SHRM

Question 1

There are six conditions that are necessary to fulfill in order to have a strong business case for investing in high-commitment/best-practice HRM - What are those?

Answer 1

McDuffie (1995) 3 conditions that enable HRM to contribute to improved economic performance:
- Employees possess knowledge and skills that managers lack
- Employees are motivated to apply this skill and knowledge through discretionary efforts
- The org business strategy can be achieved only if employees contribute such discretionary efforts

Marchington et al (2016) best-practices more likely when:
- Employers are able to take a long term perspective
- The cost of labour is low compared to other costs
- Knowledge workers are expected to use their discretion
- org and workers are in strong market position

Question 2

A Management Control Strategy

Manager-directed Control

Answer 2

Control is exercised through supervisors giving direct instruction and closely monitoring work

Question 3

A Management Control Strategy

Bureaucratic Control

Answer 3

Limits employee discretion through fixed job definitions, reliance on rules and procedures, differentiated status, equitable pay and a restricted form of information.

Question 4

A Management Control Strategy

Employee-centered Control

Answer 4

Similar to the High-commitment model
Emphasises employee discretion and managers seek to influence the ways employee think about their own actions and behave in ways that are congruent with organizational objectives.

Question 5

A Model of HRM

Contingency: The Matching Model

Answer 5

There needs to be a tight fit between HR strategy and business strategy. Alignment

Devanna et al. (1984)

Question 6

A Model of HRM

Universalism: More is better

Answer 6

The model recognises the legitimate interests of the many stakeholders, and assumes that the creation of HRM strategies will have to reflect their different interests and fuse them as much as possible.

Beer et al (1984)

Question 7

A Theoretical Framework

The AMO Framework

Answer 7

Individual performance is a function of employee ability, motivation and opportunity.

Appelbaum et al (2011)

Question 8

A Theoretical Framework

Contingency Theory

Answer 8

There is no single best way, people management practices needs to be tailored to the context and situation of each individual organization.