No / Although various firms adopt and implement multiple human resource practices as best practices (means), a substantial number of firms fail to realize their objectives (ends). The practices of firms are frequently decoupled from their intended outcomes. By leveraging the concept of means-ends decoupling, which refers to the gap between practices and outcomes, our research examines this important but underexplored phenomenon, which the traditional concept of policy-practice decoupling fails to fully account for. Hence, organizational agency is both conceptualized and measured as consistency and competence. The manner in which this variable affects the implementation and performance of human resource practices is tested with the effect of means-ends decoupling on firm performance. Our results add new evidence that organizational agency has an important role in the process of implementing practices and that it provides additional insights into the relationships between adoption and implementation, which are two distinct institutional dimensions of practices, as well as their different firm consequences.

I en värld som ständigt förändras och utvecklas kan det finnas ett pågående tryck hos organisationer att behålla värdefull kunskap men även att identifiera var kunskap saknas och åtgärda detta. Arbetet med detta hos organisationer kallas ofta för ”kompetensförsörjning”. Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera hur arbetet med kompetensförsörjning i vissa fall kan se ut för HR-medarbetare och chefer i en offentlig verksamhet. Studien är kvalitativ och innehåller tidigare forskning gällande Human Resources och kompetensförsörjning . I studien har fyra halvstrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med fyra respondenter som alla arbetar med HR inom offentlig sektor. Därefter har data blivit tematisk analyserat för att ge form till de olika teman som återfinns i resultatet. Resultatet påvisar att både HR-medarbetare och chefer är delaktiga i arbetet med kompetensförsörjning, men att cheferna ofta tilldelas utvalda ansvarsområden och att HR-medarbetare har det övergripande ansvaret och fungerar som en specialistfunktion. Slutsatsen påvisar att både HRmedarbetare och chefers olika kunskaper är viktiga beståndsdelar i kompetensförsörjningen men även att det finns alternativa arbetssätt som skulle vara önskvärda om tid och möjlighet funnits.

Human resource management (HRM) has paid insufficient attention to the impact of context. In this article, we outline the need for HRM to take full account of context, particularly national context, and to use both cultural theories and, particularly, institutional theories to do that. We use research publications that utilize the Cranet data to show how that can be done. From that evidence, we develop a series of proposals for further context-based research in HRM.

ABSTRACT Along with the progress of science and technology and the development of information, the competitions between enterprises are becoming more and more intense which leads one to wonder how an enterprise can stand out among its numerous competitors. Therefore, one of the important challenges which determine how an enterprise could succeed is how to distribute its resources to create a core-competence for future business opportunities. It should also be able to find new application for its existing core competence. Not only that, for building its core competence an enterprise needs outstanding people and as such, how to manage its human resource to create core competence should also be an important theme. Most of the HR employment method only focuses on one particular group of people, hence overlooking the fact that different groups within an enterprise could be employed for different task. In view of this, this research is based on the constructive viewpoint mentioned by Prahalad & Hamel (1994) on core competence, together with Lepak & Snell¡¦s(1999) architecture of human resource. This research circles around four different stages ¡V maintenance of core competence, innovation of core competence, extension of core competence and development of new capabilities. It studies the types of method, relation and structure an enterprise should adopt in order to acquire the necessary HR and develop a HR strategic structure which could stand the test of time. Adopting an in-depth interview method, this research targeted a certain large scale English tutorial centre in Kaohsiung as the subject of study. It studied the human resource employment mode, relation and HR configuration adopted by this tutorial centre to build up its core competence. The result of this research showed: 1. Company A adopted internal development method, a business transaction or partnership type of relationship and market-base and commitment HR configuration to build its human resource on maintaining core competence. 2. In creating new core competence, Company A adopted internal development method as well as recruitment of talents method. Relationship adopted was that of business transaction and partnership type and HR configuration was that of market-base and commitment. 3. Method adopted for expansion of core competence was pretty much the same.

This paper describes and analyzes how individuals and organizations that operate in careers in communications and marketing deal with the search for employees / employers, and how recruiting managers and recruitment consultants are working to create a match between the parties. The study was conducted on behalf of a recruitment agency that offers services in recruiting and staffing for organizations in communication and marketing. The empirical material consists of ten qualitative interviews from three different perspectives on the labor market, recruitment consultants, managers and employees. The interviews were analyzed from sociological and social psychological theories of organizations and individuals opportunities and strategies in today's western labor market. Conclusions that emerged are that organizations need for decreased amount of tied assets provides increased need for temporary employments. To plan and manage the strategic HR operation in the flexible organizations, with more temporary employments and decentralized structures, it has become important to increase factors of control. This generally applies to the entire recruitment process but also for potential employees. Employees increasingly aim to move on to new jobs in new organizations require that organizations develop strong employer brands. Unless employees have incentive to stay in the organization it is a risk of competence losses and the loss of control over HR work. Also people who are looking for jobs use strategies such as marketing to get a job. The study indicates a shift in responsibility for the search from organization to job applicant. A further trend is that today's leaders are looking for new employees with the "right" personality. Job applicant adjusts their self-presentation to their perception of what the employer considers to be a suitable personality in general, but also towards the specific job and organization and thus makes it matchable.

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This thesis critically examines the concept of strategic human resource management (HRM). Existing 'critical' approaches identify prescriptive HRNI literature as 'rhetoric' that does not match 'reality'. Such an approach understands management initiatives as separate, individual, discrete, and ad hoc. However, this thesis develops an alternative perspcctivc, informed by a Foucauldian approach to 'discourse', that understands 'HRM' and 'strategy' as cultural constructs that are used by actors as they 'make sense' of discursively constructed organizational 'realities'. This perspective is then utilized to demonstrate that the existing 'critical' approaches are engaged in particular practices that define strategic HRM in a way that constructs the 'gap' between 'rhetoric' and 'reality' as HRM is simultaneously created as an academic subject. This alternative perspective provides a means of understanding and analysing prescriptive management literature and texts generated from interviews with managers in terms of two different discursively constructed 'rationalities'. Both 'rationalities' establish causal relationships between concepts of environment, organization and individual as organizational 'reality' is constructed. This perspective is utilized in the identification of the connections that are established between the managerial initiatives that are thought of as separate, individual, discrete, and ad hoc by the 'critical' literature. There are two parts to this thesis. The first part describes the development of HM4, outlines a Foucauldian conceptualization of 'discourse, and re-examines prescriptive and 'critical' HRM literature. The second part analyses texts generated from interviews with HRIpersonnel managers in a range of public and private sector organizations. This analysis demonstrates that, while there is great variety in the descriptions of organizational 'reality', connections between concepts of environment, organization and individual arc established as two key 'rationalities' are discursively constructed. It is argued that these 'rationalities' position people and practices within organizational 'reality'.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A&M University, 2005. / "Major Subject: Education Human Resource Development" Title from author supplied metadata (automated record created on Feb. 23, 2007.) Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.