Addressing Critical Business Issues through Strategic Management of Human Resources

Abstract

In order to reach an organization’s ultimate objectives as increasing company productivity and overall profitability, it is a well-known fact that employee needs should be met through various human resources (HR) policies and practices. The literature shows that an efficient strategy of human resource management (HRM), which focuses on generating and maintaining a well-motivated workforce, is a key factor for organizational success. Thus, the main purpose of the present doctoral dissertation is to better understand the impact of strategic management of HR and High-Performance Work Practices (HPWP) on several critical business issues such as gaining competitive advantage, tackling absenteeism in the workplace, and improving job satisfaction._x000D_ Firstly, developing and sustaining competitive advantage is one of the most significant factors to guarantee the survival of a company against its rivals. Many organizations attempt to generate a unique business strategy to get a competitive superiority. Some managers foresee the opportunity to gain competitive advantage through human capital, which depends on manager’s talent to utilize HR practices. Therefore, the first empirical chapter of this dissertation considers the theoretical framework and the role of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), which proposes a “tight-fit” between the management quality of human resources and business strategies. Analyzing a questionnaire from 2007 that covers the data for 401 Spanish manufacturing companies, our results provide evidence indicating that SHRM is a distinctive aspect of a firm to ensure gaining a sustainable competitive advantage. It is also significant to have the support of a higher intensity of industrial technology and a larger proportion of employees with higher education. Specifically, the large-sized firms with higher SHRM quality tend to have a better organizational performance trend._x000D_ Moreover, it is a major challenge to reduce the absence rate as it has been an emerging issue and its effects are directly proportional to decreased productivity and profitability. Although many researchers have sought solutions, there is still a lack of European research with concrete conclusions regarding the impact of the interaction between union settings and high-performance work practices (HPWP) on absence. Hence, the second empirical chapter of this dissertation identifies the determinants of absenteeism focusing on the interaction between labor unions and HPWP components, applying a fractional logistic model on the data from Spanish manufacturing companies. The results suggest that the performance-based incentives and use of job rotation/enrichment decrease the likelihood of high absence at high levels of union influence. Besides, training time and adoption of flextime practice are found as significant workplace flexibilities to deal with absenteeism at medium and lower union-influence levels. Labor market competition also plays an important role in absenteeism. The probability of higher absence is positively related to the firm size, percentage of female workers, and percentage of part-time employees._x000D_ Finally, many studies suggest that organizations with low level of job satisfaction tend to face with absenteeism, tardiness, grievances, turnover, and strikes more frequently, which causes a large decrease in performance and profitability. Low job satisfaction has been an emerging issue in challenging business environment, especially during economic crisis. The literature suggests that participative management -as an instrument that can be influenced by a manager’s talent and skills- improves job satisfaction. Therefore, the third empirical chapter of this dissertation investigates the indirect impact of participative management on job satisfaction, utilizing the European Working Conditions Survey 2010. It provides evidence that participative management style has a significant positive influence in employee job satisfaction through its intermediary determinants such as working environment and family-friendly company policies. In addition, we examine the differences in the marginal effects of participative management, interacting with gender-effects, across nine Euro-Mediterranean countries.

Date of Award	28 Oct 2013
Original language	Undefined/Unknown
Supervisor	Emilio Huerta Arribas (Director) & Emili Grifell-Tatjé (Tutor)