Consistent HR Practices: The Whole Can Be More Than the Sum of the Parts

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Consistent HR PracticesThe Whole Can Be More
Than the Sum of the Parts

• Chapter 3
• Strategic Human Resources Frameworks for General
  Managers
• Baron Kreps, 1999

Presented by C. Rosa Yeh Assistant Professor,
I-Shou University
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Chapter content

• 4 questions
• Is consistency useful, or necessary?
• How should consistency be measured?
• What is the span of consistency?
• What is the role of inertia in consistency?

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Three dimensions of HR consistency

• Single-employee consistency
• Among-employee consistency
• Temporal consistency (continuity)

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Single-employee consistency

• For every individual employee, all the elements
  in a HR system should be consistent or at least
  complement each other.
• For example If a company provides an employee
  extensive training, then appropriate staffing,
  compensation and promotion practices should also
  be used to avoid turnover (loss of investment).

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Among-employee consistency

• Different employees should be treated in a
  consistent manner to some degree.
• For example If the company adopt a set of HR
  practice for employee A, then for employee B in
  similar conditions, the same set of HR practice
  is to be expected.

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Temporal consistency or continuity

• Organizations HRM philosophy should present
  consistency over time (continuity).
• For example In the foreseeable future, an
  employee should be able to expect how she will be
  treated in the company. (i.e., Dont change
  things all the time.)

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Why is consistency necessary?

• Technological complementarities Lower
  administrative cost
• Reinforcement Helps employees internalize the
  nature of their employment relationship
• Social norms and understanding
• Company image Match individual to work setting
• Defuse undesirable social comparison foster
  feeling of distributive justice.

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Measuring consistency

• Single-employee consistency
• There is no set rules or single indices to
  evaluate the consistency among HR practices
• Among-employee consistency
• Compare HR practices or treatment to different
  employees in similar conditions
• Temporal consistency
• Examine continuity of HR philosophy and practices
  over different time period

Difficult !!
More straightforward
More straightforward
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Corporate Philosophy the most important source
of consistency

• Relationship assumption between employees and
  company trust or distrust?
• Human nature assumption theory X or theory Y?
• Decision making centralized or empowering?
• Competition or collaboration?
• Stable or changing?
• Individual-emphasis or team-emphasis?
• Outcome-oriented or process-oriented?
• Providing jobs or careers?

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Span of consistency

• How far should a company go about its HR
  consistency?
• Can RD employees (trust, creativity) and
  production line employees (quality control,
  monitoring) co-exit in a company?
• It is usually not necessary to adopt entirely
  consistent practices on all employees. Breaks
  can be installed at reasonable places to create
  distinctions.

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Span of consistency depends on

• Four factors
• Technological interdependencies
• Degree of fraternization, demographic
  similarities, factors govern processes of social
  comparison
• Economic forces
• Societal and cultural norms

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Distinctions breaks

• Can be artificially created
• Can be reinforced by a variety of means
• Cautions on how this can be done in organizations
  whose culture emphasize membership or
  deemphasize differentiation

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Temporal consistency is desirable,

• But it can also create inertia.

(Proven once again, you should never have too
much of a good thing!)
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Inconsistent Consistencies

• Caution
• The three different aspects of consistency may
  themselves be mutually inconsistent.
• There are also conflicts in seeking alignment of
  HRM with the business context while preserving
  consistency.

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The case of UPS

• Strong culture of trust and independence
• Strong sense of dedication
• Rotating people throughout the org.
• Challenged by integrating a new IS technology
  group
• Should the new group follow old pattern to be
  consistent?

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The case at Lincoln Electric

• Long legacy of manufacturing excellence (HBR best
  selling case)
• Worker-paced assembly line, piece-rate
  compensation design supplemented by a complex and
  generous bonus system
• Strong, no-nonsense culture
• Challenged by modernization of manufacturing
  operations (lean production, JIT)
• Should LE abandon its long standing HR system and
  image?

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• Thats all. Folks!
• Q A