The Strategic Role of HR Managers in Australian Organisations - Journal of Management & Organization (JMO)

Archives

home > archives > 11/1 > The Strategic Role of HR Managers in Aus

The Strategic Role of HR Managers in Australian Organisations: Cues from organisational recruitment sources

Cathy Sheehan
Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, VIC

Anthony Scafidi
Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, VIC

Abstract

This study has used a longitudinal, quantitative design to explore the expected increase in the reference to human resource management (HRM) strategic planning roles in Australian organisations between 1993 and 2004. The research also examined which of the organisational characteristics of ownership, sector and size best predicts strategic planning roles for HR managers in 2003-04. Data was collected from the content analysis of 315 job advertisements for senior Human Resources (HR) managers published in national newspapers and on the Internet.

Results established a longitudinal increase in references to strategic HR roles and established that internationally-owned, larger, and public sector organisations placed greater emphasis on promoting strategic roles for HR managers. The strongest predictor of a strategic planning role however was the sector in which the organisation was placed. Specifically, in the public sector HR managers at the most senior level were given the same strategic role as counterparts in the private sector but HR managers at the next level down were significantly less likely that HR managers at the same level in the private sector to be given strategic roles.

These findings have implications for the training and development opportunities for HR managers working in the public sector.

Toggle references

References

ANZ (2004) ANZ Job Advertisement Series July 5. http://www.anz.com.au/. Accessed Sep 20 2004.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1997-98) Small and medium enterprises 8141.0, Canberra: ABS.

Baird L and Meshoulam I (1988) Managing two fits of strategic human resource management. Academy of Management Review 13(l): 116-128.

Barney JB and Wright PM (1998) On becoming a strategic partner: the role of human resources in gaining competitive advantage. Human Resource Management 37(1): 31-46.

Becker B and Gerhart B (1996) The impact of human resource management on organisational performance: progress and prospects. Academy of Management Journal 39(4): 779-801.

Beer M (1997) The transformation of the human resource function: Resolving the tension between a traditional administrative and a new strategic role. Human Resource Management 36(1): 49-56.

Beer M, Spector B, Lawrence PR, Quinn Mills D and Walton RE (1984) Managing human assets. New York: Free Press.

Boxall P (1995) The challenge of human resource management: Directions and Debates in New Zealand. Auckland: Longman Paul.

Brewster C (1995) HRM: The European dimension. In J Storey (ed) Human resource management: A critical text 309-331 London: Routledge.

Budhwar PS (2000) Evaluating levels of strategic integration and devolvement of human resource management in the UK. Personnel Review 29(2): 141-161.

Buller PF and Napier NK (1993) Strategy and human resource management integration in fast growth versus other mid-sized firms. British Journal of Management 4(2):77-90.

Cleland J, Pajo K and Toulson P (2000) Have it or lose it: An examination of the evolving role of the human resource professional in New Zealand. International Journal of Human Resource Management 11(l): 143-160.

Colling T and Ferner A (1992) The limits of autonomy: Devolution, line managers and industrial relations in privatized companies. Journal of Management Studies 29(2): 207-227.

Collins R (1987) The strategic contributions of the human resource function. Human Resource Management Australia November 5-19.

Deery S and Purcell J (1989) Strategic choices in industrial relations management in large organisations. Journal of Industrial Relations 31: 459-477.

Delery JE and Doty DH (1996) Theoretical frameworks in strategic human resource management: Universalistic contingency and configurational perspectives. Academy of Management Journal 39(4): 802-835.

Delery JE and Shaw JD (2001) The Strategic Management of People in Work Organisations: Review, synthesis and extension. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management 20: 16-5-197.

Devanna M, Fombrun C & Tichy N (1984) A framework for strategic human resource management. In C Fombrun, N Tichy & N Devanna (eds) Strategic human resource management, New York: John Wiley & Sons.

DiMaggio P and Powell W (1983) The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organisational fields, American Sociological Review 48: 147-60.

Dowling PJ and Boxall PF (1994) Shifting the emphasis from natural resources to human resources: the challenge of the new competitive context in Australia and New Zealand. Zeitschrift fur Personalforschung 8: 302-316.

Dowling PJ and Schuler R (1990) Human Resource Management. In R Blanpain (ed) Comparative labour law & industrial relations in industrialised market economies, 125-149. Boston: Kluwer Law and Taxation Publishers.

Dunphy D (1987) The historical development of human resource management in Australia. Human Resource Management Australia 25: 40-47.

Dyer L (1984) Studying human resource strategy: An approach and an agenda. Industrial Relations 23(2): 156-169.

Dyer L (1999) Training human resource champions for the twenty-first century. Human Resource Management 38(2): 119-124.

Dyer L and Holder G (1988) A strategic perspective of human resource management. In L Dyer & G Holder (eds) Human resource management: Evolving roles and responsibilities, 1-1 - 1-46. Washington: The Bureau of National Affairs.

Dyer L and Kochan T (1995) Is there a new HRM? Contemporary evidence and future directions. In B Downie & M Coates (eds) Managing human resources in the 1990s and beyond, 132-163. Ontario: IRC Press.

Evans P (1994) Business strategy & human resource management: A four stage framework. Working paper, Fountainebleau: INSEAD.

Farnham D and Horton S (1992) Human resources management in the new public sector: Leading or following private employer practice? Public Policy and Administration 7(3): 42-55.

Fisher C, Dowling PJ and Garnham J (1999) The impact of changes to the human resources functions in Australia. International Journal of Human Resource Management 10(3):501-514.

Galang MC (1999) Stakeholders in high-performance work systems. International Journal of Human Resources Management 10(2): 287-305.

Gennard J and Kelly J (1994) Human resource management: The views of personnel directors. Human Resource Management Journal 5:15-32.

Gennard J and Kelly J (1997) The unimportance of labels: The diffusion of the personnel/HRM function. Industrial Relations Journal 28(1): 27-41.

Gray G (1999) New Zealand HRD practitioner competencies: Application of the ASTD competency model. International Journal of Human Resource Management 10(6): 1046-1059.

Guest D (1989) Human resource management: Its implications for industrial relations and trade unions. In J Storey (ed) New perspectives on human resource management, 41-55. London: Routledge.

Hendry C and Pettigrew A (1990) Human resource management: An agenda for the 1990s. International Journal of Human Resource Management 1(1): 17-43.

Hope-Hailey V, Gratton L, McGovern P, Stiles P and Truss C (1997) A chameleon function? HRM in the '90s. Human Resource Management Journal 7(3): 5-18.

Huselid MA (1995) The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal 28(3): 635-672.

Jackson SE and Schuler RS (1995) Understanding human resource management in the context of organisations and their environment. In MR Rosenzweig & LW Porter (eds) Annual review of psychology, 237-264. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.

Kamoche K (1992) Human resource management: An assessment of the Kenyan case. International Journal of Human Resource Management 3: 579-521.

Kane B and Palmer I (1995) Strategic HRM or managing the employment relationship? International Journal of Manpower 16(5&6): 6-21.

Kearney RC and Hayes SW (1998) Reinventing government, the new public management and civil service systems in international perspective: the danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Review of Public Personnel Administration 18(4): 38-54.

Khatri N and Budhwar PS (2002) A study of strategic HR issues in an Asian context. Personnel Review 31(1/2): 116-189.

Kochan TA and Dyer L (2001) HRM: An American view. In J Storey (ed) Human resource management, 272-287. London: Thomson Learning.

Kotey B and Sheridan A (2001) Gender and the practice of HRM in small business. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 39(3): 23-40.

Lado AA and Wilson MC (1994) Human resource systems and sustained competitive advantage: A competency-based perspective. Academy of Management Review 19(4): 699-727.

Langbert M (2000) Professors, managers and human resource education. Human Resource Management 39(1): 65-78.

Lawler E (1995) Strategic human resource management: An idea whose time has come. In B Downie & M Coates (eds) Managing human resources in the 1990s and beyond, 4670. Ontario: IRC Press.

Legge K (1995) Human resource management: Rhetorics and reality. London: Macmillan Press Ltd.

Lengnick-Hall CA and Lengnick-Hall ML (1988) Strategic human resource management: A review of the literature and a proposed typology. Academy of Management Review 13(3): 454-470.

Li J (2003) Strategic human resource management and MNE's performance in China. International Journal of Human Resource Management 14(2): 157-173.

Lundy O (1994) From personnel management to strategic human resource management. International Journal of Human Resource Management 5(3): 687-720.

Lupton B and Shaw S (2001) Are public sector personnel managers the profession's poor relations? Human Resource Management Journal 11(3): 23-38.

Marginson P, Armstrong P, Edwards P, Purcell J and Hubbard N (1993) The control of industrial relations in large companies: An initial analysis of the second company level industrial relations survey. Warwick: Industrial Relations Research Unit.

Martell K and Carroll SJ (1995) How strategic is HRM? Human Resource Management 34(2): 253-67.

McConville T and Holden L (1999) The filling in the sandwich: HRM & middle managers in the health sector. Personnel Review 28: 406-424.

Michelson G and Kramar R (2003) The state of HRM in Australia: Progress and prospects. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 41(2): 133-148.

Miles RE and Snow CC (1984) Designing strategic human resource systems. Organisational Dynamics Summer 36-52.

Miller EL and Burack EH (1981) A status report of HR planning from the perspective of HR planners. Human Resource Planning 4(2): 33-40.

Miller P (1987) Strategic industrial relations & human resource management: Distinction, definitions & recognition. Journal of Management Studies 24(4): 347-361.

Mossholder KW, Setton RP, Harris SG and Armenakis AA (1995) Measuring emotion in open-ended survey responses: An application of textual data analysis. Journal of Management 21: 335-355.

Meyer J and Rowan B (1977) Institutionalized organisations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony, American Journal of Sociology 83: 340-63.

Nagelkerke NJD (1991) A note on a general definition of the coefficient of determination. Biometrika 78(3): 691-692.

Nankervis A, Compton R and Savery L (2002) Strategic HRM in small and medium enterprises: A CEOs perspective? Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 40(2): 260-273.

Neuman WL (2000) Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches, 4^th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Nininger JR (1980) Human resources and strategic planning: A vital link. Optimum 11(4):3346.

Pallister J and Isaacs A (2002) Oxford dictionary of business. New York: Oxford University Press.

Poole E & Jenkins G (1997) Responsibilities for human resource management practices in the modern enterprise: Evidence from Britain. Personnel Review 26(5): 333-356.

Powell WW and DiMaggio PJ (eds) (1991) The new institutionalism in organisational analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Purcell J and Ahlstrand B (1994) Management in the multi-divisional company. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ritson N (1999) Corporate strategy and the role of HRM: Critical cases in oil and chemicals. Employee Relations 21(2): 159-175.

Robertson I (1994) The impact of strategic management: Principles of public sector human resource management. Unpublished Master of Public Administration dissertation, Department of Government, University of Queensland.

Sarantakos S (1998) Social research, 2^nd ed. South Yarra: MacMillan Education Australia.

Schuler RS (1991) Repositioning the human resource function: Transformation or demise? Academy of Management Executive 4(3): 4960.

Schuler RS (1992) Strategic human resource management: Linking the people with the strategic needs of the business. Organisational Dynamics 21(1): 18-32.

Schuler RS and Jackson SE (1987) Linking competitive strategies with human resource management practices. Academy of Management Executive 1(3): 207-219.

Schuler RS and MacMillan IC (1984) Gaining competitive advantage through human resource practices. Human Resource Management 23: 241-255.

Scott R (1987) The adolescence of institutional theory, Administrative Science Quarterly 32: 493-511.

Sheehan C (2005) A model of HR change. Personnel Review 34(2): 192-209.

Sheehan C, Holland P and Dowling P (2002) Human resource management, employee relations. In J Teicher, P Holland & R Gough (eds) Employee Relations Management, 89-109. French's Forest: Prentice Hall.

Shipton J and McAuley J (1993) Issues of power and marginality in personnel. Human Resource Management Journal 1: 1-13.

Sisson K (1995) Human resource management and the personnel function. In J Storey (ed) Human Resource Management: a Critical Text, 87-109. London: Routledge.

Sisson K (2001) Human resource management and the personnel function: a case of partial impact? In J Storey (ed) Human resource management - A critical text. London: Thomson Learning.

Sommer B and Sommer R (1991) A practical guide to behavioural research: Tools & techniques. New York: Oxford University Press.

Stewart TA (1996) Human resources bites back, Fortune May, 175.

Storey J (2001) Human resource management today: An assessment. In J Storey (ed) Human resource management, 3-20. London: Thomson Learning.

Storey J (1995) Human resource management: A critical text. London: Routledge.

Tabachnick BG and Fidell LS (1996) Using multivariate statistics, 3^rd ed. New York: HarperCollins.

Teo STT (2002) Effectiveness of a corporate HR department in an Australian public sector entity during commercialization and corporatization. International Journal of Human Resource Management 13(1): 89-105.

Teo S (2000) Evidence of strategic HRM linkages in eleven Australian corporatized public sector organisations. Public Personnel Management 29(4): 557 - 574.

Tichy NM, Fombrun CJ and Devanna M (1982) Strategic human resources management. Sloan Management Review Winter: 47-60.

Tharenou P (2000) Book of readings. Melbourne: Monash University.

Todd PA, McKeen JD and Gallupe RB (1995) The evolution of IS job skills: A content analysis of IS job advertisements from 1970 to 1990. MIS Quarterly 19(1): 1-27.

Tompkins J (2002) Strategic human resources management in government: Unresolved issues. Public Personnel Management 31(1): 95-110.

Torrington D and Hall L (1998) Human resource management. London: Prentice Hall.

Tyson S and Fell A (1992) Evaluating the personnel function, 2^nd ed. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes.

Ulrich D (1997) Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Walsh J (2001) Human resource management in foreign-owned workplaces: Evidence from Australia. International Journal of Human Resource Management 12(3): 425-444.

Whipp R (1992) Human resource management, competition and strategy: some productive tensions. In P Blyton & P Turnbull (eds) Reassessing human resource management: 33-55. London: Sage Publication.

Wiesner R and McDonald J (2001) Bleak house or bright prospect?: Human management in Australian SMEs. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 39(2): 31-53.

Wright C (1995) Australian studies in labour relations. The management of labour: A history of Australian employers. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Wright PM, Dunford B and Snell B (2001) Human resource and the resource based view of the firm. Journal of Management 27(6): 701-712.

Wright PM & McMahan G (1992) Theoretical perspectives for strategic human resource management. Journal of Management 18(2): 295-320.

Wright PM, McMahan GC and McWilliams A (1994) Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: A resource-based perspective. International Journal of Human Resource Management 5(2): 301-326.

Wright PM and Snell SA (1998) Towards a unifying framework for explaining fit and flexibility in strategic human resource management. Academy of Management Review 10(4): 756772.

Navigate: Archives | Contents | Top of page