Small construction professional services (CPS) firms are recognised as being vitally important to the UK construction industry as much of the professional capacity of the sector resides within these small practices. They rely on the capabilities of small groups of professional employees in delivering their services and so need to ensure their commitment to achieving organisational objectives. Clearly, human resource management (HRM) strategies have a major role to play in managing employee commitment, and yet such strategies have received little attention within the construction management literature. This study investigates the nature of construction professionals commitment within small CPS firms and to develop HRM interventions that foster organisational commitment in small CPS firms. The study adopts qualitative approach to enable gathering of rich data that come directly from the participants involved in the phenomenon. Exploratory interviews with managers of small CPS firms conducted in the early phase of the research helped to identify some of the key strategies and operational challenges related to the management of commitment. Following this, the main data was collected through conducting two in-depth case studies, which included one small quantity surveying practice in the East Midlands, UK, and one small multi-disciplinary practice in the West Midlands, UK. The case studies involve in-depth interviews involving the employer and employees, participation observation and document analysis at the main office of both organisations. Together, these data helped to unravel the nature of the employment relationship within such firms and also to gain a better understanding of how professional employees express their commitment. The findings reveal that professional employees commitment is influenced by a complex range of factors, but that five main HRM levers have a particular influence within such firms. These relate to job design, performance and career management, training and development, reward management and employee involvement. It is clear that a range of factors impinge on the abilities of employers to enact effective HRM strategies. In particular the recent economic crisis and personal problems have both been cited as the main challenges by the employer and employees of both organisations. It highlights the significant importance of managing organisational commitment much more effectively, regardless of the economic climate. Based on the research results a framework for managing professional commitment was developed and validated within a range of small CPS firms. The framework presents a holistic way of accounting for all the issues that influence the development and maintenance of organisational commitment within small CPS firms. Such knowledge is essential to the management of small CPS firms for achieving meaningful improvement in their approach to foster organisational commitment. The key recommendations for the management of small CPS firms is to make sure that every aspect of the job meets the professional employees expectations as well as project requirements and organisational objectives. This includes improving communication by utilising both formal and informal medium of communication, rewarding employees with both monetary and non-monetary rewards and developing employees by providing both on-the-job training and off-the job training. All these HRM practices need to be effectively linked and managed appropriately to collectively foster commitment. In conclusion, the complex nature of organisational commitment raised the importance for the management of small CPS firms to have a structured approach in managing their employees commitment.

A gestão de pessoas é fator sine qua non no mundo corporativo, o qual se encontra em constante mutação. A justificativa deste estudo de caso considera ainda que é demandado às organizações perspicácia de maneira a se despirem de antigas fórmulas de sucesso e se reinventarem na busca da sobrevivência e, quiçá, do almejado crescimento. Cativar clientes, reduzir custos, manter elevados padrões de qualidade, produtividade e segurança se tornaram condições básicas para a continuidade dos negócios e não mais considerados suficientes como diferenciais competitivos. Neste contexto, a presente dissertação objetiva a identificação de práticas de Gestão de Pessoas que podem alavancar melhorias de qualidade. Inicialmente é realizada uma revisão sistemática através da qual são arroladas 10 práticas de Gestão de Pessoas que podem influenciar a Gestão da Qualidade. A seguir, essas práticas são classificadas em conformidade com o critério de excelência Valorização das Pessoas, da Fundação Nacional da Qualidade (FNQ). Por fim, as práticas são comparadas com as existentes em uma empresa fabricante de produtos para conservação de temperatura e é elaborado um diagnóstico de oportunidades, em função das lacunas (gaps) evidenciadas. Os resultados mostraram que das 10 práticas examinadas nenhuma é integralmente aplicada na empresa, 7 são aplicadas parcialmente e 3 não são adotadas. Espera-se que estes conhecimentos possam municiar a empresa em análise na operacionalização de ações que permitam transpor os seus desafios, os quais podem impactar em sua continuidade. / People Management is sine qua non factor in the corporate world, which finds itself in constant mutation. The justification for this case study considers that it is required of the organizations, a high level of perception in a sense of getting rid of old success recipes and reinventing themselves in a quest for survival, and hopefully, the sought for growth. Captivating clients, reducing costs, keeping high quality standards, productivity and security, become basic conditions for continuity of business and are no longer considered sufficient as competitive differentials. Given this context, the present essay aims at identifying practices of People Management that can leverage improvements in quality. Initially, a systematic review is performed, through which the practices of People Management are aligned, and which can influence quality management. Next, these practices are classified in conformity with the excellence concepts of Fundação Nacional da Qualidade (FNQ). Finally, the practices are compared to the existing ones in an enterprise of products to conserve the temperature and an opportunity diagnosis is elaborated. The results showed that of the 10 practices examined none are fully implemented in the company, 7 are partially applied and 3 are not adopted. It is hoped that this knowledge may equip the company in question, based on the noticed gaps, in a way of supporting the company being analyzed in the operating of actions, that allow transposing of its challenges, of which can impact in its continuity.

This study explored human resource management (HRM) functions of 200 work organizations operating in Turkey using a questionnaire. The participating organizations were the members of either the Personnel Managers Association or the Quality Association in Turkey. Job analysis and design, recruitment and selection, orientation and employee training, performance appraisal, career planning and development, human resource planning, compensation management and incentives, managing employee health and safety were among the fields that were examined. In addition to the prevalent HRM functions, the profile of Human Resource Departments of the organizations (i.e., title, size, number of hierarchical levels, etc.), the characteristics of HRM managers (education, age, gender, experience, etc.) were also examined. For example, it was found that the departments operating in field of HRM were named Human Resource Department in 59.5% of the organizations in the sample. Moreover, the results indicated that the main HRM areas practiced by the private sector organizations operating in Turkey were personnel selection, employee recruitment, training and development, compensation management, and employee orientation. Nevertheless, the other essential functions of HRM, such as job analysis, human resource planning and career planning, and development were not practiced as frequently. Whether those functions were frequently practiced or not, each of them was further analysed in terms their specific applications. Another aim of the present study was to compare the practices of HRM in Turkey with its applications in the world. For instance, the results demonstrated that recruiting via internet was practiced frequently in the surveyed organizations and in the US companies. The present study also revealed that personnel selection methods, such as interviews, were popular among surveyed organizations and organizations in Eastern European countries, England, and the US.

A gestão de pessoas é fator sine qua non no mundo corporativo, o qual se encontra em constante mutação. A justificativa deste estudo de caso considera ainda que é demandado às organizações perspicácia de maneira a se despirem de antigas fórmulas de sucesso e se reinventarem na busca da sobrevivência e, quiçá, do almejado crescimento. Cativar clientes, reduzir custos, manter elevados padrões de qualidade, produtividade e segurança se tornaram condições básicas para a continuidade dos negócios e não mais considerados suficientes como diferenciais competitivos. Neste contexto, a presente dissertação objetiva a identificação de práticas de Gestão de Pessoas que podem alavancar melhorias de qualidade. Inicialmente é realizada uma revisão sistemática através da qual são arroladas 10 práticas de Gestão de Pessoas que podem influenciar a Gestão da Qualidade. A seguir, essas práticas são classificadas em conformidade com o critério de excelência Valorização das Pessoas, da Fundação Nacional da Qualidade (FNQ). Por fim, as práticas são comparadas com as existentes em uma empresa fabricante de produtos para conservação de temperatura e é elaborado um diagnóstico de oportunidades, em função das lacunas (gaps) evidenciadas. Os resultados mostraram que das 10 práticas examinadas nenhuma é integralmente aplicada na empresa, 7 são aplicadas parcialmente e 3 não são adotadas. Espera-se que estes conhecimentos possam municiar a empresa em análise na operacionalização de ações que permitam transpor os seus desafios, os quais podem impactar em sua continuidade. / People Management is sine qua non factor in the corporate world, which finds itself in constant mutation. The justification for this case study considers that it is required of the organizations, a high level of perception in a sense of getting rid of old success recipes and reinventing themselves in a quest for survival, and hopefully, the sought for growth. Captivating clients, reducing costs, keeping high quality standards, productivity and security, become basic conditions for continuity of business and are no longer considered sufficient as competitive differentials. Given this context, the present essay aims at identifying practices of People Management that can leverage improvements in quality. Initially, a systematic review is performed, through which the practices of People Management are aligned, and which can influence quality management. Next, these practices are classified in conformity with the excellence concepts of Fundação Nacional da Qualidade (FNQ). Finally, the practices are compared to the existing ones in an enterprise of products to conserve the temperature and an opportunity diagnosis is elaborated. The results showed that of the 10 practices examined none are fully implemented in the company, 7 are partially applied and 3 are not adopted. It is hoped that this knowledge may equip the company in question, based on the noticed gaps, in a way of supporting the company being analyzed in the operating of actions, that allow transposing of its challenges, of which can impact in its continuity.

A gestão de pessoas é fator sine qua non no mundo corporativo, o qual se encontra em constante mutação. A justificativa deste estudo de caso considera ainda que é demandado às organizações perspicácia de maneira a se despirem de antigas fórmulas de sucesso e se reinventarem na busca da sobrevivência e, quiçá, do almejado crescimento. Cativar clientes, reduzir custos, manter elevados padrões de qualidade, produtividade e segurança se tornaram condições básicas para a continuidade dos negócios e não mais considerados suficientes como diferenciais competitivos. Neste contexto, a presente dissertação objetiva a identificação de práticas de Gestão de Pessoas que podem alavancar melhorias de qualidade. Inicialmente é realizada uma revisão sistemática através da qual são arroladas 10 práticas de Gestão de Pessoas que podem influenciar a Gestão da Qualidade. A seguir, essas práticas são classificadas em conformidade com o critério de excelência Valorização das Pessoas, da Fundação Nacional da Qualidade (FNQ). Por fim, as práticas são comparadas com as existentes em uma empresa fabricante de produtos para conservação de temperatura e é elaborado um diagnóstico de oportunidades, em função das lacunas (gaps) evidenciadas. Os resultados mostraram que das 10 práticas examinadas nenhuma é integralmente aplicada na empresa, 7 são aplicadas parcialmente e 3 não são adotadas. Espera-se que estes conhecimentos possam municiar a empresa em análise na operacionalização de ações que permitam transpor os seus desafios, os quais podem impactar em sua continuidade. / People Management is sine qua non factor in the corporate world, which finds itself in constant mutation. The justification for this case study considers that it is required of the organizations, a high level of perception in a sense of getting rid of old success recipes and reinventing themselves in a quest for survival, and hopefully, the sought for growth. Captivating clients, reducing costs, keeping high quality standards, productivity and security, become basic conditions for continuity of business and are no longer considered sufficient as competitive differentials. Given this context, the present essay aims at identifying practices of People Management that can leverage improvements in quality. Initially, a systematic review is performed, through which the practices of People Management are aligned, and which can influence quality management. Next, these practices are classified in conformity with the excellence concepts of Fundação Nacional da Qualidade (FNQ). Finally, the practices are compared to the existing ones in an enterprise of products to conserve the temperature and an opportunity diagnosis is elaborated. The results showed that of the 10 practices examined none are fully implemented in the company, 7 are partially applied and 3 are not adopted. It is hoped that this knowledge may equip the company in question, based on the noticed gaps, in a way of supporting the company being analyzed in the operating of actions, that allow transposing of its challenges, of which can impact in its continuity.

Graduate recruitment is an activity that is practiced by many organisations and HR professionals in South Africa (SAGRA, 2012), yet there is still much to learn about the challenge of what graduates perceive to be the most important factors in attracting and retaining them. In addition, it is generally known that the information and communications technology (ICT) industry is at “war for talent” (McKinsey&Company, 2007) among IT graduates due to the scarcity of the IT skills set (ITWEB, 2008). IT News Africa (2012) reports that South Africa has a growing shortage of skilled workers within the information and communication technology (ICT) field. This can particularly be indicated by the numbers released by South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, which for instance, has issued a detailed list of 7,600 open ICT technical job vacancies (IT News Africa, 2012). The objectives of the study were: (1) to determine what firstly attracts IT graduates to ICT companies, and (2) to determine what retains these IT graduates. The purpose of this was to assist HR managers to overcome the challenge of attraction and retention within the ICT industry. Data for this study was collected by means of an online survey, namely the IT Graduate Recruitment Survey, on a purposive sample (N = 172) of IT graduates in the South African IT sector. Descriptive frequency, median, ranking and chi-square statistics revealed significant insight into the IT graduate’s perspective of attraction and retention factors. The main findings indicate that the top attraction factors for IT graduates include interest in the prospective organisation’s specific products, the services it provides and the employer’s brand in the industry; the overall reputation of the employer; career opportunities; security of employment; and to be able to make use of the IT qualification for which they studied. The two most influential advertising techniques to attract IT graduates are people who already work in the industry, and employer websites. The top retention factors include the availability of opportunities for further study, being supported by the employer and future career opportunities. The findings contribute valuable insight and knowledge to the field of Human Resource Management that can be applied in the recruitment, selection and talent management processes in relation to IT graduates in the ICT industry. Future research could compare different ethnic, gender and qualification groups – i.e. an IT degree candidate versus a diploma candidate – and their expectations when entering the workplace. The impact of on-boarding and induction can also be investigated in terms of the impact these have on retention. It is also recommended that researchers conduct in-depth qualitative interviews together with the current questionnaire to evaluate IT students’ and graduates’ perceptions of the viable attraction and retention techniques more critically. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Counting Carrots… as this cross-section study is entitled studied the distribution of motivation incentives in Central Stockholm’s banking sector and if it varied for different groups of bank-employees, according to bank-employees. This variation in the distribution of employee benefits was examined quantitatively in accordance to three explanatory variables: 1 – Job position, 2 – Bank size and 3 – the Gender of respondents. On account of the above variables, three hypotheses were propounded from: the concept of separating firm ownership and control, economies of scale and experience and the theory on labor market dualism. Concerning Bank size, empirical proof showed that the distribution of employee incentives in Big banks varied more than it did in Small banks thanks to cost and resource saving advantages. Nevertheless, this study was unsuccessful in producing adequate empirical evidence to indicate such variation in motivation incentives when considering employees’ Job position and Gender. This lack of empirical proof contradicted notions from relevant theoretical constructs on divorcing firm ownership from control and from the dual labor market theory. In some respects, conclusions arrived at were not consistent with what Davydenko et al. (2017) observed in Poznan, Poland on a similar topic about incentives diversity. In future, more work remains to be done which should include more features of motivation incentives such as their quality versus quantity or/and their degree of effectiveness in elevating employee engagement with the intent to improve or complement the produced findings from this study. / Denna tvärsnittsstudie har undersökt variabilitet på de verktyg som banker i Stockholm använder för att höja motivationen bland sina anställda. Studiens metod har varit kvantitativ, där respondenterna utgjorts av bankanställda i Stockholm. Studiens insamlade data har sedan granskats mot tre förklarande variabler: 1 – anställningsposition, 2 – storleken på den bank som respondenten är anställd på, och slutligen 3 – respondentens kön. Beträffande anställningsposition och kön lyckades studien inte finna några övertygande empiriska bevis på att dessa variabler hade någon tydlig effekt på hur motivationsincitamenten mottogs. Däremot förefaller storleken på banken vara av betydelse, där större banker erbjuder större incitamentvariabilitet för sina anställda, än små banker. I vissa fall har de slutsatser som dragits varken varit förenliga med den relevanta teorin eller i överensstämmelse med vad Davydenko et al. (2017) observerade när de studerade ett liknande ämne i staden Poznan. I framtiden återstår emellertid mer arbete, vilket bör utgå från en större mängd egenskaper av incitamentsverktyg. Till yttermera visso bör motivationsincitamentens kvalitet kontra kvantitet studeras med frågor såsom huruvida specifika personalförmåner verkligen uppfyller sitt tänkta syfte eller ej. Detta för att komplettera och/eller nyansera de upptäckter som gjorts i Att räkna morötter...

The purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and innovation. This research responds to calls in the literature on HRM and innovation to consider a wider number of HRM practices that have previously been neglected and are likely to produce a positive impact on innovation awareness and commitment (Shipton et al., 2006; Zhao et al., 2012). Therefore, the research is concerned with a wide number of HRM practices and their impact on innovation awareness and commitment. The underpinning rationale is that while previous studies have revealed that HRM practices can be significant for innovation, these studies are not inclusive, and the research is still scant and in its early stages as there has been a lack of consideration of a comprehensive range of HRM practices (Shipton et al., 2006). In simple terms, previous studies have looked at the relationship between HRM practices and innovation based on a limited number of practices and at the macro or inter-organisational level. Therefore, the fundamental contribution of this thesis is the shift in perspective. While previous research has looked at a limited number of HRM practices that largely appear to be borrowed from high-performance work systems (HPWs), this thesis considers a wider range of practices that can impact on innovation at the intra-organisational level – more specifically, to study employees’ perceptions of HRM practices that may promote innovation awareness and commitment. Innovation awareness and commitment refers to the extent to which the organisation is engaged in innovation. Degree of innovativeness and the open innovation approach are studied in this research, to determine whether HRM practices can impact on radical or incremental open innovation. Additionally, departmental differences are considered in this thesis: that is whether employees in different departments have different perceptions of the extent to which HRM practices promote innovation’. To this end, the data set was obtained from two research phases. A quantitative survey was distributed to 280 employees in a Jordanian telecommunications company. Findings from the first phase of the research indicated a number of new HRM practices that were not recognised by previous studies. This research found a positive impact of HRM practices in promoting innovation, as perceived by employees. HPWs, HRM hygiene factors, motivation and communication were perceived by employees to promote innovation in their organisation. The results show that the relationship between HRM practices and innovation is perceived by employees to promote the origins of innovation, specifically open innovation and radical innovation. No support was found for expectations and sharing information to promote innovation. Phase two of the research consisted of semi-structured interviews conducted with senior managers and employees in the same company that participated in phase one. In phase two of the research, the interviews provided better insights and explanations of the results and findings from the survey questionnaire. The results from phase two confirmed the findings from the statistical analysis, and a distinctive finding was the differences between managers’ and employees’ perceptions of HRM practices. Employees identified or perceived practices that are related to their performance and that enable them to develop their levels of motivation and commitment. Managers identified practices that work in the favour of the organisation, with less focus on employee needs. This was clear when comparing which practices and indications were mentioned by managers and employees. It is worth mentioning here that, given the relatively close conceptualisation in the literature that innovation is a form of organisational performance, this thesis does not intend to rebrand ‘performance’ as ‘innovation’ per se. This is especially in this research as it seeks to understand the relationship between HRM practices and innovation by looking at employees’ perceptions of HRM practices that may promote innovation and cause their company to be perceived as an innovative workplace. This research is probably the first attempt to study the role of a comprehensive list of HRM practices in influencing innovation by considering employees’ perceptions of HRM practices that may promote innovation. Moreover, the intra-organisational level was considered, along with departments, degree of innovativeness (radical-incremental innovation) and types of innovation approach (open vs closed).

This study explores employee welfare and working conditions in relation to ethical HRM practices from the employees’ perspective in the Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector. This research is inspired by the need to understand the challenges that employees face in their practical work settings and the unfair Human Resource Management (HRM) process that they experience in their work. The interpretivist philosophical approach and the qualitative research approach have been adopted in this research study, while the semi-structured interview method has been applied for primary-data collection. A total of 25 semi-structured interviews with General Employees, Informal Representative Leaders, Employees, Middle and Senior Managers have been undertaken in this process. Five focus-group discussions have also been applied to corroborate the data generated from the 25 semi-structured interviews. The case-study strategy has also been implemented as a research strategy and thematic analysis has been applied to the data-analysis process. The findings of this research study show the need for deeper understanding and application of ethical HRM practices in particular national and sectoral contexts, specifically in the Bangladeshi RMG sector. These ethical HRM practices include, but are not limited to, the initiation of rights-based understanding and respect-based perception, the inclusion of welfare facilities, the implementation of a fair payment policy, the equitable recruitment and selection policy, and the initiation and equality of training and development facilities. These new ethical understandings contribute to the field of ethical HRM in the context of the development of employee welfare and decent working conditions in this sector.

Adjustment of a given age distribution to a desired age distribution within a required time frame is dynamically performed for the purpose of Human Resource (HR) planning in Human Resource Management (HRM). The adjustment process is carried out by adding the adjustment magnitudes to the existing number of employees at the selected age groups on the yearly basis. A model of a discrete dynamical system is employed to emulate the evolution of the age distribution used under the adjustment process. Genetic Algorithms (GA) is applied for determining the adjustment magnitudes that influence the dynamics of the system. An interesting aspect of the problem lies in the high number of constraints; though the constraints are fundamental, they are considerably higher in number than in many other optimization problems. An adaptive penalty scheme is proposed for handling the constraints. Numerical examples show that GA with the utilized adaptive penalty scheme provides potential means for HR planning in HRM.