Carol Gill

The role of leadership in successful international mergers and acquisitions: Why Renault-Nissan succeeded and DaimlerChrysler-Mitsubishi failed.

Carol Gill — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:15:40 PDT

This paper compares and contrasts the Renault-Nissan and DaimlerChrysler Mitsubishi mergers to consider the relative and combined effects of national and organizational culture on the performance of Nissan and Mitsubishi. It also examines the reasons why the Renault-Nissan merger was successful and the Daimler-Chrysler merger failed. It finds that Japanese national culture influenced organizational culture and HRM practices which created organizations that had no sense of urgency, profit orientation and accountability and led to poor market and financial performance. It also finds that leadership was a major factor impacting on the success of the turnaround efforts of these two organizations. These findings have implications for leaders and human resource management practitioners engaged in international business and are of particular relevance to Western organizations working with organizations in high context countries with a collectivist rather than individualistic orientation.

The impact of Japanese culture on inter and intra organization supply chains

Carol Gill — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:42:06 PDT

This paper examines the relationship between national culture, organizational culture and supply chain performance in the Japanese Automotive Industry. To do this it compares and contrasts organization behavior and performance at Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi. It concludes that whilst extant theory predicts at the national etic level that the Japanese collectivist culture would have high performing internal supply chains that the reverse can occur at the organizational emic level without intervention. It also finds that national culture shapes leadership style which had an impact on the success of culture change at Nissan and Mitsubishi. Finally, it finds that leaders and human resource managers can effectively manage organization culture change in cross country contexts by using Schein’s (2004) six cultural embedding and reinforcing mechanisms. These findings have implications for international supply chain and human resource management, particularly in high context countries which characterize many emerging economies that are of increasing relevance as supply chains globalize.

Asian practices can get lost in translation

Carol Gill — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:44:22 PDT

From Nissan we learn that organisational culture can become independent of the influences of national culture with effective leadership.

HRM as chameleon: Is soft HRM rhetoric used to disguise and increase in managment control?

Carol Gill — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:58:13 PDT

The Critical Perspective proposes that HRM is ineffective, suggesting that only a name change differentiates HRM and its precursor Personnel. Simultaneously, it presents HRM as a predator that uses rhetoric to disguise an increase in management control. This research examines these propositions from the Critical Perspective through a survey sent to Human Resource Managers in 896 large, Australian organizations. The results challenge the propositions of the Critical Perspective indicating that HRM has been implemented in rhetoric and reality. The results also show that HRM does not manipulate the workforce to increase management control by using soft rhetoric to obscure hard reality.

Use of Hard and Soft Models of HRM to illustrate the gap between Rhetoric and Reality in Workforce Management

Carol Gill — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:49:50 PDT

At the rhetorical level many organisations espouse the "soft" version of Human Resource Management (HRM) that focuses on treating employees as valued assets and a source of competitive advantage. However, organisational reality appears "hard" with an emphasis on the quantitative, calculative and strategic aspects of managing a "head count". The dichotomy of soft and hard HRM (termed Developmental Humanism and Utilitarian Instrumentalism) has been identified by Legge (1989) in her critique of the normative model of HRM. Noon (1994) suggests that this dichotomy in HRM manifests itself as a gap between rhetoric and reality. Truss et al.'s (1997) study involving eight in depth case studies confirms this gap. Whilst this study found that there were no pure examples of soft or hard HRM, "the rhetoric adopted by the companies frequently embraces the tenets of the soft, commitment model, while the reality experienced by employees is more concerned with strategic control, similar to the hard model". It is necessary to expose the gap between rhetoric and reality so that organisations can clearly review the effectiveness of their human resource strategies, human resource functions can clearly identify their role and the pluralist needs of employees be met. This study uses hard and soft concepts of HRM to explore the gap between rhetoric and reality in Australian organisations using annual reports to assess rhetoric and existing workforce surveys to assess reality. The outcomes of this study support the findings of Truss et al. that organisational rhetoric is soft and reality is hard. Frequently organisation initiatives initially appear soft, however, when they are examined closely they are hard, with practices of empowerment, involvement, communication and training generally restricted to the improvement of bottom-line performance. Further research is required to examine the antecedents and consequences of this gap for organisations and employees.

Don't get angry, Get Psychological Flexibility

Carol Gill — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:59:55 PDT

Research has found that if you can recognize your negative feelings, defuse them, then choose a more appropriate response, you are more likely to emerge as a leader in a self-managed team.

The role and impact of HRM policy

Carol Gill et al. — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:30:58 PDT

Purpose – This study seeks to investigate the role and impact of HRM policy, and the gap between policy and practice, on organizations and their employees. It looks at the role that soft policy plays in obscuring hard practice and considers the impact of unions and HRM role on policy. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses survey data collected from senior members of the HRM function in 189 large Australian organizations. Findings – The research found a gap between policy and practice with soft policy being used more often than soft practice. This gap had a negative impact on outcomes. Strategic HRM reduces the gap, Impoverished HRM increases it and Unions have a neutral impact. Research limitations/implications – This study used survey data from HRM managers, who whilst being the best single source of information, may have distorted their responses. Practical implications – Managers and HR functions should increase both soft policy and soft practice and ensure there is no gap between policy and practice. To achieve this, organizations should ensure that the HRM function is both strategic and effectively resourced. Originality/value – It has been proposed that British Pluralist traditions have stimulated a critical approach to the unitarist and empirically sound U.S. model of HRM. It is also argued that their arguments are developed for an academic audience and have little practical relevance for managers and HRM functions. Finally, they have been accused of using research methodologies that lead to preferred interpretations. This research makes a significant contribution to this debate through a large scale, empirical perspective.

A fitting strategy

Carol Gill — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:58:10 PST

Take advantage of the tools available to check the fit between HRM and business strategy

Implementing an employee survey that is linked to business strategy

Carol Gill — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:54:42 PST

A previous article published in this magazine concluded that whilst many organisations have adopted employee surveys as regular HRM practice it is only when surveys are linked to organisational strategy and implemented effectively that they can make a contribution. This article articulated two principles, firstly organisations should only ask what they want and need to know (relevant data) and they should be able and willing to act on what they find (actionable data). This article focuses on the implemenation of an employee survey that is consistent with these two principles.

Employee Surveys and HRM Strategy

Carol Gill — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:48:02 PST

This article demonstrates that employee surveys can be an important strategic tool but poor implementation can diminish their value. Specifically surveys should be linked to Business Strategy and have actionable outcomes.

Balancing the rhetoric and reality of workplace stress

Carol Gill — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:34:58 PST

Workplace stress and its causes can pose a dilemma for HR practitioners

Talent Wins

Carol Gill — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:32:26 PST

Progressive HR Practices can make your business an employer of choice if you can move beyond 'toxic accounting' and 'downsizing' anorexia.

Review Blues

Carol Gill — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:28:43 PST

Performance assessments can be a shattering experience, writes Carol Gill, who looks at one way of making them more objective

Psychological Testing: rogues, romance and roadside assistance

Carol Gill — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:08:19 PST

Psychological testing has the mystique of white magic…potential and existing employees complete several relatively brief paper and pencil tests and the organization receives a concise report (accurate to the percentile!) that is able to describe personality, intelligence and various other significant characteristics in detail…to predict the future! This magic though, in most cases, can only be performed by a witch doctor (Psychologist), which contributes to the “black box” aura of testing. Despite the reported validity of testing there are a range of methodological and ethical issues in using psychological tests, however, the most important question is how significant is the psychological test to the selection and management of employees? In particular, can we assess “fit” to a static concept of job or culture when organizations are complex and dynamic systems? Can simplistic solutions provide answers to complex phenomenon such as personality, when we know that behavior is context dependent? Can we be sure that employees that have “it” will be willing and able to use “it”? In this light is “human being gazing” superior to staring at the stars or a crystal ball?

The Impact of Psychological Flexibility on Leadership Behavior in Self Managed Teams

Carol Gill et al. — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:56:48 PST

This paper examines the impact of psychological flexibility on emergent leadership behavior in a sample of 395 MBA students, comprising 76 self-managed teams at a large Australian university. We hypothize that psychological flexibility enhances team member performance by allowing individuals to notice, comprehend and respond effectively to leadership opportunities in the team context. Consistent with predictions, results show that individuals’ psychological flexibility had a positive impact on emergent leadership behavior, which in turn influenced individuals’ peer-rated performance and individuals’ satisfaction with the team experience. The findings provide initial evidence that the development of psychological flexibility in team members can improve performance in self-managed teams.

How unions impact on the state of the psychological contract to facilitate the adoption of new work practices

Carol Gill — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:39:59 PST

This article draws together empirical research in the psychological contract, trust, unions and NWP literatures to draw conclusions on the way in which unions impact on NWP. It finds that strong unions that have a co-operative relationship with management prevent and heal breaches in the psychological contract and facilitate a virtuous trust cycle that is important to the implementation of NWP. This has significant implications for theory and practice, particularly in anti-union institutional contexts that are focused on union avoidance, suppression and substitution.

High and Low Road Approaches to the management of Human Resources: An Examination of the Relationship between Business Strategy, Human Resource Management and High Performance Work Practices

Carol Gill et al. — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:39:27 PST

The Contingency approach to human resource management leads to the hypothesis that High Performance Work Practices (HPWP) are more compatible with ‘High Road’ business strategies that emphasize product differentiation through quality and innovation. More traditional human resource management is better suited to ‘Low Road’ business strategies that emphasise cost control and competition based primarily on price. Using data collected from a sample of 179 large Australian workplaces we tested the contingencies that influence HPWP implementation and impact. Our results support the Contingency approach in that High Road organisations are more likely to adopt HPWP and the Universal approach in that both High and Low Road organisations derive equal benefit from the implementation of HPWP. High Road organisations may be more likely to adopt HPWP because they see more benefit from their introduction or they may find it easier to implement HPWP because they have a less prohibitive union presence, a theory Y management attitude and a longer-term time horizon.

How unions impact on the state of the psychological contract to facilitate the adoption of new work practices

Carol Gill — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:40:31 PST

This article draws together extant knowledge from the psychological contract, trust, union and new work practices (NWP) literature to develop a model on how union presence impacts on the effective adoption of NWP. It proposes that the strength of unions, coupled with the quality of industrial relations, determines whether unions will have a positive or negative impact on NWP. Unions can have a positive impact on the adoption of NWP by reducing the gap between management rhetoric and reality through employee voice and workforce stability. This builds trust between management and employees creating a virtuous cycle that can mitigate contract breaches which threaten the employee commitment so essential to NWP success. This article also finds that management attitude plays a significant role in determining the quality of industrial relations. This has significant implications for theory and practice, particularly in anti-union institutional contexts that are focused on union avoidance, suppression and substitution. In particular it informs management decision making on the implementation of NWP and unions.

The impact of culture on inter and intra organization supply chains at Nissan

Carol Gill — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:35:52 PST

This paper examines how national and organizational culture influences supply chain management. To do this it reports on the case of Nissan Motor Company and finds that Japanese national culture had a significant impact on Nissan’s inter organizational supply chain. In addition to this, national culture influenced organizational culture which had a substantive impact on Nissan’s intra organizational supply chain. This article also analyses how Nissan was able to integrate its internal supply chain through culture change that successfully introduced Anglo business and human resource management practices into a Confusion Asian culture. It concludes that Nissan's organization culture had a greater impact on Nissan’s performance than its country of origin. In doing so it counters the resource based proposition that a misfit between national culture and management practice reduces effectiveness and the collorary that a fit between the two is a source of competitive advantage. These findings have implications for international supply chain and human resource management, particularly in high context countries which characterize many emerging economies that are of increasing relevance as supply chains globalize.

Union Impact on the Effective Adoption of High Performance Work Practices

Carol Gill — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:30:42 PST

This paper examines the literature and research on unions relevant to the effective adoption of High Performance Work Practices and demonstrates that unions that have a cooperative relationship with management can play an important role in overcoming barriers to the effective adoption of practices that have been linked to organizational competitiveness through the development and application of human capital. In particular, unions have the unique advantage of delivering independent voice that can not be substituted by management. Not only can unions make a contribution to organization competitiveness but they can also ensure that employees benefit from High Performance Work Practice adoption and in doing so secure their own relevance. The contribution that unions can make is inhibited by management and union's reluctance to engage in an integrative relationship and an institutional context that does not value unions. Organizations that want to capture the value that unions can add must move away from a pluralist model of autocratic management, hostile unions and adversarial industrial relations, beyond a unitarist model that sees no role for unions, to a cooperative partnership with unions that shares the gains of implementing High Performance Work Practices.