Employee Relations: An International Journal

Vathsala Wickramasinghe; Suranga Jayabandu

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826087

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to present and discuss the findings of a study on flexitime as a novel people management practice emerging in Sri Lanka. Specifically, the paper presents and discusses factors that predict the level of satisfaction with flexitime, differences in attitudes towards flexitime, the effectiveness of flexitime as a strategy to attract and retain employees, and barriers that hinder its use. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 108 employees involved in producing IT‐related output as their primary job function, from 30 software development companies, responded to the self‐administered survey questionnaire. In analysis, univariate, bivariate and multivariate techniques were adopted. Findings – Flexitime allowed autonomy to employees to harmonize work and non‐work demands on their time, resulting in better workplace relations. Overall, the findings support a non‐traditional approach to people management. However, the findings also have important implications for the design or modification of flexitime arrangements. Originality/value – The majority of flexitime research is criticized for its theoretical nature, a failure to include statistical treatment of the data, and failure to pay specific attention to managerial and professional employees. Further, there is a marked absence of research‐led literature in developing countries to clarify the way in which non‐traditional people management practices work in different contexts. Specifically, no such studies have been conducted in the context of Sri Lanka.

Mohinder Chand; Anastasia A. Katou

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826096

Purpose – The study has a two‐fold purpose: to investigate whether some specific characteristics of hotels affect organisational performance in the hotel industry in India; and to investigate whether some HRM systems affect organisational performance in the hotel industry in India. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 439 hotels, ranging from three‐star to five‐star deluxe, responded to a self‐administered questionnaire that measured 27 HRM practices, five organisational performance variables, and ten demographic variables. Factor analysis was performed to identify HRM systems, one‐way ANOVA was employed to test the association of the demographic variables with organisational performance, and correlation analysis was used to test the relation between HRM systems and organisational performance. Findings – The results indicate that hotel performance is positively associated with hotel category and type of hotel (chain or individual). Furthermore, hotel performance is positively related to the HRM systems of recruitment and selection, manpower planning, job design, training and development, quality circle, and pay systems. Research limitations/implications – Single respondent bias may have occurred because a single respondent from each organisation provided information on HRM practices and perceived measures of organisational performance. The sample was drawn from the population of best performing hotels in India, so is not representative of the hotel industry in India. Practical implications – If hotels are to achieve higher performance levels, they should preferably belong to a chain and increase their category, and management should focus on “best” HRM practices indicated in the study. Originality/value – The study makes a modest attempt to add information to the very little empirical knowledge available referring to the link between HRM and performance in the hotel industry.

Ingmar Björkman; Pawan Budhwar

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826104

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine the kind of HRM practices being implemented by overseas firms in their Indian subsidiaries and also to analyze the linkage between HRM practices and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative techniques via personal interviews in 76 subsidiaries. Findings – The results show that while the introduction of HRM practices from the foreign parent organization is negatively associated with performance, local adaption of HRM practices is positively related with the performance of foreign firms operating in India. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations include data being collected by only one respondent from each firm, and the relatively small sample size. Practical implications – The key message for practitioners is that HRM systems do improve organizational performance in the Indian subsidiaries of foreign firms, and an emphasis on the localization of HRM practices can further contribute in this regard. Originality/value – This is perhaps the very first investigation of its kind in the Indian context.

Anil Chandrakumara

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826113

Purpose – The paper seeks to provide a theoretical foundation and empirical evidence on the impact of HRM fit on citizenship and task performance (CTP) of employees. Design/methodology/approach – A range of recently published articles were critically reviewed in order to argue that HRM fit is useful to address issues of substandard CTP. A hybrid type of research design was adopted to collect both quantitative and qualitative data through questionnaires and interviews. Analysis is based on 433 survey responses gathered from employees and managers of seven manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. Findings – The findings provide evidence not only to confirm the HRM fit hypothesis (which states that the higher the HRM fit, the greater the performance) but also to negate the said hypothesis in relation to some HRM practices. It is also revealed that HRM fit does not matter to the majority of HRM practices examined, and that HRM fit is more important for citizenship performance (CP) than for task performance (TP). Research limitations/implications – The findings represent the Sri Lankan manufacturing sector sample only. The selection of HRM practices was limited to the HRM typology of Schuler and Jackson. The extent to which person‐organisation fit may change for individuals over the course of their employment was not considered. Practical implications – The paper addresses the issue of transferability of HRM practices and aids practitioners to assess the impact of person‐organization fit on specific HRM practices. The relationship between the HR planning and control system and CTP sends signals for practitioners to consider the incorporation of HRM fit concept in selection, training and development, and the design of HRM systems. Originality/value – The paper presents an exploration of the HRM fit concept and CTP and provides empirical evidence in a developing country context. An innovative analytical approach that addresses several person‐organisation fit methodological issues is presented, which could contribute to the current knowledge and future research.

Jyotsna Bhatnagar

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826122

Purpose – With talent management becoming an area of growing concern in the literature, the purpose of this paper is to investigate talent management and its relationship to levels of employee engagement using a mixed method research design. Design/methodology/approach – The first phase was a survey on a sample of 272 BPO/ITES employees, using Gallup q 12 or Gallup Workplace Audit. Focus group interview discussion was based on reasons for attrition and the unique problems of employee engagement. In the second phase, one of the BPO organizations from the phase I sample was chosen at random and exit interview data was analyzed using factor analysis and content analysis. Findings – The results were in the expected direction and fulfilled the research aims of the current study. In the first phase low factor loadings indicated low engagement scores at the beginning of the career and at completion of 16 months with the organization. High factor loadings at intermediate stages of employment were indicative of high engagement levels, but the interview data reflected that this may mean high loyalty, but only for a limited time. In the second phase factor loadings indicated three distinct factors of organizational culture, career planning along with incentives and organizational support. The first two were indicative of high attrition. Research limitations/implications – A limitation of the research design was a sample size of 272 respondents. Some of the Cronbach's alpha scores of the subscales of Gallup q 12 were low. The strength of the study lies in data triangulation, which was obtained through a mixed method approach, a survey and unstructured focus group interviews. There are theoretical implications for the construct of employee engagement. There seems to be a construct contamination from the fields of employee satisfaction, employee commitment and employee involvement, which is beyond the scope of this paper. Future studies in India may look into this area and construct an independent scale of employee engagement, focusing on the antecedent variables and testing them for theoretical underpinnings. Originality/value – The present study indicated that a good level of engagement may lead to high retention, but only for a limited time in the ITES sector. The need for a more rigorous employee engagement construct is indicated by the study. Practical implications for retention in the BPO/ITES sector are referred to.

Soumendu Biswas; Arup Varma

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826131

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between psychological climate and employee performance, in the Indian environment, in order to understand better the conditions that foster high levels of in‐role and extra‐role performance. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a literature review, the paper includes organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and job satisfaction as mediating variables. Further, it uses data obtained from 357 managerial employees in the manufacturing and service sectors in India to analyze the relationships. Findings – The results support the hypotheses that an individual's perception of the psychological climate in the organization has a significant positive impact on his/her willingness to engage in OCBs, as well as on his/her job satisfaction levels. Further, OCB and job satisfaction levels have a significant impact on individuals' performance. Research limitations/implications – The present study relies exclusively on cross‐sectional data, limiting the ability to generalize beyond a point. Further, a significant majority of the respondents were male, again limiting generalizability. Practical implications – The findings suggest that Indian organizations need to pay attention to employee perceptions of the work environment, and that human resource strategies should go beyond establishing policies and procedures to fostering a employee‐friendly work environment that promotes both in‐role and extra‐role performance. Originality/value – This study emphasizes the importance of both in‐role and extra‐role performance in the Indian context. Further, given India's rise on the world economic scene, the findings suggest that organizations wishing to sustain their competitiveness and growth levels need to pay attention to their employees' perceptions and beliefs.

Jossy Mathew

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826140

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of organisational culture on productivity and quality in software organisations, with special reference to India. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical study was done in two phases. The first phase adopts qualitative methodology and examines the significant aspects of organisational culture, productivity, and quality and the nature of the relationship organisational culture has with productivity and quality. The second phase makes a quantitative analysis of this relationship. Findings – The study develops a range of insights into the way cultural processes tend to influence productivity and quality in people centric and knowledge intensive work contexts such as software. Research limitations/implications – This study employed perceptual measures of productivity and quality in the quantitative analysis. Future studies can develop objective criteria, which would facilitate robust quantitative analysis. Future studies should also explore whether the findings of this study have generalisability beyond the Indian context. Practical implications – The study provides insights into the management of productivity and quality in contexts where work is characterised by high levels of abstraction and invisibility. Originality/value – There are very few empirical studies on this relationship in dynamic and sophisticated work contexts such as software and this further contributes to the debate concerning the impact of organisational culture on effectiveness.

S. Raghu Raman; Pawan Budhwar; G. Balasubramanian

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826159

Purpose – The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in India is evolving rapidly, and one of the key characteristics of this industry is the emergence of high‐end services offered by knowledge processing outsourcing (KPO) organizations. These organizations are set to grow at a tremendous pace. Given the people‐intensive nature of this industry, efficient employee management is bound to play a critical role. The literature lacks studies offering insights into the HR challenges involved and the ways in which they are addressed by KPOs. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to fill this gap by presenting findings from an in‐depth case study of a KPO organization. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the research objective we adopted an in‐depth case study approach. The research setting was that of a KPO organization in India, which specialises in offering complex analytics, accounting and support services to the real estate and financial services industries. Findings – The results of this study highlight the differences in the nature of work characteristics in such organizations as compared to call centres. The study also highlights some of the key people management challenges that these organizations face like attracting and retaining talent. The case company adopts formal, structured, transparent and innovative human resource practices. The study also highlights that such enlightened human resource practices stand on the foundations laid by an open work environment and facilitative leadership. Research limitations/implications – One of the key limitations is that the analysis is based on primary data from a single case study and only 18 interviews. The analysis contributes to the fields of KPO, HRM and India and has key messages for policy makers. Originality/value – The literature on outsourcing has in general focused on call centres established in the developed world. However, the booming BPO industry in India is also beginning to offer high‐end services, which are far above the typical call centres. These KPOs and their people management challenges are relatively unexplored territories in the literature. By conducting this study in an emerging market (India) and focusing on people‐related challenges in KPOs, this study attempts to provide a fresh perspective to the extant BPO literature.

Dhruba Kumar Gautam; Ann J. Davis

2007 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450710826168

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of human resource management in publicly listed finance sector companies in Nepal. In particular, it explores the extent to which HR practice is integrated into organisational strategy and devolved to line management. Design/methodology/approach – A structured interview was conducted with the senior executive responsible for human resource management in 26 commercial banks and insurance companies in Nepal. Findings – The degree of integration of HR practice appears to be increasing within this sector, but this is dependent on the maturity of the organisations. The devolvement of responsibility to line managers is at best partial, and in the case of the insurance companies, it is more out of necessity due to the absence of a strong central HR function. Research limitations/implications – The survey is inevitably based on a small sample; however this represents 90 per cent of the relevant population. The data suggest that Western HR is making inroads into more developed aspects of Nepalese business. Compared with Nepalese business as a whole, the financial sector appears relatively Westernised, although Nepal still lags India in its uptake of HR practices. Practical implications – It appears unlikely from a cultural perspective that the devolvement of responsibility will be achieved as a result of HR strategy. National cultural, political and social factors continue to be highly influential in shaping the Nepalese business environment. Originality/value – Few papers have explored HR practice in Nepal. This paper contributes to the overall assessment of HR uptake globally and highlights emic features impacting on that uptake.