RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORM

Research Proposal Form

Research Proposal Form

Potential Topic 1

(A) Title of Dissertation (working title)

HRM and organizational change: An emotional endeavor

(B) Introduction & Background information about the research

In the various considerations which are made when discussing the possible contribution of human resource management (HRM)VI) to organizational change, the line of reasoning offered by the human resource-based view of the firm (see for a recent overview, pops up frequently. The promising role ascribed to strategic HRM in the accomplishment of organizational success has seduced many academics and practitioners to embrace the insights found in this particular theory. The human resource-based view of the firm argues that the chance for an organization to obtain and retain sustainable competitive advantage largely depends on the degree of exclusivity found in the employees' competencies and skills. The more unique, irreplaceable and inimitable these competencies and skills are, the higher their contribution to the achievement of organizational goals is supposed to be. What goes for the strategic goals of an organization in general, also holds for the objectives of organizational change. Hence, when applied to the field of organizational change, the line of reasoning offered by the human resource-based view of the firm stresses the unique contribution the employees can make to organizational change processes. In light of this theory, HRM should provide the conditions under which such a contribution can be made.

According to the insights of the human resource-based view of the ®rm, HRM has an important and dif®cult task in stimulating the people involved in organizational change processes so that they will develop their unique qualities and that they will mobilize them for the success of the change effort. Despite its focus on the promising role of HRM, the human resource-based view of the ®rm is based on a poorly thought-out system-control model and can be characterized as a utilitarian/instrumental approach, when looked on from a critical perspective. mFirst, the human resource-based view of the ®rm does not examine the complex and contradictory context within which decisions are made.

The view assumes that management is unambiguous by nature. In this respect, the view is a classic example of what Watson (2002) calls ªsystems-control thinkingº. The organization is seen as a system, which is controlled by quali®ed and rational managers, all of whom are neutral experts, capable of designing, engineering and driving the system to reach pre-established organizational goals. To be more precise, in the human resource-based view of the ®rm the elements can be traced of technocratic dependence on the manager-expert who controls the organizational mechanism and steers it in the direction of translucent organizational goals. The approach is based on a simple inputthroughput- output (ITO) model, i.e. a power-neutral set of coherent decisions, taken by rational thinking managers. Such a model takes for granted the many black boxes characterizing the obscurity of these ITO-processes. It also fails to address properly the complex, power-based and chaotic relationships between the system and its environment (Achterbergh and Riesewijk, 1999). Simple systems thinking excludes from its domain the ...