Human resource development in the Sultanate of Oman

This study explores the scenario of human resource development (HRD) in the Sultanate of Oman. The investigation was conducted with the help of a questionnaire survey in stateowned enterprises (SOEs). The research findings highlight an increased emphasis on HRD initiatives at a national level in Omani firms. There is a significant degree of awareness among the top managers regarding the benefits of a strategic approach to HRD. Despite all this, the implementation of HRD programmes has not been particularly successful. This is because the state has not been able to develop the skills and competencies of the Omani workforce to the levels required under the sixth national five–year plan. The article makes a number of recommendations in this regard. It also highlights key research areas for further examination.

Human resource development for inclusive procurement by intermediation:a situated learning theory application

This paper fills an important gap in the human resource development (HRD) literature by considering the role that NGO intermediation initiatives can play in bringing together and developing corporate procurement officials (CPOs) and ethnic minority business owner-managers (EMBOs) supplying goods and services. It has been suggested that such initiatives hold great promise in helping ethnic minority businesses escape from their disadvantageous sectoral concentration in the UK. Using situated learning theory as an application lens, the main aim of this paper is to demonstrate how nurturing communities of practice of CPOs and EMBOs and facilitating their interaction can help their professional development and their approaches to procuring and supplying, respectively. The paper reports on the authors' experience with an action research programme encompassing two intermediation initiatives of this kind. The lessons drawn from this study are useful for all those concerned with HRD for inclusive procurement; intermediaries promoting inclusive procurement, large procurers who are willing to engage with supplier diversity and ethnic minority suppliers who wish to access corporate procurement systems and 'break-out'. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Human resource management systems and organizational performance:a test of a mediating model in the Greek manufacturing context

This paper investigates the relationship between systems of HRM policies and organizational performance. The research is based on a sample of 178 organizations operating in the Greek manufacturing sector. A mediation model is tested to examine the link between HRM and organizational performance. The results of this study support the hypothesis that the relationship between the HRM systems of resourcing-development and reward-relations, and organizational performance, is mediated through the HRM outcomes of skills and attitudes. The paper not only supports the theory that HRM systems have a positive impact on organizational performance but also explains the mechanisms through which HRM systems improve organizational performance.

Rethinking comparative and cross national human resource management research

This article first briefly highlights the rapid development of the human resource management (HRM) discipline and the need for more cross-national HRM studies. The universal applicability of Anglo-Saxon models of HRM is then questioned. To examine the applicability of HRM models in different settings (national and international), five main HRM models are critically analysed and their main research propositions are identified. This provides the basis for a framework for HRM evaluations in different contexts. Based on such a framework and developments in the literature, finally, a contextual model is proposed for conducting cross-national and comparative HRM studies. The paper also indicates some related directions for future research.

Human resource management in the Indian public and private sectors:an empirical comparison

This study compares human resource management (HRM) practices in Indian public- and private-sector organizations. The investigation is based on a questionnaire survey of 137 large manufacturing firms (public sector = 81: private sector = 56). The key areas of analysis include the structure of human resource (HR) department, the role of HR function in corporate change, recruitment and selection, pay and benefits, training and development, employee relations and emphasis on key HRM strategies. Internal labour markets (ILMs) are used to make the comparative analysis. The statistical results show a number of similarities and differences in the HRM systems of Indian public-and private-sector organizations. Against the established notion, the results of this study reveal that the gap between Indian private- and public-sector HRM practices is not very significant. Moreover, in a few HR functional areas (for example, compensation and training and development), Indian private-sector firms have adopted a more rational approach than their public-sector counterparts. © 2004 Taylor and Francis Ltd.

Human resource strategy:introducing a new management typology to make change stick

Human resource management (HRM) is now being seen as a strategic activity. This recognises that change processes must include the management of human resources as part of an integrated approach to strategy. Without also linking management development and business strategy, change will not stick and organisations will not develop. Contributing to the debate about integrating HR and other strategies, including linking management development and business strategy, this paper develops a new Generic Management Typology of co-existing management philosophies in order to help change agents diagnose the culture of an organisation and to modify that culture. The typology is derived from reflecting on research about the global transformation of public service organisations over the last twenty-five years.

Managing the human resource in Indian SMEs:The role of indigenous realities

This paper discusses how issues of people management are addressed in Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It also highlights the indigenous approaches to human resource management (HRM) that have surfaced in the Indian SME context. The research formulation has been built on the mapping of people-management practices in two SME case studies, one of which is also a family-based organization. The analysis shows that indigenous realities in HRM in Indian SMEs relate mainly to the provision of financial, emotional and social support to the workforce; employee involvement (EI) practices; recruitment; skill development; managing employee relations; and managing vis-à-vis labor law framework. The paper argues that in the sphere of people management in SMEs, the willingness to innovate and formalize the HR systems is constrained by a kind of bounded rationality, i.e., the owners of SMEs mostly believe that they are already doing what is humanly possible in this regard. The analysis has an important message for concerned practitioners—in order to realize their full potential and to progress towards fulfilling their vision; SMEs eventually have to intertwine indigenization and formalization for their people management approaches.

Future trends in human resource management in emerging markets

In many ways the emerging markets represent something of a new frontier for academics and practitioners alike, or as one author puts it, ‘a significant topic of interest for a multitude of constituencies’ (Alkire, 2014: 334). The very term itself ‘emerging markets’ is something of a portmanteau one built on a series of layered insights garnered from several academic fields and multiple levels of analysis. Originally coined as a term in the 1980s, albeit with several earlier linked terminologies, this is an evolving and diverse literature. Inherent in its diversity lies a whole series of opportunities, encompassing the purely theoretical through to the methodological and the analytical. Capturing the essence of this in his Editorial in the inaugural edition of The International Journal of Emerging Markets, Akbar (2006) noted that from an academic perspective the emerging markets as a context for the creation and execution of a sustainable research agenda represent ‘a heterogeneous group of economies and societies’ and an ‘important testing ground for our existing theories, models and concepts of business and management’ affording those who focus on them as a research location the opportunity for ‘the development of new theoretical contributions in the field’. In this volume, we have sought to bring some systematics to this evolving literature dedicated to charting HRM in these emerging markets.

Human resource management and organizational performance:evidence from the retail banking sector

Underpinned by the resource-based view (RBV), social exchange theory (SET), and a theory of intrinsic motivation (empowerment), I proposed and tested a multi-level model that simultaneously examines the intermediate linkages or mechanisms through which HPWS impact individual and organizational performance. First and underpinned by RBV, I examined at the unit level, collective human capital and competitive advantage as path-ways through which the use of HPWS influences – branch market performance. Second and-, underpinned by social exchange (perceived organizational support) and intrinsic motivation (psychological empowerment) theories, I examined cross and individual level mechanisms through which experienced HPWS may influence employee performance. I tested the propositions of this study with multisource data obtained from junior and senior customer contact employees, and managers of 37 branches of two banks in Ghana. Results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that (i) collective human capital partially mediated the relationship between management-rated HPWS and competitive advantage, while competitive advantage completely mediated the influence of human capital on branch market performance. Consequently, management-rated HPWS influenced branch market performance indirectly through collective human capital and competitive advantage. Additionally, results of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) tests of the cross-level influences on the motivational implications of HPWS revealed that (i) management-rated HPWS influenced experienced HPWS; (ii) perceived organizational support (POS) and psychological empowerment fully mediated the influence of experienced HPWS on service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and; (iii) service-oriented OCB mediated the influence of psychological empowerment and POS on service quality and task performance. I discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

High-performance human resource practices, citizenship behaviour and organizational performance:A relational perspective

Taking a relational perspective on the employment relationship, we examined processes (mediation and moderation) linking high-performance human resource practices and productivity and turnover, two indicators of organizational performance. Multilevel analysis of data from hotels in the People's Republic of China revealed that service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) partially mediated the relationships between high-performance human resource practices and both performance indicators. Unemployment rate moderated the service-oriented OCB-turnover relationship, and business strategy (service quality) moderated the service-oriented OCB-productivity relationship. Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved.

Human resource management in foreign-owned subsidiaries:China versus India

This study examines the HRM practices and the role played by the HR department in foreign-owned units located in China and India. The study of 170 Western-owned subsidiaries analyses the extent to which the HRM practices associated with the local professionals and managerial-level employees resemble those of local firms versus those of the (main) Western parent organization, and investigates the degree to which the unit's HR department was perceived to play a strategic role. The results indicate clear differences between HRM characteristics in Western-owned units in China and India, and suggest that the use of expatriates and the background of the HR managers are important determinants of subsidiary HRM.