1,721,023 research outputs found
The limits of HRM in a new era of work: Bezonomics and the Amazon Effect
No full textThere can be little doubt that the risk and fluctuation of demand taken on
by employers has been increasingly passed onto employees. We are witnessing a fragmented contract of rules largely determined by employers, for employers. Here the conventional form of employment relations is nonunionism and the management of employees through Human Resource Management (HRM). This chapter critically reviews the underlying assumptions underpinning the rise of HRM, not least its unitarist undercurrent, narrow emphasis on performance and limited incorporation of multiple stakeholders. The chapter then uses Amazon as an exemplary case to illuminate these dynamics in practice and to offer a critical review of what constitutes a meaningful and successful organisation in this new era of work. The chapter concludes by detailing prospects for redress and institutional experimentation, including via technological platforms
Italy: Human Resource Management in Italian family-owned SMEs: sustaining the competitive advantage through B Corp transformation
No full textRomano Lana is a 50-year-old family-owned medium enterprise located in Tuscany (Italy). Notwithstanding its robust financial performance, Romano Lana is struggling to maintain its competitive advantage. Linda, one of the owner’s children appointed as HR manager in the company, is convinced that getting benefit corporation (B Corp) certification will support the transformation needed to become more attractive to skilled employees, much needed to embrace the change required by the increasing competition. However, Linda needs to win the resistance of her father Cecco who strongly believes in the positive aspects of being a family firm (flexibility, reactiveness, cohesiveness) and is convinced that any kind of certification would include bureaucracy and (worthless) procedures
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Determinants of human resource management practices in Saudi SMEs: a case study approach
Get PDFThere is a rising awareness of the importance of small and medium enterprises in enhancing national economies. Small firms have to rely more on their key people, but yet experience notable difficulties with HRM. The role of HRM is crucial for these businesses in developing and sustaining their performance. However, understanding is not aided by the reality that most HRM studies are conducted in large and multinational organisations. Moreover, HRM studies within SMEs context, though infrequent, are conducted in western developed countries. Addressing these deficiencies, this research explores HRM practices in the context of Saudi SMEs where there is a growing recognition of the importance of entrepreneurship in accelerating the pace of its major economic reforms. The study aims to find what and how HRM practices are adopted and also to identify the main factors affecting the adoption of these practices. It utilises a multiple case-study approach using semi-structured interviews as a tool for data collection
This research contributes to the knowledge gap by mapping the extant literature through a systematic literature review of HRM in SMEs. It also increases our understanding of the process of managing people within small firms in a less known context (Saudi Arabia). Although many previous studies indicated the heterogeneity of HRM practices across SMEs, this study identifies heterogeneity of HRM practices even within SMEs. In addition, the unitary approach was challenged in this research by finding inconsistency in the HRM practices as reported by owner-managers and employees. This thesis also draws the attention to the significance of the psychological attributes of the owner-manager and their influence on shaping HRM in SMEs, including owner-manager passion. Theoretically, this study adds to institutional theory by combining its constructs with the strategic choice theory as a helpful framework to study HRM practices within SMEs in the Saudi context. Specifically, rather than merely offering a holistic approach, it explores and categorises the differing responses to the institutional context taken by the case study SMEs, thereby highlighting the role and significance of owner-manager agenc
Exploring the HRM process: a small firm perspective
Get PDFGiven their economic and social importance, it is surprising that we still know very little about HRM in small firms. Traditional prescriptive and content based searches for a bundle of generalizable practices is less relevant for small firms given their particularistic complexities and resource constraints. Recent evidence calls for more attention to be paid to the process perspective representing the implementation/conversion/enactment process of HRM and how it influences performance. This research follows a process perspective using the Bowen and Ostroff framework (2004) to animate and afford a better understanding of how HRM is applied and rendered effective in the small firm setting.
Empirically the research involves two in-depth multi-level case studies of award-winning, knowledge-intensive, small firms. The method responds to previous research limitations and enables a more comprehensive higher-level assessment and contextualization of HRM in a smaller firm setting, including taking a simultaneous look at both content and process. Findings from 57 interviews and engagement with both organisations support the primary claims of the framework; distinctiveness, consistency and consensus features are influential in transferring the HR message to staff, whether intended or not. This is significant given that high skilled service-based staff (knowledge workers) have greater discretion over the delivery of the service. Findings suggest that process features have the potential to complement, reinforce and compensate for content (HR practices). Of particular relevance to small firms, the case evidence suggests that consistency and consensus may compensate for a lack of ‘fit’ and sophistication of practices, thus shedding more light on the utility of the proposed framework, the process perspective and its potential value for smaller firms. In advancing the understanding, the critical role of leadership, the context in the form of various financial pressures and employee scope to negotiate, coupled with the dynamic nature of formality/informality emerge as key themes hitherto underexplored in process research.
The implications for management practice are that a strong system supports managements’ ability to close the gap between intention and implementation. Ultimately process does matter (Ostroff & Bowen, 2016), by influencing the conversion process, it illuminates how HR operates in the small firm context
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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