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Introducing Sustainability into HRM

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Book cover Sustainable Human Resource Management

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

Abstract

This dissertation, Sustainable Human Resource Management: A Conceptual and Exploratory Analysis from a Paradox Perspective builds primarily on the recently emerging literature linking the concept of sustainability and human resource (HR) issues. Furthermore, it draws on relevant insights in established fields of research such as Strategic HRM (SHRM), Sustainable Resource Management (SRM), and organisation theory. Practical relevance of this topic is deduced in this introduction from examples as well as from the literature on sustainability and HRM.1

Over the past two decades, technological developments, competitive demands, and globalisation have caused dramatic changes within and across organisations (e.g., Barkema et al. 2002), and have transformed general conditions for Human Resource Management (HRM) strategy and decision-making (e.g., Scholz 2000). Developments within and outside of organisations are drivers for and reactions to an increasing pressure for competitiveness and flexibility influencing HR practices and strategies (Gmür and Klimecki 2001; Oechsler 2004a; Schuler and Jackson 2005). Trends such as demographic development, internationalisation and globalisation, or lack of quality in some educational systems have only just started slipping into the consciousness of practitioners and researchers highlighting the need for more sustainable HR practices and strategies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This thesis is written in British English. However, quotations have been cited as in the original, i.e. in British or American English. German quotations have been translated by the author and marked as translations.

  2. 2.

    The term “Sustainable HRM” is used in this work as a name for a concept and conceived of as an extension of “Strategic HRM”.

  3. 3.

    “Human resource (HR) activities include the formal HR policies developed by the company as well as the actual ways these policies are implemented in the daily practices of supervisors and managers” (Schuler and Jackson 2006, p. 16; bold in original).

  4. 4.

    In this work, the expression of “side and feedback effects” refers to outcomes which are self-induced by a company’s HRM and managerial actions and which affect the current and future workforce of a company concerning its ability and willingness to work for the company.

  5. 5.

    Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) can be defined as “a firm which owns or controls business activities in more than one foreign country” (Dowling et al. 2008, p. 2).

  6. 6.

    Practitioners discuss these topics in self-initiated workshops and networks. For instance, the German sustainability network Econsense regularly offers workshops for its members on topics such as demographic development, employability, or work–family-balance, etc. (http://www.econsense.de).

  7. 7.

    http://www.wbcsd.org.

  8. 8.

    Another indicator for the increasing interest in sustainability and HRM is the spreading of the term “Sustainable HRM” (and its German translation Nachhaltiges Personalmanagement) has only recently appeared in the public discourse. Searching for these terms via Google, the author has found no entries in the year 2002, a negligible number of entries in 2003, and 40,100 entries in 2007 on the notion “Nachhaltiges Personalmanagement” as well as 2,550,000 entries on “Sustainable Human Resource Management”. Among others, the entries cover topics like “Sustainable Human Resource Management in China”, “Sustainable Human Resource Strategy”, or “Human Resource Management” and “Sustainable” (Last access: 31/10/2007). Although there may well be similarities or differences between the different concepts summarised under these terms, the overall rising number could be counted as an indicator for a rising interest in the topic.

  9. 9.

    The recent crisis in the financial sector and global economy has relieved some of the tensions on the side of competition for talent. However, this situation does not change the overall problem of qualified human resources being scarce and the “unsustainable” way how people are treated in organisations. The crisis might provide excuses to postpone problem solution to the future.

  10. 10.

    The term “human resource base” (HR base) stems from the literature on the resource-based view. Resource base in that context is defined as including “tangible, intangible, and human assets (or resources) as well as capabilities which the organization owns, controls, or has access to on a preferential basis” (Helfat et al. 2007, p. 4). The HR base in that sense refers to all human and social resources to which a company has access by means of influence such as power or cooperation.

  11. 11.

    In sustainability and economic literature, the term “externality” is sometimes used instead of side and feedback effects. An externality can be defined as “a cost or benefit arising from any activity which does not accrue to the person or organization carrying on the activity” (Black 1997, p. 169). In economic theory, externalities are interpreted as one category of market failure indicating resource allocation problems (Buchanan and Stubblebine 1962) or as side effects of market transactions (Kahn 1995).

  12. 12.

    This is not always acknowledged in management theories and HRM models where the image of the company being influenced by its environments seems to be predominant.

  13. 13.

    As mentioned earlier, companies have been involved in creating a higher demand for qualified global and expatriate managers by expanding globally (see, for example, Mendenhall et al. 2001, 2002; Mendenhall and Stahl 2000).

  14. 14.

    German and English language literature was reviewed. The following databases were investigated for the terms “sustainable HRM”, “sustainability HRM”, “sustainable management”, “sustainable work systems”, “corporate social responsibility” and combinations of the notions; http://www.sciencedirect.com, http://www.emeraldinsight.com, http://www.gbv.de, http://www.hwwa.de, http://www.vlb.de; http://www.buchhandel.de, http://www.EconLit.org (EBSCO), and http://www.wiso-net.de.

  15. 15.

    The following journals taken from Anne-Wil Harzing’s (2006) comparison of journal rankings have been included in the initial analysis: Human Relations, Organization Studies, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Strategic Management Journal, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Management International Review, Long Range Planning, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Management, Journal of International Management, Columbia Journal of World Business, Academy of Management Executive, and California Management Review.

  16. 16.

    Intensive Work Systems (IWS) seem to be similar to “High Performance Work Systems” (HPWS) although the authors do not use the term. Both work systems are characterised by the focus on highly skilled employees with high work autonomy. HPWS have become a key interest in Strategic HRM literature (see, e.g., Appelbaum 2002).

  17. 17.

    Although the name “Sustainable HRM” is used in this study, the approach differs substantially from the Swiss approach as the discussion in the literature review shows.

  18. 18.

    The author has made first attempts to compare the literature in Ehnert (2006a) and Ehnert (2007a).

  19. 19.

    This is why Klimecki and Gmür (2001) raise doubts about whether HRM can currently be called an applied field of research.

  20. 20.

    For the discussion on “explaining” vs. “understanding” see, for example, Opp (2002, p. 66).

  21. 21.

    Concerning theory development objectives, Dubin (1976) differentiates between theory application and theory as an “intellectual tool”.

  22. 22.

    Revisiting the original version of Luhmann’s article, the author of this study would rather translate the sentence as follows: “to shift the observer’s blind spot to another less disturbing place”.

  23. 23.

    The internet as a medium for companies to communicate sustainability strategies and for sustainability reporting in particular has become of great importance (for example, Isenmann et al. 2007).

  24. 24.

    For a critical reflection on sustainability as a potential management fashion, see Hülsmann (2003).

  25. 25.

    Theory testing was no objective of this study (see Sect. 1.4).

  26. 26.

    Thomas Kuhn (1970) advanced thinking on research paradigms asserting that progress in science is not achieved by continuous change but by radical changes (“revolutionary” processes) where existing paradigms are replaced by new ones. For in depth discussions of Kuhn’s ideas see, for example, Ladyman (2002).

  27. 27.

    For overviews and comparisons of different paradigmatic positions: see Gephart (2004), Lewis and Kelemen (2002), Lynham (2000), and Guba and Lincoln (2005). See also the edited volume of Balashov and Rosenberg (2002) for “contemporary readings” (i.e. reprints of important journal articles) on the philosophies of science. For an introduction into the philosophies of science see for example: Chalmers (2001), Chmielewicz (1979), Denzin and Lincoln (2005b), Ladyman (2002), Seiffert (1973).

  28. 28.

    The advantages and limits of the positivistic view have been discussed at length (see for example, Denzin and Lincoln 2005b; Ghoshal 2005; Guba and Lincoln 2005; Hill et al. 1994; Knights 1992; Mendenhall 1999). However, the kind of criticism differentiates widely. For instance, it has been contested that analogies between social sciences and natural sciences are often reductionist, mechanistic, and misleading (Flämig 1998). Also the assumption of linear cause-effect laws in HRM has been questioned by researchers building on the insight that input and output processes are non-linear (for example, Mendenhall et al. 1998).

  29. 29.

    Möllering et al. (2004, p. 5) adapt the term “umbrella advocates” from Hirsch and Levin (1999) and introduce it into trust research. The author of this book is of the opinion that this notion can also be transferred to HRM or sustainability research.

  30. 30.

    For problems of incommensurability in Strategic Management and organisation theory and for solutions of how to cross paradigmatic boundaries: see Scherer (1998). This idea has also been used to support relativist positions about the influence of scientific communities on what is regarded as “true” scientific knowledge (Ladyman 2002).

  31. 31.

    Martín Alcázar and colleagues (2005b) have called this pluralism an “explosion of approaches” (p. 634). Critics of this multiplicity have raised concerns that too many different perspectives and types of studies make it more difficult to compare research and results within a field like HRM (see also Backes-Gellner 2004; Schauenberg 2004).

  32. 32.

    It has been observed that interesting and important innovations in research happen at disciplinary boundaries (for example, Osterloh and Grand 1995).

  33. 33.

    For a critical assessment of a researcher’s neutral stance: see Fontana and Frey (2005).

  34. 34.

    While it is acceptable for an individual researcher to apply just one theoretical perspective, it seems desirable and rewarding for a field of research to foster multiple views contributing to a better description and deeper understanding (for example, Jackson and Schuler 1995; Martin 2004; Weber and Kabst 2004).

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    Dr Ina Ehnert

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Ehnert, I. (2009). Introducing Sustainability into HRM. In: Sustainable Human Resource Management. Contributions to Management Science. Physica-Verlag HD. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7908-2188-8_1

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