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Strategic Dilemmas: How Managers Use HR Practices to Meet Multiple Goals
Author(s) -
Lee Jae Eun,
Batt Rosemary,
Moynihan Lisa M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/bjir.12433
Subject(s) - profitability index , business , quality (philosophy) , human resources , marketing , service (business) , face (sociological concept) , resource (disambiguation) , human resource management , service quality , industrial organization , economics , finance , management , computer network , social science , philosophy , epistemology , sociology , computer science
Contrary to the classic assumptions in the business and human resource (HR) strategy literatures, real‐world organizations often pursue multiple and potentially contradictory performance goals. They may adopt ‘hybrid’ strategies to maximize both differentiation and low cost — leading middle managers to face dilemmas in how to achieve different goals using the same HR practices. We link employee‐level surveys of HR practices to establishment‐level data on service quality, labour efficiency and profitability to examine the effects of HR practices on these outcomes. We find that establishments with greater use of high involvement practices have significantly higher service quality, which mediates the relationship between HR practices and profitability. Findings for labour efficiency are positive, but generally not significant. These findings also have implications for the quality of jobs.