HR analytics: The onto‐epistemology and politics of metricised HRM

Abstract

The development of HR analytics, the growing dominance of positivistic approaches in academic HRM, and the increasing influence of evidence-based approaches on HR represent a convergence of contextual factors that have the potential to influence HR practice significantly. In this context, we examine how the HR analytics "project" may unfold base on a reflective analysis of a number of data-rich wellbeing projects and empirical evaluations. We focus on the ways in which participants may become enrolled and mobilised in such projects and the implications this has for perceived value and effects of "data" generated by HR analytics. In particular, we draw attention to the social, political, and onto-epistemological processes of the analytics project and draw conclusions about the way in which the analytics project may influence professional practice.

Staying close to business: the role of epistemic alignment in rendering HR analytics outputs relevant to decision-makers

“…Further, the role of HRBPs in these integration processes is yet to discover. Putting more attention to the role of decision-makers in HRA may also give answers to the question whether practicing HRA conveys a raise in the power and status of HRM in an organization (Greasley & Thomas, 2020). While our data indicates an overall positive perception and recognition of the HR function at TechCom, open questions remain to what extent HRA affects the power and status of the HRA team itself and how this feeds back into the certain groups of HR practitioners (e.g.…”

“…Promoting HRA also resonated with a strong data-driven culture at TechCom, demanding a style of decision-making based on data and facts rather than personal experience or intuition (Rasmussen & Ulrich, 2015). Data-driven decision-making was installed as a mindset in all HR operations, resulting in a strong obligation, but also preference, for quantitative types of knowledge for HR professionals at TechCom (Greasley & Thomas, 2020). As an HR business partner (HRBP) noted in an ad-hoc interview:…”

“…How such relevance is achieved, however, remains a quite open question in current HRA literature. Yet, knowing the process of how HRA practitioners come to ask the 'right questions' and turn data into 'actionable insight' is far from trivial as it can bring detailed insights into how HRM can effectively support value creation and how this affects the perception and recognition of the HRM function in organizations (Greasley & Thomas, 2020;Legge, 1978).…”

The dark sides of people analytics: reviewing the perils for organisations and employees

“…The rapid progress in the field of AI has raised organisational expectations and reinforced widely held assumptions on the power, transparency, accuracy and objectivity of learning algorithms, contributing to a very positive image of people analytics among researchers and practitioners (Gal et al, 2017;Greasley & Thomas, 2020;King, 2016;Marler & Boudreau, 2017;Tursunbayeva et al, 2019). For example, people analytics has been described as "critical to any organisation's success" (Boudreau, 2017, p. 1), stamped as the "new kid on the block" (Baesens et al, 2017, p. 20), labelled as "game changer for the future of HR" (van der Togt & Rasmussen, 2017, p. 131), and assuring the HR function "the potential to become one of the leaders in analytics" (Davenport, 2019, April 18, p. 1).…”

Den analytiske etikk og taylorismens ånd? HR-analyse som ledelseskonsept

“…For de med en rolle tett på medarbeiderne i organisasjonen er det sannsynlig, at kvantitativ analyse ikke alltid blir oppfattet å fange opp kompleksiteten og tolkningsmangfoldet i det sosiale systemet en organisasjon er (Morrell & Learmonth, 2015;Purcell, 2014). Greasley og Thomas (Greasley & Thomas, 2020) finner videre, at toppledere var mer positive til kvantitative funn enn det HR-ledere var. Det er ikke usannsynlig, at det å vaere både faglig og operativt naermere problemstillingene, som HR-ledere presumptivt er i HRfaglige spørsmål, gjør en mer skeptisk til sterk vektlegging av virksomhetsstrategi, og tallene, som måtte komme ut av de statistiske analysene.…”