2007 Oxford Business & Economics Conference
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
Human Resource Issues in Global Entrepreneurial High Technology Firms
Shawn M. Carraher
Cameron University
School of Business
2800 West Gore Blvd
Lawton, OK 73505
scarraher@cameron.edu
(580) 581-2367
M. Ronald Buckley
University of Oklahoma
Division of Management
Norman, OK 73019-0450
mbuckley@ou.edu
(405) 325-5729 (405) 325-1957 (FAX)
Sarah C. Carraher
Consolidation Enterprises
sarahcarraher@yahoo.com
Gerald R. Ferris
Florida State University
Department of Management
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1110
gferris@cob.fsu.edu
(850) 644-3548 (850) 644-7843 (FAX)
Charles E. Carraher
Florida Atlantic University
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Boca Raton, FL 33431
carraher@fau.edu
(561) 297-2107 (561) 297-2759 (FAX)
Submitted to the Oxford Business and Economics Conference
Please address all correspondence to: Shawn M. Carraher
June 24-26, 2007
Oxford University, UK
1
2007 Oxford Business & Economics Conference
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
Human Resource Issue in Global Entrepreneurial Multinational High Technology Firms
Extended Abstract
In spite of the fact that high technology organizations are consistently rated as excellent
organizations for which to be employed, we know relatively little about the human resources
management practices that have been instrumental in facilitating this belief. In this study we
examine the concerns of human resource managers from four samples (one domestic and three
global) about their concerns with respect to managerial and professional employees. We
conclude that more information is needed specifically geared toward this group of employees in
this type of environment, that organizations need to spend more time seeking to accurately assess
the performance of professional and managerial employees, and that many high technology firms
have not changed practices since Sept. 11, 2001.
Although a majority of the positions in high technology organizations could be classified
as blue-collar, there has recently been a dramatic increase in the attention given to human
resources management issues in high technology organizations as they pertain to the professional
(e.g., scientists, engineers, and R & D specialists) and managerial occupational groups (Spreitzer
& McCall, 1997; Sullivan, 1999). Additionally, work in entrepreneurial high technology
organizations is considerably different than that in any of the other environments in which
professionals and managers typically practice (Parnell, Carraher, & Odom, 2000). The external
and internal environments in which high technology organizations exist are neither well defined
nor are they well understood which can create a set of unique demands on the activities of both
supervisors and those supervised (Eisenhardt, 1989). In fact, the environment in high technology
June 24-26, 2007
Oxford University, UK
2
2007 Oxford Business & Economics Conference
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
organizations results in a fundamental dilemma for management practitioners because there is a
need to be both structured (in terms of making timely decisions concerning rapidly changing
technology) and flexible (able to shift rapidly due to changes in technology). We must conclude,
then, that surprisingly little is known about high technology organizations and that what we
believe to be true may well be based upon a number of misunderstandings and assumptions that
have been made in terms of the transferability of generic management practices to high
technology environments (Ferris, Hockwarter, Buckley, Harrell-Cook, & Frink, 1999).
The purpose of this paper is to look at several human resource management areas where
processes in high technology environments may different from other environments and to
examine these issues as they pertain to the management of human resources in multinational
entrepreneurial high technology organizations.
METHODS
Samples
In order to shed some light on issues of interest to multinational entrepreneurial high technology
organizations we solicited the responses of the human resources directors of three groups of high
technology organizations [all groups of firms focus on computer hardware and software]. For
sample 1 (domestic firms) we surveyed 104 human resource directors from the Midwest in the
late 1980's. For sample 2 (multinational firms) we surveyed 318 human resource directors
attending 3 technology conferences 10 years later. For sample 3 we surveyed 155 human
resource directors in late 2001. For sample 4 we surveyed 138 of the human resource directors in
early 2006. The organizations represented were from (in order of number in the sample) the
June 24-26, 2007
Oxford University, UK
3
2007 Oxford Business & Economics Conference
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
U.S.A., Japan, Canada, South Korea, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia and had been in
existence from 2 weeks to over 100 years with over 56% having been created within the last 10
years.
Data Collection
The first group of organizations was sampled via surveys mailed through the U.S. postal
service. The second group of organizations was sampled at three technology conferences as were
the respondents from the third sample. Members of the forth sample were contacted via e-mail.
Using open-ended questions respondents were asked to answer questions about their primary
concerns with professional and managerial employees within their organizations. Over 97.5% of
individuals approached chose to participate in the survey.
Results
In terms of differences between our samples the primary differences were between the
North American and Asian samples. In the North American samples a greater percentage of
professional employees were being hired from Pakistan and India than had been the case in the
1980's and than was the case with the Asian samples. For the organizations which had been in
existence for over 10 years, over 87% of the respondents had reported a large change in their
recruiting sources within the last decade. For instance in the Mexican sample a large number of
the professional and managerial employees come from Japan, but respondents reported that the
percentage coming from Japan had decreased in the last ten years.
Overall, our surveys found that within both domestic and multinational entrepreneurial
organizations the concerns of the human resource managers focused on three major issues: (1)
June 24-26, 2007
Oxford University, UK
4
2007 Oxford Business & Economics Conference
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
the measurement and appraisal of performance, (2) the proper reward structures for employees,
and (3) the attraction and retention of high quality employees. These three issues were of equal
concern to both domestic and international organizations and all three had as their focal point
how to differentiate between levels of performance both of current employees and potential
future employees. We also found that there were no statistically different results from human
resource directors before and after September 11, 2001 – whether months after the attack or years
later.
REFERENCES
Ambrose, M. & Kulik, C. (1999). Old friends, new faces: Motivation research in the 1990's.
Journal of Management, 25 (3), 231-292.
Buckley, M., Fedor, D., Veres, J., Wiese, D., & Carraher, S. (1998). Investigating newcomer
expectations and job-related outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 452-461.
Carraher, S. & Buckley, M. R. (1996). The effect of cognitive complexity on the perceived
dimensionality of the PSQ. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 102-109.
Eisenhardt, K. (1989). Making fast strategic decisions in high-velocity environments. Academy
of Management Journal, 32, 543-576.
Ferris, G., Hochwarter, W., Buckley, M., Harrell-Cook, & Frink, D. (1999). Human resources
management: Some new directions. Journal of Management, 25 (3), 385-416.
Parnell, J., Carraher, S., & Odom, R. (2000). Business Strategy and performance in the
entrepreneurial computer software industry, Journal of Business & Entrepreneurship.
Sullivan, S. (1999). The changing nature of careers: A review and research agenda. Journal of
June 24-26, 2007
Oxford University, UK
5
2007 Oxford Business & Economics Conference
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
Management, 25 (3), 457-484.
June 24-26, 2007
Oxford University, UK
6