Human resource development and human resource management levers for sustained competitive advantage: Combining isomorphism and differentiation

Abstract

Numerous studies have investigated human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage, indicating that the high-performance work systems created by certain human resource development and human resource management practices lead to greater firm performance. Though the mechanism by which this link exists remains a ‘black box,’ substantial evidence shows organizations benefit by adopting the human resource development and human resource management practices that lead to high-performance work systems. We discuss two divergent perspectives, institutional theory and resource-based view, and their impact on high-performance work systems. We argue that organizations adhering to tenets of institutional theory experience isomorphism in certain human resource development and human resource management practices, whereas resource-based view attributes create ways that firms differentiate their practices. We posit that to be competitive firms must balance the push–pull effect of institutional pressure with that of resource-based view differentiation.

Human resource management and the COVID-19 crisis: implications, challenges, opportunities, and future organizational directions

“…Strategic human resource management refers to the vertical connection between HRM functions and the organizational strategy as well as the horizontal consistency between HRM functions (Wright & McMahan, 1992). Its main purpose is to effectively utilize the human resources to serve the strategic needs of the organization (Chapman, Sisk, Schatten, & Miles, 2018;Navío-Marco, Solórzano-García, & Palencia-González, 2019;Schuler, 1992).…”

Improving the mathematical model of change in the body state of an employee

“…Therefore, modification of model (4) was undertaken by reducing to the minimum the number of measurements of the observed employee's state parameters, that is, immediately before the shift start, expression (5). In addition, for the case of the action of many production factors in the enterprise processes, it was proposed to take into account the effect of not only each individual factor but also the complex effect of all factors, expression (7). As a result of the improvement of the Hammerstein model (4), a mathematical model (8) was obtained.…”

“…Despite the rapid growth of the number of proposals of such ISs in industrialized countries, most of them automate the implementation of far from all functions of the standard [2]. The difference between two main points of view on human resource management, that is, the view of institutional theory and a resource-based view discussed in [7] should be considered as one of the important causes of this discrepancy. Functions of the HRM ISs are formed mainly on the basis of the institutional theory.…”

“…Functions of the HRM ISs are formed mainly on the basis of the institutional theory. However, it was shown in [7] that achievement of high enterprise productivity is only possible if the following models and methods are combined: a) general models and methods of human resource management based on the institutional theory; b) models and methods of managing small groups and individual employees of the enterprise which are the products of the view based on resources.…”

Standards formation and the implications for HRD

“…From this perspective, the increasing role of standards bodies such as BSI and ISO in formulating standards for HR practice can be understood as a form of normative isomorphism. In addition, the concept of mimetic isomorphism, which occurs when organisations copy or imitate other successful organisation's 'best practices' (Chapman et al, 2018) is relevant to the proliferation of market-driven 'people-focused' employer awards, such as the Healthy Working Lives Award and the Best Companies Award.…”