Critically assess whether SHRM leads to high performance?
REMEMBER: Central concern with SHRM has been to establish whether there is a link to performance, so this link is not proven but it is not been unproven as well, nobody knows the answer. You need to make an opinion and prove it.
These are studies that tried to prove it : Research them: Hawthorne studies, TQM,
These are people to look up and learn their studies and write about them: 1. Beer et al 1985; Fombrum et al 1984 , 2. E.g. Huselid 1995; Pfeffer 1994, 1998

Methods of measure

Level Measures Examples
Individual: Attitudes, such as commitment or engagement Applebaum et al (2000) found that investments in high performance work practices were associated with increased levels of trust, job satisfaction and commitment in a range of different industries
Behaviours, such as turnover or levels of absenteeism, or organisational citizenship behaviour Guthrie et al (2009) in a study of 165 firms found that high performance work practices improved attendance and retention
Performance, Wright et al (2003) studied over 5,000 employees in 50 business units and found that progressive HR practices led to higher levels of commitment and individual productivity

Unit : Group or unit level performance MacDuffie (1995) found that bundles of HR practices were associated with quality and productivity on automotive assembly lines

Organisational : Organisational characteristics, such as agility and flexibility, organisational learning, innovation or social climate Youndt and Snell (2004) found that the design of HR practices impacted on levels of firm social capital. Collins and Smith (2006) found HR impacted on organisational social climates and knowledge exchange and combination
Organisational performance, productivity or quality West et al (2002) found that HR practices in the areas of teamworking, training and appraisal reduced levels of patient mortality in hospital
Financial Cost control, sustained competitive advantage, shareholder value, return on assets, stock price, sales Huselid (1995) in a study of 12,000 US companies found that investment in high-performance HR practices led to higher sales, profits and shareholder value; Collins and Smith (2006) found that increasing commitment-based HR practices led to a 16.9% increase in sales from new products and services, and an 18.8% growth in sales overall in high-tech firms

Problems & controversies Discuss these and weigh them up with the strengths:
? Defining SHRM
? Rhetoric/reality gap
? Specifying outcomes
? Theoretical linkage
? Methodology
? Perspective
What indicators of performance can be used?
Leadership practices
Employee Engagement
Knowledge Accessibility
Information Sharing
Workforce Optimization

Below is a table of what can be measured in terms of performance:
Employee attitudes
Employee performance
Employee behaviours
Health and safety measures
Workforce profile and costs
Return on Investment in HR Department
Cost and efficacy of HR activities
Customer outcomes
Talk about line managers and what role they play.
Answer all these questions at some point in your essay:
Does a well designed HR strategy = increased organisational performance?
Do line managers mediate this relationship? How?
Is an increase in performance the result of a direct impact of HRM?
Will hiring the best trained workers result in increased organisational performance?
Will the design of jobs in a particular way increase organisational performance?
Can also link these theories universalistic approach, contingency approach, resource based view approach, institutionalist approach Please try to find other theories that links to this