HR Practices and Organizational Strategy
My general criticisms do not lie in theoretical similarities and overlaps, instead I find fault with the general simplicity and simulated version of reality that these models present, for example it is easy to theoretically state that HR practices should horizontally fit with each other and vertically fit with the organizational strategy, however I am not convinced that this theory is transferable to be implemented in a dynamic organizational structure. For example it takes time, money and effort to develop a configurational HR practices ‘cluster’ which is vertically fit to an organizational strategy that is itself matched to the external market environment. However, in real life, these environments are constantly changing, and will occasionally significantly change enough to demand new organizational strategy, which the HR practices will again have to be reorganized and fitted into alignment with.
However, the universal model seems to fare better under the same scrutiny. If a certain set of ‘best practice’ models is found to exist AND have a positive impact on organizational performance for all industries (of which there is still a debate), then the changing external market environment would not be an influencing factor. Although, this raises the issue of national context, if a set of practices are found to be universal for the UK or US, are the same practices universal for other countries? If not, then how much must a national culture differ for there to be a difference in the practices constituting the universal bundle of practices. Is it simply acceptable enough to define a set of universal bundles, which are limited to their own national context, or does this undermine the true ‘universal’ foundations of this theory? These answers are still very much unknown.
Throughout this discussion, I have criticised almost all theories, studies and models on the HRM and performance link. Considering that my criticisms are valid, which I appreciate they may not depending on the perspective one takes, then what we have in the field of HRM and performance is a plethora of deficient findings, and simply because there is a large quantity of literature, I believe to a certain extent hides the fact that a lot of theories do not accurately address the issues and provide a adequate answer to this immeasurably complicated subject. Is it possible that there is no single answer to the HRM and performance link? I believe so and perhaps the main reason for it is that the area is simply to intangible, subjective, varied and complicated to measure, research and quantify in a common theoretical framework, the shear nature of causality is more complex than statistical research techniques can capture.
However, academics should not lose all hope, further research into the linkage mechanism between HRM and performance could establish this area into a platform of theory which can significantly improve organizational performance in marketplaces. In addition, research focusing in more detail on organizational behaviour, through a qualitative case study approach could be a prudent direction to advance this area of study.
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