Dynamic Human Resource Systems: Cross‐National Comparisons

Citation

Galperin, B.L. (1999), "Dynamic Human Resource Systems: Cross‐National Comparisons", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 5-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijm.1999.20.6.5.3

Dynamic human resource Systems: Cross‐National Comparisons</IT>, part of an international and interdisciplinary book series, enriches our understanding of human resource management (HRM) systems in Japan, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Singapore. Based on existing research, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the societal and organizational levels of HRM systems in each of these six nations. The author proposes a complex set of relationships between HRM systems and firm competitiveness based on a comparison of HRM systems across nations. Although the author focuses on the effects of HRM systems on firm competitiveness, he also stresses the importance of the competitive advantage of nations.

The book has nine chapters. In the first chapter, the author sets the context for developing a framework which examines the effects of HRM systems on eight variables of firm competitiveness: employee competence and commitment, organizational flexibility (functional, financial, internal numerical, external numerical), organizational integration, and firm performance. The author defines a nation′s HRM system as “all the economic, political, and social structures, processes, policies, and policy effects at the societal and organizational levels of a particular country ” (p. 6). Specifically, six major categories are used to describe HRM systems:

(1)work systems (e.g. craft versus lean versus sociotechnical production systems; vertical/horizontal job specializations);

(2)developmental systems (e.g. elementary/secondary education systems; on the job training);

(3)staffing systems (e.g. government or union limits to hire part‐time, temporary or contract employees; promotional policies; layoff policies);

(4)employee governance systems (e.g. worker participation; collective bargaining);

(5)reward systems (e.g. knowledge/performance‐based; type of fringes; status differentials); and,

(6)management of HRM systems (e.g. professionalization of HRM function; strategic integration of HRM strategy and organizational strategies).

The selection of a broad range of HRM categories both at the societal and firm levels enables the author to provide an extensive analysis of the HRM systems in the six nations. While the rationale underlying the division of categories and meaning of the different types of policies that appear in each category is largely self‐explanatory, some questions may still arise. For example, the reader is perplexed as to why work schedule policies, which relate to issues such as length of work week, and multi‐shift/weekend shift policies, appear in the reward systems category as opposed to the work systems grouping.

In the next six chapters, the HRM systems of the six nations are presented. In each of these country case study chapters, the context in which each nation′s HRM system has evolved is described. Using Porter′s (1990) framework and data, the competitive advantage of each nation is then reviewed. The most significant contribution of these chapters lies in the thorough analysis of the societal and firm levels of the HRM systems in the six nations. While the analyses of the HRM systems are comprehensive, the author states that the descriptions of the HRM systems at the organizational level are limited to large mining and manufacturing firms in an attempt to control the large variance in HRM systems across firms within nations. Given that the service sector is playing an increasingly important role in a nation′s competitive advantage and “the same determinants of national competitive advantage in manufacturing apply to the service industry” (Porter, 1990, p. 254), one would expect a greater focus on the HRM systems of service firms. Although the author acknowledges that this may be a potential limitation of the book, he argues that the framework in the final chapter is service sector‐oriented since global competition has “white‐collarized” the manufacturing labor force. Given that American, British, Swedish, and Singaporean firms are important leaders in the service industry, and Japan and Germany have large domestic service sectors (Porter, 1990), the inclusion of service sector would have contributed to the descriptions of the HRM systems.

In Chapter 8, the effects of the HRM systems on firm competitiveness for each nation are outlined. Although the nature of the relationships are exploratory in nature, the discussion can serve as a starting point to better understand the relationship between HRM systems and firm competitiveness. While the author emphasizes that the eight variables are at the firm level, societal level measures (e.g. standard of living and annual growth in GDP) are discussed under the organizational performance heading. In addition, gross national turnover and absenteeism at the national level are used to “provide some indication” of employee commitment which is defined as “the willingness of workers to invest considerable effort in carrying out organization goals over the long term” (p. 272), an individual level variable.

The chapter concludes with a useful examination of the obstacles that may prevent the transferability of HRM systems across nations. The seven factors that impede the diffusion of HRM systems are: the degree of integration of the HRM systems; the emphasis on short‐term versus long‐term results; the role of multinational firms; the role of the state; cultural values; external labor markets; and the developmental life cycle of the country.

In the final chapter, the author develops a framework to examine the effects of the HRM systems on firm competitiveness. The author proposes a series of complex relationships among the HRM systems and the eight variables of firm competitiveness. For example, it is proposed that in some instances HRM policies directly influence the eight variables. In other instances, certain HRM policies and variables of firm competitiveness may mediate the relationship between the HRM systems and firm competitiveness. Since the author posits a complex set of relationships, the linkages between the HRM systems and variables of firm competitiveness are difficult to follow. Although the author states that it is not possible to delineate all the complex relationships in a single chart, a figure depicting the various linkages would enable the reader to visualize the proposed relationships.

Dynamic human resource Systems: Cross‐National Comparisons provides a useful exploratory framework to better understand the relationship between societal and organizational levels of HRM systems and firm competitiveness in Japan, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Singapore. By integrating information from a broad range of areas such as organizational theory, human resource management and sociology, this book provides the reader with a good understanding of the economic, social, and political context in which each nation′s HRM systems emerged. The author, however, downplays the role of cultural factors in the development of HRM systems. While the author acknowledges that cultural values play an important role in shaping a nation′s competitive advantage, there are only a couple of paragraphs which describe the role of cultural values as possible obstacles to the transferability of HRMS systems to other nations. Despite the extensive literature that stresses the influence of culture on the HRM practices (Adler and Ghadar, 1990; Aycan et al., in press; Hofstede, 1984; Taylor and Beechler, 1993; Teagarden and Von Glinow, 1997), the author asserts that “the role of cultural values in impacting the diffusion of HR practices may not be as important as predicted” (p. 319).

Overall, the book makes a contribution to the field of international management. Given the paucity of multi‐level organizational research (Rousseau and House, 1994; Sagie and Koslowsky, 1998) and the lack of interdisciplinary approaches in comparative management (Redding, 1994), the framework developed in this book provides some interesting insights in examining the effects of the societal and national levels of HRM systems on firm competitiveness. Those researchers interested in testing the complex relationships should be cautioned of the discontinuities across levels (Rousseau and House, 1994). The book is likely to be of interest to academics, as well as students, and practitioners.