英文文章副本.docx

英文文章副本.docx

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英文文章副本

Canstrategichumanresourcemanagementenablegrossnationalhappiness?

DeborahBlackman

FacultyofBusinessandGovernment,ANZOGInstituteforGovernance,UniversityofCanberra,Bruce,Australia

JanineO’Flynn

CrawfordSchoolofEconomicsandGovernment,TheAustralianNationalUniversity,Canberra,Australia,andD.P.MishraRoyalInstituteofManagement,Thimphu,Bhutan

Abstract

Purpose–Thisisatheoreticalpaper,whichaimstoconsidertheroleofstrategichumanresourcemanagement（SHRM）inthedevelopmentof“grossnationalhappiness”（GNH）inBhutan.

Design/methodology/approach–Thepaperinitiallyexaminesthequestionofwhatisstrategiccapacitybuildinganditsimportancefordevelopingnations.ItthenconsidersthestoryofBhutanwheretheideaofGNHformsthedevelopmentphilosophyandapproachtoattainingthelong-termvisionsandgoalsforthecountry.DifferentmodelsandstructuresforSHRMinBhutanarediscussedinordertodeterminewhetheritcanbeappliedtoanationeffectivelyand,ifso,whetheritwillenabletheattainmentofGNHandtheperformancedesiredbythegovernment.

Findings–AlinkbetweenSHRMandtheachievementofBhutan’s2020visionisidentifiedas,ifBhutanistoachieveitsnationalcapacity,itmustidentifythecapabilitiesthatitneedsandthenthestrategiestosupportsuchdevelopments.AllfourofUlrich’sHRMtypeswillberequiredandthiswillneedcarefulmanagement,asthereisatendencytomovetowardsoneorotherwithinanorganization.Bhutanisgoingthroughaperiodofextensivechangeandthevalueswillbechanging.WhatisrecognizedhereisthatnotonlymusttheSHRMdevelopappropriatepeoplemanagementstrategies,itmustalsoacknowledgeitscrucialroleintherecognitionandmaintenanceofappropriatevaluesets.

Researchlimitations/implications–TheproposedframeworkiscurrentlylimitedtoatheoreticalapplicationforBhutanbecause,itisargued,thatanappropriatemodelofSHRMwillsupportthedesiredattainments,butthattodosothespecificvaluesofBhutanwillneedtobeidentifiedandintegratedintopolicydevelopment.

Practicalimplications–TheroleofSHRMinsupportingordrivingchangeisconsideredandapotentialframeworkforSHRMinBhutanisproposed.Thereispotentialtoapplytheseideasmorewidely.

Originality/value–ThispaperidentifiesaroleforSHRMintheattainmentofGNHforBhutan,whichisimportantinhelpingBhutantoachieveitsnationalcapability.

KeywordsQualityoflife,Humanresourcemanagement,Humanresourcestrategies,Bhutan

PapertypeResearchpaper

Strategiccapacitybuildinganddevelopingnations

Therehasbeendiscussiongloballyaboutcapacitybuildingbecauseitencompasses:

[...]thecountry’shuman,scientific,technological,organizational,institutionalandresourcecapabilities.Afundamentalgoalofcapacitybuildingistoenhancetheabilitytoevaluateandaddressthecrucialquestionsrelatedtopolicychoicesandmodesofimplementationamongdevelopmentoptions,basedonanunderstandingofenvironmentpotentialsandlimitsofneedsperceivedbythepeopleofthecountryconcerned（UNCED,1992）.

Itshouldbestressedthatcapacitybuildingismorethanjusttrainingindividualsinmoreskillsorevenraisingthelevelsofeducationwithinanation.Theseideasmayhelp,buttheywillnotbesufficient.Increatinganenablingenvironmentitmustbesupportedbytheappropriatepolicy,legal,andorganizingframeworks;whichwillenablethelong-termrecognition,development,andutilizationofappositecapabilities.Capabilitiesaretheskillsnecessaryforanationoranorganizationtocoordinateresourceseffectivelytoachievespecificpurposes（Analoui,2007）.Itisarguedthatforanationtobeabletorecognizeandexploitsuchcapabilities,therewillneedtobesystematicdevelopmentinarangeofareas:

HR,organizational,andinstitutional.Allofthesethreewillaffect,andbeaffectedby,themodelsofSHRMpresentwithinthesystems.

Miller,EisenstatandFootearguethat,tobeabletocreatecapabilities,anentityneedstobeabletodiscovertheirasymmetriesandcreatenewcapabilityconfigurations:

，asymmetriesare:

[...]skills,knowledge,processes,relationships,properties,oroutputsthatitsmotivatedcompetitorsareunlikelytoacquire[...]thesedonotcurrentlyproduceanyeconomicadvantagesbuthavepotentialtobetransformedintovaluableresourcesorcapabilities（Milleretal.Qtd.indeWitandMeyer,2005,p.337）.

Moreover,Pabloetal.（2007）contendthatanorganization’sstrategycanbeachievedbyrecognizingthedynamiccapabilitiesthatwillbeneededandmanagingtoenhanceandsupportthem.Onthesurface,theseclaimsmaynotseemtobeappositetoanationbut,althoughitdoesnotnecessarilywishtoachieveacompetitiveadvantage,anationdoeswishtodevelopasustainableeconomyandforthisitmayneedtoeitherbecomecompetitiveagainstothernations,ordevelopon-goingstrategicalliances.Suchallianceswillneedanawarenessofasymmetriesanddynamiccapabilities,asthesewillenableanationtodetermine;first,whatstrengthsitneedstoacquirefromitspartneringcountriesand,second,whatithastoofferothers.

Theprocedurewithanasymmetryistoconsiderwhatsetsonecountryapartfromanotherinitsmostfundamentalterms,asitisfromthesethatdistinctivecapabilitiescanbedeveloped.Capabilityconfigurationsare“systemsofreinforcingelementsincorporatingcorecapabilitiesandtheorganisationaldesigninfrastructuresinwhichtheyareembeddedandthatrenew,adapt,andsupportthesecapabilities”（Milleretal.Qtd.indeWitandMeyer,2005,p.337;seealsoPabloetal.,2007）.Asymmetrieswillbedevelopedintocapabilitiesbyspecificallydevelopingstructuresanddesignswhichmaximisethe“virtuouscycle”ofenhancement,bywhichismeantthatchainsofinfluencewilldevelopwhenoneasymmetry-basedcapabilityhasagoodoutcomewhichpromotesanothernewcapabilitytoemerge.IntermsofSHRMasasupportingstructureforsuchdevelopments,itcanbeseenthatwhereeffectiveHRdevelopmentleadstogreaterlevelsofsharedknowledge,thiswillenableinnovationwhichwillleadtogreatersustainability.Inthiscase,theprocedurewillbetorecognizethattheasymmetrymaybethattheeducationprocessesaredevelopingnationalsskilledinaparticularareaandthiscanthenbeexploited;forexample,thecaseoftechnologicaladvancesandeducationinBangalore,India,whichhasledtomajordevelopmentsintheinformationsystemsinfrastructureandproductsinthisareaforaglobalmarket.Forthispaper,thequestioniswhatasymmetries,capacity,andcapabilitiescanBhutanbeseentohaveasthesourceforasustainablefuture,andwhetherisitpossibleforthecountrytomanagecapabilitydevelopmentinaproactiveway.

Bhutan:

itsvision,GNH,andSHRM

In1999,Bhutanreleased“AVisionforPeace,ProsperityandHappiness”（BhutanPlanningCommission,1999）.Inthis,theoverarchinggoalforBhutanisidentifiedas“theneedtoensurethefutureindependence,sovereigntyandsecurityofournationstate”（BhutanPlanningCommission,1999,part2,p.7）.Toachievethis,theguidingprinciplesareseentobe:

identity,unityandharmony,stability,self-reliance,sustainability,andflexibility.Tosupportallofthese,acentraldevelopmentconceptisoutlined:

themaximisationofGNH.WepositthattheideasthatunderpinGNH,andleadtoitsadoption,arearecognitionoftheasymmetriesofBhutanandthatitacknowledgestheunusualwaythatBhutanhasdevelopedandemergedfromtheirspecificsetofvalues,beliefs,andpotentialcapabilities.

ThediscussionofGNHemergedasaresultoftheclaimbytheBhutanesekingthat“GrossNationalHappinessismoreimportantthatGrossNationalProduct”（Thinley,1998）andthatthisshouldbecometheBhutanesenationalvision.ThisdistinctivenationalaspirationmarksamajordifferenceinapproachtodevelopmentinBhutanasitisarguedthatGNHwilldrivetheeconomy,nottheotherwayaround.

Thathappinessisanelementofalleconomiesisnotinquestion;forexample,FreyandStutzer（2002,p.171）arguethat“Theextenttowhichpeoplearehappyorunhappyisanessentialqualityoftheeconomyorsociety.Thestateoftheeconomystronglyaffectspeople’shappiness”.Graham（2005）reflectsthatthereisahistoryofhappinessineconomicsthatwaslostinmorerecenttimes;thatoriginallyutilityhadawiderrangingscope,whichrecognizedintrinsicrewardaswellaseconomicgain.However,thosewhodiscusstheeconomicsofhappinessarguethathappinesswillnotreplaceincome-basedmeasuresofwelfare,butinsteadshouldcomplementthemwithbroadermeasuresofwell-being（FreyandStutzer,2002;Graham,2005）.

Bhutanrejectsthis,arguingthatthementalityofthepeoplewillbeaffectedbyamuchwiderrangeofissuesthanmerelytheeconomy;theeconomywillbecomeanindicatorofGNH,nottheotherwayaround（DIT,2008）.ThishasinterestingparallelswithsomeoftheaspectsofSHRM,wherethelevelsofelementssuchasjobsatisfaction（YoonandThye,2002;Loveman,1998）andaffectivecommitment（AllenandMeyer,1990）areconsideredtobeindicatorsoftheabilityoftheorganizationtoinfluenceandimproveperformance.Theargumentisthataseriesofvariableswillenableanorganizationtoincreaseitscapacityandvalue,butonlywhentheworkerattitudesandbehaviorsareaffectedinanappropriateway（Haileyetal.,2005）.Thequestionis,whichHRpracticeswillimpactupontheorganizationinanappropriatewaysoastopreservecurrentlyappropriateasymmetriesordevelopnewones.Inthispaper,wearguethatsuchaque