The role of HRM in supporting innovation strategies: recommendations on how R&D managers should be treated from an HRM perspective

Abstract

In recent years, consultants and academics have encouraged managers to use Human Resource Management (HRM) practices to help implement their competitive strategies. In particular, there has been enthusiasm for tailoring HRM practices to fit innovation strategies since achieving a competitive advantage based on technological superiority is very much associated with the quality of the firm's human resources. Unfortunately, there is little empirical research that examines how HRM can best support innovation strategies, and even less that evaluates the effectiveness of HRM practices in encouraging innovation in various functional settings, such as R&D departments. This research is an attempt to bridge this gap. Data were gathered from 115 divisions (SBUs) in 89 Fortune 500 companies in the US, and analyzed to identify which HRM practices used with R&D managers were most strongly associated with innovation and SBU performance. This article, which also includes descriptive data on how R&D managers are selected, compensated and evaluated, concludes with the authors’ recommendations on how R&D managers should be treated from an HRM perspective.

Strategic spin-off: a new incentive contract for managing R&D researchers

“…From a theoretical point of view, we have adopted an alternative stance towards a strictly organisational response to innovation management. We postulate that beyond purely organisational choices, the practices of human resource management are determinant in obtaining value from research (Martell and Carroll 1995). This postulate puts the management of the researchers' motivation at the centre of R&D management.…”

Género y nueva economía: ¿se romperá el techo de cristal?

“…6 Estos resultados están en consonancia con los obtenidos en otros ámbitos en los que se encuentra que las organizaciones que se enfrentan a mayores riesgos en el entorno utilizan con mayor intensidad mecanismos de compensación a largo plazo para incentivar a sus directivos (Bloom y Milkovich, 1998). 7 El valor promedio que las gratificaciones y bonos representaban en el sueldo de estos directivos era del 36%, llegando el valor máximo a alcanzar el 160% del sueldo (Martell y Carroll, 1995). 8 Otro argumento en favor de la compensación diferenciada en las empresas de alta tecnología respecto a las empresas tradicionales es la relación de agencia que se establece entre los directivos de la empresa y el personal tecnológico que tiene la información clave para el desarrollo de innovaciones.…”

R&D managers' adaptation of firms' HRM practices

“…Van de Ven (1986) defines innovation as a process that involves generating, developing and implementing new ideas and behavior. The challenge for managers is to tailor their HRM policies to fit the firm's innovation goals (Gupta and Singhal, 1993;Martell and Carroll, 1995;Jime´nez and Sanz, 2008). In this sense, there has been a growing view among human resource managers that innovation performance improvements depend, to a great extent, on the adoption of innovative HRM practices for R&D workers (Ichniowski et al, 1996;Pe´rez and Quevedo, 2006).…”

“…Furthermore, most of the existing evidence is based on comparisons of HRM practices among firms with high or low levels of innovation (Coombs and Rosse, 1992;Saura and Go´mez-Mejı´a, 1997). One exception is a study by Martell and Carroll (1995), in which they analyzed some of the HRM practices (staffing, performance evaluation and compensation) applied to the heads of the R&D departments, and the influence of these practices on technological innovation capabilities in organizations. Following the call by Martell and Carroll, we have expanded the scope of the research to include the practices applied to other managers and professionals within the R&D function and to analyze a wider range of HRM practices.…”