Strategic human resource management, human resource effectiveness, and organizational performance: A longitudinal case study.

The relationship between human resources management (HRM) and organizational performance has long been the subject of debate by academicians, practitioners and managers. The literature suggests that the effective operational and strategic management of human resources drives financial performance and productivity. However, critics counter that empirical evidence is weak, research has largely been in the form of cross-sectional case studies, and strong organizational performance may effect both short- and long-term human resources effectiveness. The action research project on which this dissertation is based was designed to enhance the strategic performance and orientation of the Human Resources function within the largest business of a Fortune 250 company. In 1982 and 1985, survey and interview data were collected from the top three levels of management in the eleven business units comprising the organization. Financial performance and productivity data were collected for 1982 through 1985. A conceptual model was developed, and the relationships between the strategic HRM/HR effectiveness constructs and the performance measures comprising the model were then empirically examined at the business unit and individual levels of analysis. At the business unit level, the results of the correlational analyses provide moderately strong support for the contention that HRM impacts organizational performance. However, the st and ardized multiple regression analyses performed at the individual level showed no significant 1982 cross-sectional effects, though a few of the 1985 HRM indices were found to be strong predictors of concurrent financial performance and productivity. Though strong lagged effects were found, strong cross-lagged effects also resulted from these analyses. In ECG's case, the effects of the financial performance measures on HRM were stronger than the HRM effects on performance. The HRM variables, however, explained more of the variance in the performance measures, offering weak to moderate support that they are useful predictors of concurrent, short- and long-term performance. Evidence of reciprocal causality, though, suggests that the direction of the relationship between some of these variables is not always clear.PhDManagementUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162169/1/8920503.pd