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From organizing to organizations: a typological scale of human relations management outside the legal world

From organizing to organizations: a typological scale of human relations management outside the... The article examines strategies of human resource management in the absence of institutional hedging by norm-enforcing institutions such as a state monopoly of violence by using case studies of criminal organizations. This condition provides a test-bed for studying the effects of human relations management strategies on organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, a case study methodology is applied. Three cases are selected to build a scale from complete plasticity of an undifferentiated network via a status differentiated gang to a hierarchical organization that provides social positions. The case studies are analysed by qualitative content analysis, network analysis and agent-based simulation.FindingsAn undifferentiated network based on informal trust lacks mechanisms for conflict resolution. This is a highly vulnerable organizational structure. While a status differentiated gang is more resilient towards internal conflicts, its activities remain dependent on individually accumulated social capital. This organizational structure is not resilient over generations of actors. A hierarchical organization provides highest degree of structural resilience up to a level of a system of self-organized criticality.Originality/valueThe study of human relations management outside the legal world provides insights into the basic mechanisms and functional effects of organizational activity. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Evidence-based HRM a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship Emerald Publishing

From organizing to organizations: a typological scale of human relations management outside the legal world

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References (36)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
2049-3983
DOI
10.1108/ebhrm-07-2019-0060
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The article examines strategies of human resource management in the absence of institutional hedging by norm-enforcing institutions such as a state monopoly of violence by using case studies of criminal organizations. This condition provides a test-bed for studying the effects of human relations management strategies on organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, a case study methodology is applied. Three cases are selected to build a scale from complete plasticity of an undifferentiated network via a status differentiated gang to a hierarchical organization that provides social positions. The case studies are analysed by qualitative content analysis, network analysis and agent-based simulation.FindingsAn undifferentiated network based on informal trust lacks mechanisms for conflict resolution. This is a highly vulnerable organizational structure. While a status differentiated gang is more resilient towards internal conflicts, its activities remain dependent on individually accumulated social capital. This organizational structure is not resilient over generations of actors. A hierarchical organization provides highest degree of structural resilience up to a level of a system of self-organized criticality.Originality/valueThe study of human relations management outside the legal world provides insights into the basic mechanisms and functional effects of organizational activity.

Journal

Evidence-based HRM a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship – Emerald Publishing

Published: May 12, 2021

Keywords: Status; Employee motivation; Resilience; Plasticity; Criminal enterprises; Organizational differentiation; Organizational evolution; Organizational stability; Positions

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