This study examines the critical impact of human resource factors on the competitive advantage of supply chain management (SCM) practices. The human resource management (HRM) literature suggests that there are effects of HRM factors on SCM success, but neglects the relative importance among various factors regarding organizational performance. Survey responses from executives in 358 of the largest US manufacturing and service corporations are analyzed to test the relationships among selected HRM factors and SCM practice success. The results suggest an interactive role of managerial and employee support to enhance the effectiveness of employee training and to mitigate the adverse effect of implementation barriers on the success of SCM practices. The corresponding implications for managerial practice are also discussed in terms of the use of HRM program implementation to create a sustainable competitive advantage even when competitors adopt similar SCM “best practices”.

This exploratory study examines healthcare quality program practices, employee commitment and control initiatives, and perceived results by surveying the directors of hospital quality programs. U.S. hospitals are renowned to be among the highest in quality, but recent studies assert that the majority of error-related deaths per year are preventable. In response, healthcare organizations have adopted quality management programs. Employee commitment and control theories propose that employee initiatives are critical to patient safety. However, little research has focused on the efficacy of employee commitment and control initiatives for quality programs at healthcare organizations. This study examines the responses from Quality and Risk Directors of 372 U.S. hospitals. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrate that perceived quantitative and qualitative quality program results are more highly related to employee commitment and control initiatives than they are related to quality practices. #

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