrapolation is an architecture comprised of generalist human capital, supplemented by entrepreneurial social capital, and complemented by mechanistic organizational capital. As organization contexts to support these architectures, we have also identified two alternative HR configurations that facilitate ambidextrous learning. One HR configuration combines job or function-based development, ILM-based employee relations, and error embracing performance/control systems to support refined interpolation. The other HR configuration combines skill-based development, market-based employee relations, and error avoiding performance/control systems to support disciplined extrapolation. Our framework may provide valuable theoretical implications for HRM systems regarding the issues of internal fits and best configurations. Copyright (c) Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2008.

When Groups Consist of Multiple Nationalities: Towards a New Understanding of the Implications

International companies are rapidly increasing their use of multinational groups (MNGs), sometimes with great success and sometimes severe frustration. The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual understanding of the implications of multinational composition for group functioning. Moving across units of analysis, we focus first on the individual group members characteristics as a reflection of his or her nationality, then on the effects of multinational diversity on group functioning and performance, and finally on the association between corporate policies and the use of MNGs. We close the paper with a proposed research agenda on multinational groups.

Virtual HR: Strategic human resource management in the 21st century

Abstract This article explores the emergence of virtual HR in organizations as a response to the increased presence of external structural options to perform HR services as well as the growing sophistication of information technologies. We examine the motives that are encouraging HR managers to implement these virtual arrangement and, drawing from transaction cost economics and the resource-based view of the firm, we present an architectural framework that can be used to understand and map the underlying structure of virtual HR. Theoretical and research implications are discussed throughout the article.

THE STRATEGIC USE OF INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING: AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION

The increasing importance of advanced manufacturing technology, total quality management, and just-in-time to manufacturing firms raises some basic questions as to the strategic use of these techniques in manufacturing. Does strategic use of these techniques influence performance? How is the impact of these techniques influenced by the competitive environment? Are the techniques actually being used strategically? A study in a large sample of manufacturing organizations confirms that the use of integrated manufacturing techniques-particularly total quality-influences performance, and that these effects are magnified or diminished by both the competitive environment and manufacturing strategy. It also shows that, in some cases, firms are missing opportunities to combine integrated manufacturing and strategy in ways that would substantially impact their performance.