PurposeThe strategic human resource management (SHRM) emerged in the middle of the 1980s and is currently seen as a relevant research and practical field in the area of business administration (Kaufman, 2015). Its academic relevance has been receiving international attention due to the importance of the strategic performance of human resource management (HRM) (Jackson, Schuler, & Jiang, 2014). It is possible to define SHRM as a vertical connection between HRM practices and international strategy and horizontally as the congruence among the several human resource practices (Wright & McMahan, 1992).Design/methodology/approachTaking into consideration the emerging research gaps in the area, the necessity to bring to attention the implementation of policies and strategic practices of human resource management became prominent. Our study characterizes the national scenario regarding this specific research theme. For such, we developed a bibliometric review of national journals in the area of business administration with level Qualis B2 [1] or above, described the institutionalization of the research in Brazil and established a sociogram with research relationship networks in the country.FindingsBetween 1997 and 2017, only 19 articles on the implementation of SHRM were published in the 32 journals researched. The characterization of the studies indicates a predominance of qualitative articles, which adopt as methodological approach the case study, and most of them use interviews and content analysis as techniques of data collection and analysis, respectively. The use of such investigation tools is in line with the nature of the phenomenon studied. The scenario indicates that the implementation of SHRM is still a developing theme in Brazil.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a lack of studies that combine the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches and focus on public organizations. Besides, the results indicate the need to diversify the methodological approaches used. Regarding the institutionalization of research in Brazil, it is possible to notice the growth of research groups investigating SHRM, even though their only focus does not rely on implementation. The academic production regarding the theme is regionally located in the state of São Paulo, even though academic production is also to be found in a decentralized way in the country, with rare networks.Practical implicationsThis way, the main contribution of this article is the accomplishment of the first bibliometric review regarding the implementation of SHRM in Brazil, showing the scientific community that the theme still presents a gap to be explored in national studies and showing human resource professionals and the society that the transformational switch of human management to organizational outcomes – despite prolific in the academia – still has not been realized in practice.Social implicationsIn the articles analyzed, the most common finding was that the effective implementation of SHRM and strategic practices of HR, such as the competency management, still deserves attention of the academia through the accomplishment of deeper qualitative studies that exhibit not only interfering factors but also the initiatives that must be adopted by the organization to favor the implementation process.Originality/valueThe interventions occurred in an organization can or cannot stem from an articulated HR strategy. Some policies can be implemented without a previous explicit planning, and other planned strategies may never even be effectively implemented (Truss & Gratton, 1994). As reported by Kaufman (2015), some critical success factors to a large-scale organizational change – which is necessary for the effective adoption of strategic HR models – are the commitment of leaderships and a carefully planned and managed implementation. For such, it is necessary to manage programmed organizational changes properly and to act promptly on the cultural pressure perceived by all levels of the organization (Guest, 1987). Such premises are associated with the SHRM perspective proposed by Wright and Snell (1998), in which the authors claim that the main role of HR is to implement organizational strategies. Lengnick-Hall et al. (2009) present a research agenda that highlights the need to give more emphasis on issues related to the implementation of strategic human resource management, specifically regarding the vertical and horizontal alignment of HR systems.

Objetivo da pesquisa: Descrever a relevância das habilidades políticas dos líderes de unidades de Gestão de Pessoas (GP) para a implementação de suas políticas em organizações públicas. Enquadramento teórico: Tendo em vista que diversos fatores interferem a implementação de políticas e práticas de GP, este estudo considera a esfera política inerente ao complexo contexto das organizações públicas, abarcando o impacto das habilidades políticas da liderança de GP na inserção das unidades de GP nas arenas decisórias organizacionais. Metodologia: Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como teórico-empírica de natureza descritiva. O estudo empregou a abordagem qualitativa e, por meio de um recorte transversal, os dados foram coletados a partir de entrevistas semiestruturadas com líderes de GP de organizações públicas. Resultados: A maneira apontada como mais relevante para enfrentar a multiplicidade de agendas e os diversos atores decisórios nas organizações é a produção e o controle das informações pela liderança de GP, de forma a moderar a percepção das informações e manipular as impressões dos demais atores sobre as iniciativas de GP com a incorporação das demandas gerais e particulares. Originalidade: O ineditismo desta pesquisa se faz presente ao propiciar iniciativas de combate às contingências na implementação de políticas estratégicas de pessoal por meio da sinalização de relevantes habilidades políticas da liderança de GP. Contribuições teóricas e práticas: A pesquisa convoca os líderes da unidade de pessoal do setor público a interpretarem o complexo contexto que circunda a máquina pública. A principal contribuição desta pesquisa é demonstrar que os representantes do setor de gestão de pessoas são agentes de transformação ao buscarem a constante inserção nos principais espaços de decisão, resultando em oportunidades de eleger iniciativas de elevado impacto benéfico para a sociedade.

Studies have identified the interference of contextual factors that inhibit the effective implementation of Competency-based Management (CM) under the National Personnel Development Policy (NPDP) in the Brazilian public sector, though organizations have overcome these factors through various initiatives. This article proposes an integrated model that relates the factors that interfere with CM implementation with the initiatives adopted by public organizations to circumvent and overcome them. This qualitative study through documental research and interviews with those responsible for implementing CM in six organizations within the Brazilian public sector. Pre and post-categorical analysis have enabled the establishment of a relationship between the 20 categories identified and divided into four kinds of interfering factors and the 20 adopted initiatives identified in seven categories. It was identified that the organizational and departmental factors are the ones that most interfere with the implementation of CM in the public sector. The strategic role of the HR unit, capable of carrying out structural changes, was identified as the most important initiative to induce the implementation of CM. This study provides a model that integrates strategic, political, and instrumental thematics, showing how these aspects impact the effective implementation of CM, which helps HR managers to recognize the factors that are under their control and how to face them.