Strategic Soft Human Resource Management - The Very Idea

On the one hand this thesis attempts to develop and empirically test an ethically defensible theorization of the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and competitive advantage. The specific empirical evidence indicates that at least part of HRM's causal influence on employee performance may operate indirectly through a social architecture and then through psychological empowerment. However, in particular the evidence concerning a potential influence of HRM on organizational performance seems to put in question some of the rhetorics within the HRM research community. On the other hand, the thesis tries to explicate and defend a certain attitude towards the philosophically oriented debates within organization science. This involves suggestions as to how we should understand meaning, reference, truth, justification and knowledge. In this understanding it is not fruitful to see either the problems or the solutions to the problems of empirical social science as fundamentally philosophical ones. It is argued that the notorious problems of social science, in this thesis exemplified by research on HRM, can be seen as related to dynamic complexity in combination with both the ethical and pragmatic difficulty of ”laboratory-like-experiments”. Solutions … can only be sought by informed trials and errors depending on the perceived familiarity with the object(s) of research. The odds are against anybody who hopes for clearly adequate social scientific answers to more complex questions. Social science is in particular unlikely to arrive at largely accepted knowledge of the kind ”if we do this, then that will happen”, or even ”if we do this, then that is likely to happen”. One of the problems probably facing most of the social scientific research communities is to specify and agree upon the ”this ” and the ”that” and provide convincing evidence of how they are (causally) related. On most more complex questions the role of social science seems largely to remain that of contributing to a (critical) conversation, rather than to arrive at more generally accepted knowledge. This is ultimately what is both argued and, in a sense, demonstrated using research on the relationship between HRM and organizational performance as an example.

Gestión de Recursos Humanos en empresas cooperativas

En este trabajo se analizan las políticas de recursos humanos de una cooperativa y los resultados de dichas políticas en los socios cooperativistas y en los trabajadores por cuenta ajena. Al mismo tiempo, intenta analizar las relaciones de la satisfacción. La información procede de una encuesta de satisfacción y una encuesta de cultura organizativa. Los resultados evidencian las diferencias de la satisfacción laboral de los empleados de distinto tipo de contrato. En el caso de esta empresa, los trabajadores por cuenta ajena se muestran más satisfechos que los trabajadores socios en todas las palancas menos en la de seguridad en el empleo y futuro. A su vez, se concluye que la participación en la propiedad no siempre trae consigo una mayor satisfacción. Otro de los resultados del análisis, es que la participación en la toma de decisiones está positivamente relacionada con la satisfacción laboral. En cambio, no se aprecia una relación positiva entre la satisfacción y los resultados de la organización.

Imagem de um Conselho Profissional: um estudo utilizando equações estruturais

O estudo e medição da imagem, especialmente de um Conselho Profissional são essenciais para auxiliar os gestores destas instituições a tomarem decisões. Como não há uma escala válida e confiável que permita a medição da imagem corporativa de um Conselho Profissional, o presente trabalho busca confirmar, através do método de Modelagem de Equações Estruturais MEE, o modelo hipotético proposto por Peres (2004) e Carvalho (2009) que tomam por base o estudo de Folland, Peacock e Pelfrey (1991) que conclui que a imagem corporativa é composta por dois fatores e a percepção desta imagem impacta na avaliação de seu desempenho. Os resultados obtidos na pesquisa demonstram, com grande segurança estatística, que o modelo proposto é consistente, tem ótimo ajuste, e pode ser aplicado em futuras amostras semelhantes.

Sistemas de contabilidad de gestión y desempeño de joint ventures internacionales: rol positivo de la experiencia de los directivos

[ES] Este trabajo explora el rol de los sistemas de la contabilidad de gestión en el desempeño de Joint Ventures (JV) del tipo 50/50 en la industria autopartista. Se investiga el impacto que la experiencia previa de los directivos tiene sobre la intensidad y propósito de uso de los sistemas de la contabilidad de gestión y como ellos afectan el desempeño de JVs. El estudio de este fenómeno surge a partir de los resultados reportados en tres estudios de campo exploratorios en JVs (Groot y Merchant 2000) y de otros tres casos de JVs internacionales en la industria autopartista (Porporato 2013) en donde se sugieren que el efecto de los sistemas de control de gestión en el desempeño organizacional es secundario. Los resultados aquí reportados se basan en una encuesta efectuada a 35 JV internacionales y ofrece resultados alineados con la literatura existente. Los resultados muestran que el desempeño organizacional mejora cuando se reduce la incertidumbre de factores percibidos como controlables por los directivos; un factor se percibe como controlable cuando mayor es la experiencia que el directivo tiene con el mismo. La incertidumbre, según la define Galbraith (1973), se reduce vía un uso intensivo de los sistemas de contabilidad de gestión, lo que su vez impacta positivamente en el desempeño organizacional.

IS/IT resources and business value: Operationalization of an information oriented framework

Several studies have highlighted the importance of information and information quality in organisations and thus information is regarded as key determinant for the success and organisational performance. In this paper, we review selected contributions and introduce a model that shows how IS/IT resources and capabilities could be interlinked with IS/IT utilization, organizational performance and business value. Complementing other models and frameworks, we explicitly consider information from a management maturity, quality and risk perspective and show how the new framework can be operationalized with existing assessment approaches by using empirical data from four industrial case studies. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

An information oriented framework for relating IS/IT resources and business value

Several studies have highlighted the importance of information and information quality in organisations and thus information is regarded as key determinant for the success and organisational performance. At the same time, there are numerous studies, frameworks and case studies examining the impact of information technology and systems to business value. Recently, several studies have proposed maturity models for information management capabilities in the literature, which claim that a higher maturity results in a higher organizational performance. Although these studies provide valuable information about the underlying relations, most are limited in specifying the relationship in more detail. Furthermore, most prominent approaches do not or at least not explicitly consider information as important influencing factor for organisational performance. In this paper, we aim to review selected contributions and introduce a model that shows how IS/IT resources and capabilties could be interlinked with IS/IT utilization, organizational performance and business value. Complementing other models and frameworks, we explicitly consider information from a management maturity, quality and risk perspective. Moreover, the paper discusses how each part of the model can be assessed in order to validate the model in future studies.

Unified modelling in support of organization design and change

The aim of this research is to provide a unified modelling-based method to help with the evaluation of organization design and change decisions. Relevant literature regarding model-driven organization design and change is described. This helps identify the requirements for a new modelling methodology. Such a methodology is developed and described. The three phases of the developed method include the following. First, the use of CIMOSA-based multi-perspective enterprise modelling to understand and capture the most enduring characteristics of process-oriented organizations and externalize various types of requirement knowledge about any target organization. Second, the use of causal loop diagrams to identify dynamic causal impacts and effects related to the issues and constraints on the organization under study. Third, the use of simulation modelling to quantify the effects of each issue in terms of organizational performance. The design and case study application of a unified modelling method based on CIMOSA (computer integrated manufacturing open systems architecture) enterprise modelling, causal loop diagrams, and simulation modelling, is explored to illustrate its potential to support systematic organization design and change. Further application of the proposed methodology in various company and industry sectors, especially in manufacturing sectors, would be helpful to illustrate complementary uses and relative benefits and drawbacks of the methodology in different types of organization. The proposed unified modelling-based method provides a systematic way of enabling key aspects of organization design and change. The case company, its relevant data, and developed models help to explore and validate the proposed method. The application of CIMOSA-based unified modelling method and integrated application of these three modelling techniques within a single solution space constitutes an advance on previous best practice. Also, the purpose and application domain of the proposed method offers an addition to knowledge. © IMechE 2009.

国有企业管理者裁员决策特征及其对留岗者心理影响的研究

In China, orgnizational change and downsizing are the primary topics studied in I/O psychology and Human Resource Management. Due to the great need in reality, both theorists and practitioners raised the same questions: Does downsizing increase the organizational performance? What is the relationship between organizational downsizing strategies and survivors' psychological reations? Which factors influence managers' downsizing decision-making most? How can managers manage the process successfully? The purpose of this study is trying to answer these questions, and then to establish the downsizing decision-making model of China's SOE (State owned enterprise) managers. The hypothetical model of SOE managers' downsizing decision-making was put forward, based on a tremendous amount of literature on downsizing decision-making, especially on the downsizing decision-making model built by B. Shaw, and also based on the results of the interviews conducted to the SOE managers who have the downsizing decision-making experiences. In order to test and verify the model, 322 SOE managers were investigated by a questionnaire study. And the statistic results supported the hypothetical downsizing decision-making model. Further, 259 survivors (those who are still working in the SOEs) from 7 downsized SOEs and 1 non-downsizing SOE, were also investigated by a questionnaire study. The statistic results also supported the hypothetical downsizing decision-making model. A subsequent case study was performed upon one downsized SOE; and a deliberate focus group interview study within 6 SOE mangers from another downsized SOE was also conducted. Both fundings from the two studies surported the hypothetical model again. Thus, China's SOE managers' downsizing decision-making model was established. This China's SOE managers' downsizing decision-making model suggests the following: Firstly, the characteristics of managers'downsizing decision-making were the center of the model. Those characteristics displayed during the process of the downsizing decision planning, the participation of downsizing decision-making and the communication concerning downsizing events, were influenced by managers' sense of crisis, controlling factors out of the organization and the managing experience within it. Especially, the latter two factors were more important. Secondly, in downsizing decision-making problems, the perceived crisis of China's SOE managers was mainly influenced by the outer factors, esp. the controlling factors from the government or the high authorities, but not by the inner factors including manufacturing management, HRM skills and organizational competition strategies. Thirdly, survivors'psychological reactions (including job satisfaction, job motivation, team working cooperation, etc) were mainly influenced by the characteristics of the managers' downsizing decision-making, at the same time, also by the outer factors (including controlling and social security factors) and the inner factors (including competition strategy and HRM skills). Finally, according to the model and the results from this study, the conclusions were reached in the followings: The stronger the controlling effort upon the SOE managers, the worse the effect displayed during the downsizing process. And in order to improve the effect and quality of downsizing decision-making, SOE managers need a lot of training to ameliorate their competencies such as competition strategies and HRM skills.

满意度测量问卷之研制

Job satisfaction is the basic component of organizational performance. At present, however, there is no instrument to be used to measure this variable in chine. This research was about the measurement of job satisfaction. In our research, We use Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (or MSQ) as a base, then put anther 20 items to form out original questionnaire. After two round measurements and carefully analysis, finally, We got a new questionnaire. In the questionnire; 6 of the 20 MSQ items were discarded, and anther 6 items put in. The form of our questionnire is similar to MSQ. But this research also shown that there ware some problems in it, and advarnce research should be taken to improve the research results.

Are family firms really more socially responsible?

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Cruz, C., Larraza-Kintana, M., Garcés-Galdeano, L. and Berrone, P. (2014), Are Family Firms Really More Socially Responsible? Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38: 1295–1316, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/etap.12125. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

The impact of new public management on the roles of elected councillors, management and the community sector in Irish local government: a case study of Cork County Council

The fundamental aim of this thesis is to examine the effect of New Public Management (NPM) on the traditional roles of elected representatives, management and community activists in Irish local government. This will be achieved through a case study analysis of one local authority, Cork County Council. NPM promises greater democracy in decision-making. Therefore, one can hypothesise that the roles of the three key groupings identified will become more influenced by principles of participatory decision-making. Thus, a number of related questions will be addressed by this work, such as, have the local elected representatives been empowered by NPM? Has a managerial revolution taken place? Has local democracy been enhanced by more effective community participation? It will be seen in chapter 2 that these questions have not been adequately addressed to date in NPM literature. The three groups identified can be regarded as stakeholders although the researcher is cautious in using this term because of its value-laden nature. Essentially, in terms of Cork County Council, stakeholders can be defined as decision-makers and people within the organization and its environment who are interested in or could be affected directly or indirectly by organizational performance. This is an all-embracing definition and includes all citizens, residents, community groups and client organizations. It is in this context that the term 'stakeholder' should be understood when it is occasionally used in this thesis. In this case, the perceptions of elected councilors, management and community representatives with regard to their changing roles are as significant as the changes themselves. The chapter begins with a brief account of the background to this research. This is followed by an explanation of the methodology which is used and then concludes with short statements about the remaining chapters in the thesis.

Orientación al mercado y tipología de las cooperativas agroalimentarias en base a la competitividad. Caso-estudio de las citrícolas españolas

La globalización ha recrudecido más si cabe la competencia en los mercados y las empresas deben afianzar y mejorar su posición competitiva para asegurar la supervivencia. Para ello resulta vital, entre otras cuestiones, velar por los intereses de los inversores al tiempo que cuidan de sus clientes. Las cooperativas sufren una coyuntura semejante respecto a sus socios y el mercado, es decir respecto a sus clientes internos (socios) y externos (mercado). El enfoque de las actividades y la estrategia de la cooperativa frente a esta dualidad determina su grado de orientación al mercado.Los estudios relacionados con la orientación al mercado en cooperativas son escasos en comparación con otras formas empresariales y han estado normalmente centrados en la figura de las cooperativas de segundo grado y circunscritos a sectores muy específicos.El sector citrícola español es uno de los más dinámicos y desarrollados del panorama productivo agrario. Su extensa experiencia comercial tanto a nivel doméstico como internacional confiere un carácter diferenciador a las entidades que operan en este subsector. Este trabajo analiza la posición de las cooperativas citrícolas españolas en relación a la orientación al mercado así como los factores de gestión y estrategia que están relacionadoscon ella. Para ello se utiliza una escala MARKOR, validada en estudios anteriores, sobre una muestra de 45 cooperativas.Se establece además una tipología de cooperativas citrícolas en base a los factores de competitividad que permiten ahondar en el conocimiento que existe sobre esta cuestión en entidades de economía social. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto un elevado grado de relación entre la innovación, el perfil del empresario y el conocimiento del entorno en relación con el grado de orientación al mercado.

Determining factors of the innovative behavior of cooperatives: an analysis of the case of Castilla y León

Cooperatives have a long historical experience in the Spanish economy and have demonstrated their ability to compete against traditional firms in the market. To maintain this capability, while taking advantage of the competitive advantages associated with their idiosyncrasies as social economy enterprises, they should take into consideration that the economy is increasingly globalized and increasingly knowledge-based, especially with regards to technological content. As a consequence, the innovative capacity appears to be a key aspect in order to be able to challenge competitors. This article characterizes the innovative behavior of cooperatives in the region of Castile and Leon and analyses the internal and external factors affecting their innovative performance, based on data from a survey of 581 cooperatives. The results of the empirical analysis, which is performed by multivariate binary logistic regression on various types of innovation, lead us to identify the size of the organizations, the existence of planning, the R & D activities and the human capital as the main determining factors.

Coping, fatores psicossociais e capacidade para o trabalho

O coping desempenha um importante papel na saúde individual e rendimento organizacional. Tal como o coping é um tema de interesse recente e promissor na área da psicologia da saúde ocupacional, também os fatores psicossociais do trabalho têm ganho um crescente interesse no domínio da saúde ocupacio-nal. No entanto, pouco se sabe acerca das configurações de coping mais salu-togénicas no mundo do trabalho, e menos ainda acerca da participação dos fatores psicossociais na definição das mesmas. Esta última perspetiva assume os fatores psicossociais não como causas de stresse, mas enquanto recursos de coping. Com o presente estudo, desejávamos saber se as pessoas com melhor saúde no trabalho usam estratégias de coping diferentes daquelas com menor saúde, bem como se a escolha dessas estratégias é influenciada pelos fatores psicossociais do trabalho. Pretendia-se ainda caracterizar o coping dos trabalhadores mais saudáveis e produtivos, e perceber que fatores psicosso-ciais contribuem para o mesmo. Foram estudados 2960 profissionais de traba-lhos mentais, sendo 31% (n=909) profissionais de saúde e 69% (n=2051) pro-fissionais de outras áreas. Além das variáveis sociodemográficas, avaliou-se o coping (Brief COPE), os fatores psicossociais do trabalho (COPSOQ) e o índi-ce de capacidade para o trabalho (ICT), enquanto indicador de saúde ocupa-cional. Desenhou-se um estudo transversal e quantitativo, com níveis de análi-se descritivo, exploratório, correlacional e preditivo. Os resultados confirmaram as hipóteses de estudo e permitem concluir genericamente que (1) o coping diferencia e determina a saúde no trabalho, (2) os fatores psicossociais do trabalho influenciam o coping, ainda que modestamente, e (3) o coping dos profissionais de saúde é estruturalmente diferente do coping dos não profissio-nais de saúde. Os resultados possibilitam ainda estabelecer perfis de bom e de mau coping no trabalho e concorrem para definir estratégias de intervenção psicológica para o desenvolvimento do reportório de coping dos profissionais de trabalhos mentais, bem como estratégias de gestão (de recursos humanos) para a melhoria do ambiente psicossocial do trabalho. Por fim, os resultados estimulam algumas considerações teóricas e metodológicas que sugerem direções futuras para o estudo dos efeitos da relação do coping com o ambien-te psicossocial do trabalho na saúde e bem-estar individual, no rendimento organizacional e na qualidade de vida no trabalho. Julgamos, por fim, que os resultados obtidos podem contribuir para aprimorar os mecanismos de coping dos profissionais e para ajustar o ambiente psicossocial do trabalho.

O Contributo do controlo interno na gestão de recursos humanos – estudo de caso

Dissertação apresentada no Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Auditoria ORIENTADOR: DOUTORA MARIA CLARA DIAS PINTO RIBEIRO