人力资源管理文献参考外文原文.docx

人力资源管理文献参考外文原文.docx

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人力资源管理文献参考外文原文

HumanSystemsManagement28（2009）47–56

DOI10.3233/HSM-2009-0692IOSPress

InvestigatingtheuseofstrategichumanresourcemanagementinFrenchsmallandmedium-sizedenterprises:

Longitudinalstudy

Author:

AbdelwahabAïtRazoukandMohamedBayad

Introduction

Thereisbroadagreementthatstrategichumanre-sourcemanagement（SHRM）hasmadegreatstridesforafewyears[10,30,56].Severalfactorsaseco-nomic,technologicalanddemographicchangescon-tributedtoitwhilepushingcompaniestoreconsidertheplaceofHR,aswellastocarryoutachangeoftheirmodeofmanagementandespeciallyoftheirHRMpractices[10,35].Weakeninginstitutionalcon-straintsalsocontributedtothedevelopmentofHRflex-iblepractices[36].

Traditionally,HRMfunctionwasinchargeofpri-marilyadministrativemanagementofhumanre-sources,controllingthemtominimizetheircosts[36].PartisansofSHRMdisagreewiththisvision[10,11,23].Theyconsiderthathumancapitalisaresourceinwhichitisnecessarytoinvestbymobilizingasetofstrategicpractices.Thesepracticescontributetoat-tract,todevelopandtoretainthecompetencesthatimprovefirmperformance[11,52,71].However,iftheSHRMseemsconfirmedbytheresearchersinNorthAmericaandvalidforlargecompanies[32,39],isitthecaseforEuropeanfirmsandmorespecificallyFrenchones?

WhatistheplaceofSHRMpracticesinSmallandMedium-sizedEnterprises（SMEs）inFrance?

WonderingaboutthesequestionsleadsustomeettheneedtounderstandSHRMinanothercontextthantheUSAone[32].Intheirarticle,Henemanetal.[32]notethatverylittleattentionhasbeenpaidtoSMEs’humanresourcemanagementpracticesstudiesincountriesoutsidetheUSA.Theseauthorsaffirmthat:

“othercountriescouldbeasourceofinformationtofillourgapsinknowledgeintheU.S.Intakinganinternationalperspective,carewouldneedtobetakentoensurethatwhatworksinonecultureappliestoanotherculture”.TheFrenchcontextcanbeaninterestingcounterexampleinthisfieldbecauseitismarkedbythelegalconstraintsandtheinstitutions,inparticularunions,inspiteoftheirweakeningduringthelastdecade[14,15,28].

Bythisstudy,wewilltrytoenrichourknowledgeinSHRMinSMEs.ResearchonSHRMinSMEsremainslittledevelopedingeneral[34]andparticularlyinFrance[1,12,44,58].OurinteresttostudyFrenchSMEscanbealsojustifiedbytheircapacityforadaptingandcreatingwealth[24].Inaddition,althoughforalongtimeHRMpracticesinSMEsweregivenaminorplace,recentstudiessupportedtheSMEs’tendencytoinvestmoreandmoreinHRandinvitedtointensifyresearchonHRMpracticesinSMEs[4,68].

Thispaperisorganizedasfollows.InSection2,wewilldeveloptheoriginsofSHRM,itsdefinitionanditspositionintheliteratureofSMEs.Section3will

relatetoresearchmethodology.Finally,theresultswillbeexposedinSection4anddiscussedinSection5withtracksforfutureresearch.

RelationshipbetweenHRMandstrategy:

Whatandwhy?

TheoristsandpractitionersalwayswantedtomakeHRMavectorofthestrategy,carryingitfromopera-tionalleveltostrategiclevel.AccordingtoUlrichandBrockbank[65],thiswayHRMgainsincredibility.AuthorssuchasDruckerestimated,fromthe1970s,thatthisintegrationofhumanresourcestothefieldof

strategyhasbecomenecessarybecauseitisnotenoughanymore“tomakethingswell”,byimprovingeffi-ciency（orproductivity）butitisalsonecessary“to

makethegoodthings”,i.e.toincreaseeffectiveness.TherelationshipbetweenHRMandstrategyisbuiltalsobythemeansofachangeinthestrategicparadigm

aswellasintheroleofhumancapital.

Strategicparadigmchange

Traditionally,strategywasdominatedbyexternalapproachofstrategy,definedasthesetofdecisioncri-teriachosenbythecompanymanagerstodirect,inadeterminingwayandtowardstheduration,firm’sac-tivitiesandconfiguration[40,51,53].Thisapproach,primarilyinspiredbyContingencyTheory[16,18,40,51],isassociatedtodaywithinternalapproachofstrat-egy[6,50].Thenewstrategicvisionsupportsthatbothinternalandexternalapproachesofstrategyareindis-sociableandcomplementary.Inthisway,thedefini-tionofstrategymustintegratefirm’sinternalresourceswhichdetermineitsformulationanditsimplementa-tion[6,50].SHRMemergedthroughthischangeofstrategicvision[11,22].

InHRMliterature,relationshipsbetweenHRMandstrategyareconceivedaccordingtothisnewvisionofstrategy.BairdandMeshoulam[5]havedefined,forexample,therelationshipbetweenHRMandstrat-egyasthecombinationofverticalfitandhorizontalfit,whichexplainshowHRMcouldcontributetotheachievementofstrategicobjectives.Verticalfitisde-fendedbyseveralimportantstrategicmodels.AmongthemodelsmostquotedintheliteratureinSHRM,letusnotethoseelaboratebyPorter[53,54]andbyMilesandSnow[46,47].AccordinglytoPorter,forexample,threestrategicpositioningcanbeconsideredascom-petitiveadvantage.Thesearestrategiesofdifferentia-tion,ofcostsandoffocus.Porterthinksthatacompanywhichpursuesastrategyofcostsminimizationwillof-ferproductsandqualityserviceswhilebettingespe-ciallyontechnologicalinnovation,economiesofscaleandthecontrolofproductioncosts.ToadoptaHRMsystem,itshouldbetakenintoaccount,asLiouvilleandBayad[44]havespecifiedit,jobdesign,traininglinkedwithproductivityincrease,performanceevalua-tion,compensationrelatedtointernalequity,etc.Con-versely,acompanywhichchoosesdifferentiationwillbeledtooffernewproductsandservicesbyintensify-inginnovationinthisfield.Inthisobjective,HRMwillbeconsideredasproactiveandflexible.Itcanrestonbroadautonomy,managementofcompetences,com-pensationrelatedtoindividualobjectives,etc.Lastly,thecompanywhichpursuesastrategyoffocuswilladoptanintermediatemodelwhichmixestheassetsofthetwoprecedingstrategies.Thistypeofcompanywillbeinclinedtofavor,asproposedbyWalton[67],asys-temof“hybrid”HRMwhichdrawsfrombothHRMsystemscarriedbycompanieswhosestrategyisbasedondifferentiationorlowerscosts.

Humanresourcedeterminingstrategy

Authorslike[10,35,56]estimatethatHRMpracticesarenotonlytheresultoffirm'sstrategicorientationssincetheycanalsopartlydeter-minethem.HRMpracticesinparticularareassetsbe-hindthedevelopmentofspecificcompetencieswhich,consequently,contributetothedefinitionoffirmstrat-egy.Thisallusiontofirms’internalcompetencesindi-catestheevolutionofvariousstrategyresearchtrends,thankstothecontributionoftheResourcesBasedView

theory[6,8].Thesereflectionswerefinallyreinforcedbytheworkscarriedoutinto“corecompetencies”[31]andintothe“bestpractices”ofhumanresource,des-ignatedassourcesofcompetitiveadvantage[1,29,49,52].Fortenyears,theevolutionofthestrategyfieldthushasshowedtheprogressiveswitchfromanex-ternalrepresentationofthecompetitiveadvantageto-wardsaninternalanalysisofskills,capacitiesandmoregenerallyofresourcesnoteasilysubstitutableandim-itable[9].

SHRMpractices:

Whatisit?

SHRMismainlydefinedasasetofcoherentpractices,intendedforthereachofthebestlong-termperformance[20,71].ThisapproachofHRstrat-egyemergeslikeaconsensualvisionamongthere-searchersinspiteoftheexistenceofotherpositions.Indeed,theliteratureissharedbetweenauthorswhostudySHRMthroughtheHRdepartment[60],otherswhofocusesonfirm’shumancapital（employees’col-lectiveknowledge,skillsandabilities）[32,43,48,57,72]and,finally,thosewhodefineHRMasindividualpractices[62,70]orbundles[20,29].ConcerningHRdepartment,forexample,wecanquotethecontribu-tionsofUlrich[63,64]andTysonandFell[61].TysonandFelldrewupakindoftypologyofthevariousHRprofessionals,accordingtothedominanttaskstheysetupforthisfunctioninthefirm.TheauthorsidentifythreegreattypesofHRprofessionals:

theexecutant,theadministratorofcontracts,thearchitect.ThisfirsttypologyisdeepenedandenrichedbytheworksofUl-rich[63,64],andUlrichandBrockbank[65]whoiden-tifiedtheprincipalrolesthoseHRprofessionalsmustplaytobeabletobegraduallycommittedtothestrate-giclevel:

lawyeroftheemployees,developerofhumancapital,functionalexpert,strategicpartner,HRleader.However,thevisionofSHRMintermsofpracticesismostdominantintheliterature.SHRMisoftende-signedbyhigh-involvementmanagementpractices[3],high-commitmentpractices[67],high-performancemanagementpractices[10,52].SHRMsupposestheconstructionofacoherentsystemofmobilizingHRpracticeswhichensurestheco-operationofemployeesthroughahigherimplicationlevel（inoppositiontoem-ployees’control）,inordertoincreasefirm’seconomicandsocialperformance[26,68,69].SHRMpracticessuchasautonomy,training,informationsharing,par-ticipationinthedecisionsandcompensationseektomakeemployeesasourceofcompetitiveadvantagewhileactingoncommitmentandinvolvement[10,52].Inourstudy,wehavechosenthislastdefinitionofSHRMwhichwewilltrytoanalyzeintheFrenchcon-text,inoppositiontotraditionalHRM.

SHRMinsmallandmedium-sizedenterprises

ThefirstworksonHRMinSMEsclaimedforalongtimethattheselastinvestlessinhumancapitalandthattheirHRMpracticesremaininformal[45].However,recentresearchnotethatHRpracticesinSMEsarerathersophisticated.Forexample,Desh-pandeandGolhar[21]raisedintheirresearchthesimilaritiesbetweenHRMpract