This chapter seeks to optimize HR shared services performance by highlighting the potential for service fragmentation that can arise out of in the so-called Ulrich (structure or…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter seeks to optimize HR shared services performance by highlighting the potential for service fragmentation that can arise out of in the so-called Ulrich (structure or service delivery) model.
Design/methodology/approach
The evidence used in this chapter principally comes from the author’s own work, especially research for the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and draws upon academic literature where possible.
Findings
This chapter argues that HR directors should guard against three sets of fragmentation risks. Firstly, HR shared services should be properly connected to the rest of HR to offer customers an integrated service to avoid the structure’s division of labor inducing incoherence. Second, to guard against this risk, HR directors should exercise care in outsourcing/offshoring beyond individual, discrete services because contractually or spatially separating services risks exacerbating this tendency to fragmentation. Outsourcing/offshoring may focus too much on cost savings and insufficiently on quality. So, third, HR should argue for the distinctiveness of its activities and fight commoditization that is also implied in the creation of cross-functional shared service centers.
Research limitations/implications
The arguments in this chapter could be better supported by academic research. In-depth case studies of management decision making and shared services operation would help support or challenge the chapter’s conclusion, as could quantitative evidence on the benefits/disbenefits of outsourcing/offshoring/cross-functional shared services centers.
Practical implications
We have highlighted a number of reported problems with HR shared services operation, besides the three principal risks noted above, but we have suggested possible solutions that could be adopted by practitioners.
Originality/value
HR managers may find this chapter helpful in designing new HR structures or in assessing the effectiveness of shared services that goes beyond the typical key performance indicator measures.
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Martin Reddington, Graeme Martin and Tanya Bondarouk
Building on our earlier model of the links between HR strategy, e-HR goals, architectures, and outcomes, we illustrate the relationship between some of these elements with data…
Abstract
Building on our earlier model of the links between HR strategy, e-HR goals, architectures, and outcomes, we illustrate the relationship between some of these elements with data from three global organizations. In doing so, we aim to help academics and practitioners understand this increasingly important area of HR theory and practice.
Lynette Harrisr and Carley Foster
The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of talent management interventions in UK public sector organisations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of talent management interventions in UK public sector organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws upon the findings of a qualitative study of talent management in two UK public sector case study organisations.
Findings
Implementing talent management was found to present particular tensions for public sector managers, particularly in terms of its alignment with well‐embedded diversity and equality policies and their own perceptions of fair treatment in the workplace. Despite an acknowledgement that the sector needs to attract, develop and retain the most talented individuals to achieve its modernisation agenda, interventions which require singling out those individuals for special treatment challenges many of its established practices for recruitment and selection, employee development and career management.
Practical implications
Public sector organisations need to invest both time and effort into developing appropriate and relevant approaches to talent management, which take proper account of line managers' perceptions of fair treatment and established organisational approaches to diversity and equality.
Originality/value
Talent management is a topic of growing interest from employers concerned about their work force demographics, specific skills shortages and the retention of high potential employees but the concepts that inform talent interventions are often unclear or are an uneasy fit with the beliefs and understandings about fair treatment of those who have to implement them.
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The aim of this paper is to study the workings of commercial orientation, with a focus on performance management, in an environment that is characterised by limited competition…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to study the workings of commercial orientation, with a focus on performance management, in an environment that is characterised by limited competition between the public and the private sectors and a high level of government social responsibility.
Design/methodology/approach
An interpretive case study approach is adopted for this study. It draws on primary data from interviews with key personnel in public sector organisations, and on secondary data from government publications such as annual reports and budget papers.
Findings
This study shows that the market‐based performance management system has failed to achieve its intended objectives because it was introduced in a socio‐economic context that is hardly supportive of market management practices. The study shows that service delivery to the public has remained driven by social rather than economic imperatives. In the absence of other service providers, the Government's social responsibility towards its citizens has compelled service provision irrespective of the cost and reduced the cost‐benefit relationship in having informative costing systems.
Practical implications
Examining the workings of a market‐based performance management system in a non‐competitive setting provides evidence of the difficulty of achieving the intended benefits from the adoption of commercial practices in public sector agencies in some cases.
Originality/value
Whereas extant literature focuses on the adoption of business practices in the process of public sector reform, no prior study has looked at this concept in a non‐competitive market. Understanding the workings of the market practices in such an environment where contestability is limited is fundamental to policy makers and researchers.
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Thomas N. Garavan, John P. Wilson, Christine Cross, Ronan Carbery, Inga Sieben, Andries de Grip, Christer Strandberg, Claire Gubbins, Valerie Shanahan, Carole Hogan, Martin McCracken and Norma Heaton
Utilising data from 18 in‐depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Utilising data from 18 in‐depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to argue that the complexity and diversity of training, development and HRD practices is best understood by studying the multilayered contexts within which call centres operate. Call centres operate as open systems and training, development and HRD practices are influenced by environmental, strategic, organisational and temporal conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilised a range of research methods, including in‐depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, documentary analysis and observation. The study was conducted over a two‐year period.
Findings
The results indicate that normative models of HRD are not particularly valuable and that training, development and HRD in call centres is emergent and highly complex.
Originality/value
This study represents one of the first studies to investigate training and development and HRD practices and systems in European call centres.
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Ayman Safi Abdelhakim, Eleri Jones, Elizabeth C. Redmond, Christopher J. Griffith and Mahmoud Hewedi
The purpose of this paper is to explore the evaluation of cabin crew food safety training using the Kirkpatrick model.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the evaluation of cabin crew food safety training using the Kirkpatrick model.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a snowballing technique, 26 cabin crew, managers, supervisors and trainers participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Summative content analysis was used to evaluate the data.
Findings
In total, 26 respondents from 20 international airlines participated in the study. All respondents agreed that evaluating cabin crew food safety/hygiene issues is important in relation to in-flight food handling; for example, “Training evaluation helps in the improvement of the future training”; “We have an end of course feedback form, either done electronically or on paper and that looks at how the delegates felt the training went, if they came away learning something new, if the environment for learning was right, all sorts of things; the questionnaire is quite comprehensive”; and “Every trainee is given a feedback form to complete”. However, significant failures in food safety training and its evaluation were identified.
Research limitations/implications
The evaluation of cabin crew food safety training shows that it is ineffective in some aspects, including learning achieved and behavioural change, and these can directly impact on the implementation of food safety practices. Evaluation failures may be due to the lack of available time in relation to other cabin crew roles. Further research may consider using a larger sample size, evaluating training effectiveness using social cognition models and assessments of airline and cabin crew food safety culture.
Originality/value
This is the first study that evaluates cabin crew food safety training using the Kirkpatrick model. The findings provide an understanding of the current evaluation of cabin crew food safety training and can be used by airlines for improving and developing effective future food safety training programmes. This, in turn, may reduce the risk of passenger and crew foodborne disease.
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Anders Boglind, Freddy Hällstén and Per Thilander
This paper seeks to compare Ulrich's model of HR transformation/shared service organisation (the “three‐legged stool”) with the empirical evidence from the research. The aim of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to compare Ulrich's model of HR transformation/shared service organisation (the “three‐legged stool”) with the empirical evidence from the research. The aim of the paper is to describe the journey from theory to practice of HR transformation in organisations as they adopt and adapt the model.
Design/methodology/approach
An institutional frame of reference is used for case studies of seven Swedish organisations. The respondents in the 192 interviews are HR professionals, line managers and other stakeholders.
Findings
All seven of the organisations adopted the HR transformation as a standard blueprint. Management consultants played a leading role in this process. HR service centres were established, the local HR staffs were reduced radically, and the remaining role, the HR business partners, took on lesser importance. During the adaptation process a variety of solutions resulted, some of which were innovations.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the small sample size, the generalisability of the results is somewhat limited.
Practical implications
The results may useful to both researchers and practitioners, whether they are involved in the study or in the re‐organisation of HR. It is not easy to imitate a theoretical model or a “best practice” model without taking the translation process into consideration.
Originality/value
Previous studies have not examined how HR transformation/shared service travels in different organisations using this number of interviews in in‐depth research. These results show that achieving the desirable HR organisation depends on the translation and interpretations of the concepts in the local context.
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Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give their best each day. The result is that the staff is…
Abstract
Chapter Contribution
Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give their best each day. The result is that the staff is committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being. Although employee engagement as a practice is evidenced as bringing improved productivity to small businesses, and while 87% of the UK small enterprises claim that they are taking active steps to improve employee engagement, only 12% of such businesses list it as a business priority.
In a smaller organisation, it is easier for leaders to be involved in driving forward and measuring planned actions to improve employee engagement. According to the consulting firm Aon Hewitt (2015), there are six major categories for drivers of employee engagement: (1) The work people do; (2) The people they work with; (3) Opportunities; (4) Total rewards; (5) Company practices; and (6) Quality of life.
The focus of this chapter is to recommend how small businesses can drive employee engagement using the six drivers of engagement recommended by Aon Hewitt, and improve levels of productivity in the firm.
Aljawharah Alsalamah and Carol Callinan
A number of studies on Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation model have been published, since its inception in 1959, either investigating it or applying it to evaluate the…
Abstract
Purpose
A number of studies on Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation model have been published, since its inception in 1959, either investigating it or applying it to evaluate the training process. The purpose of this bibliometric analysis is to reconsider the model, its utility and its effectiveness in meeting the need to evaluate training activities and to explain why the model is still worth using even though other later models are available.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a “5Ws+1H” model (why, when, who, where, what and how); however, “when” and “how” are merged in the methodology. A total of 416 articles related to Kirkpatrick’s model published between 1959 and July 2020 were retrieved using Scopus.
Findings
The Kirkpatrick model continues to be useful, appropriate and applicable in a variety of contexts. It is adaptable to many training environments and achieves high performance in evaluating training. The overview of publications on the Kirkpatrick model shows that research using the model is an active and growing area. The model is used primarily in the evaluation of medical training, followed by computer science, business and social sciences.
Originality/value
This paper presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to reconsider the model, its utility, its effectiveness in meeting the need to evaluate training activities, its importance in the field measured by the growth in studies on the model and its applications in various settings and contexts.
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Simon M. Smith, Peter Stokes and John F. Wilson
Investors in People (IiP) is a UK government-backed scheme aimed at enabling organizations to develop their training and development cultures and, thereby, their competitiveness…
Abstract
Purpose
Investors in People (IiP) is a UK government-backed scheme aimed at enabling organizations to develop their training and development cultures and, thereby, their competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions and understandings of individuals in six organizations undergoing IiP to explore recent claims within the literature concerning the Standard's impact on training and development, and job satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 35 semi-structured interviews among managers and employees of six diverse organizations were gathered and analysed.
Findings
The paper identifies three key findings in response to recent literature: first, the findings do not support a causal relationship between IiP and training and development; second, the findings do not support a causal relationship between IiP and job satisfaction; third, and to support the other findings, the results indicate little employee awareness of IiP.
Practical implications
If IiP – UKCES are to realize the potential of their Standard, it needs to find a way to ensure it has a direct and positive impact on skill development.
Originality/value
While much of the previous research has identified associations between IiP and various outcomes, this paper seeks to identify the extent to which these associations can be considered to be causal.