4420: HR Research Methods
01: Introduction
2018
James Chowhan, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Human Resource Management
York University
chowhan@yorku.ca
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Learning Objectives
• Understand the differences between researchbased versus intuition-based human resource
management
• Discuss the origins of human resource research
• Discuss the reasons why human resources
research is becoming more important in
organizations today
• Discuss and understand the model of human
resources research and practice and how these
two functions are related
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Learning Objectives (cont’d)
• Understand the steps in the research process and
the development of hypotheses
• Discuss and understand the meaning of
independent and dependent variables, and
mediating and moderating effects.
• Be able to review the literature on human
resource topics and develop testable hypotheses
• Discuss and understand the human resource
measurement and evaluation matrix
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HRM: Research-based v. Intuition
• Evidenced-based decision making versus
hunch-based decisions
• What does this mean?
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HRM: Research-based v. Intuition
• What is research?
• Systematic investigation of issues, concerns or
questions
• Research generates evidence by linking
information and facts to propositions
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HRM:
Researchbased
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HRM: Research-based v. Intuition
• Evidenced-based decision making versus
hunch-based decisions
• Systematic reviews of research
• For example: https://www.cochrane.org/about-us
• Video on systematic reviews in medical field:
https://youtu.be/egJlW4vkb1Y
• Decisions rooted in research that links HR
practices to improved outcomes
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HRM: Research-based v. Intuition
• Assessing the evidence still requires good
judgement (understanding context and basis for
our conclusions)
• Thus, avoid making decisions based solely on
past practice, previous preferences, or
anecdotal successes
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HRM: Research-based v. Intuition Examples
• Make sure your decisions are well informed
using current best evidence, for example:
• Unstructured versus Structured job interviews
• Structured: systematic, based on job analysis,
improved selection
• Traditional (glowing) versus realistic job
previews
• Realistic preview: improved performance and lower
turnover
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HRM: From the literature
Source: Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of
85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274.
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HRM: From the literature
• abc
Source: Schmidt, Frank L. and Oh, In‐Sue and Shaffer, Jonathan A., The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and
Theoretical Implications of 100 Years of Research Findings (October 17, 2016). Fox School of Business Research Paper. Available at SSRN:
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2853669
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HR Managers: Practicing the craft
• In the late 19th century and into the 20th
psychologists and industrial psychologists
focused on:
• Physical and psychological differences
• Developed experiments to better understand
variability between individuals (interventions)
• Topics of interest:
•
intelligence (mental abilities), personality (mental traits),
motivation, …
• Goals: to improve industrial efficiency
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HR Managers: Practicing the craft
• Behavioural Scientists focused on
• Improving selection
• Training
• Performance assessment
• Early 20th century, improvements in:
•
•
•
•
Construct definitions (antecedents and criterion)
Measurement and validation
Techniques: experiments, interviews, and surveys,
Statistical analysis
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HR Managers: Practicing the craft
• Scientific Management v. Human Relations
• Frederick Taylor v. Mary Parker Follett
• Efficiency movement (Taylorism):
•
•
•
•
“Man as machine” view
Time and motion studies
Production and jobs broken into component parts
Prescriptive: what to do, how to do, how much time
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HR Managers: Practicing the craft
• Scientific Management v. Human Relations
• Frederick Taylor v. Mary Parker Follett
• Human Relations (M.P. Follett):
• Morale and satisfaction of the workers to increase
productivity
• Increase involvement and belonging of workers
• Reduce over-management of workers
• Reciprocal relationships; where authority is seen
as inferior to collaboration
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HR Managers: Practicing the craft
• Hawthorne Studies (Elton Mayo at Western
Electric Company (WEC) in Illinois, 1924):
Focus on: 3:56 to 6:18
and 6:50 to 9:34
• Video: https://youtu.be/D3pDWt7GntI
• WEC context (before experiments): Pension, oneweek vacation, disability pay
• Illumination Experiments (1924-27): does better
lighting enhance worker productivity?
•
•
Sample: women workers who primarily assembled relays,
their output was measured as units completed per unit of
time
Productivity increased for increases and then even for
decreases in illumination
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HR Managers: Practicing the craft
•
Steven D. Levitt & John A. List, 2011. "Was There Really a Hawthorne Effect at the Hawthorne Plant? An Analysis of the Original Illumination
Experiments," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 224-38, January.
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HR Managers: Practicing the craft
• Hawthorne Studies:
• WEC experiments continued (1928-32): the effect of
rest periods and workdays length on output
• Productivity higher during experiments
•
Individuals more productive when they know they are
being studied
• Researcher key findings: Businesses are social
systems composed of interdependent parts, people
can contribute, collaborative (supervisors need to
listen)
• Hawthorne effect is …attention to employees, not
work conditions per se…
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HR Managers: Practicing the craft
• Summary:
• Hawthorne Studies highlight two approaches to
Human Resource Management
• Human relations movement that focuses on employee
involvement
• Versus: employees as mechanical elements of a
production process
• Current research, terms:
•
•
Commitment v. Control management
High-performance work systems v. Low cost systems
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Human resource practices and
organizational effectiveness
• Research has focused on exploring:
• Which, How, When, and Where HR practices
effect individual and organizational outcomes
• This is linked to the effectiveness of practices
• Identifying, developing, implementing and
evaluating how HR practices impact outcomes
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Human resource practices and
organizational effectiveness
•
Chowhan, J. (2016) ‘Unpacking the black box: understanding the relationship between strategy, HRM practices, innovation and organizational performance’ Human
Resource Management Journal 26: 2, 112–133
Skill-Enhancing
•
•
•
Recruitment
Selection
Training
Motivation-Enhancing
•
•
•
Performance schemes
Promotion opportunity
Benefits
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Opportunity-Enhancing
•
•
•
•
Autonomous work
Self-directed groups
Flexible job design
Information-sharing
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Human resource practices and
organizational effectiveness
“Black
Box”
Including
innovation
•
Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P., Hu, J., and Baer, J. C. (2012). How Does Human Resource Management Influence Organizational Outcomes? A Meta-analytic Investigation of
Mediating Mechanisms. Academy of Management Journal, 55(6), 1264-1294. (page 1270)
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HRM:
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Feedback loop is critical
part of cyclical process
Source: Saks, Alan M. (2009). Research, Measurement and Evaluation of Human Resources. Toronto: Nelson, 1st Edition.
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Accountability of human resource departments
• Human resource department’s roles were once
mainly thought of as administrative in focus
(e.g. hire, pay, benefits, etc…)
• However, the role of HR is becoming viewed
more strategically
• HR not just functional role
• But can also provide a return on investments in HR
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Strategic human resource management
• Do practices support or hinder organizational
strategy?
• Do HR practices and policies reinforce strategic
activities?
• Ensuring HR practices “fit” with strategic
objectives is critical, for example:
• product leader (HR practices: autonomy, reward
innovation)
• operation excellence (HR: high skill, reward
efficiency)
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The value-added of human resource programs
• Critique: Human Resources does not add-value
• HR departments with a strategic focus can
work to ensure fit and can quantify value:
• For example, utility analysis (Ch12):
• Quantify the performance improvements from
implementing specific HR practices
• For example, see figure
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The value-added of human resource programs
Organizational Performance Outcomes for
Innovation and Strategy Interactions
$75,342
• Operational
Excellence
(OE)
$72,278
• Product
Leader (PL)
$66,883
$63,132
Source: Statistics Canada, Workplace and
Employee Survey (WES), 2005
Chowhan, J. (2013). High performance
work systems: a causal framework of
training, innovation, and organizational
performance in Canada. Management of
Organizational Behaviour and Human
Resources
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The new human resources
• Moving beyond administrative functions
• HR professionals, in addition to being
administrative experts, they need to be able to:
• Be Strategic Partners
• Be a Employee Champion
• Be apart of the solution--Change Agent
• Requires HR professionals to make
• Evidence-based decisions (Research!)
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HRM: The Research Process
• Research is used to improve understanding
through:
• Developing research ideas (e.g. issue or concern
determines the main questions of interest)
• Research design
• Collecting data
• Analyzing data (evaluate and interpret)
• Publication process (i.e. article or report)
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HRM:
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Source: Saks, Alan M. (2009). Research, Measurement and Evaluation of Human Resources. Toronto: Nelson, 1st Edition.
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HRM: Scenario example
• Imagine you are the head of an HR Department
• You are observing an increase in quits, which is
creating a big drain on time because of the
increased need to hire quality replacement
workers
• You meet with department heads and realize the
work has become more intense over the last
several months
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HRM: Scenario example
• You know from your degree at York University
and your review of the recent HR literature that
the following framework is relevant:
• Work intensification is positively related to stress
• Stress is negatively related to job satisfaction, and
• Job satisfaction is positively related to intention to
stay with the organization
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HRM: Scenario example
• Review the situation and the relevant literature
• HR association (HRPA in Ontario)
•
http://www.hrprofessionalnow.ca/
• Journal and trade publication articles
•
•
•
https://cphr.ca/resources/original-studies-and-reports/
http://www.hrreporter.com/
https://issuu.com/workforce-magazine
• Academic Journals (e.g.)
•
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17488583
• Other HR reviews (e.g.)
•
http://cochranelibrary-wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010905/full
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HRM: Scenario example
• After reviewing the literature
• You should have a better understanding of:
• The relevant questions to ask
• The research design most commonly used to
answer the questions (qualitative or quantitative)
• Measurement, what is the best way to collect
information of the concepts of interest
• Collected data will need to be analyzed and the
results interpreted
• Finally, reports will need to be written and action
taken
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HRM: Scenario example
• You know from your degree at York University
and your review of the recent HR literature
Theoretical Mediation Model:
that:
• work intensification is positively related to stress
• Stress is negatively related to job satisfaction, and
• Job satisfaction is positively related to intention to
stay wit the organization
H3a
H2a
H1
H2b
Hypothesis 1 (H1): Work
intensification will be positively
associated with PSWs’ stress.
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H3b
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HRM: Scenario example
• You know from your degree at York University
and your review of the recent HR literature
Theoretical Mediation Model
that: Age Moderation
with Worker
• work intensification is positively related to stress
• Stress is negatively related to job satisfaction, and
• Job satisfaction is positively related to intention to
stay wit the organization
Workers
aged 40>
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HRM: Scenario example
• You know from your degree at York University
and your review of the recent HR literature
Theoretical Mediation Model:
that:
Job security, fairly paid, benefits
good, and promotion opportunity
E.g. exhausted,
headaches, burnt out,
helpless, irritable,
dizzy, etc…
• work intensification is positively related to stress
• Stress is negatively related to job satisfaction, and
• Job satisfaction is positively related to intention to
stay wit the organization
‘The pace’ and ‘the
heaviness/denseness’ of
work
Sense of accomplishment, purpose in life,
job interesting, job builds self-esteem
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HRM: Scenario example
• You know from your degree at York University
and your review of the recent HR literature
Theoretical Mediation Model:
that:
Job security, fairly paid, benefits
good, and promotion opportunity
E.g. exhausted,
headaches, burnt out,
helpless, irritable,
dizzy, etc…
• work intensification is positively related to stress
• Stress is negatively related to job satisfaction, and
• Job satisfaction is positively related to intention to
stay wit the organization
‘The pace’ and ‘the
heaviness/denseness’ of
work
• What are your recommendations?
• Possible solutions: mitigate work
intensification or stress
Sense of accomplishment, purpose in life,
job interesting, job builds self-esteem
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Measurement and Analysis Levels
• abc
Source: Saks, Alan M. (2009). Research, Measurement and Evaluation of Human Resources. Toronto: Nelson, 1st Edition.
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Research Report: Format Style
• APA format
• York sources:
• https://spark.library.yorku.ca/wpcontent/themes/glendonits-spark20151125/resources/Essay%20Formatting.pdf
• https://www.library.yorku.ca/spark/creating_bibliogra
phies/APA%20Style%20Overview%20(Oct2,2013)fin
al.pdf
• Library examples:
• https://www.library.yorku.ca/find/Record/2323290
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• https://www.library.yorku.ca/find/Record/2978610
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Research Report: Format Style
• Other APA general report format examples:
•
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/1/
• Sample format:
•
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/18/
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Research Report: Structure
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Title and abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Theory, framework, hypotheses development
Data, analysis, and variables
Results
Discussion (implications, limitations, future
research)
• Conclusion
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Summary
• We have talked about the HR research process
and reviewed the key steps
• We have highlighted the importance of
research/evidence in aiding decisions and
supporting the role of an HR department that is
a partner within their organization
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