Exploring human capital putting human back into strategic human resource management.docx
- 文档编号:27888214
- 上传时间:2023-07-06
- 格式:DOCX
- 页数:34
- 大小:30.57KB
Exploring human capital putting human back into strategic human resource management.docx
《Exploring human capital putting human back into strategic human resource management.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《Exploring human capital putting human back into strategic human resource management.docx(34页珍藏版)》请在冰豆网上搜索。
Exploringhumancapitalputtinghumanbackintostrategichumanresourcemanagement
Exploringhumancapital:
puttinghumanbackinto
strategichumanresourcemanagement
PatrickM.Wright,CornellUniversity
GaryC.McMahan,UniversityofTexasatArlington
HumanResourceManagementJournal,Vol21,no2,2011,pages93–104
Thefieldofstrategichumanresourcemanagementhasseeminglyrediscoveredhumancapitalwith
increasingresearchfocusedonhumancapitalasamediatorintherelationshipbetweenHRpracticesand
performance.Inthispaperwereviewhumancapitaldefinitionsandmeasurementapproacheswithinthis
literature.Wethenidentifysomeoftheissuesemergingwithhumancapitalresearch.Finally,wepropose
somefuturedirectionsforresearchonhumancapitalinorganisations.
Contact:
PatrickM.Wright,SchoolofILR,388IvesHall,CornellUniversity,Ithaca,NY
14853-3901,USA.Email:
patrick.wright@cornell.eduhrmj_16593..104
INTRODUCTION
A
sthebusinessenvironmentbecomesmorecompetitive,firms’humanresources(HRs)
becomemoreimportanttofirmsuccess.WrightandMcMahan(1992)definedstrategic
humanresourcemanagement(HRM)as‘thepatternofplannedhumanresource
deploymentsandactivitiesintendedtoenablethefirmtoachieveitsgoals’(p.298).Theystated
thatthedomainofstrategicHRMconsistedof‘thedeterminantsofdecisionsaboutHR
practices,thecompositionofhumancapitalresourcepool,thespecificationoftherequired
humanresourcebehaviours,andtheeffectivenessofthesedecisionsgivenvariousbusiness
strategiesand/orcompetitivesituations’(p.298).
Whilethisearlydefinitionhighlightedthehumancapitalorpeople,strategicHRMresearch
quicklyshiftedtofocusonthepracticesthatimpactedthehumancapitalratherthanthehuman
capitalitself.FollowingthepublicationofHuselid’s(1995)seminalstudyshowinganempirical
relationshipbetweenHRpracticeshetermeda‘HighPerformanceWorkSystem’(HPWS)and
corporatefinancialperformance,awaveofsimilarstudiesacrossavarietyofcontexts,
geographiesandindustriesquicklyarose,eachfocusingontherelationshipbetweenHR
practicesandperformance.Thisgrowingbodyofresearchhasdemonstratedaconsistent
relationshipbetweenHRpracticesandfirmperformance(Combsetal.,2006).However,this
seeminglyrobustrelationshiphaslednumerousauthorstocallforabetterunderstandingof
the‘blackbox’betweenHRpracticesandperformance,i.e.explanationsofthemediating
mechanismsthroughwhichHRpracticesmaydriveperformance.Inessence,thisstreamof
researchalmostseemsanunnecessarydetourfromandcallsforareturntoafocusonthe
humancapital.
Ironically,whiletheHRliteraturefocusedonHRpracticestothedetrimentofhumancapital,
thestrategyliteratureseeminglydiscoveredhumancapital.Sincethelate1990s,withthe
publicationofMcKinsey’s‘WarforTalent’research,chiefexecutiveofficers(CEOs)have
increasinglyemphasisedtheneedfortheirfirmstoeffectivelyattract,motivate,developand
retaintalent.Correspondingly,anumberofstrategyresearchershavebeguntoaddressthe
relationshipbetweenafirm’shumancapitalanditsperformance(e.g.Hittetal.,2001).Inother
words,strategyresearchershavefocusedontheresourcethatmayprovidecompetitive
doi:
10.1111/j.1748-8583.2010.00165.x
HUMANRESOURCEMANAGEMENTJOURNAL,VOL21NO2,201193
©2011BlackwellPublishingLtd.
Pleasecitethisarticleinpressas:
Wright,P.M.andMcMahan,G.C.(2011)‘Exploringhumancapital:
puttinghumanbackintostrategichuman
resourcemanagement’.HumanResourceManagementJournal21:
2,93–104.advantage,buthaveprovidedlittleinsightintohowthatresourcemaybeacquiredand
developed.
StrategicHRMresearchers’almostexclusivefocusonthepracticesthatcanacquireand
developthehumancapitalresourcehasresultedintheirlargelyignoringtheresourceitself.If
strategicHRMresearcherscontinuetofocussolelyonHRpractices,strategyresearcherswillfill
thevoidregardingtheroleofhumancapitalincompetitiveadvantage.Thepurposeofthis
articleistoprovidestrategicHRMresearcherswithamoredetailedanalysisofthefirm’s
‘humancapital’andtodevelopamoredetailedcontextualdescriptionofthisconstructinorder
toprovideastrongconceptualfoundationforfuturestrategicHRMresearchthatfocusesonthe
resourcethatcanprovidecompetitiveadvantageratherthanthetoolsandtechniquesusedto
buildthatresource.
DEFINITIONSOFHUMANCAPITAL
Theconceptofhumancapitalhasitsoriginsintheeconomicliterature.Becker(1964)defined
humancapitalas‘...theknowledge,information,ideas,skills,andhealthofindividuals’
(Becker,2002:
1).Comparinghumancapitaltofinancialorphysicalcapital,henotesthatallare
formsofcapitalinthesensethattheyareassetsthatyieldincomeandotherusefuloutputsover
longperiodsoftime.Ontheotherhand,theuniquenessofhumancapitalstemsfromthefact
thatpeoplecannotbeseparatedfromtheirknowledge,skills,healthorvaluesinthewaythey
canbeseparatedfromtheirfinancialandphysicalassets(Becker,2008).
Whiletheeconomicviewdefineshumancapitalintermsofknowledge,skills,etc.,themajor
focuswithinthisliteratureisonhowindividualsmakechoicesregardinginvestmentsintheir
humancapital,suchasthechoicetoreceivetraining,gainacollegeeducation,orbegina
physicalworkoutregimen.AsBeckernoted,‘Humancapitalanalysisstartswiththe
assumptionthatindividualsdecideontheireducation,training,medicalcare,andother
additionstoknowledgeandhealthbyweighingthebenefitsandcosts’(Becker,1996:
9–10).
Psychologists,ontheotherhand,haveapproachedtheconceptofhumancapitalfroman
entirelydifferentperspective.Steepedintheindividualdifferencesliterature(Spearman,1927),
theyhavetendedtoequatehumancapitalwiththeknowledge,skills,abilitiesandother
characteristicsofindividuals(PloyhartandMoliterno,2011).Inaddition,ratherthanusing
roughproxiessuchaseducation,psychologistshavedevelopedpsychometricallysound
assessmentsofthesecharacteristicsofindividuals.Forinstance,atremendousliteraturehas
developedaroundtheassessmentofcognitiveabilityanditsrelationshipwithvariousaspects
ofjobperformance(Wrightetal.,1995;Gottfredson,1997;Jensen,1998;SchmidtandHunter,
1998).Inaddition,ratherthanfocusontheindividual’schoicetodevelopaspectsofhis/her
humancapital,psychologistshavefrequentlyexaminedthetechniquesorganisationsimposeon
people(i.e.theHRpracticessuchastraining,performancefeedback,etc.)throughwhichhuman
capitalisdevelopedinindividuals(FordandFisher,1997;BellandKozlowski,2008).
Whilethesedefinitionshavefocusedontheindividuallevelconcerninghumancapital,the
constructhasalsoreceivedfocusasaunit-level(team,organisationorevencountry)construct.
Theeconomicapproachtohumancapitalbeginswithindividualsbutdoesnotlimititselfto
individualanalysis.Rather,thewholeapproachprovidesamicrofoundationforexploringa
moremacrosetofphenomena.Beckernotes,‘Whiletheeconomicapproachtobehaviorbuilds
onatheoryofindividualchoice,itisnotmainlyconcernedwithindividuals.Itusestheoryat
themicrolevelasapowerfultooltoderiveimplicationsatthegroupormacrolevel.Rational
individualchoiceiscombinedwithassumptionsabouttechnologiesandotherdeterminantsof
opportunities,equilibriuminmarketandnonmarketsituations,andlaws,norms,andtraditions
Exploringhumancapital
94HUMANRESOURCEMANAGEMENTJOURNAL,VOL21NO2,2011
©2011BlackwellPublishingLtd.toobtainresultsconcerningthebehaviorofgroups’(Becker,1996:
22).Consequently,muchof
theeconomicattentiontohumancapitalhasexploredhowaggregatehumancapital(education
oftheworkforce)impactscountryproductivityandeconomicsuccess(Becker,1996).
Thus,attheindividuallevel,humancapitalconsistsofthecharacteristicspossessedbyan
individualthatcanyieldpositiveoutcomesforthatindividualwhileattheunitlevel,human
capitalcanrefertotheaggregateaccumulationofindividualhumancapitalthatcanbe
combinedinawaythatcreatesvaluefortheunit.Therelativeambiguityofthislatterdefinition
leadstoanumberofproblematicissuesarisingasonemovesthehumancapitalconstructor
measuretotheunitlevel,andwewilladdresssomeoftheseissuesbelow.
MEASUREMENTOFHUMANCAPITALINSTRATEGICHRM
Becausehumancapitaliscriticaltoorganisationalsuccess,researchinthisarearequiresreliable
andvalidmeasuresoftheconstruct.However,thereislittleconsistencyinthewayswehave
attemptedtomeasurehumancapitalinstrategicHRM.Threemajortypesofmeasurement
emergewhenfocusingonthestrategicHRMliteratureacrosstheindividual,unitandfirmlevel
ofanalysis.Thesetypesofmeasurementsincludesubjective,proxiesanddirectassessment
measures.
Subjectivemeasures
SubjectivemeasuresofhumancapitalseemtodominatethestrategicHRMliterature.Inthe
relativelyfewstudiesconductedthatevenincludethetermhumancapital,orforthatmatter,
factorinhumancapitalaspartoftheresearcher’smodel,thedataarecapturedprimarilyby
singlerespondents.Previousresearchhasemployedscalesmadeupofasmallnumberof
generalitemsandtherespondentisdefinedastheCEOoraunitmanager,andinveryfew
studies,morethanonememberofthefirm.Forexample,CarmeliandSchaubroeck(2005)
measuredhumancapitalbyhavingtheCEOoratopmanagerateachorganisationinthestudy
assesstheorganisation’sperc
- 配套讲稿:
如PPT文件的首页显示word图标,表示该PPT已包含配套word讲稿。双击word图标可打开word文档。
- 特殊限制:
部分文档作品中含有的国旗、国徽等图片,仅作为作品整体效果示例展示,禁止商用。设计者仅对作品中独创性部分享有著作权。
- 关 键 词:
- Exploring human capital putting back into strategic resource management
链接地址:https://www.bdocx.com/doc/27888214.html