Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:56:45.255Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The mental models of HR professionals as strategic partners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Chester S Labedz  and
Jegoo Lee
Chester S Labedz
Affiliation:
Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, USA
Jegoo Lee
Affiliation:
College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper, we elicited and examined mental models of human resource professionals, regarding the interrelationships of important elements in shaping competitive strategy, for consensus or systematic variation, testing for HR's distinctive contribution at the strategy table. In order to examine their mental models, we collected empirical data from a stratified non-probability respondent sample of HR professionals in three stages: semi-structured informant interviews; free list and rank ordering tasks; and drawing exercises. Performing consensus analysis of respondents' mental models, we found that: First, as a group, HR professionals lack a robust, integrated HR strategic perspective; second, consensus views of labor relations practitioners and business unit generalists emerge as most distinctive and most people-focused. As one of few scholarly empirical examinations of HR practitioners' mental models on their view as strategic partners, this study challenges the normative calls among scholars and professional organizations for HR's participation in strategy formulation.

Keywords

human resource practitionersstrategic managementoccupational culturemanagerial cognitionmental modelscause mappingconsensus analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 56 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, H. E., & Pfeffer, J. (1976). Environments of organizations. Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 79–105.Google Scholar
Axelrod, R. (Ed.). (1976). Structure of decision: The cognitive maps of political elites. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Beatty, R. W., & Schneier, C. E. (1997). New HR roles to impact organizational performance: From ‘partners’ to ‘players’. Human Resource Management, 36(1), 29–37.Google Scholar
Becker, B. E., & Gerhart, B. (1996). The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: Progress and prospects. Academy of Management Journal, 39(4), 779–801.Google Scholar
Becker, B. E., Huselid, M. A., Pickus, P. S., & Spratt, M. F. (1997). HR as a source of shareholder value: Research and recommendations. Human Resource Management, 36(1), 39–47.Google Scholar
Becker, B. E., Huselid, M. A., & Ulrich, D. (2001). The HR scorecard: Linking people strategy and performance. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Betcherman, G., McMullen, K., Leckie, N., & Caron, C. (1994). The Canadian workplace in transition. Kingston, Ontario: Industrial Relations Centre Press Queen's University.Google Scholar
Bougon, M. G., & Komocar, J. M. (1990). Directing strategic change: A dynamic wholistic approach. In Huff, A. S. (Ed.), Mapping strategic thought (pp. 135–163). Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2000). Strategic human resource management: Where have we come from and where should we be going? International Journal of Management Reviews, 2, 183–203.Google Scholar
Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2003). Strategy and human resource management. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Burrows, D. M. (1996). Increase HR's contributions to profits. HR Magazine, 41(9), 103–107.Google Scholar
Chandler, J. A. (1996). Strategy and structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chattopadhyay, P., Glick, W. H., Miller, C. C., & Huber, G. P. (1999). Determinants of executive beliefs: Comparing functional conditioning and social influence, Strategic Management Journal, 20(8), 763–789.Google Scholar
Clawson, D., & Clawson, M. A. (1999). What has happened to the U.S. labor movement? Union decline and renewal. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 95–119.Google Scholar
Dearborn, D. C., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Selective perception – a note on the departmental identifications of executives. Sociometry, 21(2), 140–144.Google Scholar
DeCieri, H., & Dowling, P. (1999). Strategic human resource management in multinational enterprises: Theoretical and empirical developments. In Wright, P., Dyer, L., Boudreau, J., & Milkovich, G. (Eds.), Research in personnel and human resource management (Supplement 4: Strategic human resources management in the twenty-first century). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Dutton, J. E., & Ashford, S. J. (1993). Selling issues to top management. Academy of Management Review, 18(3), 397–428.Google Scholar
Dutton, J. E., & Dukerich, J. M. (1991). Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal, 34(3), 517–554.Google Scholar
Eden, C., Ackermann, F., & Cropper, S. (1992). The analysis of cause maps. Journal of Management Studies, 29(3), 309–324.Google Scholar
Fogg, C. D. (1994). Team-based strategic planning: A complete guide to structuring facilitating and implementing the process. New York: American Management Association.Google Scholar
Galpin, T. J., & Murray, P. (1997). Connect human resource strategy to the business plan. HR Magazine, 42(3), 99–104.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. (1985). The mind's new science. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gregory, K. (1983). Native view paradigms: Multiple cultures and culture conflicts in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 359–376.Google Scholar
Hansen, C. D. (1995). Occupational cultures: Whose frame are we using? The Journal for Quality and Participation, 18(3), 60–64.Google Scholar
Hodgkinson, G., Maule, A., & Bown, N. (2004). Causal cognitive mapping in the organizational strategy field: A comparison of alternative elicitation procedures. Organizational Research Methods, 7(1), 3–26.Google Scholar
Hodgkinson, G. P. (2002). Comparing managers' mental models of competition: Why self-report measures of belief similarity won't do. Organization Studies, 23(1), 63–72.Google Scholar
Huff, A. S. (Ed.). (1990). Mapping strategic thought. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Jackson, S. E., & Schuler, R. S. (1999). Understanding human resource management in the context of organizations and their environments. In Schuler, R. S. & Jackson, S. E. (Eds.), Strategic human resource management (pp. 4–28). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Jacoby, S. M. (2003). A century of human resource management. In Kaufman, B. E., Beaumont, R. A., & Helfgott, R. B. (Eds.), Industrial relations to human resources and beyond (pp. 147–171). Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe.Google Scholar
Kochan, T. (2004). Restoring trust in the human resource management profession. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 42, 132–146.Google Scholar
Kochan, T., & Dyer, L. (1993). Managing transformational change: The role of human resource professionals. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 4(3), 569–590.Google Scholar
Kulik, C. T., & Bainbridge, H. T. J. (2006). HR and the line: The distribution of HR activities in Australian organisations. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 44(2), 240–256.Google Scholar
Kulik, C. T., & Perry, E. L. (2008). When less is more: The effect of devolution on HR's strategic role and construed image. Human Resource Management, 47(3), 541–558.Google Scholar
Labedz, C., & Stalker, G. (2005). Addressing methodological issues in simulating a human resources problem across multiple levels of interest. System Dynamics Society 2005 Conference Proceedings, Boston.Google Scholar
Langan-Fox, J., & Langfield-Smith, K. (2000). Team mental models: Techniques methods and analytic approaches. Human Factors, 42(2), 242–271.Google Scholar
Langan-Fox, J., Wirth, A., Code, S., & Langfield-Smith, K. (2001). Analyzing shared and team mental models. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 28(2), 99–112.Google Scholar
Lansbury, R. D., & Baird, M. (2004). Broadening the horizons of HRM: Lessons for Australia from the U.S. experience. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 42(2), 147–155.Google Scholar
Laukannen, M. (1992). Comparative cause mapping of management cognitions: A computer database method for natural data. Helsinki, Finland: Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration Publications.Google Scholar
Lengnick-Hall, C. A., & Lengnick-Hall, M. L. (1999). Strategic human resources management: A review of the literature and a proposed typology. In Jackson, S. E. & Schuler, R. S. (Eds.), Strategic human resource management (pp. 29–48). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Louis, M. (1985). An investigator's guide to workplace culture. In Frost, P., Moore, L., Louis, M., Lundberg, C., & Martin, J. (Eds.), Organizational culture (pp. 73–94). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Lundy, O. (1994). From personnel management to strategic human resource management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(3), 687–720.Google Scholar
Machin, S. (2000). Union decline in Britain. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38(4), 631–645.Google Scholar
Markoczy, L., & Goldberg, J. (1995). A method for eliciting and comparing causal maps. Journal of Management, 21(2), 305–334.Google Scholar
Martin, J. (2002). Organizational culture: Mapping the terrain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
McDonald, D. (Ed.). (2001). HR: Earning its place at the table. WorldatWork Journal, 10(1), 56–62.Google Scholar
Meyerson, D., & Martin, J. (1987). Cultural change: An integration of three different views. Journal of Management Studies, 24(6), 623–647.Google Scholar
NLRA or National Labor Relations Act. U.S. (1935). 29 U.S.C. § 158.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, F. (2005). Twilight of the idols. In Ridley, A. & Norman, J. (Eds.), The anti-Christ ecce homo and twilight of the idols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. (1994). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin.Google Scholar
Olson, J. R., & Biolski, K. J. (1991). Techniques for representing expert knowledge In Ericsson, K. A. & Smith, J. (Eds.), Toward a general theory of expertise: Prospects and limits (pp. 240–285). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pfau, B. N., & Kay, I. T. (2002). The human capital edge: 21 people management practices your company must implement (or avoid) to maximize shareholder value. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J. (2005). Changing mental models: HR's most important task. Human Resource Management, 44(2), 123–128.Google Scholar
Purcell, J., & Ahlstrand, B. (1994). Human resource management in the multidivisional company. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rynes, S. L. (2004). Editor's choice: Where do we go from here? Imagining new roles for human resources. Journal of Management Inquiry, 13(3), 203–213.Google Scholar
Rynes, S. L. (2007). Editor's foreword: Tackling the great divide between research production and dissemination in human resource management. Academy of Management Journal, 50(5), 985–986.Google Scholar
Schuler, R. S. (2001). HR issues in international joint ventures. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12, 1–50.Google Scholar
Schuler, R. S., & Jackson, S. E. (2001). HR issues and activities in mergers and acquisitions. European Management Journal, 19, 59–75.Google Scholar
Schutt, R. K. (1999). Investigating the social world (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.Google Scholar
Scott, W. R. (1998). Organizations: Rational natural and open systems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Seitz, S. T. (2000). Virtual organizations. In Ilgen, D. R. & Hulin, C. L. (Eds.), Computational modeling of behavior in organizations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
SHRM or Society for Human Resource Management. (2008). Accessed November 7, 2008 from http://www.shrm.org/about/mission.aspGoogle Scholar
SHRM. (2009). HR's evolving role in organizations and its impact on business strategy. SHRM Survey Report. Accessed September 16, 2009 from http://moss07.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/HR'sRoleInOrganizations.aspxGoogle Scholar
Sparrow, J. (1998). Knowledge in organizations: Access to thinking at work. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Orlando, FL: Holt Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Sterman, J. D. (2000). Business dynamics: Systems thinking and modeling for a complex world. Boston: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Stryker, R. (2000). Legitimacy processes as institutional politics: Implications for theory and research in the sociology of organizations. In Bacharach, S. B. & Lawler, E. J. (Eds.), Research in Sociology of Organizations, 17, 179–223.Google Scholar
Truss, C., & Grattan, L. (1994). Strategic human resource management: A conceptual approach. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(3), 663–686.Google Scholar
Van Maanen, J., & Barley, S. (1984). Occupational communities: Culture and control in organizations. In Staw, B. & Cummings, L. (Eds.), Research on Organizational Behavior, 6, 287–365.Google Scholar
Weller, S. C., & Romney, A. K. (1988). Systematic data collection. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Westley, F. R. (1990). Middle managers and strategy – microdynamics of inclusion. Strategic Management Journal, 11(5), 337–351.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. (1975). Markets and hierarchies: Analysis and antitrust implications. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E., & Ouchi, W. G. (1981). The markets and hierarchies and visible hand perspectives. In Van de Ven, A. & Joyce, W. (Eds.), Perspectives on organizational design and behavior (pp. 347–390). New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Worldat Work. (2009). Accessed September 16, 2009 from http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/home/html/society_home.htmlGoogle Scholar
Zelditch, M. Jr. (2001). Theories of legitimacy. In Jost, J. T. & Major, B. (Eds.), The psychology of legitimacy (pp. 33–53). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zucker, L. G. (1987). Institutional theories of organization. American Review of Sociology, 13, 443–464.Google Scholar