The telephone-banking channel, delivered through call centres, has become an integral part of the distribution mix of retail financial institutions. To get the greatest competitive advantage from this channel, the strategic orientation, structural and behavioural aspects of the call centre must be aligned with its operational-service and sales-performance objectives. Unfortunately, while considerable managerial effort is expended developing call centres, often their performance results remain uncertain or uncommunicated. There are indications also that financial institutions should not underestimate active market orientation benefits; innovative, strategic-thinking and progressive structures; flexible, empathic leadership, and, valuing supportive human resource strategies. Our survey of Australian deposit-taking institutions investigates the extent to which strategic and behavioural aspects are aligned with its operational-service and sales-performance objectives. Specifically, managerial approaches to IT development, competitive positioning, leadership delegation, market research attitudes and product orientation were considered. Approaches to trust, conflict, morale and reward, and, key performance indicator (KPI) choices were sought also. Results show sales performance is positively related to more externally focussed strategic orientations. Reinforcing the importance of innovative human resource practices, performance is also related positively to psychosocial climate in general and employee reward and morale, in particular. This extension of management theory urges financial service leaders to actively contemplate one of its most important resources, people. Further, the survey itself indicated that while the majority of institutions continue to use operationally based key performance indicators, such as minimum call duration, the ability of the call centre to generate sales revenue is also being recognised. In summary, given the size and potential of the telephone-banking channel, this research encourages further, urgent exploration of strategic relationships among the channel, its market, performance measures and comprehensive people-centred HR strategies aimed at developing high employee trust, and satisfaction.

<p>The work-life balance is currently in vogue among governments, organizations as well as researchers. Higher managers in organizations all over the world are exposed to significant pressures in their jobs, which further influence the balance between their work and private lives, job satisfaction and overall well-being. In this thesis, we apply a different perspective on the topic of work-life balance than most of the previous scientific research. We have focused on the governmental, organizational and individual factors that affect the work-life balance of higher managers and the consequent influence on their job satisfaction and overall well-being.</p><p>The objective of this study is to contribute to the work-life balance research by exploring the fit between companies’ human resource practices and higher managers’ actual perceptions and needs. In order to gain different perspectives, our empirical research consists of a series of interviews with both HR managers and members of higher management.</p><p>The key findings in terms of the factors influencing higher managers are reported. They suggest that the individuals are influenced by several aspects. The responsibility for personal work-life balance does not only lie on individuals themselves, but the organizations and governments play an important role in treating this issue as well.</p>

<p>Bakgrund: Projektifiering innebär att företag går från en stark linjeorganisation mot att betona projektdimensionen. Denna förändring skapar nya förutsättningar för medarbetare och torde även ha samband med företagets syn på sin personal som strategisk resurs. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga och analysera de förändringar som sker inom Human Resource Management i samband med företags projektifiering. </p><p>Genomförande: Det empiriska materialet består huvudsakligen av intervjuer med nyckelpersoner på Posten och Saab Aerospace. </p><p>Resultat: HR-funktionen har en viktig roll i projektifieringsprocessen. Två sätt att organisera HR-funktionen har identifierats, vilka påverkar möjligheten att anta denna roll. HR-relaterade problem får olika proportioner beroende på hur företag väljer att organisera projektverksamheten.</p>

<p>This thesis is about human resource management (HRM) in project-based organisations. Firms have over the last decades tended to rely increasingly on project-based structures. This process of projectification implies a changed work situation for individuals in modern organisations. Researchers from the project field of research as well as from the HRM field of research have pointed to possible implications that projectification might have for HRM. This thesis explores this area through a combination of multiple, comparative, and single case studies of project-based organisations. The studies aim at identifying and analysing the changes and challenges for HRM in this particular context.</p><p>The studies are presented in four separate papers. The findings suggest a number of important and empirically nested challenges related to Competence, Trust, Change, and Individuals. Moreover, the changing roles of HR departments and line managers in the overall HR organisation are discussed and analysed. The thesis proposes alternative roles for line managers, depending on the organisational context, and it also proposes two ’ideal types’ of HR-departmental structures.</p>

<p>At the time of writing, the business world is currently recovering from a recession that struck globally in the late 2008. The financial crisis brought many consequences, not least in the labor market. In meantime, media is reporting of the increasing trends of companies outsourcing their employment needs, by using staffing companies. Could it be that there is a correlation between the recession and the companies’ choices to do so?</p><p>By revising literature on the topic we have found that the companies need for flexibility seem to be their main reason for using staffing companies. We have also come to review the first reports on the current increase of staffing company use in the US claimed to be caused by the current recession. Regarding the recession, we have come to find that it does have a structural impact on the labor market according to literature. An impact, that many claims is not temporary, but is here to stay.</p><p>We have departed from retroduction with a touch of abduction when investigating our research problem. In practice, we have conducted a study based on surveys where we have asked 37 people in managerial positions at the top 100 largest employers in Sweden about their views on the recession and their attitudes towards the staffing industry. In addition, we have conducted an interview with a manager from a staffing company in Sweden to get another view on the use of staffing companies.</p><p>The findings of this study include; even though several references in this paper forecast rapid growth during times of expansion for the staffing companies, this is not reflected within the responses in our sample. The companies perceive the situation of temporary staff as being better than what some theory suggests. There is reason to suggest that large companies that use staffing companies are moving towards a permanent need of temporary labor, and the respondent of such companies generally perceive staffing companies as a good option for mitigating labor-associated risks.</p><p>It is difficult to draw definite conclusions based on our findings. We have opted to give the reader some insight as to how the companies perceive the staffing industry, and how a manager of a staffing company perceives its current state. We would like to encourage further research to use the questions and suggestions raised in our paper to conduct tests in the area of temporary staffing from a corporate perspective to nourish the debate in the society with a scientific point of view.</p>

<p>With the intention to investigate the role of HR practices and the Perceived Organization Support (POS) in the process of key employee retention, this study developed a model that was empirically explored through the case studies of Secoroc and ABBCR in order to have such process examined in the managerial context of Swedish organizations. Results indicate that in these companies the employees' perceptions of support from the selected HR practices contribute to the development of POS and job satisfaction. The practices of growth opportunity and challenging work were indicated to be more significant for the retention of key employees in these companies. Interestingly, pay and the relationship between R&D managers and employees indicated to be of also crucial relevance in the process of retaining key employees. Furthermore, there are indications that the Swedish management style signalled to be a facilitator element for the efficiency of such practices in generating job satisfaction for retaining employees. However, the surfaced data from this study indicated that employees of these companies are affectively committed to their managers and to their work rather than to the organization as a whole.</p>

Bakgrund: Projektifiering innebär att företag går från en stark linjeorganisation mot att betona projektdimensionen. Denna förändring skapar nya förutsättningar för medarbetare och torde även ha samband med företagets syn på sin personal som strategisk resurs. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga och analysera de förändringar som sker inom Human Resource Management i samband med företags projektifiering. Genomförande: Det empiriska materialet består huvudsakligen av intervjuer med nyckelpersoner på Posten och Saab Aerospace. Resultat: HR-funktionen har en viktig roll i projektifieringsprocessen. Två sätt att organisera HR-funktionen har identifierats, vilka påverkar möjligheten att anta denna roll. HR-relaterade problem får olika proportioner beroende på hur företag väljer att organisera projektverksamheten.

Background: It is important to develop and execute human resource practices that generate employee competencies and behaviours the company needs to achieve its strategic goals. SHRM is about how to align HR strategies with corporate strategies, and implemented in a correct way SHRM can be an efficient tool to use for enhancing organisational performance. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to evaluate the alignment between EWES Stålfjäder AB´s corporate strategies and its HR strategies. Method: To study this we believe it was accurate to use a qualitative method approach. The empirical study consists of semi-structured interviews as well as written documents. Analysis: The structure of the analysis follows the theoretical framework. We have used the model developed by Dessler (2008, p. 95), “How to Align HR Strategy and Actions with Business Strategy”. Conclusions: We found that EWES Stålfjäder AB need to clarify their corporate strategies throughout the whole organisation. This will help them to identify and implement HR strategies that are in line with them. Working in this manner, we believe it will help EWES to conceptualize and execute accurate changes the organisation needs to accomplish their corporate strategies. Furthermore, we found that most of EWES’ HR practices become more like add-ons than strategic activities that are aligned with their corporate strategies.

At the time of writing, the business world is currently recovering from a recession that struck globally in the late 2008. The financial crisis brought many consequences, not least in the labor market. In meantime, media is reporting of the increasing trends of companies outsourcing their employment needs, by using staffing companies. Could it be that there is a correlation between the recession and the companies’ choices to do so? By revising literature on the topic we have found that the companies need for flexibility seem to be their main reason for using staffing companies. We have also come to review the first reports on the current increase of staffing company use in the US claimed to be caused by the current recession. Regarding the recession, we have come to find that it does have a structural impact on the labor market according to literature. An impact, that many claims is not temporary, but is here to stay. We have departed from retroduction with a touch of abduction when investigating our research problem. In practice, we have conducted a study based on surveys where we have asked 37 people in managerial positions at the top 100 largest employers in Sweden about their views on the recession and their attitudes towards the staffing industry. In addition, we have conducted an interview with a manager from a staffing company in Sweden to get another view on the use of staffing companies. The findings of this study include; even though several references in this paper forecast rapid growth during times of expansion for the staffing companies, this is not reflected within the responses in our sample. The companies perceive the situation of temporary staff as being better than what some theory suggests. There is reason to suggest that large companies that use staffing companies are moving towards a permanent need of temporary labor, and the respondent of such companies generally perceive staffing companies as a good option for mitigating labor-associated risks. It is difficult to draw definite conclusions based on our findings. We have opted to give the reader some insight as to how the companies perceive the staffing industry, and how a manager of a staffing company perceives its current state. We would like to encourage further research to use the questions and suggestions raised in our paper to conduct tests in the area of temporary staffing from a corporate perspective to nourish the debate in the society with a scientific point of view.

The work-life balance is currently in vogue among governments, organizations as well as researchers. Higher managers in organizations all over the world are exposed to significant pressures in their jobs, which further influence the balance between their work and private lives, job satisfaction and overall well-being. In this thesis, we apply a different perspective on the topic of work-life balance than most of the previous scientific research. We have focused on the governmental, organizational and individual factors that affect the work-life balance of higher managers and the consequent influence on their job satisfaction and overall well-being. The objective of this study is to contribute to the work-life balance research by exploring the fit between companies’ human resource practices and higher managers’ actual perceptions and needs. In order to gain different perspectives, our empirical research consists of a series of interviews with both HR managers and members of higher management. The key findings in terms of the factors influencing higher managers are reported. They suggest that the individuals are influenced by several aspects. The responsibility for personal work-life balance does not only lie on individuals themselves, but the organizations and governments play an important role in treating this issue as well.